Malawi

Once again we were on our way and very excited about meeting our other sponsored child Oziyasi in Malawi.
 

"HUJAMBO"
We were happy to have met a contact living in Malawi through Servas (thanks to Sue in Zimbabwe!).  So what is Servas?  It is very similar to Couch Surfing however goes a bit deeper.  It is an international network for making contact with people from all over the world.  The idea is for people to meet and talk to each other, which can be a good way to help promote peace and international understanding.  As a Servas host you welcome people of all cultures, races and religions into your homes.  As a Servas traveler, you visit and stay with such Servas hosts in over a hundred countries, and share your ideas with them.  Servas gives you the chance to reach out across cultures to learn about what people have in common, and to appreciate how they do things differently.  It is a different way to see the world and “With every true friendship we build more firmly the foundations on which the peace of the whole world rests.”  Mahatma Gandhi.

Demelza introduced herself to us at the airport in Harare since she was flying home after spending a week in Zimbabwe and was on the same flight as us!  It was the smallest plane we’ve been on with only 10 passengers on board.  Demelza is a super energetic woman and we immediately liked her free spirit and ‘get it done’ attitude.  Our conversation in the plane revealed that our flight would be landing in Lilongwe however she lives in Blantyre which is another 45 min. flight!!  Not sure if I can blame this one on AirTreks but I will.  When we booked I specifically told our agent that the reason we were going to Malawi was to meet our sponsored child near Blantyre.  Not knowing how far apart these two cities are I never thought to question arriving in Lilongwe.  So we had to quickly work out a solution to this dilemma.  We checked flights…too expensive, renting a car or hiring a driver…would cost over $200, so it was decided that taking a bus was our only option.  While purchasing a phone card we met a lady whose sister owns a lodge, she called and reserved a room for us.  We said good-bye to Demelza so she could catch her connecting flight to Blantyre and hired a driver to take us to the Budget Lodge.  Great place, just opened and they gave us two rooms for the price of one.  Dad & daughter and mother/son dates for the night. 

We hired the same driver, Gilbert, the next day to show us the town.  Lilongwe is the capital city of Malawi and we had until 4:00 to explore it.  We were hesitant to tour the Lilongwe Wildlife Sanctuary having flashbacks to the Zoo in Peru but thankfully it was nothing like that.  

"Adults must be accompanied by a child"

This is a place where the animals have lot’s of space, are surrounded by fences but not in cages, and cared for until they are ready to be sent back into the wild.  It also rescues animals that are being abused in Zoo’s.  We got up close and personal with a lion named Bella with only a wire fence between us, which was an unforgettable experience!  Bella had an injured eye and was rescued from a Romanian Zoo.
 

Next we wanted to visit the Canadian Consulate to give the kids some education surrounding this service however when we got there discovered it had closed and what remains is CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency).  They were nice enough to allow us some office space and a computer to check emails while the kids pretended to have a  "boardroom meeting."

Taking the bus to Blantyre was typical for Africa and we shouldn’t be surprised that the "direct" route actually had many stops including police checks of course.  Demelza’s husband Gordon picked us up and brought us to their lovely home right on the St. Andrews High School campus.  He is the head master and their oldest son Saulo is the PE teacher there.  Demelza is a mid-wife and they have 4 other children, girls Paschwa, Sichella, Lemorah and son Taron who is only 4 years old. For the first time since arriving in Africa we saw mosquito's and thankfully nets over the beds.  Even though the mosquito’s are abundant none of Demelza’s family has ever contracted malaria, they’ve lived in Malawi for 15 years and do not take any anti-malarial pills. 

During the mad rush in the morning while getting 4 children out the door to school somehow our kids were swept up into the commotion and before we knew it they had left for school too.  
Demelza took JC, Saulo’s girlfriend Jenny and I to a church then to Open Arms baby care centre where I got to cuddle a newborn baby boy Juskin.  JC had a Rotary meeting to attend so we had to leave but came back later the same day with the girls after school was out.  This centre is amazing, with 33 babies and another 20 or so toddlers its focus is to return babies to their familes or villages when possible.  Some of the babies are just dropped off there.  There are 15 million people in Malawi and 1 million orphans!!  So much more to explain but their website can explain it better than I can.  Check out www.openarmsmalawi.com to read more about it.

 

The kids came home completely jazzed about being in school for a day.  Landon was especially excited since he got to attend high school with Paschwa.  Lot’s of playing, swimming, trampoline, smiles and laughter coming from all 6 of them plus friends in the beautiful back yard.  Before bed all the kids watched HomeAlone under the mosquito net covered bunk bed.

May 31, the day has finally come for our family to meet Oziyasi after sending and receiving letters for the past 5 years.  The World Vision staff, Ben, Pirira, Goster and Enoch were extremely accommodating and adjusted our visit so we could spend more time with Ozi and his family.  We travelled outside of Blantyre to District Chiradzu at the Mpama area Development Program where 2607 children are sponsored by World Vision and 3,000 are in the program benefiting from the sponsorship dollars.  Such projects cover such things as school supplies, livestock, crops, fish farming and lead farmers who train the younger generation.

We had several hours connecting with him, his family, friends and the entire community.  Once again it was a big celebration having us there.  Ozi seemed so shy at first, I think he was nervous and I can’t blame him since he was the centre of attention with this white family surrounding him.  His mom Eluby, grama Alaika, Uncle Awali, brother Shukran(5) and 2 sisters Falida(8) and Emily(11) were also present.  The fun began after a few speeches from World Vision, a community member, Ozi’s uncle and his mom, JC and even me.  We presented our gifts to Ozi and his siblings in front of the whole village since this is the way World Vision wanted it and it was explained to me that the reason is there will be no questions then on what we brought.

Our most unique experience was sharing a meal together inside his mud/brick house.  Atop a bamboo mat we sat & enjoyed a delicious meal of Nsema (like sadza), rice, chicken, & vegetables prepared for us by some village ladies.  It was a very special moment.

The afternoon was spent playing games, sharing different games.  Tianna walked with a bucket of water on her head, Landon played his guitar for awhile, JC had an arm wrestle & I gave each of the older boys (17-20yrs.old) a Canadian pin and told them, through an interpreter, that the younger boys look up to them and to be good role models and leaders!!  T & I helped a lady shell peas and Tianna got to skip with all the girls.  Tianna taught and learned some new hand clapping games.  T & JC also demonstrated their excellent balance by standing on their heads, everyone seemed to like that one.  JC organized a relay race with the boys and thinks Ozi is a good athlete, must run in the genes!
 

 Landon posing with Ozi's best friends, one named Dylan.....just like Landon's best friend in Vernon!

The time went so fast and suddenly it was time to go but not before we took our final ‘family’ pictures.  

We were disappointed with ourselves, at first, for not remembering to bring a soccer ball with us but then realized that we would not have bonded the way we did with them if we were just playing soccer.  When we stopped in town to get money there was a man holding a soccer ball for sale (God moment?)  we purchased it, signed it and gave it to Pearson, the World Vision driver to take to the village on the next trip there.

It’s funny how kids can influence the travel plans but because Landon had such a good time at school he wanted to go again the next day which meant taking a late afternoon bus back to Lilongwe instead of an early morning bus.  Well, I guess he twisted our arm enough because we caved and had another day with the Benbow family! 

 Lemorah, Taron, & Sichella

 After almost missing the bus, Demelza and her kids drove to our first stop just to say good-bye again!!

The double decker bus was a beauty, only 2 days old, however, the hostess never showed a DVD like we were promised and instead played the same CD over 4 times, I had to say something!!

Making connections through connections seems to be a common theme of our journey and through Demelza we became Servas Members and spent the night with another Servas member Kristine in Lilongwe. Staying with Kristine and her son Thomas was short and sweet, arriving late from Blantyre and leaving early the next day for the airport.  But as usual we bonded over a cup of tea and breakfast in the morning.  Thomas is a swimmer, has won many national titles and hopes to be in the Olympics one day but he is not able to compete for Uganda because his mom is Belgium and his dad Rwandan so is not a Malawian citizen even though he was born there and lived there his entire life.

JC & I have become “texties” in Malawi having to totally rely on texting for all our arrangements with our driver, World Vision, Demelza, Kristine, and Keta!!  Not proficient by any means but we can do it in a pinch, our friends back home would be so proud.

Through a friend in Vernon we connected briefly with Keta and her brother who were kind enough to pick us up and take us to the airport.  We had a great chat along the way about the project they are involved with in Malawi called “Somebody Cares Ministries”.  Great progress being made here with AIDS education and treatment.

Once again we feel people are misinformed about the danger of this beautiful country.  We felt perfectly safe here!  The population is estimated at over 13 million with an unemployment rate of 60-90%, the country exports diamonds, platinum, and gold.  It is a long, narrow country of which one fifth is taken up by Lake Malawi.  From the short time we had in Malawi we noticed friendly people, beautiful landscape and nothing to prevent us from coming back one day!