Malawi Day 8

6/26/13

Yesterday was my first time in the village. As we were driving in I saw about 100 sweet little munchkins in their school uniforms all yelling “Azungu” (white person) at us and waving with excitement. I wanted to just jump out of the car and play with them but we drove on deeper into the villages. When we got to our destination, which was an orphanage in the middle of the village, we went straight to the little kids school, which was a single cement room with a chalk board made of wood. We sat down with the children and only one cried at the sight of us; which I think is a pretty good ratio considering there were about 30 kids in this small room. They were learning the English alphabet since that is their second language after Chichewan the national language of Malawi. The kids were so sweet, they knew some Sunday school songs that they sang for us and they also had a prayer memorized that they recited many times on command. They pray with such passion and some close their eyes so tight and put their hands together right under their chins like little angels. I realized as I was sitting there that a good percentage of the children were sick and coughing, many had sores all over them, and not one had clothing that wasn’t ripped or thread bare. I wanted so badly to sit down with a sewing machine and get to work on making them all new school uniforms.

We played soccer with them and then school was over and we were walked to the “kitchen” to help make lunch. All of the buildings in the village are  brick with tin roofs and cement or dirt floors. We help grind up some peanuts and then they took us to the well to get some water. Drawing water from the well was a pretty cool experience and then they made me carry it back on my head like a real Malawian woman! I’m proud to say, I didn’t spill one drop. While everyone was cooking or washing dishes I snuck off and played with a bunch of the village kids. It started with about five kids and I ended up with thirty that wouldn’t let me out of their sight. We all held hands and played around in a big circle, they taught me some songs, and we played duck, duck, goose, all with a language barrier. I loved it.

After we ate our lunches we were invited to the orphanages bible study and were asked to share our testimonies. It was a lively and fun time full in music and friends. We shared our stories to the kids with a translator and a few of our favorite verses. We played some games afterwards that were so fun. One was called coyote, everyone gets in a big circle holding hands and there is one person in the middle who is the sheep and one on the outside that is the coyote. The coyote has to break through the human chain over and over again until they catch the sheep. So of course eventually I was selected to play and I opted to be the sheep so I could get out sooner. This game is so tiring because you are just sprinting until its done. I looked at the kids and told them to be good to me and protect me and right when the game started I ran out of the circle of kids and the person playing the coyote ran inside and when ever she would come close to me the kids would all scrunch together and form a human wall to block me from her, it was incredible, they hadn’t done that for anyone else, I was shocked! Long story short I dominated thanks to the kids and we moved onto other games. As we were getting ready to leave I had so many kids fighting to hold my hands and give me high fives.

Driving away from the village was a really hard experience for me. I do not have answers for all the questions in my head and I think that is ok, just something to pray about. Why do I get to drive away and they have to stay here? Why was I born into a middle class family in the USA? How is it fair that I get to go home and take and shower and have a hot meal and they don’t? I didn’t do anything to deserve the life I have. We will be going back every Tuesday for the whole day and in a few weeks we will be spending a whole week in the village and to be truthful I am terrified about that. They day in the village was so hard for me. I thought I would be a natural, and want to move there but I experienced the exact opposite. I didn’t really like being there, I was so uncomfortable, and that scared me. I am not adjusted to the poverty I saw and the odors I smelt. I am reading a book right now called “Kisses from Katie” about a girl from the US who moved to a village in Uganda at age 18 and adopted 14 girls. She is a teacher and a mom in the village, this book is so inspiring and before yesterday I was so excited to go to the village and see if I could live an inspiring life like that. I was so disappointed in myself, I was sad that I didn’t love it. Of course I loved the kids but I couldn’t get use to the lifestyle. I do know that I have gifts and I want to use them to glorify God so I would love to make clothing that I could donate to these school kids. As of now though that is all I think I can do for them. I will be going back every week on Tuesday so hopefully I will get better acclimated and adjusted to life in the village.

Today we spend the entire day at the Crisis Orphanage. This was one of the best days of my life. Right when we walked though the doors I knew I was going to love this place. All of the babies are under the age of 2 and there are so many of them. We sat outside on a tarp and just held these little angels all day. We played in the morning, fed them lunch in the afternoon, hung out with some other missions groups during naptime, and then cuddled with them again after they woke up. They are so loving and the ones that can walk with just run up to you and hug you and then lay their heads down and soak in all of the love we are there to give them. The women the run the place are the absolute best and all-star mothers. I know that I will look forward to Wednesdays every week.