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

The Crisis Nursery

These pictures are from the very first time we went to the crisis nursery. I cannot remember who the top baby is, but the bottom picture is Fiyuni. Fiyuni is 18 months old and not yet walking. Despite this, he is interactive, playful, and smart! And a physical therapist is working with him. I was a bit worried that maybe babies in such an environment all have trouble with physical milestones like walking, since they do not get as much attention as a family with just one baby. However, there are other babies there who are standing up.