Last night before sunset I went with Elaine to the family living next to Maggie's. Elaine is leaving on Wednesday and needed to make space in her luggage so she decided to give the widowed mother and her three children some clothes. I still need my clothes….so I cannot do that yet! I did snatch my blanket I was given on Ethiopian Air as I knew someone here could use it so I brought that along with me to give away. The children and mother were so happy. They all stuck out their hands and thanked us in english and chichewa. The mother said a longer statement in chichewa but we had no idea what she said….if only Gerald was with us!
On our walk back to the guesthouse Elaine began to cry. She said it finally hit her. We began talking about the little things that so many of us take for granted. Most of the time you give clothes away and don't know who they even go to but doing this and seeing the smiling faces as the family ran into the hut so excited was eye opening. We were touched!
This morning I was up early for breakfast and had to be out of the guesthouse by 8:00 as I was meeting Gerald at MicroLoan HQ at 8:30! Him and I have a meeting on Monday in Lilongwe so we both decided to take the bus in together as that was something I did not feel quite comfortable doing by myself and it was my first time!
We took bike taxis into Kasungu center and headed to the bus depot. No this is not like the Philadelphia Bus Depot! There were people everywhere and people selling popcorn, eggs, lollypops, milk, water, fritters, even chickens!
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| Ran into Nina at the Bus Station! |
We boarded the bus and waited for more than an hour as Gerald was telling me they don't leave till the bus is completely full. He wasn't joking! Full means every seat is taken and the isles are full of people standing. The conductor came onto the bus and had all those standing move as far as they could to make more room for travelers. It looked as if some passengers packed up camp and were moving across the country. They had bags with all their pots and pans, crops, and lanterns! They had their entire family with them as well. The family sitting across from Gerald and I had three children and they were all crammed together in the two eats they were given. Their young girl stood the entire ride!
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| A Bus Filled to Max Capacity |
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| Young Boy Selling Water Outside Bus Station |
Oh I forgot to mention the chickens….people brought live chickens with them too. They would tie their legs up and the mothers or children would hold their necks the entire ride to keep the noise level down…as if the noise level was not already bad enough.
At first I was saying in my head I would never do this again but as the ride continued I was able to see the enjoyment. I learned a lot more about Gerald and his life and got a view of Malawi a bit higher from the road. The bus did have sliding windows so I was able to have both open to get fresh air when needed and snap a few videos/pictures along the way.
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| Beautiful African Landscape |
Gerald and I began talking about our families. He told me he had eight siblings. He is 25 and is the fourth child. His oldest sister is 30 and his youngest brother is 11! He told me his father died when he was young so he lived a very hard life. His mother had to raise all her children by herself and the family members were raised to support one another.
Gerald had just started school as he did not have enough money when he was eligible for college. He actually won 60,000MWK ($390USD) in an essay contest through BP Malawi! With the money, Gerald was able to afford college and pay for his older brothers university fees as well. He is such a great person and someone I will always call a friend. He looked out for me the whole trip and made sure no Malawians took advantage of a 'muzungu' and try to over charge me on certain things.
He asked me what America was like. What the cities were like. Why it was like at my university. Why and how America was so innovative. How I managed to find MicroLoan. And so many more questions.
He expressed great appreciation of MicroLoan as he has been with the organization for about a month now. The job he previously held had 80 employees and soon went down to 8 as the boss was very rude and did not treat any of his coworkers and himself with respect so they all left. He said he loves having 'white people' at MicroLoan as he learns about their lives and gains a better grasp on his english!
Gerald and I arrived in Lilongwe after a four hour wait/bus ride and then he brought me to a mini bus where we headed to the lodge I would be staying at for the weekend. We did our handshake, I thanked him, and he was on his way to his place. He is moving all his belongs from Lilongwe to Kasungu as he is now based at MicroLoan HQ so he had to do some packing before our meeting we have with Paolo and another organization early Monday morning!
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| Mabuya Lodge in Lilongwe! |
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| Chalet 4 (My Room) at Mabuya Lodge! |
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| Relaxing by the Pool! |
Enjoy the weekend!
Will be video chatting the family and friends at my brothers graduation party tomorrow!
Congratulations Connor! Holy Cross Class of 2015! Love you and miss you!
Jimmy
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