Leaving the plateau tomorrow

It's been a crazy couple of days with constant reminders that we are in Malawi where things don't work and the schedule is always flexible.

When we left Atusaye's house yesterday we thought we would arrive just at the end of the Baccalaureate ceremony so we could hear some music and then go to a dinner we were invited to that was to follow the ceremony.  To our surprise, when we got there they were just waiting for the ceremony to begin - 4 hours behind schedule.  Then shortly after the service finally began, the power went out so we were sitting in the dark until some battery operated lights came out, followed by some candles.  The service went on for about 30 minutes before the power came back on and the local people never batted an eye because it is so normal.

Then when the first singing group came up to perform a young mentally disabled woman got up and tried to join them.  Shoeless, dressed in rags - again the local people didn't bat an eye and just let  her join the group.  John and I remarked that at home she would have been wisked away.

So the service got done at about 8 or 9 pm and then we headed to the hall where dinner was to be served.  After about another hour of waiting we had dinner, and then presentations that were still going on when left at about 11pm to walk home on the dark and bumpy pathway in the dark.  We realize that our night vision is completely spoiled because of all the street lights at home but thanks to the trusty flashlight app on our iphone we made it safely.

I will update today's graduation and post some photos soon.