We arrived home yesterday in Glasgow airport. It was sad saying farewell to Fr Chunda at the airport. We have greatly enjoyed his company, with his stories and enthusiasm for everything. He insisted on waiting till the plane took off in case there were problems of delays; we thought he was making sure we left in case we changed our minds about coming home. The flights were fine and there was no hassle with the connecting flights. Even in Nairobi the 5 hour wait passed effortlessly. In fact it was too good to be true: it was. When we reached the baggage recovery in Glasgow airport our luggage did not appear; it was still in Amsterdam. Finally our luggage arrived at our home today (Saturday) delivered by the airport companies.
The last few days have been hectic. We said our goodbyes on Sunday and moved on to Mua. To get there from Mzuzu we took the bus to Salima along the coast road besides the lake. It took 7 and a half hours; we were told it would take 5 hours. We are now experts at travelling on the local transport. We have learned that when you ask a Malawian how long the journey takes you have to add another hour or 2 to their estimate. When you ask when does this bus leave the station you are told, "When it is full." Full mean not just all the seats taken but it also includes many passengers standing n the passageway also. At Salima bus station we changed to one of the minibuses which the locals use to go to Mua Mission. We were told it would take half an hour. The journey lasted an hour and a half. What an experience! They pack the people in. There are no bus stops; people stand at the side of the road and the buses stop. At one point there were 24 people, 2 of which were “mazungus” (us, the “whitemen”) and a chicken in the minibus. Along the way the minibus was stopped several times at police roadblocks. Finally, we arrived at Mua Mission, just as the sun went down (5.50pm). There was a power cut so we had a meal in the candlelight along with one Swedish girl and 2 Dutch people. The food was delicious. Mua mission was well worth the journey. It has a museum which contains fascinating information regarding the coming of Christianity to Malawi and the history and customs of the 3 Malawian tribes. The collection of the dance masks of the Ngoni tribe was fascinating. We stayed in a lovely chalet which looked like something out of Hansel and Gretel. The mission is just across the river from where the village is. We could see the people washing themselves and their clothes in the river. After 2 nights we pushed onto Lilongwe where we met up with Fr Chunda and Bernadette. In Lilongwe we met up with the traders from Nkhata bay and we exchanged a pair of boots (Paul’s) for a wooden chief's chair. We spent a lovely evening at the restaurant and Nelly' s lodge. It was nice to meet Fr Robert again. We also managed one last ride on the back of the pick up truck as we headed off to the airport.
We have enjoyed travelling about in Malawi. While we did not manage to get to the south to see Blantyre and Zomba, we are keen to go back in 2 years time. The country is beautiful, has a lot of potential as a tourist destination with a natural charm. Several parts of the landscape in the north reminded us of Scotland. Nkhata Bay and the lakeside are beautiful.
We have met lots of lovely people both in St Peter's schools, Parish and the 2 Orphanages (Mary Martha & the Women’s Development Centre) and made several good friends. We are looking forward to seeing Fr Chunda and the group in Scotland in March and contributing to making their visit to Scotland, including St. Matthew's and St Mary's as happy and enjoyable as we experienced in St Peter's. Above all, we are looking forward to going back to meet up with everyone again in Mzuzu and to see the development of the eco garden project in St. Peter’s Secondary, the school library in St. Peter’s Primary and the nursery at Mary Martha. Meanwhile now that we are back home our thoughts will be turning to finding ways to help promote and support the Orphan scheme and fundraise for the impending visits. We also look forward to meeting up with all members of the St. Matthew’s group to exchange our stories and photos.
We know several of you in Malawi have access to reading the blog - Fr Andrew, Roderick and Lesley. We will be in touch by e-mail over the next few days.
We think the visit has been a great success. Finally, another big thank you to Bernadette for including us on this visit which has been a rollercoaster of emotions. A truly wonderful experience filled with many memories.
Regards
Paul & Anne
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