Pictures!

here are a few pictures i posted the rest on my photobucket account...
http://s288.photobucket.com/albums/ll193/samiallen2/The%20Places%20Ive%20Been/Malawi08/



a true malawian!


nsima and greens


my favorite little man!


sunset at safari


What a cute kid!


I learned to slackline!


this one speaks for itself!


The group from my church... tracy myself and amy!

so this one time in Zambia...

How have the last three days been you ask… AMAZING!

The road to Zambia
Got up at 5:30 am to go to Zambia Wednesday and it took us about 7hrs to drive there. First we had to go through immigration and that took a good deal of time. Trying to be allowed to leave Malawi took a good 30+ min and then we walked through no mans land to Zambia and went through a 30-45min process trying to get in there. The bus got through also and we loaded back on and off we went. We drove for a bit and then the paved road turned to dirt and potholes. The next four hours were spent on this road. It was insanity! Though bumpy it was beautiful! The huts around us looked exactly as I had pictured Africa to look like. Plus the area is far more green then Malawi and that was refreshing! As we pulled up to our resort the Safari really began!

Living conditions…
What a bummer… our hotel had over booked so some of us got moved to a different resort that was about a 10min walk away. This place was amazing! I stayed with Amy and Lydia and our little house was lifted off the ground. It was like a tree house! Felt a bit like swiss family robinson! The second night I had to move to our actual hotel but it was still cool. Running all around the outdoor walkways were monkeys… and randomly some elephants would just wander through… seriously no joke. So down at my tree house here were some of the adventures. I sat about 30-50yds from some elephants and wrote in my journal/listened to music. One decided to take a nap… let me tell you an elephant laying down is a funny thing. I also was woken in the morning by an elephant walking around and the sounds of a hippo in the water at the end of the yard… The second night up at the regular hotel I woke to an elephant eating a tree/attempting to knock over a tree that was outside my window. Probably the most entertaining way to wake up at 4am!

Night ride 1
Had the best first safari ride ever! Headed out at 4pm saw giraffe, hippos, elephants, zebra, the tail of a leopard though he wanted his head to stay hidden, cape buffalo, impala, puku, crocks and storks. It was getting to be sunset so we pulled off for tea over looking a river which held hippos and crocks and watched the Zambian sunset. Beautiful?... YES! Then we drove around more and ran into some lions… a momma and three cubs. They walked over to some water and were drinking and all of us were amazed and intrigued. Do you know what is not far from mamma and her babies… DADDY. We turned around in our seats to see Mufasa right behind us! He strutted over so his family was in eye sight. The cubs walked over to him and played around and then they walked into the long grass. Good end to the first night!

Morning ride 1
Got up at 5am for a 6am drive. Saw the same animals except no lion but it was really beautiful! The animals are so great! We just drove around and looked at animals walking right next to us. Saw the Puku with their babies as well as zebra drinking together out of the water. Also we drove past this big open field and a hippo was just walking though, slow as can be though he did have a little gallop in his step! I learned that zebra live to be about 20yrs and giraffe 28. Elephants live much like humans in to their 60’s commonly but often times much longer. I also learned elephants have a handedness… or rather tuskness. Most of them are right “handed” and you can tell because of the ware on their right tusk. Male giraffe have no hair on those balls that stick out of their head because it has worn off due to fighting other male giraffe.

Night ride 2
Similar events which never got old but this night can be summed up in a leopard hunt. My driver fred had a hunch and we sat in a field shinning a spot light around looking for the orange reflection of a predators eyes rather then the blue of animals that are prey. Driving down a non road we spotted another vehicle and together spotted a leopard strutting through the tall grass. We drove around and caught him entering the open field. Watched him creep up to hide in pouncing position near some impala (deer like animals). To many cars were around so he never pounced. We left to do some lion hunting but came up empty handed with that.

Morning ride 2
Not everyone took this ride as we had to pay 20 extra dollars to do it. I figured I was in Africa and you pay nearly 20 to go to the zoo so why not. Nine of us went and all I can say is what a morning… the only way to start the following thought is this
Before eight this morning…
I was in Zambia, I set off in a safari car, I saw giraffe bedded down still, hippos having one heck of a fight mouths wide open. At least ten crocs in one place. Mufasa sarabi simba and zazu graced us with their presence. Mufasa sat just outside some tall grass and overlooked the short green grass land… not kidding he was just chillin there. Eventually her turned and walked into the grass so fred drove off not wasting any time! We drove up on some elephant and 3babies were included in this group. There were zebras (who also had babies) in the same area and what a sight it was. Went on to see some more elephant, zebra, puku and impala. What a morning!

Then we took the same journey back to Malawi and I now find myself chillin in front of the computer wondering if that all really happened… looking at the pictures I am quickly reminded that mere hours ago I was chillin with so many creatures!

so this one time in Zambia...

How have the last three days been you ask… AMAZING!

The road to Zambia
Got up at 5:30 am to go to Zambia Wednesday and it took us about 7hrs to drive there. First we had to go through immigration and that took a good deal of time. Trying to be allowed to leave Malawi took a good 30+ min and then we walked through no mans land to Zambia and went through a 30-45min process trying to get in there. The bus got through also and we loaded back on and off we went. We drove for a bit and then the paved road turned to dirt and potholes. The next four hours were spent on this road. It was insanity! Though bumpy it was beautiful! The huts around us looked exactly as I had pictured Africa to look like. Plus the area is far more green then Malawi and that was refreshing! As we pulled up to our resort the Safari really began!

Living conditions…
What a bummer… our hotel had over booked so some of us got moved to a different resort that was about a 10min walk away. This place was amazing! I stayed with Amy and Lydia and our little house was lifted off the ground. It was like a tree house! Felt a bit like swiss family robinson! The second night I had to move to our actual hotel but it was still cool. Running all around the outdoor walkways were monkeys… and randomly some elephants would just wander through… seriously no joke. So down at my tree house here were some of the adventures. I sat about 30-50yds from some elephants and wrote in my journal/listened to music. One decided to take a nap… let me tell you an elephant laying down is a funny thing. I also was woken in the morning by an elephant walking around and the sounds of a hippo in the water at the end of the yard… The second night up at the regular hotel I woke to an elephant eating a tree/attempting to knock over a tree that was outside my window. Probably the most entertaining way to wake up at 4am!

Night ride 1
Had the best first safari ride ever! Headed out at 4pm saw giraffe, hippos, elephants, zebra, the tail of a leopard though he wanted his head to stay hidden, cape buffalo, impala, puku, crocks and storks. It was getting to be sunset so we pulled off for tea over looking a river which held hippos and crocks and watched the Zambian sunset. Beautiful?... YES! Then we drove around more and ran into some lions… a momma and three cubs. They walked over to some water and were drinking and all of us were amazed and intrigued. Do you know what is not far from mamma and her babies… DADDY. We turned around in our seats to see Mufasa right behind us! He strutted over so his family was in eye sight. The cubs walked over to him and played around and then they walked into the long grass. Good end to the first night!

Morning ride 1
Got up at 5am for a 6am drive. Saw the same animals except no lion but it was really beautiful! The animals are so great! We just drove around and looked at animals walking right next to us. Saw the Puku with their babies as well as zebra drinking together out of the water. Also we drove past this big open field and a hippo was just walking though, slow as can be though he did have a little gallop in his step! I learned that zebra live to be about 20yrs and giraffe 28. Elephants live much like humans in to their 60’s commonly but often times much longer. I also learned elephants have a handedness… or rather tuskness. Most of them are right “handed” and you can tell because of the ware on their right tusk. Male giraffe have no hair on those balls that stick out of their head because it has worn off due to fighting other male giraffe.

Night ride 2
Similar events which never got old but this night can be summed up in a leopard hunt. My driver fred had a hunch and we sat in a field shinning a spot light around looking for the orange reflection of a predators eyes rather then the blue of animals that are prey. Driving down a non road we spotted another vehicle and together spotted a leopard strutting through the tall grass. We drove around and caught him entering the open field. Watched him creep up to hide in pouncing position near some impala (deer like animals). To many cars were around so he never pounced. We left to do some lion hunting but came up empty handed with that.

Morning ride 2
Not everyone took this ride as we had to pay 20 extra dollars to do it. I figured I was in Africa and you pay nearly 20 to go to the zoo so why not. Nine of us went and all I can say is what a morning… the only way to start the following thought is this
Before eight this morning…
I was in Zambia, I set off in a safari car, I saw giraffe bedded down still, hippos having one heck of a fight mouths wide open. At least ten crocs in one place. Mufasa sarabi simba and zazu graced us with their presence. Mufasa sat just outside some tall grass and overlooked the short green grass land… not kidding he was just chillin there. Eventually her turned and walked into the grass so fred drove off not wasting any time! We drove up on some elephant and 3babies were included in this group. There were zebras (who also had babies) in the same area and what a sight it was. Went on to see some more elephant, zebra, puku and impala. What a morning!

Then we took the same journey back to Malawi and I now find myself chillin in front of the computer wondering if that all really happened… looking at the pictures I am quickly reminded that mere hours ago I was chillin with so many creatures!

some thoughts

Feeding Mgwayi
This last Friday we had staff appreciation day with loads of games and a big lunch. There was kids here from some of the COTN houses and some of the staff came though the staff dinner was moved to Monday so more will come to that. As games were occurring we saw some mgwayi kids hanging around the back of our compound. Mgwayi is the village that backs our compound split only by an open field. We have been going to mgwayi five days a week for the last two months really making a connection with these kids. They sat watching us run around and laugh and play. All the interns hearts were breaking wanting these kids to come join us, though we were not sure what our directors would say so we avoided it. After some time they just started coming in. Looking at them they had gone home washed and put on their finest clothes before coming in. Lunch was approaching and looking around there was a lot more people then originally planned. Though that was not about to stop us, we started calling groups up to eat and mgwayi was included. These kids stood patiently in line while cooks rushed to make more food. Happily they sang songs and smiled in line. One by one they got their own plate of food and a fork. They went outside looking like they had one some sort of prize. After some coloring, food and games we walked them home. Looking back at the line of kids we were taking home there was more then fifty mgwayi kids that got to come play and eat! And still there was food for the interns! God provides!
Interns
I have spent the last two months with a group of interns that have really made this trip exactly what it is. I have grown into someone that is more myself then ever before. All in all I am still me though these interns have spent time helping me grow. There are a handful of the interns that I have gotten close to. We have all spent time learning just how to call each other on our lives. It has been great having some amount of accountability here. I was afraid I would be missing that considering I am use to meeting with Katie weekly as I have been for four years. I am glad that there is a handful of interns that I know I will still be friends with for the rest of my life.

Home?
Cant wait to get back to my friends and family. I am so excited to have my kitty back as my bed is very empty without my salma! I am so excited for food. The no wheat thing is way more of a problem then I thought it would be. I am so over rice for every meal. Meals were never this much energy before and I never had to think about them as much as I do here. The other day I had bought powdered broth to add to my rice so I could have soup. Well this particular kind was one I had had here before though it was a different brand. With in ten minutes my stomach was in knots and louder then ever. Well that brand used wheat. My poor stomach wanted nothing to do with it! But I was fine by that evening. Note to self NO WHEAT! Though I love it here and hope one day to return I am excited to get home and start the next chapter in my life. Out of college for a year before grad school I am really looking forward to a much needed and much earned break from school! Grad school apps here I come!

Coming back?
I love Africa… I may love Alaska just a little more! But given the opportunity to come back and work here again for another summer I would do it in a heart beat! Already finding it a struggle… one which will take me a year to pray over… to know if I should come back next year. Seems like walking back into mgwayi and seeing all my kids again would be amazing and irreplaceable. Going back to camp would be beyond amazing… and yes Bob and Gramma I have even thought about just working and putting money in the bank! Who knows what God will bring in the next year!

IM

ok instead of the normal thursday evening/afternoon IM session it will be friday! I will be in zambia for safari wed thurs and fri. i get back fri night and leave sat morning for the lake at salima (which is in malawi) then i will be back sunday and leave tuesday for home... and i arrive wed the 20th. Ruggers i assume normal activities will occur wed because i miss you all! spread the word friends.
as far as being home i have my grandpas 75 birthday party in oregon the 23rd-25th so i will be gone those days and will be around visiting my other grandparents and folks before i take the big step of moving! eeek cant wait to start the next step in my life!
But i will be online for the last scheduled time this friday at 2pm seattle time 5pm tennessee time and 11pm malawian time!

talk to you then!

wedding crashers

imagine this: you are having your wedding and its just as you pictured (imagine you are malawian or this just wont work) you are dressed in your white gown and your husband in his tux. Its just great your in love and as usual at a malawian wedding people come up to the stage at the reception and dance in front of you and through money. Then a big bus pulls up and a bunch of white folks get off. awkwardly dance around and give you money. Though they continue to stare awkwardly in amazement. your wedding has just become a show... a tourist attraction. awkward and rude.... yes. and we did that not once but count them TWICE and all in the span of three hours. HMM not cool to me. But our director knew the folks and said it would be cool. I dont know though. we walked in and everyone stared at us. its the brides day stare at her. i woulda been upset for sure.

IM

I will be in zambia next Thursday so no online for me. I will figure out when I can get on IM and let you all know by Monday or Tuesday!

free time

I have only so far crocheted blankets well I decided to learn to make other things. So I made a rainbow beanie and to rainbow socks! Super exciting! Sitting in the office wearing them now and they actually are really cool. Plus I had no real pattern just did what I thought I should and it worked out!

bye bye MUZU

Hey all!!!
Loving it here as you all may have guessed. Today was the last day of ministry so it was a bit hard. Met with my Malawian family for the last time and it was a big event… totally full of God! Amy Lydia and I had donated a skirt and shirt to each of the girls in the family… mom and two daughters. Then for the dad I donated a shirt I got from church and the little man precious I gave a beanie baby, shorts and one of my bandanas. It was so cute because since my hair was cut so short before I left I have been wearing a bandana every day to keep my hair out of my face and I let precious wear it one day and my aviator glasses… he was totally BA. So I gave him my dark blue one and he put it on right away! The girls were so excited about their clothes and we got to give the family a Chichewa bible so momma was so thankful. We also wrote a note to the whole family and gave them rice, soap, finger nail clippers some first aid cream and a wash cloth. Then we wrote each family member a note that had their name and a verse of encouragement about somewhere we thought God was growing and changing them. Momma gave us a papaya in return and it was so good. Then we went to carry water back one last time and I got to carry the big metal pot! Woot a real Malawian! Momma laughed the whole way back! Then we did a bible study on the sermon on the mount. Lastly we washed dishes and cooked corn porage. This is one of the things I hate the most. When we have it here I never eat it. Its thick and… I don’t know gross. But momma served us each a large helping. Our Malawian intern ben had a hard time. But I did it much to the distaste of my belly and momma was so happy we all did!
We headed home and I took a nice long nap not looking forward to afternoon events… personal ministries. Being as my ministry was Muzu and we got kicked out and never allowed back I wasn’t going there. Well I also didn’t want to go to some other teams goodbye program and watch them all get to say goodbye
So instead two other muzu folks and I went to a soccer tourni. When that lost appeal we decided to walk home and here is how that went. This guy road up on a skate board and God taught us yet again how first impressions and looks mean nothing. He told us a bit of his story and it was super encouraging. Then we stopped at a gas station and got soda and chips and sat outside and ate them. Then the sun was getting lower and we cant be out past dark so we continued home. Found some police and got asked to be “friends” which means to marry them… one really wanted Lydia it was crazy! Then went futher to find another police blockade and that just led to a how are you and we quickly moved on. Then we had to walk through the middle of a bunch of guys blocking the path near the police…sketch you ask. Maybe. Then we continued on home and got picked up by our director. Kinda crazy. And what coulda been a really bad day where we just thought about not saying goodbye worked out! God is good!

a weekend in Africa

well its saturday and i decided i would break away from the typical thursday night internet mode and see who was around on saturday. No worries i will still stay up late african time thursday to chitchat and blog again.
today i got up and we have breakfast... egg day! my favorite. then we have a 2hour solitude. Basically two hours with God. reading, journaling, praying... whatever works. I have been so happy because a few weeks ago I found a great place to do my quiet times. there is an unfinished banquet hall and I climb up the unfinished fireplace and sit on this brick ledge. Its pretty spacey and I all in all love it. From this space I can see over the wall that surrounds our compound! its great. After that and an intern meeting we had lunch. then we got dropped off in town. after a coffee shop and a trip to the store two others and myself walked home. now i am about to go play an intern group game... yeah!
hope everyone is well

MOM check your email!

NEXT THURSDAY

I will be on Facebook and gmail (bubbles.gmail.com) for chatting purposes on thursday again. 11pm my time 2pm seattle time and 5pm if you are in a place like tennessee...dad and candace. I will be on for at min an hour so if you are a bit late you will catch me... hope to hear from you all!
love ya!

my muzu rant

Muzu
This is a sad story if I ever have to tell one. Well the Saturday after I had that sad experience with the little boy with the hurt foot things really got out of hand. The Muzu boys have a soccer team and they play in the COTN league. Well they are kinda pushy and violent and the ref (a COTN staff) eventually kicked them out of the league due to violence. They tried to beat the ref up, though he got away fine. The boys threatened saying don’t bring the azungus back here again. COTN feels the threat is worth waiting to talk to the chief. Well in true Malawian style no one has talked to the chief and there are only 2 muzu visiting days left. Ughhhhhh. This is my favorite place in Malawi and I have been kicked out and I didn’t even get to say goodbye… I am beyond mad upset or frustrated. I hope to get to go say goodbye to them because I don’t want to be that white person who said they would come back and just didn’t care enough to. Anyone can ask my directors I am fighting them tooth and nail on this one. So for the last Tuesday and Thursday I had to pick a new field. I went with my friend amy to her field that is walking distance and we do about the same things. Only its not with my kids and it made me more sad. Today we went there was this big bus there blasting music. It was a Christian group who said they organized a soccer tourni. Only they took the teams COTN created and had them play so they didn’t do anything at all. Then at half time they had a talk organized. Well we thought ok give it a chance and here is there talk: you are loved. Jesus loves you. None of you were a mistake. In John 3.16 it says for God so loved the world… Now raise your hand if you want to accept Christ into your heart. (picture little Malawian children just a few of them though raising their hand… their friends look around and raise their hand afraid they may not get the free stuff that might be coming) then they do a 10min prayer to save the children. Following that they direct the kids with hands up to the front of the bus and hand out flyers to the YC conference to a bunch of 4-10 year olds. Not sure how those kids will be able to get down town but yes please give them a paper in English they cant read. Then they plugged them in to Zero churches or organizations near by and gave them no bible in which to learn about who Jesus is and what he expects from us and what is right and wrong. But they did nicely treat them all as if they are an unreached population. Well if anything this area is over churched and under “gospeld.” Please don’t talk to them like they don’t know who Jesus is. Please ask who already does believe in God. Maybe even ask who goes to church. You could also find out who believes in witch craft… it’s a stretch but maybe find out which kids are gulus or whos parents are to find out what they struggle with. And maybe they shouldnt drive their dumb bus in blast their music so the kids cant sing their songs and hear their own beautiful voices and share a culture of beauty with you…and then hand out Canadian flags as if that has anything to do with Jesus and then drive off and never see these kids again. But Yes count hands and go to bed at night thinking 50 some odd children now believe in Jesus. I would rather have gone to Muzu and allowed some 18year old boy punch me. RANT OVER.

scandals in africa

ok so now you have your hopes up that i will leave some scandal here... well in africa its a bit different.... i folded my chitingi up so it hit just below my knees and pulled my shirts down over the top. every malawian women was pulling at it and having a fit..

ok so a chitingi is something like a sarong and you wrap it over your skirt so that you dont get your skirt dirty while working. i guess you are supposed to wrap it high on your waist and tuck your shirt in. anyways it was the scandal of the neighborhood. i know i know i am a rebel.  

lets see what else.  I have been invited to dinner by another family so hopefully i can find a translator and go.  

House visits

momma jenna had us mud an entire wall today. I did so while be pestered by one of my favorite kids, mava, mother.  she was drunk and telling me good job over and over while shoving mud in my face and telling me in chichewa how to fix it... all the while she said good job. i dont know crazy is all i can say!  this sunday i am going to catholic mass with momma jenna and family and i cant wait.  

mgwyei

yes i spell that different everytime!  monday i got to hold the newborn baby... his name is kidd or christopher and it was so great! the mom dropped the baby at my house visit with me tuesday and told me i could bring it back on the way home... funny!

Other news
Missing everyone a lot. Thought I could move here… though I can I would need to move with atleast one close friend and change my phone to have international texting. Not communicating and yes Candace texting is driving me crazy. Love it here though but missing home and at this time of the year Alaska Camp, creation YMP and all my crazy summer events

BABIES!
I get to see you soon and I still really miss you. I have your pictures up all around my bunk bed and look at them all the time. Sometimes I play the dolphin song just because you like it so much! I hear you have been taking care of salma and I thank you so so much. Please come to the airport I wont be able to wait one minute longer to see you! Love you so so so so much! Send me an email ok!

Hmmm I think that’s about all I have to add… other then if KAISA reads this… I miss you and hope you and fam are doing well this week. I know I talked to you but really I love you and am thinking and praying for you!

a late night update

well i got to hold a three week old baby. they strapped it to my back with a chitingi... i am sure i spelt that wrong. in anysense its like a sarong only thicker. it was so little and i was so terrified it would fall. Eventually i took it out and held him. he is the younger brother or krissy, they call him kid. there are four in that fam krissy weezi promise and kid. they are all beautiful and great. The mom is kitty and i make her laugh everytime i come because i yell into the field MOMMA KITTY and then give a big wave followed by muli bwanji which mean how are you. havent met the dad yet. the next day i held the baby again and for a long time.. but in my arms not on my back. this time it peed on my and had to go home and change it! lol.
at muzu i experienced real sadness. one kid had a wound on his foot. so i got his sister and had her walk me the boy and a malawian to their house to it could be cleaned and cared for because it was bad. they were reluctant to go but with a smile i prompted them on. as we got close the boy limp ran ahead and stopped at a house. it wasnt his though. the malawian intern i was with asked for the boys mom as the boy stopped and cried refusing to go home. a women came picked him up and we followed them home. this was not his mom and the boy wiggled free and ran about ten feet away. the mom walked up with a baby on back, who was cute and smiling. i turned to see the boy was still crying and had picked up two large rocks prepared to throw them if his mom came close. i had noticed as we walked into the village from the sports field all the kids that followed seemed to draw closer to me, smiles came off their face. the moms stood by and laughed at the boy as he cried and yelled in chichewa. i didnt know what he said and there was nothing i could do... i have never felt so helpless ever.
well in anysense it is late and far past my bed time BUT here is good news, next thursday at 11pm my time, 2pm seattle time and 5pm Tennessee time i will be on facebook, and on gmail... bubbles.rgc@gmail.com sign on and chat with me... i will update this before then too but just wanted to let you know... hint hint mom you can try again and aunt mary you may be at work and busy but thought i would let you know! HOWEVER internet, computers and electricity is not something you can count on here... SO i may get kicked offline or it may not work... oh the things of a third world country!
anyways i love it here all the same and still miss you all like crazy!
blessings from africa.. you are all in my prayers

weeks come and go

well we are cruzing through weeks here and i love it more each day. Today was good rather short. Went to visit momma jenna and couldnt stay to long as it was parent day at school and she had to go to class.  Did wash some clothes though.  Prayer in need for the youngest child, a boy named precious, he is pretty dang sick... possibly malaria.  I am told they get it about once a year here but its no good for young kids.  He is maybe six and in standard one (grade one).  The whole family could use prayer as food is low and they are trying to build a new house because the one they are in... well i am not sure i think they out grew it because they took in a child.  in any sense keep them in your prayers.

At muzu today my little girl jennifer looked pretty sick most of the time.  She looked pretty weak so keep her in your prayers.  At the end she gave me a smile and ran around which was good to see.  But looking from her to her sister i could tell she wasnt totally healthy.  The kids at muzu have stomachs bloated from starvation and its super sad.  The other villages have similar problems but its worse here.

COMMENTS

yep gram i am able to see the comments you have left!  it makes my day so keep leaving them!

BABIES!

i miss you so so much... are you coming to the airport to get me when i get home with kendall... you should come and have kendall go by taco del mar!! Hint hint  But i do love you lots and cant wait to see your little faces and to kick your butt for wearing make up!!! :)  also have kendall send me a message so i know how everyone is doing... including salma!!! i am sure your having a good time dragging her around like a toy liah!

hmmm... what else to say.  the sky is beautiful... saw a red moon the other night!   I loved walking over to mgwei and having my name chanted once again.  I think they think of me as the crazy azungu (that means white person) as i pretty much run about really willing to make a fool out of myself for them!

Got invited to dinner again... and another marriage proposal. I am just racking up those!  

ok i think thats it i need to get to bed... blarg!

miss you all and love it here!  cant wait to show pics to you all!  thanks again to all my supporters!

love you

sami

HEY ALL

So its the weekend here and we are chillin in town. Dont see much of town usually so this is nice. I am here with two other americans and no malawian... getting confident in my chichewa and my ability to say no i dont want to by that and NO i dont have money!
This last week has been crazy RAD (there ya go goon!). I got to hold a 2week old baby on my back! it was really scary. My favorite kid Krissy hungout with me a lot so thats nice. I love walking in to mgwei the village behind my compound! most of the kids know my name and yell it from afar. Usually krissy comes running into my arms yelling my name. I love it! krissy's mom kitty invited me to dinner at her house and i couldnt go... but maybe later.
I am officiallly a pro at holding water on my head!
Hmm other then that still having stomach issues... mom you may get an email next week about making me a doc apt. This is so annoying.
The weather is back to sunshine!! Sunshine, Africa, fun people, great kids, God! throw some rugby and ruggers in there and i am set!
Still loving it and the kids and everything.
blessings
sami

AHH i miss you

well totally healthy now! thought you all would like to know

I am learning the language here pretty quick. its been really great and the kids are happy to help! today i carried water for the first time on my head with no hands! WOOT!  I ran around with kids so much yesterday and it was awesome. When i went in to the village today i heard shouts from all around of kids calling my name. One girl specifically has my heart, she is 13 her name is krissy and i adore her.  i would love to be able to sponsor her is she is available. keep her in your prayers

as i went to my sports ministry today at MUZU the kids were great.  we played games and they heard a good word from the bible.  as we left we had about 100 children chasing the car because they think we are rad... well we are! they are pretty great themselves.  Before they were afraid of us and now they run and sit on our laps or leap into our arms!  oh they are great!  

its gotten cold, sitting in sweats and a longsleeve right now!  but its given way to some beautiful sunsets!  cant wait to show you all pics!

miss you....

love you babies i think you should comment me back because i miss you so much!!!!

love you all and thanks to all those who supported this... God is good!

blessings... update me on your life folks i miss you!

also thanks for the letters katie downing they have been great! you are a blessing!

sami

team blog

dont know if i put this in a different post but here is the team blog again
malawi2008interns.blogspot.com

RIGGERS POST THIS PLEASE

So the Malawi team is alive and well. Things havent chenged to much except God is showing himself more and more! Please pray for health of our team. Sami got really sick and is on the mend but our team as a whole is getting run down.
Please also pray that God continues to open the hearts of the children and parents we meet every day!

(check my blog before this to add stuff and you can read team updates at malawi2008interns.blogspot.com)

WOOT

hey all so i finally go the internet for more then just a minute... though i am paying by the minute so i will try to make this quick!
I love MALWI! sorry gram i think i will move here... lol. Well i will atleast be back!
You should check the team blog as it will be updated more then mine (hint riggers... its a good place to get our update if you are not finding it here!)
my kids are great. i see God in every one of them. As we approach the village the kids run up and yell AZUNGU which means white person. They grab your hand and just walk with you. We dance ALOT... suprised ruggers... probably! we play lots of repeating games and teach about the bible.
My village i go to on tues and thurs is MUZU COTN has not been here alot and the main guy in charge doesnt like us. The first day the kids were scared of us as they hadnt seen white people before. We made a good ten of them cry. By now they chase the van when it leaves and there are hundreds that come see my team of four. Each time we go we give a bible talk and just show the kids we love them and want to play with them. The first day we showed up to an empty field three hours later when the director came to get us there were 300 children plus parents! Crazy.

SICK
wednesday of the second week i went to a potluck with a staff person. Just me and her with a bunch of malawians. It was amazing. I however was not very careful and wached my hands in not sanitary water and then ate. Here in malawi we dont use silverware... so i ended up barfing for five days straight. I went to the clinic and they did nothing... They gave me anti-nausea that absorbs... hmmm... sketch...YES. eventually i was so dehydrated i had to go back and get an IV. This was at a new REALLY sketch place, but they tested for malaria and i dont have it so they gave me and IV. all is kinda well i am still flowing after every meal but not barfing!

TEAM
My team is great, i live in a bunkhouse with 16 other girls. We have running water most of the time and sometimes it HOT. We have electricity most of the time too!

ROOMIES
sorry guys i realized i left a bunch of stuff... EEEK

BABIES
I love you and miss you so so so so so much! give salma a hug for me PLEASE and make sure kendall doesnt feed her people food! And you better not have makeup on! I MEAN IT! :) but i miss you a lot and have your pictures all over my walls so i can see you all the time! If you look up at the sky just know i am looking up there too and thinking of you!

Food
the first week we went into the village and had to get food and one thing on our list was a live chicken... we had to kill it. MILLER i think i will give up meat. My chicken was amzing and then they killed it... sad. other then that its veggies boiled to nothing and then corn product or rice

cant think of anything else besides the fact all is well the kids are great my team is great and i miss you ALL!!!!

blessings from MALAWI!!!!
sami

I am here!!!

So we made it here safe and sound! we met the kids already and they are fabulous. If you can pray for our growing relationship with the children that would be awesome. We start our actually assigned ministry tomorrow (monday). There are so many different things going on. Home visits were we help out in homes, sports ministry for amy tracy and i. there is a widows ministry as well some others things.
we got to go into the market and live like a mallawian. we had a specific amount of money and had to buy food and pots and what not and then get home. We had to buy a live chicken. THEN we had to kill it and cook it. EEEK.
Our electricity goes out every so often and we have cold showers alot. BUT that means we have running water.
MISS YOU ALL
-the malawi team!

Gearing Up

Well i leave this sunday for Malawi. I wont get there till tuesday and have NO idea when i will be able to get online to update. Keep checking back for new posts though. As soon as i can update i will!
THANK YOU to everyone who helped support me! you really cant know just how much it means to me. I was really stressed out about getting the funds in but it has all worked out thanks to your help!

I know alot of people are worried about me going to africa and for my safety. I will do my best to stay safe. The church i am going with has sent people for more the 60yrs on overseas mission so I know they wont send me somewhere to dangerous. I LOVE YOU ALL and THANK YOU so much

Alaska...

so alaska is the best place on earth! I wake in the morning to two beautiful glaceirs. There are porpoise and bear as well as moose. The wildlife is beautiful. Not quite as beautiful as the kids that enter my life while at camp! The many faces, april katy, kels and laurie. Cameron and lisa. So many more and so many stories flood my memory. I was blessed those two years with some amazing fellow staff members. I fell in love with the cooking staff my first year, J and Charlene. The stories I heard from spending time in the kitchen are endless. I had a very different relationship with those to then many of the other staff, but i think they are two of the greatest people ever! I learned so much about myself that first summer.

The one story that will haunt my memory forever is from an eight year old child. It was week one of my first year. This adorable little girls was sitting by the fire after vespers. She came and sat near me and started telling me a story about her dad. It was about being out on a fishing boat and she finishes by saying he is a butthead. This is a word most kids would use to describe a goofy but annoying person in their life... i asked if she had fun with her dad and she said actually he is really mean. she went on to tell me how the fishing pole was leaning against the wall and she walked past and accidentally knocked it over, it made the smallest scratch on the wall. Her dad yelled and yelled. he told her to call her mom quick before he got really mad. She assured me i had nothing to worry about as she had an escape plan. I then felt the blood rush to my face... she had a what? she is eight. She explained that she can pop out the window in her room and climb out if she needs. the last day of camp is a worship night, she climbed onto my lap super tired and we sang together songs to worship God. As questions flooded my mind about how God could let this happen to such an amazing kid I also found myself praying for her safety as she would be going home the next morning. I cried for hours wondering how i could send her back

Another child told a story about how her mom was not a fit mom. She recalled how one time her mom was sitting on her with her back flat to the ground, a knife at her throat. and then her mom just dropped it. The child said there was no reason for her to drop it, it had to be God. Her mom was then entered in a program to get help and the child lived with her grandparents. She explained that she would be seeing her mom for the first time since the incident and she was nervous and was so happy her mom got help. She knew she wouldnt be ready to be a mom again but knew she was working on it.

the faith these kids have... and the trust in us as staff... its only faith and trust a child can have

Still in the States

I am just gearing up for the end of school... just waiting for june so i can graduate and head on out! I am so excited I cant wait. Malawi Africa here i come... well june 20something anyhow