Muli Bwanji!!

Muli Bwanji?!?!

This means, “How are you?”

The typical response is, “Ndili bwino. Kaya inu?”  - which means, “I am fine. How are you?”

Malawians seem to love when azungu (white strangers) attempt to speak their native language of Chichewa. I never really know if I am saying it right, but I think I am a decent imitator of accents, so I keep on “speaking Chichewa as much as I can.

Today started with a sick Madison. Apparently, while I was fast asleep, around 3:00 this morning, Madison started throwing up and bit later, well, she was busy at both ends. By about 8 am the worst of it was past, but she was not feeling up to eating anything, much less traveling to the village. Thanks for all of your prayers. As of dinner time, around 7 pm, she was feeling much better, but not well enough to eat anything more than a few crackers.

Sally Fox, an awesome lady and friend from Fallbrook, who lives here at the Miqlat house, explained that when the last mission team, a group of 17 men and women, stayed here, there was a 24 hour bug that hit five people of their group, one at a time. As of about 9:00 this evening, Alexis was feeling a bit queazy, so if you are a person who prays, please say a prayer for her, and for all of us while you are at it.

Loaded up the truck and went visiting families of sponsored children.

Sickness aside, today was an excellent day at Kogoya Village. Shortly after arrival, we loaded into a pick-up truck for some home visits. We had arranged for Alexis, Annie and Madison to visit the homes of each of the children the girls sponsor through the Miqlat program. At each home, we met the guardians, siblings and several neighbors of each of the three children. We asked questions and tried to get to know more about them, their likes and dislikes, and encouraged them to stay in school and keep working hard at learning. We encouraged the guardians to keep allowing the child to be a part of the Miqlat program. We presented a new dress as a gift to each guardian (all female). Each family seemed very open and grateful that we took the time to visit their homes.

Alexis presented a new dress to the guardian of Efelo (Effie) Black.

Effie, front and center is surrounded by her brother, Ginger (L), 22 year old sister and guardian, uncle and two cousins.

A pretty large crowd gathered at Tawina's home.

Beaming, shiny and happy!

On the way to each home, we would see children walking to the Hope Center for their lunch and daily program. They had been given instructions to bathe with their new bars of soap and to wear their new clothes today. It was pretty dang cool to see so many children proudly sporting new outfits. This might sound weird, but it seemed as if they were actually shiny. Perhaps it had to do with their confident strut and beaming faces, but we agreed that the best way to describe these children was “shiny.”

If the clothes came with tags, they were
not removed. It is a status symbol
to own something new.

Back at the Hope Center, we once again ate lunch with the children. We, Leanne, the girls and I, had been planning to be in charge of most of the program today and with the blessing of Raymond and Mercy, two of the local Miqlat leaders in charge of the Kogoya Village project, we “took over.”

With Mercy translating, Leanne told a story while Sally Fox, Alexis, Annie, four older village children and I brought the story to life with Tony Award caliber acting skills. I wish we would have had the video running, not of us, but of the children watching, pointing, smiling and laughing. (The details of this story may show up later in the blog - it might take several paragraphs).

Confidence!! Modern translation: SWAGGER!

Happy to show off their new digs!

Had to laugh. See Facebook for more
comments on this shirt.

After that fun story with an important message, I shared a very short introduction to the famous Bible Story in which Jesus taught humility and the importance of serving others by washing his disciples' feet. Then Leanne read the story from scripture and I called several children up one-by-one and washed their feet. After the story was done, I did my best to share what we should learn from this passage and how it can apply to daily life in the village.

Then Alexis and Annie taught a simple song, complete with hand motions. The girls did great and the children did their best with pronouncing words like - “joy, faith, hope and love that makes the world go round.” It was quite a sight to see two young American teens lead 200+ Malawian children as the stood and attempted to follow the girls in song and hand motions.

A very captive audience.

The program went better than one might expect. Imagine trying to keep the attention for 30-40 minutes of 200+ American children, ages 7 - 17. There is more to tell about today, but this blog entry is already pretty long and I commend you if you are still reading. There is a prize, by the way, for reading all the way to the end. Ask me for it the next time you see me!