Day to day living by Jared

Day to day living here is very similar to living in the United States, with a few exceptions.  All of us children get up at different times between 6:00 and 7:00; sometimes have a cup of tea while we read our Bibles, and wait until Mom and Dad finish their Bible study.  Kris and I then take out the compost and the garbage. The compost goes to the compost pile near the garden.  The trash gets sorted into burnable and unburnable.  The unburnable stuff, like cans and jars, go into a pit dug in the back yard near the wall. While we are in the back yard, we water the garden.  We have corn, radishes, lettuce and garlic growing now.  We then get ready for breakfast. 

After breakfast, we all do school at the dining room table, taking occasional breaks until our school is done.  We usually finish before lunch.  If we don’t finish before lunch, we have to stay inside and finish after lunch, usually somewhere else because Mama Chirwa cleans the dining room after lunch.

For recreational activity during the afternoon, Kris and I have a table tennis tournament every day, adding up the games at the end of the day and seeing how many games each of us won.  We average about 5-10 games a day.  Also, all of us kids also split into 2 teams and play keep-away with a soccer ball.  When they aren’t playing the keep-away game, Andrew, Sarah, and Alina usually play in the side yard, mixing up batches of grass and flowers to use for food while they play house.  Matthew usually sits around and reads books.

By 5:00 P.M., we come in to have dinner.  The mosquitoes start to come out, the night watchmen show up to guard the house, and we eat dinner.  After dinner, we all stay in the house because of the possibility of mosquitoes.  We sometimes play a game of Scrabble or Boggle.  Each evening, we study one chapter of the New Testament (we’re in Galatians now).  We then go to bed, usually around 8:30.

On Sundays, the schedule is slightly different.  We eat breakfast, and then get ready to go to church.  Church services start at about 9:00.  We start off with singing some hymns in Tumbuka, then break.  We get together again about 5 minutes later and sing some more hymns in Tumbuka.  During this section, we take the Lord’s Table.  After Communion, we take another 5 minute break.  Mr. Pascoe then gets out his guitar and we sing hymns in English.  The kids then go to Sunday school with Anastasia, while the older children and adults stay and listen to one of the men speak.  At 11:00, the service is over.  For lunch, my family and the Pascoe’s go to a little restaurant called Sombrero.  We have the whole afternoon to spend at home.