Eggerts in Malawi

July 2009 - The End of the Road

2009-07-26T16:43:00.006-04:00

June 2009 Pics

2009-06-17T04:36:00.006-04:00

Sarah and Thomas on Birthday #5 (for Thomas that is..)

Some of the women from one of the villages we are working with.

A small child playing with a mortar and pestle.

Josiah going for a ride on daddy.

Caleb and Thomas with their friend - Akuzikie

Thomas practising soccer at school

Sunrise over Lake Malawi

Thomas and Caleb on Thomas birthday morning.

Sarah and Josiah

Josiah with Thomas' new checkers game...

May 2009 Pics

2009-05-17T09:20:00.005-04:00

Traditional dance by students at Namasalima Primary School

Thomas on Zomba Plateau

Monday nights is nsima and stew! Yum!

Students looking into a classroom

Josiah loves hockey - notice blue stick (Leafs fan)

Thomas insisted on carrying the back pack on a hike

Family fun at a place where we had lunch

Caleb on top of Zomba Plateau

Bug bite season is in full swing!

5 little bunnies born in April

Grasshoppers - just like in the movies!

2009-04-20T09:17:00.002-04:00

A picture can’t really do justice to the actual experience but it’s the best I can give you. A couple weeks ago we had hundreds of grasshoppers flying around after dusk and through the night for a couple nights.

It was just like out of a book or movie about the plague of locusts brought on Egypt in the bible. These grasshoppers likely weren’t as big but they were everywhere! They were attracted to the lights inside the house so a number of them got into the house and were jumping and flying around. Our mosquito nets now also served as grasshopper nets as well! Just another bug adventure in Africa…

Our cat enjoyed trying to catch them and add to her supper!

April 2009 Pics

2009-04-20T08:11:00.005-04:00

Many flowers are coming into bloom...

Thomas

Lego has been worth its weight in gold!

Easter Egg Hunting...

Sarah going into the local bakery.

Carrying wood to sell on the Zomba Plateau

Goin' for a walk.

Carrying 40L of water (and baby)!

Boys at one of the Shallow Well sites.

March 2009 Pics

2009-03-18T02:14:00.006-04:00

A common site on the Zomba Plateau, this man is carrying wood that he will use for firewood or will cut and sell the wood.

Thomas getting ready to take a leap!

This swing is made out of one complete used tire.

This is a well packed pick-up - people, luggage and bikes on top!

Pumping water out at one of our completed shallow wells.

These four kittens were just about a week old when we took this shot.

Josiah

Going for a hike in the jungle!

Same hike with Obylix (sp?) the dog - not our dog.

Carrying firewood on the back of a bike.

Caleb finishing his school swim race.

February 2009 Pictures

2009-02-16T03:15:00.004-05:00

At a completed Shallow Well with Victor, one of the Water Dept. Staff

Gettin' stuck in the muck!

The ever-serious Caleb...

Thomas responding "yes sir" or "yes mam" to every parental request.

The birthday boy -Josiah's already 2 years old!

Washing hands...

Carrying a 50kg bag of cement (with a baby on her back!)

Candlelight (not by choice) bedtime stories.

January Pics

2009-01-20T12:53:00.013-05:00

Putting the cover slab on a shallow well.

A woman carrying her baby and two pots of sand to mix with cement at a shallow well site.

This is the Domasi River in late December - this river becomes just a trickle in the dry season.

At a river by Mulanje Mountain.

The boys going for a dip at Mulanje.

Who needs a mini-van!?

Thomas and his new flashlight.

Josiah and his new "motorbike".

Caleb and nice new black Spider-Man socks (Opa would be proud the way they are pulled right up!)

The three boys in the Zomba Botanical Gardens.

December Pictures

2008-12-15T01:29:00.004-05:00

Thomas and classmate Wongani in a class play called Happy Hat Land.

Thomas with Rosy our rabbit.

Starting to dig a shallow well.

Playing soccer in the village.

Rain is a comin'!

Preparing the cement cover slab for a shallow well.

Woman carrying firewood back to her home.

Loading stones for shallow wells.

Caleb singing in the end of term assembly at school.

November Pics

2008-11-17T09:34:00.005-05:00

Why is she smiling? - she has her morning coffee!

Having a village meal of fish and nsima

Results of the forest fires on top of the Zomba Plateau

Josiah trying to stand still (not) for a picture

A few women from the Ntsatsa Village Water Committee

Draining a well before lining it.

At one our village sites

A Flame Tree

Morning of Caleb's 7th Birthday

Road Hockey

October Pics

2008-10-20T14:01:00.005-04:00

This is a fisherman's boat (only kids playing in right now) on the edge of Lake Chilwa, small lake very close to some of our shallow well sites.

The Malawian flag at the boy's school.

Digging and draining water from the shallow well site at Mkhweya village.

It's not the greatest picutre of us - but there are so few pictures of the two of us, let alone great picture.... well, Sarah always looks great.
We built a rabbit hutch and now are the proud owners of three rabbits - Bouncy, Shaky, and Blue. Three rabbits for now - who knows how many by next month!
This is Josiah trying to "stand still" for a picture.

A Spiritual Haze

2008-10-03T09:42:00.000-04:00

“The subtleties of darkness never cease to amaze;
As the physical world creates a spiritual haze” - DC Talk (from the song "Day by Day")

A couple weeks ago the power went off in the whole town. Our house is a little ways up the side of the mountain and it’s easy to see the many lights in town at night, so when I looked out the window to see nothing but darkness over the town, for some reason it reminded me of a Frank Perretti novel (Christian fiction writer) from back in the early 1990’s in which he tells a story about demons and angels that are all around us in the spiritual world. Even though we don’t see or feel them, it does not mean they are not real. I guess looking out over town in total darkness changed my lens to be more attuned to the things that one cannot see with the eyes.

Living on this continent has made me realize just how much the West uses our belief in sciences to explain everything, whereas here in Africa the belief in the spiritual realm explains why many things happen.

For example, a few months ago driving out on a village dirt road with a full pick up truck, we came to a wooden bridge that looked a little worse for wear. The physics and math calculations start going through my head as we approach the bridge - how much does this truck weigh? And with the load we’re carrying? Can the bridge support the weight? How long is the bridge relative to the length of the truck - can I get the front axle across before the back axle gets on? Whether we make it across successfully or not to me, is simply a question of science. For my Malawian passengers (who travel on various types of unsafe roads on a daily basis) the questions going through their mind might be somewhat different. It can be as simple as - “God will allow me to get safely over this bridge, or He won’t.”

Another example was at a primary school we were working at for the Water and Sanitation project. My staff arrived one Monday morning to see a witch doctor being watched by a crowd of people performing some kind of ceremony. As it turned out, there was some sort of public gathering on the weekend and a middle-aged woman dropped dead in the middle of this gathering two days before. She had no known health issues that might cause a sudden death, so people naturally assumed it was a curse or spell put on her (there is a wide spread belief in, and fear of, witch craft - even among Christians - which seems to keep people in a sort of bondage). The witch doctor was called in to “cleanse” the spot where she died to make sure no spirits from the curse on that woman would be able to stick around. When I heard about the woman dying on the spot, I again first thought about the scientific (medical) explanations and figured it was a heart attack or aneurism or something of the sort.

As I might be critical of this African culture for believing such (seemingly) far fetched ideas about the spiritual realm to explain everything, I can probably be just as critical of myself and my own Western culture of ignoring the spiritual realm. Science has taught us a lot and is very useful in helping us understand the world God put us in. However, we can become so hung up on relying on our own finite knowledge that we forget about the unseen and unexplainable world, forget the God who is Infinite.

I’m not saying there is a spirit hiding behind every tree and bush about to jump out (read C.S. Lewis’ book “The Screwtape Letters” to get a more seasoned perspective on that issue), nor that there is necessarily some spirit back in the shadows behind every good or bad thing that happens, but just that we in Western culture especially - in a culture of see and hear, touch and feel - can too easily forget about the unseen spiritual realm. We as Christians can even become lazy about it.

A friend of mine has a teenage niece that a number of months ago, out of the blue, went into cardiac arrest. The doctors and nurses that tried to revive her had come out of the ICU room to tell her family and friends waiting that there wasn’t much hope. After a few minutes (and a lot of prayer) the now shocked doctors came out again and said she started breathing on her own. That was the first sign in a string of medically unexplainable (but spiritually explainable) events which ended up in her niece having fully recovered.

Much like being submersed in this spiritually-aware (whether good or bad) Malawian culture, the story of my friend’s niece is another good reminder that there is a whole lot more to this world than what our physical senses lead our minds and hearts to think. (Eph. 6:12).

September Pics

2008-09-19T03:10:00.003-04:00

"Flat Top" trees

It's next to impossible to get a natural pose from kids...

First day of School - this is the whole school, sorry, it might be hard to spot Caleb and Thomas.

Thomas' very first day of school!

Caleb in his grade two class

August Pics

2008-08-19T02:29:00.004-04:00

Borehole rehabilitation in Mgodi village.

They make use of everything here. This hack saw blade is attached to an old bicycle wheel - why not?

We asked the village committee for a brush. They didn't have one but they did have feathers left over from the chicken from last night's dinner! It worked fine with the solvent cement we were spreading on....

Another NHL career begins.

Thomas is a Leaf fan (sorry, pretty bad, but couldn't resist)

Caleb about to swing on a vine.

Pictures

2008-07-22T02:48:00.000-04:00

We went out to a village (Songa) a while back to visit some friends that are working among the community there. Here the boys are playing in the stream that becomes a 5 ft deep by 30 ft wide river in the rainy season.

A banana tree forest near the same river.

Out and about with our friend Veronica and their donkey "Skippy"

Caleb wanting to be a teenager already....

Meet My Son, the Tub-Pooper

2008-07-18T07:38:00.000-04:00

Josiah is a Tub-Pooper. This is a phenomenon new and strange and horrible.

The other two boys didn’t do it. I used to hear other mums’ stories and think to myself, “Oh, that’s unfortunate for you… my child doesn’t do it, has never done it, surely would never do it!”

So now it has come full circle and I stand proudly with all the other mums out there who have suffered as I do.

I now know what it is to feel that initial burst of horror as I see things floating in the tub that are, I eventually note, not toys.

I now know what it is to just stare momentarily, not knowing where to start, thinking in slow-motion, “what do I do first? Child out? Toys out? Poop out?”, all the while, doing nothing but stare.

I now know that feeling of incredulity as I observe Josiah’s interest in playing with the poop while I panic and scream for back-up.

Out comes the child and off he runs, laughing, likely to go and pee in the hallway. Out come the toys to be put, where? Where shall I put the toys? Screams for a plastic bag echo through the house.

And then, in the quiet following the storm, I am deeply humbled, as I scoop floating poop out of the tub and into the toilet with my bare hands, and try to catch the big chunks from going down the drain as I let the water out.

Finally, I am embarrassed, for thinking that perhaps I don’t have to wash the toys, because he pooped at this end of the tub, while the toys were in fact down at the other end and, well, how bad can a little poop be, anyway?

So now, as I scrub and bleach the tub and toys for a third time this week, I realize that I am a fully-initiated member of the Mothers-Who-Do-Nothing-But-Clean-Up-Poop-All-Day-Long Club, and stand proud for my contribution to a cleaner society.

By the way, how long is this stage going to last? I’m just about out of bleach…

Pictures...

2008-06-13T03:53:00.001-04:00

Caleb and Thomas on Thomas' birthday..

With the MacLean kids at the end of May.

Thomas turned 4!

Brotherly love....
In the field
Sarah and "The Tank"

Candle Light Top 7

2008-06-13T03:45:00.000-04:00

The power has gone out quite frequently in the last number of weeks. Sometimes at very inopportune moments. But none the less, life must go on. So we end up doing many things by candle light. Here’s a list of top 7 things NOT to do by candlelight if you have a choice!

7. Walk across the living room (aka the toy room) in your bare feet when there are small and dangerous toys on the ground that you can’t really see with just a candle. Did you know that lego pieces can get stuck between your toes?

6. Have a “candlelight dinner” with your 3 loud children. Eating by candlelight with your kids just reminds you how long it’s been since you’ve been able to have a real candlelight dinner. The one where you don’t have to yell to have an adult conversation.

5. Bathe your children in the tub after they’ve made a mud pit earlier that day. “Is that dirt or just a shadow?”

4. Do the dishes by the open window. While the breeze coming through is nice, the combination of open flame and thin curtains isn’t always good.

3. Have your 6 year old read his 32 page story book from school – which takes about 15 minutes. This requires a flashlight, not candlelight, being held above the book for this period of time. And of course when he is done, his 3 year old brother insists on “reading” the book to you as well….

2. Change a diaper. We look at his bottom and think, “Is that poo or just a shadow?” Also, Josiah likes to try to kick the candle off the change table (because there is no where else to put the candle).

1. Clean out a poopy diaper in the toilet. “Is that poo or…” well, you get the idea.

Mike's Day in Court

2008-05-08T02:21:00.000-04:00

My Day in the Malawi Court System –

This is one African experience I never thought I’d have – but on May 2nd, I ended up as the “accused” in court. It was only for a traffic offence, but here in Malawi they don’t separate traffic court with criminal court, so I got first hand experience with part of the process that (alleged) criminals go through.

It started the day before when I stopped at the side of the road to pick up Edward, one of our workers, at around 8am. I pulled to the side of the road (but not off the road) and stopped for less than 10 seconds as he got into the vehicle. 50 yards ahead was a police officer who flagged me down and informed me that I had committed a traffic offence (contrary to section 119 of the Malawi Traffic Act). I was obstructing and hindering traffic (even though there was no other traffic that morning because it was a public holiday).

We proceeded to the Zomba police station – I had to give the officer a lift there because the traffic police don’t have vehicles when they are on duty. At the station they wrote out a hand written letter stating my offence and I got to choose to sign it as to whether I admit the charges. I was also given the “you have the right to remain silent…” speech too. In discussion with Edward, he told me that although everyone does it, it is technically illegal to stop on the road, and the police will tend to pick and choose when they might charge someone on it.

So I signed the letter admitting the offence I had committed and my driver’s licence was taken and I was given a form stating that I had a court date the next morning.

The next morning there were about 4 cases to be heard before the judge. The courtroom had rundown overused furniture likely left over from the colonial days. The carpet was musty and there were piles of “stolen goods” – copper wire dug up from the telephone lines – to one side of the courtroom. After waiting for about 45 minutes for the judge to arrive, the cases began.

The first two cases were both criminal theft cases. The first guy took about $5,000 from the local Red Cross office, while the second case was for a guy who had stolen 60 bags of maize and then sold them. In the first case the accused plead guilty so that the sentencing would be softer; in the second case was the preliminary trial and the defendant plead not guilty. In both cases the accused walked up into the defendant’s box at the side of the courtroom and would stand to hear the charges and enter a plea, and then sit for the next few minutes of the proceeding and then have to stand again to hear the verdict/sentencing.

There were about 30 spectators in the courtroom, and when it was my turn to walk up into the defendant’s box, I couldn’t help but feel the stares of everyone watching this “azungu” (white person). I was caught between making sure I heard everything the judge was saying with his African-English accent and making sure I didn’t smirk. It seemed a little unreal in a way – putting in my plea of guilty, feeling like the criminal traffic obstructer that I was.

Sarah warned me ahead of time to not do or say anything stupid (she knows me too well after almost 11 years of marriage) – so I didn’t. The temptation did arise, however, when the judge gave me the option of paying a $15 fine or doing one month in prison with hard labour. It was a tough decision, but I opted for the fine as opposed to the prison life.

I should note that when I e-mailed this day in court story to my older (but not necessarily wiser) brother, he said I should have gone for the 1 month hard labour. “Think about it” he said, “Fresh air, warm sun, exercise, free food, a chance to just get away from it all – why not?” A seemingly convincing argument, but I knew that Sarah would shoot me if I left her alone with the kids for that long….

I had to sit through one more court case after mine – this one was another traffic violation case. Apparently it is against the law here to not have a functioning spare tire on your vehicle. The defendant in this case pled guilty as I did in my case, but he got the option of only a $4 fine or 1 week in prison! I wanted to stand up and protest about my relatively harsh sentence in comparison to this guy, but again I decided to take my wife’s advice and not say anything.

After this case we all got shuffled out of the court room to go pay our fines. I didn’t have $15 cash on me so I explained that I had to go to the bank machine in town first. It was around 10:30 in the morning, so I figured I’d be able to make it back with plenty of time before lunch. I got into town to find out that the two bank machines were both not working, and there was about a twenty minute wait in line in any case. I didn’t have my bank book with me, so I couldn’t go into the bank to withdraw money (and there was a long line there too). Our worker, Edward, was with me so he suggested that we go over to the local Baptist Church in town that he attends and we can ask the pastor there to borrow some money.

I’m sure that the pastor was a little surprised to see this azungu coming in and asking him to borrow money – especially considering it was to pay a fine at the courts. I explained the whole situation, and he was gracious enough to lend me about $10 (that’s all he had on him) and Edward lent me the other $5.

We got back to the court house a little bit after 11am to find out that the cashier office was closed because they went to the bank. I knew they wouldn’t be back until after lunch so I asked the court clerk what I could do. I paid him the money and he wrote me a hand written letter (all the court proceeding documents as well as the documents written up at the police station were hand written) stating that I had paid the money and would be given a receipt later that day. Normally you need an official receipt to show the police before they will give you your licence back.

Back at the police station I presented my letter to the traffic officer and he says, “But it is not stamped with the court official’s stamp – how do I know this is not a forgery? I’m sorry but I can’t accept this.” I knew that by the time I went back to the court house, the guy who wrote my letter would be gone for lunch and considering this was my 6th stop of the morning in this whole process, I decided to go home for lunch and try to wrap all this up in the afternoon.

The afternoon did work out fine. I got to the court house and the court clerk had already processed my official receipt from the cashier’s office and off I went to the police and finally got my licence back. I then went to the bank machine (that was now working) and only had to wait in line for about 10 minutes. I got the money, paid people back and finally got into work at about 3pm.

I had two hours left in the work day, but it felt like I already worked a full day.

Some more pictures

2008-05-07T09:32:00.000-04:00

Visiting with Pastor Steve Kamwana and his family (and some neighbour kids)

Monkeys drinking from the hose of a place.

Mulanje Mountain (3000m) as seen from a Tea Estate in southern Malawi.
The boys with our worker Saulo.

Caleb climbing a tree on our property.

The family with Sarah's dad when he visited in April.
Chief Josiah on a Chief chair.

In front of a bayobob tree at Lake Malawi. Josiah doing his two favourite things - eating and running.

Just Pictures

2008-04-07T03:57:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics from the past few weeks...

Giving a ride home to "a few" of the orphans from Grace Orphan Care.

Playing lego on the table so that Josiah doesn't come and wreck what they're building.

Ox Carts are not an uncommon site in the village or even on the main highways.

Coming into Blantyre - 70kms away from Zomba.

Storm starting to come on our way back from Blantyre.

Check out the name on the above small business.

Josiah and Kenneth (our night watchman)

Nose to nose with mummy.

Self-portrait on the back of the motorbike

"Firsts"

2008-02-22T01:53:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago, there were a number of “firsts” experienced out in the field. I went out with one my staff, Thomas, to look at a few of the villages we are working in. These are some of the “Firsts” (to the best of my knowledge) that happened that day –

First Time to See an “Azungo” (white person) tour their village school – our first stop was a rural school we are working with. The kids could hear the motorbike coming so many of them already directed their attention to us as we were pulling up on the property. Then when I took off my helmet and they realized I was a white guy, it drew even more attention. I could hear the buzz of laughter and talking about this strange visitor. We walked around the property with the school principal for a while and it seemed like every class had emptied out (granted, most of them were under a grass thatch roof with no walls) and many kids were following us around laughing and pointing at me. It was all quite funny, but I did apologize to the principal for being such a distraction…

First Time Having a Flat Tire in the Middle of nowhere – between our time in Africa 10 years ago, and the 6 months we’ve been here so far, I’ve been out to rural areas hundreds of times – by motorbike and pick-up truck. This was the first time to get a flat tire. We had to walk the motorbike about 3 km to the nearest place that could actually fix a puncture. Of course this happened at about 11am and it was a bright sunny day, so we actually got to walk the few kilometres in the heat of the day.

First Time to see an Azungo to WALK into their village (and walk out) – as we walked the bikemany of these places see only a handful of foreigners in any given year. So to see an azungo actually walk into their village (and walk out), was I’m sure the first for the village that we walked out bike through. There were a number young kids that followed us as we walked through. Thomas had to eventually tell them to turnaround and go back, otherwise they might have followed us the whole way.

First Time to Really Enjoy Stale Cookies – When we arrived in the village where we could get the flat fixed – I was thirsty and hungry. Of course, this happened to be the day that I decided not to take any snacks nor water out with me. We found a little shop that sold luke warm pops and had a coke. I asked Thomas if there were any shops in town that sold packaged snack food – chips, peanuts, or something. Being in quite a remote area, I didn’t want to risk eating something prepared locally. The only packaged food we could find were some cookies. I opened the package and had a bite of the first one – nice and stale. It didn’t matter though, I was hungry and this was the only thing to eat.

First time to Pay only $1.25 for Automobile Services – We dropped the motorbike off at “shop” at the end of the village. This shop was simply a guy with tools and some tire fixing supplies set up under a grass thatch roof that was maybe 10 x 15 feet. It took about a half hour for him to fix the flat – there ended up being two punctures in the tube to fix. In the end it only costed about $1.25 – well worth it!

We had had enough firsts for the day and had to start the 70km journey back to our field office after the tire was repaired. Besides, when we was the tube being patched we counted a total of 11 patches on the tube already, so who knew when we'd get another flat?

Becoming Immune...

2008-02-21T08:53:00.001-05:00

(Sorry, no pictures or funny stories for this one)

Becoming immune has been a good thing for our family here in Malawi. Coming into a new climate and a whole new bunch of illnesses and viruses for our bodies to adjust to has caused some suffering. A couple months after we arrived, all of us except for Sarah (seems that she’s the strong one) got quite sick and had to fight through some sicknesses our bodies had not experienced before. Even now our bodies seem to still be adjusting to different things we eat and drink - details I don’t need to go into.

God did create the human body in a pretty amazing way, and we have adjusted to many of the new things here - be they illnesses, hotter climate, different foods - and we are becoming more and more immune to any ill effects of this different part of the world. Our bodies are not suffering through the adjustment phase like before, which is a good thing.

However, I think there is another immunity that I’m developing that I’m not so sure is a good thing. I seem to become immune to the wide spread suffering of others in a poverty-stricken country like Malawi. It’s all around me, but I don’t always give it a second thought, but just accept it as a “normal” part of life.

Whether it’s the suffering of the families impacted by flooding in different parts of the country - families that have been forced from their homes and have lost their crops. The suffering of the malnourished children I meet out in the villages we work in. The endless number of beggars both old and young - some of them inflicted with polio and other diseases we in the developed world receive immunizations for - that approach me every time I’m in town asking for whatever I can spare. The many people that come to our house asking for money because they or a loved one is sick or hungry, or some come asking for piece work to make some money. The stories I read in the local newspaper about all too common road accidents, children orphaned because parents have died of AIDS. Even those that we work with here have stories about suffering and death that I can’t even begin to imagine.

When I really think about the suffering in this part of the world seems endless. So how have I become so immune to it? Why has it become so “normal” and “acceptable” in my mind? Even to the point that I get annoyed when some of these people in need “inconvenience” my day or “invade my privacy”. I seem forget that these people are just as much a human being as I am.

The needs of the poor here do seem endless, and we could give and give until we have nothing and there would still be needs. It’s hard to find that balance between helping others because I have been blessed with so much, and still being realistic about it all. Unfortunately, there are those that will make up fictitious tales to try and get some money as well - which in the end adds to my immunity. Yet as a Christian wanting to following the clear direction on helping those in need, I’m also challenged by the fact that Jesus does NOT say “Only give to the poor who you judge to think are deserving”. Am I deserving of the opportunities I’ve had in life because of the country I come from?

I guess this blog is more about questions than answers. I just hope that this immunity to the suffering of others can turn into a little more compassion. I’m sure that showing compassion is part of the reason why God has us here.

Back home in Canada, I don’t see the physical suffering that I see here (there is this suffering, we just have an easier job of hiding ourselves from it), but there are other types of suffering. How many times have we been too busy, or too consumed with our hectic schedules (full of worthy activities), or simply disinterested in showing compassion to those that could use it? We all need it at different points in our life.

I better stop before I get (even more) preachy. But please don’t get me wrong, I’m preaching to myself as much as anyone else.

Ode to Josiah (his 1st Birthday)

2008-02-12T07:57:00.000-05:00

On February 8, 2008 we celebrated Josiah's first birthday. For those of you that couldn't "pop over" and make the quick visit out to Malawi, here are some pics of the one year old....

Eating Birthday Cake

On the 8th (Friday) we celebrated his birthday and Chinese New Year with other EI staff and friends. Two of the EI staff are Chinese-Canadians...

With his "popper" on the morning of his birthday - a toy we may live to regret buying because Caleb and Thomas also enjoy the noise it makes...

With his soon to be cut off curly hair...

Having a birthday dinner on the Saturday with our neighbours - the Martinsens (from Norway) who have two young boys that our boys like to play with. Josiah and Irene Martinsen share the same birthday.

Getting his first haircut.... Sarah does a good job, even when she has spectators!

Anyone got an Ark?

2008-02-01T03:51:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of rain here in Malawi - 48 days straight here in Zomba where we live. In other parts of the country there is more serious flooding - some flash floods, and in some areas complete flooding thathas forced many from their homes.

We've had difficulty reaching some of the village sites that we are working in because of the poor conditions of the road. We are only able to travel to our sites by motorbike now - even so there have been times where the roads are just not passable.

With the heavy rains we've also discovered some leaks in our roof - thankfully not over anyone's bed! We get a thunder storm 5 out of 7 nights a week, and the town being at about 500m elevation, we sometimes get quite close to those clouds... There is about another 6 weeks (predicted) left of the rainy season.

We had the guys from the Water and Sanitation team over for lunch. As you can see from the picture, Caleb and Thomas were happy to show them a few hockey moves, and I had to tell about the best Team in the NHL (okay, so maybe not this year, but I think next year they'll have a chance at the Cup) the Leafs. We then went on to burn a Montreal Canadiens flag (just kidding).

Not only is Josiah starting to walk, but he is learning to skateboard as well! Well, almost...

Here's Thomas helping to defrost our freezer (which needs to be done frequently because ice forms when the power goes - which happens a couple times a week).

Sarah and Caleb and their house of cards..

I took this picutre in the capital - Lilongwe. This is a typical site: diesel fumes spewing out of a truck as it climbs a hill. They don't really have the same emissions testing here!

Mike & Sarah Eggert
Private Bag 12
Zomba, Malawi
Central Africa

e-mail: mseggert5@gmail.com
Blog: http://www.eggertsinmalawi.blogspot.com/
Church Blog: http://forestviewchurch.ca/Blogs/Eggert/

Our new cat (and the story about our previous one)

2008-01-11T09:52:00.000-05:00

Meet our (relatively) new cat. Her name is "Blackie" (aka "Super Cat depending on if you ask Caleb or Thomas). We got her in December and have had her for about 4 weeks now (which is a week longer than we had our previous cat "Schneider"). Blackie seems to be a good hunter - she has caught birds, insects, moths, and lots of gecos (tiny lizzards) like the one she is "playing with" in the picture. So far we have not seen any mice or rats around... so she's doing her job.

You may remember from an October blog that we had a new kitten - Schneider. Well, Schneider didn't exactly last very long, and it's a bit of a complicated story, so we were hesitant to share the news until we got a new kitty.

The short version of what happened to Schneider was that he/she got run over by a vehicle just outside our house. I was looking for him/her one evening because he'll usually be meowing at the door to be let in. When I didn't find him, I knew something was up. At about 5am the next morning (it was already light by then), our night watchmen called to me through the window and said some things in Chichewa (the local language) - the only thing I understood was "mpaka" (cat). I went outside and he took me about 50 metres down the road from our house and there lay Schneider's body. Unfortunately. he didn't have 9 lives. I burried him in our backyard and had everything taken care of before the boys even woke up.

Caleb woke up first and we broke the news to him at breakfast. He was sad for a little bit, but then perked up when we said we'd try to get a new cat in a few weeks. When we told Thomas, it was clear that he did not have any emotional attachment to the cat. "Schneider's dead? You mean he's extinct?" (a new word word he was learning when looking through books about dinosaurs). For the rest of the day, whomever we met, he'd proudly announce that Schneider was extinct. I think he was more interested in being able to use the word, than he was about the cat being gone.

Pics from Christmas

2008-01-04T02:22:00.000-05:00

Here are some different pics from our Christmas Day.... we had a relaxing morning, went swimming in the afternoon, and joined other expatriates for a Christmas dinner at the home of the Emmanuel International Country Directors.

Random pictures...

2007-12-07T01:40:00.000-05:00

This is how Caleb and Thomas spent the first two weeks of November... sick and in bed for the most part. Call me emotionless, or call me an optimist, but the silver lining in all this was that when Sarah and I ate supper, we could actually have a conversation because the usual voluminus noise from the boys was not heard.

The "happy" family - even Caleb who is doing his best rock star face....

Playing lego on the front porch (Caleb and his rock star face)

Believe it or not, this pick-up truck is probably only half full by African standards.

A day in the Field

2007-12-04T10:09:00.000-05:00

I’ve been asked different times – “What does a typical day look like for you?”. I can honestly say that I haven’t experienced a “typical” or “normal” day. To quote Leonardo Di Caprio in the movie Blood Diamond, “TIA – this is Africa”, each day seems to bring some sort of surprise or new experience.

That being said, I thought I’d describe a day back in November where I went to visit some of our village sites. The main purpose of the visit was to see the progress that had been made and view some of the demonstration teaching.

7:05am – Pearson (one of the project staff) comes by our house. We get in the vehicle and drive up to the office to get a motorbike for the day.
7:10am – We’re at the office but the mechanic with the key to the motorbike is not. I thought I had this prearranged, but apparently not. So we wait.
7:30am – mechanic arrives and we get the key. The bike needs to be filled with gas. Pearson, takes it into town to do and plans to meet me back at my house so I can return the vehicle to Sarah.
7:50am – Pearson arrives back at my place with a full tank and off we go to Liwonde (field office) which is about 50km away (all paved road). By car/pick-up it takes a little more than half and hour. Today, with two of us on the motorbike it takes about an hour. Pearson is driving slow and steady with his boss on the back of the bike.
9:00am – we meet up with another staff member, Khumbo, in Liwonde and the three of us set out on two motorbikes to visit some village sites. Again, Pearson is driving slow and steady (max 60 km per hr).
10:00am – we arrive at Nsolomba village to pick up some materials. This village is on of the villages we work in but today we are just passing through. As we are getting our materials, one of the older village women greet me in the local language. I respond as per the usual response and think all is fine. Pearson laughs a little and explains to me that in addition to the usual greeting she added, “My husband, how are you?”. I had to laugh – a few of the older women in this village like to joke around with me like that. I even had a marriage proposal the first time I visited the village. I told them I’d have to ask my wife first….
10:15am – we arrive at Ntweya village where we conducted a demonstration on constructing a specific latrine design. This is ecological sanitation so the idea is that you only dig the hole about a metre deep, so that in 6 months or so when it is full you pick up the “structure” that is over the hole and move it to another location. You then make use of the manure from the original hole by planting a tree (usually some sort of fruit tree, depending on the area). The whole demonstration takes about an hour and seems to be accepted well by the villagers.
11:45am – we set off for Oga village to check on the progress that they are making. We take a number of back road trails to get there. Once the heavy rains come in December it will be hard to reach some of these villages – even by motorbike.
12:00pm – we arrive at Oga and they are surprised to see us. More so, they expressed that they wish we would have told them that the “big boss” (aka me) was coming so they could have been ready. This village was a little behind the other villages in terms of progress. We ended up watching (and a little bit of directing) some of the village committee members start to dig a hole. It was hot, so I took out some of my water to drink, and started to eat an apple. They don’t grow apples in Malawi (the apple was a green apple from South Africa) so some of the villagers started to wonder and talk about what I was eating. Pearson finally broke their silence and asked me what I was eating and was it ripe (mangos, which are abundant here, before they are ripe they are green on the outside and white on the inside – much like the apple I was eating). After about another 20 minutes of watching them dig, and twenty minutes of brushing the ants off of my legs, it was time to go.

1:00pm – for the ride back it was decided that I would drive one of the motorbikes. I hadn’t driven a motorbike since last time (98/99) we were in Africa, but it didn’t take too long to remember all the basics. So off we went – this time I wanted to find out if the bikes were slow, or if it was just my staff riding slow because their “bwana” (“boss”) was with them. Even though the bikes are only 125 cc, it was clear that these bikes could go faster than they had been riding them.

We were doing 60km/hr on the dirt roads and paths, but did closer to 80km/hr on the paved roads. When we finally arrived back at the field office in Liwonde, Khumbo simply said, “You were cruisin’!” We all had a good laugh and they explained how they thought they should be going slow and steady when they are with the bwana – but not this boss….

2:30pm – we had a little meeting in the office to discuss work plans for the next week and recap the progress in the different villages.

3:00pm – they dropped me off at the side of the main highway in Liwonde where I picked up a “mini-bus” (a large mini-van used to transport people, their luggage, bags of rice and maize, chickens, you name it…). The mini-bus was pretty full (so I thought) when I got on, so I sat squished in on a 3 seater-bench with 4 people. A few minutes into the trek we picked up a few more people (with luggage), and then a few more…. In the end we had about 20 people in this vehicle. Going up hills was agonizingly slow, but I was thankful that I had safe driver. Road accidents are all too common here in Malawi.

4:00pm – I got dropped off at the side of the highway at the bottom of the hill that our house is situated on. It was a hot 10 minute walk in the afternoon African sun, but finally getting home and enjoying an orange Fanta (if you’re 30 or older, you’ll remember Fanta). I reflect on the day and what was accomplished and what wasn’t, and then I remember – TIA – my expectations need to be realistic!

I likely won’t have an exact day like this again, but I’m sure there will be variations of it….

Random Pictures

2007-11-08T04:47:00.000-05:00

This a view of the front of our place. Zomba is situated on the side of a mountain, so there are different levels on our property. In pictures everything seems so big - the retaining wall in front of the house is only about 5 ft tall...

When coming back from Blantyre (city about 70 km away) we had some car troubles. While waiting for assistance to arrive, there were plenty of Malawian kids interested in seeing "azungos" (westerners) at the side of the road. Thomas (sort of) shared and played "cars" with a couple kids.

Sunsets and Earthquakes

2007-11-08T04:32:00.000-05:00

The sunsets here are awesome, especially as we head into the rainy season and there are different cloud formations for the sun to set behind. Being so close to the equator, the sun goes down quickly. I took this picture a couple weeks ago from our house.

And while we're on the subject of the wonders of God's creation, it's also worth mentioning that we experienced an earthquake early in the morning (Nov. 8th) in Zomba. It went on for about a minute or so and felt like a heavy train was going by. The boys didn't wake up, but Sarah and I did. Once it was all over, it was kind of neat to experience. Living in Ontario we've not felt any earth quakes quite like that. No damage was done, but this morning Sarah and I did talk about no matter what accomplishments man may claim, no matter how big (like the dam on top of the plateau here in Zomba), or how advanced, we still can't compete with God!

The one that got away....

2007-10-29T09:02:00.000-04:00

If you don't like spiders, don't read any further.... I just noticed that all the stories so far are about bugs or snakes. There is more to experience here in Africa then these critters, but we seem to have had some interesting experiences so far, so here goes the next one:

Last week when we had heavy rain in the evening, we were going to put Caleb and Thomas to bed when we discovered a pretty big (about the same span as an adult male hand) spider in their room. It was moving fast, so we quickly got the boys out (they were not in their beds yet) and I (Mike) put my shoes on and went spider hunting. The first problem was that it had crawled up the inside of the boys' mosquito net (refer to picture - yes, of course I had to take a picture first). I shook it down to the floor and tried a couple times to smack it with a shoe that was in my hand, but it kept on getting back under their beds. Finally, it made it's way for the door, and with a camera in one hand and a shoe in the other, I opted to kill it as opposed to taking another picture (if you know my father, you'll understand how genetically abnormal that is for me to do). Success. The boys could sleep in peace.

A few nights later I discovered a similar spider on the inside of our mosquito net in the master bedroom. The ceiling light does not work (yet) in our bedroom so I had to leave the bedroom to get a flashlight and some shoes. But when I came back 30 seconds later, I couldn't find it anymore!! I took off all the bedsheets (carefully) but still no spider. It wasn't the most comforting feeling to know that it was still crawling around somewehre, but at least it wasn't in our bed (at least to our knowledge).

Some Pictures

2007-10-17T03:42:00.001-04:00

Some pictures of our house and of us on top of the Zomba Plateau Dam which was completed in 2000.

The Family...

2007-10-06T05:18:00.000-04:00

To include the cat ("Schneider") as a member of the family is stretching it.... but the boys feel that way. Sarah and I don't even like cats that much, but they serve a functional purpose here in Africa for keeping the mice and rats away. So for here in Malawi, we can include him/her (we're not sure yet) in the family...

"Daddy, I think we have a problem here..."

2007-10-04T03:37:00.000-04:00

Last Monday night the boys were watching a DVD on our computer in the sitting room. I (Mike) was in the kitchen doing the dishes when Caleb calls out, "Daddy, I think we have a problem here."

Assuming that someone pressed the wrong button on the computer or something, I asked if they were having trouble watching the DVD.

"No, something is flying around and around in the room" Caleb calmly said.

I figured it was a big moth or some sort of flying insect. I started walking towards the room when I realized that it was a bat that was flying around and around in the sitting room! Not wanting to alarm the boys, but needing to let them know what was going on, I had to tell them it was a bat. To my surprise, neither Caleb nor Thomas freaked out. In fact they were both quite interested to see a bat in their own house.

Being the brave and quick-thinking father that I am, I knew exactly what to do. I asked one of our night watchmen to come in and catch the bat. Bambo (means "Mister" in Chichewa) Jonas walked in and started to try to catch the flying creature with his bare hands. I gave him a towel and he then had success in capturing the bat and taking him outside to set him free.

We have all the holes in our ceiling blocked up now - so hopefully we won't get any more visitors like that!

I Smell a Snake!

2007-10-03T06:08:00.000-04:00

It was a couples weeks after we arrived in Malawi, and I was taking a tour via motorbike of some of the villages we are implementing some water and sanitation initiatives. I was travelling on the back of the motorbike being driven by one of my staff members, Thomas. As we were traveling along the dusty road in the mid-afternoon, all of a sudden he turns his head to me and says, "I smell a snake!".

There are definitely snakes in these parts - big ones and small ones, and most of them poisonous. At first I thought he was joking around, trying to fool the "new guy". But after about 20 feet, he stops the bike and we get off. Sure enough, there are fresh snake tracks crossing the dirt road into a field! We take a few steps into the field but can't find it (which was probably a good thing).

"How did you "smell" the snake?" I ask him, still surprised that he was right.

"This time of year (hot season) they shed their skin and they have a certain smell - like rice almost." Thomas replies.

I couldn't smell anything - but then again, Thomas grew up in Malawi and I didn't. Apparently he used to hunt snakes as a boy so was very in-tune with their scent.