Please note the addition to the title of the blog! 100,000 Bricks! Tuesday, July 24. One of our visits that day was to Mgomo village. They have been very active in the Eagles program. They have cleared and improved some roads, planted trees, and built a bridge! The bridge will eventually be built more permanently with bricks. A good thing after seeing the bridge later in the week! Large rocks, poles of tree trunks and some nails which are already breaking most likely from the weight of the motorbikes they are brave enough to take across. But the bigger reason for the bricks is a desire to create two houses for teachers. The area has teachers but for several reasons, their actual attendance at school can be sporadic. The Government will not provide teachers unless there is housing available. So, in the spirit of the Eagles philosophy of using the skills and resources of the villages, the churches have mobilized to make...
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The Human Spirit
The power of the Human spirit is a force that we were create with to push us through adversity and circumstance that is not at all fair and definitely does not match the creator’s vision for us. We have just spent time with the most incredible people I have ever met. These were girls who have had to resort to transactiontional sex to feed themselves as well as their families. Most people in this world would have given up but these young women, living in the 3rd poorest country, have managed to find a resilience that is both inconceivable yet inspiring. The girls, aged between 14 and 22, job was to to sell whatever their family could scrounge together in the local market. The market is indescribable. It is like mud slum with bamboo and straw shelters where people sit on the dirt behind their produce and wares waiting for someone to buy their “yams”. They know they are one of scores of yam sellers in this market and the chances of getting a fair pr...
Hello from Cape Maclear! We are having a day's break before going to Lilongwe to collect supplies for our visit to Kamanzi-Chifuka village. I really want to back track a bit because there is so much to tell! Back in Johannesburg we were completely taken aback by the temperature! It was 7C when we got off the plane in the evening and only 3C when we got up in the morning! Fortunately, there was a lovely heavy blanket for my bed but my feet never did warm up. Another complication to this weather was the fact that our luggage had been checked through right to Blantyre. The warm clothes "but not too many" were sitting at the airport ready for the flight in the morning! Back to the airport and on to the big bus which takes you to the plane. Some of the waiting time was passed in conversation with two young students from a school in England - near Kent. There were 17 students and two teachers heading out for two weeks of volunteer work at a ...
Thursday, July 19 Good Morning from Blantyre! We are about to meet for breakfast before heading out to the project with the girls. The project is in an area called Lunzu and spread across several villages. I should mention our surprise yesterday. We were fortunate to have arrived in Johannesburg on Nelson Mandela Day! This year was the centenary celebrations. Lots of VIPs in South Africa and events. We caught Sir Richard Branson himself greeting guests somewhere! Last evening Faye hosted us to a couple of interesting sights. One is the oldest building in Blantyre, Mandala House, which now houses a lovely art gallery shop, cafe and upstairs a library with historic books and an extensive archive of newspapers and government gazettes. Breakfast has arrived - more later!
The Ubuntu Malawi team is in Johannesburg, South Africa for an overnight lay-over - arrives about 9 pm Tue local time - flying out totorrow at 10 am - only a couple more hours in the air and we will be in Blantyre, Malawi to begin our time "in-country". The travel has gone very well so far but we left Calgary at 3 pm Monday - midnight Malawi time and now some 23 hours later a bed feels great!
Leaving day is approaching! There is a lot going on behind the scenes. We have purchased some gifts for the girls in Blantyre and for our hosts and children in the village. Faye Yu, the World Renew worker in Lilongwe, suggested hats and scarves for the girls! In response to my question about how cold it might get, she thought 9 or 10 C at night. It will be interesting to compare what appear to be the same temperatures we are having here! This Sunday the group will gather for send off prayers during the service at church. Please join us if you can. Our first flight leaves Calgary at 3:30 on Monday afternoon. If you have not seen the departure area of the new section of the airport, this might be your chance! As many of you know, in the last several years, when Dave and I have traveled we have been on a walk or one of the Caminos. Since this trip is just as much a pilgrimage, I looked up the Chichewa translation for the gre...