Sharing our success!

Now that we are all home and feeling rested I wanted to share with everyone some of the specifics of what we were able to accomplish on this trip to Malawi.

To start our main focus was to provide all of the children and house mothers of Mtendere Village with new mattresses. Once we were on site and saw what the children and others were sleeping on we were glad we had made the decision to take on that task. As you have seen in our blog new mattress were purchased and delivered! After counting heads and beds and mattresses (several times) we came to understand that some of the children had been sharing one twin bed. As a team we made the decision to purchase wood and tools in order to build beds for the children who had been sharing. Leaving Mtendere we felt good that we KNEW each child not only had been given a new clean mattress, but also each child was now sleeping in their very own beds. Our project was able to expend even further with excess money so we decided to take care of purchasing a few other needed items. As we watched the children at meal time some of the volunteers realized that many of the children didn't have plates and cups. The Malawians are resourceful people so some of the kids had been given old pencil cases to eat out of and others were using plastic lids and other odds and ends. Katie and Susan and myself ventured out one of the days to the local market and were able to purchase 150 matching plates and 150 matching cups as well as new mops and buckets for each of the children's houses. We knew that providing these things was the right thing to do and because our donors had been so generous we could not only solve the bed situation but also solve some other challenges that the children and house mothers were facing.

Our fundraising effort was so fruitful that we still had the problem of MORE money. Three donors after finding our that the mattress and house clean up project was complete agreed to reassign their funds and participate in the FIRST ever Malawi Global Ambassadors For Children scholarship. For the past few years GAFC has been lucky enough to enjoy the same driver for all of our trips to Malawi. Isaac has not only been our driver, but also an important member of each of our trips. He has shared so much about Malawi and also shared his skills and been able to help with many of our projects. His stories and presence on these trips has been invaluable to all who have met him and been lucky enough to learn from him. This Summer Isaac lost his sister which led him to now be supporting not only his own children, but also his sisters. He and his wife are now providing for 7 children and each other. Isaac's oldest son graduated high school last year and this fall was ready to start college. With this family tragedy that occurred Isaac was unable to provide money to send his son on to college. Isaac felt it was very important that this son continue his education because if he didn't Isaac knew that if something were to happen to him his son would not have the education needed to get a job that would allow him to step into his fathers shoes and support this large family. While we were in Malawi classes at the Malawi School of Accounting had just begun. With the help of a few contacts in Malawi and the research skills of 2 members of this Malawi trip we as a group were able to get Halide registered and on the path to a college education. As we flew home to the United States he was attending his first class and catching up on what he had missed. I have been sent word that he is doing well and that Isaac and Halide are both so thankful for the opportunity they were given. It seems that we were in the right place at the right time and had some donors willing to agree to reassign their donations in order to provide this amazing gift to the Mtonga family. This scholarship has taken care of the first 2 semesters of school and the books and exam fees. After Halide completes these semesters we will speak with Isaac and find out how we can work with him and help his son continue with the accounting program. As a group we decided that giving a "hand up" was better than a "hand out" and we are excited to work side by side with Isaac and his son and see were this journey will lead. I will continue to update this blog as all of our projects continue to grow in Malawi.

Thank you again to everyone who gave so generously to this project. I hope you all see what wonderful things happened because of you.

The trip has come to an end and everyone has arrived back home safe. I know as I reflect I am just so excited at what was accomplished. I feel as I do at the end of every trip that I am lucky to have learned what I did about myself and about the people of Malawi. I have made new friends that I hope to have for a long time. Each person who was along on this trip gave in their own special way and I am thankful for everyone. What an adventure it was and the memories will remain with all of us forever. I think when looking back we will all be surprised at what an impact we were able to have! The good we did is going to continue to grow and make changes in the lives of the people we touched.

I am missing all of my travel mates this morning and missing Malawi as I have my coffee. I hope everyone is telling wonderful stories to their friends and family.

I will post some pictures to this site today and maybe try and put up some video as well.

Thank you to everyone who donated money to make our project a success and thank you to all the volunteers who truly made this experience what it was.

Zikomo!!!!!

Goodbye is never easy...

Our last day at Mtendere was bittersweet. We knew we had to complete the projects we had started and then we all knew we wanted to spend time with the kids and house mothers before we had to say goodbye.

A group of us quickly headed to the store room where we still had quite a mess. It was our goal to complete the organization of that room before noon. Some of us quietly had doubts that it would happen, but we pushed forward and kept working through the morning. Boxes of trash were taken around back of the building and a fire was started so that everything being thrown out could be burned. Luckily we figured out a few hours in that the windows did in fact open and it was a gift to get some fresh air blowing through the very dusty room. Shelves were moved, bins were emptied and refilled with supplies in an organized way. "Zones" were created for crafts, school supplies, and personal items. Tita helped organize all the medical stuff and made sure some of the staff knew what many of the items were used for on the shelves.

Larry and a few others were making sure beds were being finished and getting put in to the houses where they were needed.

Some of the team was helping the other team who was staying at Mtendere prepare for the birthday party that was taking place in the afternoon. The main hall was decorated, balloons were hung, a tent was put up on the grounds for dancing, and food was being prepared.

Noon came and to our surprise we were all able to complete our projects. In the store room there were high fives and relief that we had not created a big mess and then just left. It felt good for us to see our hard work when the store room was clean and organized and we could lock the door and know we really had done a good thing. All the new beds were lined up in the dirt and Larry had a proud smile on his face. It was now time to set up games and activities for the kids to play during their birthday celebration. Our group was in charge of a coloring station, a relay station, and a parachute play area. Once we were set up we were all invited into the main hall with EVERYONE from Mtendere and some of their family and friends. Before we all sat down Gracian asked that Ellen or I make a speech since it would be our last day with them. I voted for Ellen since she speaks in front of groups of children all the time and I tend to get a bit chicken in those situations. Ellen agreed :) We were both invited (or told) to sit up in the front of the room at what looked like a "head table". The room was as full as I have ever seen it with smiling kids and many others. The rest of my team was standing in the back of the room. The ceremony began with the division of children because there were going to be groups they were rotating through for a carnival. Then, as is tradition at Mtendere, the ceremony opened with a prayer. From there a member from the other group made a speech. I made my speech (this is Ellen now...) and it was short and sweet but relayed how grateful we were to be invited and that we were able to help. I also mentioned how much they teach us instead of us teaching them because that ALWAYS seems to be the case. From there Gracian made a small speech thanking both of the teams and then the celebration began! Cokes were distributed to everyone along with a handful of cookies. Members of the office staff had pitched in money and purchased a gift for the small children of Mtendere. They proceeded to the front of the hall where they began singing the Malawian style of "Happy Birthday." The kids' gift was inside of a container and we were all just as curious as the little ones. It ended up being sweeties, which is candy in Malawi. The children were all given a large handful that they immediately wrapped up in their shirts. Some were unwrapping the candy and popping them in their mouths. Others were stuffing the candy in their pockets. And a few scampered off to their houses to stash it away for later. By the time this little ceremony was over, everyone had received their Coke and we all made a toast. After that we broke away from the ceremony and got our stations ready to get started for the carnival!

Shortly thereafter Erin and I were beckoned back into the hall by Gracian. He told us lunch was about to be served which consisted of chicken, rice, and greens. Erin and I had already eaten lunch with the team and we told Gracian this and that our food should be given to someone else who may go without and he adamantly refused. He said we were guests of honor and we needed to eat. So we sat down and we were told to wait because we needed to wash our hands. Quickly a bucket and water was brought to us and we washed up. After this Gracian looked down at us with his wide smile and said, "Dig in Malawian style! You must use your hands!" Erin and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and dug in. Everything was delicious!

After lunch, the kids joined us at our stations. I hung around the coloring booth and was explaining how the crayons worked because some of the children were not understanding. Once one of the children understood, everyone caught on and we ran out of sitting room for the children. The parachute game was a huge success and there were smiles all around at that station. Andrew and Patrick took on relays and they said they had a blast. After stations, we moved under the tent and put our dancing shoes on. Having most of the kids of Mtendere and people from the outside village under a party tent dancing around is almost like a scene from a movie. These kids have got rhythm! We were picking kids up and spinning them around. There was a conga line developed (by Jan). We had groups of kids put us in circles and dance around. All in all... everyone had fun at the dance and had a few more special moments with ones we had already made a connection to.

After dancing for a couple hours, it was time to say goodbye. Everyone was dreading this part of the day and no one wanted to begin the process. There were tears all around from the children, the house mothers, and our team. It was evident that everyone had made connections but it was interesting to see what personalities had connected. Everyone at Mtendere was so grateful but I think in the end we were more grateful for the time we had with them and the stories and experiences they had shared with us.

Today we head to Lake Malawi (which means no blog tomorrow...). We will be stopping at a large woodcarvers market with hopes of finding that perfect 'something'. As our time winds down, we all have realized how lucky we have been to have had this experience. We will SEE you all soon! :)

another project comes up..and we are happy to take it on!

Yesterday morning we all were up and moving a bit earlier than usual. We needed to bring all of our donations to Mtendere and some of us needed to exchange more money so before leaving the hotel we took care of some business and then headed off. We had one stop to make to pick up our packed lunches and we ended up sitting in traffic for a while, but then we were on our way.

We arrived at Mtendere ready to complete some of what we had started. There were beds to build, beds to repair, and some counting to do in order to make sure that before we leave Malawi we are SURE every child at Mtendere has a new mattress and every child has a bed to put it on. There was more corn to "shuck". We have all decided that saying we are "shucking" corn probably isn't the best way to describe what we actually do with the corn. When we sit to do this work the corn has already been shucked and dried. The kernels are hard and need to be removed from the cobs. Using your fingers or using another cob that has no kernels your are picking each kernel off the cob....if that makes sense. In the end you end up with a large pile of dried corn kernels and a large pile of cobs.

Since I had been busy running around the city for the past few days spending time seeing my friends at Mtendere was a gift. I was able to play on the playground with Ellen and some of the children for a while between jobs and I can't wait to share that with everyone when I get home.

When it was time for us to put our donations in the store room we were surprised to see that the store room was in need of some major reorganization. I asked the secretary if she would allow us to clean and organize this room and happily she said we could. With her help a few of us started to tackle the mounds of personal items and school supplies. This might seem like an easy task, but once you all see the pictures of what we were dealing with you will understand. Box by box we began to unload and put away each of the items. I know for me it was a job that came with a little 'fear". I was worried that under each box or at the bottom of each box I would either run into a spider, a rat, a mouse, a dead rat, or a dead mouse. All of us just kept working away and soon Linda spoke up that we had our first dead mouse that needed to be removed. She was quick to scoop it up in paper and hand it off to someone who took it outside. As we dug deeper into the piles in the store room and began reshuffling shelves we realized this was a bigger job than we had first thought. We had committed to do it so we just continued to work as best we could and knew that the next day we would be there to finish the job.

Some of the group were still working on making and repairing beds and others were doing tutoring with the children in the school room. When word spread at Mtendere that we had purchased tools and wood to make the beds we stared to hear of children who had beds that were damaged or missing slats. Some of those beds were carried up to where the carpenters and our team was working and with a few boards we were able to make the repairs.

Today will be our last day at Mtendere Village and I am prepared to see some tears once our time there ends. I know that many of the volunteers have become quite connected to some of the children and house Mothers and it will be tough to say goodbye. There is a birthday party planned today that we have been invited to attend by another group from the US that is staying and working at Mtendere. They have asked us to help with some of the activities they have planned and we are happy to take part. There will be dancing and food and lots of birthday fun. It will be another great day Im sure and when its all over we will leave knowing that we did make an impact here.

corn corn corn....and other adventures

Yesterday started out with a trip to the local government run clinic that Tita had been working at. When we drove to drop her off for another day of volunteering I thought it would be good to offer the group a chance to take a tour and see what health care really looks like for the people of Malawi. The group was told this wouldn't be a "fun" trip, but should be eye opening. When we arrived everyone was shocked at the number of people waiting in line to be seen. This clinic is mostly for pre-natal and post-natal visits and also labor and delivery. There is a walk in clinic for others there also. The lines were long and it was difficult to navagate up to the door, but we were able to find a nurse kind enough to give our group a quick tour. Ellen and I waited outside since we had seen the clinic before and we wanted the group to be as small as possible becuase it was so busy. While waiting outside Ellen and I got to see a line of Mothers with their babies waiting to get them weighed. The would wrap the baby in cloth and then hang them up on a scale that hung from a tree in the courtyard. It was really interesting to watch and before long the women were asking us to take their pictures with their babies on the scales.
The group came out of the clinic and I could see their somber faces and right away knew that seeing what they had seen on the inside of the clinic had surely made an impact. Later in the day a few volunteers talked about how they felt about what they had experienced. One volunteer (Patrick) told Ellen "Being there and seeing that clinic makes me want to fulfill my dream of being a doctor even more"...thats what its all about. Sometimes putting yourself in an uncomfortable position is the best way to plant a seed of passion in your heart that will bring you back to help here and other places.
We were ready to head to Mtendere and get started on our work there. We had wood that needed to be bought so that some of our group could get started building the 8 beds that were needed. Some of us needed to head to the market to purchase some of the household items the house Mothers had requested. Some of us were going to spend time shucking corn, and others of us needed to do a double check on the mattress situation so that we would be ready for the 32 remaining mattresses that were to be delivered "sometime" that day.
I took Susan and Katie to the market with me and we went on our hunt to find 150 plates, 150 cups, 18 mops and buckets and some cleaning solution. That was an adventure! The market became a buzz when they all figured out the amount of things we needed to buy. We had shop keepers running from shop to shop in order to fill our large order. It took about 2 hours, but in the end we had collected what we needed. We wanted to make sure we bought plates and cups that were "good" quality and since there were 2 kinds of plastic I picked up a plate in order to test its strength. SNAP the plate broke right in 2...the three of us gasped and the shop keepers eyes were wide as saucers. I was quick to pull money from my bag and pay for the boken plate. He tried to give me change and I just told him to keep it. In the end he was laughing and so were the three of us. We had figured out which plastic was stronger so we went on with our buying.
Back at Mtendere......(Ellen's turn)....
As Erin had said, we split into teams and tried to get much accomplished. Some of us walked around the village and put bed covers on beds where children are wetting the bed. The house mothers were so greatful for this small luxury, that every single house I went into the house mother wrapped me up in a big hug. This did not take long because Patrick, Andrew, Linda, and I had a system going and were quite efficient. After this, we checked in with Larry, Jan, and Chelsea who were bringing wood down to the village. This was a hard and tedious job and soon the teenage boys were also helping. The other job was shucking corn because they go through 8 fifty pound sacks of shucked corn in a week! Needless to say, this is a neverending job. So we sit outside of a house and shuck. Many of us had already tried our hand at this the day before and had sore thumbs and hands but we did everything we could to continue working on this small project because we knew how important it was. The neat thing about sitting out in the open village is that a number of children will wander over to us and begin helping. We get to know them and have great conversation as well! After the corn has been shucked, the cobs go into the kitchen and they use them in the fire. When I took a load of the cobs in, I saw that there was much chopping to be done. The kitchen is a very tough place to work because there is not any ventilation and they cook over an open fire (Yes... they build a fire INSIDE the building.) I went back to the corn group and asked if anyone would like to go work in the kitchen. Jan and Linda quickly jumped at the opportunity to do something different as we had been sitting baking in the sun for a good hour at that point. After no more that an hour, they both emerged from the kitchen blinking heavily and coughing a bit because it had gotten so smoky in the kitchen. Like I said before, it is a very tough job and the men who work in there 5 days a week are amazing. Before lunch, the boys and Larry had finally transported all the wood down the hill. We saw this as a good break and decided to take it.
As we were digging into lunch, Erin and her team came back with all of the supplies. We decided we should probably label the buckets and the mops for the house mothers so that there was no confusion. Andrew, Linda, Jan, and Patrick took on this task. Andrew was painting numbers on everything while the other 3 were busy counting out plates and cups to hand out. After the paint had dried, Andrew began running all over the village handing out all the new goodies. The trail of children behind him was funny because the children knew what we had but they also wanted to be a part of their own house mother's excitement when they saw their gifts. While all this was going on, we were still shucking corn....................
At lunch time Erin had to leave to go to the city and run an errand with Chelsea. We were to meet her back at the hotel after 4 o'clock. At four o'clock, I loaded everyone in the van and thought we were leaving. The driver turned the car on and then the mattresses came around the corner. We all jumped out of the car and handed them out to the remaining children. They knew the process from the day earlier so needless to say, this went very quickly. Everyone was so excited to finally have their beds and we left eager to see how they were going to sleep.
Chelsea and I were at the hotel waiting for the group when they got back. We all got cleaned up and headed out for dinner. It was a great dinner and we have all started to see that we all get along really well and have a lot of laughs and chats over our meals. Ellen and I decided that after dinner we would meet in Jans room and do a quick 1 hour "team building" exercise. A few volunteers joked about what would happen if they skiped out, but in the end everyone was up for it. It turned out to be a great opportunity to get to know a little more about each other and hear some personal stories about each of our lives. There were many more laughs and even a few tears.
I am starting to get a little sad knowing that this trip is on its downhill slide. We have accomplished so much and had such a great time and even though I know there are more days ahead and more adventures I do start to think about life back home and being there without the group. From Malawi thinking of getting back into the swing of things in the USA seems difficult. All of us will do it just fine, but from here it gives you a bit of a lump in your throat.
Off to another day of work at Mtendere!!!

Mattress Success!

Monday was a big day for us in Malawi. We were able to see our project come full circle.

First thing in the morning I needed to go into town and finalize the mattress "deal". We had agreed on a price, but the shop keeper wasn't sure he could provide all 152 on Monday. I also needed to pay the bill and of course wasn't willing to until we knew exactly how many we could have delivered Monday. Linda and Susan wanted to join me and Isaac so they rode along to experience what doing business in Malawi is like. From the stories they had heard me tell they knew this could be quite an adventure. We first went to the shop I had been at the day prior and met the man I had been dealing with. As it turned out he was unable to fill the order I wanted so he was sending me up the street to make the purchase from another man who "maybe" had the 152 mattresses we needed. That shop was to open at 8am. It was 8:30 before it did, but that is also very typical here. While we waited Linda and Susan and myself wandered through a couple of shops and Susan had the pleasure of a large cockroach falling from a shelf onto her jacket. A small shriek and a few laughs from the customers and workers and a good story to tell the others. Soon the store was open we were able to go in and speak to the man who owned it. He only had 120 mattresses that could be delivered that day, but promised that the other 32 would come the following. He asked that I go to the warehouse at 11am and ride with the truck and the mattresses to Mtendere. I paid him (thats a story in itself and one I"ll save for when I have more time). We headed back to pick up the team and drive to Mtendere to start our day. We now knew that 120 beds were coming and we needed to get the children's rooms ready.

We had made a plan the day prior to have a meeting with all of the house Mothers first thing in order to sort out how the mattresses needed to be distributed once they arrived. Since the price of the mattresses was less than expected (I must be a good Malawian negotiator) we knew we had some funds to help get the houses cleaned up and also provide the Mothers with some cleaning supplies that they had been asking for. In the meeting Ellen and the team were also able to write up a list of what the Mothers "wishes" were and they were told we would look over the list and see what we were able to provide. Some of the things on the list were mops, buckets, gloves, toliet brushes, plates and cups for the children..etc...etc....more on that later...

I left the team with Tita so that I could take her to the government run clinic up the road and drop some medical donations and also speak to the head matron there about having Tita volunteer there for the day. Tita is a nurse from Australia. The matron was happy to have the supplies and started using many of them right away. I was amazed at what the clinic was lacking, but glad that Tita had brought things that were really needed. I told Tita I would be back later to drop her lunch and check in on her. The group will tour that clinic today.

Then it was back to the city for me to go to the mattress warehouse and meet the driver who would deliver our order.

Ellen and the team were back at Mtendere busy removing old mattresses and counting how many beds were being slept in so we knew which beds needed to be replaced first. ....now Ellen will take over here....

We were trying to communicate with the mothers on how we could remove all these mattresses quickly and efficiently. We talked to one of the mothers who spoke the best English and she followed us around barking out orders to the other house mothers. What we found while removing the mattresses is not something we will all soon forget. Some mattresses had holes in the sides of them where rats had burrowed in and the children were literally sleeping with rats inches from them at night. There were a few mattresses that we carried out that rats came jumping out... we of course were all screaming and the kids simply laughed at us. Some of the mattresses were so heavy because of moisture that it took 3 or 4 of us to remove them. Some of them were so badly worn that there was more than a noticeable "breaking in" if you will. The only way I can really describe it is that is was a dip... I do not know how they were any sort of comfortable to sleep on. We also would find clothes and personal belongings under the mattress and in between the bed frames. I asked Mama Kita why there were clothes there and she said they put them there to press them. We found toys, pictures, letters, and an entire assortment of other things with the removal. Once the teenage boys realized what we were doing, they jumped in to assist us as well. As the mattresses came out, they became jungle gyms for the younger children. We finished the removal and began helping the house mothers to clean their houses. We finished up this task pretty quickly because most of the chores had already been completed. We were walking across the village to go into another house to begin shucking corn and I looked up to see a truck coming into the orphanage. The mattresses had arrived! We all stood there in amazement because all 120 mattresses were stacked up in the back of the truck. Someone said... "How are they not falling over?!" I did not really have an answer to that because I was wondering the same thing. The truck pulled into the middle of the village and the children that were there gathered around the truck with eyes wide and full of excitement. The ones who could reach (the little ones were all running around as well) over the cab started feeling all the mattresses and there was much discussion in Chichewa about the new mattresses. I am by no means fluent, but I could tell they were satisfied with what they would be receiving. We started pulling the mattresses of the truck and piling them into stacks of 10 to make sure we had them all. Kids were jumping around on these as well :) Once we realized we had them all, we started refilling the bed frames we emptied earlier. We were all carrying mattresses on our heads (even the 4 and 5 year olds) and we very quickly handed out the mattresses. I followed one of the teenage girls in with her mattress and asked her to lay down on it once we had it in the frame and she broke out in a huge smile, giggled and said, "It is good!!!"

After we were sure all of the beds that needed to be filled right away were done we took a break for lunch. After eating lunch we knew we had to clean up the mess of all the old mattresses that were now stacked outside each house. The ones that could be saved had to be stored in an empty room and the ones that needed to be thrown out needed to be pilled next to one house. As Ellen said many of these old mattress were very heavy and many of them had "critters" jumping out of them as they were moved. It was quite a job, but the team did great and all the children worked along side of them. Doing the bed counts and removal we realized that a few of the children had been sharing single beds. Now that each child had their very own mattress there were some new beds that would be needed. With our additional donations we created a plan to purchase some lumber and build 8 new beds. We will get started on that today and everyone is egger to pick up a hammer and help.

All in all it was a crazy busy day. Ellen and I were running things tag team style most of the day and I was so grateful to have her with me helping. I could not have done all that needed to be done and had the mattresses paid for and delivered in the same day if she had not been here to help direct the team while I was gone.

Everyone was filthy (as you can imagine) and feeling like a hot shower was needed. So we headed out to get cleaned up eat dinner and prepare for our next day.

We ate out at a very nice place that was recently purchased by a friend of mine here in Malawi. It was wonderful food and even though there wasn't any power (welcome to Malawi) we had a lively meal together to celebrate the day.

More adventures in Malawi......

Sunday was another beautiful day here in Malawi. The sun was shining and most of us came back in the evening with a bit of color on our cheeks. The morning started with a plan to attend church with the children of Mtendere. We were told that the service would be held at their village so we headed out in time to be there by 9am when the service was set to start. I warned the group that it would surely be 9:30 or later before it was starting, but we wanted to respect the 9am invite we had been given. I was to drop the group and then head into town with Isaac (our driver) to go to several mattress shops in order to negotiate the cost and transport of our mattresses. The group was dropped and Ellen walked everyone down to Mtendere to get ready for church. After Isaac and I were on the road for a bit Ellen called to say plans had changed and another group had decided to take the children to church in town. Since they had left already Ellen made the decision to walk the group into town (about 2 miles) to meet everyone at the church. It was a good thing she had taken that walk before so she knew where she going! They arrived a bit late, but were able to enjoy plenty of the service.

Isaac and I arrived at the mattress shop he recommended and I was shocked at how small it was. It wasn't long before we figured out they really didn't have what we needed so we went back out on to the street to see about another shop. As I spoke with Isaac I learned that there were 2 main sellers of mattresses in the area. One was the "Indians" and the other was the "Malawians". Isaac told me that the quality was better at the shop run by Malawians, but the price was going to be more. Mattresses in Malawi come in different sizes, not only bed sizes but also thickness. At the first store (Indian shop)I had made the decision that I wanted to get 6inch singles, but after my talk and all that I learned from Isaac the decision was made that I would purchase Malawian mattresses and get a higher quality so in exchange for that would down grade to a 4inch. I felt good about getting something that was higher quality and also buying from someone who was from Malawi. We wandered across the street and could see that the Malawian mattress shop was closed. It was Sunday so we knew a few of the shops would not be open. To our luck there was a guard outside and he and Isaac chatted. Once the guard understood the large quantity we wanted to buy he gave Isaac the owners phone number and we were able to call him. He agreed to come down in 20min and open the shop to negotiate with me. At the end of that adventure we had a price and a promise to deliver the next day as long as he could find 152 of what we wanted in his warehouse. If not it would be Tuesday before they would deliver, but since he had agreed to give me delivery for free I was happy either way.

Isaac and I hurried back to Mtendere with the hope of being able to collect the group at church and drive them back to the village instead of having them walk the 2 miles again. We went to the church and started to look for everyone. Forgetting I had my walkie talkie we drove up and down the road hoping to find them. By the time I remembered I could "walkie" Ellen they had arrived back where they needed to be. These type of adventures are common here so everyone was fine with the walk and the group actually said they were glad they had the experience of taking the walk to and from.

As a group we needed to start finding out about bed sheets for the children and making sure that by the next day when the new mattresses arrived all 152 had a clean set of sheets. A few of the volunteers divided up and went house to house bed to bed seeking out sheets to see what needed to be washed. Susan went to the kitchen to help cook lunch, Linda gathered trash with the children and a few of us were needing to do some repairs on the playground. The first order of business with the playground was to unravel the broken swings and attach the new ones. I walked into the main hall to find a chair to stand on. I found 5 or 6 of the older girls sitting and chatting there so I tried to explain what I needed. When they figured out that I had brand new swings and was going to attach them they all jumped up and started screaming with joy. I was tackled with hugs and they ran outside with me to watch the repair. It was a great moment.

We spent the remainder of our day trying to complete the tasks we had been given and then headed back to the hotel to have a group meeting and organize all the donations we had brought with us from the US.

After our quick meeting and donation organization we headed out for Chinese food (yes folks there is Chinese food in Malawi). We enjoyed dinner, had some laughs (as we always do) and came back to the hotel for sleep!

Another big day today and hopefully mattresses will be delivered!!!

Love to all who are keeping up with us on this adventure. We could never share all the details here, but can't wait to share ALL of them with ALL of you once we are home.