I think this is considered traveling

We went hiking on Roan Mountain this weekend, leaving Friday after Adam got off of work and getting back this afternoon.

Friday night we hiked up an access road, then cut over to the Appalachian Trail (AT), on which we hiked to the highest shelter on the trail. We did not end up staying in the shelter, but kept hiking to Carver's Gap, where we pitched our tent (successfully and with little frustration!!) and spent the night.

Saturday morning we hiked from Carver's Gap to the Overmountain shelter, which you can see in some of the pictures. The shelter is an old barn which was converted to a shelter. We should have taken a picture of the privy there...it literally looked like a throne! It was built up on a platform, had three walls, and was an actual ceramic toilet (no flushing though, just long drop). So you are up a couple of feet from the ground, shoulder-high (when sitting down) walls around you, and a perfect view of the mountains in front of you! Sounds fancy, eh?

We ate lunch at the shelter, then left our packs and continued to head north a couple of miles on the AT. We hiked through the mist to Little Hump and were going to continue on, but I thought I should spare my aching feet. Plus, the main reason to go to Big Hump is to see the amazing view... and we could see about 10 feet in front of us. So we went back to the shelter (the last two pictures are the shelter from up the trail), where we found three more people, all from North Carolina. An hour or so later, 12 more people showed up: 10 thirteen- and fourteen-year-old young men and their two counselors from a boarding school not far from Asheville.

The boys were our wake up call around 6:30, and we got up around 8:00. Today was a lot warmer than either Friday or Saturday, so I zipped off the bottom of my pants (can you imagine me in shorts in December?) and wore only a fleece over a t-shirt. The sun was out, and we considered hiking north (like yesterday afternoon) and getting a ride back up to our car, because today we could have had a great view from the top of Big Hump. We decided to hike south as planned, headed out around 9, and neither of the other two groups had left yet. The boarding school group was headed the same way as we were, but we never saw them again. Those counselors must have the patience of Job.

The climb back to Carver's Gap was tough. We knew it was coming because we had descended the huge mountain the day before...it just kept going down and down. So today, coming up the mountain, was a trial. It also started raining and getting a bit cooler. We made it out alive, but I wanted to run the last half mile or so, because I knew that a warm car and relief from my pack were waiting!

This weekend was a good trip. We broke in our boots (thanks to Grammer and Grandy, from Adam!!) and got to do a backpacking trip complete with a stove, a tent (both borrowed), and our packs. Stay posted for our next trip...

We are back in Tennessee. Done traveling for awhile!! Thanks for reading:)

Presentation

We are speaking in church about Malawi this Sunday, if any of you Ohioans want to see some pictures and hear a bit about our trip.

New Life Church of Christ
both services; probably around 8:45 am and 10:45 or 11 am

See you there:)

A view of the separation barrier in Jerusalem.

We will talk more about what it is we are doing when we have more time. For now, know that is has been a scary, informative, beautiful experience so far.

We are safe at our next destination! Keep us in your prayers and thoughts!

London, London, London!

Doing the tourist thing!

Houses of Parliament in background

Marble Arch

Tower Bridge

Trafalgar Square

More vacation pictures

Bardolino, Italy

Verona

Verona

Verona

Verona

Verona

Venice

Venice

Nurnberg, Germany

Vacation pictures

Eating pizza at Dave's Papa's Garden

(Rachel, Hannes, Julian, Dave, Stefan)

Julian, Dave, Rachel, and Hannes in Italy

Verona, Italy

watching a pro at work

Dave, Hannes, Julian, and Adam

To those of you who have emailed us recently and not received a reply, I am sorry! While the internet is certainly better here than it was in Malawi, we have not had access to it.... Sorry, again.

To those of you in Bellville, I want to hang out when we get back! We come back to the states one of the last days of October and are staying at least until after Monday (nov 5th maybe?).
-Rachel

PS sorry i was too lazy to send out individual emails, or even a mass one...

To London

We had an amazing time in Germany with a bunch of my friends (Germans who I lived with while I volunteered in Chicago for a year). One night we even met with a lot of the members of the last community, which was so strange for me, because that makes me TWO-communities-old!

We also went to Italy for a week with Julian, Hannes, and Dave. That was a fantastic vacation, with two day trips to Verona and Venice.

Tomorrow we fly out of Nürnberg, Germany to London, where we will meet my mom and sister in a couple of days!
-Rachel

Happy Birthday Dear Adam

our African sister Charity and Adam

Today was Adam's 22nd birthday. We took it really easy, as we will be in Munich all day tomorrow (our wake up call is at 7 am). But Dave's mom made two cakes for us, and I think that just being in Germany with friends is such a treat:)

Germany, oh Germany

This is the road to our house in Likuni. No more dirt paths for us!

We are in Freising, Germany now. We successfully made it here (although we had to run through the Frankfurt airport and made it with one minute before they closed the doors)!

Well, the next time you hear from us we will be in Europe. We leave for the Germany on Thursday. We really can't believe that we are leaving already. We have so much more we would like to tell everyone, but it will have to wait (for two reasons: 1. I am about to swear off internet cafes, and 2. there is too much to go into.).

-Adam

Malawi Memories

We leave Malawi in less than one week.

Top 10 Most Memorable Malawi Moments
(in no particular order)
1. Adam knocking over a tiny child with a basketball to the head at KASO
2. Minibus rides (they are always eventful)
a. a 250-pound woman squeezing into four inches of space between Adam and a stranger
b. a young mother handing her child over to Rachel to hold until Likuni
c. multiple passengers carrying large grocery bags full of fish
d. eardrum shattering music issuing from the speakers right next to our heads
e. the two-and-a-half hour minibus ride from town to...town
f. Rachel getting...several...phone numbers from hopeful Malawian men
3. an evening with our severely intoxicated uncle Martin
4. waking up to country gospel music on the weekends
5. the power failing the first three times we attempted to cook
6. being frightened half to death by a (potentially rabid) dog that jumped over a 12-foot wall as we were walking by (the dog was not rabid, but it could have been!)
7. being offered chamba (pot) and strawberries every time we went near the post office
8. breaking our bed in the first week at the Gondwe house (Africans are of a slimmer build)
9. our fascinating tour of the national park, which included viewing hyena dens (dirt mounds showing no signs of life), dead weeds and stagnant water, a python and dried out alligator (also showing no signs of life), then having our tip refused because our guide wanted more money
10. having a baby throw up the entire contents of his stomach, covering Rachel's pants, only to have another baby throw up on her chest and hair a few minutes later

Joanna, Magali, Rachel, and Adam at Salima beach. Joanna and Magali are our friends from the Crisis Nursery. They work for the NGO Raising Malawi.

Girl at the Safe Haven.

Rachel and the Safe Haven Gang.

An early view of the road from Likuni to town.

Prince, Rachel, and Moses (L-R)

Likuni sunset.

Stagnant?

This morning I had a bit of a discouraging experience at the Safe Haven. Yesterday I assigned all eight boys to write a composition. I brainstormed with them and put a note on the bulletin board to remind them of their "homework." They have all written compositions for me before.

Four boys wrote a composition. Two said they had been too busy, and two could not find their notebooks.

Adam and I talked about it a lot on the walk to town (we have taken to walking, mostly, when we are in town, instead of using the minibus. We still take the minibus to and from Likuni.). I feel very frustrated, but what can I do? I have been with the boys for about six weeks. I am leaving in two.

There is consolation--these boys used to live on the street, eating garbage and engaging in substance abuse. They could not speak English before living at the safe haven. Now they are in a safe, clean home, where they get a couple meals a day and (some sort of) education.

But things need to keep moving forward.

-Rachel

Kids getting a new pair of shoes through Samaritan's Feet.

Joseph getting strapped onto the back of his aunt. He is getting to go home with some family members after being at the Crisis Nursery.

Of course we never get bored....

Photos

Rachel teaching kids to blow bubbles

A dust covered tree in Likuni at sunset

This weekend two of my favorite groups of people are getting together in Ohio. I want you to know that I am thinking of you all, and I wish I could be with you!! Eat a s'more for me and devour a bag of chips, too!
-Rachel

Workin' Hard at the Nursery

Blissed-out Bikiel

Adam and Fanny

Homecoming for the babies

Today two babies from the nursery went home with their families. Joseph's two aunts and father picked him up, and Peter's grandmother took him home.

We went to the social services office with 15 babies--the last Friday of the month, grandmas and dads and uncles and aunts come to the office to see their baby. It was really neat to see the proud and happy family members. Prince looks exactly like his dad. So does Bikiel, actually--his dad is small too! Shalon's dad is a good-looking, friendly guy, and Moses and Miriam's dad was so delighted to see his twins. It was such a good experience.

-Rachel

Malawi Mayhem

Two American nursing students have been in Lilongwe for the last three weeks. Amy is from Pasadena and knows Uncle Don, and Ann is from Chicago (Lincoln Park! which is very close to the neighborhood where I lived). We have met with them several times, and Thursday we got to go to the N.O.A.H. Project with them and another American they met while here.

The N.O.A.H. Project has a feeding center and a private primary school for orphaned children (having lost one or both parents, living with a guardian). There were tons of Americans there yesterday--some doctors, a dentist, an organization called Samaritan's Feet, and another organization called Missions 4 Jesus.

Samaritan's Feet was started by a Nigerian man named Manning who grew up in a village and was given a pair of shoes (along with the gospel) when he was nine years old. The missionary gave Manning the shoes and told him that he could do something for people with his life. He ended up getting a scholarship to play basketball in the States. He got a degree, started Samaritan's Feet, and travels all over the world washing villagers' feet and giving them a free pair of shoes.

Missions 4 Jesus is members from a church in Charlotte, NC. I didn't get what the organization does, but for this trip they teamed up with Samaritan's Feet.

The project is on the same side of Lilongwe as Likuni, so David Nixon (the American who started the N.O.A.H. Project) picked us up right outside our "neighborhood." We drove down a dirt road for at least half an hour. The other Americans were not there yet when we arrived, so we sat around for a bit before bringing out two bottles of bubbles. Ann took one bottle, and thus a crowd of twenty children, and I took the other. It was so much fun. The kids did not all know how to blow bubbles, so they learned and looked so wonderful doing it!

After bubbles, we set up triage. In the first room, Amy listened to their lungs, and I took temperatures and checked teeth. Then we sent them with their paperwork (a chart made on a piece of notebook paper, handwritten in pen) to the next room, where Adam and Amy were checking pulse, respiration, and blood pressure. There were also two clinical officers who were doing checkups.

That was a bit tiring. After every child had been through, I wandered off to see what the rest of the group was doing. A child walked by me with a pair of brand-new white shoes, which is a bit strange to see in dusty Africa. I found the building where kids were getting their feet washed (and massaged and tickled) and presented with a pair of new shoes.

Next, we took vitals on the guardians of the children. Oh my goodness, it was at least 200 women. Adam, Amy, and Ann all were taking blood pressure, and I had a very important task: I took temperatures. So I got to touch 200 strange women's armpits...and subsequently their breasts or nursing children! I thought that the earlier part of the day was tiring, but after standing in the hot sun with little water and no food, we were exhausted.

David bought tons of loaves of bread, which we tried to pass out later. That was terrible. Unless you consider that some people got food, which is great. There had been a line of students, then others started to jump the line, and soon we had crowds around us, all reaching and urging us to give them bread. That was really hard for me emotionally--I only had so much bread, and there were three times as many people around me, all demanding it, all hungry, all needing it. David decided to give it to the children the next day at school instead of trying to figure out what to do with the mob.

Despite the desperate attempt to distribute bread and our exhaustion, we felt pleased with the day.

-Rachel




Life in Malawi is good. I have spending more and more of my time volunteering with the different organizations that Rachel has been involved with. I have especially enjoyed being at the Youth Ministries Safe Haven. The boys there are really great and a lot of fun. We play chess, soccer, and they have even taught me Bau, a type of Malawian mancala game.

I have had some really interesting medical experiences. For a few days I got to follow an American doctor around Kamuzu Central Hospital. The conditions there are dire. It is overcrowded, with people lying everywhere on the concrete floor. They are extremely short staffed and so many patients go undiagnosed and untreated. I followed the doctor around on rounds for just a couple of days, but I saw so much. I really got to see just how much of a need there is, something I won't be able to forget for the rest of life.

As you probably gathered from Rachel's post, yesterday was crazy. But it was a lot of fun as well. Even if we didn't make much of medical difference, I still felt that at the very least we were giving all these women and children the kind of attention they deserve and never get. If anything, I hope that we made them feel a little more comforted by our presence.

-Adam
ps- Sorry, we had alot of images to put up but this internet cafe isn't any good.

Engagement

Saturday we went to an engagement in area 23 with Catherine. It consisted of people dancing up the aisles to the front of the hall to put kwacha (money) in an orange plastic saucer...for several hours. The only varation from that theme:

*Women from the man's family went outside and covered up the groom and three of his friends with chitenje cloths. The whole group processed inside, and people put money in the saucer to guess which one was the groom.

*Repeat above, substituting bride and her three friends.

*The uncle from the groom's side and the uncle from the bride's side each held one leg of a roasted chicken, which they pulled apart.

*The same men exchanged a rooster and a hen.

We also got soft drinks and some snacks. The chairs were set up in rows of three, so Adam and I did not get to sit by each other or talk the whole time. And here is a random piece of information--last year at this time, we were not engaged!

Anyway, the "cultural experience" was interesting...but I prefer engagements in the U.S.--less boring for the expats in the crowd...

You can also tell that I took the photos:), but I wanted to point out that in the first one, the woman in the middle of the picture is grooving with a baby on her back! Nothing will slow Africans down while dancing!

Babies, babies everywhere

Lotsa babies and no adults around! The one in pink stripes is a boy--Tamanda-- and Joseph is behind him. Fanny is the one sitting up facing the camera (in the back), and Madalitso (the prettiest one at the nursery) is the one with the little puffs of hair, her back to the camera. Moses is the little one lying in the front. He has a twin sister, Miriam.

Rachel and Tamanda

Fiuni

The bedroom of the smallest (and often sick/most sick babies).

Bikiel, Margo's favorite

We continue our respective volunteering. I find it harder and harder to leave the babies at the Crisis Nursery each time I go there. I finally made it (by minibus) out to KASO, only to find that no one was there! They are training volunteers this week. Youth Care Ministries will slow way down for the "winter holiday," so the boys get a break from lessons. The teacher there plans on doing two hours or so of lessons each day. I am not completely sure I want to spend as much time there in that case, but I think I will take over some DVDs (good English language practice for the boys!:) and maybe Boggle (I brought that game with us from the US).

We got tickets for the CPT (Christian Peacemaker Teams) delegation, as well as an email with bios on our teammates. The next three months still holds a lot for us!

Its all in your head

Sunday I was (sortof) bragging to my parents that neither of us have gotten really sick since arriving in Malawi.

And on Monday Luzu was talking about how expats come to Africa are fearful of illnesses--not wanting to get bitten by mosquitoes, not drinking the water, washing hands/using hand sanitizer after playing with orphans. Adam and I tried to reason that, while the placebo effect certainly exists, people get sick from germs to which their bodies are not accustomed.

Then early Tuesday morning I woke up nauseous and with "loose bowels," as Luzu put it. I stayed in bed most of the day and had some bread, banana, and apple for dinner.

This morning Adam woke up with what I had yesterday. How frustrating! While Adam stayed in bed, I had a nice breakfast for someone coming off of a sickness-fast:
doughnuts
a fried egg
french fries

Fortunately, it is 12:30, and so far my body has not revolted from my greasy breakfast! Plus, I am feeling 100% better. Now you can pray that Adam will recover quickly as well!

-Rachel

Odds and Ends

First order of business:

Our address here (through Catherine) is:

c/o Mrs. C. Gondwe
Community Development Office
PO Box 908
Lilongwe, Malawi
Africa

and our cell phone number is
09 626 260

Calling from out of the country, you dial something like 265 and drop the "0" from the beginning of our number.

Second:
Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller

Alexandra grew up in Africa and writes about her crazy childhood in the bush!

Third:
An email from our friend John, who has been living in Tanzania all this year:

I'm really going to miss it here. No more chai and chapatis in the morning, no more jammed daladalas (mini-buses used for transportation), no more of my Tanzanian dad's rants about how bad an idea the East African Union is. I guess I'll have to get used to not being greeted by almost everybody I pass, not being able to see so many stars at night, and not making kids cry just by walking into a room. Most of all, I think I'll just miss my friends. I've spent six and a half months being levelled by the beauty and difficulty of life here. I hope that doesn't sound too cliche or prepared, it's the best I can put it right now.
My time here has been fantastic...I'll see you on the other side.

-Rachel

Kanengo AIDS Support Organization