Update

The longer we have been here in Malawi the fewer updates we seem to write.  I’m sure that part of it is that we have gotten busier but more than that it is because life is becoming more “normal” to us.  Next month we will have been here for a year—it is hard to imagine we are half way through our 2 year commitment. Even though we encounter many frustrations every day we have learned that they are all a part of living here and don’t think that anyone would be interested in hearing about them.    I’ll try and give a brief update on what we have been doing lately.

- We took our nannies to Lilongwe to see how the nursery there operates.  We left our children with friends (or they use to be J) and took five ladies on the first trip.  They were thrilled as most of them had never been in Lilongwe.  The ladies spent one afternoon and then the next morning assisting the Lilongwe caregivers.  We spent one night and treated them to eating out for their meals.  It was also a treat for Andy and me as it was the first time we didn’t have our children with us so we ate dinner at a very nice restaurant and enjoyed peace and quiet for a short time.  Two weeks later we returned with the remaining nannies and repeated the process.  They were so thankful for what we had done for them and we enjoyed being able to give them an opportunity they had never had before. 

- We are in the process of trying to buy a beautiful lot to build a stand alone nursery on.  As we said before buying land here is not as simple as in the states.  Since this property has no improvements on it (nothing built) it can not be sold.  The man who is working with us has been trying to get a letter of revocation which allows us to buy it regardless of improvements.  The man who the land has been allocated to is willing to sell it but needs permission from the land commission to do so (don’t ask for an explanation on all this).  Supposedly the letter has been written but will not be signed until the 10^th.  Like I said, don’t ask!  We don’t really understand how it works but we know that God can do all things and we will trust Him to complete the sale. 

- Andy tried for weeks to open a Ministry of Hope bank account where MoH can put funds to purchase the land.  Sounds simple, huh?  Not so.  I’ll let him explain why it took 2 weeks and many, many trips to the bank.

- We received a call asking if we had room for another baby as there was a 1-week old baby from Likoma Island whose mother had died.  Of course we said yes and then waited for the baby to come.  Apparently the ferry from the island only comes on Saturday night so they were going to bring the baby to the social welfare office on Monday (they had called on Wednesday).  Well it’s been 2 weeks and no baby.  When we ask about it the social welfare officer says that he doesn’t know and doesn’t do anything to find out.  This is something that is very difficult to get use to.  We would be willing to rush there and get the baby but they treat this life and death situation very casually.  With other babies, I have tried calling every day to find out where they are, offered to provide transport and it doesn’t get us anywhere so now I put it in the Lord’s hands.  I’m assuming that the baby died and it just breaks our heart.  They are never in a hurry to get these babies to us.  Maybe it’s how you react because death is all too common here but for us it is hard to accept.

- We are looking for someone to hire as nursery supervisor.  If we can a supervisor then we can move the nursery into a rental house and set it up to function independently from our house.  We would still oversee the nursery but we would have more flexibility and not tied as much as we are with it in our home.  We are unwilling to advertise as we don’t want a stream of people at our gate.  Please pray that we can find someone who will truly love babies and has a heart for this ministry.      Lisa