I woke up at 5:30 am, got everything together, and started driving out of Lilongwe. Once outside the capital city, time seems to slow and development diminishes rather quickly. The sun was in the sky by the time we turned off the main road onto a dirt road filled with rivets, potholes, bicyclists, and goats. After bumping along this road for about 20 mins, we reached our destination. The scene was almost surreal because it was so picturesque of what one would imagine a remote village in Africa would look like. The road ended at the Ministry of Hope Selengo feeding center and the director's home, where I would be staying. The landscape is rolling hills, dotted with scrubby trees and savanna-suited vegetation. Mud huts with straw rooves, and the occasional hand-made brick structure, clustered on top of an adjacent hill make the center of Selengo. Behind Selengo rises Nkhoma, a rugged and steep mountain. There are also other steep and rugged mountain ridges in the distance.
I immediately walked with Jimmy, the director of the feeding center, up the hill to the Selengo Baptist Church. I had to arrive to early because I asked to give the message for their church service. The previous week while visiting the village when another team was leading VBS, I was wandering around the village and met a man who spoke some english. It turned out that he was the pastor of this baptist church and asked me to come speak the next week. Although I was a little nervous about it because I had never preached before, and not to mention that I couldn't say no because I was going to be staying in the village during that time, I said yes. I had prepared a message on the Body of Christ and gifts because I wanted to emphasize to people how valuable each one of them is. That they each had a unique set of gifts and abilities that all play a part in the body of christ for a specific purpose that was designed before they were born (1 Cor 12). I also wanted to remind them that they should encourage one another because of this and not judge each other based on appearance, what possessions they have, or who their families are. It was really neat because I felt this crazy sense of calmness as soon as I stood up to start speaking and they actually asked me to continue speaking once I finished what I had prepared! So I improvised a mini-sermon on unity in the body of christ and fruits of the spirit to elaborate on what I had already talked about. After the service was finished, the church presented me with a HUGE bag of ground nuts and a glass bottle coke. The pastor gave me a letter to bring back to the US in hopes of finding a church that would be willing to partner with them to better reach out in the Selengo community. (If anyone is interested in learning more about this opportunity please contact me).
After this, Jimmy took me down to the feeding center garden. It looks wonderful and is very well managed. Jimmy's brother-in-law, Andrew, studied agriculture and is in charge of maintaining the garden. The rest of the day was spent talking with Jimmy, meeting his family, and playing with children. There is no electricity and no running water and the sun sets at 5:30sh, so everyone starts to head home when the sun starts to go down. All meals were prepared in an oven room out behind the house. This 'kitchen' consists of a water barrel and a place where fires were built and pots would sit on rocks. I was so tired from being so overwhelmed all day that I was nodding off by 7:30, so after dinner I went to bed before 8:30!
The next morning, the day began at about 5:30 when the sun begins to rise. In Selengo, the sun crests above the mountains at about 6:30 and is absolutely beautiful. I helped Georgina wash the previous night's dishes (by the way, I will never again complain of washing dishes with running water!). After this, I went down to fetch water from the well with Jimmy's wife and Georgina, his niece. This was really neat because this is something that the women of the village do everyday morning and I felt like I was experiencing a piece of their community. I pumped the well by hand and then the women put a bucket on my head (it was a very big bucket). I then carried up the hill, on my head, and back to the house while only spilling a little bit! They said they were impressed because my 'other american friends' couldn't even carry the bucket a few meters before dropping it, so I felt like I accomplished something. I assisted in the preschool class that is offered by the feeding center, which ran from 8 am to about 10:30 am. The kids were so cute and I think I ended up being more of a distraction than a help! After this I met with a group of women living with HIV/AIDS who have come together to help support eachother. I have agreed to help them by providing the funds to have a community garden that their families will share for food and sell the excess to have some sort of income. I am going to provide the money to rent an acre of land for one year, the initial seed, land preparation, and irrigation preparation. After this, Andrew will be in charge of the garden's maintainance and Jimmy will oversee the the operation of the garden as an official branch of the feeding center. The rest of the day was spent playing with the children in the village and going on a walk along a trail that connects several villages together. We went to look for a Baobab tree because it was a life-long dream to see one in real life and they are amazing. It was also great to be walking through the villages with the people who live there.
The next day started bright and early again and the carrying of the water bucket on my head was slightly easier. Today, I led the preschool because the teacher was attending a funeral. The funeral was a traditional one becaue the man who passed away was not a christian. The ceremony began the day before by having the beating of the drums and traditional dancers. They continued throughout the night and did not stop until the next afternoon! After lunch, Jimmy took me up to the funeral to see what it is like. There were over 1,000 people there if I had to guess and all of them were looking at me! People had travel from surrounding villages in the area and were sitting around eating together and crowded around the main attraction; the drumming and dancing. There were hundreds of people crowded in a circle and the women noticed that I was trying to see the dancing and they motioned for me to come over. The squeezed me in to near the front so I could see which was very neat. The traditional dancers were dressed in crazy costumes made from straw, grasses, sticks, strips of fabric and other random things like old masks. If a funeral is this exciting, I want to attend a malawian wedding! This was truly a unique experience!
The rest of the afternoon I played the children and was taught some cool soccer tricks by some of the boys! This last afternoon and evening was the most special to me because of the excitement of the funeral and I feel like this time was when I realized I actually formed relationships with people while there. Jimmy took me aside to tell me that they truly enjoyed having me as a guest and said that I became a part of their family and adapted to every situation they threw at me. He also said that they will truly miss me and that I they have enjoyed hosting me more than any other person who has come to stay as a volunteer! This was very special for him to say such things I think. Everyone I have come into contact with has been so hospitable and so welcoming! I feel like I was treated like royalty the entire time, but that is what they do here. They are known as the warm heart of africa and they are proud of it! I know I just typed a novel, but I cannot even begin to describe all of the experiences I have had here!
~Lauren
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