Shortages

Well, our life is constantly changing and adapting to the new culture and the new country in which we live.  The weather is getting extremely hot!  Last week was the hottest yet and this week looks to be more of the same.  The temperatures are reaching into the mid 90's each day.  Now, I know that we have those same temps in MS (and even hotter) but remember, there is NO AIR CONDITIONING here!  Yes, MS is hot.  But we stay inside in the AC during the hottest parts of the day.  And even when we have to get outside we are only running to our car where we quickly turn the air up as far as it will go.  Here, we don't have AC to escape to.  We went out this weekend to buy more fans for our home.  The fans were nearly $100 a piece but we gladly laid down the Kwatcha in order to gain a little more air for our children to sleep peacefully during the night.  (I must admit here that our master bedroom has a little AC unit and we do turn it on at night when we go to bed.  I'm in my 3rd trimester and don't feel the least bit guilty about trying to receive a good night's sleep.  Well, maybe just a little guilty....)  People say that when the rains come it helps cool things down.  I'll let you know.  Apparently the rains will start in mid to late November.

Fuel is very scarce here right now.  I'm not sure there is any logical explanation for the scarcity except maybe that the Kwatcha is so devalued that no one is trading forex (foreign exchange....i.e. American dollars) to get Kwatcha.  Therefore there are no dollars with which to buy fuel.  I'm no economist and I don't pretend to be one.  I just know that we have no petrol and no diesel in this country.  People are waiting for days on end in the ques (lines) and still leaving empty handed.  We are currently trying to purchase a second vehicle so that we will have one diesel and one petrol.  That way we can hopefully better ensure that we can get to our areas of ministry when we are needed.  The Lord has been so very faithful to us though and we have always found fuel when we needed it (and haven't had to wait extreme hours).  God is good!

Water and electricity are also scarce in our country right now.  Yesterday our power was out from 7am to 7pm.  From what I've been told, Escom (our power supplier) is working on some broken generators and designing new ones.  While they are working on the broken and new ones there is not enough electricity being generated to supply all of their customers.  So we are experiencing load sharing.  Our power goes off at certain times (not scheduled times....it appears to be random) so that others can have power.  The sad thing is, the "load sharing" doesn't appear to be equal.  For instance, our area doesn't really lose power as much as the ABC campus and the area surrounding it.  ABC has had an intense two weeks of NO power and NO water.  ABC has generators BUT those generators take one very important thing to run them....diesel.  And as you read above, there is none.  So although we do lose power here quite a bit I really can't complain because it's not as bad as most of our friends (maybe it helps us that the President of Malawi has a house close by....hmmmmm.....).

Speaking of power being out:  I had a fantabulous weekend!  I was called in by Becky to assist (i.e. watch) a vag delivery on Saturday.  Wow, things are so different here!  All of the births are natural and the machines, security measures with the baby, transition time for baby, postpartum care, etc are all WAY different.  I'm learning a lot and have much more to learn, yet I'm fascinated and can't wait to help in another delivery.  Now, back to the power problem.  Sunday morning they called me from the clinic and asked if I wanted to watch a C-section.  I jumped all over that one as well.  A vag birth and a section all within 12 hours...I was in heaven.  One small problem: no power.  Jeremy brought me to campus because we have only one vehicle (another reason we are buying a second vehicle) and he needed to help set up sound for one of the churches.  That plan soon got erased as he scurried to figure out why the generator hadn't come on for this emergency c-section.  Jeremy is the "problem solver" of the campus (one of two men that seem to know much about a LOT) and he quickly determined that there was no oil in the generator.  It was bone dry.  So they got the oil only to have a bunch of fuses go out when they went to crank it up.  So Jeremy is up stealing fuses out of campus staff vehicles while we are going ahead with an emergency c-section with no power.  That's right, WE DID A C-SECTION WITH NO POWER!  Ok, I didn't do it.  The amazing Dr. Sonja did it.  But the Lord's light shone right through the window at the appropriate time for her to be able to work.  Amazing and scary all at the same time.  God is good all the time!

One last thing that is scarce in our country now:  beef.  Apparently there has been an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease and we have no beef.  Yep, we are really living in Africa!

Sorry this was so lengthy but I hope you feel a little more informed and know how you can pray for our family and for our country.

Much love,
Jill

Lake Malawi!

Grocery shopping in Malawi: Prices

When we first arrived I took a few pictures of some of the items in the grocery stores that would show you how different the prices are.  We haven't eaten grapes since we left the States.  Above you'll see why.  Now, our family usually goes through an entire bag of grapes a week.  We just love grapes.  I think it's one of the major things AJ misses about America.  However the package above is about 1/4 the size of a bag of grapes.  The container is a little bigger than my hand.  And the price of K2000 is approx $12.  So you see why we haven't been eating grapes at all!  :(

Ok here are some tiny little cherry tomatoes.  Evidently they are imported from Europe or something.  We can get fabulous tomatoes here (the regular ones are very cheap) but these imported little baby ones are about $39.  I mean seriously??  Do people actually pay these prices?

This is a little pencil case in the school supply section.  The price is $8.  

Here are some colored pencils that cost $12 per pack.

This one is for my mother in law:  Cake confetti (or sprinkles to us) cost  over $9 for a little shaker.

This is a refill pack of baby wipes (72 in the pkg).  The price on this little gem is approx. $15!  Yes, that's right, $15 for a refill pack of baby wipes.  So we had mom bring us some on the airplane when she arrived last month.  Of course, we'll also be sending some on the container next year.  Baby wipes is one thing that is a MUST when you have a baby!

And finally, this regular sized bottle of Pantene costs over $19.  Thankfully our amazing supporters and church provided us with most of the above items before we ever left the States.  We were able to pack them onto the container and ship them over.  Of course, we still pay for the space on the container, but it's worth it to not have to pay some of the prices over here.  Thank you so much for all you did for us last Spring!  We are SET for the year!!!!  I jokingly say, when I walk into Mom's room/the storage room, that I'm going to Wal-Mart.  It's true, we are very blessed with amazing friends and family.

Now, I'm not trying to be a downer about all of this.  We are VERY blessed to have amazing prices in other areas of the grocery realm.  Fruits and veggies are very inexpensive.  So we've been trying to eat more and more healthy.  It's good!  We are so very thankful to be here and thankful that we have the prayers and support of our family and friends back home to get us through.  Thank you for all you do for us!

In His Service,
Jill

Reading Day at ABCCA

 Yesterday was Reading Day at ABCCA!  How much fun!  Reading Day is a day where the students and teachers are asked to dress up like a character from a book.  They carry the book around with them throughout the day.  Gidgi and I dressed up like Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who from "A Wrinkle in Time". AJ was Laura (of course) from "Little House on the Prairie", CJ was a pirate from Peter Pan, and SM was Cinderella.

Miss "O" and CJ on reading day....my two pirates!

Mommy's beautiful princess!

My 4th grade class getting ready for the parade. The parade starts at the Reception end of the school (preschool) and as they pass through the next class joins in on the parade!

More of my class ready for the parade.

After the parade each class goes to the pavilion for Chapel services.  This is one of the few times that all grades R-12 are together for Chapel!  We had a poet come and read a poem to the students, we learned a new song in Chichewa, the teachers put on a skit about a "Mixed up Fairy Tale", and then we had class costume awards!  Above is SM sitting with some of her classmates for Chapel.

CJ sitting in Chapel with the amazing Mrs. Blake (his teacher)!  We love her!!

All of our students during the Chapel service.  We have over 300 students!

Here are the teachers handing out awards for "Best Dressed", "Most Original", and "Best Handmade Costume".

After Chapel the kids had recess and then returned to their classrooms for Reading Day Activities.  In our class we pushed the desks aside and laid down the pillows and blankets that the kids brought.  They all spread out and began reading a book of their choice either aloud to a friend or quietly.

AJ deep in a book.  This is usually how I find her even at home!

We are blessed with a beautiful (and large) flower garden on our campus so our class spent the last hour of the school day reading in the garden.

Two of our mom's came towards the end of the day to read aloud to the children.  It was so very peaceful and perfect! Above is Mrs. Pumpelly reading books that Anya's aunt wrote.

Finally, Mrs. Stocker read from Shel Silverstein (one of my favs)!

Leanne (aka...Willy Wonka) and Gidgi holding books that they read to Sarah Rose's and SM's classes.  Gidgi was able to read to all three of her grandchildren's classes!  I think she's really enjoying being a GRAND in Africa!

Mrs. Kyser's 4th grade class!  It is thanks to you (our family, friends, and supporters) that we are able to serve the Lord in such an amazing and fabulous way!  We love being here and are so thankful for this opportunity.  We truly see why we are here and why we are needed!  The harvest is plentiful and ready....but the workers are few!

Please pray about coming to ABCCA to serve.  We are looking for someone to take over my class from January to Easter so that I can go on maternity leave.  Also, there will be many Academy openings for the 2012-2013 school year!  Is God calling you to serve Him in Malawi, Africa??

In His Service,
Jill