Picture Update - Malawi

It's really difficult to pick only a few pictures that represent my time spent in Malawi, so I gave up and chose lots :) It's also hard to put into words how my time was - it was incredible, interesting, special, challenging - and it was a beautiful learning opportunity where we both grew so much personally and captured the vision of Hands in the heart of Africa. It was a month that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. I wouldn't want to trade the hard days for easy ones, and I wouldn't want to trade the challenges for a simple ride.

 

As I previously mentioned in another post, Charlotte and I spent a month in a Service Center in Dedza, Malawi learning more about Hands at Work, and spending time with the team and communities there.

 

Don't mind the random order of these photos :)

 

After spending the night in Jo-berg with the lovely ladies Grace and Jade, we saw each other off as we went our separate ways to Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Yes - this motorcycle was parked in our house, in the dining room actually, and yes - we also did use this as transportation. It was by far the nicest and most comfortable one we rode. And we rode many.

Marj and George - a wonderful Canadian couple - showed us around town. This is the main rode in the town.

One of the many rows of market stalls. We spent a lot of time at the market - it's a 45 minute walk from where we stayed, and we ventured into town every other day or so.

We had a little too much fun with these beautiful chitenges - there were tons of these little stalls in the market.

Sporting our first chitenges we bought. They are awesome!

Dedza Pottery - the perfect Saturday activity. Well, the only one really :)

This boy made a guitar and played it for us during the church service on Sunday morning.



The borehole at Tima CBO in Mngwere.

Tima CBO - the mother CBO of Malawi.

This beautiful darling is one of Malawi's biggest success stories :)

Maonde CBO

Walking the community on Holy Home Visits.

There were banana trees in our backyard! Being Canadian, I clearly thought this was pretty cool.

Dedza Service Center - my home in Malawi

The. Best. Chips. In. The. World. Roadside Irish Potatoes cooked in oil and sooo yummy! Put some 'salad' (cabbage and tomatoes) with them - the perfect dinner.

Just a taste of how beautiful Malawi is.

Setting up a mosquito net with George during a community stay - always an adventure :)

A local church that allows a feeding point to be run there.

The view from the feeding point - overlooking the entire community of Mngwere.

Isn't she adorable :)

Fresh green oranges - so good!

Holy Home Visits in Mngwere with some Careworkers.

Our hosts in Mngwere.

Where else does your laundry hang out with banana trees?

Charlotte and I were able to head out to Lake Malawi for a weekend. It felt like we were at the ocean - it was beautiful!

...unless you want to be eaten by hippos.

We found a bike in the ceiling of a lovely home we stayed in. Not sure how it ended up there.

This is the home of one of our community stays.

Holy Home Visits in Mcheneke.

These beautiful Careworkers put on a little concert for us - which turned into a dance party :)

Our hosts in one of the communities.

Malawian advertising at it's finest. It is really good coffee though, so I'm going with it.

The Dedza Service Center team - I can't even begin to describe how amazing these people are!



 

On the day we left, we were able to meet up with the Molenaar's in Lilongwe. Charlotte and I spent some time at the community school for women, which was so encouraging to see.

I wanted to take this beautiful little girlie home with me. She is beyond precious.

Our time in Malawi ended here and it couldn't have ended better.

Orientation is over, placements are over, and I've been in Africa for 3 months. I have a rough idea of what I'll be doing for the rest of the year, but next week I have a meeting to confirm that and find out my role. I'm sort of in limbo until then!

 

-heather