Immersion

We have finished our first full day in Malawi. I’ll start by saying that 9 of the 12 bags arrived. The three still missing started in Colorado. With Ann still missing her bags, Denise and I have found skirts and shirts she can wear, tapped into some of the supplies we brought for some deodorant and basic toiletries and tried to make her comfortable. Thankfully Davis has clothes with him, but he is desperately in need of some contact lens solution. But, that’s the end of today’s story. So let me start at the beginning.

We began the day at 8 am in the gazebo with about 20 COTN staff members and students for devotions. This consisted of a LOT of singing. Some songs were in Chichewa and we clapped along and tried to pick up the repeated phrases. Some were in English, mostly hymns that we all know from childhood. They sing with a passion and joy I’ve rarely experienced in the US. It is FUN! I especially enjoyed watching Ann and Davis experience their first Malawi worship service. The team was warmly welcomed by the staff and the students this morning. After a time of announcements and prayer, it is time for breakfast. Toast, hard boiled eggs, sausage, and bananas. Also some good cups of Malawi tea or coffee with “shugar.”

Today was what COTN calls our “cultural immersion” day. It is a day spent in the village with the people, learning about how they live, the chores they do, the markets they shop at, and how to prepare a traditional Malawian meal. It is important to understand the culture before we begin to try to serve them. The team is divided into two groups. Davis and I were together with our translators Davie and Clara. The home we were at has a young mom who is deaf. Her mother is also with us. We sat on a mat outside the hut and got to know our hosts. Bill, Denise, and Ann were with their translator Pemphero at another home. We spent time talking about our families, our work, and how our lives are similar and different. We all got the opportunity to engage in chores like going to get water at the bore hole, mudding floors, shucking and winnowing corn, and more. We all laughed at ourselves and each other as we put our hands to tasks we are not used to. As Davis and I were taking the dry corn kernels off the husks, we kept hitting each other with flying kernels. Our teachers patiently showed us again and again how to do it “the easy way.” I’m not sure we ever did figure it out! But we had so much fun and easily laughed at ourselves and took being laughed “at” lightly.

We went back to COTN for lunch and then hopped on the bus to head to the local outdoor market. We were given a shopping list, written in Chichewa, of items we are to procure. We were also given an amount of Kwacha which would be enough to buy what we need. We had a translator to help us along the way, although she would not tell us what the items on the list were. She would occasionally stop in front of a booth and smile at us. We would understand that there was something in the shop we were to buy. Now we just had to figure out what! Then we attempted to use the two Chichewa phrases we’ve been taught to identify the time, find out the cost, and purchase what we needed. One of those items turns out to be a live chicken! Hmm….wonder what that’s for? We also purchased vegetables, oil, corn flour, some spoons, a bucket, soap, matches, and some firewood. In one hour, we loaded up on the bus, our shopping challenge completed.

We headed back to the village to rejoin our families and spend the afternoon cooking with them. We will eat nsima, which is a staple food made from corn flour (google that!), some vegetables, and of course, that chicken we purchased! The team enjoyed cooking, playing and dancing with the children, and spending time getting to know Malawi.

I remember this day on my first trip in 2013. I think it was the moments that I first fell in love with Malawi and the people. Cultural immersion is challenging. It pushes you out of your comfort zone as you attempt to communicate, learn some basic Chichewa phrases, and do tasks you’ve never done before. Tasks that come so easily to those who live here. Tasks they spend their lives doing. And yet, we do them here with no modern conveniences, no electricity, no advanced technology. Just our hands and simple tools. It’s a lifestyle of hard work, community, and a joy that is indescribable. At the end of the day we are so dirty, but for me, the dirt has not only attached to my body, but it has also planted itself deep in my heart. It has become part of the soil of my life and a part that God has used to change me over the last 9 years, creating in me a vessel fit for His use.

I missed out on the afternoon activities this year as we had a call from the airport that 9 bags had arrived. Transport and assistance was provided and we headed off to the airport to retrieve them. We had some trouble in customs, something about a letter to a commissioner regarding our donations, but Pike from COTN was able to come in and help me sort it out. We arrived back at the guest house around the same time the rest of the team was getting back from the village. We can finally start to unpack…and maybe shower. Although, the water is still cold. Apparently we have misunderstood how to flip the proper switch to get the hot water tank working…..