Calm turning to chaos....

Hello everyone from what has been a very difficult week in Mzuzu and indeed in Malawi.

My week started off well as I was doing interviews for ToT's in Presbyteries. I went to Ekwendeni to do interviews while a driver sat in a queue at the petrol station.(We hadn't had any diesel for 3-4 days). He managed to get fuel and picked my up from Ekwendeni to take me to the next destination which was Njuyu. It was a good journey and we made it in time!

The church at Njuyu is really old and really could do with some repairs!

Interviews took place in the Presbytery office - this is the Presbytery Clerk in his office (Rev Allan Mwale, whom some of you may know).

On the way we had to pass by some bridges that have seen better days, but it was a great day and we managed to recruit two new Trainer of Trainers (ToT's) for Early Childhood Development.

The good mood suddenly changed.......on Wednesday 20th July, demonstrations had been organised in all cities in Malawi. The demonstrators were to march in each city and present a petition to the Government office complaining about many things in the country, one of them being fuel shortage. People had decided to wear red and to march peacefully.

However, the morning of the march an injunction was granted that the demonstrations should not take place. This did not help the mood of people who had organised the whole thing. In Mzuzu the march began after an opening prayer from one of the ministers. However a few minutes later shooting was heard as teargas was shot into the crowd of marchers. This incited people to violence and we had a lot of bloodshed. Road blocks were set up in all roads coming into the city using burning tyres. Offices and vehicles belonging to the ruling party were burned and many people lost their lives or were injured in the shooting that followed, including on of our CCAP Ministers sons who was shot in the arm but is recovering well. Shops in Mzuzu were looted and it reminded me of the heart of the troubles in Northern Ireland. It was really quite frightening. In the evening soldiers came into the city and calmed things down, a curfew was called and it became completely quiet except for sporadic gunshots.

Please pray for our country at this time. In Mzuzu 9 people were killed on Wednesday, one of them a child. Funerals were planned for Friday and it was agreed to bury all the dead in a mass grave in a city graveyard. However, the Government decided it would be better for the burials to take place at the homes of the victims. After a long time we eventually saw the funeral come into the city from the mortuary. There were many people and yet it was eerily quiet. Once they passed through the town people began singing and eventually the burials took place. Unfortunately just after the ceremony there was more rioting in two townships of Mzuzu. Gunshots could be heard into the night.

Since Wednesday the city has been really quiet - usually in the morning we have minibus's hooting horns and making a lot of noise, we have the mosques sounding out 5 times a day, we have people in the markets round about, we have roosters crowing and we have lots of traffic noise. Its been too quiet and we wonder what will be next - there is tension in the air. Many shops have been looted and many people are scared. Please pray for peace and understanding in our country at this time.

On a somewhat brighter note, on Saturday I had to go to Nkhata Bay to witness the opening of a new nursery school. It was a colourful occasion and it was good to get out of the city and see that life is still going on as normal in other parts. This is a picture of the front of the building just after it was declared open.

People watching in anticipation...

Entertainment was great - this is the church minister who is a musician singing one of his songs.

Local choirs...

So the week has been mixed. Our hearts are sad because of so much bloodshed in our city. As we walk around the city we find shops damaged, goods stolen, and blood on the streets. Army and police are around the town in greater presence than normal.

Thank you for all who contacted me during this week, thank you for your prayers - please continue to pray for peace for the nation of Malawi; for safety and for my colleages and many Malawian friends in all parts of the country.

Blessings,

Diane

Hello everyone

I hope this finds you all well - as I mentioned in the last blog I had flu which was awful, then a fortnight ago I got a bite on my arm which became infected and from the wrist to just above the elbow was swollen up like a balloon - a hefty dose of antibiotics and its back to its normal size again and thankfully I feel a lot better.

This week I have been interviewing candidates for trainers in early childhood development at Presbytery level. This involves travelling to all the Presbyteries, and although I did not take photos at the interviews, I did take some along the roads. The roads here are notorious for broken down vehicles and all sorts of everything. We travelled behind this lorry laden with wood and a man hanging onto the back of it!!

This bus has gone off the road and has been there for some weeks..........

The lorry on the right is broken down on a bend which is so dangerous especially at night....

and this lorry is broken down - as you can see it has quite a heavy load and for those of you who know the hills of Mzimba, driving a car is a challenge, never mind a lorry which is overloaded!!

There was another accident which had just happened and I forgot to upload the picture - a car and a lorry had a head-on collision - and the amazing thing was that because there was nothing they could do, the drivers were just sitting at the side of the road chatting!!!

On Friday I was in Engalaweni which is near the Zambian border. On the way I noticed that the village grain stores were all full of maize, so hopefully there is plenty of food for a few months anyway!!

I love the road from Mzimba to Mzuzu - it has so many beautiful trees. ....

Unfortunately the timber companies realise that the wood is rather good and so the trees are rapidly disappearing........

Today, I had the pleasure of hosting this group from Downshire Presbyterian Church who have been here for a couple of weeks. Over lunch we discussed their visit and as you can see they are all in great form.

Unfortunately the vehicle they are using had a flat wheel and, being Sunday there was no place to take it to be fixed so it had to be changed......

Later in the afternoon as I was sitting in the garden in the sunshine (its been really cold and damp here all week so the sun was a real blessing), I noticed this rather lovely black bird with orange beak, legs and feet. Its a Village Indigobird which is actually quite common here. Its unfortunate that I didn't get a closer shot but I think its camera shy!! It flew off after I took this shot.

Tomorrow I am having a workshop with a group of our trainers, and then its more interviews for the week ahead, fuel permitting. For the past couple of days we have had no diesel so I am hopeful that I will get some tomorrow!

Wishing you all a wonderful week where ever you are in the world. Thanks for your support for the blog.

Love Diane x

What a week!!!

Hello again,

The good news is that we got home from Lilongwe safely last Sunday, the bad news is that I am still coughing - even after antibiotics I can't seem to shake the cough. I am trying to slow down but with visitors its not easy! This coming week we have two holidays so I am looking forward to that.

I am doing more interviews looking for trainers and so on Wednesday I took Paul to Embangweni. While I was interviewing, Hlezipe took Paul around the station - here you can see them with the Matron of the hospital after a guided tour!

We went out a couple of mornings to deliver some play materials to nursery schools in and around Mzuzu....

Paul helped the caregivers at Viyele to make the morning porridge!!

One of the caregivers was showing us the handwashing facilities they made themselves - impressive!!

Nicolas was talking with one of the committee members at Msiki nursery school - this is the school building! One the way we came across some young school boys who were throwing stones at a tree - because there was a green mamba snake in it........we left them still trying and on the way home, they told us they had killed it!!

At Msiki they had a lovely handmade see saw - at least it was lovely until these two giants went on it!!

As Paul is interested in dairy farming, we stopped at the local co-op so that he could see our fresh milk - we bought a bottle of unpasteurised milk - Nicolas was going to boil it to make it safe for drinking!!

At our new school site, there are some big eucalyptus trees which we have to cut down as they are not stable and can fall during the rainy season. We have to employ tree cutters for this job. As you can see this is quite a tall tree and if you look carefully you can see a man on the lower branches chopping the branches one by one!!

This is a close up of the man. It became so tense that I could not watch anymore!!! They hope to finish on Monday after taking down four trees!! They use ropes to angle the trees down so that they don't fall on people - its an incredible site and an incredible skill!

Today we set of to Vwaza national park to see if we could spot any wildlife - the elephant were hiding today but we saw lots of birds and baboons, warthogs, antelopes and hippos.

But perhaps the most incredible site was these ants carrying a piece of sweetcorn - again I marvel at God's creation when I see such a sight!!

Wishing you all a wonderful week,

Blessings

Diane

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