joys and sorrows...

Hello again, and I hope you all had a very happy Christmas!  I had a lovely Christmas day, we had a church service which lasted almost 3 hours (better than some in the city that lasted 5 hours!). It was a good celebration of Jesus birth with the children doing a nativity drama which was great!

Christmas in Malawi is not the commercial hype that we find in the UK, however the shops in Mzuzu in the couple of days before Christmas were packed out with people buying foodstuffs!!  The Santa thing and giving presents doesn't really happen here which is great!!!  People usually eat rice if they can afford it on Christmas day and they have chicken with it or goat, so there were many goats and chickens being slaughtered all around!

After church the fun began - I had invited some friends to have a BBQ in the garden as it was a really hot sunny day.  Unfortunately there was no wind so we had to create our own draught!!  It didn't take too long to get it going and we had so much food.....no turkey  but chicken, sausages, burgers and lots of salads, followed by a pineapple tart, lemon meringue pie and fruit salad.......

The children had fun blowing up  balloons and playing games........not only the children I might add!!

doesn't Bongiwe look cute cute with her green halo!

and this is Asimenye the baby I helped to deliver about 6 months ago

 We played some good old fashioned games like hide and seek, pass the parcel and the one which caused most hilarity - pin the tail on the donkey!!

This was almost the whole group.....the joys of Christmas time!!

Then came the sorrows.  For those of you who have not known me since I came to Malawi, I was once engaged to a lovely guy called Fred.  Even though our relationship broke up we continued to be good friends, and I would say Fred was my closest friend. He was there for me in times of joy and sorrow, we shared love and laughter, and he was an amazing musician.  For those of you who have known me for a long time you may have met Fred - in fact he visited Ireland about 11 years ago.

On 27th December, I received a message that he had died.....well my heart almost stopped too.  Even today I am struggling to believe it.  He had not been feeling well and he was rushed to the hospital but he died.  His funeral was on 28th December but I did not manage to go because of distance (its about a 10 hour drive to his home).  Spare a thought for his family, his two brothers and sister who are left  behind and their families.  Please also pray for me that I will find peace in my heart to deal with this shock.  I do hope to go and visit the family and see the grave sometime soon.

Taken about 8 years ago

I know that Christmas and New Year are not easy for everyone, but I do hope that the year 2012 will be a good one for you where ever you are.  I wish you God's blessings, love, joy, peace and hope for the coming months.


With love
Diane