I took a sleeping pill prescribed by the travel doctor and finally slept. In fact, Susan said she looked over last night and I had fallen asleep with a book on my chest and the reading light on - who knew? Those reading this are going to be envious to hear of the french toast we had for breakfast. I'm so grateful to Mphatso for finding Masomphenya. The trip is emotionally exhausting, so having wonderful food and a comfortable place to sleep is such a blessing!
We began the day at the Blantyre Deanery to meet with the Dean. He is hosting a Leadership Conference for Lutheran leaders. We also met Esther (sorry didn't catch her last name). She is the coordinator for the feeding stations within the Deanery. She told us that they feed 3000 people every day, mostly orphan children affected by HIV/AIDS - incomprehensible.
Back again to Chamasowa, but this time our focus is the village school. The first - eighth grade school has 1500 students with 12 teachers. The government mandate is 60:1, but in the villages it's almost always nearly double that. These villages are so remote that it is impossible for teachers to commute to work, so there must be available housing. Most villages cannot afford to build houses for the teachers. This school is also in dire need of more classrooms. Some classes are held outdoors under trees.
We began the day at the Blantyre Deanery to meet with the Dean. He is hosting a Leadership Conference for Lutheran leaders. We also met Esther (sorry didn't catch her last name). She is the coordinator for the feeding stations within the Deanery. She told us that they feed 3000 people every day, mostly orphan children affected by HIV/AIDS - incomprehensible.
Back again to Chamasowa, but this time our focus is the village school. The first - eighth grade school has 1500 students with 12 teachers. The government mandate is 60:1, but in the villages it's almost always nearly double that. These villages are so remote that it is impossible for teachers to commute to work, so there must be available housing. Most villages cannot afford to build houses for the teachers. This school is also in dire need of more classrooms. Some classes are held outdoors under trees.
Peaking out at the visitors
There were about 100 students in this classroomWe walked the short distance back to the church and down the hill to see the well that was dug in 2006 with funding by Glen Cary. Pastor Simba was very proud of the fact that it only takes 1 pump to get water to pour.
This is a "very good well"
We had lunch in the parsonage - fowl of some sort, rice, sima and cabbage - what a surprise :-)
We then traveled to visit another church within the parish - Nangombe congregation.
As always they were so gracious and happy to see us.
We received a beautiful hand carved cross to take back to Glen Cary.
Receiving the Cross - lots of singing and happiness
Susan thrilled the crowd by dancing and singing along with the crowd. They often sing a song that is about how they are very weary, but the Lord with help them. It has lots of hand motions and we can all sort of sing along, but Susan had them laughing and clapping.
The woe is me song - with actions!
We returned to Blantyre a totally different way and were able to see Mulanje Mountain. Very intimidating...Dinner was Moroccan chicken, steamed veggies and mashed potatoes. We had several power outages during dinner, which is very typical. The owner of the B&B is an accomplished musician/song writer so he entertained us with several of the songs he had written about the problems of Africa.
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