Odds and Ends

Since it has been a while since I have written a post and many things have happened I will copy a few bits and pieces from emails that I have sent to family and friends… This is lazy, I admit, but also I think the first time something is written is usually better…

Board Meeting: “Thursday (4 Sept) was the board meeting and I had an 8am meeting with the ADRA country director, Don P, & Dr. Hart about the MH water project so I left for Blantyre at 6am. The board meeting was at 4pm so in between I helped Kirby (CEO at Blantyre Hospital) get ready and talked with various people etc. At the board meeting I ended up running the power point from my computer (i.e. me manning the slides), and taking minutes, and presenting the Malamulo hospital report. (I don't think my multi-tasking skills are up to this level yet.) Anyway - the board meeting went well although it was long - ending at 10pm. The stressful part was not my presentation though but rather when the business mgr was presenting our turnaround plan and the board was discussing it... I sensed a very negative reaction from some board members. They were saying things like, "malamulo has had so many plans like this and others and they never work. What makes you think this will work?" and their body language was strongly negative (in my opinion) to what we were suggesting and Malamulo in general. Finally I spoke up and just asked that the board be supportive of what is happening at MH now and that there is so much potential there. At this point I got all choked up and I couldn't really get out what I wanted to say. Actually, now I don't even know what I said, but I felt so strongly (and still do) that Malamulo has a future and to see these people almost blow it off or say it can't be done was very frustrating to me!! Dr. Hart jumped in and came to my rescue by affirming what I was saying and adding that MH has been in a long spiral downward and is at a turning point right now - etc. Our turnaround plan was passed and approved.”

Life in General: “Life here is going along okay. There are always challenges to my wisdom and leadership skills though. Right now there are personnel issues. One of our department heads (workshop) was found to be stealing. That is difficult in many ways. Other people are trying to make another leader look bad and find a way to cause trouble for him. We also had someone caught selling stolen medicines, blankets, and sheets in the village. His suppliers were all thrown in jail together. Things aren’t quite so hectic as last week with the board meeting and the centennial. Things went well with that but our turnaround plan for the hospital passed which means A LOT OF WORK. It was really nice to have Dr. Hart and Don Pursley here for a few days. I felt important since I spent most of my time with them and they were “dignitaries” and made the celebration a BIG event. Then there was little me hanging out with them. Dr. Hart is so encouraging and shares the passion that I feel about this hospital and mission work in general. He also has a lot of experience which I am lacking.”

Malamulo is 100 years old! September 5 & 6 was the Centennial celebrations for Malamulo Hospital. There were all kinds of special programs, dramas, and speeches made. It was definitely a high weekend. Here’s a snippet about that: "The weekend ended up really well… it was so nice to have Dr. Hart and Don P here. There were many dignitaries from the area as well. I felt a little odd being with them the whole time but it was expected – I was a “dignitary” too. Haha The people here love to act and do dramas so after it was dark on Saturday night the union president had written and set up a shadow drama of the history of Malamulo. So there was a narrator with actors behind a white sheet and a light so it showed shadows to the audience. It was also mixed with music from various choirs and groups – it was very good and quite entertaining! We were PACKED into the school cafeteria and it worked out well even though it was all last minute so many people were working all hours to get the sheet made and the rehearsals done. That was probably the highlight of the weekend. Dr. Hart spoke for church in the morning (we met outside under the trees where they have campmeeting) and then we had an afternoon program with some poems, music, speeches, etc”

Last week: “I ended up going to Lilongwe on Friday for a CHAM (Christian Hospital Association of Malawi) meeting. It was a 4 hr trip up and 5 hrs back. The meeting was good - worthwhile, but just a long day. Then Friday night there was a big storm with rain and wind and the tree that is outside my office window, between the community health building and the walkway had a big branch brake off and fall on the power lines and the roof. Kelvin was up at 5am to cut the wood up and then had to help untangle the wires. We were supposed to go into church in Blantyre and leave by 8 but didn't end up leaving until about 11 and ended up just going to pick up Cristy. The doctors from Blantyre hospital had planned a potluck since we were coming in so Sue & Lily stayed there to eat while Kelvin and I went to the airport. Between the flight being late and Cristy losing a bag it took quite a while. But it was good to see her and we did get some food when we got back to Dr. Verona's house. When we finally got home there was no electricity - nice welcome to Cristy! :) So we just sat and chatted for a while and caught up on lots of things. (I'm sure there is more to come though!)

CRISTY IS HERE!! Monday was her first day back to work and also her birthday. Sunday was a relaxing day since I was able to escape from the office for most of it. Here is some that I wrote about those couple of days – "It was fun on Sunday Cristy and I baked up a storm and used up everything in the kitchen – white flour, sugar, butter, etc. She made some lovely Ethiopian bread with spices and I made her a birthday cake. Yesterday was her birthday so I made an applesauce spice cake with browned butter drizzle (it was supposed to be icing but I didn’t want to use so much powdered sugar although we do have some!). Jasmine (the cook here) also made homemade ice-cream (more like frozen sweetened condensed milk) that was soft-serve. Anyway – the summary is that we all had sugar overload but it was WONDERFUL! We were headed up to Kelvin & Sue’s house (they have a 2yo so by default we get together at their place so she can go to bed) and the electricity had gone off. Kelvin was running the things in the house off the car battery and using a propane camping stove. AHHH the life!! Haha – anyway – it ended up being a nice dinner and fun to celebrate a little and the electricity did end up coming back on before we sat down to eat!”