does africa know a song of me?

Hi, friends!  Sorry that I have not updated in a while... I thought that I would just write a bit to let you know that I am still alive :).  This week has been good.  Work is keeping me busy sometimes... I am spending most of my time with Soils, Food and Healthy Communities and LISAP (Livingstonia Synod AIDS Program), but I am also trying to see what the Synod's Development and Relief Department does.  This is separate from the hospital, but is supported by PWS&D.  This week has actually been kind of quiet at work; there have been a lot of funerals that people at the hospital have had to attend.  Welcome to the reality of Africa.  Something to pray about.  Just while we're on the subject of things about which to pray, the Ekwendeni market burned to the ground this week... many people lost everything that they had.  No one was hurt (it happened in the middle of the night), but it is still devastating for this community... It's not as if people had insurance policies to cover their market stalls.  Rebuilding has already started... in spite of seeming hopelessness, people are still working so hard to make things better.

Outside of work, I am keeping busy!  I jog 3 times a week, and have become quite the cook.  Lots of time as well to visit with others around the mission compound and to read my book.  This weekend, I am joining some of the medical and nursing students at the hospital in a trip to Vwaza Marsh (yes, site of the elephant incident), so that will be quite an adventure.

Hope that you are all keeping well.  I am sending love and hugs all the way from Malawi!

Today I went to a wedding!!  Very different from any wedding I've been too before, I assure you.  The Ekwendeni minister's wife's brother was getting married, so the whole community was invited.  It was supposed to start at 10 this morning, but actually got underway around 11:10... apparently starting about an hour late is pretty good here!  The ceremony was much like one that would happen in Canada, but there was more singing and dancing... the procession itself took forever as everyone danced up the aisle.    People clapped and yelled as well during the procession, the vows and the rings... different, but kind of neat.

We had a bit of a break between the service and the reception, so we went and got some lunch (receptions don't include a big meal).  The reception itself was a real adventure.  It was held at Mzuzu University Hall.  The room was set up with the bridal party sitting on a stage at the front, and then we were all in rows below.  Once again, all of the important people danced up to the front as a procession, so that was fun.  All of these ministers who I'd met before (who have always been so serious and formal) were dancing!!  Crazy.  There was a master of ceremonies, and basically she just called different groups of people up to the front to throw money at the bride and groom for the entire afternoon.  So, she would call the family of the bride and groom, people from Ekwendeni, people wearing glasses... things like this.  When called, those groups of people would dance up to the front (loud music was on all the time) and throw money into a big basin or onto a tray or just onto the floor!  Very different from Canadian wedding receptions!  It was pretty fun :).  There was a little break for refreshments in the middle - everyone got a bottle of Coke/Fanta/Sobo, a piece of cake, a samosa and a little piece of chicken.  The coolest part was the toast; everyone's bottles were raised in the air and the clinking noises were great.  I have never heard so many people say, "Cheers!" all at one time.

Definitely a lot of new experiences for me today!

Always a minutes taker.  I went to the Synod-wide Primary Health Care meeting today and I was nominated minutes taker.  I hadn't even met most of the people who were there... I must just exude excellent minutes-taking skills.  So there you go.  Thank you very much, Hart House Chorus.

This meeting was held in Livingstonia, which is just over a 2 hour drive away (see blog entry from July for more details).  That means I had to wake up at 5:15... good word, that's early.  But, Livingstonia is quickly becoming one of my favourite places in the whole world, so it was worth it.  The historical stuff is so cool.  Our meeting today was in the Stone House (one of the early missionary houses) and there is kind of a museum in there too... so lots of interesting stuff to look at.  Also, the views around Livingstonia are just incredible.  Even the crazy road didn't seem that bad today - I just focused on the lovely trees around me.  And the monkeys!!  There were monkeys on the road - pretty fun.  They might have been baboons... I don't actually know.  We didn't get that close.  Whatever - some kind of primate.

The meeting was also interesting.  It is cool to see the projects that are happening all across northern Malawi - there is SO MUCH being done!  It is amazing what can happen when people work together, even with really limited resources.  God is doing great things through Livingstonia Synod PHC programmes.

Today, on the way to a beach on the lake, I saw some rubber plantations.  I've never seen rubber trees before.  Did you know that they extract rubber from trees kind of like sap from maple trees?  It's pretty cool.  They put this little spout right into the tree trunk, and then tie a little cup just below it to catch the rubber flowing out of the spout.  Just like sap that goes to make maple syrup.

So... yes, we went to the lake again today, but to a different beach than last week.  This one could have been taken out of some island in the Caribbean - it was just lovely.  Sat in the sun (with sunscreen - don't fret), read my book, went for a swim... Placement is a pretty sweet deal sometimes.

If yesterday was a scene out of The Lion King, today was for sure Finding Nemo.  After church today, some of us went to Nkhata Bay.  We went to a different beach than the one I went to last time, and it was also beautiful.  And, we got to do some snorkeling.  It was really cool.  There were tons of different kinds of fish, all different colours, and they were swimming very close to us.  A little scary, but not elephant scary.  I didn't see any Nemos, but there were some bright blue fish that (with a little imagination) could have been Doras!  Everybody likes Dora better than Nemo anyway.  "I shall call him Squishy, and he shall be mine... and he shall be my Squishy."  Anyway, it was really nice just to swim as well; swimming is great.  There were rafts anchored away from the beach, so we were able to swim out to those, sit in the sun, do some jumping... very fun.  A lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon!