Done with Domasi and on to Lilongwe

Not much happened at Domasi for the rest of my time there. Olivia, Margo and I went to Nhkotahota one weekend for Olivia’s early birthday party. A few of her friends met us there as well. It was there that Olivia received a puppy for her birthday…I’ve come to decide that it is the best and worst give ever. I mean who doesn’t like a puppy? And he loves to cuddle. On the other hand he is a Malawi dog, which isn’t entirely safe and other assortment of problems. Luckily I was only there for a few days before I left Domasi for good.

On the 24^th my time teaching at Domasi came to an end. It seemed like the month went far too quickly. My last lesson I gave a super short assessment. The kids had to write a short essay about one of the following topics.

1.      Locomotion in Fish

2.       Locomotion in birds

3.       Types of Muscles

4.       How muscles bring about movement

5.       The different kinds of Joints

6.       The different kinds of skeletons

7.       The structure of human bone.

I didn’t give anyone below a 50% because it was my last day because I was feeling generous. A few of them definitely deserved it also…The test only took 25 minutes of the class time, so for the last 15 we just talked. It was very spur of the moment. I was saying good bye and then someone asked me a question and it went from there. It was nice to have a talk with the kids as a friend instead of as teacher, superior figure. Some of them were thoroughly shocked to learn that I was only 19.

The administration also gave me a little far-well party as well. Since it was Olivia’s birthday as well we had a joint party. It was actually more like a picnic. We sat outside ate cake, cookies, bread, tea and soda. It was a formal farewell from the teachers. After which all the teachers tried to convince me to sell them my stuff. I had to insist multiple times I didn’t want to sell my computer.

Silas picked me up that same day and I had a farewell day with him and Margaret. We went and had a nice lunch at the Hippo Lodge and then went on a short safari. I got to see elephants, antelope, warthogs and much more. Malawi isn’t known for its wildlife so it didn’t really compare to other countries like Botswana, but for $2 it was totally worth it.

Silas also invited a few friends over for dinner that I had met over the course of my time there. We had a literal feast. I also got to cook a chicken starting from the beginning. I won’t gross you out with the details but I’ll put 2 pictures:

Before:

 After:

After dinner we all said our little thanks and that we really enjoyed each other and what not. That day was a really great way to end my time in the southern region. Silas and Margaret would always refer to me as their grandson. At first it was just a joke but by the end I cared about them. Silas was almost like the grandfather I never had. I’ll miss them for sure.

The next day I got the bus up to Lilongwe for the final part of my trip in Malawi. In Lilongwe I am going to be doing legit mission work. Tad Juma is the Youth Director for the Nkhoma synod of the CCAP. I’ll be working with him and some of the people in his office doing mission work. Tad picked me up from the bus depot. I learned pretty quickly that the next day I was scheduled to speak at a CCAPSO meeting. CCAPSO is a student Presbyterian organization among secondary schools in the country. I was supposed to be talking on higher education and career building. My first response was to say no, but I didn’t come halfway around the world to stay safely in my comfort zone doing only was I wanted to.

The night before the event I spent about 2 hours preparing my sermon.

The next day Kennedy (one of the youth department employees) and I got public transport to Madisi Secondary School. When we got there I was a little blown away. It was complete sensory overload. First off Malawians, have an obsession with blasting music to the point of going deft. Also there were about 200 teenagers there all dancing to the music. Not like a school dance or anything, they were all just dancing to themselves.

After sitting there for a while I was the first one to speak. Kennedy stood next to me and translated the entire time. I wasn’t used to talking in front of so many so I muddled my lesson a little. I got my message across and people told me good job though! For a first time I called it a success. I prayed about it so I guess God came through for me. The next two speakers after me definitely did better than me but considering I was a 19 year old American kid and they were legit church workers and pastors I wasn't surprised.

I’ll be doing this kind of thing for the next two weeks until I leave for home on June 11^th. Wish me luck!