The ticket agent at LAX was helpful, and we tipped her
generously. Our aircraft departed at 9:30 pm. The flight was uneventful, except
for the fact that we were crammed into three seats and Abigail was overtired so
she cried the whole way. I darted glares from the girl in front of me and
silently dared her to say anything.
When we arrived at JFK, we transferred from Delta to South
African Airlines. The good news is that we did not have to pay again for our
excessive baggage. The bad news is that the very helpful ticket agent at LAX had
entered Abigail’s ticket incorrectly, so we had to wait while they worked out a
solution. At boarding time the SAA ticket agent gave us our boarding passes and
said, “Go quickly. You have a long walk.” He also told us that we would need to
repeat this process in Johannesburg. During the flight, we had eight seats for
the four of us!
As we went through security at JNB, they confiscated
Abigail’s toddler fork (which had been Jedidiah’s.) That tugged my mother’s
heart, but thankfully I didn’t have to burst into tears because Jedidiah did it
for me.
At last we arrived in Malawi—the warm heart of Africa. We
were the last to disembark the aircraft and at the end of the line outside the
building. A lady who worked there told us to go in and sit down, because the sun
was too hot for the baby. (Whew! Thank you!) We wheeled our ten carry-ons and
sat on the only chairs. A woman whom seemed to be the head of customs took our
passports and waved us through. She then ordered a man to gather our ten
checked bags and to take them to our vehicle. Interesting cultural experience
that was! The man took Jamie’s carry-ons and placed them on the cart. He didn’t
even look at mine. When there was extra baggage to be carried, he handed it to
me, loaded down with a baby and a son and six carry-ons! The lady in charge
obviously did not approve for she grabbed my bags and told him to put them on
the cart! Two young girls loaded our seventy pound suitcases into the Land
Cruiser.
A volunteer here at Malamulo, took us to the bank to
exchange some money. When Jamie was handed a large stack of kwacha, all the
heads in line turned to look. (At the time, 325 kwacha = $1.00)
So here we are at Malamulo Mission Hospital. Since our home
is not in livable condition, we are staying at the guesthouse in a room with
four bunk beds until it is ready for us.
The first few days all we wanted to do was sleep. Jedidiah
and Jamie adjusted to the time difference quickly, but Abigail and I have taken
longer. At 2am she developed this (obviously) hilarious game of jumping on
Mommy and blowing raspberries on my arm. She giggled so hard that she woke up
her brother.
We’ve seen some large spiders and cockroaches. We’ve been
told that those racquetball sized spiders are “little” and “won’t hurt you.”
Thanks?? It’s amazing how something so small comparatively can evoke such
strong feelings.
Jamie is learning Chichewa, and most Malawians seemed
pleased. He even drank their fermented corn meal drink, and is so proud of
himself that I think he’s told every Malawian to whom he’s spoken! Next week he
begins a six week orientation at the government hospital. After that, he’ll
begin work at Malamulo.
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