July 7 - We leave safari and are almost kidnapped

This morning when we woke up, we saw the fence that had been broken down by elephants the night before! From right outside our porch, down about thirty feet, the fence was completely dismantled.

The view from our porch of the broken fence (and my feet.)

Breakfast was delicious! A Denver omelet, thick slices of bacon, sausage, currant muffins, fresh fruit salad, toast, orange juice, coffee, and tea. Yum! I haven't had a breakfast like that in ages! We left for our boat safari around 7:45AM and saw crocodiles, elephants, hippos, and lots of birds.  It was a gorgeous morning and I was glad to spend it on the water. 

There's me, and there's an elephant. Typical.

 We had to check out of our room after the safari. I was so sad to leave after such a short stay! I could have stayed for weeks. :) After catching the boat transfer, we got on the bus headed back to Lilongwe.  We kind of got seats this time.  I sat on a sack of potatoes (or maybe corn) right next to the driver. I was nearly sitting on the dashboard. I got a real seat about an hour into the ride, but it was right at the front of the bus by the door, so I got sat on several times as people were trying to get on. Good times...

On the boat transfer to the bus stop

For some reason, the bus stopped a majillion times and we didn't get to Lilongwe until 6PM and it was dark.  It's not safe to be out after dark. Especially when you're four white girls.  The mini-buses had quit running (because it was after dark) and the taxi drivers were hounding us on every side. Some of them had started yelling at us before we even got off of the bus. After texting Daniel to find out what to do, he advised us to take a taxi.  We went with the guy who was most persistent. After following him around to the back of the dark bus station, he led us to his car which already had a driver in the front seat. We thought the guy with us was the driver. He was the one with the license, after all.  We all crammed into the car - Jenna in the front passenger seat, and the rest of us in the back seat - me, Jayme, Annie, AND the guy who we thought was the driver. We told them that we needed to go to Area 47, Sector 5, House 206, and then we were off.  Being in that car was the scariest experience of my life. The gas gauge was on empty, the driver nearly hit oncoming traffic head on a dozen times, and when we stopped at a police road block, the guy in the back seat told us to tell the officer that the car wasn't a taxi if he asked. SKETCHY. Jayme and I were both literally praying the whole time, just that we wouldn't be killed or kidnapped. Finally we got to our street and we yelled at the driver to stop and then we scrambled/leaped/fell out of that car as fast as we could. I almost left without my bag because I was so concerned with getting out and running home. I never want to do that again.

After our terrifying taxi ride, the evening settled down.  We watched the last World Cup game before the final - Spain vs. Germany.  Spain won.  Jayme and I made more amazing kettle corn. I think we've discovered a hidden talent. :)

I talked to Daddy for about 20 minutes this evening! It's the first time I have talked to him in two weeks. It was so good to hear his voice. :)

Jayme and I also made banana bread tonight. The recipe was all in milliliters and we didn't have any measuring utensils, so it was all guess work, but it turned out pretty yummy anyway!

July 6 - Elephants!

Hello, elephants.

We're on safari! And there are currently four (or possibly more) elephants right outside of our cabin. No lie! They were about ten feet from our front door, eating by the bank of the river, and now they're chowing down right outside the windows above my bed. Ahh! This is the most surreal experience!

Jayme, journalling under the mosquito net in our "chateau"

OK, I think they're heading out now. To fill you in on today, everything went fine with our travel here.  We still didn't have seats on the bus for about the first two hours, but standing wasn't too bad once you got situated. Our boat was ready for us when we got to the landing. It was a lovely ride! Our captain gave us lemonade and pointed out animals along the way.  We saw lots of hippos, a few elephants, and a couple of crocodiles. 

On the boat with my lemonade! (picture by Jayme)

Hippos!

 Once we got to Mvuu Camp, we were escorted inside and given another welcome drink - some sort of tropical fruit juice (we think.)  We were then served lunch and escorted to our "chateau." It is so nice! Rustic, but comfortable.  We're right on the bank of the river and have amazing showers and beds!

On the porch of our "chateau"

Before our afternoon safari, we were invited to tea time.  The tea (and coffee!!) were delicious, as were the four slices of pound cake that magically appeared on our table when we got up to fix our tea.

Enjoying my coffee and cake! Please excuse the crazy windblown hair. (picture by Jayme)

The game drive was awesome!  We saw elephants, warthogs, water bucks, bush bucks, velvet monkeys, mongooses (mongeese?) and a variety of birds.  The stars came out while we were still on the drive and they were amazing.  It's incredible to see stars all the way to the horizon.

On the Jeep, getting ready for the game drive!

 

The AMAZING sunset across the river

July 5 - We meet the Immigration Officers

Funny story - we're not on safari right now. We were going to be, but Malawi Immigration had a different idea.

We were already later for our bus because we had to wait over half an hour for a minibus into town. Our bus was actually pulling out of the "station" when we got there, but Daniel (our volunteer coordinator) flagged it down.  The bus was packed, so the four of us had to stand in the aisle, along with several other unfortunate souls. We were trying to make the best of it, but we really didn't want to stand for four or five hours.

Annie, Jenna, and Jayme standing in the bus (picture by Annie)

About ten minutes after leaving town, the bus stopped at a road block, which seemed normal enough, until the driver pointed at us and told us to get off of the bus.  We weren't really sure what was going on, but he seemed adamant, so we squished past other people in the aisle, and got off of the bus. An immigration officer was at the bottom of the steps and demanded to see our passports. Well, none of us had them - we didn't think we'd need them if we weren't going to be crossing any borders! Jenna and I had copies of our information pages, but not of the stamped page.  The officer asked us how she was supposed to believe we were missionaries (which is what we said) if we didn't have documentation. She then said we would have to stay there and instructed the bus driver to give us our fare back. He did, and the the bus drove away. Without us.

We were herded into a little road house/office thing and told to sit on a wooden bench. Some more officers came in, asking questions about our ages, our countries, our business in Malawi, and repeatedly saying that they couldn't believe us without documentation. They started talking to each other in Chichewa and left us sitting there, not knowing what was going on. Jayme pulled out a pack of gum and one officer sharply asked her if it was drugs.

The illegal immigrants (picture by Annie)

While waiting to find out our fate, one of the younger officers started hitting on Jenna.  He asked if she was married, if she liked Malawian men, etc. Then he asked if she smoked, because he was going to share his cigarettes with her. She replied in the negative, and one of the other officers said "Of course she doesn't smoke, she's a 'missionary!'" The officers finally decided that they were going to take us to the immigration office in the city. We were then loaded into a shuttle/bus kind of thing along with three officers and only told that we were going to the office. We were trying to let Daniel know where we were going, but they wouldn't give us any details.

We got to the office and "the boss" told us that they "just really needed to see our passports."  We explained (AGAIN) that we didn't have them.  He told us to just call someone to go get our passports for us and bring them to the office. Jenna explained (AGAIN) that our rooms were locked and we were the only ones with the keys, so no one else would be able to get our passports for us. The Boss then decided that we should be brought to our house to get our passports, so we were loaded on the bus again, with about four officers and driven to Teethsavers.  We got our passports and showed them to the officer who came inside with us.  She seemed satisfied, and we thought we were done, but she told us that we had to go back to the office to show the Boss.  On the way, we went back to the road block to pick up another passportless foreigner, we stopped at a grocery store so that one of the officers could chat with her friend for awhile and then offer said friend a ride to lunch on the illegal immigrant bus, and then pulled off on the side of the road for another officer to browse some pots that were being sold there. She didn't even buy one! Frustration.

When we finally got to the immigration office, the Boss looked at our passports, had one of his minions take down some information, and then annoyedly told us we were free to go. We grabbed a mini bus back to Teethsavers and came home.  We cooked cabbage and cornbread for lunch. Thankfully Daniel was able to reschedule our safari for tomorrow without any money lost, so we aren't really out anything besides a day (and K200 for the mini buses.)

This afternoon we went to the nursery for  a few hours since we hadn't been there in awhile and played with our little friends. We went out to eat with Annie and one of her Malawian friends tonight. We rode in the back of a pick-up truck under the stars. It was SO much fun! We ate at a Chinese hotel, oddly enough.  The food was good, and a nice change of pace.

Annie, me, Jayme, and Jenna on our way to dinner (picture by Annie)

The whole crew at dinner (picture by Danielle)

Tomorrow we (try to) go on safari...again!

July 4 - Oh look at that, it's the 4th of July

Haha, I just realized it was the 4th of July when I dated this entry. No big celebrations going on here! :)

This morning we went to an Assemblies of God church for a more "African" service.  I was quite an interesting experience. We didn't realize that today was "paper Sunday," when they take up offerings for each ministry of the church. There was lots of dancing, singing, and fluttering kwacha bills as they were thrown into various chitenjes and baskets. I know that God loves a cheerful giver, but I think the show was a little excessive.  They even had the counting of the offerings as part of the service. All the songs were in Chichewa and the sermon was in both Chichewa and English, but the pastor and translator overlapped each other so much it was hard to tell what either was saying. The service started at 9:30AM and ended at 1:00PM. That's a long time to be sitting on a wooden bench.

After church was finally over, we met Danielle for lunch at Cafe Delight. After lunch, Mike left us to go use the internet somewhere and we girls went with Danielle to the Crossroads Hotel because she really wanted to use their Jacuzzi.  None of us had our swimsuits, but we sat on the side and put our feet in.  It was sooooo nice on my aching African feet. When we were done, we got some ice cream and did some grocery shopping.  I had such a good time hanging out with Danielle. I love her. :)

We had vegetable soup and fresh bread for dinner tonight!  I made bread with African groceries and no measuring utensils, but it turned out pretty good anyway. My dough was too soft, so it was more like foccacia than boule. It tasted good though!

Tomorrow we go on safari!

"Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalms 46:10

July 3 - Zebedee

Me, Jenna, Zebedee, and Jayme

You know how the Bible says that we entertain angels unaware? I'm pretty sure I did today.

Jayme, Jenna, and I were in town today doing some shopping and were going to catch a minibus back to Teethsavers. An empty bus pulled up and it didn't have a number on the dash, so Jenna asked if the bus went to Area 47 and the attendant replied that it did. So we got on with our groceries and paid our K100 fare.  In a few minutes though, nothing outside looked familiar. A few minutes later, the bus pulled over by a clump of trees with a foot path, opened the door, and the attendant shouted "Area 47!" This stop was not our Area 47 stop.  When we showed some confusion, the attendant looked a little annoyed, closed the door, and told the driver to pull into the filling station across the street so we could figure out what we were doing.  We didn't know where we were, none of us had a cell phone, it would be getting dark soon, and we were getting nervous.

A young man (maybe 20-25 years old) leaned up from the back seat and tried to figure out where we needed to go.  Finally he said, "Get off the bus. I'll escort you." We didn't really know what to do, but we decided to trust him, and we got off the bus. He introduced himself as Zebedee and we started walking. I walked with him and Jayme and Jenna were behind us.  Zebedee and I talked the whole way. He found out that we were American college students serving as missionaries with Ministry of Hope, what each of us was studying in school, and what we were doing in the city.  He is a student at the Malawi Polytechnic college and is a Christian.  When he found out that I wanted to become a doctor, he said, "I think that a doctor who is a Christian must be a very powerful doctor.  Not only will you be well-trained in medicine, but you can pray for your patients."

He ended up walking us all the way to our street, even though he was originally headed in the completely opposite direction and the walk lasted half an hour.  He refused any payment, even just K100 for a return minibus fare. He told us there was no charge for goodwill and that he was glad to help people who were serving Christ and others here in Malawi when there were so many other things we could have done with our summers.  He gave us his phone number in case we ever got lost/needed help again. He let us take a picture with him and then he took a picture of us with his cell phone so he could remember the three girls he walked home. He even asked to write down our names so he wouldn't forget. I gave him a hug, we waved goodbye, and we walked our separate ways. I turned and watched him disappear over the hill. Right at that moment, we saw Laita walking to the market across the street. We were home.

July 2 - Housekeeping

This morning I did my first load of laundry. Let me just say I am now more thankful than ever to the person who invented the washing machine.  Doing a whole load (or two) by hand is tough work!  It took me about an hour and fifteen minutes to wash, rinse, and hang my clothes. But, they're clean!

Jenna, Jayme, Annie (a new girl,) and I signed up for a safari today!  We got a missionary discount, so it only cost us $230 each for three safaris, meals, and a cabin. I'm so excited!

We spent this afternoon in the village of Khwamba, helping a team from Tulsa, OK do a VBS type thing with the kids. It was fun playing with the kids and meeting other uzungus. :) Unfortunately, on the drive home, Jenna got sick just like I had. She was sick all evening (she threw up about five times, I think) but is sleeping now, so hopefully she'll feel better in the morning.  I've done my best to help her out - I understand her pain!

Playing games at Khwamba

Tonight, Mike wanted to have an authentic nsima dinner (ugh) and we were all helping Laita in the kitchen.  She offered to teach one of us how to make nsima and I volunteered. I figured it would be like exposure therapy. Making nsima is tough work!  By the time I get back to the States, I am going to be buff. Anyway, my nsima turned out nicely, but I could only make myself eat one bite.  It still makes me queasy.  I just made a meal of the relishes.

Mike and Jayme making relishes with Laita

Making nsima under Laita's watchful eye. (picture by Annie)

It's working! (Too bad I won't eat it.)

As is our "tradition," Mike, Jayme, and I popped popcorn after dinner and prior to the night World Cup game.  Mike made regular popcorn with butter, and Jayme and I made the most amazing batch of kettle corn EVER.  We have attempted it before, but it has never turned out as perfectly as tonight. Mmm..... The two of us were in a friendly competition with Mike to see whose popcorn was more popular.  Gerda liked ours better and Annie like Mike's. We'll call it a tie. :)

The only other downer today besides Jenna getting sick is that Ghana lost to Uruguay tonight and won't be moving on. It was quite a stressful game. They had to go to penalty kicks after 30 minutes of overtime and the score was only 1-1.  On the bright side, the Netherlands won today, so Gerda is happy!

July 1 - Home, Sweet Home! (Kind of)

Home, sweet home.  Kind of. :) Jayme and I are back at Teethsavers tonight!  We survived three days and two nights in the village and are now resting comfortably; clean and in real beds.  I have a new found appreciation for such things! When we got home this afternoon, all we wanted to do was head straight for the showers - we hadn't had any running water or been clean in three days - but when we walked in the door, Laita told us that the water in the house was out. No water. No shower. No way to wash off the inch of village dirt on everything....oh well...TIA. Thankfully the water came back on around dinner time. That shower was the most wonderful amazing blessed thing in the world! :)

Jayme and me with Jimmy and his son (picture by Jayme)

Seeing Danielle, Mike, and Jenna this morning was like a breath of fresh air.  After finishing our clinic duties, we played with the kids for the last time. They all seemed to think my name was "Kitsy" and called me "Kits" for short, but it was better than "mzungu!"

Goofing off with my little friends.  (picture by Jenna)

I'm in the middle there, playing "Duck, Duck, Chicken" with the kids. (picture by Jenna)

Tomorrow I am doing laundry. I must.