Becoming Immune...

(Sorry, no pictures or funny stories for this one)

Becoming immune has been a good thing for our family here in Malawi. Coming into a new climate and a whole new bunch of illnesses and viruses for our bodies to adjust to has caused some suffering. A couple months after we arrived, all of us except for Sarah (seems that she’s the strong one) got quite sick and had to fight through some sicknesses our bodies had not experienced before. Even now our bodies seem to still be adjusting to different things we eat and drink - details I don’t need to go into.

God did create the human body in a pretty amazing way, and we have adjusted to many of the new things here - be they illnesses, hotter climate, different foods - and we are becoming more and more immune to any ill effects of this different part of the world. Our bodies are not suffering through the adjustment phase like before, which is a good thing.

However, I think there is another immunity that I’m developing that I’m not so sure is a good thing. I seem to become immune to the wide spread suffering of others in a poverty-stricken country like Malawi. It’s all around me, but I don’t always give it a second thought, but just accept it as a “normal” part of life.

Whether it’s the suffering of the families impacted by flooding in different parts of the country - families that have been forced from their homes and have lost their crops. The suffering of the malnourished children I meet out in the villages we work in. The endless number of beggars both old and young - some of them inflicted with polio and other diseases we in the developed world receive immunizations for - that approach me every time I’m in town asking for whatever I can spare. The many people that come to our house asking for money because they or a loved one is sick or hungry, or some come asking for piece work to make some money. The stories I read in the local newspaper about all too common road accidents, children orphaned because parents have died of AIDS. Even those that we work with here have stories about suffering and death that I can’t even begin to imagine.

When I really think about the suffering in this part of the world seems endless. So how have I become so immune to it? Why has it become so “normal” and “acceptable” in my mind? Even to the point that I get annoyed when some of these people in need “inconvenience” my day or “invade my privacy”. I seem forget that these people are just as much a human being as I am.

The needs of the poor here do seem endless, and we could give and give until we have nothing and there would still be needs. It’s hard to find that balance between helping others because I have been blessed with so much, and still being realistic about it all. Unfortunately, there are those that will make up fictitious tales to try and get some money as well - which in the end adds to my immunity. Yet as a Christian wanting to following the clear direction on helping those in need, I’m also challenged by the fact that Jesus does NOT say “Only give to the poor who you judge to think are deserving”. Am I deserving of the opportunities I’ve had in life because of the country I come from?

I guess this blog is more about questions than answers. I just hope that this immunity to the suffering of others can turn into a little more compassion. I’m sure that showing compassion is part of the reason why God has us here.

Back home in Canada, I don’t see the physical suffering that I see here (there is this suffering, we just have an easier job of hiding ourselves from it), but there are other types of suffering. How many times have we been too busy, or too consumed with our hectic schedules (full of worthy activities), or simply disinterested in showing compassion to those that could use it? We all need it at different points in our life.

I better stop before I get (even more) preachy. But please don’t get me wrong, I’m preaching to myself as much as anyone else.

Ode to Josiah (his 1st Birthday)

On February 8, 2008 we celebrated Josiah's first birthday. For those of you that couldn't "pop over" and make the quick visit out to Malawi, here are some pics of the one year old....

Eating Birthday Cake

On the 8th (Friday) we celebrated his birthday and Chinese New Year with other EI staff and friends. Two of the EI staff are Chinese-Canadians...

With his "popper" on the morning of his birthday - a toy we may live to regret buying because Caleb and Thomas also enjoy the noise it makes...

With his soon to be cut off curly hair...

Having a birthday dinner on the Saturday with our neighbours - the Martinsens (from Norway) who have two young boys that our boys like to play with. Josiah and Irene Martinsen share the same birthday.

Getting his first haircut.... Sarah does a good job, even when she has spectators!

Anyone got an Ark?

There has been a lot of rain here in Malawi - 48 days straight here in Zomba where we live. In other parts of the country there is more serious flooding - some flash floods, and in some areas complete flooding thathas forced many from their homes.



We've had difficulty reaching some of the village sites that we are working in because of the poor conditions of the road. We are only able to travel to our sites by motorbike now - even so there have been times where the roads are just not passable.



With the heavy rains we've also discovered some leaks in our roof - thankfully not over anyone's bed! We get a thunder storm 5 out of 7 nights a week, and the town being at about 500m elevation, we sometimes get quite close to those clouds... There is about another 6 weeks (predicted) left of the rainy season.



We had the guys from the Water and Sanitation team over for lunch. As you can see from the picture, Caleb and Thomas were happy to show them a few hockey moves, and I had to tell about the best Team in the NHL (okay, so maybe not this year, but I think next year they'll have a chance at the Cup) the Leafs. We then went on to burn a Montreal Canadiens flag (just kidding).



Not only is Josiah starting to walk, but he is learning to skateboard as well! Well, almost...

Here's Thomas helping to defrost our freezer (which needs to be done frequently because ice forms when the power goes - which happens a couple times a week).

Sarah and Caleb and their house of cards..

I took this picutre in the capital - Lilongwe. This is a typical site: diesel fumes spewing out of a truck as it climbs a hill. They don't really have the same emissions testing here!






Mike & Sarah Eggert
Private Bag 12
Zomba, Malawi
Central Africa

e-mail: mseggert5@gmail.com
Blog: http://www.eggertsinmalawi.blogspot.com/
Church Blog: http://forestviewchurch.ca/Blogs/Eggert/

Our new cat (and the story about our previous one)

Meet our (relatively) new cat. Her name is "Blackie" (aka "Super Cat depending on if you ask Caleb or Thomas). We got her in December and have had her for about 4 weeks now (which is a week longer than we had our previous cat "Schneider"). Blackie seems to be a good hunter - she has caught birds, insects, moths, and lots of gecos (tiny lizzards) like the one she is "playing with" in the picture. So far we have not seen any mice or rats around... so she's doing her job.

You may remember from an October blog that we had a new kitten - Schneider. Well, Schneider didn't exactly last very long, and it's a bit of a complicated story, so we were hesitant to share the news until we got a new kitty.

The short version of what happened to Schneider was that he/she got run over by a vehicle just outside our house. I was looking for him/her one evening because he'll usually be meowing at the door to be let in. When I didn't find him, I knew something was up. At about 5am the next morning (it was already light by then), our night watchmen called to me through the window and said some things in Chichewa (the local language) - the only thing I understood was "mpaka" (cat). I went outside and he took me about 50 metres down the road from our house and there lay Schneider's body. Unfortunately. he didn't have 9 lives. I burried him in our backyard and had everything taken care of before the boys even woke up.

Caleb woke up first and we broke the news to him at breakfast. He was sad for a little bit, but then perked up when we said we'd try to get a new cat in a few weeks. When we told Thomas, it was clear that he did not have any emotional attachment to the cat. "Schneider's dead? You mean he's extinct?" (a new word word he was learning when looking through books about dinosaurs). For the rest of the day, whomever we met, he'd proudly announce that Schneider was extinct. I think he was more interested in being able to use the word, than he was about the cat being gone.

Pics from Christmas

Here are some different pics from our Christmas Day.... we had a relaxing morning, went swimming in the afternoon, and joined other expatriates for a Christmas dinner at the home of the Emmanuel International Country Directors.

Random pictures...

This is how Caleb and Thomas spent the first two weeks of November... sick and in bed for the most part. Call me emotionless, or call me an optimist, but the silver lining in all this was that when Sarah and I ate supper, we could actually have a conversation because the usual voluminus noise from the boys was not heard.

The "happy" family - even Caleb who is doing his best rock star face....

Playing lego on the front porch (Caleb and his rock star face)

Believe it or not, this pick-up truck is probably only half full by African standards.

A day in the Field

I’ve been asked different times – “What does a typical day look like for you?”. I can honestly say that I haven’t experienced a “typical” or “normal” day. To quote Leonardo Di Caprio in the movie Blood Diamond, “TIA – this is Africa”, each day seems to bring some sort of surprise or new experience.

That being said, I thought I’d describe a day back in November where I went to visit some of our village sites. The main purpose of the visit was to see the progress that had been made and view some of the demonstration teaching.

7:05am – Pearson (one of the project staff) comes by our house. We get in the vehicle and drive up to the office to get a motorbike for the day.
7:10am – We’re at the office but the mechanic with the key to the motorbike is not. I thought I had this prearranged, but apparently not. So we wait.
7:30am – mechanic arrives and we get the key. The bike needs to be filled with gas. Pearson, takes it into town to do and plans to meet me back at my house so I can return the vehicle to Sarah.
7:50am – Pearson arrives back at my place with a full tank and off we go to Liwonde (field office) which is about 50km away (all paved road). By car/pick-up it takes a little more than half and hour. Today, with two of us on the motorbike it takes about an hour. Pearson is driving slow and steady with his boss on the back of the bike.
9:00am – we meet up with another staff member, Khumbo, in Liwonde and the three of us set out on two motorbikes to visit some village sites. Again, Pearson is driving slow and steady (max 60 km per hr).
10:00am – we arrive at Nsolomba village to pick up some materials. This village is on of the villages we work in but today we are just passing through. As we are getting our materials, one of the older village women greet me in the local language. I respond as per the usual response and think all is fine. Pearson laughs a little and explains to me that in addition to the usual greeting she added, “My husband, how are you?”. I had to laugh – a few of the older women in this village like to joke around with me like that. I even had a marriage proposal the first time I visited the village. I told them I’d have to ask my wife first….
10:15am – we arrive at Ntweya village where we conducted a demonstration on constructing a specific latrine design. This is ecological sanitation so the idea is that you only dig the hole about a metre deep, so that in 6 months or so when it is full you pick up the “structure” that is over the hole and move it to another location. You then make use of the manure from the original hole by planting a tree (usually some sort of fruit tree, depending on the area). The whole demonstration takes about an hour and seems to be accepted well by the villagers.
11:45am – we set off for Oga village to check on the progress that they are making. We take a number of back road trails to get there. Once the heavy rains come in December it will be hard to reach some of these villages – even by motorbike.
12:00pm – we arrive at Oga and they are surprised to see us. More so, they expressed that they wish we would have told them that the “big boss” (aka me) was coming so they could have been ready. This village was a little behind the other villages in terms of progress. We ended up watching (and a little bit of directing) some of the village committee members start to dig a hole. It was hot, so I took out some of my water to drink, and started to eat an apple. They don’t grow apples in Malawi (the apple was a green apple from South Africa) so some of the villagers started to wonder and talk about what I was eating. Pearson finally broke their silence and asked me what I was eating and was it ripe (mangos, which are abundant here, before they are ripe they are green on the outside and white on the inside – much like the apple I was eating). After about another 20 minutes of watching them dig, and twenty minutes of brushing the ants off of my legs, it was time to go.

1:00pm – for the ride back it was decided that I would drive one of the motorbikes. I hadn’t driven a motorbike since last time (98/99) we were in Africa, but it didn’t take too long to remember all the basics. So off we went – this time I wanted to find out if the bikes were slow, or if it was just my staff riding slow because their “bwana” (“boss”) was with them. Even though the bikes are only 125 cc, it was clear that these bikes could go faster than they had been riding them.

We were doing 60km/hr on the dirt roads and paths, but did closer to 80km/hr on the paved roads. When we finally arrived back at the field office in Liwonde, Khumbo simply said, “You were cruisin’!” We all had a good laugh and they explained how they thought they should be going slow and steady when they are with the bwana – but not this boss….

2:30pm – we had a little meeting in the office to discuss work plans for the next week and recap the progress in the different villages.

3:00pm – they dropped me off at the side of the main highway in Liwonde where I picked up a “mini-bus” (a large mini-van used to transport people, their luggage, bags of rice and maize, chickens, you name it…). The mini-bus was pretty full (so I thought) when I got on, so I sat squished in on a 3 seater-bench with 4 people. A few minutes into the trek we picked up a few more people (with luggage), and then a few more…. In the end we had about 20 people in this vehicle. Going up hills was agonizingly slow, but I was thankful that I had safe driver. Road accidents are all too common here in Malawi.

4:00pm – I got dropped off at the side of the highway at the bottom of the hill that our house is situated on. It was a hot 10 minute walk in the afternoon African sun, but finally getting home and enjoying an orange Fanta (if you’re 30 or older, you’ll remember Fanta). I reflect on the day and what was accomplished and what wasn’t, and then I remember – TIA – my expectations need to be realistic!

I likely won’t have an exact day like this again, but I’m sure there will be variations of it….