Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Lilongwe/immigration (encore)
A weekend in Nkhoma…well kind of. into Lilongwe to try immigration one last time (hopefully). Going to apply for the 6 month Temporary Residence Permit. We had the paperwork before going in and it came with a checklist: application (in duplicate), 2 passport photos, proof of adequate means, proof of continuing travel, covering letter from sponsor/applicant, and 30,000 malawian kwacha. So during the week Dorothy and I work on getting our covering letter from the synod…not sure who to talk to but we finally get the secretary of someone who might be the right person…the right person is of course out of the office until Friday. (this was Wednesday) ok. Then we decide it is more likely to happen if we have the letter printed out and they just have to sign it or put it on letterhead…no having to figure out the wording, etc. so I type up a draft and we have to work on getting it printed…only takes two trips to get that done. We go to the office Thursday morning and find that he won’t be in until later. So we leave our copies and come back late afternoon. Still not in but she can leave it on his desk and we can pick it up at his house later that night (if I knew where that was). She points it out and I go about 7:30 and knock on the door. I get to talk to his wife who tells me that he still isn’t back but if I come back at 8:30 Saturday morning he will be able to help. (I was hoping to get into Lilongwe and immigration early so that we would have time to figure things out when there were more requirements that we didn’t know about but ok. So Dorothy and I head back Saturday morning a little before 8:30 (not to rush anyone). He is home! So we walk down to the office where he decides to actually type up new letters for us as ours were addressed To Whom it May Concern and not the Head Immigration Officer…takes time as he continues to talk to whoever else comes into the office. Then he can’t find the correct POBox for immigration in Blantyre so we wait for that. But finally we get our letters and leave for Lilongwe around 9:30. have to stop and get passport pics made as I didn’t bring extras and then to immigration where we surprisingly breezed through (of course I suppose they won’t hassle much for 30000MK). The catch is that it does have to go through Blantyre and so now I just have a receipt that I gave them the money and I have to wait for them to send me something back to actually have my permit—but supposedly my receipt is just as good until I get the actual.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
third term
And we’re back in school for the third term. I was expecting complete chaos for Monday morning as the kids have been out for two weeks and have probably forgotten what they are supposed to do in school. As well as the fact that the NC group had been working at the school—moving things around, painting the walls with numbers, letters and sayings, we had shapes put on the floor in the semi-circle that we use for group time. My room looks great! There were some teachers in that group and they moved my centers around some and I think they work much better now.
The shapes on the floor are used so that hopefully the kids will stop sitting right on top of each other. They don’t understand (or refuse to listen) when I tell them to move over, to not touch their neighbor, etc so now they pick out a foam shape and match it to the one painted on the floor and put their mat down on top of it. they were very quick to pick up on choosing shapes that are next to each other to sit by their friends…the only problem is that sometimes kid A wants to sit next to kid B who doesn’t feel the same way and the shape swapping takes ages. Then I pick them up one by one and have them tell me what the color and shape is…red diamond, square blue (reminder to put the color first), yellow rectangle, green circle (and all the variations there of)
Wednesday we had a volunteer from the hospital come to talk about burn safety. Most of the burn victims that they get in the hospital are children who have gotten too close to the cooking fires and so they are trying to start the education early about staying away from fires. Tracey came in with a coloring book about Precious and Manny who were out collecting firewood for the cooking fire and who meet Luca the magic rabbit who talks to them about fire safety. Only parents should touch fire. You should build a “magic” circle of rocks around the firepit so you don’t get too close. What to do if you get burned or catch fire (stop drop roll, pour on cold water and go to the hospital) and other tips. The coloring book is narrated in English and Chichewa so tracey read the English and Lawrence read in Chichewa. It was amazing how well the kids sat for the story! They even answered questions after (so it is that they don’t get the English I use since we don’t translate often in class). They each got a coloring book to take home and some of them brought it back the next day completely colored in.
The shapes on the floor are used so that hopefully the kids will stop sitting right on top of each other. They don’t understand (or refuse to listen) when I tell them to move over, to not touch their neighbor, etc so now they pick out a foam shape and match it to the one painted on the floor and put their mat down on top of it. they were very quick to pick up on choosing shapes that are next to each other to sit by their friends…the only problem is that sometimes kid A wants to sit next to kid B who doesn’t feel the same way and the shape swapping takes ages. Then I pick them up one by one and have them tell me what the color and shape is…red diamond, square blue (reminder to put the color first), yellow rectangle, green circle (and all the variations there of)
Wednesday we had a volunteer from the hospital come to talk about burn safety. Most of the burn victims that they get in the hospital are children who have gotten too close to the cooking fires and so they are trying to start the education early about staying away from fires. Tracey came in with a coloring book about Precious and Manny who were out collecting firewood for the cooking fire and who meet Luca the magic rabbit who talks to them about fire safety. Only parents should touch fire. You should build a “magic” circle of rocks around the firepit so you don’t get too close. What to do if you get burned or catch fire (stop drop roll, pour on cold water and go to the hospital) and other tips. The coloring book is narrated in English and Chichewa so tracey read the English and Lawrence read in Chichewa. It was amazing how well the kids sat for the story! They even answered questions after (so it is that they don’t get the English I use since we don’t translate often in class). They each got a coloring book to take home and some of them brought it back the next day completely colored in.
crisis nursery
I went into Lilongwe on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to check out the Ministry of Hope’s Crisis Nursery. Hester (from South Africa, here for 3 weeks to teach classes at the Theological Institute) and I arrived Tuesday and got a quick tour of the facility and some explanation. There were three rooms one for the really tiny infants (6), small ones (7) and the bigger babies (7-walking and eating real foods). 20 babies there. 15 caregivers with 4 on a shift at a time as well as a nurse and a clinical officer. We stayed all morning holding and feeding the little ones. Wednesday I went back and did the same and then helped to sort some medications for the mobile clinic (but sadly didn’t get any more information on the clinic than that they use ibuprofen). Thursday when we got there the power was out…not a problem as the building is pretty well lit from windows but that meant that meals were late in coming out of the kitchen…it was by far the loudest day as the babies were quite cranky that their food was late. But we did get them all fed and down for naps before we left with our ears ringing.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
liwonde
Great trip to Liwonde National Park with the group from WNC presbytery. Boat to the “camp” from HippoView Lodge. Of course we saw hippos on the way. Then it was a safari drive for hippos, elephants, waterbuck, impala, warthogs, sunset and then the night drive back to camp looking for nocturnal animals but we didn’t really see anything new. Other than the pink elephants…not that my pics do it justice. We had a red spotlight which is supposed to not spook the animals as much as a white one and be better for the animals’ eyes. That night surrounding our chalets were feeding elephants…and they are not quiet eaters. From one side of the chalet to the other I was watching them (no contacts and no lights, they were pretty blurry) and at one point I felt like one of them was staring right back at me…they were bending trees over almost back to the tree trunks and one of them walked right into the middle of what I would have considered a very dense stand of brush and trees but in the giant went. The next morning we went on a boat safari—more hippos and elephants, crocodile (1), and birds of many varieties. The rushing hippo and the swimming elephant were the obvious highlights of the morning.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
headphones
Why is it that as soon as you put headphones on and start your music player people insist on talking to you? It has happened so often and I don’t often use my headphones when others are around as I feel that it does discourage conversation (maybe that is just for me). The first time I remember it happening was on a plane when I was trying to watch a movie. Everyone had their own screen and I couldn’t sleep…I’d already watched 2 movies and had just picked a French one to watch (one I would actually have to concentrate on to understand) when the guy next to me started to chat…2 sentences and then he would stop so I’d put my headphones back on, start the movie, and then he would start again…2 sentences, stop, headphones, etc…over and over. On the ride back from chiwe in the back of the truck the 5 or 6 malawians didn’t talk to me at all the whole way there or back to Lilongwe. When we stopped in Lilongwe I got my headphones out, put them on and as soon as we started driving again one of the guys started asking me questions…my name, pause, what I was doing, pause, when I arrived, pause, how long I’m staying, pause, what he needs to go to the states or Canada, how much a passport costs (I don’t really know as mine is about to expire). And then on the bus back from the lake—it was going to be a long ride and rhona and jane got off pretty early so I put them in and planned to zone out when the guy next to me started chatting…pause…chat some more…pause…chat. Then asked if I was married. I assured him that I was but he didn’t seem believe me. However, he did stop talking to me until he said goodbye when he got off the bus.
If you have any insight I’m sure I’d love to hear it.
If you have any insight I’m sure I’d love to hear it.
lake buses
Rhona has had a friend, Jane, visiting from Scotland and went to Zambia on safari and then to Victoria falls. When they came back into Malawi I was still on holiday so I went to meet them and we traveled up to the north part of the lake. We jumped on a bus in Lilongwe for Mzuzu which we thought would take about 6 hours…8½ hours later we arrived in the dark with no way to continue on to Nkhata Bay. No worries we were able to stay with some Australian volunteers there who were very hospitable to our crashing at their flat and then off the next morning for the lake and 2 days of sun and water. The water was so blue and the fish are stunning there as there are lots of rocks and things for them to hide in. one night we tried the “local restaurant” so named but we should have known being very close to our tourist hostel that the nsima we would get there would not be optimal. Instead it was rock hard and heavy…a sad showing for Jane’s first experience. The next day the hostel put on a free traditional Malawian meal that was really good…Friday I headed back to nkhoma—left rhona and jane at another spot on the lake to do some diving…arrived back with enough time to do some visiting and repacking to go to a wildlife park with the NC group.
Chiwe
The group had been working at various locales…our school, up at the guesthouse sewing, and a medical clinic north of Lilongwe in Chiwe. Since I was off for holidays I asked if I could go with one day (and as I was leaving to travel on Tuesday I was really hoping for an ok on Monday). I didn’t want to take anyone’s spot as they had to take turns as to who could go (4 in the truck cab + the driver) and as there were 4 going I was told I could come if I didn’t mind riding in the back. No problem here…more room (at least that’s what I thought). There were 6 malawians in the back with me as well as some of the supplies to do the work…early mornings are brisk so I broke out the sweatshirt and am quite glad that I did. A stop in Lilongwe for more supplies and the up to Chiwe…all good except for the last 11km…and those were bumpy! But we finally arrived.
We were working on a small house next to the clinic itself. Fixing it up so that a nurse could live there as the clinic needed a nurse. 3 of us were put to work painting the outside, some painted inside and some were hanging doors and making sure the cross beams inside were replaced as termites had gotten to them. Painting outside was not too bad. You did have an audience most of the day and you had to climb up and down the ladder each time as we were doing the top part of the walls but it was a beautiful day. The other problem was that the top part of the wall was “decorated” with blobs or knobs of concrete all over it…so we dusted it off and then painted the wall and knobs with our paintbrushes as rollers wouldn’t do any good over the knobs. We finished painting just as our day needed to end so that we could get back to nkhoma at a reasonable time.
The sore legs came after that day…the hike up the mountain. Holding myself in place in the back of the truck both coming and going. Climbing up a ladder to paint for a day. Sore for only 2 days this time (4 last time up the mountain) so I must be in ok shape.
We were working on a small house next to the clinic itself. Fixing it up so that a nurse could live there as the clinic needed a nurse. 3 of us were put to work painting the outside, some painted inside and some were hanging doors and making sure the cross beams inside were replaced as termites had gotten to them. Painting outside was not too bad. You did have an audience most of the day and you had to climb up and down the ladder each time as we were doing the top part of the walls but it was a beautiful day. The other problem was that the top part of the wall was “decorated” with blobs or knobs of concrete all over it…so we dusted it off and then painted the wall and knobs with our paintbrushes as rollers wouldn’t do any good over the knobs. We finished painting just as our day needed to end so that we could get back to nkhoma at a reasonable time.
The sore legs came after that day…the hike up the mountain. Holding myself in place in the back of the truck both coming and going. Climbing up a ladder to paint for a day. Sore for only 2 days this time (4 last time up the mountain) so I must be in ok shape.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
up the mountain
The NC group decided to head up the mountain on Saturday…bright sunny day and they left about lunch time. Seemed surprised that I wouldn’t go with them…too hot for me. They made it about halfway up and got some good views and decided to try again on Sunday. Well after church I decided that it would be a great day for a hike so I joined them for the hike up. We left at 11 (still not the smartest time to go) but our hike was blessed by being mostly cloudy on our way up.
I’d have to say that I enjoyed their pace much more than the first time I went up. Guess being the youngest in the group means your energy goes farther (some of the time at least)…as opposed to my first hike when I was the oldest hiker—beet red and breathing very heavily trying to keep up. Great views from the top and a nice breeze as well. No sore legs this trip…(yeah right)
I’d have to say that I enjoyed their pace much more than the first time I went up. Guess being the youngest in the group means your energy goes farther (some of the time at least)…as opposed to my first hike when I was the oldest hiker—beet red and breathing very heavily trying to keep up. Great views from the top and a nice breeze as well. No sore legs this trip…(yeah right)
up the mountain
The NC group decided to head up the mountain on Saturday…bright sunny day and they left about lunch time. Seemed surprised that I wouldn’t go with them…too hot for me. They made it about halfway up and got some good views and decided to try again on Sunday. Well after church I decided that it would be a great day for a hike so I joined them for the hike up. We left at 11 (still not the smartest time to go) but our hike was blessed by being mostly cloudy on our way up.
I’d have to say that I enjoyed their pace much more than the first time I went up. Guess being the youngest in the group means your energy goes farther (some of the time at least)…as opposed to my first hike when I was the oldest hiker—beet red and breathing very heavily trying to keep up. Great views from the top and a nice breeze as well. No sore legs this trip…(yeah right)
I’d have to say that I enjoyed their pace much more than the first time I went up. Guess being the youngest in the group means your energy goes farther (some of the time at least)…as opposed to my first hike when I was the oldest hiker—beet red and breathing very heavily trying to keep up. Great views from the top and a nice breeze as well. No sore legs this trip…(yeah right)
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