I cannot remember exactly what I wrote in the last post--we are at an internet cafe in Lilongwe. So you might read some information I have already provided.

Let's see. We are indeed staying at Luzu's house until we leave Malawi in September. The Gondwes live in an area called Likuni, which is 7 or 8K (or so) outside of the city. We walked the trek with Charity one day last week and treated ourselves to lunch at Mamma Mia's (an Italian restaurant) afterward. It took us two hours to walk into the heart of the city! Fortunately the sky was overcast that day, so the weather was cool. And Charity was great company. She left Sunday to go back to boarding school.

On Friday (July 13th) we renewed our visas. The immigration officer extended our visas until September (!)...13th and 15th (for Adam and me, respectively). Our planned departure date? September 20th! So we have to write a letter to the immigration office pleading for them to extend our visas for one more week. Don and Mary's visas were extended for a month, which is what they need.

Saturday we went back to Salima AIDS Support Organization (SASO) with Don and Mary. We were there exactly four weeks earlier with the transformational journey group. This time we met a four-and-a-half-year old named Edward who is dear to the hearts of some Americans who visited two years ago. Edward is a simply radiant child who is HIV+. His parents died in 2002 and 2003, so he currently lives with his aunt. He is so sweet and charming! The American lady who met him two years ago was concerned that he was not getting ARVs due to the distance from Lilongwe to Salima (100k, about 60 miles). This woman's church raises money to bring the required staff members and medicine to Salima from Lilongwe.

Yesterday we tried to take a minibus to KASO, where I can volunteer in the mornings. However, we did not recognize where to get off of the minibus, so we rode the route all the way back to town--squished in a van with 18 other people. It feels good to walk after being in a minibus for an hour or more! After that we ran into Don and Mary, who drove us to the Crisis Nursery. There was a group of people there from California, so every baby was taken care of! Adam and I shared a baby and talked with Leah, a girl from North Carolina, whose father is an old friend of Nancy Demmick (sp?), an American who started the crisis nursery.

Today we are also going back to the crisis nursery. Adam will go to Bwaila Hospital tomorrow, but I will let him write about that!

-Rachel