pobwerera ku mudzi

My three week trip to America has come and gone, and although I was very sad to leave my family and friends, I was extremely excited to get back to my house, my friends, my cats, my garden, and the projects I am working on.

bike taxis come in very handy when you have too much luggage to carry yourself

My excitement quickly vanished when I returned to my house to see that my backyard and garden has basically become a jungle. It's quite amazing to see how much things can grow in as little as three weeks, especially during the rainy season. My watermelons and pumpkins have basically overtaken my garden and the passionfruit growing along my fence and kitchen have finally started to bear fruit. I can't wait to be eating all of those very shortly! However, there was grass and weeds up to my waist everywhere and that made me nervous because that often means snakes (which I've already seen twice in my garden), bugs, and mosquitoes will be living there.

 my backyard did NOT look this way when i left

passionfruit

Also, I was not too pleased to walk into my house to find that my cat had been locked into my house for three days (it's a long story). And not only that, ANOTHER part of my fence has fallen over. It's the part of the fence that stops my neighbors from being able to see my pit latrine, so needless to say going to the bathroom was a bit awkward for a few days...

chips was not too happy with me for a few days...

i can see into my neighbor's yard... that might be a problem

I was only at my house for about 5 minutes but I knew I had to leave because I was too frustrated with the state of my house to stay, so I left to go vent to my closest friend in the community, William. I was angry, tired from a stressful few days of traveling, and frustrated. But I walked into his house to see that him and his family had decorated it for me as a homecoming. Wow. That helped me to feel a lot better and to remind me that I shouldn't get all bothered about things since I've got great friends and support here.

 a "welcome back" surprise

 they're the best

 

After only a few days in my village one of the young girls who lives in my compound, Rachel, passed away from malaria. She just started primary school last year and became sick at the beginning of the new year. Her condition worsened to the point where she wasn't eating or drinking and that's when she was taken to the hospital, and by then it was unfortunately too late. So, for two days my neighbors and people from all around the community gathered for her funeral. It was incredibly sad and it's still a bit strange not to see her around my house every day playing with the neighborhood kids. So please keep her family in your prayers, especially for her sister and two brothers.

Rachel (in the back row, second from the left)

After a difficult few days there was some good news, which is that the Kakunga women's group opened their own savings account at Opportunity International Bank of Malawi. We all took a trip to the bank where each member not only opened an account, but was given some money to start their savings (which is in thanks to all those who donated while I was home, so thank you!). It was like going on a field trip for school, you could just feel how excited the women were. For the entire 40 minute ride there and back they were singing and dancing. And later this week they will be opening an account as a group so that they can be applying for loans in the future, especially as they are beginning to prepare for their cooking oil business. Very exciting!

 

the Kakunga VSL ladies on their way to open their bank accounts

The last update I have is about Margaderina. I was so encouraged to find that while I was gone she had been very busy with her own business of selling vegetables. And when told that people from America were not only thinking and praying for her, but that they wanted to help her out financially, she was very surprised and thankful. So currently she has been able to buy fertilizer, enough maize to last through this hunger season, soap, and a few other necessities. And even though she still has a long journey ahead of her, I can tell that she is feeling a bit more hopeful about her life and her family's which is a great thing.