OUR ACTUAL ITINERARY
Tuesday, July 5th.- Amy’s friend, Will Baumgartner
drove Robin and Amy to JFK for a 5:55 p.m. departure
Wednesday, July 6th - After 16 hours in the air and a
stop in Dakar,
Senegal, we arrived in Johannesburg
at 5:30 p.m. where it was dark! We spent the night.
Thursday, July 7th - We arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi. We were met by Shadreck Lakudzala, our friend and Chairman of Friends of Children Arts Society. We took a taxi to his sister Flora’s house in a suburb of Lilongwe. We then were taken to his other sister Doreen’s house where we spent the night.
Friday July 8th Shadreck’s nephew Francis
drove us south to Mlanda in a mountainous region along the border with Mozambique. We met our host family, the Mkwambes.
Saturday July 9th - We met some of the members of the Nthandizi Orphan Care Committee and then were
introduced to a hall full of orphaned children and their guardians. There were
many speeches and some singing. We were given a gift of locally grown produce
from the guardians of the orphans we assist. The choir of older children performed
two songs. We were then were given a hot meal and returned to Mlanda by bus.
Sunday,
July 10th – We participated in worship at the Nthandize Presbyterian Church. Five small choirs sang! More welcome speeches, gifts were
exchanged, and Robin and I spoke and sang. A midday meal followed at the home
of the new pastor and his family. We sang with women from the Ladies Guild. We learned that the guardians (mostly grandmothers) want to start their own businesses.
Monday July 11th – We took a rest day with no travelling.
We worked on details of child sponsorship with Shadreck. We visited the
Presbyterian Church at Mlanda. Robin has an offer to serve with the all-male
deacons next summer!
Tuesday July 12th – We deposited $900 in the Nthandizi Ophan Care Committee bank account. We met with the committee and discussed small business opportunities and our desire
for a list of the 25 most needy orphans.
We will seek sponsors for these in the coming year. We shared a midday
meal.
Wednesday July 13th
We visited
the local primary schools and secondary school. We met a principal who has 774
elementary age students, 4 classrooms, and 10 teachers. His enthusiasm for education
was inspiring despite the incredible challenges.
We walked through
four villages and saw the homes of several of our sponsored children.
We were able
to talk one-on-one with some of our older sponsored children as we walked and learned their dreams for their future careers.
We had
a farewell gathering with the guardians and the children in their care. We distributed
the prayer shawls to the 8 most deserving. to our new friends.
Thursday, July 14th – We packed up and were driven to
Lilongwe by Shadreck’s nephew, Francis. We did some shopping in downtown Lilongwe
before heading to Shadreck’s sister’s home for dinner and the night.
We were given
a good-bye “feast” at Paul and Doreen’s home. Delicious food,
devotional time, hymn-singing, laughter, photos, and dancing were enjoyed by all of us.
Friday July 15th – We were driven to the airport by Doreen.
Several project members drove all the way up from Ntcheu (2 plus hours drive) to see us off at the airport.
We flew to
Johannesburg. Enjoyed
hot showers!
Saturday July 16th – We were driven to the North
West Province by Johann Palm where we met his sons and
played with the family pets: two tame spider monkeys! We spent the afternoon at Pilanesburg National Park and had an evening barbecue with some friends of the family.
Sunday July 17th – We visited a lion park and did souvenir shopping at a large African crafts
market. We were dropped at the airport where we weathered the large crowds and
boarded our plane for New York (along with the South African
Women’s Netball Team)!
Monday,
July 18th – We were surprised and delighted to be met by Robin’s husband, daughter, and mother
at JFK. Home again.
