What a wonderful place. This sprawling campus is home to 100 orphans. These children are taken care of 24/7 by a staff of 70. That’s right, 70 people work at Rafiki Village Malawi. The key people, of course, are their “mamas.” They are Malawian nationals and live with up to ten children in a cottage and treat them as their own. The entire village has common meals in the dining hall (see photos).

Last night they all sang a welcome song to me. Everyone calls me Uncle Steve.  Tonight, I ate dinner with one group of 5th grade girls. Their “mama” has been with them for over ten years. The children in her charge have known no other mother. Other workers are the village administrator, children’s program administrator, teachers, cooks, security guards (for both day and night), cleaning staff, construction workers, etc.

The results from this effort are evident when you speak with the children. They are polite, kind, healthy, funny, and seem to know and love the Lord. Living here they are pretty much isolated from much of the corruption of modern culture. When I ask them what their favorite movies are they say Star Wars, the Princess Bride, Polycarp, and the Blind Side. They only know the movies shown here some evenings on dvd. They don’t have tv and don’t use the internet. (sidenote: the government regulates and taxes the internet severely, so service is both slow and expensive)

There is a wonderful innocence in these children. For instance, today at lunch one asked me how many airplane rides did it take to get here (3). I told him it was very cramped on the airplane. He then asked if it was the same kind of seat as Luke Skywalker used in his ship when he destroyed the Deathstar. Funny.

For the last two weeks and this week the village is doing what they call G.A.M.E.S. This is their version of Christmas, Spring, and Summer Breaks. It’s wonderful that they have these activities, but it reminds you that they have no families to go home to. They live at the orphanage year-round. They do GAMES three times a year.

What does that mean for me and my teaching work here? Well, that doesn’t start ’till next week. This week I am helping with Lego construction projects (see photo of the contest to build the Great Malawian Bridge between two chairs),

spread Nutella on cookies for snack, and helping out for the other GAMES “passport activities” like running the good race and growing gardens (see photos), all based on Bible lessons. (here’s a photo of “Auntie” Jenny leading a discussion about running the good race of faith in Christ.

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The students have lots of spare time as it is their school break. They love to play basketball, ride bikes, and sit around reading.

The weather is spectacular. Just like a San Diego winter- cool in the 60s. Of course, it’s July in the southern Hemisphere.

The food is very traditional. The staple here is Nsima, a white corn (maize) and water loaf (pronounced “en-zema”). They love it! We’ve had it at two meals and they scarf it down. It looks like mashed potatoes, but tastes like bland corn. Frankly, I find it a little flavorless, but it’s sustenance. Along with Nsima, they have beans, chicken, lentils, and beef broth (so far in my few meals here). The blue tray was filled with Nsima and consumed by ten little girls and their “mama!”

That’s it for now. More updates soon.

The Fourth of July, 2015

After a lovely dinner with Deb and Rod at one of their favorite Italian restaurants, Arrivederci, they drop me off at the San Diego airport. I’m in plenty of time and the airport seems deserted. I’m at the gate for my 10:30 PM flight to Washington Dulles and watch the fireworks from a window near the gate. The flight is on time and I arrive into IAD at 6AM with plenty of time until my 11AM flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. So much time that I cash-in my coupon to use the United Club. There I use their free WiFi, have some nice oatmeal, fruit and coffee. A very relaxing morning.

I board the plan for my 11 and 1/2 hour flight from Washington to Ethiopia and score! I have three seats all to myself! I take my benedril and I’m out. I wake up with just two hours to go! In that time, I watch part of Cinderella. I give it thumbs-up.

I arrive into Addis (as the natives call it) and have two hours to cool my heels. What do you know, the caverness international arrivals/departures hall has no services. No place to buy water or a snack, no WiFi and the restroom line is not only long, but the toilet for #2 is the “squat” kind. I’ll hold it.

At the airport, I meet a lovely group of five people also going to Lilongwe, Malawi. They are building a playground. I sort of wonder how they’re going to do this. Three of their group were women over 65 who did not fit the classical look of a construction worker.

(view of Lake Malawi from the air)

Anyway, the flight leaves about an hour late. After three hours we arrive into Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. The stairs are manually rolled to the plane and we all walk down to board a bus. We can see the terminal- it’s only 1,000 feet away. Nevertheless, we are driven to the terminal. There is only one door. We all line up, wait out turns and have them take our fingerprints and stamp our passport. This is perhaps the smallest airport I’ve every seen. Passport control and customs takes an hour.  It’s July 6th, Malawian Independence Day.

Once I leave the baggage claim, my promised ride is waiting for me. Michael speaks very poor English, but is a nice enough guy for the four and 1/2 hour drive to Mzuzu. As you notice by the photo, it’s an English style “right drive” car. I sit in the passenger seat where in the US, I’d be driving. I spend the trip dozing off or pushing on the floor thinking there is a break pedal there.

(My driver, Michael, drives with his eyes closed- he’s a professional)

On the journey along the only north-south road, we see poverty everywhere. Lots of working-age people just standing around. Later, I asked Larry, the village administrator about this. He said it’s not that they are lazy, it’s just that they don’t get enough to eat to have any energy. There aren’t any sidewalks, so people just line the side of the road, walking or hawking things for sale.

As we drive farther north, there are more trees and the mountains are beautiful.

We arrive into the Rafiki Village at about 5:30 PM. It’s just getting dark. In my bungalow they have given me a carton of milk, some cereal, and ground coffee for my breakfast (see photo)

I unpack and go to dinner at Larry and Cindy Renner’s for dinner. She has prepared a wonderful lasagna for us. Who is us? Larry Renner, his wife Cindy, and two other shorttermers, who are here for a month, Auntie Lauren and Auntie Jenny.

Exhausted, I’m in bed by 9 PM

Below are some photos from this morning, my first full day in Malawi. My breakfast foods, my room (complete with needed mosquito netting) and the view of my bungalow and the view from my front door.j