Saturday morning we attended the hospital ground-breaking with Don, Mary, and Willy, a cousin of Marjorie's late husband. Willy is a writer whose experience spans from press secretary for the previous president to published poetry and novels to sports writer for a Malawian newspaper. He was imprisoned for 8 months in the early 1980's for his writing. He offered to take us to a wedding in the fall so we can see more Malawian culture.

His Excellency, Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, the current president, was also in attendance. The hospital is going to be named after his late wife, who died in May. The project is funded by Thom Hunter, a Scottish man who is affiliated with Bill Clinton through Hunter Foundations. The hospital wing is going to be for ob/gyn--the site is very close to Kamuzu Central Hospital, so more women (than now) will be able to be near the main facility when giving birth.

The ceremony was interesting. Groups of women sang and danced. We sat right beside the Malawi Police Band, which played the National Anthem twice. Mr. Hunter, Marjorie (as the Minister of Health), and the president all gave speeches. During His Excellency's address, the women stood up, singing and dancing again. The president thanked the women and continued speaking. Later I asked Willy about the interruption. There were several reasons for it: one, the women were praising the president. Willy said, "Also, when a person speaks for a long time, he might need a break. When those women sang, it gave the president a chance to rest for a bit before resuming his speech." Of course, as Americans, Mary and I both thought perhaps the women were being rude. I think it is fascinating, that cultures can be so different.

After the ceremony, I got to meet Mercedes and her husband, who Adam knows through Bwaila. The US Ambassador was also there, at whose house we celebrated July 4th. And Don met the Minister of Women and Child Development. Don introduced me as a "child development specialist," so the MP suggested (without commitment) that we get together sometime.

The program later in the afternoon was in honor of Nancy Dimmock, who helped found the Crisis Nursery, and Fletcher M, who founded the Ministry of Hope. We sang some songs together and heard testimonies from a young man who attends the feeding program set up by Fletcher, a parent who is fostering (to adopt) a girl from the nursery, and a woman whose orphaned grandchild was taken care of until the grandmother could take care of the child. When Nancy Dimmock spoke, she mentioned that she was merely an aid to Fletcher, stressing that the Ministry of Hope was initiated at the grassroots level by a Malawian, not an expatriate.

After the Ministry of Hope program, I got to talk to William, one of the men who helps out at the Youth Care Center we visited the last day of the Transformational Journey. I am going to the center Monday to see if I can help tutor the boys there. The young men who live there were taken off the street and put into the home (which they keep spotless) to be caught up on schooling so they can attend secondary school. I think that sometimes teaching English seems imperialistic--the more people who speak my language, the better the situation for me. However, in order to go to secondary school, students must know English. So I sincerely feel like I can help these boys a bit, not just barge in and assume that English is the best and most important language.

I wrote that on Sunday.

Monday I went to the Youth Care Ministries. There are eight boys there, ranging from 10 years to 15 years. I just basically observed and hung out with the boys. The way one of them speaks, very deliberately, reminds me of Hannes (Vogl, one of my housemates from Chicago). At two o'clock I went to the after school program which Youth Care Ministries started. There are about sixty kids, and they sing songs, have a Bible lesson, and play games. I think they also eat dinner, but I left before that. A couple of the younger boys from the Youth Care Home went with me to the after school program, and by the time we were playing games, Allan was holding my hand. Okay, I will definitely be going back there.

Today I went to KASO with some of the GAIA people and the doctors who are here to do the palliative care project. (I forgot to update you on that--we are not going to participate in that project.) I stayed at KASO until noon. The kids there are so dirty and ragged and wonderful. I will definitely go back there as well (and now that I know how to find it via minibus!). I took a minibus away from KASO and got in the front seat--ahh, that was comfortable!

Tonight is a dinner in honor of Dr. Grigsby (with the pain care project) and Marjorie. I think it will be huge--Don and Mary have invited a lot of people.

We have been able to speak to three out of our four parents for a respectable amount of time (and a couple of times I had a one or two minute conversation with my mom). We also got to talk to Jing, the almost-four-year-old! We miss you guys! Do you want to come visit for the weekend?

-Rachel