Into Our Life

Here are a few pictures taken this past weekend.  Strawberry season is in full bloom here in Malawi.  And the Kyser family could not be happier!  The strawberries in Malawi are the softest, sweetest, most delicious thing you've ever tasted.  Actually all of the fruit that we eat here is a million times more delicious than what we eat in the States.  Just sayin'!  

Lucas and Tiya have a strawberry garden this year and we've been purchasing their strawberries.  What a joy to have an unlimited supply of these heavenly fruits!  Tiya and AJ decided to learn how to make a strawberry pie from scratch. There is no pie filling here...and although I've never made a strawberry pie before I'm wondering why in the world one would want to use a pre-made, canned, processed pie filling when it's so easy and delicious to make strawberry pie from scratch! 

Here are a few pictures of our cooking! 

Jeremy and SM decided that (as usual) licking the bowl was the best part!

I think the pie was a hit!

Meanwhile, on the front porch J-man was protecting his family from the evil Dr. Porkchop (if you have to ask then you haven't had to watch J-man's favorite movie, Toy Story, a million times!!!!)

Here is baby Mercy (Martin's baby girl).  Isn't she beautiful!  She's 10 months old!

Yes, he is posing for the camera!

He is such a mess!

Pushing Mercy in the swing!  J-man loves loves loves his swing.  He will swing on our front porch for hours!  The Rainbow kids love to come push him!  But here he is getting to push Mercy!  What a big boy!

AJ and Mercy

When it was time for Mercy to go home SM wanted to take her on her back.

Mercy just wondering what this mzungu child is doing!

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I love SM's face here!  She loves Ida!  The two of them are inseparable!

And about half way home SM was thinking Mercy was a little too heavy!

AJ gladly took over the baby responsibilities!

Until next time!  Mulungu akudalitseni!  

More on the Malawian crisis....

It's not getting any better here.  It actually seems to be getting worse.  We have an entire group of children from our school that won't be here this week (their teachers had to get their work ready for them) because they can't make the 1 hour drive into town each day due to the fuel crisis.  I say the word "crisis" now.  It's no longer a shortage.  We are having to deliver babies (normal deliveries and c-sections) without power.  People are getting angry.

I'm linking another blog here.  Please go and read this blog to get a better perspective (and better pictures) of exactly what's going on here.  This family lives directly behind us.  We share our back fence with them. They are a missionary family with another mission organization and their daughter is in my class at school. Please visit The Stocker Stories blog.  Please pray!!!!

Jill

A Saturday- Malawian style

 This past Saturday was a fun-filled day full of new adventures and sights.  We were able to go to a breakfast organized by other missionaries as a sort of support group.  It's nice to see missionaries from other organizations in Lilongwe and be able to share stories with them.  The pic above is just a view right outside the gate of our home.  It's lovely!

 On the way to Kumbali Lodge/Cultural Center we pass through a village.  This village lies just on the other side of a wall that surrounds the vast properties of the President of Malawi and one of his palaces.  The separation between wealth and poverty is vast in this country.

 Here are some of my favorite people!  Igna is one of the 3rd grade teachers at the academy and Ali and Allison (our adopted daughters) teach Kindergarten and Middle School English respectively.

 Me and the kids at our table.  Notice the Malawian band behind us.  They performed while we had our breakfast.

 Becky Epperson and the Trumbles!  I love those two families!!!

 Christian showing Chisomo how to pull the straw out of the thatched roof.  No, Christian....don't tear the roof up son!!!

 Jeremy and Micheal (Igna's husband) looking goofy for the pic!

 Mom took all of the photos in this blog post.  I loved the lighting in this one.  There are more on her blog as well...check it out!  It's listed in my blog roll to the right.

 Wonderful Malawian cooks preparing our meal!

 We are waiting for our drinks!  Waiting is something that you do A LOT of in Malawi!  I'm learning patience....although I don't remember ever asking for that lesson!

 Another view of the band!

 They had areas of the cultural center where pottery was made.  This is a hut used for creating and showcasing potter made on site.  Mom decided to snap a preggo pic...

Pictures of our life!

This is my school.  ABC Christian Academy is a k-4 through 12th grade school with over 300 students from nearly 25 different countries around the world.  I'm blessed to teach one of the two 4th grade classes where I have 20 beautiful children from more than 6 different countries (Malawi, Lebanon, Portugal, South Africa, USA, Great Britain, etc.) The photo above is taken down the hall leading to my classroom.  My room is on the left in the first building you see.

These are the picnic tables and quiet area right outside my classroom.  I love to sit out here during break and visit with parents, teachers, and kids.

Here is the playground and my precious son running to the monkey bars.  He plays long and hard each day and that white shirt truly shows it by the end of the day!  He loves the new school and his friends and teacher!

Run, CJ!!!!  Run!!

This was taken just past the picnic tables that I mentioned before.  This is a view to the front of the school.  The parents drop the kids off here and pick them up.  Notice all of the international flags flying in front.

 Here is my door.  I have a Monkey theme this year and it truly fits my class.  They're all a bunch of monkeys!

Here is SM at ballet class.  The number one thing she was excited about when we talked of moving to Africa was being able to take ballet.  Oh, she couldn't wait.  She goes once a week and she loves it!  She's such a big girl!

And here is my little elephant after a day at "reception" (otherwise known as preschool).  They were studying the letter "e".  Cute, huh?!

Thanks to Gidgi for the wonderful pictures!!!!  She's the best!

Jill

Everyday issues in Malawi

 This is what you call a "fuel line" in Malawi.  Petrol and Diesel are a scarce commodity.  There is never any fuel in the pumps without a fuel line nearby.  If you see a line and people aren't in their cars that means they are just waiting for the fuel truck to arrive (usually it's merely a rumor that it's coming and sometime you sit for hours to find out no fuel truck is coming).  If you see a fuel line that's moving then you determine if it's a short line worth waiting in.  You can tell by the types of vehicles in line whether the fuel at the pumps is diesel or petrol.  By "short line" I mean 30-60 minutes.  Yes, imagine the lines in MS after Katrina and that's only a glimpse of what it's like here everyday.

We are not in this fuel line.  Yet we have to drive around them all the time.  Many times the lines block the road and you have to drive on the other side.  But hey, T.I.A. (this is Africa)!

People carry everything on their heads here.  It's amazing.  I especially love the huge baskets full of food  on the heads of tiny women.

This is Chipiku.  This is one of our main grocery stores.  We actually ran by here just today to pick up some Coke.  See, here you don't buy Coke in 2 liter bottles or cans.  You buy them by the crate in bottles.  You pay an k800 deposit to take a crate.  You then pay for the coke inside the bottles that you purchase.  When your crate is empty you bring the crate and empty bottles back, get a deposit slip/receipt for the crate, and go get another crate of Coke.  After you pay the initial k800 (approx. $5) you don't have to pay it again.  Thereafter you only have to pay for the drink itself. The choices of drinks are limited to Coke, Coke light (think Coke zero...kinda), and Fanta.  Nothing else!

CJ and SM waiting with Daddy in the car while Mommy and AJ shop at Chipiku.

This is how fuel is transported in Malawi.

Another way fuel is transported in Malawi.

On the way to church this past Sunday morning we saw a short fuel line at the gas station right by the church.  We turned around and jumped in line.  We were in line about 25 minutes.  Not bad at all.  And we still made it for the sermon (but we missed the praise and worship part....pooh!).  But hey, when there's fuel you get it!  By the time church was out the fuel was gone!

If you look closely there are tiny cars on the road way back in the back of the picture (not the white truck...).  Those are cars waiting in the fuel line that we are receiving fuel from.  They are in a much longer line than we were in and were probably waiting over an hour...and honestly, there was only one pump with fuel so the fuel probably ran out before they received any.

Jeremy paying the man for the fuel.  They pump the fuel for you here.  Sometimes they ration the fuel and only allow you to get a certain amount.  We needed less than half a tank so Jeremy got out to make sure we were filled all the way to the brim! That should last us a little while, hopefully.  We conserve fuel in many ways.  We only drive to and from campus.  We go to the store at one time and get enough for a week.  We don't sit in the car with the car running, it gets turned off.  If we have to run one errand we run a lot so we don't have to get back out.  BTW, the gas cost us k7800 to fill up which is about $6/gallon.  Our entire tank would cost about $84 and we just have a car.    T.I.A!

Jill