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Fishermen in their dug-out canoes coming in with their catch after fishing all night |
This morning we did not concern ourselves as to when we
would leave. When Justin said, “10
minutes”, we were ready! All the tires
were good!! We again had a long drive on
the tarmac road and then a bumpy ride on dirt roads (bush roads) to a village
that had all three levels of schools. Again
there was a crowd of people waiting on us - not as large as yesterday, however
they were still arriving. The Doctors,
supplies and us all arrived about the same time today. After the formal ceremonies in a building
that could have been a church, the clinic began. The building was packed full
of people and they were standing outside straining to hear what Justin had to
say and what their village chiefs had to say in response. To our surprise there were two women as
chiefs. It is Justin’s dream to have a
mobile clinic visit each village and others at least once a quarter. He wants the children to have wellness
check-ups and the rest to have care without having to walk so far for help. Can you imagine walking even one mile when
you are sick, much less 5-8 miles?
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Another of the 32 Schools with Solar Panels |
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The Cell Phone Charger |
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The lead Teacher (Right) and Head Master (2nd from Left) |
Education is the only way these kids will improve their
lives, but then we hope there is not a brain drain out of the country. They need to return like Justin, with a
passion to improve the lives of his people.
The people are hard workers, but they need vocational training of all
sorts, agro. training so they can produce more (including irrigation so they
can water during the dry season, and business skills. I don’t know if any manufacturing occurs in
the whole country. Justin is working
with micro-loans and is giving them some business training with this, but it is
a drop in a bucket. However, he is
trying to improve one life at a time.
As we were almost ready to leave the village. Justin was still chatting with people and there
were children crowding around the car. I
had a water bottle I had just emptied and I could tell the kids wanted it. I gave it to one of them. They were thrilled, and ran to the water pump
to fill it up. In the end I gave them 4
empty bottles. Justin said they will
take them to school with water, OR they will be used at home – to keep salt or
sugar or oil in them. He assured me they will not go to waste. Isn’t that something, our waste is valuable
to them! But when you have almost
nothing, anything is useful/wonderful. You
could give and give. This Rotary project
of solar powered lights will have a long lasting effect on the students and
village.
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Road into the village |
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Housing along the Road |
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Malawi Countryside |
It was another long drive back to the Lodge. We did stop for a cup of ice cream which was
a treat.
Back at the Lodge, we showered, relaxed and had dinner. I don’t know what I would do without a shower
to wash off the dust and sticky sweat. I
do not normally wash my hair each night, but in Africa I do – wet hair is a way
of cooling down.
Tomorrow we are going to a 3rd area for a Medical
Clinic. The doctors are in need of more
pain killers. They give pain killers
with all antibiotics, and all malaria meds, and as of today they have given all
the donated pain killers away. Cal &
I gave them money so tomorrow morning we will stop at a pharmacy in a town we
will be driving through, to buy more pain killers. It is amazing how much we have in
comparison. It almost makes you feel
ashamed.
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