Trip to Malawi!
I wish I had a photographic memory that would take pictures so I could show other people what I saw!!! The drive was absolutely fascinating and beautiful! However, speeding along did not produce many of the pictures I wish I could show!
There were hundreds of little houses in villages. Many of those houses were built like the one pictured above. The roofs were all grass roofs like the one in the picture but the sides were either built of grass, sticks or bricks...just like I envision The Three Little Pigs!! I know the people simply use what is available to them but it made me think of President's Nelson's talk when he said, "Whenever any kind of upheaval occurs in your life, the safest place to be spiritually is living inside your temple covenants!"
Pictures are a bit blurry. They were all taken in motion.
But you can get an idea of what we saw. Lots of road side stands; lots of people walking; lots of huts. Occasionally, we would see a sign for a school or a hospital and wonder where the people came from to attend these facilities. From the bush, I suppose.
This was typical of a little village. They construct shelters of just about anything they can find.
At one point we crossed a river. As we were going through this area, President Moyo said it was snake territory. There would be no stopping here. He is almost as afraid of snakes as I am!!
These pictures show how rough the walking area is in front of some shops. No sidewalks or brick paths, just dirt!! And of course there are always the Airtel booths!
Just before we got to the border we changed some money on the Black Market.
The Assistants actually did this. It was a good thing I was safe inside the car. Many men gathered around the car, all wanting to make their deal. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but President Moyo seems to think it is okay.
Here the adventure really began: We had called the man, Peter, who takes care of our visas to Malawi to ask if Hal and I needed to do anything. He assured us that since we were US citizens and we were only staying a couple of days, we didn't need to do anything ahead of time. NOT SO!! When we started to go through immigration we were told that we did not have the necessary documents. We called Peter again. Talked to man at immigration for quite awhile. Finally, we were told that someone would come and take care of everything...not even sure what that was. He had to come to Immigration and would take about one hour. We waited far more than one hour! A did man come; he looked like the gardener, because he had on irrigation boots. He talked to the other man for awhile. Eventually, they told us that we needed to pay $100 US. We don't usually carry US money with us and they wouldn't take our card. Not knowing if this was a scam or not, Hal went outside to call Peter again. He said the price was as expected. Hal came back into the immigration office with $100 (we had brought some but didn't want to be conspicuous about it) and handed it to the man. He scrutinized the money and then said that he wouldn't accept one of the $10 bills. It had a bad serial number on it. Whatever!! Hal insisted that that was all we had and he eventually took the money and left kind of in a huff!!
Since we had traveled with the Moyo's in one car and the Assistants were in a separate vehicle, we had to clear both vehicles to cross the border. We witnessed a miracle here. We didn't have the original registration, just a copy. But the man working with the vehicle inspections was super nice and stamped the papers anyway.
All in all, it took us FOUR hours to finally get everything approved so we could go into Malawi. I really do not like crossing borders....they take forever!!! Some are worse than others, but none are smooth!
We drove another two hours to our hotel in Lilongwe, Malawi, where we crashed into bed at 12:30 AM.
This was the President's Hotel, where we stayed. These life sized figurines were in the lobby. Very typical scenes for here.
Even though it has been raining a lot, it is still warm and beautiful!!
The preferred method of transportation in Malawi is by bicycle!
Lots of motorcycles and still plenty of cars to cause a whole lot of traffic congestion!!
These bicycles are were just parked at the side of the road, waiting for a passenger.
No meeting houses have been built in Malawi yet. The church rents houses. This is one of those where church is held.
Left to right: Sister Panganayi, Sister Keitirile, Sister Taferinyika, Sister Manning, Sister Harris, Sister Ward, and Sister Mubaiwa
Sister Manning was transferred from Lusaka to Lilongwe during the last transfers and she was so happy to see me...and I her!!
Sister Ward (picture on right) had a scary experience just a few days ago. She and her companion, Sister Mubaiwa were returning home from their area of teaching and crossed a ditch. Some drunk guy came up from behind them and threw a glass bottle at Sister Ward and hit her in the back of the head (she had to get stitches). Her companion started beating on the guy with her umbrella until they were able to get away. They were pretty shaken by the experience!
Missionaries did the decorating for our Christmas activity. They certainly know how to improvise! Not only were the trees crooked to begin with but they just leaned them up against the little wall to hold them up.
Sisters Harris, Manning, and Tafirenyika. Elders Wanyama, Graviet, Taylor, and Mayisela.
Sisters Ward, Mubaiwa, Keitirile, Panganayi. Elders Rydalch, Christensen, Allie, Amadeu
Elders Kasema, Smith, Aburam
Sister and Elder Allen. Poor Elder Allen! He's not been real well for about one week now and ended up in the hospital the very next day. Two days after that they flew him to Johannesburg. He ended up with Malaria, Typhoid and Kidney Stones all at the same time!!! He had surgery this morning!
Every good program has "parts!" Here a couple of elders sang for us! And some performed their version of Nephi on the boat. I think it was just a good opportunity to get good and wet!!!
And of course since it is Christmas, this was their version of reenacting the Nativity. Notice the tie for the donkey's tail, and the balloon for the baby Jesus!
While the rest of us were partying inside, this man was mowing the lawn! With shears!!! It was a pretty good size yard!
All the missionaries singing a Christmas carol.
On the way to the airport the next day, I managed a few more pictures of the country side. It had rained like crazy the evening before. Everything was so green and beautiful!! Lots of fields of corn. People working the ground with hoes.
As if we had not had enough adventures, the plane that we were supposed to take to Lusaka had "technical difficulties." We ended up waiting at the airport a total of 7 hours waiting for our plane to be fixed and then later for a plane to be rerouted from Johannesburg to take us on our journey. In that entire 7 hours we saw a total of 4 planes! One of those was a cargo plane. Obviously, not a high traffic airport! What an adventure for my birthday!!
The Lilongwe Zone
First time the Senior couples were all together. The couple on the left is the District President and his wife, President Amos.
I read this and January 6th's entry backwards. Poor Sister Ward! First she was beaten by a while man and then got in a tragic car accident. She's had a really rough few weeks.
ReplyDeleteI can barely imagine how you have changed, Mom. Crossing borders, taking care of so many missionaries, and being staying so positive about it all. I am amazed with your accomplishments.