May 19 – 30
The Presbytery of Western North Carolina mission group finally arrived around 3pm on Wednesday. I had looked at my classroom door all morning thinking they would come walking in at any moment. I checked with the guesthouse folks and asked them to call me when the crowd arrived. Lynne, Stan and the whole group met me on the hill about half way between theirs house and mine about 3pm. It was sooooo good to see folks from home! They came down to my house for a cup of tea and one of Berea’s delicious muffins. Later I accompanied them to the guesthouse where they made dinner. Stan is a good cook, and we all enjoyed his spaghetti.
The next morning, the group all came to the school and enjoyed observing in all classes. After lunch we all went through the hospital and took many pictures of the waiting area where the pregnant women come about 2 weeks before delivery. They come with all their little children and camp out until they deliver their babies. I had not been in that part of the hospital so I found it extremely interesting as did the other NC folks.
Friday most of the group came back to school to take pictures of all the children. They posed each one on our new playground equipment and took their pictures. The children loved seeing their picture. The group brought 4 air packs full of materials for the school. In the afternoon I emptied the packs. Then on Saturday I met Linken, the carpenter, at school where he did some work for the school. I don’t know what we could do without Linken. He’s now making me to racks for hanging dress-up clothes in the homemaking centers.
Saturday afternoon most of the group and I climbed the mountain in Nkhoma up to the point that it went almost straight up. At that point the old folks, Doris and me, knew we had been far enough. We had seen some very scenic views by that time and were ready to go back down. The others went a little further and then decided it was going to be too dark to go all the way to the top, so they returned home also. Sunday afternoon that group went all the way to the top after the 8am worship service. I sought out projects for the folks to do in the school and came up with a long wish list. I think they addressed all my wishes leaving only a few to be completed. I will be making curtains for the classrooms for awhile, and I am thankful for the cutting out of many of the panels and the completion of curtains for one classroom.
Tom painted the name of our school on the building and painted the alphabet and numbers on a classroom wall and painted “A child is not something to be molded. A child is a unique being to be unfolded.” on my office wall. It will be wonderful to have that office. I am expecting for us to move the first grade out of that temporary space into the new building in two weeks!!
On Monday we interviewed for teachers for next year and also interviewed for a Reception Class teacher to replace me as so as possible. I will spend a lot a time in that class with the new teacher and continue to train the assistant teacher. Tuesday through Friday a group stayed busy helping in the school and a group went daily on a 2 hour trip each way to one of the 10 outlying clinics run by he hospital. They were repairing a house that was in need of great repair for a nurse who is to run the clinic. It had been a number of years since the house had been occupied and the maintenance folks here weren’t sure it could be repaired. I understand the PWNC group did a wonderful job of completing the project in just 8 days. It helped so much to have a few who had been here before and knew who to get things done. All the folks worked hard and accomplished so much for the hospital and the school. We were certainly blessed with their talents at work. Spiritually, it was an enriching time for each of us for everyone felt so deeply about the fact that they were lead by God to come to Malawi to participate in the work of His kingdom in this place at this time. We shared devotions together daily and talked a lot about how we saw God at work in our daily activities as we worked with the Malawians and the missionaries here.
Early Saturday morning we took a three and half hour trip to Liwonde to go on a safari. That was an incredible trip and was a very special experience for each of us. That will have to be an entry to my blog at another time.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
May 13-18
Seon Hee is a Korean missionary with two boys, Cion and Habien. Her husband, who works with computers, is in Germany while she is here. She works with the Synod Office in Nkhoma visiting the elderly in the Village and planning programs for them. Many of them have never been away from their Village. Seon Hee planned a field trip into Lilongwe on Friday to sight see.
Lilongwe is the Capitol of Malawi, and Friday was their national holiday celebrating their independence from Great Britain. Thus, it was a good day to go into the city. Seon Hee asked me to go along to help push a wheelchair and to help lead the blind. I went to Seon Hee’s house at 8 am. Friday with the delicious cookies that I had Beria, our cook, to make for our lunch. The bus was to come at 8am for us to pack the lunch we were taking for the group. Five of the group from the Village were so excited about the trip that they arrived at Seon Hee’s at 6:30 a.m. ready to go
.
The five were Rezina and Geraldy, husband and wife, who are both blind, and Felina, Chifuniro, and Salome, who each lack speech. In a 22 passenger mini van we packed ten containers of lunch food and materials, 3 wheelchairs, a keyboard, and 33 people. Thank heavens 8 of them were children even though they each took up a seat (a half seat is more like what many got)! The group had 4 in wheelchairs, four blind persons, 5 with extreme walking problems (with their sticks they were amazing to watch walk), and 2 men who walked on their hands and knees. Packed as sardines, we were surprisingly a very pleasant group of travelers!! It was incredible to see how excited they were about going to a town 60 miles away from home, the first time for some of them!
I was the only one with a camera. Thus I became the official photographer for the group. The Lord is sure using me to exercise the talents I lack! Thank heavens I am improving a little in some of them. Jim had always been my photographer, and I didn’t think I needed a camera. It turns out to be a wonderful gift from the PWS folks. I take many pictures and love deleting those that aren’t so good!! I want to make sure those who can see have the opportunity to see themselves at the historic spots when they get home and can recall the happy time that was had by all.
The trip to and from reminded me of the many church youth group trips to camps. There was singing and laughter all the way there. The African singing is beautiful. They really know how to praise the Lord with their voices and, it is inevitable that they enjoy the exercise.
Malawi is developing a huge government complex around a newly construct Parliament House. Adjacent
to the Parliament House is a monument to President Kamuzu, who was president for 31 years. During his term of office Malawi won their independence. A beautiful monument and burial place with lovely landscaping has been erected. Everyone wanted their picture taken there. There was a nice tour guide there to explain everything in both English and Chichewa.
We visited a Korean mission hospital in Lilongwe that is only 2 years old. It is a small hospital built and run by the Koreans. A nurse who has been there for 16 years has had a tremendous vision for a nursing school which has been established and a medical college which is being planned. There is already nursing housing and a few individual staff homes build around the hospital which is located on the top of a low mountain which overlooks the city. The facility is beautiful. In the receiving area they have a stage. The back of the stage is open to a garden area, and just off the back of the stage is a fish pond. The children sat on the edge of the stage and splashed their hands in the water and watched the gold fish swim. The villagers got up on stage to sing and dance. They had a wonderful time entertaining the people who were waiting in the receiving area of the hospital. Many gathered around the stage. The leader of the singing was one of the men who walked on his knees and hands. The keyboard player was in a wheelchair.
On the little mountain top the hospital has a beautiful 360 degree view. We enjoyed our lunch on their grounds, and then traveled to Lake Malawi to a youth camp. Down by the water our minister had a devotional for us as we sat on the grass. We got home after dark and some of the people had to stay in town to wait for the sunrise to begin their walk back to their village. That was confusing, but we finally managed to get everyone settled for the night. It was refreshing to see the excitement of those people over their trip. We have heard from the visitors at the hospital how moved they were to see such handicapped people as happy as could be all on the stage entertaining everyone with their singing praises and dancing. It was a remarkable experience for me. There were some church elders in the hospital and seeing those happy handicaped folks all on stage entertaining others and obviously enjoying it made them say. “We are going home and change our attitude about the handicap folks we have in our area. Those handicapped people helped us to see how happy and entertaining they can be interacting with others.” They were sure their church could do something like that also!!
We had Bible Study tonight and I heard that the PWNC missionaries arrived in Lilongwe this afternoon. That means they will be here in the morning, I am thinking. I thought it would be late afternoon before they arrived in Nkhoma. I am excited that they are here. I must get to bed.
Seon Hee is a Korean missionary with two boys, Cion and Habien. Her husband, who works with computers, is in Germany while she is here. She works with the Synod Office in Nkhoma visiting the elderly in the Village and planning programs for them. Many of them have never been away from their Village. Seon Hee planned a field trip into Lilongwe on Friday to sight see.
Lilongwe is the Capitol of Malawi, and Friday was their national holiday celebrating their independence from Great Britain. Thus, it was a good day to go into the city. Seon Hee asked me to go along to help push a wheelchair and to help lead the blind. I went to Seon Hee’s house at 8 am. Friday with the delicious cookies that I had Beria, our cook, to make for our lunch. The bus was to come at 8am for us to pack the lunch we were taking for the group. Five of the group from the Village were so excited about the trip that they arrived at Seon Hee’s at 6:30 a.m. ready to go
.
The five were Rezina and Geraldy, husband and wife, who are both blind, and Felina, Chifuniro, and Salome, who each lack speech. In a 22 passenger mini van we packed ten containers of lunch food and materials, 3 wheelchairs, a keyboard, and 33 people. Thank heavens 8 of them were children even though they each took up a seat (a half seat is more like what many got)! The group had 4 in wheelchairs, four blind persons, 5 with extreme walking problems (with their sticks they were amazing to watch walk), and 2 men who walked on their hands and knees. Packed as sardines, we were surprisingly a very pleasant group of travelers!! It was incredible to see how excited they were about going to a town 60 miles away from home, the first time for some of them!
I was the only one with a camera. Thus I became the official photographer for the group. The Lord is sure using me to exercise the talents I lack! Thank heavens I am improving a little in some of them. Jim had always been my photographer, and I didn’t think I needed a camera. It turns out to be a wonderful gift from the PWS folks. I take many pictures and love deleting those that aren’t so good!! I want to make sure those who can see have the opportunity to see themselves at the historic spots when they get home and can recall the happy time that was had by all.
The trip to and from reminded me of the many church youth group trips to camps. There was singing and laughter all the way there. The African singing is beautiful. They really know how to praise the Lord with their voices and, it is inevitable that they enjoy the exercise.
Malawi is developing a huge government complex around a newly construct Parliament House. Adjacent
to the Parliament House is a monument to President Kamuzu, who was president for 31 years. During his term of office Malawi won their independence. A beautiful monument and burial place with lovely landscaping has been erected. Everyone wanted their picture taken there. There was a nice tour guide there to explain everything in both English and Chichewa.
We visited a Korean mission hospital in Lilongwe that is only 2 years old. It is a small hospital built and run by the Koreans. A nurse who has been there for 16 years has had a tremendous vision for a nursing school which has been established and a medical college which is being planned. There is already nursing housing and a few individual staff homes build around the hospital which is located on the top of a low mountain which overlooks the city. The facility is beautiful. In the receiving area they have a stage. The back of the stage is open to a garden area, and just off the back of the stage is a fish pond. The children sat on the edge of the stage and splashed their hands in the water and watched the gold fish swim. The villagers got up on stage to sing and dance. They had a wonderful time entertaining the people who were waiting in the receiving area of the hospital. Many gathered around the stage. The leader of the singing was one of the men who walked on his knees and hands. The keyboard player was in a wheelchair.
On the little mountain top the hospital has a beautiful 360 degree view. We enjoyed our lunch on their grounds, and then traveled to Lake Malawi to a youth camp. Down by the water our minister had a devotional for us as we sat on the grass. We got home after dark and some of the people had to stay in town to wait for the sunrise to begin their walk back to their village. That was confusing, but we finally managed to get everyone settled for the night. It was refreshing to see the excitement of those people over their trip. We have heard from the visitors at the hospital how moved they were to see such handicapped people as happy as could be all on the stage entertaining everyone with their singing praises and dancing. It was a remarkable experience for me. There were some church elders in the hospital and seeing those happy handicaped folks all on stage entertaining others and obviously enjoying it made them say. “We are going home and change our attitude about the handicap folks we have in our area. Those handicapped people helped us to see how happy and entertaining they can be interacting with others.” They were sure their church could do something like that also!!
We had Bible Study tonight and I heard that the PWNC missionaries arrived in Lilongwe this afternoon. That means they will be here in the morning, I am thinking. I thought it would be late afternoon before they arrived in Nkhoma. I am excited that they are here. I must get to bed.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
May 5 - 12 I received 2 packages of books this week that makes five packages of very expensive books in the library here. The children are excited about the books and the teachers are using the resource books,
so hopefully all is well, even though the cost of mailing heavy books is horrendous. The messages and the goodies packaged in with the books have been very special treats. I can’t thank you enough. I shall always be indebted to you. Thanks to all of you who keep me in touch with home. Modern technology is wonderful, but it remains a love hate relationship with me at my age. It’s the only thing that really makes me dislike my age! I remain constantly thankful that I have been placed to live these past few months with my “adopted granddaughters, Jessi and Rhona”, who are busy helping me with the I- pods, the internet, the camera and my cell phone which I use mostly for texting!!
This is Saturday and I have spent the day at school. puting children’s work on the bulletin boards and washing with a brush the rug (one of those foam rubber alphabet puzzle things) in the book center. The rug was filthy because of the rainy season which has just ended. I was at school to meet with Linken, the carpenter who I depend on to make and repair many things. This is the third Saturday I have tried to meet with him. Maybe it will really happen next Saturday. While I was waiting on Linken I cut open the dirty covering of a bean bag seat which was in the book center. I removed the stuffing to make 3 pillows to use in the center. The large bag was just a place for some active children to pile up on and wrestle, and one little girl always wants to take all the books off the shelf and sit on them on the bean bag seat. She just doesn’t like the idea of taking one book and looking at it and then returning it and choosing another. She really wants to be in charge! There are times in preschool when you just have to work with not only the child but also with the environment! Jessie is buying me a large piece of skirt material that hangs on a line at the local market and will have the seamstress to cut out six pillow linings. I will stuff the pillows and have the seamstress to make pillow covers with zippers so we can wash them.
Talking about the rainy season, you cannot imagine what our children’s shoes looked like every time they entered our classroom during those days. There was up to ½ inch black mud on the bottoms of the shoes. No one could scrape it off on the edge of a 90 degree angle of concrete!!! You needed something like a screw driver to stab into the mud and straw like mixture to pry it off the shoes. And I used to think like most preschool teachers that it was a tuff job just to keep all the shoestrings tied!
Since some of you have asked about how you could support the school here, I would like to share with you that all the students are given a 50% scholarship and some are given up to 100%. The tuition is
$120.00 for a half year scholarship and $240.00 for a year scholarship. It would be wonderful if you or your church group would like to make a donation. You could send a check to the Ebenezer School Fund at Presbytery of Western North Carolina, 114 Silver Creek Road, Morganton, NC 28655. A few scholarsips are still needed for this year. If peope want to sponsor particular children those scholarship funds are to be paid by August 1st so that Willeke Ter Haar can assign each sponsor a child with information about the child.
Nkhoma is not a city, it is a mission station with a village. The Synod office here runs the public schools. They set the school calendar and Ebenezer goes by it. We have holiday May 13, Ascension Day and May 14, National Holiday, similar to 4th of July. So I am out of school until Monday, May 17. On the 14th I am going on a field trip with Seon Hee (Korean missionary here) to take some elderly village people who have never been far outside their village to visit the Capital City, Lilongue (60 miles north of here). Hopefully they will enjoy the festivities of the day. I will be going to help push wheel chairs and to give aid wherever needed. I look forward to being a part of that experience.
so hopefully all is well, even though the cost of mailing heavy books is horrendous. The messages and the goodies packaged in with the books have been very special treats. I can’t thank you enough. I shall always be indebted to you. Thanks to all of you who keep me in touch with home. Modern technology is wonderful, but it remains a love hate relationship with me at my age. It’s the only thing that really makes me dislike my age! I remain constantly thankful that I have been placed to live these past few months with my “adopted granddaughters, Jessi and Rhona”, who are busy helping me with the I- pods, the internet, the camera and my cell phone which I use mostly for texting!!
This is Saturday and I have spent the day at school. puting children’s work on the bulletin boards and washing with a brush the rug (one of those foam rubber alphabet puzzle things) in the book center. The rug was filthy because of the rainy season which has just ended. I was at school to meet with Linken, the carpenter who I depend on to make and repair many things. This is the third Saturday I have tried to meet with him. Maybe it will really happen next Saturday. While I was waiting on Linken I cut open the dirty covering of a bean bag seat which was in the book center. I removed the stuffing to make 3 pillows to use in the center. The large bag was just a place for some active children to pile up on and wrestle, and one little girl always wants to take all the books off the shelf and sit on them on the bean bag seat. She just doesn’t like the idea of taking one book and looking at it and then returning it and choosing another. She really wants to be in charge! There are times in preschool when you just have to work with not only the child but also with the environment! Jessie is buying me a large piece of skirt material that hangs on a line at the local market and will have the seamstress to cut out six pillow linings. I will stuff the pillows and have the seamstress to make pillow covers with zippers so we can wash them.
Talking about the rainy season, you cannot imagine what our children’s shoes looked like every time they entered our classroom during those days. There was up to ½ inch black mud on the bottoms of the shoes. No one could scrape it off on the edge of a 90 degree angle of concrete!!! You needed something like a screw driver to stab into the mud and straw like mixture to pry it off the shoes. And I used to think like most preschool teachers that it was a tuff job just to keep all the shoestrings tied!
Since some of you have asked about how you could support the school here, I would like to share with you that all the students are given a 50% scholarship and some are given up to 100%. The tuition is
$120.00 for a half year scholarship and $240.00 for a year scholarship. It would be wonderful if you or your church group would like to make a donation. You could send a check to the Ebenezer School Fund at Presbytery of Western North Carolina, 114 Silver Creek Road, Morganton, NC 28655. A few scholarsips are still needed for this year. If peope want to sponsor particular children those scholarship funds are to be paid by August 1st so that Willeke Ter Haar can assign each sponsor a child with information about the child.
Nkhoma is not a city, it is a mission station with a village. The Synod office here runs the public schools. They set the school calendar and Ebenezer goes by it. We have holiday May 13, Ascension Day and May 14, National Holiday, similar to 4th of July. So I am out of school until Monday, May 17. On the 14th I am going on a field trip with Seon Hee (Korean missionary here) to take some elderly village people who have never been far outside their village to visit the Capital City, Lilongue (60 miles north of here). Hopefully they will enjoy the festivities of the day. I will be going to help push wheel chairs and to give aid wherever needed. I look forward to being a part of that experience.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
April 29-May 4 The Ter Haar’s took Laura, Jena and myself with them and their 6 children to the Missionary Partner Personnel Conference on Thursday. We arrived there in time for the opening dinner, spaghetti and salad. In respecting our grey hair, they placed Maralisa and myself in the choice rooms with private bathrooms and close to all activities. The Africans have great respect for the elderly.
That evening we had devotions and a fellowship time to meet the 60 attendants and the 20 children. Laura and Jena, medical students from the Nkhoma hospital, were in charge of the children’s program.
The following is a summary of the Friday and Saturday Reconciliation Lectures:
Reconciliation is not only between God and man. It has 3 realms – God and man, man and man,
cosmos.
Reconciliation has already been achieved by God.
We are recipients of the gift of reconciliation.
We are the ministers/agents of reconciliation.
Reconciliation is a process as much as an event and a praxis. It has stages which everybody goes
through at their own pace.
Reconciliation involves speaking the truth, healing memories, repentance, justice, forgiveness
and love.
Reconciliation requires a spirituality of humanity and self-emptying, cross-bearing, community
and dialogue.
The following is a summary of the Malawian context.
African traditional Religion adds a fourth realm, God and man, man and man, living and
living dead, and cosmos.
Reconciliation with the living dead is achieved through sacrifice.
Reconciliation among the living is often achieved through mediation, rituals of excuse and
restoration, including paying fines.
Missionaries have acted as reconcilers between tribes.
Telling stories of the past can help us to convey the need of reconciliation (the benefits) and
best practices of reconciliation.
Lessons:
Reconciliation is costly and risky.
Reconciliation is an action, a process and a praxis. Let’s be ware it needs time.
Reconciliation has agents. Jesus Christ is the Great Agent.
We had small group times with questions to answer after the lectures. We also had a tour of the conference grounds which had a great number of herbal plants. The tour guide did an excellent job of telling us what
plants were used for different ailments and gave us an attractive poster of the plants. We had many tea times with cookies and fellowship. Missionaries were from four surrounding nations. Everyone seemed to
enjoy the conference.
I went home on Sunday with Patria Theron, a teacher in the Theological Seminary at Vila Uunlongque in Mozambique. The trip was to get me out of the country, so I could pass over the border to have my Passport stamped for another 30 day visit in Nkhoma. I really enjoyed visiting the city. Patria lives in the
compound of the Seminary, which is landscaped very beautifully. The compound includes 5 staff homes, student houses and a preschool for student’s children, I enjoyed visiting the school which is doing a good job working with the 3-5 year olds. There is also a church there and a number of buildings for the
Seminary. Tuesday morning Patria returned me to the border and helped me pass through customs which usually takes over an hour. One of her students from the Seminary was on the desk on Sunday when we arrived and was there again on Tuesday when I left. He zipped us through is less than 10 minutes each time! We were most lucky to have a jolly fellow at the Malawi border who said Nkhoma was his hometown. He asked me if I was going to visit the hospital there and I said yes and he too just stamped us through immediately. Others had had great delays at the borders, so we were most thankful for our experiences.
Willeke and I had coffee and talked about the hiring process that we will be going through starting this week. We need a Reception Class teacher immediately and a second grade teacher for September.
Tonight I went to our Bible Study on Proverbs. We had a good crowd and a good discussion.
That evening we had devotions and a fellowship time to meet the 60 attendants and the 20 children. Laura and Jena, medical students from the Nkhoma hospital, were in charge of the children’s program.
The following is a summary of the Friday and Saturday Reconciliation Lectures:
Reconciliation is not only between God and man. It has 3 realms – God and man, man and man,
cosmos.
Reconciliation has already been achieved by God.
We are recipients of the gift of reconciliation.
We are the ministers/agents of reconciliation.
Reconciliation is a process as much as an event and a praxis. It has stages which everybody goes
through at their own pace.
Reconciliation involves speaking the truth, healing memories, repentance, justice, forgiveness
and love.
Reconciliation requires a spirituality of humanity and self-emptying, cross-bearing, community
and dialogue.
The following is a summary of the Malawian context.
African traditional Religion adds a fourth realm, God and man, man and man, living and
living dead, and cosmos.
Reconciliation with the living dead is achieved through sacrifice.
Reconciliation among the living is often achieved through mediation, rituals of excuse and
restoration, including paying fines.
Missionaries have acted as reconcilers between tribes.
Telling stories of the past can help us to convey the need of reconciliation (the benefits) and
best practices of reconciliation.
Lessons:
Reconciliation is costly and risky.
Reconciliation is an action, a process and a praxis. Let’s be ware it needs time.
Reconciliation has agents. Jesus Christ is the Great Agent.
We had small group times with questions to answer after the lectures. We also had a tour of the conference grounds which had a great number of herbal plants. The tour guide did an excellent job of telling us what
plants were used for different ailments and gave us an attractive poster of the plants. We had many tea times with cookies and fellowship. Missionaries were from four surrounding nations. Everyone seemed to
enjoy the conference.
I went home on Sunday with Patria Theron, a teacher in the Theological Seminary at Vila Uunlongque in Mozambique. The trip was to get me out of the country, so I could pass over the border to have my Passport stamped for another 30 day visit in Nkhoma. I really enjoyed visiting the city. Patria lives in the
compound of the Seminary, which is landscaped very beautifully. The compound includes 5 staff homes, student houses and a preschool for student’s children, I enjoyed visiting the school which is doing a good job working with the 3-5 year olds. There is also a church there and a number of buildings for the
Seminary. Tuesday morning Patria returned me to the border and helped me pass through customs which usually takes over an hour. One of her students from the Seminary was on the desk on Sunday when we arrived and was there again on Tuesday when I left. He zipped us through is less than 10 minutes each time! We were most lucky to have a jolly fellow at the Malawi border who said Nkhoma was his hometown. He asked me if I was going to visit the hospital there and I said yes and he too just stamped us through immediately. Others had had great delays at the borders, so we were most thankful for our experiences.
Willeke and I had coffee and talked about the hiring process that we will be going through starting this week. We need a Reception Class teacher immediately and a second grade teacher for September.
Tonight I went to our Bible Study on Proverbs. We had a good crowd and a good discussion.
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