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.
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