Today was a grade A day. Since there’s not really any
hospital work left the day was open and full of possibility. And Cake!
Well first I started the day with a phone call in the brisk
morning air so that was a really nice morning. Breakfast is always great because
I know all the staff’s names now so it feels familiar and warm. I even had
Mzuzu coffee which is so good. I decided I would get off the bus at Melemia and
help my T&L friends paint the blackboards there, which was their project
for the day.
On the bus ride over though, I was listening to some music
saved on my phone, and the song “Greater” by Mercyme came on. I think I’m quite
emotionally unstable at this point because this super happy song made me really
cry on the bus. The sun was shining, the bus was full of laughter, and I was
just losing it. I think the thing that did it was the lyric “There are days
that I lose the battle, grace says that doesn’t matter ‘cause the cross already
won the war”
I think it got me because it feels like you lose a lot in
Malawi (and keep in mind I’m an optimist)- each problem leads to new problems
and aid often feels like a band-aid; it’s hard to know you’re working towards
the right, lasting, sustaining solution. Though now that I come to think of it,
that’s probably the case everywhere and Malawi is the only place I’m trying to
make a difference. But also in the world right now, with all forms of hate
surrounding what happened in Orlando, the war between love and hate seems to be
raging more visibly than usual.
It’s comforting then to believe that I was created
beautifully and intentionally solely to do what I can, you know? I need to do
that to my best ability but I needn’t be discouraged if it feels like I haven’t
won the battle, Love will always win the war.
So after I pieced myself back together we arrived at Melemia
to the usual horde of children running along side the bus. When the door opened
they were actually changing “Azungu” which means “white people” which I was
told was abnormally tactless of them. It was mostly funny though, and they were
even chirping the names of all the T&L girls, which they seemed to have
learned pretty well. We retreated into the teachers’ office to wait for Sammy
to bring the blackboard paint. We talked about the emotional instability thing
which I confessed to, and people agreed they were feeling similarly. We talked
about home too and the people and things we missed about it.
We also snacked on the lunches we packed. I realized that
none of the food I brought for lunch was food that I brought from the states, I
acquired it all in Malawi. I then decided the mark of really living someplace
is being able to pack a lunch. Peanut butter sandwich with bread I swiped from
breakfast, passion fruits from the mountain, banana from the market- so
Malawian. Just kidding a Malawian would never eat that for lunch they’d eat
nshima and greens and chicken like every other meal.
Then when Sammy arrived it was time to paint. We just painted
over the old chalk board which the teachers had cleaned the day before, but it
looked much better and it was really fast with so many of us. We also got
covered in black spots splashing off the brushes.
photo credit to Emily!
Near 11:30 I had to walk to Domasi Rural so that I could
join Penny and Jess to give the staff the cake we ordered. Jennifer (the new
T&L leader since Patti left, she’s so sweet) and Lindsey J walked with me.
It was a really nice walk mostly on a dirt path and it took about 40 minutes. At
Domasi Rural I went straight to the NRU where Jess was talking to a rep from
World Vision, a massive NGO. It’s seriously enormous, it’s hard to believe they
can do very effective things on the ground with 38,000 employees to pay, and in
fact I don’t believe they do. I’ve heard really bad stories about the quality
of their work, actually. Then I met Symington, a lead administrator for Domasi
Rural and also a midwife and also just a really cool guy. He was surprisingly
interested in my ambitions and I understood why Ashley always had such great
things to say about him, he was just really really nice.
Anyways, Eunice was finishing up some work stuff so I played
with a little girl that has been in the NRU the last few days while her sister
was treated, her name actually IS Maureen. We played peek-a-boo and the best
was when Jess gave her a hard candy. She opened the wrapper, took out the
candy, and then threw it in my lap. I tried to put it back in the wrapper
because it was really sticky, and she tried to help but she’d just touch the
candy, be grossed out by how sticky it was, and then wipe her fingers on my
hand. She did that like 8 times. Then she grabbed the candy and put it in her
mouth and ran away. Gross Maureen.
When Eunice was done she had us bring the cake onto the
porch where all the NRU staff and Symington were sitting. We said some words of
thanks for welcoming us, and how happy we were to have a relationship with the
hospital. Eunice said incredibly nice things to us on behalf of the hospital,
and told us to consider Domasi our second home. Most Malawians are nice but
this was beyond welcoming, it was familiar. I wanted to cry. I’m surprised I
didn’t actually, with the frequency of my unwarranted tears lately. Then we cut
the cake and passed it around and ate with our hands the true Malawian way.
After we were all done we said more goodbyes and went to the
bus, where the T&L girls were already waiting since they finished painting
so fast. The bus stopped a ton of places on the way home but I was asleep for
all of them because I was suddenly so tired. I think I’m quite dehydrated
because I’ve had a headache for a couple days and I rarely drink water because I’m
always with Malawians who I have never ever seen drink water. Or go to the bathroom
for that matter. But I drank lots when I got home and had a bit of a lie down
and then got ready for our big dinner plans.
At 5, all the T&L girls and Jennifer plus me and Jess
got in the bus with Sammy to head up the mountain to an Italian restaurant that’s
there. It was a beautiful place and we stuck some tables together so that most
of us youngins were in this boothy alcove and I was at the very head of the
table, looking straight at our driver, Wellington, at the other end. Wellington
is a man of few words so I got a kick out of all the eye contact.
that's Rebecca looking all happy and Wellington at the end
We were all quite goofy at dinner. It was so nice because it’s
easy for me to feel out-of-body here doing so much thinking and observing, so
when I can just laugh ridiculously with all the girls I feel well and still in
touch with normal me. Also we made plans to do things after we get back which
is so wonderful, to make lasting relationships that will help Malawi last in
the states. We laughed at everything and played with bread and things like
that. Also we have been enjoying the magic of Apple Airdrop and would randomly
airdrop things to each other. Also they had ice cream! So that was Malawi
dessert number 4. We took this ace selfie on our way back to the bus.
I didn't mean to make that face but Abby really really liked it
The bus ride home was one to remember. I’m going to have to
quote some of the conversation to convey how great it was so this may be
sub-par story telling. Abby had been on her phone at the restaurant, where
there was wifi, and saw that Andrew, one of the lodge staff, posted a status to
facebook that some animal had been killed and that it was in front of the
police station. He posted a picture but wifi here can rarely load pictures so
we had no idea what the animal was. We were all taking guesses, and also Sammy
and Wellington were having a separate conversation in Chichewa. Wellington said
something that sounded like Chichewa Chichewa “moose” Chichewa Chichewa so I
asked him “It’s a moose?” and he said “no, moose is ‘down’” meaning that’s the
translation, so Abby said “what kind of moose” to which Wellington responded “an
elephant.” I have no idea what he meant by that but we all lost it. We kept
driving along and we realized that we never really drove after dark before so
everything looked really different. Abby commented that Zomba was like a whole
new world after dark, and that she’s going to refuse to go out after sunset at
home because it will just be so weird. Emily stated her new philosophy for
staying in at night as “The sun is moose; I am moose.” It was Sammy that really
laughed at that because apparently it was quite a magnificent misuse of moose. But
THEN we drove by the police station and we saw the animal that was in fact NOT
a moose but an ENORMOUS CROCODILE. We crowded to the windows and Wellington
excitedly suggested we stop the bus so we could all get out and see.
It was the WEIRDEST scene. There were about 6 Malawians
crowded around it in the dark, and one guy was using a giant machete to hack
off parts of the crocodile. The skin is super thick though so he just had to
keep beating it with the knife to get pieces off. And this was a massive animal. The tail was
gone, allegedly up to the restaurant we had just come from, but the guys there
said it was 7 meters with the tail. I don’t know how that can be possible but
if it was, that was a monstrous animal. Its head was giant. It was just so big and
so dead. We were all sort of giddy with disbelief that we were actually seeing
it, and we had to keep fleeing pieces of crocodile that were flying everywhere.
So that was a crazy night. It’s now Friday morning. The plan
is to give Zomba Central a cake today and then pack, because we are leaving
around 6 for Cape Maclear in the morning. I don’t know what internet will be
like until I get home so just in case I’ll fill you in with the plan: Cape
Maclear tomorrow night, which is on Lake Malawi and should be really beautiful.
Then Sunday we will drive to Lilongwe with a stop at Mua Mission, a museum
about Malawi’s history. Sunday night and Monday night will be in Lilongwe, with
meetings for us med team people on Monday, and then we start the flights home
on Tuesday at 1:45 pm our time, for me to arrive at Dulles 8 am Wednesday. The
flights home are much longer, about 6 and then 19 hours rather than 2.5 and 13.
But it’ll just be more hours of aviating fun! I will try to blog amid all this
weekend stuff though because that would be a pain in the butt to remember and
blog about all at once!
With love and crocodile parts,
Lauren
I am grateful for…
Phone calls with loved ones
Shortbread
The luxury of giving gifts
What will I do to make
today great?
Help paint Melemia
Give people some cake
Eat some Italian food! Power permitting
Daily affirmations. I
am…
“A raging ball of empathy”
3 Amazing things that
happened today…
Painting at Melemia
Such loving goodbyes from the Domasi Rural NRU
Dinner laughter and the croc!
How could I have made
today even better?
Fewer
carbs
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