Patience is a virtue.......or is it???

Hello everyone,

Its been a couple of weeks since my last blog but this is life! I was sick for a few days with a flu type illness which knocked me off my feet. Its the time of year when many people are sick due to the cooler weather!!

It was great a few weeks ago to witness the lunar eclipse - as I was walking home from Bible study the moon was amazing!! I hope people in the northern hemisphere also saw it - maybe it was too cloudy but here it was a beautiful clear night.

I got a call a few days ago from a lady who is running Mphatso children's foundation on the lake shore, she wanted her caregivers trained in Early Childhood and wondered if we could do it for her, so I went to see the place and find out more. At the main office they have a lovely centre as you can see in the photograph although not a lot was going on except rote learning! I hope that we are going to be able to assist them in August.

On Thursday I headed for Lilongwe as I was picking up a friend on Friday at the airport. On the way, I had to stop at Champhira Presbytery to interview some possible candidate for training in Early Childhood. It was a great visit because the interviews took place at the Presbytery office and I found 4 ministers there - three of whom had been students at Zomba Theological College where I used to work. It was wonderful to catch up with them and hear about life in the congregation - the challenges they face and the joys too!! Unfortunately none of the candidates were suitable so we have to start again!!

Rev Chirwa is Presbytery clerk for Champhira Presbytery and here you can see him with his wife, who was a student of mine at Zomba. Its so rewarding to see the ladies who were once students doing so much in their congregations!

A highlight earlier in the week. My friend Luso who many of you will know, as she is the General Secretary's secretary and also studied in Belfast, delivered a beautiful baby boy. Perhaps the main highlight for me was that I was the guardian at the hospital and so was with her during delivery - it was amazing to see a new baby being born! His name is Asimenye which is from one of the local languages and means 'God knows'. Here you can see the whole family seeing the baby for the first time. As I have said many times, you really need to be flexible and willing to do whatever comes your way!!

Paul Sayers from Ballyweaney arrived safely on Friday for a visit. I arrived on Thursday evening in Lilongwe intending to collect him at the airport on Friday. However, due to the fuel crisis we could not get diesel and I had to get another guy with a car to come and take me to the airport while the driver sat in a queue for diesel. Paul was collected and it came to evening and there still was no diesel.

That was on Friday. Would you believe I am still in Lilongwe with Paul. The driver queued all day yesterday and was 57th in line for the pump at the petrol station. When the tanker came, the queue started moving and around 5pm he was at the pump, only to be told that they were rationing. So we now have almost half a tank of diesel and the driver has gone early this morning to search for more. I hope we will reach Mzuzu today but there is no guarantee. Patience is a virtue that some people have and that I have learnt to have more of during my 16 years here! But after 4 days you begin to lose patience, so I just hope and pray that today we will get enough fuel to leave Lilongwe, otherwise Paul is not going to see much of Malawi!! However, as you can see here, he is quite relaxed!

For me, not having fuel means waiting and changing my schedule but for many Malawians no fuel means no food in their homes, no jobs. We are really facing a crisis here! Please pray for our country at this time.

Hopefully if we reach Mzuzu, this week will be busy - I have arranged more interviews but of course all of the plans depend on fuel!

Maybe God is also telling me to slow down. Since arriving in Lilongwe I was feeling ill and so contacted a doctor friend who tested for malaria which thankfully was negative. However, he says I have a bad flu virus which is going around (probably I didn't get rid of it last week) - it makes joints swell up and is quite severe - I have a cough like a TB patient! I was given medicine and feel so much better today. The doctor says I have to rest for 5 days so maybe the fuel situation is a blessing in disguise and I would not have rested had we reached Mzuzu on Friday!!

If you lose patience with some small thing this week, just remember us sitting in Lilongwe waiting............ God says we should wait on him and He will direct us in the right way - sometimes our ways are not God's ways and it even takes patience to realise that!!

May you have a blessed week

Love from Diane x

Frustrations and yet......joy...

Hello everyone

I didn't get around to writing yesterday because I didn't have a lot of news until I found some this morning........... you have to keep reading to see what happened!!

School is going on as usual and here you see one of our teachers reading a story to the toddlers - the toddlers are a very active and vocal class and really enjoy school!!

During the week I had to go to Lilongwe to have the car serviced. The service was duly done and then we couldn't find any fuel to get back to Mzuzu. There is a fuel crisis here and diesel only comes to Mzuzu every few days and is gone within a few hours. Lilongwe is worse however as there are many more cars and little diesel. So we had to stay an extra day in order to find fuel!! I have to go to a meeting in Lilongwe tomorrow so am hoping that the situation has eased as I really don't want to spend a long time there!!

This week we were blessed with more visitors. Brian and Jean Gibson were here and Jean is finding information for a new book, so here you can see her with the local district social welfare officer and a lovely young lady who she was interviewing from a child headed household. Her story is sad but yet uplifting as she relates how, without God in her life she would not be here today. I can't say more......you will have to read the book when it is published!!

And once again the wonders of creation. Matt's little pet has at last decided to appear. Yesterday when I looked at it, it had changed slightly in colour...........

This morning it was an amazing brown colour, and this small lizard was investigating to see what was happening............

and when I came home at lunchtime, this is what I found.........a beautiful butterfly..........

Matt has gone away for a few days and when he returns, this is all he will find left!!!

Life goes on as usual. Many people have coughs and colds as the colder weather is coming in. Today I am also sneezing so hope that it goes away soon.

Wishing you all a week full of surprises,

Blessings,

Diane

Friends, challenges and football!

Hello everyone,

I hope you have had as exciting and diverse week as I have! Annex who works in my garden brought his wife and children to visit - a lovely happy family. Annex has been with me since I moved to Mzuzu and he is a great gardener. He did have a few issues with the vegetables I planted - when the parsnips were just about ready, I found them in the compost heap - Annex informed me that the carrots were white so they must have some disease! After retrieving them, they were found to be delicious (by me that is, Annex refused to taste them!!).

It was great last Sunday to welcome Hazel and Johnny for a few days. They had been here a few years ago in a team that built a nursery school in Karonga, and wanted to see the progress so we headed up to the village to see how the school had fared through the earthquake and recentfloods which hit Karonga.

The welcome at the village was great - everyone was pleased to see us. Here Hazel is talking to the village Headman.

and Johnny posing with the minister's son Clement.

In Karonga Presbytery I have a trainer - Lucy does a great job monitoring and training caregivers. She covers a massive area on her pushbike and makes me feel very humble each time I talk to her.

A trip to the health centre in the village found this beautiful new born baby which was only 2.1Kgs and was about to be discharged - the clinical officer was not sure if it would survive but there was no other means to care for it.

Lunch was provided in the manse. Since the team were there, a new minister has come - Rev. Mazunda with two of his five children!! A deeply spiritual man, we are hoping for great things in the village. He told me that the previous Sunday he had baptized 75 children and adults!! Some food for thought I think.........

A long time ago when I visited the village the manse had lost a wall due to the earthquake which happened 18 months ago. Its been repaired and now the manse family are living there again. The church is completely down and plans are underway to construct a new church soon.

Staying overnight beside the lake is always a blessing, especially with a spectacular sunrise!!

This week I went back to Phiri at Nkhata Bay with 2 trainers to assist in the organisation of the new nursery school there - a few pictures of the children (and caregivers) having fun...

and on Thursday, I went with two trainers to talk with a village committee in one of our nursery schools which is having a few challenges and problems in sustainability. We had a lovely afternoon with the committee.

A church from Coleraine sent out a football kit in the last container and as it was too big for the nursery school kids, I took it to the local primary school. On Friday they asked me to take a photograph - they are so excited and said that now they will definately win all their matches.........if only it were so simple!!

No other developments on Matt's pet this week - it still looks the same, but I will keep you posted. It was also lovely to welcome Terry and Joyce McMullan who are in Malawi on holiday - I forgot to take a photo of them, but many of you know who I mean!!

Wishing you all a great week,

Blessings,

Diane