Before discussing Saturday here in Malawi, I wanted to thank each of you for the supportive emails and blog comments from you back home, our loved ones with all the homefront support you've been sharing. We miss you and while we're energized by what is going on here in Africa we look forward to our homecoming to you soon.
Saturday was a busy day as we got a slightly later than usual start in the morning before a 90 minute drive from our hotel to the MOH feeding center in Chimwong'ombe, a remote village.
Paul and Keith went right to work on the interior solar lighting, continuing with the electrification of the center and the installation of the light fixtures inside.
As the morning progressed, Lisa did our planned VBS about Jesus being the light of the world and followed the lesson by distributing the same small solar flashlights we shared at Khwamba last week. The kids were thrilled to get them, putting them around their necks and played with them with their friends.
We followed the flashlight distribution by also sharing more of the amazing handmade dresses with over one hundred girls in the center. They were so thrilled to get the beautiful clothes they couldn't wait to put them on and model them for us and their friends.
Not to be left out, the boys were also given new outfits; tee-shirts, shorts and flip flops which they loved too. Many of the kids don't have shoes, and while they loved the whole outfit, I think they especially liked getting the sandals.
Once the gifts were shared with the kids, the Director of the Feeding Center took us to a nearby village for another home visit with a local village family.
The road to the village was treacherous, with huge gulleys washed out on either side, leaving little more than a single lane and no room to pass if an on-coming car, bus or ox-cart was coming in the opposite direction.
The team brought gifts to the home consisting of a warm wool blanket to keep the family warm in the winter months, cooking oil, sugar, salt, toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss and a bible written in the local language.
The family we visited with on Saturday was headed by a lovely woman with five little kids. She loved the gifts and was incredibly gracious in meeting with us and sharing her home. While she said she could not read, she really appreciated the bible and agreed she'd find a villager to help her to read it and share it with others.
As our day wound down we had a very frightening moment. The children at the center were getting very agitated and scared and began to stop what they were doing and ran to hide inside the building. Members of an African cult organization called the Nyau came to investigate what outsiders were doing in the village. They are a very dangerous and secretive sect unique to Malawi and neighboring countries, and they have been known to attack, injure and sometimes even kill those who they cross paths with.
Not knowing much better, I decided to walk over an introduce myself and take pictures of them up close. At first I couldn't really understand why others were concerned but having learned about who these guys are afterward, I can see why and clearly should have steered clear.
No harm done, and as the day ended and we all headed home for the night, the team and those at the center felt the day was a great one.
We look forward to returning to the center on Monday to finish the lighting work and continue the bible study lessons with those amazing kids.
Lots of love,
Marc
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