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.