A Tale of Two Nights (Slightly borrowed from a tale of Two Cities)

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times....

Pat's Tale: I had a very busy day, drove to the clinic about 140 Km from Lilongwe. I got to meet the staff and was quickly immersed in the details of the work. It was great to feel like I was finally getting started! Chris Brooks and I worked late into the night preparing his information for the upcoming fundraising trip. I had called to see how Ann was and knew she was nervous. When I called the next day she seemed alright and she had survived, so that was a good thing!! It is hard with all of the new things, and from here on it may get easier, I certainly hope!!

Ann's Tale: You must have good STRATEGIES!! Knowing I had the dog on hand made things a little easier. So, I was thinking, and bingo, a Lightbulb Moment!!

Knowing my missionary friends advice was NO horror films ( fat Chance!!) and even NO Murder Mysteries, and we do not get TV reception yet, it left few choices. So my idea was to turn on EVERY significant light in the house (note to self- pay the bill later)
Then I went to the Kitchen and turned up the radio (YES we actually have Radio in Malawi!) to the BBC News of Africa - All night. I woke up to a burning smell in the night the BBC calls the Hell Nights of Africa. It is when they burn all of the fields to ge them ready for planting and the smell is EVERYWHERE!

Someone else guessed I would sleep with the bible clutched in my hand. Not quite, but I read Psalms until my eyelids would not stay open any longer. I also remembered what I used to tell my kids at Christmas "You know, Christmas will come faster if you go to sleep NOW!!

At five AM I smelled coffee and knew I had survived! My best sleep was actually from 5 to 7 am!!

I had a great morning as I went to a local school ( I walked of course) and had a chat with the pricipal, Sylvester. He was very friendly and has great hopes for his school. It is a private school and charges pretty hefty tuitions. He was telling me that in the government schools they often have up to 120 students per teacher! How can they possibly learn anything??

The adventure continues, please keep us in your prayers!!

The First Weekend on our Own

We jumped out of the nest on Friday. We moved into the house we had waiting for us. Living with Chris and Heather Brooks was a godsend, really. It gave us a few days to get oriented. Our first night was not easy though.

We had lots to unpack, but the living was a lot different when there are not friends in the next room. The house is fine, lots of room and grounds. We met Alan, the gardener/day guard and Otto the night guard. We were not very happy with the watch dog however. He is a big old Rotwiller, but never seemed to bark, didn't come to the gate and overall was not instilling confidence that he would be "fending of the bad guys" We were told there was a dog available a four year old Rodesian Ridgeback and we went to see her Saturday.

The first night was pretty tense if you don't mind me saying. Neither of us were very comfortable and there are more locks than a medium security facility in Canada!! Ann's brother Willie is a Warden in the Federal system, and we bet he doesn't have this many keys! We survived fine, but things got a lot better when we went to see this dog. She is a Guard Dog, and works VERY well. she is also a big suck and is always looking for attention. she even gave our guards a message about who was boss when she met them but soon settled down. Ann LOVES her and feels much safer having her, and we keep her in the house at night which also gives us more piece of mind.

It has been a big transition, and I am VERY proud of how Ann is willing to learn all the things that will help us have a good life here. The next test comes tomorrow,when I will be gone overnight to the Clinic. Ann is getting set to survive that ordeal, and we have company in the other half of the house and friends close by.

We are learning it takes a LONG time to get things done in Africa, and we are adjusting with minimum stress. Please drop us a line on this blog to say hello.

Best regards, and plase keep us in your prayers

The Eagle has Landed!!

We have arrived in Malawi safe and sound, but tired. After a tough and tearfilled goodbye at the airport, we got on the plane headed for England. We had a seven hour layover, and my brother, Mark, who lives in England came up to join us for lunch at the airport.

The next leg to Johannesberg was the toughest, eleven hours in the same chair, and me snoring in Ann's ear. It was a long night. There was some relief in Johannesberg in a surprising way. we were both very tired, so tired Ann could hardly shop!! Now, THAT is tired! I turned a corner and came upon a small area where they had massage chairs and for $15 you got twenty minutes of a great massage! Heavenly.

When we arrived, immigration asked us how long we were staying, and because we have to wait for my work permit, we sayed three weeks. Then she said, "how many bags do you have with you?" To which I relpied "9" She asked agian "How many weeks and you have NINE BAGS??" But, we got through it OK.

Sunday at Church Ann was given a little baby to hold, that looked three months old at best. She was coming from a crisis intervention center, and we learned she was 9 1/2 months old. It didn't take long for some of the realities of Africa to show up.

Tody, Monday, I drove on the left side of the road for the first time. It was tricky and required constant focus, but it was not all that bad. We are off to a seminar for the next three days, so next message will be on the weekend. Love to All

Nearly on our Way

Time has been flying past!

We have had a sendoff party from our church and nearly 70 people came. It was very touching to hear comments and words of encouragement and support. They were also generous in their financial support for Ann and I.

We have been spending a lot of time with family and getting completions done. Everyone is encouraging and supportive, but we all know it will be quite different in our new circumstances. It is very hard to say good-bye. I never imagined it would be this hard. I know it is a healthy thing and we have also seen and heard sentiments and words of kindness and suppport from some very surprising sources. all in all, we feel we are getting the many little jobs done.

We leave in two days on Wednesday Sept 6/06 at 11:45 pm from Toronto and will be in transit for 36 hours arriving in Lilongwe on Friday at Lunch time. We have been planning for months and the only real question might be "So, what did we forget?" It has to be something!! Oh, well,thats how it goes. We are looking forward to starting our new roles and we heard from Dr. Brooks today who advised we will be staying with them for a few days to get adjusted.

Next message will be from Africa!