I don't even know where to begin on the trip there. When we first arrived I was excited to see all the students again. They all show up at the airport to meet us and they wait a very long time for us to go through customs and get our visas. They are always in a long line on the other side of the airport waiting and from where we get our visa to where they are waiting is only 30 feet away, but we are blocked by walls. Lilongwe has a very small airport.
The other thing/person I was excited to see was my roommate, we knew ahead of time who our roommates were going to be, but I had never met mine and did not know who she was or what she looked like. I learned through traveling that she was from Colorado and only made it to 2 of our meetings and she was engaged to a guy named Matt who I have been to Malawi with 2 other times. Matt and my roommate Becky traveled separately from us since they lived in different states, but we all arrived about the same time in Malawi.
 |
| This is kind of what my room looked like this year but with only two beds and no bunk bed, and we share a bathroom, with a room that looks identical to ours. |
Becky had never been to Malawi before and wanted to go to a place where her soon to be husband loved so much. She was so excited to see this place that he could not stop talking about. She was the epitome of a new person going out of the country. She had 3 bags. One had supplies for Malawi, but the other 2 had stuff. A lot of stuff. It was amazing what she was able to fit in to her bags. Lots and lots of clothes, I counted 7 pairs of shoes at one point (tennis shoes and sandals) she had vacuumed packed pillows and blankets (more like comforters) a ton of food. It was amazing, she brought her home with her. This is all normal for a lot of first timers, however, I have never been roommates with anyone who packed quite like she did. Becky is a very sweet lady, she offer me and our suite mates anything that she had, she loves Matt completely and she was very happy to share this time with him. But Becky had a secret that I did not know or see coming.
Every morning we go to breakfast and then we go to chapel to have a mini sermon and our daily tasks for each group get sorted out. Once this is complete we go to the cafeteria to get sack lunches the we go to our buses and we leave for the day with each of our teams, who we usually do not see again until we get back to the campus. I was the only one of our 4 suite mates that was on a different team.
I only spent a few nights with my roommate. Because she was on the same team as the two other women we shared a bathroom with, they noticed that she seemed to be very upset on her first day. I could not tell, because when I saw her she was with her fiancé and she was very happy when she was with him, however, several more people came up to me asking if she was okay. I decided that one too many people saw something that I did not see, so I asked her how she was, and sure enough she was struggling, and she was embarrassed that others noticed she was not doing well. But these people care about her even if they don't know her. I found out she was upset with what she had seen, she wasn't expecting Malawi and the village(s) to be the way they were, she was hurting. We talked for quite awhile, and we were able to get to a point where she didn't want to run away and stay on campus the rest of her trip. One of the things our pastor says to us during the state side meetings is if you are overwhelmed and you need a break, then get up and get on a bus, there is always a bus around to get on and breathe. Also, you can stay behind on campus if you need too. We are not in our own environment, this is not something we see even in the worst parts of our cities. She was able to breathe again after our conversation, she was able to take a break and a step back, but there was something else that had been on her mind the whole time.
Cut to two days later, it was a normal day, breakfast and chapel. Our pastor told funny stories of his life and marriage and it was a lot about marriage, my roommate and her fiancé sat right next to me. I remember telling her that she looked amazing that day. And next thing we know our pastor says, would anyone like to get married today? He had to ask twice. As soon as he said it once, I knew that was what she had been concerned about as well, she was about to get married in a country that her fiancé adored, but she wasn't too sure of, but she wanted to marry this man. And so the second time our pastor asked, 'does anyone want to get married today?' they both stood up and we had the first American Malawian wedding!! I wish I could say that I took sooo many pictures of this amazing occasion, but I cant, I never take my phone with me to chapel or my camera, cause 'I don't need it' Wow was I wrong. It was a very quick wedding, maybe 10 minutes. We did the throwing of the money, to which they donated right back into Live Love Malawi. It was fun, beautiful and spur of the moment. I barely knew my roommate, and yes she did leave our room that night, so I was now roommateless, <~ (is that a word. Oh well it is today). But she is an amazing woman, she married a great guy and what little we learned of each other we really seemed to connect with what little time we had. I saw her throughout the rest of our next week or so, her and her husband left a little early to have a honeymoon in South Africa.
One of the most amazing things though, was later that evening, I was in the gym on campus watching futbol, I believe, and her now husband took his marriage license to our pastor to get it signed, and they need two witnesses. They asked me to sign their marriage license and be one of the two witnesses!! I was so excited!! I even questioned them as they handed it to me, but they said they talked to each other and knew that they wanted me to sign it. It might have been a small gesture to them, but I was honored to be asked.
Every year I go on these trips and every year I am surprised at something new, I know this is not a story of being in the village or anything we were doing with our teams, but this was a very special day for me (I lost a roommate, and gained a friend). But this place is magically every year, I don't see many things like this in the states, and it always amazes me that I can make friends across the globe but it is so, so hard for me to make friends in my own community. Malawi is home.
I just found out that my leader and beautiful, amazing, faithful and strong friend Melinda has stage 2 breast cancer, please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.
No comments:
Post a Comment