Malawi

"How was your trip?" This is the million dollar question. The question I kind of dread, because it is so hard to answer and because most folks do not really want to hear the full answer.  So most of the time I end up saying  - "It was great!" or some other sound bite like that. But the reality is, my answer is too short and actually it was more than great. But conveying the emotions, the feelings, the joy, the sadness, the overwhelming feeling of family and friendship are so hard to convey to someone as are the smells, the noises and the relationships.  Malawi, is a special place but also a completely frustrating place, it is a joy filled place but also deeply troubled.

My best example would be sitting in the farming village of Chilombo, and meeting a little boy named Innocent. He could not be more than five years old, he stands in his house with his mother and I take a picture with a phone worth more than all the money they have in the world. His house is dark, dusty, and tiny - the roof has holes in it the size of your arm and where there is not holes there may as well be as it is made of thin, brittle grass.  They have no mattress, no pillow, no couch, no seats, no windows. She earns $1 a day laboring in the fields, and also has to carry water from the well, gather fire wood and cook for her children. I leave her house, and it is overwhelming.

Later in the week, I had the joy of being a part of the opening ceremony of our new boys hostel at the International Christian Academy. These boys, some of whom come from Chilombo, now have a safe, dry, and clean place to sleep each night - so they can concentrate on going to school each day and working hard.  They also have a new classroom, that is very very nice with dedicated teachers and staff.  The hostel is as nice if not nicer than almost every other equivalent boarding school in Malawi. (We have this school because the boarding schools near by are not doing a very good job at educating at teaching our children)...

One thing for sure this trip lit a fire in me, to work much harder at raising money for people like Innocent and for the students at ICA.