Highs and Lows

The church we attend here is currently doing a series preaching through Joshua and that is the title of the series. This week they will be crossing the Jordan river into the promised land. Definitely a high!

I borrowed this title to talk about the highs and lows of life in Malawi.

Highs for me as anyone who follows me on Facebook should now definitely include our dogs. My very silly, naughty but nice puppy gives

me great joy and my big strong black shepherd makes me feel safe. They are a blessing.

Every day I see birds in greater variety then would ever be the case in the states. I also see wonderful blooming plants. The tree by my bedroom window is nearly constantly in bloom with vivid hot pink blooms. It’s jacaranda season and they purple blossoming trees are blooming their hearts out. Frangipani which can be a variety of colors are coming into bloom, and soon the flame trees will be bright orange red. My soul is fed by these beautiful things.

I have continued to be fascinated by the local wild life. If you ask my family they will tell you mom always wants to visit zoos. Here with in an hour or so drive I can see zoo animals in their natural habitat and I continue to revel in that opportunity.

This week we had another high as we managed to decipher the new e portal and submit documents to bring new missionaries into Malawi. That was preceeded by a big low but still we are thankful.

One more thing that I see as a high and may amuse some is that I have become more accustomed and tolerant of the many odd things that show up in and around my house. Yesterday that was a blue centipede. Sometimes it’s an amazing large fast moving spider or an over grown roach. Slowly God has given me the grace to deal with these things.

Lows are really greatly missing my family. This is more pronounced as I realize I have missed a year of their lives now. There have been big events that I would love to have been a part of, especially of late. I am convinced we are where God has called us to be for many reasons but it does not always stop the second guessing.

We are going on a week of little or no internet in our home. This is hard. I do my keeping in touch with the world at home all through the internet. It is frustrating when it doesn’t work. Thankfully it has been relatively stable at the office. 

All the lovely flowers and birds and blooming things also mean allergens. I am not sure if it is the blossoms or the smoke from burning leaves and trash that are bothering me but I have been plagued by sinus headaches. It is also a distressing thing that much garbage is just thrown out and litters the whole world here. Our pastor referred to the blue plastic bags which are abundant as being the national bird. I often am focusing my camera on a bit of colored plastic off a ways thinking it might be a bird. 

The house where we live here is my only “home” and it has problems. I am so thankful for many good things in our house but we also have a badly damaged ceiling and mold issues that have been a struggle to get rectified. Our rent is paid every month, but our landlords motivation to deal with problems is not active every month. We believe this is going to be resolved in the next week or so. We also believe the leaking roof which caused the problem has been effectively repaired.

Another particular low for me is fellowship or more appropriately lack thereof. I work in an office with all men. I go to EBCoM to work in the library at select time and see all men. I have nothing against all these men but I do need female companionship in my life. Somedays there is none. In this area I am thankful because Andrea Richter will be back in country today and I will see her most days going forward. I have also become much more comfortable with relationships and fellowship at our church and the life group I have joined. Many of these people are Malawian nationals but their English is better than that of my neighbors so meaningful communication is much easier for me with my limited Chichewa (it’s growing but I don’t think I have a natural gift at all) and the neighbor ladies limited English.

My ministry role was seriously hampered when the system for processing documents at immigration changed. It was very hard to realize that what I had struggled to learn was largely invalidated. I am also feeling like I am still struggling with my alphabet soup (NPL, IPS, MO’s, PRF’s etc.) I make progress but it is slow as it’s all through manuals and long distance communication.

So there is a large mix of things but through the past months and closing on a year, God has shown himself faithful in many ways. I watched a Louis Giglio video that showed up in my facebook feed. I have started reading John Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Life”. I have reflected on the good gifts. GOD is Good!

Culture???

The Things I do

I am an azungu (foreigner) in this culture.

I do a lot of things to fit in to the culture.

I dress appropriately about 95% of the time, wearing long skirts and modest tops or dresses. I occasionally where jeans of work out clothes when I am not doing anything related to my work or ministry.

I am slowly learning to speak and understand others speaking Chichewa. I make an effort with greeting people and taking time to hear about them. That is important here.

Generally, I let my husband lead in matters of dealing with our guards/gardener/house helper in all things except general in the house things. That is seen as my domain.

I try hard not to directly express anger and disapproval. Those of you who know me well know that is an uphill battle.

It seems as I learn more about this culture I learn more and more things that I do that just don’t fit in.

I talk walks, kuyenda chabe I say when people ask me where I am headed, that means just walking. Malawians don’t generally take walks just to walk.

I also carry my camera and take pictures of birds which while my neighbors have gotten used to they still find it odd and amusing.

I walk my dogs. I don’t think until recently I really realized how this is not a cultural norm because I see people walking dogs, esp. out in my neighborhood. Now I hear they are taking them for flea baths.

I am pretty weird about my dogs not eating trash which is a common part of most animal diets here.

I also provide the best veterinary care available for my pets in a country where good medical care is often difficult to find.

I bake, sometimes a lot. Traditionally Malawians have not baked. All food has been cooked over a fire and they do make a few things that are quick bread like in a sort of dutch oven but baking is not really part of this culture.

I think that mostly I get by even though I don’t always fit in mostly because I spend time with people and I greet them warmly in Chichewa. Now my Chichewa is still pretty sad but Malawians seem to universally respond better to most things you do and say if you make an effort to speak their language.

So I go on walking the dogs and taking pictures and baking cakes and cookies and I keep working on my language.

Chabwino, Its all right.

Birds, Butterflies and Bugs

So if you follow my facebook you might think all I ever do is take pictures. In the age of digital photography, I manage to take a lot of photos and delete most of them. The word obsessive has been tossed around in connection with my name.

I find that having an outlet apart from my office work is a good thing for my mental and physical health. I am doing a lot of walking and my knees are doing well. I have had an issue with my hip that is improving. I am doing quite a few other things, having guests to my home for meals, my neighbor kids come over to color, a friend comes to sew, and I do extra reading because I am the personnel coordinator and will be telling others to read some of them and we are trying to figure out the best ones. I also study Chichewa.

I want to continue to study language and culture along with my work. Walking in the mornings with my camera has been a good exercise for this as well. I talk to people I meet, mostly Malawian’s I greet them in Chichewa, sometimes we have conversations. Slowly slowly I am hearing more words that are familiar to my azungu ears. Even words and phrases I know are hard for me to hear and understand from a Malawian tongue.

 I have learned about how maize is harvested, most Malawians in this area seem to think it’s a good crop. I have visited with men making bricks. That is quite a process as they carry the water and mix the clay like soil and then form the bricks in a mold and turn them out on smoothed ground to dry. Then they are stacked in a special way so that fire can be built inside the stack to cure them. Today a man wanted to sell me some for 20 Kwacha each. I don’t need bricks and I have learned that this is a pretty high price. Nasho bought some for 17 kwacha each and our language teacher says sometimes they sell for less.

Most early mornings I see women hauling what I am told is fire wood. Long straight branches about 8 feet long bundled together are hauled balanced on their heads which are padded with rolled up chitenjes. Sometimes they will also be carrying a baby in a chitenje on their back. They are working hard and I feel like a slug wondering around staring up at the tree tops. They also wonder about me as most Malawians would not have a camera or the time to pursue bird watching as a hobby.

Mostly the regulars in our neighborhood are getting used to seeing me out with my camera and know I am looking at birds so they point a few out to me and greet me warmly.. I frequently tell those who haven’t seen me before, “Ndi Kujambula mbalame” (I am taking pictures of birds).

I have recently added not one but 2 bird baths in our yard hoping to attract more song birds into my world. There are many plain birds around here but there are also very exotic looking birds with crests, or long tails, and very bright colors. We also have so many butterflies here and quite interesting bugs. I am not seeing many new critters on my morning walks now but generally I spot something of interest and I learn something new from time to time.