The Grand Christmas Party By Jared Langdon

            On December the 22^nd, we had a very fun Christmas Party.  It was a get together for all of our employees so that they could get to meet each other.  Everyone attended except for the two night watchmen, who were late for certain reasons.  We started out with a small banquet for the whole gathering, which totaled 20 people, including us.  We had 4 different kinds of cookies, as well as peanuts, meatballs, samoosas (small triangular corn tortillas with hamburger in them), and Fanta Orange pop for drinks. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and when everything was said and done, there was absolutely nothing left!  They always say that American candies and cookies are too sweet (stuff like M&M’s, chocolate cookies, etc.), but everything was gone!  They were thoughtful, and packed some in their bags for their little ones at home. Here is one of the funny things that one lady did with her candy.  Mom had given her a candy cane, but failed to explain what to do with it.  For us Americans, it is obvious what you do with a candy cane (you dispatch it immediately).  Anyways, she thought it was a decoration, and hung it up in her house.  When she related this to everybody after she watched them eat their candy canes, everyone just about died with laughter!

            After the food, we gave out gift bags with stuff like rice, sugar, tea, milk powder, and custom calendars with the pictures of the babies they took care of on them.  Everyone was SO thankful, so they gave us some African style singing which included some “hi-yi-yi-yi”ing, dancing, and handshaking.  It was an impressive sight, watching about 10 African women dancing and swaying in time with the music. 

            Then the speeches started.  Our gardener joked around a little bit and said that “probably if it hadn’t been for the food,” he might not have come.  He then thanked us and stated that it was a joy to work for us because we demonstrated the love of God to them.  He said that even though we were having troubles with malaria, other sicknesses, and many things that would discourage some people enough to make them go home, we were sticking it out.  Many of the caretakers said many similar things.  One pointed out that even though they hadn’t been working for us very long; we were still kind enough to throw a party for them.  They then collected their things and left, except the ones who were on night duty that night.  The whole party lasted about 2 hours, from 3:00-5:00.  The whole thing was enjoyable, and everyone had fun.

 

 

 

 

Our Garden

 

            A few weeks ago, Matthew wrote about our garden and how “bad” it was coming along.  I am sure he particularly mentioned our attempt at growing sweet corn here.  I think he mentioned something about how short and scrawny it looked.  Well, although our corn plants “were” somewhat scrawny looking, when we had some with dinner the other night, it actually tasted very delicious and the ears weren’t small and undersized like we figured they would be!  We were better gardeners than we had thought.  The ears were nice and yellow and weren’t even bug eaten!   In the rest of our garden we are growing sweet potatoes, broccoli, tomatoes, regular potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, cabbage, green beans, popcorn, and peanuts. Everything seems to be growing fairly well and we are expecting fresh vegetables in a few weeks.  The strange thing is that we are growing all of these in late December, which is not normal for us since we have been living in the northern hemisphere before we came here.

 

Kris 

 

 

Going to the Hospital

Going to the Hospital is probably a bad subject to talk about, but I went there with Mom and a friend.  Our friend drove us because my Dad had our car.

When we got there I felt good but when the doctor looked at my throat it started to hurt some more. Ok, I am going to tell you what the Hospital was like: it was very clean, and there were real seats! And there were some Doctors from the U.S.A. Then we had to wait and wait while they went to get medicine.  Boy I got mad, but it made me well.      Sarah

Another Baby

After one of our babies named Jacob died, we were left with only 6 orphans (and some very sad nannies), but a few days ago, God blessed us with a replacement baby.  This new baby is named Mphatso.  As you probably already know, we have another baby named Mphatso, so how are we going to not get the two mixed up?  Well, since just about every Tumbuka name means something in English, we decided to call the new “Mphatso” by his English name which is Gift.  Gift is the perfect name for this new baby since we lost a baby and God replaced it for us with a Gift.  So, our orphan number is back at 7.  Please pray that God will send us more babies.  We still have room! 

 

Kris

The Funeral

 

            On Sunday the 26^th, one of our babies, Jacob, died in the hospital.  On the following Tuesday, my Mom, Dad, Kris and I went to his funeral. I wasn’t sure at first if I wanted to go, but in the end I decided to see what it was like, and it was our baby that died. So with our Land Cruiser filled to the limit and a little bit beyond (I was crammed in the back meant for 4 people, but besides me there were 5 others), we drove to Jacob’s village, which was a little ways out of town, towards the lake.  When we got there, we all got out and the caretakers that came with us started singing “In the Sweet By and By” in Tumbuka as they filed towards the house that Jacob’s body was in.  The women all went into the house, while all of us boys hung out and some smoked cigarettes.   After about 30 minutes of singing and mourning, another group of ladies came with flowers and songs to comfort the mourning aunts. 

            When all of the singing was done, the women came out with the coffin.  It was crudely built, but it was pretty for having been made on the spot.  The wood was mahogany colored, with nice trim around all of the edges.  The village headman spoke a little bit, but he cut the message short because of the weather.  Our oldest caretaker then spoke a message, thanking my family for coming to Malawi and caring for the orphans. My mother and Father also spoke and told them to thank God, because if it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be here.  My Dad also told them that they should be happy because Jacob was in heaven, where he wouldn’t have a weak, sickly body.  The service was short, because Jacob was very young, only 2 months, and so there was very little eulogizing. The graveside service was also short.  The pastor spoke a little, and since Augustine (a Malawian friend of ours who is a translator for the Roach’s) was there, he translated for us.  They buried little Jacob and we left to go home. There was lots of hymn singing during the whole thing.

 For the next few days, the atmosphere in our nursery was subdued and quiet, and any mention of Jacob brought the tears again to many of the caretakers.  They finally requested to have his name removed off of the list of babies in our nursery.  Thankfully, we still have pictures of him while he was healthy.

           

By Jared Langdon

GARDENING WOES

 

Gardening is getting to be “the thing” around here lately. Take, for example, Jared’s “garden.” He has planted tomatoes… POPCORN? and cantaloupe, in various cans and steri milk bottles, all of which sprouted. Jared and I have our own little plot in the main garden growing cucumber, zucchini, basil, and cantaloupe.  Our garden has lately become a fast-food joint for bugs and grasshoppers. It started with a few bites on the beans, and then the buggies realized there were other rare         delicacies within the vicinity. The little gluttons gobbled up all the beans, Jared’s and my cantaloupe, the radishes, and the lettuce. Real annoying little pigs. We got Guard Dust, but it didn’t help much. We then got Sevin Dust, and it’s… well, we haven’t really tried it yet. About the only thing we’ve harvested yet, thanks to our dear friends the bugs, is radishes and lettuce. Our corn is the most pathetic I’ve ever seen, since we didn’t use fertilizer. We’ve got 2-foot corn with no tassels, and 6-8 inch corn with tassels. As you can see, we’re pretty poor farmers. So much for gardens! J 

Matthew

 

 

Eating at the Nursery

            One day I was invited to eat at the nursery.    After the nannies had prepared the food I would come over to eat.  Of course we had the traditional meal of nsima and relish.  If you don’t know what nsima is, it is a porridge made of cornmeal and water.  This is cooked until it is a thick pasty substance that doesn’t have any flavor.  But with relish, which usually consists of cooked cabbage, rape, eggs, or other vegetables, helps it taste a lot better.  Of course if you’re extra traditional, you eat this with your hands, taking a blob of nsima and a little bit of relish and eating it.  Anyway, I ate in the nursery the extra traditional way which you can expect to be fun, and it was!

Kris

 

 

"EATING OUT" AT MAMA SOPHRET'S HOUSE by Matthew

On Sunday, the 5^th of November, we received an invitation from Mama Sophret, one of our nursery caretakers. She wanted to know if we 6 kids (NOT the animal type) would like to come over for “lunch” at her house. Mom and Dad said OK, so she (Mama Sophret) said she would be over at 2 o’clock to pick us up. (Malawians don’t eat at the same time we Americans do.) She showed up at 2:08, and then we left. The short “path” we followed led us through a “community” which was, of course, teeming with curious kids which yell, upon seeing you, “MAH-ZUNG-OO!” which means white person. We got to her house, which was a nice little place. We went inside, and were greeted by her 3 kids, also her nephew and niece, and her husband, Dada Nyasulu (who worked for the McGills, friends of ours from CCAP). After washing our hands, we got to eat nsima, (a type of maize “porridge”) chicken, mangoes, & cookies (supplied by us), with pop afterwards. A what you might call “rich man’s meal” for Malawi. No Pepto-Bismol needed! J

 

Our Beach Experience by Kris

            Yesterday we went to a beach called Chitimba along Lake Malawi and even went swimming in it!  Our friends, the Roaches, met us there and we had fun swimming with them.  We hope and pray that we didn’t get the parasite known as Bilharzia.  This parasite goes through your skin and into your blood stream.  It is very common in most of the water in Malawi.  Ever since we got back we have been taking parasite formula made from wormwood at every meal to help prevent it.

            While there we were planning on eating at the little restaurant that is there.  Our parents ordered the meal at about 12:00, and we finally (after patiently waiting) got our food at about 2:00. It is a good thing the food tasted delicious because we didn’t enjoy waiting for our food for 2 hours.  Overall, it was fun to get away from babies and have fun with friends.

 

6 Babies!

       We now have 6 babies to help take care of!  We are very thankful to have nannies (day and night) to take care of the babies while we are doing school or are busy.  But, on the 7^th of this month our night nanny wasn’t able to come because her brother had died and she had to go to the funeral and would be gone for three days, so guess who got to take care of the babies during the night? Us!  We took turns caring for all 5 of the babies except for Bridget; our 18 month old who didn’t need cared for because she is able to sleep all night.  That night was very tiring!  The good thing was that we able to get one of our day nannies to take care of the babies during the next night, so we slept very well. 

 

BY KRIS

 

Baby Follies by Matthew

I am writing about some of the funniest happenings concerning babies that we’ve ever had.    

1. Mphatso (m-pot-so) is our little “Pillsbury DoughBaby”. One evening, we were discussing the babies, and the topic turned to our little “doughbaby”. Sarah said,”We’ve got a black Pillsbury Doughbaby!” Then Dad said,” I’ll tell you why he’s so dark, he’s whole-wheat!”

 

2.  Bridget, our oldest baby, has the funniest eating habits I’ve ever seen! For example, at dinner one day, we were eating scones with butter, and she had bread with butter. Mom tried to feed her the bread, and she wouldn’t touch it. Just sat and pouted. So Mom gave her a bit of scone, and she (Bridget, not Mom) practically jammed it in her mouth. Jared had a “genuine scientific experiment” in mind already. We rolled a piece of bread into a ball, and then rolled a piece of scone of the same size into a ball, also. We set them down in front of her. She picked up the bread ball, popped it in her mouth, and spat it out. She then dove for the scone and munched it with PLENTY of smacking.    

 

3.  Bridget and Mphatso are the goofiest pair I’ve ever seen together. Bridget often says something to the effect of, “My baby!” when she plays with Mphatso, and Mphatso returns the favor by slobbering on her face. I’ve never seen her slobber on Mphatso, but at least her face is moist a lot.

 

Bridget - by Sarah

Bridget is a baby in our crisis nursery. She is 18 months old and was abandoned by her mother. She was just about starved to death when we got her. She is now smiling and laughing, a totally different girl than when we got her 3 weeks ago. She loves to eat nsima, scones and especially eggs. When she sees food she smacks her lips and cries if she doesn’t get it.

Here is a picture of how we hold babies in Malawi. You put them on your back and then wrap a chitenge (a large piece of material) around your back and tie it in the front. This way you can do things and still have the baby with you.


SARAH

Day to day living by Jared

Day to day living here is very similar to living in the United States, with a few exceptions.  All of us children get up at different times between 6:00 and 7:00; sometimes have a cup of tea while we read our Bibles, and wait until Mom and Dad finish their Bible study.  Kris and I then take out the compost and the garbage. The compost goes to the compost pile near the garden.  The trash gets sorted into burnable and unburnable.  The unburnable stuff, like cans and jars, go into a pit dug in the back yard near the wall. While we are in the back yard, we water the garden.  We have corn, radishes, lettuce and garlic growing now.  We then get ready for breakfast. 

After breakfast, we all do school at the dining room table, taking occasional breaks until our school is done.  We usually finish before lunch.  If we don’t finish before lunch, we have to stay inside and finish after lunch, usually somewhere else because Mama Chirwa cleans the dining room after lunch.

For recreational activity during the afternoon, Kris and I have a table tennis tournament every day, adding up the games at the end of the day and seeing how many games each of us won.  We average about 5-10 games a day.  Also, all of us kids also split into 2 teams and play keep-away with a soccer ball.  When they aren’t playing the keep-away game, Andrew, Sarah, and Alina usually play in the side yard, mixing up batches of grass and flowers to use for food while they play house.  Matthew usually sits around and reads books.

By 5:00 P.M., we come in to have dinner.  The mosquitoes start to come out, the night watchmen show up to guard the house, and we eat dinner.  After dinner, we all stay in the house because of the possibility of mosquitoes.  We sometimes play a game of Scrabble or Boggle.  Each evening, we study one chapter of the New Testament (we’re in Galatians now).  We then go to bed, usually around 8:30.

On Sundays, the schedule is slightly different.  We eat breakfast, and then get ready to go to church.  Church services start at about 9:00.  We start off with singing some hymns in Tumbuka, then break.  We get together again about 5 minutes later and sing some more hymns in Tumbuka.  During this section, we take the Lord’s Table.  After Communion, we take another 5 minute break.  Mr. Pascoe then gets out his guitar and we sing hymns in English.  The kids then go to Sunday school with Anastasia, while the older children and adults stay and listen to one of the men speak.  At 11:00, the service is over.  For lunch, my family and the Pascoe’s go to a little restaurant called Sombrero.  We have the whole afternoon to spend at home.

 

               

 

The Languages in Malawi by Jared

            In Malawi there are 2 main languages.  There is Chichewa, which is the national language, and there is Tumbuka (also known as chiTumbuka).  Chichewa is mostly spoken in the southern region and the capital.  Tumbuka is spoken in the northern region, from about Kasungu to Karonga.  In the far north, there are about 25 more dialects.

            In Tumbuka, once you know many of the root words, the rest comes easier.  Unfortunately, you have to make many changes to those root words depending on who you are addressing.  It also depends on the party, mood, or tense of the verbs in the sentence.  You change the words by adding prefixes and suffixes.  If you speak in the past tense, you don’t only change the verbs; you also change all of the words in the sentence.

            The language also has some complexity.  Rather than have one word for a certain noun and just adding an adjective to clarify on that noun, the language has a totally new word for that noun.  Gift, for example, is one of the words like this.  If it is a birthday gift, then the Tumbuka word is totally different.  If the gift is a Christmas gift, then the Tumbuka word is totally different.  This presents some difficulty in learning the language.

            Another interesting thing about the language is the certain greetings you use for different times of day.  Here are the morning greetings and responses:

           

            A:  Monire.  Mwagona uli?   =  Hello. How did you sleep?

            B:   Nagona makola.  Kwali imwe?  =  I slept fine. How about you?

            A:  Nagona makola. =  I slept fine.

 

            A: Mwawuka uli?   =   How did you wake up?

            B:  Nawuka makola, kwali imwe? = I woke up fine, how about you?

            A: Nawuka makola.  = I woke up fine.

Here is the afternoon greeting:

  A:  Mwatandala uli? = “How did you spend the day”

  B:  Natandala makola, kwali imwe? = I spent the day well, how about you?

  A:  Natandala makola. =  I spent the day well.

 

Once you know how to make the changes to the sentences and know the sentence structure, the language becomes much simpler.  I try to learn some, and then I try it out on the house help.  They’re very patient, thankfully.  I hope to be able to speak the language in a couple of years.

 

Our First Baby- By Kris

 

          We finally got our first baby on the 28^th of this month!  We are so excited to finally have our own baby to take care of!  The baby’s name is Mphatso (im pot so).  He is 5 months old and his size is that of a 2 month old.  He is not very strong so he can’t support his own head yet.  The only thing that is strong about him is his lungs, meaning he can scream plenty loud!  Mphatso also is very cute and small.  He has a small cold and a sore throat, so in the middle of the night he wakes up screaming because his throat hurts (of course, waking up everybody in the house).  So far I’ve learned that babies aren’t as fun as I thought they would be!

 

Vwaza Marsh Trip- By Matthew

A short while ago, we took a day trip to Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve. When we got there, we had to have a guide. (By the way, Vwaza is by Rumphi.) After 15 minutes of waiting, our guide arrived with a M16-A1 rifle that looked like 1970 army surplus. We found a group of elephants in the brush 80 yards from where we parked, and then got within 30 yards of them! We walked down a dirt road for another 15 minutes, and then got to the shore of a lake. Vwaza should have been named Hippo Marsh instead! Hippos were EVERYWHERE!!! There were at least 60 there! We walked along the shore and saw antelope (Kudu, Impala, & Bushbuck). Next, we saw a whole troop of baboons, and 3 warthogs! Suddenly, we got back to the road, and the car!

We ate lunch, packed up, and left. On the way out, we saw more baboons! One had its baby clinging like a tick to its chest!

We had been there for 2 to 3 hours!

All in all, it was a welcome break for all of us, and a good chance to see African wildlife.

 

 

New Email Address

Hi All,

 

We are changing internet providers, as Malawinet is hard to get on and very slow.  Our new email address is alangdon [a][t] africa-online (d-o-t) net. (sorry about the anti spam measure)  The old address will work until September 2^nd.  Thanks.

 

Andy

The People by Kris

Just about all of the people in Malawi are very nice. They are also very happy. It is a rare occurrence to see an unhappy Malawian. All people here smile even if something is troubling them. The only problem is that they also try to look miserable and hungry to get money. Beggars very rarely accept any food from you even if they say they are hungry. It goes to show how hungry they actually are! All they want is money!

If you come here you will probably notice that most people here are not all that tall. Most Malawians here average about 5 feet, so Jared doesn’t have to feel so bad about being short, he is actually about the same height as an average adult.

Another very interesting thing that I enjoy very much is their singing. Their singing is so much different then what I’m used to. They harmonize very well in most songs. One thing that helps is Malawians tend to be more upbeat, so slow songs are not heard here. I can’t explain it all very well so you will have to come here yourselves to hear and see it.

Kris

THINGS WE DIDN’T EXPECT IN MALAWI by Matthew

When we got to Malawi, we had doubts about Entertainment centers (TVs), etc.

Here are a few things we didn’t expect:

1. Television is NOT scarce in Malawi.

2. Soda drinks are a very POPular (get it? POPular?) Drink and Coke, Fanta, & Sprite are most common.

3. Ketchup and French fries are common too.

4. Toy collector’s item aircraft are available at 50 Kwacha (about $0.35).

5. Video games can be found as well, at reasonable prices.

6. Cookies are available at around $0.25 a package

So, now you see, things aren’t as bad as we thought!

Matthew

Life after the Robbery by Jared

Ever since the robbery, I have had a problem sleeping. We have 2 night watchmen who, throughout the night, periodically check the burglar bar doors to make sure that they are locked and secure. They do this by rattling them, which immediately wakes me up and makes my heart race and my mind start off on a long imagination of what could potentially happen in the next hour or so. When I finally calm down, I realize that it was just the watchmen doing their job. It is the same story for car horns, the nightly chorus of dogs howling, and other hard to identify noises.

After the robbery, we had a lot done to the house. First, we installed the aforementioned burglar bars. These are door frames made of solid metal with rows of solid metal welded in the middle to make a pattern with spaces small enough that nobody can crawl through them. We also have had a security company called “Securicor” install push button alarms. If we push one of these buttons, about 5 minutes later a response team will arrive armed and ready to drive off any unwanted people. The brick wall surrounding our house is also being built higher. There is one spot that is only chest high to me. It will be built up a couple of feet higher.

During all of this, my life is starting to return to normal. I am starting school, which is great becomes it prevents me from wandering around aimlessly and it keeps my mind off of the robbery. Right after the robbery, I trusted nobody, but my trust in the common people is slowly being built up. Also, we have been making trips to Lilongwe and establishing many connections that will be useful in our future ministry to the orphans. We have made more progress since the robbery than we made the first 1 ½ months we were here. Thank you for your prayers during this experience. Please continue with your prayers because “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Jared

Getting it started...

High everyone. I thought I would get this started since a post needs put up in order for it to show. Hope your flights went well. You'll have to give us details on how it went and what it was like to land on a whole different continent. Well, I will sign off for now and will wait until you get settled in and have some more time to post here.

I am praying for you.

Resting in Him,
Stephen