The homesickness has begun to kick in with some of the team. Myself included. After a while of being here everything is starting to sink in. The fact that we are only here for a visit and we find it hard but people here live like this all their lives. Most don’t leave Malawi so this is all they know.
This photo is at one of the MOH centres, we arrived at the village to about 100 children maybe even less and left with this many! What an extremely welcoming community
The work MOH do is phenomenal, they bring such joy to so many people and do it all in Gods name. Teaching the bible to so many children is mind blowing to see and for me to be a part of this is an incredibly rewarding experience, it comes with its challenges especially realising I have a life to go back to after this but they will continue to do this for as long as they can and I think this is something, as a team, we are all struggling with in some way. But I am so grateful to be a part of this amazing project, being a part of this is making me realise things I’d never even thought about – things we have every day: hot water, being able to drink water from a tap and it be safe to drink, even things like toothbrushes and general hygiene, toilets! Oh my goodness toilets! I had no idea how much we take toilets for granted. Next time you use a toilet be so so so grateful that you have it, enjoy your toilet because it’s something not all people have and long drop toilets are not a very pleasant thing (for those that don’t know, a long drop toilets is just a hole in the ground which you squat over and do the toilet).
I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else just now no matter how home sick I get.
Part of our work here is with the Crisis Nursery. There are 14 orphans in the nursery just now, they range from days old up to 3 years. Some have been found on the streets and rescued, some parents died and some have families that at this moment in time are unable to look after them so they are at the nursery being looked after until the family is ready to take them home. Each of these kids are so so loving. We go and we sit with these kids for hours at a time and it’s filled with such laughter, it’s also heart breaking hearing the stories about how some of the kids ended up in the nursery but MOH do an incredible job at looking after them and bringing the ill back to health, they do all of this with God as their centre point. Everything they do is focused on God and they rely and thank him for everything. It’s such a blessing to witness such a love for God in such unfortunate situations.
At the moment I still sort of feel like a sore thumb. We stand out like crazy when we go anywhere in public, it’s a very different experience than any of us are used to. We are constantly surrounded by children wanting to talk to us which is hard as they don’t speak much English and we don’t speak much Chichewa, it’s surreal knowing that us coming here makes such an impact on these kids. They look forward to our visits and get so excited when they see us which we find insane as we are just helping hands, there is nothing special about us. We are helping where the need is greatest. We are all here for one reason, for God. To share his word round the world and to help those who need it, those who have less than us. And to learn. We are learning so much about the country of Malawi, about the amazing inspirational people that live here, about ourselves. Lots of Chichewa as well. We will be fluent by the time we are home, the ABC students are sure of it and are teaching us a lot.
We were supposed to start teaching last week but due to the bad weather we were unable to get to the school. So we should start teaching this week. Prayers for the team would be much appreciated as we are all new to this and a little nervous. Thank you all so much for your support in reading this blog. It means so much so have so many of you interested and invested in my trip 🙂
Malawi Blogs 