Me Too...

I wrote something for our Pastor's blog today about our experience in Africa. Go check it out when you get the chance. Here is an excerpt:

Life in America is tough. Life in Africa is tougher. I don’t know if that is proper English, but truth rarely fits into neat grammar.

For the last two months, my family of six lived and worked in the African nation of Malawi. With a life expectancy of 37 years and an AIDS pandemic that is unrelenting, Malawi is tougher. However, it took me a while to admit it out loud. At first, everything was an adventure.

Read the rest here.

School

If you want to go to school in Malawi, you have to have a school uniform. A lot of kids can't afford a uniform, so they are not supposed to be able to attend. Thankfully, they have relaxed that rule lately to allow the poorest children to still attend. We had uniforms made for our children so they could experience Malawian primary school. The uniforms cost about $3 a piece, and they are custom made by the local tailor. Our church takes care of 50 orphans in a non-residential program that pays for their school fees including uniforms.

The primary school in Madzanje has around 1300 kids in grades 1-8. Problem is, they only have 4 classrooms. The other rooms are grass huts that they put up just for shade. When the rainy season comes, most kids choose not to go to school. Recently, they decided to allow the kids to use the court buildings for classrooms, so the kids that used to meet under the tree outside can now have a roof over their heads.

Since our kids are "azungu" or "white," the headmaster wouldn't let them go to school in the grass hut building. Instead, they went to the courthouse with about 50 other kids. See if you can pick them out in the picture below.

The longer school went on, the more the Malawian kids crowded towards Catherine and Easton. By the end of school, they were squished up against the wall to the point that they couldn't even see the board. It might seem crazy, but white children have never been to this village before.


The longer we live here, the more I feel like there are two main areas that could and should be addressed. Healthcare and Education. For $1000 a school building could be built where these kids could go to school year round. The foundation has already been laid. They just need sheet metal and bricks to put it up. And a clinic in Madzanje is in the works as well. Maybe someday soon these issues will be taken care of.

My parents came in yesterday. It is really great to be able to share this experience with them. Their coming means that things are winding down here. Just a week left and there still seems to be so much to do. We are trying to finish up the last remaining projects. We are working on beds for the orphanage right now. For those of you who donated, much of the money is going towards mattresses and bunk beds for the kids. For children who have spent their lives sleeping on grass mats, a bed and mattress is a rare luxury.

Patrick's Story

Patrick is 14 years old. He lives with his grandmother along with his 2 younger brothers. He is very shy but his smile comes out every now and then. His mother is 31 and has advanced HIV/Aids. She lies on a mat outside their hut, her body frail because of the disease.

We first met Patrick when we took him to the doctor for large sores on his legs. He had lived with them for quite a while, but didn't know where they had come from. The doctor mentioned that sometimes HIV causes sores, so we should have him tested. Knowing the state of his mother, we knew he was probably HIV positive as well.

We loaded up Patrick along with his brothers and took them to the local clinic that does free HIV testing. The doctors took him to the back room and we waited, hoping for good news. When he came through the doorway, his smile said it all. The life-wrecking disease was not passed on to him or his brothers.

Yesterday, we got a call that his mother was bad enough to go the hospital. They admitted her and it doesn't look good. The hospital here is rough. They don't supply any food, so a family member has to stay and cook all the meals. This means that Patrick's sole care giver, his grandmother, will be at the hospital. We asked him who would watch after him while his mother and grandmother were away. Apparently a half-sister lives nearby, and she will come stay with him. She is 14. Same age as Patrick.

Here is Patrick, showing off that great smile, sitting with his mother in front of their home.

The Meaning of Money

You hear the "dollar a day" stat all the time. In Malawi, most people earn a salary around that amount, if you are one of the 60% with a job. Being here brings a whole new perspective to the statistic. Numbers turn to faces. Faces become friends.

The truth is, money isn't really the main way of survival here. Most people live off of the land. They grow their own produce, raise their own chickens, and build their own homes. Sometimes, I feel like money just complicates life and brings on responsibility that most people aren't ever ready to handle. It is no wonder that Proverbs teaches that the love of money is the root of all evil.

I used to think that when Jesus said, "To whom much is given, much is required" he was talking about people like Bill Gates. The top 1% of the richest people in the world. He certainly couldn't be talking about my family.

Then, you move to Malawi. Suddenly it is hauntingly clear. We have been given MUCH. And MUCH is required of us.

Safari

This week my mom and aunt Mo came to visit. It was so wonderful to have them here. I loved the help with the kids and I was really excited for them to share in the experiences that we are having here. It is so hard to express what it is like here. Zach came 2 years ago and brought home a million pictures and video but I was never able to truly understand until I stepped off the plane 4 weeks ago here in Malawi.

So since I am posting tonight and not Zach prepare yourself for pictures!!! Zach almost killed me when I asked him to upload all of these for me. I know...I should learn how to do it myself.

The first picture is just us waiting for Grammy and Aunt Mo to get off the plane. The kids were so excited to watch the plane land. And I don't know if you can tell from the picture but right at their feet there is an opening in the glass that is just large enough for a small child to slip out of... a small child named Addis. Yes, he almost crawled under the glass and fell off of the balcony of the airport. Thankfully some man grabbed me and pointed out my son on his suicide mission.

Days are long and hard around here, so it was time for an escape. It is crazy that there are places like Mvuu Camp in Malawi, but I guess there are tourists everywhere. The lodge and restaurant are situated in the middle of a huge national wildlife reserve. You drive "safari style" for about 10 miles before you reach the river. You then get into a boat for an hour tour. At the edge of the river there is a restaurant with excellent food. Which we proceeded to eat until we were all miserable. After four weeks of tuna and ramen noodles we couldn't help ourselves.

This is the children hanging out of the sunroof of the van as we drove through the safari.

The crazy thing is that we really are as close as the picture looks. It was amazing to see all of these animals this close in the wild. It made me a little nervous too because Addis kept trying to jump out of the boat.

My mom made friends with this little girl one of the days we were at the orphanage. Her name is Ana and she is one of the fifty orphans in the non residential program that we care for at Esther's house. They are fed vita-meal every morning and fed a big lunch on Friday and Saturday. Ana asked my mom if she would be her special friend.

This is a goofy picture but I had to post it. This is Addis holding baby Ana. He always wants to hold her because he sees his brother and sisters hold her all of the time. She is with us 2 nights and three days a week. I am also well aware that his hair is a little scary in the picture and poor Ana agrees. By the way this is what she does most of the time we have her unless I have her tied on my back in the chitchenzie.

I love these last two pictures. Every time we are out at Esther's house or in the villages the local children flock to our kids. They want to hold their hands, carry Addis, and pet the girls hair. My kids kind of like the attention. Well three of them do. Sophie just gets irritated and wants me to hold her all of the time. Imagine that! I just wish they could communicate with each other. I think they would all really enjoy each other if they could talk to one another.

Well that is all for today. We don't have any big plans for tomorrow except for catching up on school. Grammy and Aunt Mo might have set us back a little this week!!

Where is They Moms and Dads?

As we made the drive from the capitol city of Lilongwe to our little home in Ntcheu on the very first day, Sophia was the first to notice the cruelty of Africa. She looked out her window at all of the children wandering the streets and asked, "Where is all they moms and dads?" While not all of the children that she saw were orphans, many were. In a country where 1 million children are orphaned, you will encounter at least one every day.

And that is why we believe in adoption so strongly. Because, although an institution like Esther's House can show love, support, and family structure, it can never replace a Mom or a Dad.

At this point, Malawi is not very friendly to adoption. They require you live in country for 2 years or have written a few hit songs while wearing a cone-shaped bra. If you don't meet one of those two requirements, you are out of luck.

When you look at the massive numbers, adoption may not make that much sense. What can adopting 800 kids a year do to help a country that is struggling with a problem of millions? But when you look at the ONE, it makes all the difference.

For the ONE, he/she gets the chance to have a mom and dad again. And that is a chance that every child should have. It is time for Malawi to change the laws to give kids that chance, and there is rumor that the change may be coming.

Our Week in Pictures

It has been a while since we posted some good photos, so here is some of our recent events in photos.

I am not quite sure what has been wrong with Addis, but he has cried A LOT since we arrived in Africa. I think he is afraid we have brought him back to leave him here! Much of the day, he is making this face...

Everyone immediately knows that he is from Ethiopia. "He has the eyes," they always say. It is pretty obvious from this picture that he is not a Malawian.

Catherine is in Heaven on the days that we keep Anna. She begged to carry her around on her back like all of the other 5 year old girls do here, so we let her for a little while. She is really good with her, and doesn't shy away from her when she cries. That is a good thing, because she cries a lot.

Like we have mentioned in the past, it is very dirty here. Always. Every day.

This is our version of fall pictures this year. Sophia does not have a black eye, though those are bruises on her forehead. She is just really dirty. I think I have already mentioned the dirt though.

Grammy and Aunt Mo made it here yesterday. They are visiting for the week. DJ, the camera man, had a run in with the local Police at the airport. Apparently immigration officers don't want to be on TV, so he had to tape over all of his footage of the customs area.

This is our little Malawian drive in movie night. The black thing in front is a laptop. Josh and Kristen Copher are living with us for a few weeks, and it has been great to have their company.

This is Nylia, the care giver at the orphanage, along with her family. She was so excited to show them off to us. She had not seen her kids in two months while she had been working at the orphanage, so it was a grand home coming for her. She gets two days off a week now that we are here watching the baby. We are also working to find more qualified care givers, though that is proving a little more difficult than we once thought.

While we were in Lilongwe picking up Grammy and Aunt Mo, we stopped at a really cool greenhouse/nursery. They had a great playground and the kids would have played for days. It is funny how much you miss a good playground.

Funny picture of Sophia for the day... Wonder what she is thinking here?

Sophie got sick in Lilongwe on Sunday morning. She laid down in the floor after a throw-up false alarm, and she was asleep in a few seconds. We moved her to the bed, but not before a picture!

The sunsets here are amazing, so we leave you with a small taste of a Malawian evening.Good night from Malawi.

Thoughts on Charity

When we first met our night watchman, Crispen Ebemba, I was a little disappointed. I had hoped for someone that spoke a little better English and was a little more mean looking. Crispen had a round face, and couldn't be more than 5'5", so he wasn't the bouncer that I had expected.

We quickly learned that he was a very hard worker and desperately wanted our approval. Every night, we would take him a meal and share the leftovers with his family. One night, I realized that we had always expected him to eat outside and never invited him in. I told him to come in and pulled up a chair at our table.

Totally shocked that we would invite him in to eat, he bowed down to his knees at our table to thank us. He said thank you repeatedly, and I began to wonder how long he would stay down on his knees. We again told him to come sit down. He very nervously ate his meal, not being able to say anything other than "You are a good boss." He didn't feel like he deserved a place at our table.

I was reminded of the story in scripture where Lazarus longed for the scraps from his masters table, and the rich man gave nothing. Abraham tells the rich man, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony."

The humility of Crispen challenged my pride and my understanding of caring for the poor. If charity only involves hand outs, then humanity is only surviving and not being restored. We could have continued to take Crispen a meal each night and he would have continued to feel like he wasn't worthy to sit at our table. Our work should be one of restoring humanity. Helping people understand their worth in God's Kingdom restores a piece of humanity stolen away by sin. It is in these moments that we too are humbled to realize our worthlessness without a Saviour.

Anna's Story

From time to time, we will post some of the stories of the one million orphans of Malawi. Today, Baby Anna is in our care so it is only fitting that we start with her.


When Anna's mother went into labor, she was a great distance from the hospital. Not having any transportation, she was forced to walk the 15 kilometers. Once at the hospital, she had already lost a great amount of blood. She delivered Anna, healthy and beautiful, but mom was still in great pain. One of the nurses realized that she still had another baby to deliver, and Anna's twin brother was born. Unfortunately, due to the great stress of being in labor for so long and losing so much blood, the baby boy died shortly after delivery.

Attention was focused on mom, trying to get the bleeding stopped. She needed blood but there was no one from her family with her that could donate. Apparently, the policy of the local hospital requires that someone from your family donate blood before you can be given any blood from the reserve. Her family members were unable to make it in time, and she passed away.

The hospital called late that night to let Pastor Phiri know that no one in the extended family could care for the baby, and so she came to Esther's House.

As we have cared for her the past 24 hours, it has felt a bit like baby sitting. Then it hits you. She isn't going home to her family when our time with her is over. While we are grateful for a place like Esther's House, we still can't comprehend the cruelty of her situation. It just isn't right and doesn't make sense. For now, she will be loved and cared for, and maybe even adopted into a family of her own at some point down the road. Until then, we will show her the love of a family and give her the best start possible.

We love you Anna, and believe God has great things in store for you.

Baby Anna

After some confusion from the last post, we feel it necessary to clarify something. The nets over the bed are not for decoration. They are mosquito nets to keep our family from getting Malaria. They are also the most frustrating things on the planet. I tuck them in so tight every night because I am afraid a spider will crawl into the kids bed, and at least once a day someone pulls their net down and Zach has to rehang it.

Today, it was Addis. He was pretty proud of himself.


Right now, there is only one caregiver at the orphanage, and she hasn't seen her own kids in almost two months. We offered to take care of the baby a few nights a week so she could go see her family. The twin boys are staying with Kapalassa, the administrative assistant at the orphanage. Here is Anna in her new bed at our house. If it looks like a suitcase, it is because it is a suitcase.

Unfortunately, Anna is not the happiest baby in the world. She has spent most of her night screaming, and we are hoping that she might be done for a few hours. We gave her a good bath with soap, something that she has never had before! We had to pick the dreadlocks out of her hair, it was so matted together. Next up on the agenda, a cleanliness schedule for the care givers!

The remaining construction on Esther's House is coming along. It is very quiet there right now, but I have a feeling it won't be that way for long.


Tomorrow, we are taking Patrick, one of the local orphans in our non-residential care program, to the hospital. He has sores all over his body, and we fear he might be HIV positive. The good news is the hospital in Ntcheu gives free HIV drugs. We hope that the child sponsorship program will be able to pay for the transportation each week to receive the treatment. That is another thing that is on our agenda over the next few weeks. Lots of interviews with kids are ahead!

We hope to share some of their stories on this blog. Hearing the hardships that these kids have faced will make us all more appreciative of the life we have been given and stir us to do something to bring about change in theirs.

Good night from Malawi.

Our African Home

We are finally settled here and feel like we know where to get what. The Peoples grocery store (think 7-11) has most of what we need, but the prices are a bit high. McConnell is the local Sam's Club. You get everything in bulk, and it is pretty cheap. Again, it is about twice the size of a convenient store. Then, there is the Sana grocery store. They have the best bread and cheapest prices on other items, but they don't give receipts. You get chicken and eggs at the same place, oddly enough. Literally a chicken house with a freezer on the back of it. People pay extra for that kind of a thing in America! Organic, free range chicken we call it.

Our home really is nice. Especially now that we have hot water! We have a big wall around us to protect us at night, and a great night watchmen named Crispen Ebemba. Here are a few pictures of our place.

This is the master bedroom:

Our living room/dining room/school room:

The Kitchen:

The kids room:


And, the Laundry Room:


The kids are having a blast playing in the dirt. We gave up on keeping them clean a few days into this journey. Tomorrow, we are going to sort through all of the donations that the American team brought and take inventory.

Also, since we only have one caregiver at the orphanage right now, Erin is going to care for the baby two nights a week starting this Tuesday. This will give the current caregiver a break two nights a week so she can go and see her own family.

That is all for now. Good night from Malawi!

Malawi Time

Some things just take forever around here. The electrician came on
Thursday around 1:00 in the afternoon to fix our hot water heater. He
never actually made it into our house, though. He told me that he
would be here on Sunday to fix it. I asked him, why not tomorrow? He
said it was Saturday and it was his Sabbath. I asked, why not right
now? He explained that he had just come in on a bus from Lilongwe and
was tired, so he would see us on Sunday morning at 8:00.

On Sunday, he worked for about 30 minutes before realizing he would
need parts from Blantyre. "See you tomorrow!" he said as he walked
away from our gate a second time. To my surprise, Sunday evening he
returned with the part around 4:30 in the afternoon. I told him to
come in thinking we might get to take a warm shower. Nope. He was
tired and would be back tomorrow.

Hopefully, when he returns this morning, he will be able to fix the
hot water heater (geezer.) Cold showers are really getting old.
However, we are very thankful to have running water, as this is
certainly a luxury around here. The water tank and solar pump are
supposed to be installed at Esther's House soon, so the workers there
will soon get to experience what this luxury is like.

PICTURES:
Yesterday we attended church at Esther's House. It was a wonderful
service where many of the choirs from local villages sang for us. The
kids lasted for the first hour, but Erin took them outside before the
message started. Some of the orphans from the local village, Madzangi,
were outside the gates. They came in and our kids started trying to
teach them English. Easton enjoyed playing with Precious, one of the
boys staying at the orphanage.

Addis is sitting next to Hope, a little girl that Pastor Phiri adopted
two years ago. Her parents died in a car accident, so the local
village headman was going to kill the baby because no one in the
family wanted her. This is a common practice, unfortunately. Hope is a
perfect example of why we need Esther's House.

From Ntcheu

We are finally here and in our new home. Once this is posted, we will
have only spent two nights there. In our last post, we mentioned that
we would be staying in Pastor Phiris home since ours was given away.

A man from Ncheu saw Thokazani, Pastor's wife, moving her kids back
into their old home. He told her that she could not, because it wasn't
safe for her children. She explained to him that we were coming and
they wanted to give us their home. The man asked, "what about the
house down the street? It is for rent." She told him that they had
inquired and the rent was too high for us to pay. He said, "I will
negotiate a good price so that you can move your family back into your
home." All that to say, we are now living in one of the nicest houses
in town. 3 bedrooms. 2 bathrooms. Walled and gated. Broken glass
around the top of the wall for extra protection.

Of course, it is not like an American home. It is concrete everything.
No hot water. (Might get fixed on Sunday.) Power goes out regularly.

Most of our days have been filled with survival. We managed to stock
our fridge with milk, eggs, juice, and some Coca-Cola Classic. We are
ready to get out of this mode and into the real work of preparing the
orphanage for more children. We did get to visit the facility today
and I was suprised at how much work there is left to be done. The team
that is here this week has a lot of work ahead of them.

The Photos:
The bus broke down on the way here. There is a picture of us stranded
on the side of the road. Today, our car ran out of gas on the side of
the road. Our driver got on the back of a bicycle to get more
"petrol." And, the Esther's House truck broke down in Lilongwe today
and left a few people stuck there until tomorrow. Seems to be normal.

Erin got to strap Addis on to her back today. Thokazani asked, "how
do you get anything done without your baby on your back?" He hates it,
but will be needing to get used to it.

Catherine finally got to hold the baby. She was in heaven. The baby
needs a bath, and we will be working out the details of a cleanliness
schedule over the coming weeks. The orphanage is so far away from any
large city, village mentality rules. Bathing is done infrequently
because water is so precious and difficult to acquire.

True Giving

After a very long and tiring two days of travel, we have finally
arrived in Malawi. When I say long, I mean the longest day ever.
Ever. Really, not anything longer. We got in this afternoon around
noon. After getting through the craziness of immigration, we loaded
up all 14 of our bags to head to our hotel. If it hadn't been for all
of the great people on the trip with us, we would have never made it.

Our car is quite suitable. It is an suv-ish sort of thing with teal
and pink racing stripes. I will send a picture when we have a chance.
Tonight we are staying in a hotel/guest house sort of place, and
tomorrow we move on to our home in Ntcheu.

There are a few things I am having to let go of:
1) Kids Naps: Probably won't happen very regularly
2) Detailed Schedule: for an OCD like me, that one is tough
3) Cleanliness: My kids played on a playground tonight that was not
covered in nice wood chips. Instead, it was dusty red clay. They were
covered in dirt. The bath water proved it. Having to let go.

Now, the lesson of the day:
We had a home lined up in Ntcheu for our family to rent during our
stay in Malawi. We found out this morning that the owner decided to
rent it to someone else. When the local baptist pastor in Ntcheu,
Pastor Phiri, discovered that we would not have a place to stay, he
moved his entire family (8 kids) out of their very new, very nice
home. They will be staying in their old home, about 800 square feet of
concrete with 2 bedrooms, during the duration of our stay. They
wouldn't have it any other way. They were honored for us to be able to
stay at their home. God had blessed them with it, so they want to
bless us.

They are teaching us what it means to really give.

Half Way

Everyone did great on the first two airplanes. The kids slept through
most of the long flight. Erin had Sophie and I had addis, so neither
one of us really got to sleep much. Addis was in my arms most of the
night.

As much as we moaned about the flight schedule, it turned out pretty
convenient to have a long layover here in London. We are hanging out
at a hotel and the kids are coloring and will soon be in the tub.

We plan on enjoying a good lunch then napping this afternoon. We fly
out at 8 pm London time. Two more flights and we are there!

Thank you for all of the comments and encouraging emails. They mean a
lot to us. Continue to pray for our travel. It has been very evident
that we were covered in prayer through the first part of our journey.
Don't stop now.

Next stop, Africa.

The Final Morning

We enjoyed our last decent shower, drank water out of the faucet, and shaved with hot water. It will be a while before we are able to do these things again, so we are enjoying the ordinary things we take for granted.

The kids are more than excited. They are jumping around talking about Africa and babies and playing in the mud. I think they are most excited about getting on the airplane. 42 hours later, I don't think they will be as pumped up.

To all of our friends and family, we love you and will see you again soon.

I am sure before the day is over, there will be another update. And, while we are away, there will be many more. This update is to say, we love you and will miss you.

Drawing Near

We are only a few days away from the start of our crazy adventure. We have all but three of our bags packed and it looks like we might be able to make it all fit. Mostly, we are loaded down with food.

Now, there is now way we could ever take enough food for our entire trip. However, it will be nice if twice a week we can have something that at least resembles American food.

Most days, it will be chicken and rice. And no, you can't buy frozen chicken in Ncheu, Malawi. It will be of the live variety. When my sweet Catherine discovers that "chicky" from the yard is now on the table, there will be a major meltdown. Hopefully, we can shelter her from ever figuring that out.

And before we go, a funny picture of Sophia to send you on your way. She dressed herself this day, and shockingly enough, Erin let her leave the house. Dirty shirt and all. Notice, she NEVER gets the shoes on the right feet. That one is going to be a fireball in Africa!

Crazy Town

Getting a family of 6 ready to leave the country for two months is harder than anyone thought. Besides packing 12 suitcases at no more than 50 lbs. to avoid getting robbed at the ticket counter by greedy airlines, there is all of the other stuff.

Bills have to be set up on auto draft, mail has to be held, grass has to be mowed, stuff can't get stolen, etc. The list seems to continue to grow. Every time we check off one thing, we add three more. It is a good thing Erin is a list maker, or we might make it there without the essentials.

On top of all of that is the fact that we still haven't seen a picture of the vehicle we have rented for the duration of our stay. I asked for a picture. All I got in response was "It will be suitable for seven people with room to carry all of your laggages." No, I did not misspell laggages. It is a direct quote from the email. Suitable sounds adventurous.

And then the flight schedule. It is poor. No, it is wretched. The worst one ever. Twelve hour layover in London. 8 am to 8 pm. 42 total hours of traveling. Then, 4-6 hour drive to our home once we arrive in Malawi.

So, to some it all up. Crazy town.

Now, for the pictures. Here are some of our favorites from our recent family photo shoot.