The end of the trip!

Hi everyone.  We are back in California- well most of us.  Jan and Ann went up to the northern part of Malawi to see some missionary friends of Jan's, who work at an orphanage.  It is called Rafiki, and is set up as little homes with "house moms" for each set of 8 to 10 kids.  They are focused on training up the future leaders of Malawi.  Jan should be heading back to California today, and Ann is staying in Malawi for awhile longer, then she goes to Ethiopia to see her sponsor children through World Vision and to do a few other things.  You can follow her journeys through http://annonmission.blogspot.com/ .

Here is another try at the link to our you tube video:  It’s called Chikondi Music Upload Low and can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsDP8hrI2-o
It will give you a good idea of what went on during our first few days of training at Chikondi.

To fill you in since the last post.  The second day at Feed the Children was Wednesday, March 31, we met once again with the parents, children, and therapists, in the morning, to emphasize the importance of each position and to demonstrate to the moms how to help their child learn and progress through different skills and stages of development.  The Feed the Children center has a lot of equipment so we were able to help them learn how to use the various items.  At the end of the session each person received a certificate for attending, which was exciting for the therapists and parents alike.

One thing we forgot to mention is that we provided money to feed the participants at all of the workshops we presented. Many of them came from quite a distance at a great expense. Some of the therapists came all the way from the northern part of Malawi. The parents traveled from various parts of the Blantyre area, again, at a great expense to them. In some cases, this may have been their only meal for the day. Thank you for making this possible.

In the afternoon we headed back over to the Chikondi Center for a few minutes to explain the use of a few pieces of equipment that was left, but never used during the demonstrations- leg splints, arm splints, etc. and we wanted to make sure it got used, and used appropriately.

From Chikondi, we headed to Queen’s Hospital, the largest hospital in Malawi.  The hospital had asked Maribeth to help design a play room where kids can go to have fun, and give moms a break to eat or do laundry.  The room was great with bright colors and shelves with toys and books, and a DVD player to watch videos.  We spent some time playing with the children, singing, reading, and just getting to know them. We had a brief tour through parts of the pediatric unit of the hospital where we saw malnutrition, cancer patients, and the ICU.  The hospital was very primitive compared to ours, but it was evident they were trying to provide quality care with what they had available.

Wednesday was our last day of working with the children, parents, teachers, and therapists from around Blantyre and beyond.  It was a busy schedule but we have felt our time here was well used and successful in communicating God's love to these children and families, teaching families how to work with their children in order to bring progress and hope, and training therapists in pediatric skills, stroke rehab, and orthopedic skills.  The recordings that have been made will be left behind to hopefully be used to train others.  It’s mind boggling to think that Blantyre is just one little speck in the world where such needs exist. Where to next?  Only God knows, and it may be back to Blantyre to continue the work we have started. Thanks again to all who have supported us in so many ways, and been part of our "team", those we worked with in Malawi are VERY thankful you helped make it all possible.  Money left over was left with Maribeth to pay the parent coordinators at Chikondi, hopefully therapists to help at Chikondi periodically, and to be used as she deemed best.

On Thursday we left for a brief safari, a treat to ourselves after lots of hard work (meaning no support money was used).  We went to Mvuu Camp in the Liwonde National Park.  It was about a two-hour drive, and then we had a boat taxi up the Shire River to Mvuu Camp.  It was a beautiful boat trip, and we saw lots of hippo, a couple of crocodile, and beautiful scenery.  The camp was amazing. The dining hall was open air so you could look out into the bush or out on the river, the meals were delicious, and we had our own tour guide who joined us in order to brief us on what was coming up next and answer any questions we may have.  Our cabins were gorgeous, a combination of permanent structure with a rock base, insect netting as the walls, and a canvas roof, we were near the river so all night long we listened to the hippos.

We went on a driving safari Thursday afternoon/evening, and we saw impala, warthogs, bushbucks, many interesting birds, monkeys, baboons, zebras, and elephant tracks. We just missed the elephants.  We stopped along the Shire River to watch the sunset, then drove around in the dark to look for nocturnal animals.  We saw a  momma hippo with her baby walking around looking for food.  We also found a few genets (small cats with spots and a bushy tail with rings like a raccoon).  We also looked at the constellations in the night sky, noting the differences in the southern hemisphere.

Day two at the Mvuu camp, Friday, we woke up early so we could go on a walking safari. Our guide took us out into the bush so see what we could find. We found most of the same large animals as we saw yesterday. The bonus was discovering the little things that you can’t see while driving around. We took a look at termites and the mounds they build, found a red velvet beetle, and once again, came across fresh elephant tracks. We just kept missing the elephants.  We also took a boat safari up the river. We saw many colorful birds, a baby crocodile, and many hippo.

Then we headed back to camp for our things, back up the river by boat, and a two hour drive back to Blantyre.  Since it was Good Friday, there were a few processions that went down the road. These parades were made up of hundreds of people and took up half of the road for quite some ways.  We saw some historical spots, and stopped a few times for pictures of the beautiful mountains and scenery.  We didn't see as many animals as we had hoped, but it was a great trip, and a great way to see a bit more of Africa.

After reaching town we headed out one last time for souvenirs and gifts, braving the markets and swarms of eager salesmen.  Once we got all that we needed and wanted, using up the last of our money, we returned to our lodge and a nice barbecue dinner with friends we had met over the past two weeks. 

On Saturday we packed up, and headed to the airport late morning.  We had a nice flight to South Africa (about 2 hours), a few hours to shop in the stores at the airport, then headed to New York with  a stop in Dakar for fuel, security check, and a few more passengers.  On Sunday morning we landed in New York (after a 19 hour flight), got through customs uneventfully, had a few hours to relax, and then on to San Francisco (another 6 hour flight after waiting an hour on the runway).  Then home to our families!!  It was so great to see spouses, our kids, and our beds!!  What an amazing two weeks!! 

Come see videos and pictures of all we did at our dessert (treats from Malawi) and presentation on Friday, April 23rd at 7:00pm at Lakeside Church in Folsom, 745 Oak Avenue Parkway.  We will be in the main building, upstairs in room 216- called J-Street.  Bring your friends and family (children welcome) to see video, pictures, and souvenirs, hear what we did and how God worked, and ask any questions you may have.  We would love to see you all, thank you for your support, and show how your money, supplies, and prayers were well used to benefit many in Malawi.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who supported us in so many ways!  You have been a true blessing to many children, families, and therapists in Malawi.

God bless you all!!
Cheri and the team

For more details- Jim had a great blog at: http://web.me.com/jhouse/Malawi/Blog/Blog.html