Camping, days 8-9: Zomba, Malawi (visit to a student's church - 9)

Day 8 – Saturday 25 May 2013

Travel from Nanchengwa Lodge to Zomba, Malawi

 

After 5 nights of rest and relaxation on the shore of Lake Malawi, we packed up camp on the morning of Saturday the 25th.  We were able to hit the road in a timely manner, by 9:45, heading south to the town of Zomba.  

It was a smooth drive.  It was interesting to see the obvious prevalence of Islam in this part of the country, the southern shore of Lake Malawi.  We saw mosques every 500 meters on some stretches of the road south!  There were Islamic schools and teacher training centers everywhere.

It took us about 3 1/2 hours and we arrived in Zomba around 12:30. Zomba is a large town, with the distinction of being Malawi's University town. We set up camp at a bed and breakfast called Casa Rossa which is located up the mountain, on the road leading to the top of the Zomba Plateau.  Casa Rossa is a new guesthouse in Zomba - only been open about a year - run by a friendly Italian couple.  They have a public restaurant as well, specializing in homemade Italian cuisine.  Mmmm.  A great place to stay!  :)

you can see us eating breakfast on the terrace in this photo

The camping area was terraced out of the hillside and was well equipped, with good toilet facilities, hot showers, big sinks for washing up, and even an electrical socket at each camping pitch!

a view of our camp at Casa Rossa

 The first thing we did when we arrived was eat our packed lunch (peanut butter and jam sandwiches) sitting on the ground in the camping area.  Then we unloaded everything and set up our tent.  It was a relaxing afternoon so we were able to just enjoy our surroundings.  Being located up on the road to the Plateau meant that we were removed from the hustle and bustle of the town streets below, and we had a gorgeous view from the terrace.

 The Casa Rossa restaurant does good business!  We went up to the restaurant for an early dinner.  David had ravioli and I had tortellini, and the children had chicken nuggets and chips.  It was delicious.  As usual, the kids went to bed early.  On our camping trip we found that it was a good schedule to eat dinner earlier than normal (so that we were done eating and cleaning up before it was completely dark) and then move into the tent, to avoid mosquitoes.  Often we would let the kids watch a DVD on their portable DVD player, sitting on Elijah's airbed.  It was a good way to wind down at the end of each day of playing hard outside!  

After the kids were asleep I went back up to the restaurant, finding that the dinner portion was so small that I was still very hungry.  :)   The woes of being a pregnant woman.  I ordered a 'snack' of onion soup and panzerotti (like mini calzones) with a side of chips.  Probably sounds like an odd combination, but at the time I thought the soup would warm me up and the panzerotti would fill me up!  It was cold at night up on the mountainside.

Having reached Zomba successfully, the only difficulty now was contacting Sangwani, the student whose church we would be visiting the following day.  We had his phone number, but our phone calls and text messages (from Zambian phones) weren't going through, although our phones indicated that we had service.  Sangwani tried to phone us before we left Nanchengwa, but David's phone battery died before we were able to receive his call.  So here we were in Zomba, but we had no idea where the church was or what time the service would start the next day!  We just had to trust that Sangwani would find some way to reach us before it was too late.  :)

Day 9- Sunday 26 May 2013

Zomba, Malawi -- visit to a student's church (9)

On Sunday morning we woke up to the reality that we still had not been successfully contacted by Sangwani.  David was supposed to be preaching at his church in Zomba, but we still had no idea where the church was located or what time the service would start!  

So we had our usual morning routine of feeding the children, showers, getting ready for church and hoped that he would contact us soon.  It was really nice to find out that any guests of Casa Rossa, even campers, were offered a complimentary 'tea and toast' breakfast in the restaurant each morning (you could pay to get eggs or something else if you wanted a bigger breakfast).  The coffee was fantastic and we enjoyed having free toast and hot drinks each morning with our bowls of cereal from the campsite.  :)

 We were finally able to reach Sangwani around 8am, and were told that the church service would start at 10am, and given directions to the church.

the back view of the church - they are in the process of building and are meeting in the partially completed office area

Sangwani is a member of the Reformed Baptist congregation in Zomba, and they support him as a student for the ministry.

Sangwani translated for David during the sermon

 I really enjoyed the service, which was simple and reverent, as we have found most of the Reformed Baptist churches to be.  One thing I noticed was that even the young children were joining in singing the hymns - from the book!  That is something you will never find in the poor village churches in Eastern Province.  You hardly ever see a church with any hymnbooks, but even the ones that do have a few books, most people can't read well enough to use them.  You could definitely see the difference, that the education available in Zomba is much better than in our local area.

Elijah and Ketzia did very well during the service, until part way through the sermon when I had to take Elijah out so that he could use the toilet...  Then he didn't want to go back into the church service because he knew he would have to sit still!  He threw such a fit, kicking and howling, that eventually I strapped him into his car seat so that he would calm down, and sat in the car with the kids until the sermon ended. What can you do?  :)  Sometimes, as a mom, you feel like you can never win!  Even if the kids are doing well in church, a simple toilet run can turn into an absolute rebellion!

 

a view of the inside of the church, taken afterwards while people were chatting

After church ended I was so pleased to see that people stayed around chatting - again something you don't really see that often.  Usually people leave pretty quickly, but the fellowship here was good and the congregation was friendly.  David spent a while talking to the men of the church - the pastor, the assistant pastor, and others.

After church Sangwani's wife Betty told me that they were planning to have us to their house for lunch, so we all squished into our 5-seater truck.  Betty's youngest sister Madalitso (called Mado by the family) who lives with them, sat in the front passenger seat.  We took out Ketzia's car seat and she sat on my lap, Elijah sat in his car seat, Betty held 2 1/2 yr old Keziah on her lap, and Siphiwe (5 years old) shared the seat with her mom.  It was tight, but we managed and thankfully they only live a few miles up the road!  Sangwani took the bicycle and arrived at home only a few minutes after we did.

Sangwani and David by the front of the church

 

and again around the back of the church

Sangwani, Betty, Mado, and the girls live in a small house with two bedrooms, a small storage room, and a living room.  Unlike many of the students' homes we've visited, they have electricity, so Betty has an oven and cooker and a refrigerator in the living room.  They welcomed us in, and while Betty and Mado finished preparing the food, the kids had a GREAT time playing together. 

Elijah and Siphiwe chase each other around the front garden

the little girls who share a name visiting together :) - Keziah and Ketzia!

ready to eat lunch together

Betty served us a delicious meal of rice and potatoes cooked with tomatoes and eggs.  It was tasty!

 

We really enjoyed the chance to visit with Sangwani and Betty during this afternoon together, chatting with them about life and culture and all sorts of different things. While Sangwani is our student, we have a different relationship with him -- because he is also our teacher!  Sangwani tutors us in Chichewa language lessons weekly during each term, and we are very thankful for his generosity in giving his time and energy to help us learn.  He has been in our home a lot and we have been greatly blessed by our Christian fellowship with him.  

Keziah, Betty, Mado, Siphiwe, and Sangwani in front of their home

 It was good to get to observe him and his family together in their home.  Think about it! they don't get to be together very often - only twice a year at best during the term holidays!  Sangwani's studies have taken him away from the family for the better part of 3 years now and they are looking forward to his graduation in October, Lord willing.

We visited with them until nearly 3pm, and then headed back to our campsite.  But first we arranged to see them again before we would leave Zomba later in the week!  This wasn't just a weekend visit; we decided to stay a couple of extra days in Zomba since we had traveled so far to see Sangwani and his family...