Some Things We've Learned This Week

As you may know, we’ve dedicated the first year of our stay in Malawi to settling in and learning how to thrive in this culture. Absorbing the differences between Malawi and the United States within the first week of our stay has been a bit like taking a drink from a fire hose. The following is by no means an exhaustive list, but some things we’ve observed that you might find interesting.

1. Water is limited. It takes a long time for it to go through a ceramic filter for drinking, so it’s important to remember to keep the filter reservoir full at all times. In the shower, it’s best to put a bucket under the runoff to later use in the garden. Only flush the toilet when it’s necessary. Electricity is water generated so during the dry season, there isn’t much of it, which brings us to my next point. 

2. Electricity is unreliable. We have already spent seventeen hours at one time without it, and it goes off unannounced every day for hours at a time. To get electricity in your home, you pay at a kiosk in the local market. They give you a receipt with a code, which you then punch into an electrical unit inside your home. It’s prepaid, so when all your units are used up, the electricity goes out until you buy more. We have to think strategically when we have power and remember to charge our electronic devices, and (because the well pump is electric) to wash dishes and take showers during that time as well. Ben and I were in the grocery store when the lights went out. The funny thing is, people kept right on shopping.

3. The Internet is spotty and there is seldom a very strong signal. We’re learning to make notes regarding what we need to do when we have a signal. In order to use the Internet, we also need electricity at the same time, because that powers the router. We have survived almost three full days without internet, so I’m here to tell you it’s possible. 

4. Mosquitos carry malaria and are worst between 5:00 and 7:00 in the morning and evening. If we’re out at those times, we use repellent. We sleep under mosquito nets and close the closet doors at night, because they seem to like to hide out in there waiting for nightfall. A new ritual for us is checking the rooms by flashlight for mosquitos at bedtime. For this reason, I realize I will probably not paint the walls any colors other than white to keep mosquitos as visible as possible. 

5. There is no trash, but three different types of discards: the burn bucket, the non-burn bucket, and the compost. I had considered myself somewhat of an expert on compost, but this is the first time I have ever composted cooked foods. It seems to work, as there is an enormous crow the size of a chicken who picks through the pile each morning for his breakfast, leaving nothing behind that will upset the balance of the fertilizer. While we’re on the subject of waste, public restrooms are few and far between, so we (especially me, being a girl) have to plan ahead for bathroom usage. While women here seem perfectly comfortable squatting on the side of the road, I am not. I try not to drink much at least an hour before we leave the house—something I never gave much thought to in the States. 

6. Security is a bit different here. We have so many keys to the house that we build in an extra twenty minutes to lock all the locks each time we leave. To give you an idea, I just counted over fifty keys in our possession. There are more, but you get the point. We lock the rooms in the house, then lock the doors to the house, then the bars on the doors, then the gate to the yard. It takes some time. On top of that, we have a concrete wall around the house with razor wire on top and three vicious German Shepherds and a part time gate guard. Is it all necessary? I don’t know. We just got here. I guess we’ll see.  

7. Money handling is going to take some getting used to. Malawi uses the Kwacha, and the exchange rate is about 720 to 1 U.S. dollar. The largest bill they make is worth 2,000 Kwacha. To put that in perspective, if our rent is $1,000 per month, and we pay for three months in advance, which is how it's done here, using the least possible amount of individual bills, we still need to carry 1,080 bills to the landlord. While many places accept credit cards, the electricity and internet have to be working for them to function, so it’s no guarantee. We walk around constantly with an enormous roll of bills. 

8. Everyone expects communication to be different from culture to culture, but it can seem invasive if you’re not prepared, and even, apparently, if you are. Personal space is much less than we are used to in the States. If you try to leave a space between you and the person in front of you in line, someone will step into it. People show up to your house unannounced and you are expected to invite them in-and feed them if it’s mealtime. The official language of Malawi is English, but Chichewa is the most-spoken tribal language, and we intend to learn it well. In English Malawians confuse Ls and Rs, so the landlord’s initial inspection on our house included “lust” in the bathroom. As you can imagine, I was less than comfortable signing that. 

9. Driving. Wow! It seems crazy, but I’m sure we’ll get used to it. Of course, because Malawi was a British colony, they drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. The lines on the road seem to be more of a suggestion than a rule. The police can stop you at any time for any reason. If your documents are not in order, they will fine you on the spot—and sometimes, I hear, for whatever other reason they choose. We have been stopped and the officer was perfectly cordial and simply checked the stickers on the windshield, asking what we were doing in the country. Night time driving involves a bit more expertise, as many cars don’t have headlights and there are people and animals crossing the road. We plan to avoid that as much as possible. 

10. And last, but not least, is something John and I have both noticed and appreciate very much. The people seem very modest (other than the occasional necessary bathroom usage on the side of the road) and there is no visible pornography. As the mother of three boys, I am always aware of inappropriate images of women. I have only seen two suggestive advertisements, and those would be considered tame according to American standards. 

So, that's what we've learned this week. I'm sure you can appreciate why we're taking the first twelve months to learn how to live in Malawi. This is going to be an adventure.

Day 1

(Note: This is from my personal journal entry at the end of our first day here. We're just now able to publish due to internet and electricity shortages.)

John and I woke up at 2:30 this morning and by 3:00 had decided it was no use trying to sleep any longer. We attempted to unpack our bags and to find places for our things without waking anyone or disrupting the place that our hosts will call home for one more week. I’m pretty sure we failed. By 4:00am Andy and Ben had joined us and, with heavy eyes, were playing a very labored game of chess on our bed with the board we had just dug out of a trunk. Soon after they started, the electricity went out, but we kept working with the use of battery powered lanterns. By the time Jonah woke up, so did the sun, and everyone was hungry. I scrambled some eggs and cooked them on a gas stove, made toast in a second pan, and hand poured boiling water through the coffee maker, all the while reminding the kids—and myself—to keep the fridge door closed to conserve what was left of the cold. 

We all ventured out on our own to the cell phone and grocery stores. Our hosts had other plans, as they are leaving the country in a matter of days and are as busy leaving as we are arriving. John did well his first time driving, and even stayed on the left side of the road—for the most part. I kept shrieking when I saw what appeared to be cars without drivers careening towards us, only to remember that the driver sits on the right side here. (Sleep deprivation can make you jumpy.) It was hot and dry and dusty, and I found myself thankful for the stainless steel water bottles we brought that keep the water inside cold even when the outside became too hot to touch. The air conditioning only worked when John’s foot was on the gas, so we went with windows down, then up, then down, then up again. 

We walked into the cell phone store only to turn around and walk right out again when it became apparent that we were far too tired to make any decisions. We went for groceries, but every time we stopped walking to look at something, Ben sat down on the floor. I offered to let him sit in the cart, but realized he would fill it up and we wouldn’t be able to put any groceries in it. We only got a few things anyway before we all wanted to join Ben on the floor, so we knew it was time to go home. We napped, which is a no no when you’re trying to overcome jet lag. Luckily, we woke up in time to suffer through a few more hours before it was bed time, which set us on the right track to exchanging our nights for days. We got ready for bed by lantern light, searching luggage for pajamas and toothbrushes, untying and arranging mosquito nets, and turning on battery powered fans. Then, lanterns out at 8:00. The electricity came back on at 11:00. I know that because we accidentally left our light switch in the on position. It wasn’t hard to get back to sleep.

Well into the night we were awakened by the sound of machetes scraping the road. We’re told those are the neighborhood watchmen. They drag their blades along the cement to let everyone know they’re on the job. I’m pretty sure they pay them not to rob their houses, but they have machetes, so we'll gladly join in. Sweet dreams. We didn’t see each other until 5:00am, which is when the sun came up and the street on the other side of our concrete wall came to life. Birds, dogs, church bells, and chants could be heard all around. The brighter the sun got, the louder they all crescendoed, until you could hear the sound of cars and all the noises mellowed into each other and the day was officially underway. Another day with so much to learn...

Parting Gifts

Our Bible study group threw us a going away party. We’ve been with them for over a year and a half, and leaving them is not something we look forward to. The goal with this study has never been to make a name for ourselves or even to start a church, but to familiarize interested people with the word of God and see what He might do with that. I am happy to report that He has done great things. 

After dinner, Karen, who has become one of my very best friends also became my sister in Christ. She was baptized in the presence of the entire study group and asked me to be in the water with her. It was a very special moment, and when John asked if anyone else wanted to be baptized, we were blessed by two more special moments.

Jessie and her sister Tori have been asking about salvation and the significance of baptism. Thanks to the corroborated efforts of the Bible study group, John’s explanations, and a younger, hipper missionary than us, who had just enough time to share his thoughts before leaving for Wales, the girls were finally ready to proceed and were also baptized.

What a treat! We have never received such sweet parting gifts before a move. We’ll cherish these memories forever and savor our new relationships in God’s family, eager to hear all the wonderful things God is sure to do with these new Christians.

Waist Deep in Boxes

In one month we’ll be on a plane to Africa, where we plan to live and work in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world. Our September 15th fundraiser deadline has come and gone and we are on to the business of putting those funds to good use. Living overseas isn’t new for us. John served on an island in the Indian ocean with the navy, and I was an exchange student in Vienna, Austria during my junior year in high school. Most of you know that we also lived in Brazil as a family for several years. But, moving is not a science and it’s never easy to decide what to leave and what to take, and when you do, it’s time consuming to make it happen. Currently our days are filled with scheduling and organizing and packing and buying and selling. It’s a lot, but we’re taking it one day at a time and hope to make it to moving day with no major incidents or omissions—like cans of pumpkin and cranberries for a makeshift Thanksgiving dinner soon after we arrive.

Many of you have asked what you can do to help. First of all, we need you to pray—not so we can get what we want, but so that we will accept God’s will in this. We’re about to face something difficult, and we’ll fare much better believing God is in charge of the details. Otherwise we’re likely to kick and scream to change our circumstances and find ourselves working against Him. We don’t need to write God’s will, we need to find it and live in it, and that's something that requires much prayer.

We also still need financial commitments. We have enough to make the move but not enough to sustain for very long. Our sponsoring church has agreed to fundraise for us, but we will be the ones to feel the burden if we’re lacking on the field. Please give what you can when you can. Every little bit helps. Very soon this blog will be about all the great things God is doing with your resources and it will be so rewarding to know that He’s using you to make it happen. 

As we gear up to learn a new way of life and a new kind of service to our fellow human being and to God, we look forward to your encouragement. Electricity in Malawi is spotty and internet coverage can be the same, but we plan to take advantage of the gift that social media is to mission work. We’ll do our best to continue to post updates and photos and we ask that you take the time to comment and give us feedback. If you really want to get involved, you might even consider a visit.

Here's a link to give to the mission work through the church: Westworth Church of Christ

It's Official - We're Moving to Africa

Sunday we visited a church in Fort Worth for the fifth week in a row. It’s the kind of place where we could actually know everyone by name in a short while. We were first invited by homeschool colleagues from our P.E. co-op where John coached last year. They saw our Go Fund Me video and asked us to come meet their congregation. 

We’ve been attending for a month, but last week was special. I was nervous, waiting for the announcement I knew was coming after the service: The church had decided to sponsor us to move to Malawi and work with orphans. I hoped the details that were about to be shared would be accurate and well received. It’s not that I doubted the ability of the speaker, it’s just that I know our enemy delights in manipulating words as they travel from mouth to ears.

As the elder, who has become our friend, began to speak, I relaxed. His voice broke and he teared up as he recounted the weeks and months prior to our first visit, in which the church prayed for missionaries. I didn’t know that! Suddenly, God was there and all was right. He went on to encourage everyone to get to know us—their new family members—as we prepare to leave so soon after our introduction. We were warmly greeted by some of the people we hadn’t met before, and others invited us to their homes.

We’ve been trusting that this would happen by paring down our possessions little by little, but now we’re unloading almost everything we own in a hallway-moving-sale at The Gem. We’re replacing some of those things with others we would only ever need in a place like Africa—a solar-powered phone charger, battery-operated reading lights, and water purification tablets, to name a few. We’re also shopping for tickets to leave towards the end of October, trusting that the rest of the funding will come in. 

The church has agreed to sponsor us, meaning they have assumed responsibility of the mission and will help us fundraise, but they can’t afford to cover the cost of the mission entirely. We’re still lacking money for both moving and monthly working expenses. Thanks to those of you who have already given or have committed to a monthly amount while we’re on the field. For those of you who doubted this would actually happen, you’re not alone. I could say I knew it all along, but then I would be adding the sin of lying to my sin of doubt. It’s official now, and we want you on board. Please visit our Go Fund Me page or contact us to support the mission. Then follow us on social media and subscribe to this blog to see the the wonderful things God will do through all of us on the team for the orphans of Malawi, Africa.   

Give an Orphan a Cup of Coffee

I just read a study that says the average American spends $3 a day on coffee but doesn’t put anything away for retirement. That sounds crazy, but I guess I’ve been known to neglect our economic future while overspending on that quirky green mermaid. 

Our Bible group has been studying Scriptures about wise spending practices. While there’s no directive on how to budget for coffee or retirement, there’s plenty of counsel on money handling and the heart behind it, including the importance of sharing with others less fortunate. As we take an honest look at what God really wants, instead of searching for a justification for our habits, we're finding a wealth of information.

For example, 1 Timothy 6:17-19 says, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

If you can read this, I hope you identify with the “rich”, because most people in this world don’t have that luxury. That means you can help others. The mission to Malawi is not just about feeding kids. You could send your money to one of the many organizations that already does that. Instead, we hope to address the roots of poverty and begin to train kids to help themselves and others, both physically and spiritually. In essence, we plan to make, not just disciples, but disciple makers. 

I wonder if, while you’re enjoying your coffee and putting a little money in the bank for your earthly retirement, you would consider matching what you’re dropping at Starbucks each month to help get us to Malawi so we can do our part? According to God, you would be investing in your eternal retirement account at the same time, and that’s about as cool as an iced mocha latte. 

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P.S. Thanks so much to all of you who have already sacrificed for this mission. We're watching the mercury rise:

You can make a donation by clicking here.

Fundraising Progress

We're so thankful to all of you who have given towards this mission to get us to Malawi to work with the poor and orphans. We just started and have already raised a significant amount of money. But, we have a long way to go. Take a look at our progress on the thermometers below. 

Please share the need with as many people as you can, so we can all make this happen together. Remember, September 15th is our deadline. 

In case you're wondering, $10,000 is what it will take to fly our family to Malawi. We aren't planning on taking much with us, so there is no built-in expense for shipping items other than the bags we plan to travel with. Also, the $6,000 per month includes our living expenses and our working fund. We have to budget $1,000 per month each for the following: rent, international medical insurance, food, and education. Hopefully that helps you understand a bit more where the money will go.

Here's the link to our GoFundMe account: https://www.gofundme.com/movingtomalawi