Smiles, Smiles and more Smiles

Today was our first full day of work, we felt like it was a long time coming and looked forward to it. We loaded up the truck after breakfast with all of the donations that were made. As we drove through town, lots of the people looked at the duffel bags in the back of the truck with curiosity.

Once there, we divided up in our teams to start the day. Stephanie and Suzy were off to help at the school. Brandon, Mary and Kelley were prayer walking. Scott, Tucker and Will were left behind to do the hard labor at the construction site. While Richard went off with Jimmy to help get some shirts for the Awana program. Also, we presented Joy and James with a gift that our children, back in Franklin, made at VBS.

The people who left the site, had to walk into the Kauma Village which is just right outside of the Adziwa area. On our walk, we got to visit with children for a few seconds as we passed by. As well, we got to try out our chichewa by telling everyone “madzooka bwanji” (that spelling is probably wrong) which means good morning. Our favorite moment of the morning, was when we passed by 2 little girls about 3 years old, playing in the dirt. When they saw us, their eyes lit up and they stood up, jumped up and down and repeated adzungu (probably misspelled as well) which means white people. They repeated it over and over again, with the same enthusiasm, jumping up and down. It was the sweetest thing ever.  (Video to come later)

We passed by the secondary school, and all these kids started following us. We were thinking that they were leaving school and that they were going to get in trouble, but James, our guide, said it was okay that they were walking with us to primary school and that they were just there playing. Whew....we didn’t get them in trouble as they were trying to follow the adzungu. (we kind of know how celebrities feel being stared at and followed :)

Once at the school, Suzy and Stephanie were paired with teachers. Suzy helped Tandy with the smaller children ages 3-5. Stephanie was paired with Homeless and taught standard 3. They were amazed by the children’s enthusiasm to be at school, their discipline and their drive. See the school house is divided into separate buildings. The room Stephanie was in was about the size of a single car garage. In that building, standard 3 had one half, while standard 4 had the other. Standard 3 was learning English were they read a story and did comprehension. A part of the comprehension was acting out the story which was called a celebration, where there was a party. While on the other side, standard 4 was taking a test. How any kid could take a test in that kind of chaos, is beyond us. One thing we have all observed, is how obedient and well behaved the kids are. They know their boundaries and do not dare cross them. Suzy sang songs with the children and played games with them.

At the construction site, Tucker, Will and Scott did all the manual labor. We heard about it all night how they worked the hardest, and we all agreed. They leveled the ground around the new “community center” removing large rocks, breaking up dirt clumps and moving broken bricks (which weigh 11 lbs when whole) to help level out the foundation. I just asked Tucker if there was anything more to add to this section and he said, “yea that it was hard.”

On the prayer walk, Mary, Kelley and Brandon had an amazing experience visiting with the various families that James had chosen. Once at the house, they would pull all the chairs they could gather or lay out a mat outside to sit on. During the visits, they would ask what the family dynamic was like, how many orphans were in their care, if they worked, went to church and what their needs were. At the end, the care giver/ parent(s) would come and kneel at their feet to be prayed over. They even had the opportunity to go to the market in Kauma. What an experience!

Kelley and Brandon helping with a mat

Before the children’s program, Awana, the group ate lunch and enjoyed some sugar cane that was picked up at the market. The malawians love it and say it makes their teeth really strong. Some of us really struggled with it.



Brandon told the bible story of Noah’s Ark for the children.

The children loved the special game where we had them recreate the sound of rain, by making various sounds with their hands, rubbing together, snapping, hitting legs and then stomping feet. They really seemed to enjoy it. Mary led the craft which was painting squares to make a quilt to take back to Franklin, so that Franklin can have a piece of Malawi, like Malawi has a piece of Franklin. Stephanie led worship and praise for the English songs, while some kids did the craft.

While Scott organized the games played like hot potato. They were so excited, and we love the time we get to have loving on them. Afterwards, they hit the soccer, ahem, football fields to kick the ball around. The children are so good at football. The girls had their own game with the ball, keep away. Brandon was a trooper playing with the kids, head butting the ball and loosing his glasses a few times.

The school, which is under construction, and the playing field

Mary and the kids

As we pulled out of the village the kids waved bye and followed us. We learned to say teewoanana mawa (spelling, yet again, probably not even close). Which means, see you tomorrow. Yes we will!!!!