Ninth Letter From Africa, August 2008

Hi Everyone,

Our holiday in Europe seems like a distant dream already but we still get smiles on our faces every time we think about it or look at the photos - it really was a wonderful time!

We've been busier than ever since we got back - with around 1,400 mine workers to be fed Chris is now working 7 days a week. He's recently picked up a second vehicle and trailer in Lilongwe which is streamlining the process and will hopefully reduce the long hours.

We moved into our 'new' rental house on June 4th and it's so nice to have a place to call our home ( I'm sure Chris thinks I have an over-developed nesting instinct!) On June 12th I got a ride to Lilongwe to buy curtain materials - quite stressful as I couldn't find anything that resembled the fabrics I had in mind, and block-outs are pretty much unheard of. Rina arrived the next morning and with her valuable input we managed to find suitable (even some funky) fabrics for most of the rooms even though she hadn't seen the house.

The next day we headed back to Karonga and spent the week making loungeroom curtains, entertaining Paladin guests (did I tell you our house will be an informal guesthouse?) and preparing lots of food for Chris' 60th birthday party the following Saturday. The party went really well with 8 young American and British volunteers, and around 20 neighbours and co-workers for a barbeque lunch. The last guests left at 4pm then Chris and Kat (our former house mates) arrived for dinner and we had a nice relaxed evening with them. Rina relished the opportunity to hang out with so many of her peers as she doesn't meet many expats outside her group in Mangochi.

Settling into our house is taking longer than we anticipated, mostly because the beds and mattresses we ordered on May 6th didn't arrive for seven weeks and the two QS beds ended up being a King size with mattress (which we have kept) and a QS mattress without a frame! The two 3/4 beds arrived with two single mattresses. The hardware store owner assured me he would have it all sorted out in a few days but three weeks later there is still no sign of them!!

Curtain making has been a big job but the end is in sight. A ceiling panel in the last bedroom has now been replaced so the room can be painted before I hang the curtains! (Rome wasn't built in a day was it?) We have been infusing some life back into the parched garden and it is responding well. Amazing what water and chicken manure can do. Rina bought a whole lot of plants from a nursery in Mangochi so they have been a welcome addition, and most of the seeds have come up in my vegie patch. Having a kitchen separate from the house has taken some getting used to but we have partly solved the problem by putting a small table and chairs in the spacious kitchen for when there is just the two of us for meals.

I did a budget proposal to turn the accommodation unit into a self contained granny flat, and last weekend we went to Lilongwe again to buy more curtain material, kitchenware, and sink, stove, fridge etc for a small kitchen. We hope to have it ready for occupation by mid September. Our excellent carpenter will be very busy with kitchen cupboards to make as well as the table and chairs he is working on now, and the sofas he plans to do next!

While in Lilongwe we stayed in the same guesthouse as Rina who was meeting two Aussie visitors coming to help her contour and design her 5 hectare demonstration and training farm - their help has been invaluable.

Yesterday we hosted an outing for the children of the Lusibilo orphanage in town. Our yard was fairly buzzing with 54 children, 5 carers and the Australian family who are working with the orphanage! (The Aussies organised all the games and refreshments). I was very quickly handed a baby (Jessica, a 3 mth old twin) and spent the rest of the three hours holding babies, even two at once! It was a lot of fun, and the carers seemed to enjoy it every bit as much as the kids.

I have been preparing materials to teach a course on Christian Family Living (primarily to be taught at Kayelekera village near the mine) and yesterday I started teaching it to a group of about 26 local people to 'knock off the rough edges' and be sure it is easily understood in this culture. There was good feedback - one guy said he felt there was hope he may now be able to get his marriage back together.

Chris was going to add some more from his perspective but said it will have to be next time as he can't stop to do it now. One thing he wanted to mention is that The Bible Society told him there are no Bibles available in the local Chitumbuka language because they need $15,000 more to have it printed. Anyone inspired to do some fund raising?
Living in Malawi has it's frustrations along with it's joys, and so we keep reminding ourselves of how much we are achieving, and of what a privelege it is to be working here.

Until next time,

Chris and Anne Mattinson
8/08/08

Eighth Letter From Africa, May 2008
Hello Everyone,

Time to let you know what we have been up to for the last seven weeks. Things went along as usual until our Managing Director's visit in late April. We told him we were unsure of when to take our holidays because of the escalating work load, and he suggested 'now' rather than September when we had completed a year with the Company. (Paladin pays for us to fly back to Perth twice a year, once is compulsory but the other flight can be to anywhere else in the world up to the value of the return fare to Perth.) With this in mind, we e-mailed a travel agent with a proposed plan to fly to London, do a coach tour of some European countries and be back in Malawi in two weeks. Because of short notice, most of the tours were booked out, but we finally got confirmation on an earlier than expected tour 2 days before the flight!

There was no Paladin transport available to get us to Lilongwe for our flight to Johannesburg then London, so we booked seats with a reputable coach company. After 11 hours we got to Lilongwe at 11.15pm and to our dismay, discovered the big suitcase with all our clothes, shoes and medical kit had been stolen from the luggage compartment!! At least we still had our hand luggage with passports, wallets, cameras, ticketing details etc and a change of underwear! Determined not to let it ruin our "once in a lifetime holiday" we went shopping next morning for two smaller suitcases but had to wait until we got to London to find suitable clothes to wear in Europe. A kind tour agent at our hotel sent us to a realistically priced, one stop shop for all our clothes and we were able to get shoes, toiletries etc in nearby shops. Never have I so easily found clothes that fitted so well - Someone was definitely looking after me :)!

Next morning we boarded a coach to Dover (complete with dazzling white cliffs!) and crossed the channel by ferry to Calais where we boarded another very comfortable coach, met our top class driver and tour leader and headed into Belgium for the night. We had lovely spring weather and a fantastic 10 days through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and France and then back across the channel where we had three days enjoying London before our flights back. What a wonderful experience with so many photos and memories to treasure!

Back in the real world of Karonga, the good news is we only have a few days before we shift into our rental house on June 4th. Rina is planning to visit for Chris' big "0" birthday party on June 21st so that will be our unofficial house warming as well.

On the language learning front, my excellent teacher suddenly had to leave town at the beginning of the month and won't be back - disappointing, but I'm working at revising and using the 430+ words she taught me until I can find a suitable replacement.

For those interested in my crocheted bedspread, yes, I did get it finished before we went on holidays, except for a few more rows to complete the border. In the meantime, we are using it every night now that the evening temperatures have dropped to around 24oC.

You may have heard on the news about a worldwide rice and wheat shortage, and non-South Africans being forced to return to their home countries. These factors are starting to affect Malawi socially and economically. In our area business men from other countries are buying up truckloads of rice, maize and beans causing prices to soar. Farmers enticed by high prices are selling their food supplies with little thought to the future and the possibility of creating a famine situation. We're praying for Government intervention to bring the situation under control.

We hope things are going well for you and would love to hear from you if you have time.

Warm regards,

Chris and Anne Mattinson
30-5-08