As so many of you generously gave money for me to take to Malawi for the Hope for the Nations project, I thought you might like to read what I got up to there during February 2010.

Tues 2^nd & Weds 3^rd I set off with Graham at about 1pm and we headed off to the airport. Graham works for the charity, Hope for the Nations and we would be staying in their Hope village in Chikwawa, Malawi. On the way, we picked up Les Dennis (No, not that one that cracks jokes all the time!), but a real life hero who help set up and build the Hope village 10 years ago.

After a very good flight overnight (a mere 9.5 hours!), we had a 2-hour wait and then another 1-hour flight. What then should have been a 4-hour car journey turned into 4 hours by bus and another 2 by car. We got there safely. (I thought the bus would be a bit basic, possibly with chickens on etc., but it was air-conditioned!) That was true bliss as the temperature outside was about 35 degrees. As we drove across the Plateau, I began to think I would cope with the weather ok. However, as we started to descend to the bottom of the Rift Valley the temperature started to climb. It was between 45 and 50 degrees with a humidity of 60%. I started to wonder what I had let myself in for.

We got to Chikwawa sometime on Weds afternoon. They are 2 hours ahead of us. We were staying with a British family who live there in the Hope village. We had a light tea and went to bed early. We were shattered after having little sleep for 2 days.

Thurs 4^th The next morning we got up at 6.30am (UK time 4.30am.) I was given a planned itinerary of everything I would be doing for the next 2 weeks. There was I thinking I would be taking it easy today and sleeping off the jetlag, but my first job was to tile a shower in a very hot, sticky and humid 35 degrees. Being in such a confined space was not that comfortable. At one point the sweat was dripping of my nose like a tap. The stench from the drain made me feel quite nauseous and after coming over all dizzy, I decided to slow down and take my time with the tiling. I took great care cutting the tiles and carefully putting them on the wall perfectly straight. The tile cutter was as sharp as a cucumber and I wished I could just nip down to B&Q and get a new one. However, getting a new one would be a 40-mile round trip, so my first lesson was learned - mend and make do.

After lunch I went to the day centre and helped with the children. Their afternoon activity was to do some clay modelling. I joined in and tried to make something that looked like a pot. Most of the children made tables and chairs and mobile phones - things that I found out later they did not have. One thing did surprise me though - as I was modelling the clay, I kept on being bitten and I then realised that there were termites mixed in with it. The pieces we made were literally moving to look at! After dinner, I walked around the village and talked to the locals. 

 
Fri 5^th I went to a local village, by bike, with the local pastor, Pastor Galazani, spreading the Word. We sat under a tree and listened to the Gospel of John on a special radio that was both solar and wind-up. This was provided by The Bible Society and was left each week with the villagers so that they could listen to God’s word and then talk to the pastor when he came back the next week. We talked for some time, prayed with them and then cycled on. I should point out that I was offered a chair to sit on when we arrived in the village but 2 things crossed my mind – firstly, the chair was so flimsy I doubted that it would hold my weight and to smash it would not be very polite. Secondly, the village elder should have it so I offered it to him and then made sure I sat next to him so as to show those around him that I acknowledged his position in the village. Sitting under this great old tree talking to the local people was a great privilege and also very cool and relaxing. In the back of my mind, I was aware that I had a 3-mile cycle ride back to Hope Village and Pastor Galazani had promised to take me on a detour on the way home to see where I would be going later.

In the afternoon, we went to a local feeding project for desperately sick children and their guardians. I travelled by car this time as I was going with a young Australian woman who was volunteering at Hope village with her husband. They had been there for10 months or so. Her Husband, Richard, had reorganised the warehouse and empowered the local Malawians to take more responsibility within Hope village for the projects there. Whilst he was doing all this, she was busy with the children at the day centre.

When we got to the village we went to a feeding station. This consisted of a tin roofed structure with open sides. A simple meal was cooked here and the children at risk within the village were fed. The village committee decided who needed to be fed and someone walked to Hope village 5 days a week to pick up supplies to feed them. Hope for the Nations are committed to helping the local people in need but are also aware that these people need to help themselves. So, the locals organise and cook the food, decide who needs it and have to take responsibility for feeding them on the other 2 days. I noticed there were very few young adults - 27% of young adults were HIV positive. This meant that, if it weren’t for the project, many children would starve to death because they have no parents and their guardians feed their own family first and then the orphaned children. 

After the children had been fed I told them a Bible story and chatted to them for a while. We then played a game called ‘Duck Duck Goose.’ This meant us getting into a circle and someone walked around tapping each person on the head. If they called goose when they touched your head, you had to get up and chase them around the circle trying to tag them. It was 40 degrees in bright sunshine. And of course the children loved picking me! I made as much noise as possible when chasing them and there was much hilarity. Within half an hour there were more than 200 people watching this amazing spectacle of me, red faced, gasping for air and sweating profusely, running around in circles - something I find I am doing more and more as I get older.

Sat 6^th I got up at 5am (UK time) and went on safari. I saw monkeys, deer, water buffalos, hippos, and crocodiles. (Sue had told me not to get too close to the crocs!) When you see them in the water a hundred yards away and there is tall grass all around you, you are glad there is a ranger there with a shotgun just in case one pops out of the undergrowth to say Hello. We had a lazy lunch and later I explored the Hope village properly. Things were not too good in the village - the rains had arrived 2 weeks before I got there so it was quite lush and green. The only problem was that the main maize crop had died through lack of water. The fish farm on site was low on water so the density of fish had dropped. Because of the lack of water there were less fish being harvested. The banana plantation was dying. They were also having trouble watering the vegetables in the market garden. There was a slight air of despondency on the site.

Sun 7^th I walked to church - this was a long 2 miles in the baking heat. We sang many hymns, none of which I knew, but soon picked up and I taught them a new hymn. Graham preached and we prayed for those people who needed ministry whilst we slowly melted in this church with a tin roof. I rested in the afternoon. 

Mon 8^th I spent all day on site. I tiled in the morning, which was really hot as I was in small toilet, but at least I could have a sit down. In the afternoon, I looked at the projects in Hope village and how they could be improved and we discussed how we could connect a pump to a new bore well that had been drilled two years ago. This could alleviate the water shortage on site. Then, all the children (orphans) from the 2 homes on site came for tea. Mayhem! I was really tired, but I received an encouraging message in the evening to say that St Mary's had raised £440 for the project. This is amazing and incredibly generous as it was just 2 Sunday collections. Thank you everyone! This will make a real difference to the people here.

 
For tea, I had sema (Maize flower made into a porridge consistency - bland it looks and bland it tastes), beans, cabbage and chicken. It was still 30 degrees at night but the constant drone of the fan made it bearable. However, the electricity sometimes went off in the night.

Tues 9^th We found the water bore hole, which had never been used. Les and I organised a Heath Robinson scheme to connect electric to it and fit a pump. I ran the day centre in the afternoon and in the evening we talked through plans for the future of Hope village.

Weds 10^th. I helped to cook the food for the orphans on site and those who attended the Day Centre. We had on the menu that day goat with rice and pumpkin leaves. You feel hungry already don’t you?! This was, indeed, an experience. Before we washed the rice, we first had to take out bits of stone from the de-husking process, take out anything that wiggled and remove any husks that were still on the rice - not quite ‘Taste the Difference’ rice from Sainsbury’s. The goat had been slaughtered an hour or so before and the bones broken up so we could chop it up. However, as the meat had not stood for some time, Rigor Mortis set in, it was very wobbly. The only way to cut it up was for the cook to hold one end and me the other and cut small chunks off it with a 12-inch knife. We both checked our fingers at the end to see we had the same as when we started. We did. Halleluiah!

The kitchen was open on 3 sides so that the air could blow through and keep it cool (I use that word advisedly). However, this meant that within minutes of the meat arriving, it was covered with flies. I was a little anxious at this point as I did not want to poison anyone, but they did not seem to worry. Half an hour later the goat was put into a large pan and cooked. I tried to convince myself that the flies, if there were any in the pan, would taste ok and I should not worry, as they did not seem bothered.

We soon dished it up and the children tucked in. I took a plateful too. The rice was good, the pumpkin leaf was an acquired taste and the goat was a challenge. On my plate there was a bit of kidney, a big bit of wiggly fat and a bony bit with some meat on it. I ate the kidney, took a mouth of the wiggly fat and chewed it for a couple of minutes before plucking up the courage to swallow it. A young boy next to me, who had finished his dinner, looked with big eyes at my plate, so I passed it over to him to finish it.

In the afternoon I mended the rope swing and walkway in the playground, fitting new wood where the termites had eaten it away and new ropes and chains to support it.

In the evening, I went to the hospital with Pastor Galazani. Each week he cycles 10 miles to the local hospital with his guitar strapped to his back and leads worship in the hospital wards. As we walked in, I vowed never to complain about the NHS again. First of all, we went into the TB ward, where there were about 30 beds, all very old with a dirty blanket on each one. The people just lay around with little or no help that I could see.

Pastor Galazani started strumming his guitar and within moments people were singing along. He turned to me and asked me to tell them a Bible story. We then prayed with them and went off singing to the next ward. When we left each ward and moved on to the next, I looked back and there was a visible lift in spirits in those we had ministered to.

Thurs 11^th I mended the children's climbing frame in the playground and with the help of Graham managed to take down the aerial runway and put a new pulley on it and then rebuild it. In the afternoon, I went to one of the children's feeding stations 10 miles away. There were 50 children plus there and I told Bible stories, using the Open The Book storybook – so OTB is now in Malawi! I prayed for the sick. I had a long meeting in the evening, so was late for bed, with a 6am start the next morning.

Fri 12^th The heat was sapping. The new borehole started pumping water (“Praise the Lord!”) and the fish reservoirs started to refill. I walked into the local market to buy some soap and that was an experience!! As I could not speak the local language, I was reduced to miming. I pretended to wash myself and a bar of soap was produced. I then tried to mime washing my hair but gave up, so I trooped off home, satisfied that at least I had some soap.

Sat 13^th I worked in the warehouse in the morning shifting shelving and engraving 4 new pushbikes for the villagers who have to travel 10 miles or so a day to pick up food. We engraved them so they would not disappear! In the afternoon I moved the pipe work from one of the fishponds to the larger reservoir and kinked the plastic pipe. This meant the pump shut down (Aaagh!) However, 1 hour later we got it going again. Phew! It rained for half an hour and was much cooler.

Sun 14^th I went to a different church. It was a very long walk there and back in the heat. I lazed around in the afternoon. Rain clouds were all around but not a drop in sight.

Mon 15^th I worked on the old borehole and de-silted it with Les. This was interesting, as I had to put my arm into a manhole cover filled with cobwebs and uncouple the pump. Whilst I was doing this Les was across the field sorting out the electrics. I may not know too much about Africa but I had seen some really big spiders whilst I was there and the thought of one of them running up my arm did not excite me. I got a small stick and waved it around in the hole collecting the cobwebs on it. I then started to uncouple it. As I was doing it, I did feel something walking across my hand but as my hand was under the pump I could not see it. Slowly, I removed my hand, ready to kill a ferocious tarantula, only to find a spider not much bigger than my little fingernail walking up my arm. I felt very brave and flicked it to the ground. Later I took photos of my tiling, played with the children at the day care centre and oiled the swings.

Tues 16^th to Thurs 18^th We left the village and went and stayed overnight at the capital Lilongwe to ensure we were there in plenty of time for the flight home. We took off at 10.35am on Weds, flew to Zambia and waited on the runway for an hour. We picked up more passengers and arrived at 16.35 in Nairobi. Then, we waited until 23.35 for the flight to Heathrow, which arrived at 5.45am on Thursday. We arrived safe and sound in Peterborough later that day.

It was an amazing adventure, a brilliant experience and a real privilege to serve the people in Malawi. Thank you everyone for all your support and prayers and for all the money you donated to Hope For the Nations Malawi. In total, I took £980 with me and that money is now saving lives and feeding those children who are at risk. I can still see there faces and their words to me as I left were that they would be praying for us. Please pray for all those in Hope village and the good work that goes on there.

PS. If you would like me to come and talk about my experience or would like to donate some money for the project, small or large, please get in touch with me.

Every blessing,

Michael

For more information about the work in Malawi, please go to: www.hftn.co.uk