April 25, 2012
The
third of April was our 53rd wedding anniversary. We celebrated (?) by going to the small
country of Malawi. We met the Bullocks
(senior missionaries and a counselor in the Zambia Mission presidency) and the
Pretes who are a missionary couple serving in Lilongwe, Malawi. The Bullocks were very kind to us, driving us
to our appointments and having us over for lunch. They told us that Malawi is the most densely
populated country in Africa and one of the poorest in the world. One of the first sights that met my eyes were
people carrying heavy loads of something black wrapped in large packages (coal
I learned later) on their backs, heads and/or bicycles. There were lots of vehicles but many more
people walking or riding bicycles. There
is a fuel shortage as the country has to import petrol and doesn’t have the
right currency to do it. Apparently the
suppliers want a more stable currency than the Malawi kuwatcha (currently the
exchange rate for the US dollar is 162:1).
So they have to wait until they have enough dollars or euros to import
it. There must have been a hundred or
more cars each in the two main petrol stations in Blantyre just waiting for
petrol to arrive. The cars were there at
least three days. The owners just leave them at the station or parked in line
along the street. (See photo below) Finally
Friday night some of the cars started to move.
This happens all the time according to the Bullocks.
We
stayed in a Protea Hotel, the Ryalls. It
was fairly comfortable and had a good dining room where we ate most of our
meals. For lunch one day we went with
the Bullocks to a Chinese restaurant which was good even though there was no
fortune cookie. It was interesting to me
that in a city where the people are so poor that there were so many big modern
bank buildings and car dealerships. Some
must be able to afford cars even though their homes were not more than
shacks. Unemployment is a real
problem. Elder Bullock said that when it
rains the sand from the dirt roads runs downhill. Some people then gather the sand into a pile and
sell it to contractors who need it for building. Everyone does what they can to
eke out a living. All of the streets in
the city are lined with little make shift stalls selling used clothing, food,
building materials, junk. There is one
area that I would compare to an American flea market as the whole area is
nothing but these stalls. Clothes are
strung along a clothesline for like a block.
I wondered what they did when it rained, as there were no coverings or
shelter. I came away counting my
blessings.
Other
interesting sights we saw in Malawi included little goats on a harness being
driven down the main street like one would walk a dog, a man in a cart being
pulled by two donkeys, a small firepot (photo below) that is used to cook
entire meals for a family, and women in colorful purple shiny skirts and headpieces
to match walking to church (Good Friday).
The
church audits which were the purpose of our trip went fairly well. None of the buildings had computers, let
alone the internet. Leaders need to be
advanced money for airtime (cell phones) and internet cafe charges to retrieve
emails and taxi fare to go to the bank to deposit donations. They are trying to follow church procedures
and except for obtaining receipts are doing quite well. There is one fairly new large chapel in
Blantyre. It was where Elder Nelson came
to dedicate Malawi for the preaching of the gospel last October. Two branches meet there. A year ago a district was organized and the
two branches were divided to make four.
The two new branches meet in small houses, one on the side of a cliff whose
entrance is down a steep flight of steps.
One of the members of this branch is in a wheelchair and has to be
carried up and down these steps each Sunday. We did not go to that
building. The other new branch is renting
a small home that has been converted.
But there is not room for everyone and many people need to stand out on
the porch or grounds for sacrament meeting.
This is not very convenient especially when it rains. The church is still growing there despite the
challenges.
Blantyre
is surrounded by small mountains and was green as they get most of their rain
in the summer (December through March).
There were beautiful plants and trees and would be a nice place to live,
if one could make a living. We were there for three days as South Africa
Airlines only flies in and out on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We did get fed very well on the plane even
though it was only a little more than a
two hour flight.
We
spend most of our time in the Area Office.
All of the 545 unit audits were due March 15th. As of the end of April we still have 74 to come
in. We also do special projects. I was asked by the Area presidency to make
some charts and slides for the Area review coming up showing the demographics
of the church members in Southeast Africa.
It was interesting to see that over half of the adult members are
single. The wards here are not your
typical family ward in the United States.
