London Calling

We made it to London safe and sound. We left Lilongwe, Malawi at 6:30 am on Friday and arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on time. After a brief layover we departed for Rome. We were delayed in Rome, but arrived safely in London last night around 9:30 pm local time.

After 2 weeks together in Africa, we split ways at Heathrow Airport. Ann, Pat, Tova and Rivcah connected with Pat’s brother Mark, Julia connected with her uncle Leroy, Dale met Andrea and his parents at the Airport, Bob ran to try and catch an earlier flight back to Toronto (to avoid a 12 hour layover) and Dana and I found our hotel (walking around London in the middle of the night with a box containing three 5’ tall wooden giraffes plus all our luggage is no fun!)

It’s quite chilly and overcast in London today, a bit of a change from the warm sunny days spent in Africa. Dana and I are at the (huge) Apple store in Soho right now. (Woohoo, you Macheads would love it, 2 floors of fun!) Sorry that there isn’t a photo with this posting, the photo area of the store is very busy at the moment.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers, and thanks to everyone who has left us comments on this blog over the past 2 weeks, we looked forward to reading them each night before we went to bed. We’ve got lots of pictures, video (about 12 hrs) and many, many stories to share.

It’s been an awesome (among many other descriptions that could be used) experience. Hope each of you are doing well.

Ta Ta for now…


EDIT: We're standing in the Apple store and Dale, Andrea and Dales parents just walked in!

DALE and ANDREA: We're exhausted, time change has been difficult for Andrea but Dale is still running on adrenaline from the Africa trip. See you all in several weeks.

Out of Africa

Mission Accomplished
Originally uploaded by yo_paully.

Well it's our last night in Africa, and we are all a feeling a range of emotions from accomplishment to a bit of sadness, as all of us are going to miss our daily adventures in Malawi. Tonight's entry will be a short one as we've got to leave the house no later than 3:30 am to catch our flight to Ethiopia.

Today we had a great day! We had the opportunity to share a meal with the guys that we worked with over the past two weeks. We ate, we sang (we sang bad, they sang good), we talked, we shared and we said our good-byes.

Below are some thoughts that we were chatting about:

Building...
... relationships
... hope
... awareness
... respect
... understanding
... faith
... compassion
... a legacy
... friendships
... futures

... and a home.

This is the end of the first chapter in Africa. There will be more to come.

See you all soon!

The Whirlwind Continues...

village
Originally uploaded by yo_paully.

We have been combining our construction efforts with an intense emotional and personal view behind the scenes here in Malawi. Our hosts JR & Ivy Andrews have made a near superhuman effort to ensure that we have had a first hand look at all of the aspects of life here in Malawi - truly the good, the bad and the ugly. However, as a team, we would agree that there is way more good than we ever imagined. The people here may not have much money, but they are creative, committed to their families and simply want to live a better life. Malawi is called "Warm Heart of Africa" and it really is. We receive countless waves and smiles everywhere we go.

This trip is a little bit like starting to build Noah's Ark, the Village of Hope is being designed, built, equipped and staffed as if it will be here for the the long haul. This place is going to have an awesome impact on generations to come.

Today we visited a village called Lagooni (not sure of the spelling). It was as close to middle class as it gets in Malawi. By Canadian standards, it would still be considered very poor, but was more modern than most of the remote villages that we've seen. This village had stores, bars, clubs and had more of a "Big City" kind of feel, as far as villages go. That said, village has a higher average rate of AIDS than most of the others that we've visited.

The home is almost complete, and as a team we are really excited about our last day, and a little bit sad that our journey is almost over. Tomorrow we will be having lunch at the house with the workers. We will be having Nseema with relish, which is the most common meal in Malawi. Nseema is made from maize (crushed corn) made into a thick paste style of dish, almost a Malawian version of grits. Relish is a vegetable mixture usually consisting of tomatoes and whatever other vegetables are available, sometimes fish is used. The meal is eaten with your hands - no utensils or dishes are used.

We've taken tons of pictures - it's been a wild ride and we've learned sooooo much and we're anxious to share it our friends and families.

Lifeline Malawi

Lifeline Malawi
Originally uploaded by yo_paully.

Today we visited a clinic called Lifeline Malawi in a small fishing village named Ngodzi on Lake Malawi. The clinic is operated by Dr. Chris Brooks. Dr. Brooks, his wife Heather and their daughter Chloe are from Calgary. Dr. Brooks started the clinic out of the back of his truck seven years ago, today he saw 170 patients at his clinic. One in three of those patients are HIV positive. The clinic was in relativity good condition, but by Canadian standards, this clinic would never pass. Though there is very little medicine to dispense, this clinic is a ray of light for the people of this region.

It was like we were medical students in a teaching hospital, we were in the room with Dr. Brooks as he saw some of his patients. One of the cases that we saw today included a woman that had cancer of the mouth (which was a very graphic sight). She traveled over 50 km to come to the clinic. In Malawi, that is a great distance. She had to travel by bus (which is actually a van that stuffs people in like sardines), then by taxi (which is actually an old bike with a pad for a passenger). There are only 3 doctors in all of Malawi that could treat this type of case. Dr. Brooks, gave her some antibiotics and bandaged her up, that's all he could do.

Another case was a young man that had scabies, today he found out that he was HIV positive. He had soars all over his lips, arms and legs. They do not have the resources to treat him, so all that could be done was to administer some antibiotics and vitamins. Counseling was also made available.

Toward the end of the morning, there was a 30 year old man that could barely stand up. Dr. Brooks advised this man to go to a hospital, he had prepared a letter stipulating the urgency of the situation. Unfortunately, the man refused to go. The reason that this man refused to go to the hospital was because he believed that he would never get out, he would go there to die. At that point, Dr. Brooks believed that he had only 24-48 hours to live without treatment.

We also saw a seven year old boy that has AIDS. He contracted AIDS vertically, which means that he received AIDS from his mother. This boy is being raised by his grandmother, since both of his parents had died of AIDS. His grandmother who is a widow, is taking care of 6 children. If this child presented in Canada, he would have immediately been admitted to Intensive Care, but since we are in Malawi there is nothing that could be done.

Lifeline Malawi is reaching many of the people in that region, unfortunately due to a lack of resources they aren't able to reach everyone. They are able to treat a number of ailments, but treatment for HIV/AIDS isn't available to this clinic, but the hope is that it will be available in the next 6 months. Meanwhile Lifeline Malawi continues to see people in this region daily, and is expanding.

For Dr. Brooks, this is just another day at Lifeline Malawi.

REALITY...

day09-01
Originally uploaded by yo_paully.

The sunsets in Malawi are absolutely beautiful. They only last for a few minutes, but they are stunning. This country offers some really beautiful landscapes.

Today was a different day. It was a bit of a quiet day, lots of time to reflect. We started out at the job-site and did some hard steel work. The sun was hot and draining.

It was also a learning day (as everyday has been, so far). We have been in contact with so many people since arriving in Malawi, whether it's the people that we interact with at the market, the kids we visit or the guys we work with on the job-site, it's hard to imagine that 1 in every 5 of those people has AIDS, but it is a reality. The AIDS issue is something that no one likes to talk about, it is considered taboo to talk about it among most Malawians. Many people here do not get tested for HIV/AIDS, they do not want to know if they have AIDS. Denial is a reality.

Tomorrow some of us will have an opportunity to visit a clinic that is run by a Doctor who used to practice in Calgary, but has relocated in Malawi. We will be exposed to some of the realities that that AIDS presents.

Despite the AIDS problem, there are many positive things happening in Malawi, there are beautiful sunsets, and there is hope. Hope that we in North America can learn through the reality in Malawi.