We decided to phone Innocent, the taxi driver we used when we were here in 2008 and who our Norwegian friends have stayed in contact with, for a lift over to Ekwendeni from Mzuzu. We had used a different taxi driver that another friend had suggested when we arrived last Tuesday, but the rate he charged us for a short trip to our hotel was quite high. That trip was only about 3 to 5 kms and cost 2000 of the local currency (about $8) and Innocent only charged us 5000 for a trip of 20+kms. Plus it was wonderful to see him again! We told him how many times we had repeated something he said in 2008 about the departure of our Norwegian friends. He is a very wise man.
Our friend Flemmings Nkhandawe arranged for us to stay at the Chizotera Guest House in Ekwendeni which is owned by his brother Sangster. It is a very comfortable and quiet location, and to our surprise last night we were joined by 3 women who we met briefly at the Nkhoma's celebration. They are child mental health specialists from Washington state and were recruited by the Kirk's to come and do a needs assessment with the College of Health Sciences. The area they hope to specialize in is mental health techniques especially in dealing with orphans, and the grief that can cause problems for them. There are over 600,000 orphans here, some due to HIV/AIDS, others to TB which has made a resurgence in drug resistant strains, malaria, and very high maternal death rates. It has been a treat to get to know them better!
We had a wonderful meeting with the Acting Principal at the College of Health Sciences yesterday and feel reassured that we will be able to complete our project without too much trouble in the short period of time that we have. The guesthouse is some distance from the offices and from the library which has internet, so that is a bit of a drawback. We figured it was about 1 mile walk in each direction and we were able to get a lift over this morning from the Washington women who were coming for meeting and will only have to walk back home - hopefully with fairly cool temperatures this morning.
Weather has been good - maybe a high near 80 so very pleasant compared to what we understand is happening back home in Minnesota with temps near 100.
We haven't taken any photos since we arrived but I wanted to post this one the other day in Livingstonia and wasn't able to do so because of the internet. This is me giving some backpacks filled with coloring books and things my Mom got for our Malawian son David Mhango's girls Ellen and Susan (born 2008 and named after me). David's wife Naomi looks so beautiful in her Malawian dress.
I tried to upload a video of the traditional dancing from the Nkhoma's but it did not succeed, though I think it still appears below. The internet is just not capable of doing this I'm afraid. Maybe when we get home I can put some of the videos on.
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