Our first flight flew out of LAX at 7:00am. Therefore, in order to get to the airport in time, we left Escondido at 2:45 in the morning!! Thanks to Ryan Guyer who was willing to drive us and take this photo.
We had a flight to New York JFK airport and then we caught a plane to Johannesburg, South Africa with a stop in Dakar, Senegal.
Our flight into Johannesburg required that we spend the night since our flight to Lilongwe, Malawi wasn't going to be until the next morning. We all split a room at a hotel a few miles from the airport. This is a photo of the room we stayed in. (Photo courtesy of Matt Barker)
In the Johannesburg International Departures Terminal waiting for our flight out.
We landed safely in Lilongwe which is the capital city of Malawi. We had to go through customs and it was here that I gave a bible to the Customs agent because he wanted an English bible and I had two of them.
We were picked up from the airport and driven to the village of Matapila. This photo is taken from outside the window of our van. You can kind of get a sense of the landscape.
Part of the village of Matapila. This is their soccer field - every village has at least one!
We got into Malawi on a Thursday and pretty much crashed because of jet-lag. On Friday we went to the Katondo feeding center which is one of six such facilities run by Ministry of Hope - an organization that Fletcher Matandika (a fellow student at WSC) started 8 years ago. This is a photo of a "classroom" at the school in Katondo on the way to the feeding center. There were three or four classes outside. They are sitting on the edge of the, you guessed it, soccer field!
When we arrived at the feeding center there were only a few of the younger children there. The others were still in school. The feeding center is open to all orphans or kids with single parents. Not only do the kids get fed, but they also have programs and Bible lessons for them. Here the little kids are eating their lunch before the others arrive.
Mark with some of the children.
Jumping rope - done all over the world.
Most of the children knew very little English if any at all. Therefore, playing a game with them proved to be challenging. One that they did know was "Duck,duck, goose." So we all sat in a circle and one of the kids started by going around, "duck... duck... duck... chicken!!". There are not a lot of geese in Malawi, but almost every household has some chickens which makes the change in the game explainable!
Michelle with some of children.
Children at the Katondo feeding center.
We were going to be at the feeding center for two days and each day we were tasked with doing a little bible lesson. Michelle was tasked with the responsibility of planning the lessons, and did a great job setting that up. We all took turns talking about the fruit of the Spirit (through our great interpreter Mavutu). Here Michelle is taking her turn.
The first day we had the kids make cards to their friends to show kindness.
We walked to and from the feeding center both days (about 45 minutes each way). Here we passed some ladies on the road.
The Chichewa word (primary local language of Malawi) for "white people" is "azungu". Whenever we passed by a village the little kids would run out and start yelling "Azungu! Azungu!" Most often they would run along side of us for a while. For most of our walking we had kids following us!
On Saturday we were back at the feeding center. There was a small hill behind the center which we climbed up with some of the kids. It is kind of hard to see in this photo but a little girl is staring at Mark's digital watch. She was fascinated by the seconds ticking off and watched it for a good four or five minutes!
Part of the village of Katondo at the base of the hill. This is a typical rural village that are scattered throughout the countryside.
A kid playing with a rubber ring attached to a stick with string.
The guys had to play soccer with the older kids from the feeding center! Mark was playing goalie, and despite giving up an early goal his team came back to win with two unanswered goals!
The volunteers at the Katondo Center. The man on the far right is Gift Matandika, Fletcher's brother. He is the supervisor of the center.
On Sunday morning we all went to Mzuzu Presbyterian Church in Matapila. Stephen Roberts gave the sermon through Mavutu as the interpreter. It was a special fundraising service so the church was overflowing, so they moved it outside! None of us had a camera so we couldn't take a photo, but it was fun to have maybe 700-800 people spread out on a hillside behind the church!
During our three nights in Matapila Mark and Michelle stayed at the Matandika's house. Here we are with them.
Stephen Roberts, Steve Bussis, and Matt Barker stayed up the street at Shadrach's house (the guy in the black sweater in the front row) along with some students from African Bible College. (Photo courtesy of Matt Barker)
We then took a van to the village of Nkhoma where the vast majority of our time in Malawi was going to be.
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