Malawi Day 2

6/20/13

      We made it to Malawi! After about 40 hours of travel the four of us arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi and were warmly greeted by two members of Flood Malawi. The flights and layovers were long and uncomfortable, I would occasionally have a moment of panic wondering if I would ever get to my destination, but just a few minutes of being in the car headed to African Bible College made all the travel worth it.

Nothing can prepare you for those first glimpses of Malawi when you are fresh off the plane. It reminded me of everything I have ever heard and seen about African countries, but now it was true, and right in front of my eyes. I was in a state of shock, and disbelief. Dusty roads, people selling things on the sides of those roads such as furniture, sugar cane, fresh fruit, mice, home furnishings, and I even saw a live pigeon for sale the other day!

Many people use walking as their main form of transportation, kids, adults, people in street clothes, and even some in full business wear. Bikes and cars are also used and their form of public transportation is called the “Mini Bus” which is like an 18 passenger van that acts as a taxi. They have main meeting spots throughout the city and they are usually jam packed with people when I see them zip by me. Driving is done on the left side of the road here, I feel like I am already getting used to it. I haven’t gotten use to the bumpy roads that must be navigated every time you drive somewhere. I now know how Indian Jones must have felt.

The city is divided into areas, and then sectors. ABC (African Bible College) is in area 47 which is the area my house is in as well. The sector number tells you what neighborhood you are in and then there is a house number as well. The areas are not in order so things get confusing when area 3 and 9 are right next to each other. I live with Krysti, a member of my team in a missionary’s house with out host Edith. Krysti each have our own room, and they are gigantic! I have a big canopy mosquito net over my king size bed so I feel like royalty. Edith our host is one of the most joyful people I have ever encountered. She is such a sweet little thing that is just a few years older than us, with an incredible laugh that is warm and welcoming. She is the ultimate host and even bought me soymilk for breakfast! She said the only kind she could find was strawberry flavored but really it made my cereal taste that much better!

The food here has been incredible. I have LOVED everything I have eaten so far and for my picky self that is a high praise. My eating restrictions are of high interest to everyone I have met and I have had to explain myself a few times. They are so kind and understanding though, and alway make sure that I will be fed. The first night we went out to and Indian restraint where we ordered tons on different rice’s, curries or relished, and naan. It was incredibly delicious and the company that we were with made this meal one of the best I have ever had. All of our different host families were there and some other key people that work with the church as well. We got to know each other, told stories, and laughed so much. Today Pastor Sean, who we spend most of our time with, took us to a place called Papaya for lunch. It is known as a Mexican food restraint but was definitely Malawi’s own version of Mexican. I kind of felt like an Italian at a Pizza Hut, its way off from the original but still tastes great! They called burritos wraps, and then gave an explanation of what they were on the menu, I got a veggie wrap and it was one of the best things I have ever tasted. I found myself wishing that there was a Papaya back in the states. I will definitely be vising that restaurant again in the future.

For our second day at ABC we had Flood Intern orientation, where we learned about the country, and city we were in. We also got the run down on Flood Malawi and how it works. We will be spending a week in the village and a week at a Young Life camp by Lake Malawi during our time here. We also signed up for a 4-day Safari the first day we got here! I am so excited for the work we will be doing and the people we will meet and build relationships with. Each of us was assigned a mentor that we will be meeting with once a week to talk about life and our experiences. We also spent time learning some key phrases in Chichewan which was much harder that it probably should have been.

In the afternoon Pastor Sean had given us the task of putting together the church’s next message series on the book of Ezra. The series will be ten weeks long so together we read the book and broke it down into ten different messages with an overlying theme. It was a lot of work but I really loved getting to be involved with the messages that the Flood congregation will hear.

Tonight when we got dropped off at home Edith, Krysti and I were about to make some dinner and the power went out. This is a normal occurrence for life in Malawi. From what I can gather the lights go out for about an hour or two a few times a week, every week. Sometimes it is planned and other times an accident but I guess there is power sharing going on throughout the city and each area has to ration for a few hours a week at certain times. Luckily it is never that long so the food in the fridge doesn’t go bad. Because it was about 7:30 at night when this happened all I took it for was an excuse to go to bed early. I was still full from the veggie wrap I had had for lunch and my pillow had never looked better. But Edith being the great provider that she is insisted that we eat dinner and chat. So with no electricity we all made peanut butter and banana sandwiches that were delicious. I snuck off to bed around 8pm and woke up at 4am. Hopefully I will get used to this time change soon.