Memories in Malawi

New Blog

2009-07-16T19:40:00.000-07:00

Hi friends. We are no longer in Malawi, so I have started a new blog. If you are interested in following the adventures of our family you can go to www.tacheny.blogspot.com.

Thanks for your interest and your prayers.

Leaving Malawi

2009-06-16T02:07:00.000-07:00

Our family at our last Ultimate frisbee game

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. We have been busy with good-byes, end of the school year activities, more good-byes, packing our lives up and yet again, more good-byes. It's been a sweet time to reflect on the many blessings we've had living and working in Malawi. We are especially thankful for all of the friends we have made here. God is good.

This will be the last Memories in Malawi blog. I haven't decided what will be next. I have joined facebook and might use that as a way to keep people posted on our activites. But we'll see, I haven't quite figured out all of the ins-and-outs of it.

Our upcoming schedule is the following: June 16--leave Malawi. June 17--arrive in London and visit the Sanchez family. June 19--fly to Minnesota. June 28--fly to Costa Rica. June 29--Start language school.

It will be a whirlwind. Thank you for your prayers.

Working with AIDS patients

2009-05-20T10:19:00.000-07:00

The beautiful ladies who care for patients and clients at PIH clinic

Do you sometimes get stuck in your routine and lose sight of how God is working in your life--in big and small ways? I sort of had a mini-revelation about that today. I was at Bible Study and Beth Moore was sharing in her study, Stepping Up, about her desire to work with HIV patients and how she had the opportunity to do just that in South Africa sometime back. I found myself thinking about what a wonderful and life-changing experience that must have been for her. And then it sort of hit me--every day I am at clinic I have the opportunity to minister to patients suffering from HIV and AIDS. It sort of boggled my mind, that each and every patient we care for in Moyo clinic has the HIV virus. When I stop to think of that it is staggering--and the Enemy can come in and make me start judging patients decisions that led to them contracting HIV or maybe I will get overwhelmed at the problem of HIV and the many barriers out there to stopping the spread of this deadly virus. But I forget that God is bigger than all of those obstacles, and that God loves each and every one of these patients enough to send his Son to die for them. And then the routine of my job becomes a divine calling--to demonstrate the love of Christ through caring for their medical needs. You might be thinking, "Isn't that obvious? Isn't that why you moved to Malawi?" It is true--but we, or at least I, too easily fall into routine and sometimes lose sight of God's greater purpose for my daily schedule. May you see God at work in your life today too.

The Azungu (foreign/white) staff at PIH: front row--Amanda Fielder, me, Mike. Back row--Jon Fielder (new doc), Jessica McMillan, Brenda Jansen, Perry Jansen, Becky Lengle(a visiting nurse). We were all celebrating Amanda's b-day

Presidential Elections

2009-05-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was election day in Malawi. This is only the 4th time Malawians have had the opportunity to vote for president. Isn't that amazing! Here is a picture of the queue of voters. It was thankfully a quiet day--no rallies or political unrest. But keep praying for peace as the results are released today or tomorrow. If you want to read more about the election, you can click on this link. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8046766.stm

Thanks for you prayers!

Mother's day

2009-05-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was Mother's day in the US. It would have been easy to forget in Malawi, because there are no advertisements from Hallmark reminding us of this important day. Mother's day is celebrated in October here--and even then, there are no commercials to remind you. But I have a sweet family and husband who celebrated with me last Sunday. As you can see, the kids put together a little spa, while Mike cooked breakfast. I received fingernail tattoos, a foot massage and a back rub, all in the comfort of my own back yard.

Happy Mothers Day to all of you moms. Hope you felt loved like I did.

Bible Study ladies

2009-05-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

One of the things I will miss most when we leave Malawi is my weekly Bible study. Before I go on, most of you reading this blog have heard that we are leaving Lilongwe in June of this year en route to Ecuador. When we were back in the states last fall, we became aware of the need for doctors at the Shell hospital in rural Ecuador. God provided us the opportunity, as did my parents for watching the kids, to go visit the hospital--and we have decided to make the move. It will be a good fit for us--a chance to use all of our family practice skills and training.

We have enjoyed our time in Malawi and have learned so much about HIV medicine working at Partners in Hope, but we feel that it is time for us to move on. And God has confirmed this decision in our hearts.

So back to the dear ladies in the above picture. We meet every Wednesday morning and these ladies have become such wonderful friends and encouragers. We have a variety of nations represented--Canada, US, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Kenya--but despite our varying backgrounds we are all sisters in Christ. We just finished an amazing study on the Love of God--and it was really life-changing and challenging for all of us. I am so grateful for this group. And I hope that all of you reading have a group like this where you can pray together, laugh together, study the word and encourage one another. What a blessing--especially when troubles come.

Easter Break--Taipei Gardens

2009-04-28T22:22:00.000-07:00

Here's another Easter break Adventure.

There is a small garden area in town that the kids and I went to visit for the first time. It is called the Taipei gardens. As you can see it has a beautiful pagoda. And although the gardens are in a bit of disrepair, it really is quite a beautiful "park."

There are not a lot of areas in town with some wide open spaces to walk or ride bikes. So we enjoyed this outing. Dad was working, so we'll take him with us on our next visit.

It reminds us of the international flavor of Lilongwe--which still amazes me at times. We meet people from all over the world every day. It's been quite a wonderful experience for all of us.

Easter Break--Nkhoma mountain

2009-04-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

The kids just finished a 2-week Easter holiday. Have we complained at all about how much vacation the kids get here? Amazingly despite a week in the fall, a month at Christmas, 2 weeks at Easter and a full Summer break--not to mention the other national holidays, etc--the kids seem to be learning a lot and doing well academically. But we do have to get creative for entertainment. This is the first spring break that my parents were not here and Mike and I were needed in the office so we decided to have a vacation at home. So instead of going to the lake or on Safari as in previous years, we explored a bit closer to home.

One of our adventures was a hike of Mt Nkhoma. We have tried this before with the kids, but had never made it to the summit as a family. This time with the support and encouragement of another family and their kids--we all made it to the top of Mt. Nkhoma. It was a difficult hike and for 5 days afterwards, I (Heather) still had trouble getting up and down the stairs in our house. But somehow Syd and Sam with their short legs--did just fine. =)

Is it McDonalds?

2009-04-23T21:59:00.001-07:00

No, it is MacDauds!!

Maybe you have to live here to appreciate this, but we think it's quite funny. There are almost no fast-food chains in Lilongwe. There is Nando's and Steers--both South African chains. But no McDonalds, KFC, etc. And, there is no shortage of American "knock-offs"--using slogans, such as "Just do it","Coke" bottles that are red with the same writing but say something like "Koke".

So here's an example that combines the knock-off with a fast food chain. Around the corner to our house last week we noticed a transformation of this building--it was painted in bright red and yellow. And if you can see in the picture looks quite similar to a McDonalds franchise. Yet, to our dismay it is not McDonalds, it is Mac Dauds. And the slogan (in very small letters below) instead of "I'm loving it", is "You're loving it" It makes us smile =) The restaurant is not yet open--but there are pictures of burgers and fries on the windows that make us expect all of the grease and goodness of McDonalds.

Crisis nursery

2009-04-15T05:39:00.000-07:00

Here is our family at the Ministry of Hope's Crisis Nursery. We have found that visiting the nursery and playing with the babies is something our whole family can do together. Of course, Sydney enjoys the role of mommy to all of the kids and she often is holding 2 babies at a time. Sam gets creative and reads book and throws balls to the babies, but he's less inclined to hold the babies.
We had started visiting the nursery as a family last summer and it's been fun to return after our 4 months in the states and see how the kids have grown and changed. We have a few of our favorites and of course, some of our not-so-favorites too. But we are glad to share God's love in this tangible way.

Syd and Jeremiah

2009-04-13T05:30:00.000-07:00

As you may remember, our househelper, Joyce, had a baby last June. Jeremiah is growing quickly and we enjoy having him in our house. Sydney seems to enjoy him the most--as soon as she gets home from school she rushes in the door to find him and until Joyce leaves, she is constantly holding him. We joke that Sydney is our nanny's nanny. And she loves it. I don't blame her--he is

pretty cute--don't you agree =)

Sydney feeding Jeremiah ice cream for the first time

Berean Baptist visit

2009-04-11T05:12:00.000-07:00

We were blessed to have a medical team from Berean Baptist come to Malawi the first week of April. This is the 3rd year we have had the opportunity to minister alongside this group as they meet medical needs, train pastors, and provide individual and couple counseling in a district north of Lilongwe, called Ntchisi. We have become friends with the individuals who have come back to Malawi multiple times, and we will miss them as we prepare to leave Malawi in June. For those of you who haven't heard, we will be moving with our mission organization, HCJB Global, to work at a rural hospital in Ecuador. This transition will first take us to Costa Rica for language school and then on to Ecuador. I will write more about these changes as we get closer to the move, but for now we are focusing on our last few months in Malawi.

Here are a few pictures from the day I helped with the clinic in Ntchisi. We took over the local church building and myself and 2 other doctors from the states, alongside 2 Malawian clinical officers--helped care for the people in this village. We saw a variety of things from musculoskelatal pain and upper respiratory infections to a few children quite sick with malaria. We also offered HIV testing to patients and individual and couple counseling. It was a good day--and for me, it is always fun to get out of the city and see life in rural Malawi. It truly is a beautiful country.

Triathlon

2009-03-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

Sydney participated in a triathlon at school last Friday and she won her age-group for the girls! She did great! Sam started the race, but the swim was too long and he stopped. But hopefully in a few weeks they will have a shorter race for the smaller kids. It was a great day--except that our sunscreen was expired and we all ended up with a good sunburn. So Sydney has the award for being the first person in our family to complete a triathlon. Mike and I will have to think about participating in the Open event--although I'm pretty sure I would sink to the bottom of the pool trying to swim 11 laps. Maybe if I could do the under-8-year-old distances instead (3 laps). I doubt you will see pictures of this event even if it happens. But certainly there will be more pics of the kids should they participate again. Hope you enjoy.

Sam and his buddy Andrea before the race

Early morning walks

2009-03-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

I am so fortunate to have a group of ladies to walk with 3 times a week. Never mind that we have to leave our house in the dark at 5:30 in order to get back in time for work, school, etc. It is still something I look forward to every time.
This morning my walking partners decided to sleep so I got to walk by myself. I used to be a bit apprehensive about this, but now I feel very comfortable. As I was making my way home I wanted to share some of the sights, sounds and smells of my morning walks that have become so special and unique.

I leave my house in the early morning light. The sun is not yet up, but the sky is just becoming light. I let myself out of our gate as the night guards are always sleeping somewhere and are never awake in the morning to open the gate for me.
It's just dark enough that the Malawians that are out and about, blend in a bit to the darkness--so as I get closer to them on the road I will see men in uniforms heading to their security jobs, men on bikes riding home from their night duty, women with big bundles on their heads--most likely carrying things to market to sell that day. Even in the dark, there are a few men outside their gates, sweeping the dirt driveways and picking up the leaves around the outside wall. There is the smell of fires burning and of dust. Although this morning, it was a bit more wet as it had rained heavily the night before.
I enjoy walking in the early hours because there are very few cars on the road, and although there are people out, much fewer than later in the day when I fear for my life as I walk on the same roads because of the narrow roads and congestion.
As it gets lighter, the people I pass greet me. "Hello, madam". I feel very special being called 'Madam".
I usually walk the same route each day so I often see some of the same people. It's nice to greet the familiar faces and wish them a good day. One couple I look forward to seeing is this darling older Asian couple that always walks together. She walks with a cane and is very hunched over and almost shuffling--with beautifully silver-black hair. Her husband stands tall and walks beside her. And everytime we pass them they greet us with "God bless you".
As it gets lighter I start to see the Malawian children heading off to school. They wear their uniforms--most commonly a bright blue dress for the girls and a white shirt and shorts for the boys. They look so young walking along the road in small groups. I imagine some of them are only 5 or 6 years old, walking 1/2-1 mile to school each day.

As we live at the bottom of the hill, my walk takes me up the hill around the upper neighborhoods and the last part of the walk is heading downhill towards home. At the top of the hill I always have to pause and appreciate the view. Usually the sun has just come up, the clouds are often just losing their pink color and I can see the city center laid out in front of me. The minnarets of the Mosque stand up above the rest of the buildings and in the distance I can see the rocky "mountains" that lie just south of town. They are big rocks that jut out of the ground. It truly is beautiful in the quiet of the morning.

More visitor experiences

2009-03-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

Pat Jacquin and I helping wash hand before the meal at COTN feeding program

While our visitors were here, we took the time to break our normal routine and do a few things we hadn't done in awhile. Before we went to the States last fall, we were going as a family to the Ministry of Hope's Crisis Nursery about twice a month. This Nursery cares for orphaned infants through about 2 year olds. We would come as a family and hold babies and play for an hour or so. Sydney always loved it, but Sam wasn't so enthused about entertaining the babies. But since we've been back to Malawi, we havent' taken the time to get back there. So Miriam, Pat and I went last week to visit. It was so fun to see the kids--they had all grown and changed so much in the 6 months since I had visited the nursery. The older kids had moved on--some back to extended family members, now that they were older and could eat regular food, some to foster homes. It's a sweet ministry and it's a good way to get my baby fix every once in awhile. There's always one child I want to take home with me.

Pictures of the "graduates" of the widows training program

The three of us then accompanied Brenda Jansen to Children of the Nations feeding program in Mtsiliza. Mtsiliza is an urban village tucked into the center of Lilongwe--just across from ABC Christian Academy, where the kids go to school. It is a very poor area and the COTN feeding program provides 2 meals a day to orphans and children whose parents cannot provide for them. Before the meal we were treated to a beautiful time of singing by the kids. I have a video of it, but it doesn't seem to want to upload. Then the kids come for their meals, and Pat and I helped by washing hands.

The program also reaches out to widows in the community. Miriam was especially interested in this ministry. They are in the midst of a second round of training for local widows. This training involves teaching trades such as sewing, baking, and knitting in an effort to provide skills for these women to make a living. The first "class" of trainees numbered about 40 and currently there are that same number involved in the training as well. The two women in charge of this current class, were graduates of the first class and you could sense the pride they had in their own accomplishments and in the women they were training currently.

It was so good to break from my routine and see some of the other ministries that are happening around me every day. God is working through many different avenues to bring light and hope and meet needs in Lilongwe.

Visitors

2009-03-03T05:18:00.000-08:00

Enya, a patient attendant at PIH, showing off her cross necklace

Jessica (patient intake) and Miriam (accounts) are very happy about their gifts!

For the last week we have had the privilege of hosting two HCJB Global visitors, Pat Jacquin (HR director) and Miriam Neff, whose husband served on the board of HCJB for many years. Miriam worked as a school counselour for many years and has written many books. She shared her wisdom (and a gift of a cross necklace) with the women at Partners in Hope as she shared on "Women and their Emotions". She also helped lead a "Soul Care Day" for a number of missionaries over the weekend.

Her ministry has changed dramatically after the death of her husband 3 years ago. And now she has a ministry called "Widows Connection". She writes and speaks to widows around the world and she has helped come alongside a widows ministry in rural Mozambique through a partnership with World Relief. She is in Mozambique right now visiting the project.

It's good to host visitors from time-to-time because it gives us the opportunity to change our routine and visit some other ministries happening here in Malawi. More about that in the next blog...

Miriam sharing at "Soul Care Day"

Friday tea time with the moms

2009-03-01T04:16:00.001-08:00

Sydney and Sam and some of their friends

Since school finishes at 12:30, we always have to plan events for the entire afternoon with the kids. Usually the time gets filled with homework, lunch, driving to and from school, swimming lessons or playdates. The other Friday, one of the moms invited a group of us over for tea and a big play afternoon with the kids.

As many of you know, I am a coffee drinker through and through, and tea is not my favorite. I am trying to adjust to the tea-drinking, British-influenced culture, but it's difficult. =) So thankfully, coffee was also served. (Although, I think it was actually unbearably hot that day and I chose to drink a cold glass of water instead. )

I am thankful for these moms who have become my friends over the few years we have been here. They are a wonderful bunch of people with interesting stories of either growing up in Malawi, or being transplanted here like us. There is a common bond among moms whose kids are in the same school and the same classes. And I am thankful for all I have learned from them about life: from tips about parenting, to living in Malawi, to cooking . God has been so good.

UCLA and Partners in Hope

2009-02-10T04:58:00.000-08:00

The view as you pull into the PIH parking lot---ladies taking good to sell at market

We have shared in the past that UCLA has partnered with Partners in Hope in a number of ways. One has been via an HIV project done at University of Malawi's Chancellor College. You can read more about it at http://www.thisismystory.info/. This project took shape last summer but involved 3 of our employees at PIH who are living with HIV. One of which is Subira, our receptionist.

She always greets us with such a wonderful smile. While we were away she became very sick with TB meniningitis--Tuberculosis is very common here in Malawi whether or not one has HIV, but those whose immune systems are surpressed by the HIV virus are more susceptible to it and often get more severe forms of TB, such as meningitis. We are so thankful that she responded to treatment, because many people die of meningitis. She is just getting back to work and building up her strength after an almost 3 month absence due to her illness. Please continue to pray for her and our other staff members who are living with HIV.

Fun in Malawi

2009-02-07T04:46:00.000-08:00

The kids have loved being back in Malawi. Mostly, they were excited to get back to school at ABCCA. But we have had some other fun event and surprised since we've returned. We were happy to find in this transient community in Lilongwe, that while we were gone a new family moved in across the complex from us. They have 2 kids--Josiah-age 7 and Tasheni(sounds a lot like Tacheny with accents on different syllables)-age 5. Our kids have loved being able to just run outside and play with friends. We are very thankful.

As you can tell from the pictures, Sam has become quite a builder/architect. He and Mike worked together to make this K'nex roller coaster. I was proud of how well Sam did putting all the small parts together, but even more proud of Mike's patience in "supervising" the project.

Sydney's second favorite thing in Malawi is getting to play with Joyce's son, Jeremiah. You may remember he was born in June 2008--so needless to say he changed a lot in the 4 months we were gone. As soon as Sydney gets home from school, she finds Jeremiah and holds him and plays with him until he goes home. He is a beautiful baby!

Arrived and Settled

2009-01-22T19:08:00.001-08:00

Yes, we are finally settled and rested from our travels back to Malawi. We traveled without incident and arrived with all 8 suitcases! A small miracle for which we are very grateful. The kids travelled quite well and we all were happy to find a McDonalds in the Amsterdam airport for one last greasy burger and fries. The kids happy meal had a small Monopoly game in it--which is quite funny as they had been playing a lot of Monopoly since our Florida trip.

We arrived on a Friday and the kids went back to school on Monday. It was so helpful that they were returning to a familiar setting and both of the kids were so excited to see their friends and their teachers.

We went back to work mid-week and it's been good to start practicing medicine again. We were a bit rusty on the HIV protocols and the paperwork, etc.,--but it's all come back quickly. We are lucky to be working in a place where the patients are almost always very gracious and thankful for your care.

We've mentioned before that Lilongwe has a very transient population, especially in the ex-patriate circles. Much has changed in the 4 months we have been in the states--quite a few people have left for different reasons, and more families have arrived. One family, the Fielders, has arrived to work at Partners in Hope. Jon had set up an HIV program in Kenya and now he, his wife, and 2 small boys have come to Malawi to assist in the expansion of the PIH programs.

Boards and Prayer Request

2008-12-05T11:31:00.001-08:00

Thank you so much to everyone who was praying for our board exams. They seemed to go better than expected, although we won't know our results for 4-6 weeks. We are so glad to have them finished--although it seems to mark the beginning of the end, as far as our time in the States goes.
In my last blog I was talking about being thankful. In the last line I joked about remembering to be thankful when the kids are fighting. For me, my biggest challenges have just been keeping an attitude of gratefulness during the day-to-day struggles I have as a wife, mother, doctor, etc. But as I wrote that line, I thought about all of the people who have to choose to thank God, praise Him and trust Him when circumstances are much tougher--loss of job, loss of health, etc.
I was reminded of this again when we returned home from our test and had received a very sad email from Malawi. The husband of one of my Bible study friends there was killed instantly in a head-on car crash on Tuesday afternoon. Please pray for Katie, his wife, and her 3 girls during this difficult time. Thank you.

I want to be thankful..

2008-12-02T04:56:00.000-08:00

Our small group at Feed my Starving Children, 10/31

"I want to be thankful, I want to be grateful, I want to remember everything that the Lord has done..."

These are the words to one of the songs we listen to in the car with the kids. When we arrived in the states, my mom gave us a tape of all of the songs from the Vacation Bible School she worked at this summer. The kids love the upbeat songs and it's so great to hear them belting out the words in the car--God must be pleased when He hears them. =)

But I am touched by the words, too. How simple, yet profound, to always be thankful for what the Lord has done.

We just spent a weekend celebrating Thanksgiving with friends and family and we certainly have much to be thankful for. But there are the days when I'm in a bad mood, or things don't seem to be going my way and I'd rather feel sorry for myself. But even in those times, God calls us to be thankful, too. I'm glad this song gets stuck in my head from time to time, because it's a good reminder of all I have to be thankful for in Christ.

Some of the highlights of November that we are thankful for was:

A chance to help out at Feed my Starving Children with our small group (ok, this was actually Oct. 31)

A trip to visit Mike's sister Lori and her family and her church in AZ.

Sydney's 7th birthday!

The chance to connect with so many supporters and get updates on what's happening in people's lives.

Of course, Thanksgiving and its many celebrations with family and friends.

We are thankful, and we are grateful. Now, if I could just remember this when the kids are fighting... =)

Back in the States

2008-11-12T22:02:00.000-08:00

Loving the autumn colors!

Hi friends. I haven't been updating the blog recently. I sort of thought we'd either be seeing those of you who actually read this, or that you might not be so interested in our activities in MN compared to our life in Malawi. But, in the last week 3 people mentioned the blog and the lack of entries--so here goes....

We have been so blessed by our time in the states. It's been a wonderful time of reconnecting with family and friends, refreshment, and fun.

Here's a few answers to commonly asked questions:

Why are you home and when do you return to Malawi?

Our main reason for returning this fall was for Mike and Heather to prepare for and take our Family Practice Board Exams in December. We have a lot of refreshing to do regarding American medicine. We are also using the time to reconnect with family, friends, and supporters as much as possible. We will return to Malawi on January 7th.

How are the kids adjusting?

Amazingly well. They are attending school in Woodbury where we are staying with Mike's parents. Although they miss ABC Christian Academy in Malawi--they have enjoyed the new experiences like riding the bus, having chinese class and chess club

Syd and Sam in a McDonalds playland--one of their favorite American experiences

Did you experience culture shock?

Surprisingly, not much. I think we returned to a very familiar place and situation and in many ways, it felt like nothing had changed in the two years we had been in Malawi. Of course, the kids are all much bigger =) We also live in a bigger city in Malawi and have many of the conveniences--electricity, water, grocery stores, cars---so the US, although different in many ways, has many similarities which make it easier for us to cross cultures

The kids dressed up for Halloween with friends--Syd is Pocahontas, and Sam is the scary Spiderman =)

Please pray for us as we prepare for these Board Exams on December 3rd. Pray that we would not be anxious and that we would be diligent in our studies. Thank you so much for your support!

Working

2008-08-08T00:17:00.000-07:00

With all of the talk of visits from my parents, birthdays for my kids and a imminent trip home, I'm sure you are wondering what's happening at work. Yes, we are still working at Partners in Hope. In fact, Perry Jansen (the founder of PIH) and his family, just returned in June from a one-year furlough. It's been great to have Perry back in the directors seat. Although the clinic has continued serving patients well over the last year, Perry brings vision of the future of PIH, which gets us excited.
One of the current and future projects is a growing relationship with UCLA. Our clinic director, John Hamilton, is actually employed by UCLA and helps maintain a relationship with the school. Currently that means opening PIH to rotating UCLA residents to experience medicine in a developing country. In return, they bring their medical expertise and teaching to our staff, and to a local clinical officer student who joins them in the rotation as well. We had our first two resident doctors come in May--and it was a great experience. Here is a picture of all of us meeting for a journal club--a meeting where we review a few articles of study that might impact our practice of medicine here in Malawi. Mike was there too, but he was taking the picture.

I have a few more pictures of our clinic staff as well. This is some of our lab staff. The lab has been busy expanding, thanks to UCLA. There are plans to use PIH as a center for UCLA's research and because of that we are blessed to receive more equipment in our lab--including a CD4 machine. This is a test we use in HIV patients to see how suppressed their immune system is, and we use it monitor their response to medicine. Currently we are able to do the test by sending samples to another lab in Malawi at some cost to us, so it will be nice to keep the tests "in-house" for convenience and financial reasons.

From L to R: Irene, Maxwell and Steven

Our pharmacy has expanded as the clinic has grown as well. We currently employ two pharmacists--one for the Dalitso pharmacy and one for the Moyo (the free clinic) pharmacy. Howard (shown below) has the task of keeping our stocks supplied--which can sometimes be difficult as we order our ARV's (antiretrovirals--the medicines to treat HIV) through the government in 3 month intervals. So Howard has to figure out, about 6 months in advance, how much of each drug we will need, based on our current population and rate of growth. He does a good job and we are happy to have him. We are also blessed with a well-stocked pharmacy as compared to the government clinics and hospitals. That translates into better overall care for our patients.

Sam's 5!

2008-08-05T03:47:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Sam's birthday last month. It's hard to believe my baby is 5 years old already! We had a low-key party with my Bible study friends and their kids. Of course we had to play a few games--thus the picture of the spoons in the mouth. Last year was a dinosaur cake, but this year Sam saw a picture in a Good Housekeeping magazine of a 2 layer cake that he wanted. So we tried it, and thankfully it was edible. I always make our back-up, no-fail chocolate cake just in case. =)

Sam will get another birthday celebration later this month in MN! We are looking forward to celebrating all of our birthdays with our family this year. Mine will be first, the day we arrive in the US. My birthday gift will be a cafe mocha at Starbucks--mmmm good.

Medical outreach and chicken coops

2008-07-31T08:52:00.000-07:00

Medical Outreach in Ntchisi with Berean Baptist Church
The queue of patients

My mom with part of her team of childrens workers

As I mentioned in my last blog, while my parents were here, a team arrived from Berean Baptist Church in MN to do work alongside World Relief here in Malawi. They had kids programs, a medical clinic, counseling, and one day my parents helped big a chicken coop. One to house a chicken business for a local church. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of that. But my parents both came home very dirty from digging.
Mike and I were each able to spend a day with the medical outreach. It's always good to get out of Lilongwe and into the village. Ntchisi, the town where we were working, is beautifully located in central Malawi, among hills (or small mountains depending on how you look at it). We joined 2 doctors from the states and 2 clinical officers from Malawi to bring medical care to the area. We worked out of the church and had the support of the church and counselours to help assist with emotional, spiritual, and psychosocial issues as well.

It was a good experience for all of us--especially my parents who hadn't had the chance to experience "village" life a bit. We are thankful for the partnership with Berean and World Relief.

More memories of my parents visit

2008-07-25T06:08:00.001-07:00

My mom, Kay Cowan, reading to Sydney's class

My mom and dad kept busy while they were here in Malawi. Not only did they help teach the kids how to ride bikes, they also got involved at school. My mom was Sydney's Teachers "assistant" for a few days. She really enjoyed getting to know the kids in Sydney's class as well as Mrs. Pyman, Sydney's wonderful teacher. The biggest challenge for my mom was probably memorizing all of the kids names. 23 new names like: Aiyana, Amarrah, Blessings, Mlendo, Tiwonge and Yolanda. She did amazingly well, especially since the girls often were changing their hairstyles which makes getting to know all of them even harder.
Mom, and some of the kids in Sydney's class

They also had the opportunity to do some mission work alongside a team from Berean Baptist church in Burnsville, MN. But more about that in the next blog.

Bike Riding

2008-07-20T05:28:00.000-07:00

One of the advantages to our new house is that we are living in a "concrete jungle." That doesn't sound like an advantage, but when it comes to learning to ride a bike without training wheels, it is a huge help to not have to navigate the uneven terrain of a cobblestone driveway or uneven yard.

My dad went to work while he was here, helping the kids by holding their bikes and running many miles with them, back and forth in our complex. Once Sydney caught on, Sam had to try it too, and now they are both excellent riders. Now, we just have to get some helmets here, because they are getting much too adventurous for my taste.

On a sentimental level, it was so much fun to watch my dad help the kids, because I remember learning the same way myself. And when Mike stepped into help, I'm sure the kids will have fond memories of both their dad and their papa helping them get started on their bikes. Thanks dad!

end-of-the-school-year activites

2008-07-13T04:35:00.000-07:00

I know school has been out for over a month, but I thought I'd share a few pictures from the fun end-of-the-year activities the kids enjoyed. Yes, there are "field trips" in Africa. =)

Sam's class went to the firestation. There is one fire engine for the whole city.

Sam getting his medal at the class Olympics from headmaster, Mr. Wilson

Sam had a pajama day--don't they all look cute, pretending to sleep

Here is Sydney's class, visiting Nando's, a local restaurant, run by one of the students' parents

There was an end of the year awards ceremony. Sydney got great all-around student from her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Pyman

Here are a few of us mom after the awards ceremony.

Baby Jeremiah

2008-07-04T05:22:00.000-07:00

Joyce and Jeremiah arriving home from the hospital

Another big event that has happened is the arrival of Joyce's baby, Jeremiah. Joyce is still working with us, helping me keep a clean house, prepare food and watch the kids--and has become a part of our family. Joyce and Christopher were married last year and we were excited to hear they were expecting. They both have children from previous marriages, so Jeremiah's arrival makes a total of 4 boys in the house. Wow!

Joyce was due in early June. And on the 3rd I picked her up and she looked uncomfortable. She said she was having some pains, but it didn't feel like labor. I was debating whether I should leave her at home and head off to work, when my decision was made for me. Her water broke all over the kitchen floor! It was quite dramatic--and fun for me, since I miss delivering babies and being involved in that special time of life. Anyways, I brought her to the hospital and 2 hours later, Jeremiah arrived.

Joyce is already back to work, which is great for me since the kids finished school and have a break until late August. She brings Jeremiah with her and Sydney loves to help take care of him and hold him. Welcome to the world (and to our family) Jeremiah!

Big brother Titus welcoming Jeremiah home

Has it been 5 months?

2008-06-27T05:14:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure where to start since it's been almost 5 months since I've updated our site. For those of you faithful followers, I sincerely apologize. My excuses include--a busy, but great month long visit with my parents, poor internet connections at home, a broken camera (who wants to just read a blog, everyone wants to see pictures), and laziness. But, thankfully our internet is working today, and I have a few pictures in the archives I can share.

Here's a picture of Sam's teacher, Mrs. Robbins. She left at Easter to go have their first baby and baby Elijah arrived safe and sound at the end of May. Sam has enjoyed school this year, but is happy to be on holiday from now until August. He will be going to kindergarten in the fall.

Sydney and Mike participated in the swim for malaria in April. Sydney was very excited to use her swimming skills to raise money for bed nets, the best protection against malaria. She swam 16 laps and raised about $50 for the cause. We were very proud of her.

And just for fun, here's Sydney's new vintage 70's outfit. She received some hand-me-downs from her cousins and we think she looks quite stylish. Somehow, a cute six-year-old can pull of this look.

Well, that is it for now. But I'll work on some more news soon. Thanks for your patience and prayers.

Back to real life in Malawi

2008-02-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

We are again so grateful for the Spiritual Life conference last month. We returned home supercharged--which was what we needed since many challenges presented themselves in our first days home.

The first is an upcoming move. We have been living in and renting a house from the Baptist Mission of Malawi. We knew when we moved in that if Baptist missionaries arrived and needed the house we would have to move. We kept hoping that wouldn't happen, but we were notified that we needed to move by the end of February. God has been good and provided many options for housing, and we have found a new home that we are excited about it.

Later that week, I had to take an emergency trip to the hospital with our gardener's 2 year-old daughter. We drove the 40 minutes out to her house over horrible roads (this translates into a 2 hour bike ride for him, each way, every day). She had a seizure on the way to the hospital. Thankfully, because of our orientation at the hospital, I was able to help navigate the system a bit and she received the work-up she needed quickly and started receiving medications for presumed cerebral malaria in a very short time. Thankfully, she recovered quickly and is doing well.

A few days later we were notified that our neighbor's houseworker had been charged with witchcraft. Agnes is one of the most wonderful ladies I have met here in Malawi. She is a committed Christian and very involved in her church and she was a big help to us when we first moved here. However, there seems to be some jealous neighbors who invented a story that she was teaching withcraft to the neighborhood kids. This is an actual criminal charge and the police came and took her to jail. She was released within the day pending further investigation, but needless to say, the charges have disrupted their lives dramatically--the kids are getting picked on at school and Agnes didn't even feel safe in their home for the week following her release from jail. Witchcraft is apparently widely practiced here in Malawi, and is often under the surface of many social structures, even many churches. Even as I write this, it seems a bit crazy from my American viewpoint, but it is life here in Malawi. Please pray for Agnes, that justice would be done, and that this lie would be shown for what it is.

On a lighter note, Sydney lost her first tooth today! She's very excited for the tooth fairy to come. I'm not sure if the tooth fairy pays in US dollars or Malawian kwacha?!?

HCJB Spiritual Life Conference

2008-02-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

The HCJB Global Sub-Saharan Africa Team

It's already been a month since we returned from a spiritual life conference with our fellow HCJB Missionaries in Sub-saharan Africa. There is one family and 2 singles working in radio in Ghana, us and Jessica McMillan working in healthcare in Malawi, and another missionary working in Cape Town. We were very happy to rondevouz in Cape Town, South Africa--probably one of the most beautiful cities in the world!
Sydney on the beach
It was a wonderful time of spiritual refreshment, and physical relaxation. Former HCJB president, Ron Cline, was in Cape Town filling in as pastor of a local church for 3 months--so he led the spiritual part of the conference. It came at such a great time for Mike and I, as the one-year mark in Malawi was a tough one for us. We kind of "hit the wall" as far as culture shock, and the "routine" of life sort of set in, sometimes making us wonder what we got ourselves into. So this week of refocus, and refreshment was perfectly timed--and we returned to Malawi with a new sense of purpose and vision.
We also got to see a side of Cape Town that most visitors don't get to see. We were able to tour many of the ministries of the local church with which HCJB initially partnered to start a Christian Radio Station. In addition to the radio station, they have many outreaches into the townships of Cape Town, and have a state-of-the-art hospice center for people suffering from late-stage AIDS and Tuberculosis.

Mike on the air, talking about HCJB Global work in Malawi
The kids highlight of the trip was getting to eat at McDonalds and play in the play-land. The McDonalds was conveniently located across the street from the church.
Sam on the beach
We so appreciate all of your support, encouragement and prayers over the last year. We know we cannot do this work out of our own strength. We are so thankful we serve a God who cares for us and provides us the strength we need.
Philippians 4:13

Partners in Hope Christmas Party

2008-01-14T11:33:00.000-08:00

John Hamilton playing Santa

Sydney and mom

Hi everyone. I know Christmas was already 2, no 3!! weeks ago. But I wanted to share some fun pictures of our Partners in Hope Christmas Party. It was a great time to hang out with the staff and their families. No party is complete in Malawi without a D.J-so Chawezi, one of our counselours, stepped right in and got the party going.

Remember Chisomo, one of the interpreters? She recently married Edward, a cleaner at PIH and they are enjoying newlywed bliss

The party happened to be on December 22nd, Mike's birthday. So the staff made sure he was sufficiently embarassed by having everyone sing to him while he stood on "stage."

We (especially Sam) also introduced our friends to WashU. A lawn game that we have become addicted to, thanks to our Wisconsin friends, and now the PIH staff is hooked as well.
We all had a wonderful time (there's nothing like an outdoor BBQ on Dec 22nd), and thankfully it didn't rain since we are in the midst of a very rainy, rainy season.

what have we been up to?

2007-12-19T03:52:00.000-08:00

So here's a quick update in pics of what we have been doing for the last 2 months. Sorry for the delay--has anyone else been busy this holiday season?

In addition to finishing our "orientation" at the central hospital and returning back to work at Partners in Hope (Praise the Lord!), we have been:

Celebrating Sydney's 6th Birthday

Doing a lot of swimming -it's hot! This was Thanksgiving Day

Celebrating "International Day" at the kids school--everyone dressed in their national costume (for us red, white, and blue) and brought yummy food from their country of origin

We attended the National Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship meeting in November--this is the sister group to CMDF in the states (the student group where Mike and I met)--it was a great time of teaching and fellowship with the clinical medicine students here in Malawi

Drive through town

2007-10-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

Just going for a Sunday drive

Driving down the left side of the street. Notice the pedestrians and bikes on the right--it is surprisingly open on the left today

the mosque in Old Town

I've been wanting to take a video camera with me in the car when we drive to work at PIH. It is quite an experience as we pass through one of the most congested areas of town, affectionately known as Old Town or Indian Town, referring to the number of stores owned by those of Asian descent. It is also where the main market is and at least 2 mosques--from both of which we can hear the call to prayer at 4:30 in the morning at our house. The streets are always congested with people, bikes and cars so it took me a long time to have the courage to navigate the streets. Unfortunately, I'm sure the video wouldn't catch it all, and I know our computer is too slow to download a video, so you'll have to settle for still shots. You can add in the sounds, smells, and tons more people in your own imaginations. Sorry the pics aren't that great, I took them out the window while Mike was driving.

One of the many shopping plazas

The market where you can buy almost anything, if you're willing to look

Pediatrics rotation

2007-10-14T04:33:00.000-07:00

Mike and I have continued on in our "orientation" at the Central Hospital. We just finished our pediatrics rotation which was very interesting, and at times very sad. When we did our pediatrics rotations in the states, it was VERY unusual if a child died, yet here, it is common. Every morning we would sit in report, where the clinical officer students would share how many admissions, discharges, transfers, and deaths had occurred in the past 24 hours. There were always 1 or 2 deaths, and one night there were 8!

Most of the deaths are due to severe pneumonia, malaria, meningitis (infection in the brain), and dehydration. Some of the children are HIV-reactive, so severe infection is likely as their immune system is depressed. But many of the children are not HIV-reactive--but they die anyways. Intubation and ventilation (helping someone breathe through a tube) for an extended period of time is not possible, so if there is severe respiratory problems all we can do is give oxygen and antibiotics. We don't see the severe pneumonia and meningitis too often in the US because we are able to immunize against the most common bacterial causes of these diseases--but those immunizations are not available here for most of the population. And deaths from dehydration often happen because children are brought in too late--either from lack of knowledge about the disease, or difficulty in transport, or other factors that prevent early treatment.
All of this was quite difficult to see--and I still haven't quite figured out how families cope with the deaths of their children. We are still learning about many of the ideas, values and traditions around death. But it breaks my heart.
I wish I had some pictures, but it felt very awkward to bring a camera into the wards and photograph the very sick kids. We'll save pictures for our next update. Please continue to pray for us as we continue our orientation--our next rotations will be surgery and obstetrics.

HCJB Global in Malawi

2007-10-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

Sheila and Jessica at the top of Bunda Mountain

Last month we had a very encouraging visit from Sheila Leech, the International Health Care Director for HCJB Global (our sending mission agency). Sheila is a nurse by trade, originally from the UK so she fits quite well her in Malawi with all of the British influence from its past days as a colony (or protectorate, you know what I mean). She has been in Ecuador for 25+years, much of that with HCJB World Radio. She came to check in with us, encourage us, and fill us in on the happening of HCJB around the world. We had a very good time together.

We of course had to take Sheila hiking up Bunda Mountain with the family and our other HCJB'er in Malawi, Jessica McMillan. Jessica is also a nurse who arrived her in February of this year and after her first few months of language, and a month-long orientation at the Central Hospital she is now working at Partners in Hope, specifically helping coordinate the outreach clinics. Getting ARV's (antiretrovirals) out of the big cities and available to the people in rural Malawi is a big challenge and an even bigger need. So PIH is seeking sites outside of Lilongwe proper to help come alongside a local clinic and care for the HIV-positive patients in the area. It's a slow process, but one clinic has started and another is due to start in the month, which is very exciting! We look forward to getting back to PIH after we finish our orientation at the Central Hospital.

Chapel time

2007-10-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

The kids walking to chapel. Sam's class had to have a "walk-off" competition with the other reception class to practice following in a line. Apparently students were getting left behind as they were so easily distracted by anything else around them.

The kids are enjoying school--although just this week Sam decided he wasn't going to PE. =) We never quite know with Sam. But up until then, they had been loving their classes. They both have wonderful teachers. Sydney has a veteran teacher from Zimbabwe and Sam has a rookie who just moved from the States--but they are both absolutely wonderful. Although having both of them in school has been a test of our organizational skills. Trying to remember which days they need to wear which uniform, bring back library books, bring suits and towels (of course all of these are different days for each of them), and never forgetting a snack and homework has been a challenge.

I thought you might enjoy a few pictures of the kids on a typical Friday. The Reception through 1st grade classes meet for chapel on Friday mornings. These pictures show Sam with his face painted from a fun carnival party in his class and Sydney is dressed as a sheep because her class did a little skit about Jesus' parable of the lost sheep. They also sing songs and awards are given out for accomplishments in swimming as well as character awards. The parents get to come and watch so I've been thankful to get my work done at the hospital early so that I can attend these times fairly regularly. We'll let you know how Sam does on the PE thing next week.

Orientation

2007-09-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

Mike with one of the clinical officer students, Wyson, discussing a patient on the medical wards.

We have completed 3 weeks of our required orientation at Kamuzu Central Hospital. This last week was a bit of a change as the clinical officer students started their rotation in Internal Medicine, so we had some opportunity to be teachers (although we still feel like students--learning the system and the medicine/culture of Malawi). The Clinical officers are the back bone of the health system in Malawi. Their training is 3 years long starting right after high school. Most of their training is "hands-on" and when they finish their training they are trained in clinical medicine as well as many surgeries--such as C-sections, hysterectomys, appendectomys, and more. We hope to be more involved in the training of the health providers in Malawi in some capacity at Partners in Hope.

The "konde"--this is the balcony which was made for the patients guardians, but most days is occupied by patients. Fortunately we are in the dry season, but during the rainy season apparently this area gets very soggy as the "wall" to the right is open to the outside.

Looking out the window on the 2nd floor you can see the where the patients guardians stay while caring for the patients. Most of them sleep outside. The guardians provide daily care and food for the patients. The hospital provides a porridge and sometimes a piece of fruit daily (I think), but not enough, so the guardians either prepare food or buy it and bring it to the patients.

Jacaranda

2007-09-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

We've gotten in the habit of going on a "family walk" on Sunday mornings before church. We are up by 6 and church doesn't start until 9:30, so we have plenty of time to take a walk around the block. It is also hopefully helping train the kids for our future climb up Mt. Mulanje (the highest point in Malawi).

It's a beautiful walk in the morning as the streets are quiet and the trees and flowers are starting to bloom. The jacaranda trees are just coming into blossom and they are a beautiful purple. We have started a game in the car like "pididdle"--the game in which you call out pididdle when you see a car with a headlight out. The Malawi version is "jacaranda"---so you hear Sydney and Sam screaming "Jacaranda" over and over while we drive around town and see all the trees in bloom.

We hope you enjoy the pictures (even though they are a bit fuzzy--our camera is acting up)

Kamuzu Central Hospital

2007-09-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture from my previous village visit of a boy drinking juice out of a bag--a homemade juice box. =)

We may have shared with some of you that the Medical Council of Malawi has asked us to do an "orientation" at the central hospital here in Lilongwe in order to receive our license for practicing medicine in Malawi. They have allowed us to practice at Partners in Hope over the summer because of staffing issues, with the intention of starting our orientation in September. And although it's hard to believe, September is here.

So we started our work yesterday. Our first month will be spent on the medicine wards. And despite our knowledge of medicine in Malawi, it was quite shocking! I wish I was a writer so I could paint some word pictures for you. But it definitely overwhelms the senses. The wards are packed with people--all of the many patients have guardians there to care for them, gather their meds from the nurse, and provide them with food. The patients are extremely sick. And the wards are quite short-staffed. There is constant noise from the din of people as well as the constant wailing and mourning going on for the patients who have died. Thankfully it's not too hot yet and it's not diarrhea season, so the smells weren't too bad. In fact you can smell the porridge and nsima being cooked for the patients.

Today we saw patients in the female wards. The patients are separated into a diarrhea ward, a pneumonia/tuberculosis ward, and a meningitis ward. You don't see this in the states--usually it's the cardiac ward and everything else. Two of the patients we saw this morning died by the afternoon. Both of which had meningitis. Although the majority of the patients have HIV, there are many who do not, and yet they are still quite ill. In just two days we have reached a new level of frustration over the lack of resources for these patients.

Please pray for us during these next few months as we continue this orientation:

Pray that we will continue to learn the medicine in Malawi
Pray that we might be able to demonstrate the compassion and love of Christ to patients and staff despite the difficult work environment
Pray that we might make connections with the staff there that might help provide continuity of care for our patients at PIH that need to be hospitalized
Pray for the staff at PIH while we are away as they will be quite busy with the growing demands of patients.

Thank you for praying!

On a lighter note, here's a picture of Sydney and Sam in their uniforms for school.

Women's conference

2007-09-01T05:41:00.000-07:00

I was invited by one of my Bible Study to friends to teach at a local women's conference about HIV/AIDS. Lorrie and her husband come alongside local churches around the Lilongwe area to encourage them and help train and teach when needed. Lorrie and her family spend most Sundays at one of the village churches worshipping together and getting to know the different congregations.

So Lorrie, myself and Sara (another friend who is a dietician) left Friday morning and drove about an hour out of Lilongwe to speak at the womens conference. We had interpreters go with us who had lived in the area, which was great because the dirt roads are not marked and it was a bit of a maze to find. We passed many women walking, or riding on the back of bicycle taxis to get to the conference. Many of the women traveled a full days walk to come to the conference.

We met in a large brick building. The conference opened with wonderful worship songs. And then a choir from 5 different churches presented a song. All of the songs were in Chichewa and fully choreographed. I wish I had video for you because it was an awesome experience.

Sara shared about nutrition using the Malawi food guide as a reference. In short, she encouraged consuming and growing a variety of foods--fruits, veggies, legumes--for all of their different nutritional values. All of which can complement the nsima (maize) which is the staple food.

I shared about the basics of HIV--what it is, how you can get and transmit the virus, also a bit about how anti-retrovirals work to maintain health. I was hoping to encourage discussion about HIV amongst the women, and testing for them to know their status. Unfortunately for this village, the closest VCT (voluntary counseling and testing) center is about an hours walk away. And the medications are only available at a hospital a half-days walk away.

I asked a lady to come up and show me how to tie my chitenje--we got some laughs

Access to care is a very difficult issue in Malawi. (I am excited that Partners in Hope is involved in starting 3 new outreach sites beyond the immediate Lilongwe area to help with this problem) But even more difficult were the questions the women asked--many of which pertained to their lack of power in regards to their own health. It is very common for men to have partners outside of marriage, contract the virus, and bring it back to their wife. And often men will refuse to wear condoms which would help protect their wife.

These questions do not have easy answers, and I certainly didn't have any quick answers that day. But alongside the women "elders" at the conference we prayed for these specific women and for women in general to continue to seek the Lord for wisdom, patience and love in these situations. Please join me in praying for the social structures and cultural expectations of women to change in Malawi--that they might have more of a say in their lives.

What did you say?

2007-08-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

Chisomo and Mike in an exam room

Well, I made the employees at Partners in Hope laugh a lot today. I brought my camera to prove to you all that we are not just on vacation here in Malawi. I was trying to get pictures of many of the staff, so over time you may see some pictures of the familiar faces at PIH.

Everyone was gracious when asked to take their picture--and then they would laugh when they saw the picture on the viewer of the camera. Most of our employees don't have cameras, so this is a bit unusual. But try as I might, many would not smile for the picture. Of course afterwards again, they were all smiles--so imagine some of the serious faces with big smiles.

We are so blessed by the staff at the clinic. The first two people we want you to meet are the most important to Mike and I--our interpreters, Chisomo (means grace) and Ivy. They allow us to communicate effectively with our patients and are very patient with us when we are using our Chichewa. They also are very knowledgeable about HIV since they have been working at the clinic for some time and often are our on-the-spot patient educators. Encouraging proper taking of medicine, explaining why someone needs to take Bactrim to prevent infection, explaining their CD4 results (a blood test to see how strong the immune system is), and much more. They also give us great insight into the cultural differences in Malawi as well. They are invaluable.

Ivy and Heather in Moyo clinic

Thankfulness

2007-08-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

We have so much to be thankful for and we give thanks to God for:

10 years of marriage

Sam and Sydney

Our wonderful friends and family, We love you and miss you!

The Price is Right

2007-08-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

So I thought some of you might be curious about the cost of living here in Malawi--
We have been extremely surprised at how expensive things are here. Especially when the majority of the population live on less than $2 per day. Take food for example, here are some of the prices

Gallon of Milk $7
Half-gallon ice cream $6
Box of Cereal $6
Loaf of bread $0.30
Bananas-15 $1.25
Pineapple $1
1 lb. hamburger $3

Jar of salsa $6

So how do the locals do it? They don't eat a western diet. They usually eat Nsima 2 times daily with a "relish" or ndiwo of greens and when able, small dried fish or meat. Not a lot of variety.

We have been thankful for grocery stores that are quite well stocked, like Shoprite (above pic). However, sometimes they run out of things, right now it's fatfree milk, and they don't have it for weeks or even months. When I ask when they will receive the next shipment, it's always, "come back Thursday." Well I've checked back the last 3 Thursdays, and no luck. But I'll have to try again this Thursday. It's a little annoying, but I certainly can't complain.

Bottom pic: Shopping for "curios-- wooden carvings, paintings, etc. outside the post office.

Independence Day

2007-07-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone and Happy Belated 4th of July! We have been without internet much of the last few weeks and we realize how spoiled we were to have working internet in our house when we arrived last November. These last few weeks when it was out we were too lazy to go find some other internet connection at a cafe or even at work, so we just waited for it to start working again at home. So it's working, at least for now.

We have much to update you about as we have successfully completed our first 3 weeks of work at Partners in Hope. However, I don't have any pictures from work, so I'll save more of those stories for another time. Needless to say, we both have been hit in the face by how "real" HIV and poverty is now that we are working in the clinic. It is very challenging and very sad to see. We are happy to be doing our little part in the fight against AIDS and we thank you for your partnership, encouragement and support as we carry out this work.

On a lighter note, we celebrated American Independence on the 30th of June at the American Ambassador's house--we had a big BBQ with the other Americans in Malawi--the majority of which were the Peace Corps Volunteers. It was a fun afternoon of food, games and music. The kids even got in the fun with the limbo and face (or what turned into body) painting.

The 6th of July was Freedom day here in Malawi--another national holiday and we took advantage of the day off by hiking a nearby mountain, or "inselberg"--essentially a big rock that sticks up out of nowhere. The kids can even make the hike which is good training for some bigger mountains Mike would like to climb as a family in the future....maybe Kilimanjaro? We'll see.

Zomba

2007-06-15T11:53:00.001-07:00

Tobacco fields between Blantyre and Zomba A church in Zomba with the plateau in the background

We have finished our tropical medicine training in Blantyre and look forward to starting work at the clinic on Monday. Mike will be working full time and I will be working in the morning 3-4 days a week

Kids feeding trout Sam after falling in the mud

We have some pictures to share of our trip back to Lilongwe from Blantyre. We took the scenic route through the Zomba Plateau. It was a beautiful wooded and mountainous area. We stopped at a trout farm and fed the fish. As you can see, Sam got a bit close and ended up falling in the mud. Then we had lunch at a hotel at the top of the plateau. It had gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains and villages. We were itching to hike but didn't have time. We were able to buy strawberries and raspberries up on the mountain as well. We loved it. Mike and I both think it's the most beautiful part of Malawi we've seen thus far.

The beautiful gardens at the hotel

Graduation

2007-06-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

Syd waiting for the award ceremony Sydney and Mrs. G

Here are some pictures from Sydney and Sam's "graduations" this year. Sydney finished Reception--a sort of Pre-K (although in the British system it is actually Kindergarten), and she will be starting Kindergarten in the fall. She loves school and her teacher Mrs. G who came from the states to teach for a year. They had an award ceremony the last week of school and Sydney received an award for being self-controlled, giving and considerate. She's very proud of it, as are we.

Sam will be finishing preschool this week and will start reception in the fall. The "graduating class" put on a little show for the parents--singing and acting out many nursery rhyme songs. Here they are singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. (Sam is in the middle of the back row with the blue shirt) For a kid who loves to sing at home, this waving of stars was the most involved he was in the program. The rest of the time he was too shy or too distracted to sing. Oh well. It was fun anyways.

Now, Mike and I have to come up with some creative ways to keep the kids busy this summer as we start work on Monday. They are going to miss school and we'll miss having them at school =)

Learning

2007-06-08T23:22:00.000-07:00

Mike in front of the hospital

As we mentioned previously, Mike and I are taking a Tropical Medicine in Practice Course (TMIP) at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre this month. It is a practical extension of the 3-month Tropical Medicine course in Liverpool, England. There are about 16 students--most of them from the UK. Some of them just finished the course at Liverpool and are at the beginning of their careers with hopes to someday work abroad, and others are just finishing their careers as neurologists, surgeons, hematologists and are wanting to do something different in retirement. And then there is Mike and I who are just trying to get a grasp of medicine in Malawi.

The medical department in morning report

It's been a great course with good didactic teaching and great practical experience. The staff here are also involved in teaching the medical students, so the schedule reminds us a lot of our medical school days with morning reports, ward rounds and case presentations. And a lot of pimping of the medical students--it brings back memories.

There is some talk of starting a medical school "campus-extension" in Lilongwe. The medical school is growing from 8 students to 30 and now to 60 a year and there is a need for more places for the students to get their practical training. It's possible that Partners in Hope would be part of this extension which would be quite exciting for us. We would like to be a part of training future doctors and health care providers for Malawi.

Some of the other TMIP students seeing patients on the wards

Where does the time go?

2007-06-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, it has been a month since our last posting. I apologize for the lack of communication on our part. But I do have some excuses. Shortly after our last posting, Sam got a fever and abdominal pain. 3 days later he was getting worse and we didn't know what was going on so we took him into the doctor. We were quite concerned at the time of possible surgical problems or rare tropical diseases and wondered if we would be heading to South Africa for some further care. But after a day of going to 2 different doctors and the Central Hospital for an ultrasound and x-ray, we finally had a diagnoses. Pneumonia! Thankfully nothing too unusual. But it did take him 4 or 5 more days to break the fever and the better part of 2 weeks to get back to normal--so we were sort of preoccupied.

In the meantime we were getting ready to move our family for the month to Blantyre, another city 4 hours south of Lilongwe. Mike and I are doing a tropical medicine training there. We unfortunately don't have reliable internet access there. So right now, we are halfway through the month and I am taking advantage of a weekend home in Lilongwe to use our computer and internet connection. We will tell you more about the course in a future blog.

For now, here's some pictures of the family. Last weekend Mike and I had the opportunity to play in a tennis tournament. We found ourselves playing against 17 year old Malawians that train every day. And since we haven't played more than 4 times in the last year we were a bit out of our league. But it was a fun opportunity. As you can see, Sam is looking happy and healthy. And we enjoyed the weekend with the Harthoorns.

Oh, and I almost forgot. We had to say good-bye to the Jansens last month as well. They are back in the states for the year to reconnect with family, friends and supporters. We miss them already.

Madonna!

2007-05-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

No, we haven't met her. But thanks to Madonna and her adoption, everyone knows where Malawi is on a map. Little did we know when we visited Kindle Orphan Outreach last week, Madonna had visited there the week previous. When we were getting back in the car, it was pointed out that she had planted a tree in front of the new clinic. We hadn't seen it when we parked as it's quite small and looks like the other brush in front of the clinic. It turns out Mike had parked about 2 feet away from the tree. Mike could have easily made the name for himself as "the guy who drove over Madonna's tree" if he had pulled up a little further. As you can tell from the picture the local officials are quite proud of the new tree.

HCJB Global in Malawi

2007-04-27T23:22:00.000-07:00

The HCJB contingent at the lake (Elizabeth, Jessica, Jerry, Mike and me)

We have had a wonderful opportunity to host the Koleski's here in Malawi. It's still a bit weird to be the tour guides here since we still feel quite new. Jerry and Elizabeth currently work in Shell, Ecuador with HCJB Global but are exploring opportunities for them once their children are past 8th grade (the last grade in the local mission school). We were able to show off the lake and have lunch together with Jessica (a grand total of 5 HCJB employees in Malawi! ). We then stopped at Kindle Orphan outreach program. This is a program that has affiliations with HCJB Global that provides very needed orphan care in the medical, education, and community development arenas. Their program has expanded greatly in its 4 years of work and they are showing God's love through their love and deeds for children and families in great need.

Andrew Barr (founder of Kindle) gives us a tour

Berean Baptist

2007-04-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

People waiting for clinic

One of our patients

As I mentioned, there is a short-term team visiting from Berean Baptist church in Burnsville, MN. They have been a big encouragement to us and we (Mike and I) have been fortunate to join them in their medical clinics a few times this week. It was a good opportunity to practice medicine and practice our Chichewa, but I must admit it was a bit overwhelming as well. There were about 400 patients waiting for us when we arrived. I don't think we saw them all but it was a busy day. I was fortunate to have Diana work with me as an interpreter. She is a surgical nurse at the Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe. She was fabulous--not only with her interpreting but also with patient rapport and honest discussion about needing testing for HIV and other difficult issues. It was sad to hear so many patients' stories of deaths in their families. One 12 year old HIV-positive girl had lost both her parents and was now living with her grandmother. She came alone to the clinic to be seen for a cough and otherwise was quite healthy. But she started crying when talking about her parents and she was scared for her own future. Diana was wonderful with her, able to listen and encourage her, and give her hope for her future with HIV medicines and with Christ.
Diana and me after a busy day

"Jiggling"

2007-04-16T04:50:00.000-07:00

Sam wants to learn how to "jiggle" he informed us this morning. We assume he means juggle since he asked to have three balls to play with. But from now on it may be "jiggling" in our house since it cracks us up.

We were able to welcome a team from MN yesterday--Berean Baptist Church has sent 20 people to work with World Relief here in Malawi in health care and pastoral care and counseling. We were able to worship with the group at our church and then take them to Partners in Hope for lunch and a tour. Since we haven't officially started working it was a little strange to be the tour guides, but we enjoyed sharing the history and future vision of PIH with the group. We were also blessed by them with gifts for our family (including the 3 balls that prompted Sam to learn "jiggling") and with their presence. Mike plans on joining them tomorrow in their outreach clinic so we will have to give an update.

The kids are back in school after a 2 week Easter break. And my parents had safe travels back to the states last week. We miss their presence--especially the kids because they were constant playmates and companions for them during the last month. Their visit prompted us to get a guest room ready, so it's open for any visitors. (hint, hint)

FINALLY!

2007-03-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a milestone last week. With our kids safely looked after by my parents Mike and I went to work at Partners in Hope 2 days last week. Our first day was so encouraging. We are actually shadowing the docs that are working to learn the medicine and practice our Chichewa. It was exciting to be back in the medical world again as our 5 months of language training have used a different area of our brain and we were feeling like our medical knowledge was slowly leaking out. But we were encouraged to be talking to and examining patients again, and although we are both a bit rusty and the medicine is very different (HIV and tropical diseases) it also felt very comfortable.
Our second day was a little different. The patients that day seemed to have much more complicated problems and I was following one of our Native Malawian clinical officers (they function like an MD) who also spoke very native, very fast Chichewa. We were both a bit overwhelmed and discouraged since we have spent the last few months studying language and it was hard to catch a word edgewise. So please pray for perseverance as we continue our medical training and language lessons. We still have much to learn before we will be able to function independently in the clinic. Yet we know that God will be faithful to see us through, just as he has done time and time again since we embarked on this adventure. Thank you for your prayers.

Visitors!

2007-03-22T04:52:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. We are still alive and well in Malawi. In fact we are doing even better now that Heather's parents made it safely for a visit. They arrived last week and will be staying until just after Easter. We have been looking forward to their visit since our arrival and it's hard to believe that they are here. We've enjoyed showing them around Lilongwe and they have been huge helps to us already--watching the kids, helping us with small projects around the house, building a wash-u game for our enjoyment (there will be more about this game in a future blog). And I'm sure we will have more pictures to post now that Nana is here.

We took a family excursion to Mount Dedza just before my parents arrived. We were able to drive up the mountain quite a ways and the kids hiked for about 20 minutes to our picnic spot. We are starting to take some regular family walks together to increase the kids' endurance as we have our sights set on a hike up Mt. Mulanje (the highest point in Malawi) sometime during our time here in Malawi.

Mount Dedza

Waiting at the airport

for Nana and Papa

play time

2007-02-17T21:45:00.000-08:00

Sydney and Sam have started playing with Joyce's kids. She has 2 boys (Emmanuel-6 and Titus-4), and she also cares for her cousin Elizabeth-11) They have taught Sydney how to play a game called "pada" which is a lot like hopscotch. They have also showed Sydney how to hold her babies tied to her back. This is how most Malawian women carry their babies while they are working.

Emmanuel, Elizabeth and Sydney

Rain, rain go away

2007-02-04T03:42:00.000-08:00

It's raining again today. It's so strange to live in a place that has a rainy season. They weren't kidding!! In November when the rains came there had not been even a drop of rain since the previous March. In November it rained every few days. Now it rains every day--and usually when it rains it rains hard!! At first the rain was such a blessing--crops started growing, everything turned green.
Now it seems the crops are getting flooded out, and there are puddles amidst the green grass. Joyce said all the rain was causing the crops to go bad and therefore food is more expensive at the market. Thankfully for me a 10 Kwacha increase (about $0.08) for 3 tomatoes doesn't affect me--but for most Malawians, including Joyce, this tightens the budget considerably.
But with all the rain, I haven't been taking my camera many places to avoid it getting wet and therefore I don't have new pictures of our new home.
We did have one day without rain this weekend. It was so odd to see the sun all day and of course it got hot and steamy quite quickly. So after complaining about the rain for so long, I immediately started complaining about the heat. So much for, " I have learned to be content in all circumstances." I'm working on it.

Tidbits

2007-02-04T03:28:00.000-08:00

Yes, we are still here. Life has become a bit busier again now that the kids are back in school. Those mornings are such a gift to us as we have been able to focus on our language learning again. Some days we seem to be making good progress and actually are able to carry on a conversation with Joyce and other days we can't seem to string two words together or understand even one word from a native speaker's mouth. But we press on.

On a lighter note, we've had some funny moments here that remind us, we are not in Minnesota anymore.

The kids love to pretend they are Malawian--they balance something on their heads and tie a baby to their backs. This is a very common site here. Sometimes we see 8 and 9 year old girls with babies tied to their backs, walking down the streets. I'll have to get a picture to show you.

The kids were playing house the other day and I overheard Sydney say she was going to South Africa to get married. Prior to our move here she had probably never heard about South Africa, but in the expat community that is where people go for vacation, for certain medical care, for shopping... But I guess Sydney's getting married there---now I'm not sure who the husband will be....

Lastly, at our church Capital City Baptist Church (CCBC), there was a church-wide letter that needed to be distributed. The church is quite unique in that it is a mix of nationalities--Western European, Malawian, and many other African Countries. There were tables to pick up your letter and I'm used to there being a split somewhere in the middle of the alphabet, so last names that start with A-M are at one table and N-Z at another. At our church, all the surnames that started with M were at one table and everyone else was at another. Funny!

Mount Nkhoma

2007-01-17T06:04:00.000-08:00

We attempted our first hike as a family.

Fortunately we got back just before the rains came.

It is beautifully green from all of the rain.

Nkhoma is located about 15 miles south of Lilongwe.

It was a fun adventure!

Humble pie

2007-01-17T05:47:00.000-08:00

I don't know if I was getting too proud of my accomplishments--driving and shopping by myself. But in case I was too prideful, I had a good taste of humble pie the other day.

I took the kids to the store and just as we were checking out it started raining. The torrential rains that hit hard and are so loud on the tin roofs that you can't hear yourself think. We waited under the eaves of the store for about 25 minutes with about 20 other shoppers--while Sam splashed in the puddles and proceeded to get quite wet. Finally, the kids were crazy waiting and the rain let up just enough that the kids could actually hear me; so we decided to make a run for it to the car. Sam took off into the parking lot and I tried to follow down the ramp with my broken cart. The cart hit a big hole in the sidewalk and tipped over---all of our groceries spilled out into the wet parking lot--and we got soaked attempting to pick everything up. Fortunately the only casualty was 3 bottles of pop and one of the many people witnessing the mess, actually stood in the rain himself and helped us pick up.

Although I was quite embarassed when it happened--it now makes me laugh because we must have looked so ridiculous--3 uzungus (white people) picking up groceries in the pouring rain. The moral of the story: Don't forget your umbrella!!

Mmmm--Nsima!!!

2007-01-11T11:04:00.000-08:00

Sydney loves Nsima! Joyce made us dinner the other night. Nsima is a corn based flour that is made into play-doh consistency and dipped in a sauce or relish of some kind (ndiwo)--we tried beans. Both of the kids loved it--maybe because you can use your hands to roll the nsima into balls and dip it.

We've had another full week of new adventures. We are praising God for many blessings--we received many Christmas cards and even a few packages this week from many of you. It is so good to hear from you and we thank you for our prayers and encouraging words!

I(Heather) feel like I accomplished something huge this week--I made a trip to the grocery store by myself. "What's the big deal?" you ask. Well, I've been quite fearful of driving--especially in the congested areas--such as where the grocery store is. But practice makes perfect--so now that I have had one uneventful trip, I'll have to just keep practicing.

Mike has become quite a handyman around the house--he's had to since things seem to break quite easily here. But in this picture Mike was spraying for mosquitoes.

We made a trip to the local market in search of a shoe-repairman. Sydney's favorite flipflops broke. We would have just thrown them away as our attempt to staple the toe piece back down was unsuccessful. But on Joyce's suggestion we brought them to the market. A very busy place and a bit overwhelming. But we found the man and he fixed the shoe in about 3 minutes--for 50 kwacha (about 40 cents). What a deal--and Sydney was so excited to have her favorite shoes again!
Many of these encouraging events happened on the same day--and after a language lesson that made us feel like we are really learning some Chichewa! God was pouring out the blessings. We realized that it is so much easier to praise God when our circumstances are so positive.
But a week ago we were struggling to find joy amidst some tough circumstances. Our dog, Anna, died last week. She started acting sick on Wednesday--lying around and not eating and she died early Friday morning. We buried her in our back yard after a short funeral. We're not sure what happened, but some of our friends wonder if she ate a poisonous frog or other animal. It's possible since she was still a puppy and she ate anything and everything. We are glad we still have Joshua--the german shepherd. But we do miss Anna.
Death is so common here in Malawi. I probably had the most difficulty saying good-bye to Anna and she was just our dog that we had known for only a few months. But everyday people are losing loved ones here. It's so much more of a part of life. I'm not sure I will ever get used to that when we start taking care of patients in the clinic.

work and language

2007-01-02T11:02:00.000-08:00

In case you were wondering we haven't only been going to parties and visiting the lake this last month. (Contrary to the reports in our last post) We have continued in our Chichewa lessons. Joyce (in picture) has been a great help to us as she really encourages us to speak Chichewa, even when it takes FOREVER for us to find the right words. She is amazingly patient.

We (the whole family) also had the opportunity to visit a village right here in Lilongwe where Children of the Nations runs a feeding program for orphans and other needy children. Here I am attempting to use my Chichewa to talk with the kids. It turns out that I still have some studying to do. But we were able to sing a Malawian Christmas song together--in Chichewa! Sydney and Sam love the song and sing it all the time.
Sydney and I also had the opportunity to go to the local hospital's malnutrition ward with a ministry of our local church. We were able to distribute Christmas gifts and food to the patients and their families there. The wards were very crowded and understaffed. And as Sydney would testify, very hot! The nurses were working so hard but it seemed like an overwhelming task to meet the needs of all of the patients. It gave me the itch to get to work. Mike and I have struggled to not feel guilty that we are not "working" yet, while we study language. But we know that without investing the time and learning the language of the Malawians, we will always struggle in ministry and understanding. So please pray for diligence and patience as we continue our language learning.

Happy New Year

2007-01-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Sorry about the long break in communication. The month of December got away from us--I wasn't expecting such a busy Christmas season. But with the kids off of school most of the month it doesn't take much. We were blessed to celebrate the holidays in some new and some familiar ways.

We were able to decorate for Christmas. The kids were excited to hang their stockings and even decorate a small Christmas tree. I appreciated having some of the familiar sights and musical sounds of Christmas since we were celebrating in very unfamiliar 90 degree weather

The hot weather brought us another opportunity to go to the lake. It's hard to beat swimming and playing in the sand in December. Sam got to use his cool sunglasses.

Here we are caroling at the American Ambassador's home. We told Mike that the party was all for his birthday, but it was really the annual American Christmas party.

We had some fun family time--giving gifts, opening stockings, and playing games. Sydney has become a puzzle whiz (and she is enjoying her new princess puzzle) and we enjoy family games of UNO daily.

We were blessed to be surrounded by so many people and events to celebrate Christmas. We were missing our families but were able to speak with all of them through the computer over the holidays. And for free!! Thank you for your prayers and God bless you and your families in 2007!

Silver bells

2006-12-12T08:49:00.000-08:00

We are gearing up for Christmas here. But it takes on a little different flavor in Malawi. The only commercial signs of Christmas are at the local grocery store where the checkout people are wearing Santa's hats and reindeer antlers. We have heard that there is a different holiday activity in Malawi in December--- more crime. Some stealing when they know many are away on vacation (schools take a 3-4 week break). We fortunately are not going anywhere and we feel quite safe in our house and the wall that had come down has been rebuilt.
On the advice of other missionaries here, we packed some Christmas decorations for our house. We played some Christmas carols and put up lights and a hand-me-down tree today during a big rain storm. We even were able to get together with friends to sing carols (no need for bundling up to carol outside here)
Even though we are in a very different place than previous Christmases, the songs of Christmas made the season come alive and reminded us that Jesus' arrival to earth was for everyone everywhere.
Sydney's school had a Christmas program last week. I can't believe our daughter is old enough to be in a school program--but it was very special. Very worshipful songs, some kids shared what Jesus means to them which was quite sweet and poignant as many of the students at ABC Christian Academy are not Christians. The kids who shared their testimony were quite a witness.
The last song they sang has been stuck in my head since then. I love the words:

And we all bow down

Kings will surrender their crowns

And worship Jesus

For He is the Love of God

I love the picture of everyone bowing before baby Jesus in worship. The power and love of God in a baby. Thank you God.

Board Meeting

2006-12-04T16:34:00.000-08:00

We had the opportunity to meet the board of Partners In Hope Medical Centre last week. The Board meets every 3 months and is composed of Perry Jansen; Caroline ( a Brit and the director of Action for Behavior Change); our new clinic manager, John Hamilton; SIM (Serving in Mission-the mission that both Perry and Corey Harthoorn are a part of)Area Director, Ryan Hannah; and 3 Malawians---Hestern Banda (a prominent Christian businessman), a local pastor(I apologize that I don't remember his name and since I'm writing in the middle of the night again I don't have easy access), and Ann the director of personnel.
We toured the building again with the board members and it was encouraging to see how excited they were with the progress being made on the building since the last board meeting. Caroline sadly is leaving the clinic as her husband has been transferred to Mozambique, however she has worked herself out of a job which truly is the goal of missions. Her staff now reaches over 40 schools as well as other outreach sites with education regarding HIV and AIDS. It's a very exciting ministry that shares the love and hope of Jesus in practical ways with the younger generation of Malawi. Please pray that the funding for their grants goes through in a timely manner so they can continue this ministry.
Last week also marked another significant development at the clinic. On Friday, December 1, the Partners in Hope Campus opened a new building targeting the youth of the area. It has plans to be a mini-youth center with activities and events for youth that draw kids to the building. The primary goal will be to talk about HIV and AIDS, and offer voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) to kids in a more non-threatening environment. The opening happened to fall on World AIDS Day--what a great way to celebrate.
We were blessed to be part of this meeting and celebrate again how God has blessed the ministry of the clinic and is using it to change and save lives.

The lake

2006-12-03T08:41:00.000-08:00

We finally got a picture of the lake to upload successfully. Isn't it beautiful? We'd love to have visitors and this tranquil scene is just 1-1/2 hours away! Any takers?

Week 4--the Big Rain

2006-12-03T08:27:00.000-08:00

Another week has passed quickly. We can hardly believe we've been in Malawi over a month! Last weekend was a bit eventful as there was a HUGE rain on Saturday night. The next morning I looked out our back window and the view had changed. I could see right into our neighbors yard and guest house. The rains had washed part of our property wall away. The wall of water then swept down the hill and took out two more walls. The house you see in the picture is the guest house of the Jansens and it's fortunate to be standing and not be filled with water. So we (or our landlords) are in the process of rebuilding the walls. The up-side is that we were able to meet some neighbors that we hadn't met before. It's hard to meet people when everyone lives behind walls with locked gates and guards. Hopefully it won't take another minor flood to allow us to make connections with some of our other neighbors.

The other picture is that of a moving truck. The caretaker of our property moved from our guest house to a house of his own. This truck showed up and piled all of their belongings inside and delivered it to the new house. As there wasn't room for the family, Mike helped drive them across town to their new house.

We also had our first sicknesses this last week--fortunately only minor gastrointestinal problems, sore throats and ear infections. We are all on the mend thankfully.

We thank you so much for you prayers as we continue to transition. Please pray for health and strength to be diligent about our language study. Praise God for the new friends the kids have made in school.

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-25T03:32:00.000-08:00

We have much to be thankful for. God has provided such an amazing community of people to help us adjust to life in Lilongwe. Not to mention the treat of having a regular Thanksgiving feast--turkey and all! Turkeys are not easy to come by here. We celebrated with the Partners in Hope ex-patriate staff. Our contribution was a fruit salad--with mangos from our tree, watermelon, pineapple and strawberries--not quite traditional, but definitely available, and yummy on a 95 degree day. Although we missed spending the day with our families, we were thankful to be celebrating with new friends!
Today we visited the Lilongwe Nature Sanctuary. It is a large area in the middle of Lilongwe with walking paths. It must have some secluded areas--as referenced in the sign. It also has a few caged animals--including crocodiles, monkeys, hyenas and pythons. It also has a few uncaged baboons that roam around and tried to give us all hugs. It freaked the kids (and us) out a little, so our visit was short.

Mike and I have completed our first week of language lessons. The lessons are challenging, but even now we are recognizing some of the basic grammar on signs and billboards that we didn't understand at all before. That is encouraging.

Sydney's school celebrated an international day on Thursday. Everyone came dressed in a costume from their home country and brought a traditional dish to share. Sydney wore a red, white and blue dress. It was so much fun to see all of the other costumes from around the world--other African countries, Spain, Portugal, South Africa, New Zealand, South Korea just to name a few. I wish I would have had my camera that day.

fun in malawi

2006-11-20T04:25:00.000-08:00

We made a trip to the lake--Lake Malawi. About 1-1/2 hour drive from Lilongwe. The beach is beautiful and we had a great time.

On the way we passed many villages with native mud huts. And we saw a huge baobab tree.

Mike satisfied his hunter-gatherer passion by climbing our mango tree and harvesting 5 mangoes. Yummy!

The rains arrived last week. We didn't realize what a big deal this was until someone told us there had not been even a drop of rain since last march. We had quite a downpour for about an hour and we were told that everything begins to green-up. A welcome change from the hot, dry and dusty landscape we are used to. However other things come up after the rain as well--these termites are one example. The 2 evenings following the first rain at dusk, thousands of flying termites filled the sky. Heather was lucky enough to be out on a run when this happened the second night. It was like being in a snowstorm, there were so many. They eventually lose their wings and crawl around the ground. Then the local Malawians catch them, boil and fry them up for a tasty treat. We haven't had the courage to try it yet, but our friends say they take like bacon.

Today we had our first official Chichewa lesson. Our heads were spinning after just an hour, but we are excited to be moving forward in language learning. We look forward to the day when we can converse with native speakers--right now that seems very far away. But as they would say in Malawi---pong'ono pong'ono--little by little.

3rd Week: Celebrations and "Challenges"

2006-11-17T05:38:00.000-08:00

It's almost Wednesday--
I (Heather) am up yet again in the middle of the night, so I thought I would at least take advantage of the lack of sleep to update our blog. Much has happened in the last week and we have a lot to be thankful for. Our biggest praise is Sydney turned 5 on Monday! I can hardly believe she is already 5 years old. She has amazed me with her ability to adapt here in Malawi--making new friends, attending a new school, sleeping in a new bed. God has answered our prayers in regards to a smooth transition for our kids. We celebrated her birthday with the Jansens--pizza and ice cream (a Tacheny tradition).

Birthday shots

Another point of praise was the safe arrival of the 2 boxes we had shipped. We weren't sure what would happen on this end, and as they sat in customs here for a few days, we started to wonder if we would ever see our stuff. Thankfully we had the help of Partners in Hope's customs clearing agent, Smiles (yes, that's his name), and we were able to get our boxes without paying exorbitant fees and taxes. So Mike's guitar made it here (among other things) and we were able to have our Saturday morning family praise time with the aid of Mike's guitar. Perry Jansen plays guitar as well, so Mike is looking forward to some jam sessions with him.We have had some "challenges" as well this last week. I put this word in quotes because just as we were getting overwhelmed with these challenges, God has provided. We were having trouble finding a car--we had hoped to buy a used car as we were told there are always cars available from people coming and going from Lilongwe. But we weren't finding much. The Jansens had been so generous in letting us borrow their car when they didn't need it, but trying to set up our house and find the things we need without our own car, and being dependent on others to pick up our kids from school, etc, was getting a bit old. I'm sure God was teaching us something on depending on Him and the generosity of others, but we still desired a car. And God provided--in fact he provided 2 great options in one morning and we had to choose. So we are now the proud owners of a car--it is 10 years old so please pray that it continues to run smoothly.We were also having trouble finding a language teacher and both of us were getting anxious to get started with our language learning. Our "schedule" up until now has been somewhat open-ended---getting settled and finding our bearings. For Mike and I who are quite task-oriented we were feeling like we weren't "accomplishing" anything. God has provided again--we start our language classes next Monday morning. This is the first step towards the future goal of working at the clinic and being able to speak to our patients in their language--Chichewa.Please pray for good sleep, continued good health, safety on the roads in our "new" car and perseverance in our language learning (and maybe some supernatural intervention in our ability to learn Chichewa)

Sydney and Joshua (our second and final dog). He's a nine year old German Shepherd who needed a home and has been great company for rowdy puupy Anna.

Week 2: New Experiences

2006-11-06T22:40:00.000-08:00

Well, we are well into week #2 here in Malawi. We have recovered from jet lag and have mostly set up our house so we can move into the language learning phase of our time here.

I'm sure our entire term will be one of new experiences but we've had a few memorable ones this week. The first is an addition to our family--a dog. Many families here have dogs--they function as pets and watchdogs. We heard of a family that had 3 dogs but didn't have room for all of them in their new house, so we were given a 4-month old puppy that the kids have enjoyed. They have named her "Anna" and we have started to try and train her. To be honest, she's not the smartest dog on the block, but she's still a puppy.

Our 2nd new experience is driving on the left side of the road. Mike has taken to it quickly, but my 2 practice driving session were a little scary. First of all, driving a manual transmission takes a lot of concentration. Add to this, the stick is on the left side, you are driving on the left side of a narrow road, and the road is crowded with bicycles and pedestrians--it will definitely be awhile before I am comfortable driving here.

Driving led to our 3rd new Malawi experience. The Jansen's have let us use their car to get around. We were on the way to pick up Sydney at school yesterday, when we passed a routine traffic stop. To our dismay, the insurance on the Jansens car had lapsed as of October 31st and the officer informed us we had to go to court. Needless to say, we were a bit nervous. The officer was very polite and after explaining our situation he let us go get our kids and then we met back at the police station with the Jansens and the officer. The officer kept Mike's drivers license until we met with him. So today we went to "court", but not surprisingly the "court" time didn't happen and we get to try again tomorrow. Apparently in the past, one just paid a fine if your insurance lapsed. So the Jansens and us are a bit puzzled at this turn of events, but it's Malawi and nothing should surprise us. Thankfully, today Mike got his license back and we are still able to drive the car.
Welcome to Malawi!
God has been so good to us. Thanks for your prayers.

Settling In

2006-11-01T21:57:00.000-08:00

Hanging bed nets/ Sydney in front of our house

Greetings from Malawi! We made it! And thanks to all of your prayers the travel went extremely well. The kids actually enjoyed the 16 hour plane trip as they were fed 3 meals, took a couple naps, and had their personal on-demand television available. This was a god-send for Mike and I. We overnighted in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was quite a sight trying to maneuver our 8 suitcases, 4 carryons and 2 kids through a crowded airport. Fortunately, there were porters available just when we needed them to assist us. And Sydney got very good at driving a luggage cart.
We arrived in Malawi on Friday, October 27th at noon and again thanks to prayers, had no problem with customs or immigration. They looked in one suitcase and flagged us through. We were greeted by Perry and Brenda Jansen--the couple who founded the Partners in Hope Medical Centre and immediately we were made part of their family. Since then, they have been our tour guides in Lilongwe--driving us everywhere, taking us to church, feeding us, taking us grocery shopping and helping watch our kids. They have 3 children (Nathan-13, Erin-9, and Olivia-4) Our kids have become fast friends which is wonderful as we live just behind them and our back yards are adjoined by a gate.
One of the first things we did this week is get the kids enrolled in school. Sydney is in pre-K or Reception (it's a British System) at ABC Christian Academy and Sam is in preschool at Rainbow preschool. They both have loved going to school, meeting kids from around the world. And the mornings they are in school have allowed Mike and I to settle in--grocery shop, furniture shop, practice driving (we drive on the left), unpack, etc. Sydney's 1st day of school

Sam, Olivia, Sydney, Erin

Thanks for your support and prayers as we transition to life in Malawi. We look forward to sharing about more of our experiences soon.

Sweet Sorrow

2006-10-22T02:23:00.000-07:00

We are back in Minnesota, via Arizona. We had a wonderful visit with Mike's sister Lori and her family. Including a road trip to the Grand Canyon. We made the 3 hour trip in a Ford Explorer with 4 adults and 4 children--needless to say it was packed. The trip was broken up by a stop at the Flagstaff McDonalds playland. A must with 4 squirrely kids!
The Grand Canyon was amazing! And Cold! It snowed the morning we were there--a big change from the 80 degree weather in Phoenix. The visit however was not the most relaxing as the 4 crazy kids seemed to be a step from their death as we walked near the edge of the canyon. So I know, most of my views of the canyon were in 1/2 second increments as we tried to apply man-to-man defense on the kids. But it was all very memorable.
We are now in the midst of our last minute packing and organizing. And I know that no matter how much we try and prepare and plan, when we get there we will be asking ourselves, "Why did we haul this half way around the world?" and "Why DIDN'T we remember such-and-such?" Fortunately, we will be living in a big city where our necessities will be available.

The hardest part about this week is the good-byes. And I'm understanding more personally Shakespeare's quote in Romeo and Juliet, "Parting is such sweet sorrow." It truly is sweet in a sense. We are able to celebrate the wonderful relationships we have with family and friends. Mike and I are just overwhelmed by the support, help and prayers we receive from all of you. We feel like the most blessed people to have such a wonderful community. But that's what makes the goodbyes so hard. We are experiencing sorrow knowing that these relationships will change over the miles and years--and we will miss the ability to hang out with you on a more regular basis. It is hard.
We constantly thank God that we will have the technology to stay in touch on some level with email and phone calls. Obviously it's not the same as personal connection, but it's something.
Thank you for your friendships--we are blessed.

The Lord bless you, and keep you;

The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you

And give you peace

Numbers 6:24-25

October Already?

2006-10-06T03:12:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe it's October already. This means that before the end of the month we will be in Malawi! To be honest this brings up mixed feelings. We are so excited to finally get to this country we've been talking about and dreaming about since last winter, but the realities of this move are becoming evident.

We are well into the second portion of our training here in Colorado. These last weeks are focusing on cross-cultural preparation. It has been a very challenging time as we again are faced with the realities of a move into another country and culture. One of the most humbling parts has been examining ourselves, and better understanding ourselves and our reactions to stress, conflict, and unknowns. We have been encouraged to do this because when we are put into such a new environment, our weaknesses of character are going to surface.

On a more personal note, one of my weaknesses is that I hate to make mistakes and try to avoid situations where that might be possible. So when our language teachers and cultural advisors say, "You are going to make a million mistakes, so you might as well start now," I'm not too excited. Unfortunately, sometimes that is how we will learn best. This is not going to happen easily on my part. But as I reflect on this fact, I am reminded that even the Apostle Paul had weaknesses. And just as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12, I would love for my weaknesses or "thorns" to be taken from me. But God promises, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." This promise brings such encouragement to me.

We've been blessed to have time to process some of this information. For Mike and I, the best way to do this is to get outdoors. These pictures are all from around Palmer Lake, where we are staying. There is a nice hike that the kids were able to do (at least most of it) up to the reservoir above the town. Processing this information in the majesty and beauty of God's creation always helps put things into perspective. What awesome evidence of how much God loves us!

Language Learning

2006-09-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

We are nearing the end of our first two weeks of missionary training. These weeks have focused on language acquisition or how to learn a language. Maybe you're like I was--thinking "how can you spend 2 weeks on how to learn a language?" It seemed like overkill to me before I got here. I just wanted to start learning Chichewa--teach me the words, the verbs, how to conjugate them, appropriate greetings and I will memorize them and begin to use them.
Well, these 2 weeks laid out a very different process that gives the learner the responsibility for learning. We also received many tools, projects,etc. that will assist us in the learning process. We were able to practice using these tools in small groups along with a language helper as seen in the picture. My language for practice was Mandarin Chinese. It is a very interactive process and in just 3 short sessions I understood quite a bit of Chinese and the process was actually fun!
The other focus of the 2 weeks was phonics. Boring, you may think. But it was quite funny to not only practice some of our "normal" English sounds, but we learned many new sounds as well. And we got to hold a pocket mirror and see how silly we were as we tried to contort our face, mouth and tongue to make these new sounds.
So, we have been learning and working (even homework). But we have enjoyed it amidst the beauty of the mountains and alongside many wonderful people. This time I have included a picture from our weekend outing to the Garden of the Gods. Next week brings our cross-cultural training, so I'm sure we'll have much more to share. And thank you for your prayers, especially in regards to parenting. We are all doing better in this area.

Settled in Colorado--Praise the Lord

2006-09-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

I am writing from Palmer Lake, Colorado. Just north of Colorado Springs where our family is attending 5 weeks of cross-cultural and language acquisition training. So far we are 2 days into language learning (actually learning HOW to learn a language), we won't actually start learning Chichewa until we arrive in Malawi, and I never realized how much there was to know about a language. It's a bit overwhelming and the 4-6 months we have planned to learn some basic Chichewa I'm sure will just scratch the surface.
We are feeling a bit more settled here at Mission Training International--we actually unpacked our suitcases! Prior to that we had spent 2-3 weeks packing up our house, selling our stuff, and living at our parent's houses out of very unorganized suitcases. It was crazy, but God has been so good to us in this process. He brought so many people into our lives to help us in our sale, bringing us meals, helping us pack and move, watching our kids. We have been overwhelmed with the support we have received in so many ways and will be eternally gratefully to every one who helped us out in this process.
Our last big worry was regarding our house and the fact that we hadn't sold it in the 4 months it's been on the market. And as only God could do--we received an offer on the house the day we left for Colorado! The details need to be finalized, but again God is good and God is working in just the right time.
Here in Colorado we are surrounded by individuals, couples and families that are heading all over the world to minister--some in church planting and evangelism, some in teaching, some in music and administration, and some like us, in medicine. It is so cool to hear the stories of how God has brought each person and family to this place and it awesome to think how God will work through these people in there future areas of ministry.
Sydney and Sam are enjoying Colorado. Of course with all of the changes they have been acting a little out of sorts--so it's been a challenge disciplining consisitently and lovingly. Yet after being so scattered as we packed our house, it is good to have some time together again as a family unit.

Learning

2006-08-22T11:56:00.000-07:00

Mike and I are at our last day of tropical medicine training at the University of MN. When we signed up for this course it seemed so far away, but we're here and that means that it's almost time for us to leave MN in preparation for Malawi.
Our first day of medicine training was about malaria and it scared us silly. A disease that affects so much of the world and kills so many people, but we are so sheltered. Of course we thought of our kids and the increased threat of malaria in kids less than 5 years of age and we wished the kids were older. And we wonder what will happen when they have to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and leave the protection of their mosquito nets. =)
The next day we studied tuberculosis. A much better picture as there is great treatment available.
And today we learned more about HIV--the infection we will be treating at Partners in Hope. I had very mixed feelings. In the setting of all of these experts teaching us who have been treating and caring for HIV patients since its discovery in the early 80's and who have had an abundance of experience in overseas countries, I felt very unqualified to be part of the HIV treatment in Africa. But I suppose we have to start somewhere.
On the positive side, as we talked more and more about HIV in Africa we heard more about the great need and the great hope that comes in treatment that is now available. I found myself falling in love even more with Africa, with a burden in my heart for helping in this overwhelming tragedy. And feeling a confirmation in God's calling to Malawi for our family. I wish I had been learning about HIV more in depth over the last few years, but God will provide the strength and patience to learn what we need to in order to better serve our patients.

Independence day

2006-07-04T05:02:00.000-07:00

Yet another month has passed since our last posting. Obviously this has not become a routine for us, but it will be nice once we are in Malawi.
Today is July 4th and I am so grateful for the freedom we have in this country, and I feel completely indebted to those who have fought to give me this freedom. Yet, even the wonderful freedoms we have here are nothing in comparison to the freedom we have in Christ. Christ died so that we could have freedom from our sin---freedom to become completely whole people. Oh how I long for freedom from worries and anxieties, greed and envy, strongholds in my life. God has made that possible through Jesus and day-by-day I seek Jesus for that freedom. Praise the Lord!

the family

2006-05-15T18:43:00.000-07:00

Here's the family, getting excited to go to Malawi. We are waiting on our house to sell, and the last of our support to be raised. Until then we are enjoying springtime in MN--lots of rain and cold. It's weird to think we won't need all of these warm clothes again in Malawi. And often I find myself thinking how this is the last time we will be doing some things --such as the kids last day of school, the last storytime at the library, the last Sunday school with their current teachers. Although I know there will be lots of new, wonderful adventures, right now, our life is very comfortableand blessed. we are so thankful that God is walking with us and we know that He will be with us as we move.

Moving to Malawi

2006-05-09T11:21:00.000-07:00

Hi! This is our first attempt at a "Blog", but I hope it is helpful for communicating with our friends and family once we are in Malawi. It is official (assuming the rest of our support comes in), we are heading to Malawi on October 25th. When we actually bought our plane tickets, I felt overwhelmed. Although I know God has led us to this point and will continue to go before us as we trust Him, it felt so official and REAL!! Our house is now on the market, so please pray that it will sell. We are so thankful for all of the support we have as we make this move. Thanks so much!!