Well, a couple of months ago, I started going a few times a week to the Crisis Nursery. The mission of this nursery is to take abandoned babies, or babies with no one to take care of them, and nurture them until it is possible for the babies to go back to their fathers/villages or to an orphanage. Since going, we have really gotten to know the babies. They have formed bonds with us, and can't wait to get out of their cribs.
The children there stay in their cribs most of the day. They get to come out after nap time, from about 2-4. This is also the time when the house mothers change shifts.
Right now, this nursery has 3 rooms and about 15 babies.
When we first started going to the nursery, all of the babies were really sullen, with no personalities. They didn't even cry!
The more we have gone, the better they have gotten, but they still need more love. Here are some pictures and a video . . .
In Malawi, the prison system is a bit different than in the
states. I have gone on a prison
outreach, so I want to explain some of the things that I saw.
The prison here is actually in town. I passed it on the way to the grocery store
all the time, and never knew it. Looking
in, I just saw some fenced off buildings, with hardly any people. I never realized that it was the prison.
Well, some of my friends here do an outreach to the
prisoners. For the women, they bring
them yarn and knitting needles, sing, and share with them. Yes, they give them knitting needles! Well, in Malawi, the prisons are filled with un-convicted
people. I have only been on the women’s
side, so I will tell you about that, and try to get my husband to blog about
the men’s side in another post.
Well on the women’s side, there are about 65 women. Only 20 of these have been convicted of
anything. When I went, I noticed that
the fence around them had holes in it, and there was only minor security. Yet, no one tried to escape. On the outside of the fence, there were many
people gathered. Relatives have to feed
and provide clothing and bare essentials (ex. Soap) to the prisoners. There was a check-in gate, but we just waved
and drove past that. They then proceeded
to just open the gates and let us in the prison.
Before we went in, we noticed the Gooli Wancooli
(traditional religion) dancers at the front of the prison. They were teaching some of the prisoners a
dance for the upcoming Prison day open house.
It was really strange. Here is a
video of that. One of the women who has
lived here for 20+ years is talking about them in the background of the video.
In the prison, only a handful of women are wearing the
prison uniform. All the rest are wearing
their own clothes. And then, there are
the babies! Women are allowed to have
their young children with them in jail.
There were tons of babies.
The reason why we were there, is that we were part of an
outreach that gives the women yarn. They
knit or crochet hats, scarves, etc. Then
they are sold to help provide for the women’s basic needs for soap, food,
etc. Right now, my friend Marion is
paying for this completely, but the future goal is that this will support
itself.
Now, you may wonder if the people in the prison are
dangerous, well I am sure that there may be a couple, but the women that I met
were in there for offenses such as:
1 1)Not having the proper visa to be in Malawi
2)Moving the neighbors laundry during an argument,
and thus having to pay a $30 fine (which is about a months salary), and not
having the money to do so
3)Stealing food for her family
4) Being accused of wrongdoing by her husband
Now, I am sure that some people in there are definite criminals,
but many are not. This is a
male-dominated society, and whatever the husband says is taken as the
truth. It wasn’t until 5-10 years ago
that women were even allowed to wear pants!
The president would make women change at the airport before letting them
into the country!
Well, this one women I met there has a newborn baby. Her child was born in prison. Her husband accused her of killing her other
child. Now, the husband has run off, and
can’t be found. There is no longer an
accuser, yet, the women still sits in jail.
She has never seen a judge. Yet,
because her husband accused her of this, she must remain in jail.
I am not sure of her innocence, yet, I am not sure of her
guilt either.
Today, I am grateful for the American judicial system, where
at least people are tried or let go.
Since my school is an international school in Africa, we don’t celebrate all the traditional American holidays.Yet, we do have some pretty fun replacement days.One of the best days is reading day.For this day, everyone dresses up as their favorite book character and we have a parade.We then have a fun assembly with music, prizes, and skits.
This year, I had my husband’s 6th grade class partner with mine. We did buddy reading, and then we had the 6th graders and Kindergartners do a reader’s theater skit together. The 6thgraders had to teach the skits to the younger kids and then practice them. It was really fun!
We also had a costume competition for the students. What I didn't know, however, was that they were having one for the teachers as well. I was really excited because the costume I made for my husband won!! Let’s just say, I am very thankful that I brought my hot glue gun to Africa. J Here are some pictures from our day . . .
The Chinchen's (Vice Principal & Founders of the school)
All the teachers
My dinosaur Charles and the "Gingerbread Man"
Mr. Flinstone and a sleepy one
Here I am, "Juliet"
My husband, the "Tin Man" & winner of the Best Homemade Costume!
This week, a few of us girls went in town to get pedicures. Now, I know this kind of seems awful, but our
feet were all cracked and black. It is
really dry here, and dusty, so we have been scrubbing our feet so much every
day. Yet, despite it all, our feet just
looked gross.
Well, while were were on the way back, we stopped and bought
some “Malawi Junk Food,” aka RAT ON A STICK!!
We were laughing in the car so hard for the mile or so while we drove
back. Yet, as we approached the gate to
drive onto our campus, we saw a big commotion.
At the gate, the guards were trying fighting with some men and trying to
push them out of the gate. There was
punching and screaming.
My first reaction was to try to back up and go to a different
gate . . . but I couldn’t. The cars are
backwards here and are driven on the other sides of the road, thus the gear
shifts are backwards to. In a moment of
panic, I couldn’t find the gear shift.
The men had just been pushed out of the gate and had to pass
by our car. As they approached we rolled
up the windows and locked the car doors.
They hit the car with their hands, but then were chased off by the
guards.
We were scared for a minute, and then drove up to the gate
and asked what in the world had happened.
Apparently, the two young “Thugs” had been chasing a 40 year old man and
trying to rob him. The guards let the
older man into the gate in order to protect him.
Can you imagine? I
know it is not safe walking on the streets at night, but this was in broad
daylight! I am just glad that the man
was able to escape onto our campus. He
later left out a different gate, to ensure that he wasn’t followed.
Well, after our fun and scare going to town, we finally
arrived home to take pictures with the rats on the stick. We were laughing so hard, that Mercy the Maid
came out to see us. She said that she
really liked rat, so she took a bite for one of the pictures.
After a bit of fun, she asked me if she could take the rats
home for dinner with her family! My bit
of fun, turned into a dinner! This
surprised me a bit, but I was grateful that I could provide for her.
The next morning when her husband saw me her ran up to
me. He said that he just wanted to thank
me for the delicious dinner that I was able to provide for him family, and that
they really enjoyed it.
All I can say is Heartbreaking . . . I knew they ate it, but
to be so grateful for something that we would never even want to eat; my heart
was broken. At that moment the reality
of life in Africa set in once again.
These people truly have nothing.
So, the next day, I decided that I would start sending Mercy
home with some real food. She left my house with a Papaya and two sweet
potatoes . . . I just hope I can help more in the future, but I don’t think I
will be buying any more rats!
Well, today while I was on playground duty, I noticed one of
the little Pre-K students running barefoot towards the playground. For me, this is a total “no, no.” So, I proceeded to take this little boy back
to his classroom to get his shoes.
This little boy is the cutest little blond thing that you
have ever seen. And, he has the cutest
smile. I had noticed him the past couple
of days, because he had lined up in my line to go inside. I tried talking to him and telling him to go
to his class line. He just got this huge
smile on his face. He didn’t understand
me at all!! This boy is from South
Africa, and only speaks Africana.
When I saw him without his shoes, I knew that he had just
probably taken them off to go play.
Thus, I picked him up and we went back to class. In his class, the teacher assistant informed
me that he had NO SHOES! He told his
parents that he didn’t want to wear shoes, or didn’t have any shoes, and thus
proceeded to school with no shoes or socks!
I immediately took him to the office. In my thinking, there is no way that this
little boy can play outside on the playground barefoot. Our playground is covered with sticks and
rocks. Of course he would get hurt!
Well, on the way to the office we passed one of the South
African teachers. She spoke to him in
Africana and just laughed saying of course he can play on the playground! He is an African! No shoes, no problem. None of the South Africans wear them!
Well, while I listened to her, I was still not detoured. I proceeded to the office, where the office
manager is another South African. She
said it was fine as well, but that she would call his parents. At the same time some other American teachers
walked in and immediately noticed the shoeless boy. They exclaimed that “Of course, he can’t play
on the playground!”
So, there we were . . .
cultural differences had emerged!
I just never expected it to be in such an unusual way!
So, here is a picture of the little cutie (who I let go and
play on the playground!) You know, what
can a little bit of rocks and sticks do if the parents let him come to school
like that ?!
Well, if you hate wearing shoes, than I invite you to Africa
. . . where here the rule is: “No shirt, No shoes, NO PROBLEM!”
Well, we succumbed to peer pressure. On our first day in Africa, and many times
thereafter we were told that we should think of hiring “house help.” Apparently, we would be thought of a stingy
if we didn’t.
Well, after living in Kenya, I saw many people who hired
women or men to help clean the house and cook.
I just never thought I would be that person.
Yet, life here is very dirty (you should see my black feet!)
and hard to clean. We don’t have a
swifter here, and houses need to be mopped everyday. So, I finally agreed that I would get a
PART-TIME maid.
To begin the process, we decided to get a maid that could
work part-time for my friend Lavonne, and part-time for us. There was already a maid on campus whose
former employers just left, so we were asked to interview her.
We talked to her, and she seemed very nice until she wanted a
higher salary. She was offered 30,000 Kwacha for the month. (This is about
$82.) I know this seems like very
little, but apparently this is a really good salary in Malawi. Well this woman was not satisfied with that
and told us that she wanted between 35,000-42,000 ($96- $115).
As I sat there and listened to her request (she was being
offered a full-time contract to be split 3 ways), I didn’t say a word. To me, this was not a big difference that we
were talking about. So, I thought she
was being reasonable. Yet, the others I
was with were saying that it was way too much money. Thus, I went and talked to my teacher’s
assistant.
My teacher’s assistant is a Malawian and knows figures better
than me. She also has a maid in her
home. Here it is normal for even
Malawians to have maids! So, as I asked
the price, she said that her family pays her full-time live-in maid less than
10,000 kwacha ($27) a month! She also
told me that even people with college degrees are barely making 35,000 a
month!!!
Wow, what a shift in thinking! I went from thinking that this woman might be
seeking a fair salary, to understanding that even though it is not a lot of
money, she was asking for something unreasonable.
In the end we talked to some other families on campus. We found a woman whose husband is the tennis
instructor here. She is very kind,
trustworthy, and a hard worker. And her
salary . . . 16,000 kwacha a month ($43 dollars), of which I only pay half!!
*On a side note, we were told not to pay her more that that
rate, because her husband only makes a little bit more than that. We are planning on raising her salary, or
paying her extra in food as we go.
A few years ago,
one of the kids at our school had an idea.She had been to many of the villages surrounding us and seen the poverty
and lack of school supplies.She then
went to the USA and got people to donate backpacks filled with school supplies,
T-shirts, shoes, socks, hygiene products, and a small toy.
She called this “Project
Juembo.” Juembo is a chichewa (the local
language) word that actually means sack.
There is not a word for bag or backpack.
So, Juembo is really something similar to a small plastic Walmart bag
and the name of the non-profit that this girl started.
Today, we went
with Project Juembo out to a village on Lake Malawi. In this village a young man has started an
orphanage. We were able to bring about
200 backpacks to the kids in the village.
All of the children had been registered and assigned backpacks before we
got there.
So, when we
arrived I helped to start up games with the village children. We started playing duck, duck, goose . . . we
changed the words to the Chichewa language, and since a duck and goose are the
same thing in Chichewa we played duck, duck, chicken.
After a few
games, Frisbee tosses, and dance circles, we began handing out the
backpacks. We got the children one at a
time, had them put the new shirt on and hold up the backpack, shoes, toy, and a
thank you sign. It was really fun. The kids were so excited about the new stuff
they got. For these children, this is
the first brand new clothing item they have ever owned. Here, when you get clothes you buy them in
the second hand market. So, they have
never ever owned new shoes or new clothes.
Most of them weren’t wearing shoes either. So, after the picture I would help the
children put their new shoes on.
The Children in the Orphanage
Waiting patiently
After some received backpacks
Checking out the cool stuff
She was very happy!
Chris and I with some of the kids. It was so dusty there, we were quickly covered in dirt! (Notice my face!)
My friend Lavonne and I
This girl's name is Patricia. She wanted to hold my hand the entire time.
It was great to
be able to help with this outreach. They
go out about 2-3 times a year, and I can’t wait to help next time!
