Thursday, 2 August 2012

Taxi Tales

Sunday we had a joint church service- English and Chichewa combined. We arrived at church to find that there was no electricity! So the congregation sang all the songs acapella. We sang from both the Chichewa and English hymnals and it sounded beautiful. Pastor said the sermon first in Chichewa and then in English. We got to hear the youth choir sing as well as the LBI choir and 2 people were confirmed and 1 was baptized. It was a great service.

Monday the power went out in the morning and was out for over 4 hours. Since we couldn't hold computer classes during that time, we went outside to play with the kids. We brought over the jump rope and bubbles which the kids loved.  The kids all love running to try to catch the bubbles and all huddle close to try to get a turn blowing themselves. They all yell out "Ine! Ine!" for "Me! Me!"  I had them form a big circle and went around to each kid so everybody got turns blowing them.



Many of the kids had never done jump rope before, but they caught on quickly and were jumping rope by the afternoon. The kids were so excited to have the rope to play with for so much more than to just jump rope. They tied it to their waists and played tug-of-war, they used it to make a line for long jump competitions, tied it to a pole to try climbing, and they even tied it to a tree to use as a swing!



We sang songs with them and they performed little skits for us. We didn't understand the Chichewa, but their  acting was comical- coming out with cloth tied around their wrists for handcuffs and a blindfold on another...quite the actors!

Yesterday afternoon we needed to get to the bus depot to buy tickets for our trip to Zambia this weekend. We had the taxi bring us there, and what an adventure we had! As he was driving, we were talking with him (and his buddy who came along for the ride) about how all the post offices in Malawi are closed since the employees are on strike! He was saying how crazy it is that lots of people strike in Malawi and then was joking that Malawi used to be the "warm heart of Africa" but now it's just the "heart of Africa"!

Then we were riding along and all of a sudden our driver points near the side of the road and calls out, "That is my biological mother!" So we pulled over to say hello to his mother who was walking by.  I thought perhaps he was going to give her a ride somewhere, but I guess she didn't need one, so he got back in and we continued along.

Finally we got to the bus depot to buy our tickets for the trip to Lusaka. We had tried to buy them in the morning but nobody was there, so we were glad that we finally managed to buy them that afternoon and walked away with the receipt in hand.

Feeling relieved to have that taken care of, we walked back over to the taxi to leave. The driver pulled out his car key to unlock the door, but it didn't work. He tried it for several minutes while we stood there. I was just laughing at the predicament we were in- being at this crowded bus depot and the taxi car door won't open. We weren't in any rush to get anywhere, so I wasn't concerned but the driver quickly reassured us, "Don't worry, everything will be O.K!" After trying all the doors several times without any luck he finally said to us, "C'mon, let's go book another taxi" and started walking away.

We followed him down the street while he called out to some of his buddies until he found a friend with a car. Two people were shooed out of the back seat of a black car and Laura and I climbed in the back while our driver slid in the passenger seat and his friend was in the driver seat. I closed the door while trying not to get poked by a piece of metal sticking out and began looking for the seat belt which didn't exist.

Once we were all in, the driver opened his door and started pushing the car to get it started rolling down the hill. After we got rolling, he turned on the car and I took a curious peak at the meter for the gas to find that it was very well below empty! I was quite skeptical that we'd have enough to get us there, but then realized that each driver probably knows exactly how far he can get before his tank is actually completely out of gas. Our taxi driver pointed to his buddy driving the car and said, "This is my good friend. I don't have any best friends, but I have a lot of friends!" And a good thing he does too! We managed to get dropped off safely at our destination.

It was a great day! We got all packed up tonight and tomorrow I'll be off to Zambia for the first time!



Sunday, 22 July 2012

Computer Progress & Lake Malawi


Our second week of teaching has gone by already! At the beginning of the week we weren’t able to connect with the taxi driver, so we decided to walk to the LBI.  So Monday through Thursday Laura and I left the house at 6:30 and walked the 1 ½ hours there just in time to arrive and start at 8am. Luckily on the way there, it is downhill. And then on the way back, we take the minibus to the bus depot, so we only walk the remaining 45 minutes to get home.

The other day on our way to the LBI as we were walking, we passed a line of bicyclists who each had about 3-4 live goats tied down on the rack on the back of their bicycles. As the cyclists passed we heard the goats bleating what sounded like their last cry for help. It’s always interesting to see what people are transporting.

In the classroom, the students are continuing to learn quickly and are progressing well with the typing. Here are some highlights from the classroom:

One day as part of a review, we had them write either some of the things they’ve learned, or some things they’d like to learn still. One student typed that he wants to learn how to open an email.  So I decided to help him create an email account.  I got him logged into gmail so he now has his first ever email account!

We realized that only the first class has practiced turning the computers on so we decided one day that at the end of each class, the students should turn their computers off so the next class to come in could practice turning on and off also.  Since the room is so dusty, all of the computers are on the table next to the monitors.  One class came in and a student sat down at a laptop which was in between two desk tops. He went to turn it on and instead of pushing the power button on the laptop, he quite naturally reached to the right and pushed the power button for the computer to the right of him to turn it on. So he turned on his neighbor’s computer instead of his laptop. It was quite funny- even he was laughing!

Also in one class, a student decided to try a new game in the Mavis Beacon typing program. It has penguins standing on icebergs and the student has to type the word quickly before a shark eats the penguin. It’s difficult because you have to type the word very quickly and most times the penguin gets eaten. So when he saw that he just started laughing so hard and another student started laughing at him and teasing him for typing so slowly (after each game it tells the student how many words per minute you typed and your accuracy).  After being teased, the student called out, “Competition!” so then it was game on! The two students each pulled up the same game on their computers and were competing for over an hour to see who could type faster! They were having a great friendly competition!

Often we have them type their names or they’ll type other words in Chichewa and the MS Word dictionary doesn’t recognize the word, so it puts a red line underneath it. This really bothers the students because they don’t know why it’s there and they want to get rid of the red line. So we explain to them that the computer thinks the name is spelled wrong, but it’s your name so it’s not spelled wrong, the computer doesn’t know Chichewa! They smile and laugh at that! So we show them how to click “ignore” to get rid of the line.

Laura and I were saying how we’d like to meet the students’ wives and children. We asked the first class of students if we could meet their families. They said yes sure, so we planned on meeting them after class that day. I thought it would be something causal, perhaps outside afterwards for us to just see their wives and their children. At about lunchtime one of the students tells us that they’d decided it’d be best to meet at 14 hours. He said all the wives would meet in the classroom.

When our last class was over, we walked over to the larger classroom and all of the wives and all their kids were inside sitting down! And the students all came in too so we had a full room of over 60 people! The kids were absolutely adorable! We told them we were hoping to see and meet them and asked if they could get in groups by their families so we could see the kids and wives with their families…so there was a bunch of shuffling around until all the families were together. Then we asked if they wouldn’t mind going around and saying the names of their families. The LBI students each stood up and said their name and introduced their wives and said their kids’ names all in order. It was so nice of them! And they were all teasing each other and laughing, which was really nice! Most of them have large families with an average of about 4 children.

I love the students’ determination with the typing.  One student was practicing his typing again and playing a game.  At the end he had 94% accuracy and 6 wpm. He’s always very positive and so he immediately set a goal for his next game. He said he wanted to get 100% accuracy and 8wpm. He tried it again and was so focused and got 99% accuracy and 10 wpm! He was SO close to 100% and he beat his goal for wpm so it was really exciting! The students all focus very hard and are determined to improve.  

At the end of our last class for the day, the students always hang around and practice typing for extra time since there is no other class coming in after them. One of the students is more familiar with computers than the rest and already had a gmail account.  So we were showing him other features in gmail such as chatting and setting up a picture for his profile which Laura took of him.

Thursday was our last review day in Microsoft Word so I made up a little chart for them to fill out. We had them each pick their favorite sports team and make a chart and fill out some information about the team.  Then we helped them go onto the internet to do a google images search for their team and then copy and paste the picture into their word document.  For most of the students, this was their first time going online.

On Friday, we introduced Power Point. We had them each pick one of their essays, and start a power point presentation using information from their essay. It was challenging because it felt like we became English teachers for the day in addition to teaching computers. We were trying to skim their essays and help them condense the information…how to title the slides and how much information to put on a slide. The students were enjoying adding animations to the slides to make words bounce or spin onto the screen.

Friday after classes we went to Lake Malawi with the nurse, Melissa, for one overnight. It’s over 90 km to get to the lake from Lilongwe and takes about an hour and a half driving.  I was very excited that for the FIRST time I got to drive in Africa! I got to drive stick-shift on the left side of the road! It felt so odd shifting gears with my left hand instead of my right, and having opposing traffic pass on the right.   And then there were random goats crossing the road and people walking and biking everywhere.   

We walked on the beach Friday night and passed by a whole shore of fishermen. They were putting their boats in to go out for the night.  On the back of the boats are kerosene lamps which they use to catch the usipa fish which are drawn to the light.

Friday night for dinner we ate some delicious butterfish.  I’m not a huge fish fan but even I thought it was really tasty!

Saturday morning we got up at 5:30 to see the sunrise over Lake Malawi. The fishermen were just coming in. 

The sun turned from neon pink to neon orange and was reflecting over the lake.




We enjoyed a nice day at the beach before returning back to Lilongwe.  I even got to drive part of the way home!


Sunday, 15 July 2012

Completed First Week of Class


Thursday we continued with our teaching and were glad to have electricity the whole time! Apparently sometimes they announce the times of the load shutting in the newspaper, but I haven’t seen any schedule yet, so we’re just taking it day by day.  The students are already progressing well with their typing and becoming more familiar with moving around the desktop and working in Microsoft Word. 


Thursday evening Laura and I joined Melissa and the missionaries for an Ethiopian dinner at a restaurant called the Queen of Sheba’s. It was a neat experience. There are two main platters of bread similar to a spongy flat pancake which is called Injera. Then there are several bowls of sides which you lay out on top of the Injera. There are separate rolls of Injera and each person takes one and uses it to scoop up a bite of the dish they’d like. We had several lentil dishes, cabbage, tomato, cheese and chicken. After eating all the food on the plate, you finish by eating the Injera on the platter- literally eating your plate! Yum!



Friday we did not teach because there was a church service to close the week of the continuing education classes for the pastors. We attended the service at 11. All of the songs except for one were sung in Chichewa and it was amazing hearing the church full of Zambian and Malawian pastors singing acapella in Chichewa. We followed along as best we could in the Chichewa songbook and luckily the sermon was in English. Again the LBI choir sang and they wore their deep purple robes; it was amazing hearing them! At the end of the service, they called up 3 pastors who just finished their studies and were receiving their certificate of divinity. Each pastor received a gift of a wooden communion table to serve individual cup at their church. So that was neat to see!

Saturday we enjoyed a beautiful day at Lake Malawi. It is about an hour and a half drive from Lilongwe and the drive is beautiful; both the people and the landscape. It is so interesting seeing the villages we pass through and the people- I’m still amazed at how the women balance things on their heads, and how the men balance materials on their bikes: firewood, baskets of vegetables, chickens hanging from the handlebars, huge bags of grains...

It was beautiful weather at the beach: sunny and warm enough that I went swimming in the lake. It was clear and so warm! Pastor Nitz and family brought a grill along so we enjoyed grilling lunch there and relaxing for the day.

Tomorrow starts our second week of class. We couldn’t get a hold of the taxi driver, so we’re leaving early in the morning to get some exercise and walk there.

Ready for a new week! 





Wednesday, 11 July 2012

First Days of Teaching


Monday was our first day of teaching the introduction to computers course. The hardest part in preparation was not knowing what to expect. Laura and I were both looking forward to starting so that we could get a feel for where the students.  It's hard to anticipate which things will be harder and which will be easier for them to pick up. 

For the first day of class we started at 8am and taught 5 classes of 4 students for an hour each. We began with introducing how to turn the computers and monitors on, how to use the mouse, how to open programs from the desktop and then some basics in Microsoft Word. We showed them how to change font size, style, color, and alignment. 



They were so interested and focused very hard as we were explaining how to do different things. Two of the students even began with the typing program and they were learning it very quickly. They began to get familiar with the keyboard and then they practiced typing out some sentences of their own. 


It was neat to see how much the students appreciate having this class and how excited they are to learn.  One of the students was typing how glad he was to have the two “sisters” from the US teaching them.  He typed how the class is an hour long but it feels like only a few minutes! He was clearly very happy to be learning.


I wore a chitenje for the first time Monday. Chitenje's are pieces of colored, printed fabric and the women wrap it around their waists like a skirt.  I bought one from the church which is blue and says Lutheran Church of  Central Africa. 
We taught straight through from 8am until about 2pm.  After our classes ended, we caught the minibus on our own for the first time.  We managed to get to the bus depot and then walked 45 minutes and made it home successfully!





Yesterday we had quite an adventure. Laura and I are practicing getting to the LBI with various means of transportation so that we know how to get there on our own.  So we got up early and left the house by 7am. We walked 45 minutes to the bus depot trying to backtrack our route since we've only ever walked home, and not there. 
We were told we could take one of 2 buses and one would bring us closer so we were looking for that bus toward Bunda College. The buses have signs in the front windshield telling which direction they're going. We made our way to the bus which was practically empty but we didn't see another one going in that direction. So we got in the minibus around 7:45 and we were supposed to begin teaching the first class at 8am. 

So we waited there. It’s an anxious feeling just waiting and not knowing how long it’s going to take, especially when you’re trying to get somewhere at a specific time. 

I got so excited every time there was one more person who came on the bus because that meant that we were one person closer to leaving. Then, just as it was full, a few people got OFF the bus and we had to wait again for those seats to fill up. That happened twice before it was finally full for good. It wasn’t until forty five (!) minutes later that we finally left the depot. As we started driving, we told the man by the door where we were getting off as he collected our money. I was so happy that we were finally going- it was about 8:35 by now. And then, just a couple minutes after leaving, we pulled into a petrol station and we had to wait in a line to get gas!!! So by the time we finally got to the LBI we were an hour late!

The students were already inside, on the computers and by now the second class was there ready to start. So we had 2 classes in one- it was a full class. Then, after an hour, it was time or the 10am class to begin, so we tried to get the previous 8 students out. Well, the second class wanted to stay longer since the first class was technically using the computers from 8-10 (2 hours since we were late) even though we weren’t teaching them for the first hour. So we were all mixed up with the classes and every computer and lap top was being used all day.

Then, at 11:30 we were in the middle of a class when the power went out! We do have 3 lap tops, but they  have almost no battery life so they weren’t much use with the power out. We of course had no idea how long the power would be out for, so we waited a bit. One of the students is more advanced with computers and he was hoping to learn how to edit videos so we told him we’d try and see what we could do. So while the power was out, I pulled out my camera and took a short video of the 4 students so that we can try to edit it depending on the software etc.

Posing for Picture During Power Outage




It’s amazing to see the enthusiasm of the students. Even while the power was out, the students still wanted to learn. One said he wanted to know what all the buttons on the keyboard are for so we started explaining. And then we showed them where to place your fingers for typing and they practiced, pretending to type things.

The power was out for 1 ½ hours and finally came back on a little after 1pm. So then we got another flood of people. The next class, plus the ones whose time was shortened when the power went out. It felt busy all day. They wanted to make sure that they all got their fair share of time on the computers. At the end of one class, one student was even telling me that he needed a couple more minutes because they started a couple minutes late!

Then after the last class, one student asked if his wife could come in and learn. So he brought her in and I started teaching her the basics. I think the other students saw that they were still in the room, and they wanted extra time too, so they started coming in for a second time! So all the computers were being used even after all our classes had ended and there was even a line of students sitting on the bench outside waiting for their turn!

We finally had to tell them that we had to go, and we left with the room still full of students and the whole bench outside full!


Last night we enjoyed spending some time with the nurse Melissa. She invited us over for dinner. We enjoyed warm lentil soup and even made homemade pretzels which were delicious! Yesterday afternoon it was so cold. The sky became completely overcast and I kept saying that if I saw that sky in the US I would say it would definitely rain! But since we’re in Malawi in the dry season, even with a completely cloudy sky, it won’t rain! It’s actually nice for planning- every day is a nice day and it never rains during the dry season. So with a cold afternoon and evening, the warm soup was much appreciated!


Wednesday-This morning we took the taxi ride to the LBI and we even arrived early to class! We opened the door, put our bags down and walked over to flip the light switch and….no power! We waited inside for a bit and then decided to sit out in the sun on a bench. The funny thing is we didn’t know how long it would take. Yesterday it was out for an hour and a half so I thought, perhaps it’ll be back on at 10am. The pastors were all talking outside waiting for their classes to start. Then they went in and we were still waiting for the power. One really neat thing was hearing all the men singing. About 60 men were inside a classroom beginning their classes for the day and the door was open and Laura and I were sitting outside waiting for power. The men started singing “Jesus Sinners Does Receive” and it sounded so neat. They sang all the verses and it was so peaceful.

Ten o’clock came and went and there was still no power. The secretary decided to join us and we started teaching her some card games and playing for a while. Then pastors would end a session and come outside for a break and then go back in for another session and back out and every time they came back out, we were still there, without power. One of the pastors said the power had gone out much earlier in the morning around 6am so it was out for a while. Finally about 12:30 it came back on! We had one full class but unfortunately most of the other students were not able to come in the afternoon. 

Then we left for the day around 4:30 to watch the pastors play a soccer match: Zambia vs. Malawi.  Apparently they’ve played for the past 2 years and one year Zambia won and the other Malawi won, so this was a tie-breaker and in the end Zambia won 1-0. It was fun to watch!

We'll just have to see if we have better luck with the power the rest of this week. Hope so!

  

Sunday, 8 July 2012

Weekend Festivities

Friday July 6th was Malawi's 48th independence day. I'd been asking people during the week if people do anything special to celebrate and all the responses I heard were the same. Most people don't celebrate it much.  There are some shops that are closed and people don't have to work because it's a holiday, but that's about it.


Friday we biked to the LBI for the first time! Laura, Pastor Martin and I left a little before 8 am and it took just over a half hour to get there. It was nice that there wasn’t too much traffic in that direction early in the morning. Laura and I are working on remembering how to get there! We've taken several different routes driving there and it can be a bit confusing especially since many roads have no road sign and some that do have signs, have a different name than what is printed on the map!



When we got there Pastor Chikwatru introduced us to all the students. There are 9 from Zambia and 9 from Malawi.  They all stood up and introduced themselves. All are married and most have children and their families live with them on the LBI campus. 

What I really liked was that as they were introducing themselves, every single one of them said, “I am blessed with…” a son and daughter for example. They all said they were "blessed" rather than complaining about having a lot of kids. It was a nice comparison to what we heard the day before.  When we were at the village for the mobile clinic the day before, the woman started chanting a song in Chichewa. Pastor Mabedi told me that the women were singing “how can we take care of all these children…they are too many for us…” So, after hearing that, it was nice that these men said they’re blessed to have children.

As they were saying their names, I was writing them down because I really want to learn who everyone is! So I tried to repeat their names; it is tricky! It’s hard to understand their names on the first try and of course they all chuckled when I tried to repeat their names incorrectly. I hope I can learn them all by the end of the course though.


We finally divided the students up into 5 groups of 4 to start off this week.  Each group will be for 1 hour starting at 8am on Monday.  We’re not sure yet if all the students are at the same level or not and what their expectations are for the course.  So we asked the students if there are things in particular which they for sure want to learn how to do.  Only one students spoke up and said he would like to learn excel, which we planned on teaching, and he wants to learn how to edit movies- deleting background noise and adding in other music. That one will be trickier though. We’ll have to see about finding some type of software to do that. We’ll plan to introduce Power Point as well.  The student also mentioned he’d like to learn how to burn music onto cds. That we definitely can do! And he asked if his wife could learn as well because she is interested. So perhaps if there are other students’ wives who want to learn, we can teach a class for all the women as well! We’ll start off with the basics tomorrow and see how quickly things progress. 


Saturday morning we got up early and met the rest of the group for an excellent outing. We drove about an hour to the hills around the township of Dedza to the Chongoni Rock Art area which is a World Heritage Site. As we got closer to the mountains, we were off the paved path and making dust clouds as we drove. It is the cool dry season in Malawi now and there is dust everywhere. When we were bicycling yesterday we couldn’t help but ride through dust clouds as cars passed by and it even gets on your teeth. It reminds me of the phrase “eat my dust!”  
There were hardly any signs for the Rock Art Area, yet many possible roads to take as we were driving along. At one point we passed the Peace Corps training site. As we continued along not sure where to go, Pastor who knows fluent Chichewa, asked a native for directions. We didn’t get too far before we stopped another man for directions and whether he offered or we asked I’m not sure, but in the end he just hopped into the car with us to direct us to the road to take.

We ended up parking and walking along a path leading up a small mountain. Despite our efforts, we never did find the rock paintings but we enjoyed the hiking experience as a group!












On our way back, we stopped at the Dedza Pottery Lodge to see the artwork there and to get some lunch.  I tried Nsima for the first time. Nsima is a staple food here. It was made out of maize flour and was thick and sticky. You eat it with your hands and dip it into another dish. I had a Malawian beef stew that I dipped the nsima into.



Saturday night we went out to get pizza with Melissa. Unfortunately it gets dark so early here- by 6pm and it’s not really safe to be walking around at night.  It limits evening activities but Melissa kindly took us for another ride in the ambulance. 


This morning we went to 8:30 church and enjoyed a beautiful service. My favorite part was when the choir sang. All the members stood up in their seats and the choir director lead them to begin singing a capella. As they were singing, they slowly began to move into the aisle forming 2 lines walking up to the front of the church. All the while they were stepping together and when there was a break from the singing, even the sound of the footsteps matched each other. Their voices blended together perfectly. The mothers had their babies strapped onto their backs with beautiful printed fabrics which is common here. And the babies are so content just sitting in the pouch on their mother’s back and swaying to the music. 
The choir had such great volume; it was very powerful. I wish I could've joined them although I really wouldn't fit in!

We learned that the choir composes all their own songs and there are 13 choir directors who all rotate to take turns directing the choir for different songs. It was beautiful!

After church we visited with some of the members and pastors. And then one of the women, Annette who is from Tanzania but now living in Malawi, had brought 2 sections of cotton fabric from Tanzania to offer Laura and I. Annette has her own shop which we haven’t been able to visit yet, but she also sews and makes tailored outfits to sell. She offered that she could make us something out of the material so we could have a piece of traditional attire out of the material from Tanzania!

Tomorrow will be our first day teaching computer classes and we start at 8am. After being in Malawi over a week now I’m ready to jump into our teaching work! It’ll be a busy week too with over 60 pastors on campus from Zambia and Malawi for continuing education classes.  Looking forward to getting started!

We learned how to say “let’s go!” in Chichewa… “tipete!”




Thursday, 5 July 2012

4th of July in Malawi

I can't believe it's already day 6 in Malawi!


Tuesday we got a lot accomplished in preparation for our teaching which begins next week. We went to the Lutheran Bible Institute (LBI) and saw the computer room for the first time. There are 4 desktops and 4 laptops which we needed to be set up. We checked that all 4 were connected to the internet. We were able to successfully install Miscrosoft programs on 7 of the computers (one of the keyboards on the laptop doesn't work) as well as a Mavis Beacon typing program.  So the computers should be ready to go! Now we just need to meet the students!






Yesterday we had an exciting 4th of July in Malawi!


We went to the LBI to meet the secretary who accompanied us on the minibus to show us how it works. It was only our 2nd time taking the minibus and we have to quickly learn how it works and get oriented with directions so that Laura and I can begin taking it on our own next week.
We took one bus to the busy market area where we transferred to second one. There are 5 rows so one would think it would hold just 15 people, but that's not the case. So we waited there until the bus was about full and then we took off. The driver is on the right of the vehicle and he drives on the left of the road and as we make stops, there is a man who takes care of the sliding van door and collects the money.
At our fullest they were able to cram in 20 people not including a baby on a mother's lap and a dead rooster on the floor of the van. I was fortunate enough to be sitting right next to the open window to catch some fresh air.


Then for dinner one of the nurses from the mobile medical clinic here picked us up in addition to a Tanzanian woman from church. We got to ride in the back of the ambulance since that's the vehicle she uses here. She made us a delicious 4th of July dinner of hamburgers with roasted vegetables and even warm apple crisp for dessert!
We were lucky because when she left to pick us up, the electricity had still been out from several hours earlier but it was back on in time for us to have a warm dinner!




This morning we got up and rode in the ambulance to the clinic. Every day Monday through Thursday the mobile medical clinic team travels to a different village so each village sees the staff once a week. Today we went to the Mwololongwe clinic. We picked up the pastor as well. I learned that the word for Pastor in Chichewa is “mbusa.”

When we arrived, there was already a huge crowd of women and babies. The second ambulance arrived with all the local staff members, about 13 in total, as well as the medical equipment up on top of the vehicle. After it was all unloaded, Pastor lead a devotion and my favorite part was singing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” in Chichewa. I did my best to follow along in the songbook; it sounded so pretty singing acapella.

Patients at the Clinic

 Then all the patients line up and get a number and everyone carries what’s called a “health passport.” Mothers carry one for themselves and their childrens’ books also. It’s about the size of a passport and it has their personal health information inside it so the nurses can see when they were last checked, growth charts for the babies etc.  




Inside the clinic, Laura and I helped prepare medicines, mixing and  measuring out cough syrup and pill bags.  We sat next to Melissa in the clinic as she took blood pressure and did exams for the babies.  She was doing malaria checks- paleness under the lower inside of the eye, and an enlarged spleen are indicators of malaria.


Starting to line up for clinic
Then one of the nurses came over and mentioned about a critical patient who they thought had an ectopic pregnancy meaning the egg was implanted in the fallopian tube and could burst and be fatal. It was amazing how they handled the situation- in such a clear, calm voice, she said, yes it’s an emergency and we should bring her to the hospital. So the quickly found out which was the best hospital to bring her to. The driver, clinic nurse, patient and her guardian, Laura and I all rode in the ambulance with her to the hospital. It was my first time riding inside an ambulance with the patient, with the siren on, to the hospital. I was surprised how calm everyone was. 



We arrived at Kamuzu Central Hospital and brought her in to the maternity wing. They described to the nurses there what the problem was and then we left. Here in Malawi it is the patient's responsibility to get a ride back to their home when they are done. And there is no emergency number to call. So if a patient wasn’t at the clinic and needed to get to the hospital, they would need to get there themselves by minibus or however they could. That was surprising to hear. 


It took about 45 minutes by the time we left the clinic and returned. 
Clinic ended a bit earlier than usual a bit after noon since there were less people than usual. Today there were 173 people in the sick line and they've had about 300 other days. 

It was a very interesting experience and I'm so glad we got to see how the mobile clinic is run in one of the villages!

Tomorrow we meet the LBI students!