Candle Light Top 7

The power has gone out quite frequently in the last number of weeks. Sometimes at very inopportune moments. But none the less, life must go on. So we end up doing many things by candle light. Here’s a list of top 7 things NOT to do by candlelight if you have a choice!

7. Walk across the living room (aka the toy room) in your bare feet when there are small and dangerous toys on the ground that you can’t really see with just a candle. Did you know that lego pieces can get stuck between your toes?

6. Have a “candlelight dinner” with your 3 loud children. Eating by candlelight with your kids just reminds you how long it’s been since you’ve been able to have a real candlelight dinner. The one where you don’t have to yell to have an adult conversation.

5. Bathe your children in the tub after they’ve made a mud pit earlier that day. “Is that dirt or just a shadow?”

4. Do the dishes by the open window. While the breeze coming through is nice, the combination of open flame and thin curtains isn’t always good.

3. Have your 6 year old read his 32 page story book from school – which takes about 15 minutes. This requires a flashlight, not candlelight, being held above the book for this period of time. And of course when he is done, his 3 year old brother insists on “reading” the book to you as well….

2. Change a diaper. We look at his bottom and think, “Is that poo or just a shadow?” Also, Josiah likes to try to kick the candle off the change table (because there is no where else to put the candle).

1. Clean out a poopy diaper in the toilet. “Is that poo or…” well, you get the idea.

Mike's Day in Court

My Day in the Malawi Court System –

This is one African experience I never thought I’d have – but on May 2nd, I ended up as the “accused” in court. It was only for a traffic offence, but here in Malawi they don’t separate traffic court with criminal court, so I got first hand experience with part of the process that (alleged) criminals go through.

It started the day before when I stopped at the side of the road to pick up Edward, one of our workers, at around 8am. I pulled to the side of the road (but not off the road) and stopped for less than 10 seconds as he got into the vehicle. 50 yards ahead was a police officer who flagged me down and informed me that I had committed a traffic offence (contrary to section 119 of the Malawi Traffic Act). I was obstructing and hindering traffic (even though there was no other traffic that morning because it was a public holiday).

We proceeded to the Zomba police station – I had to give the officer a lift there because the traffic police don’t have vehicles when they are on duty. At the station they wrote out a hand written letter stating my offence and I got to choose to sign it as to whether I admit the charges. I was also given the “you have the right to remain silent…” speech too. In discussion with Edward, he told me that although everyone does it, it is technically illegal to stop on the road, and the police will tend to pick and choose when they might charge someone on it.

So I signed the letter admitting the offence I had committed and my driver’s licence was taken and I was given a form stating that I had a court date the next morning.

The next morning there were about 4 cases to be heard before the judge. The courtroom had rundown overused furniture likely left over from the colonial days. The carpet was musty and there were piles of “stolen goods” – copper wire dug up from the telephone lines – to one side of the courtroom. After waiting for about 45 minutes for the judge to arrive, the cases began.

The first two cases were both criminal theft cases. The first guy took about $5,000 from the local Red Cross office, while the second case was for a guy who had stolen 60 bags of maize and then sold them. In the first case the accused plead guilty so that the sentencing would be softer; in the second case was the preliminary trial and the defendant plead not guilty. In both cases the accused walked up into the defendant’s box at the side of the courtroom and would stand to hear the charges and enter a plea, and then sit for the next few minutes of the proceeding and then have to stand again to hear the verdict/sentencing.

There were about 30 spectators in the courtroom, and when it was my turn to walk up into the defendant’s box, I couldn’t help but feel the stares of everyone watching this “azungu” (white person). I was caught between making sure I heard everything the judge was saying with his African-English accent and making sure I didn’t smirk. It seemed a little unreal in a way – putting in my plea of guilty, feeling like the criminal traffic obstructer that I was.

Sarah warned me ahead of time to not do or say anything stupid (she knows me too well after almost 11 years of marriage) – so I didn’t. The temptation did arise, however, when the judge gave me the option of paying a $15 fine or doing one month in prison with hard labour. It was a tough decision, but I opted for the fine as opposed to the prison life.

I should note that when I e-mailed this day in court story to my older (but not necessarily wiser) brother, he said I should have gone for the 1 month hard labour. “Think about it” he said, “Fresh air, warm sun, exercise, free food, a chance to just get away from it all – why not?” A seemingly convincing argument, but I knew that Sarah would shoot me if I left her alone with the kids for that long….

I had to sit through one more court case after mine – this one was another traffic violation case. Apparently it is against the law here to not have a functioning spare tire on your vehicle. The defendant in this case pled guilty as I did in my case, but he got the option of only a $4 fine or 1 week in prison! I wanted to stand up and protest about my relatively harsh sentence in comparison to this guy, but again I decided to take my wife’s advice and not say anything.

After this case we all got shuffled out of the court room to go pay our fines. I didn’t have $15 cash on me so I explained that I had to go to the bank machine in town first. It was around 10:30 in the morning, so I figured I’d be able to make it back with plenty of time before lunch. I got into town to find out that the two bank machines were both not working, and there was about a twenty minute wait in line in any case. I didn’t have my bank book with me, so I couldn’t go into the bank to withdraw money (and there was a long line there too). Our worker, Edward, was with me so he suggested that we go over to the local Baptist Church in town that he attends and we can ask the pastor there to borrow some money.

I’m sure that the pastor was a little surprised to see this azungu coming in and asking him to borrow money – especially considering it was to pay a fine at the courts. I explained the whole situation, and he was gracious enough to lend me about $10 (that’s all he had on him) and Edward lent me the other $5.

We got back to the court house a little bit after 11am to find out that the cashier office was closed because they went to the bank. I knew they wouldn’t be back until after lunch so I asked the court clerk what I could do. I paid him the money and he wrote me a hand written letter (all the court proceeding documents as well as the documents written up at the police station were hand written) stating that I had paid the money and would be given a receipt later that day. Normally you need an official receipt to show the police before they will give you your licence back.

Back at the police station I presented my letter to the traffic officer and he says, “But it is not stamped with the court official’s stamp – how do I know this is not a forgery? I’m sorry but I can’t accept this.” I knew that by the time I went back to the court house, the guy who wrote my letter would be gone for lunch and considering this was my 6th stop of the morning in this whole process, I decided to go home for lunch and try to wrap all this up in the afternoon.

The afternoon did work out fine. I got to the court house and the court clerk had already processed my official receipt from the cashier’s office and off I went to the police and finally got my licence back. I then went to the bank machine (that was now working) and only had to wait in line for about 10 minutes. I got the money, paid people back and finally got into work at about 3pm.

I had two hours left in the work day, but it felt like I already worked a full day.

Some more pictures

Visiting with Pastor Steve Kamwana and his family (and some neighbour kids)

Monkeys drinking from the hose of a place.

Mulanje Mountain (3000m) as seen from a Tea Estate in southern Malawi.
The boys with our worker Saulo.

Caleb climbing a tree on our property.

The family with Sarah's dad when he visited in April.
Chief Josiah on a Chief chair.

In front of a bayobob tree at Lake Malawi. Josiah doing his two favourite things - eating and running.

Just Pictures

Here are some pics from the past few weeks...

Giving a ride home to "a few" of the orphans from Grace Orphan Care.

Playing lego on the table so that Josiah doesn't come and wreck what they're building.

Ox Carts are not an uncommon site in the village or even on the main highways.

Coming into Blantyre - 70kms away from Zomba.

Storm starting to come on our way back from Blantyre.

Check out the name on the above small business.

Josiah and Kenneth (our night watchman)

Nose to nose with mummy.

Self-portrait on the back of the motorbike

"Firsts"

A couple weeks ago, there were a number of “firsts” experienced out in the field. I went out with one my staff, Thomas, to look at a few of the villages we are working in. These are some of the “Firsts” (to the best of my knowledge) that happened that day –

First Time to See an “Azungo” (white person) tour their village school – our first stop was a rural school we are working with. The kids could hear the motorbike coming so many of them already directed their attention to us as we were pulling up on the property. Then when I took off my helmet and they realized I was a white guy, it drew even more attention. I could hear the buzz of laughter and talking about this strange visitor. We walked around the property with the school principal for a while and it seemed like every class had emptied out (granted, most of them were under a grass thatch roof with no walls) and many kids were following us around laughing and pointing at me. It was all quite funny, but I did apologize to the principal for being such a distraction…

First Time Having a Flat Tire in the Middle of nowhere – between our time in Africa 10 years ago, and the 6 months we’ve been here so far, I’ve been out to rural areas hundreds of times – by motorbike and pick-up truck. This was the first time to get a flat tire. We had to walk the motorbike about 3 km to the nearest place that could actually fix a puncture. Of course this happened at about 11am and it was a bright sunny day, so we actually got to walk the few kilometres in the heat of the day.

First Time to see an Azungo to WALK into their village (and walk out) – as we walked the bikemany of these places see only a handful of foreigners in any given year. So to see an azungo actually walk into their village (and walk out), was I’m sure the first for the village that we walked out bike through. There were a number young kids that followed us as we walked through. Thomas had to eventually tell them to turnaround and go back, otherwise they might have followed us the whole way.

First Time to Really Enjoy Stale Cookies – When we arrived in the village where we could get the flat fixed – I was thirsty and hungry. Of course, this happened to be the day that I decided not to take any snacks nor water out with me. We found a little shop that sold luke warm pops and had a coke. I asked Thomas if there were any shops in town that sold packaged snack food – chips, peanuts, or something. Being in quite a remote area, I didn’t want to risk eating something prepared locally. The only packaged food we could find were some cookies. I opened the package and had a bite of the first one – nice and stale. It didn’t matter though, I was hungry and this was the only thing to eat.

First time to Pay only $1.25 for Automobile Services – We dropped the motorbike off at “shop” at the end of the village. This shop was simply a guy with tools and some tire fixing supplies set up under a grass thatch roof that was maybe 10 x 15 feet. It took about a half hour for him to fix the flat – there ended up being two punctures in the tube to fix. In the end it only costed about $1.25 – well worth it!

We had had enough firsts for the day and had to start the 70km journey back to our field office after the tire was repaired. Besides, when we was the tube being patched we counted a total of 11 patches on the tube already, so who knew when we'd get another flat?

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!