Saturday, December 8, 2007

Christmas at PIGO (Peace in God Orphanage)

We did a Christmas program for the kids at the orphanage yesterday, which attracted a lot of attention from the local population in the village as well! We presented them with donated foodstuff, clothing, towels, sheets, soap, etc. and a friends daughters gave the kids some presents too. We handed them a complete STEPS training program that had been sponsered, and then did a beautiful Christmas show of carols! A great time was had by all, and I think the kids will be talking about this for a long time to come.

Unloading

The kids at the orphanage with all the goods

Presenting the STEPS to Fatima

Christmas carol time!

Back in Malawi!

After an unexpectedly long stay in South Africa we are finally back in Malawi. Our car had some trouble, but now it is running very well again. The car now has a new radiator, water pipes, thermostat, engine mounting, starter motor, head gasket, and the head was skimmed. Thanks to all who contributed towards the repairs!!

Here are some pics of the trip back:

A lodge we stayed at.

In Zimbabwe.

Still no petrol in Zim!

Sunrise on the Zambezi in Tete, Mozambique.

Bridge over the Zambezi.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Road trip!

We are currently on a road trip to South Africa to pick up a large amount of donated goods from various people. We will be getting blankets, clothing, soap, computer equipment, books, etc. This will also give us an opportunity to repair the car, because spares are scarce and expensive in Malawi. Despite the cooling system being repaired just before we left Blantyre, the car was still losing about a litre of water evry 100km's during the 1850km's to Pretoria. This made for MANY stops along the way to top up! We left on Saturday the 3rd and arrived safely on Monday the 5th. Toyota is donating the thermostat, engine mounting and starter motor we need, and it will be going in to the mechanic next week. Here are some pictures from the trip:

Will saying good bye at home in Chileka.

Along the road in Malawi just before the border.

Crossing the Zambezi river in Tete, Mozambique.

On the bridge across the Zambezi river in Tete, Mozambique.

Local clothing store in Mozambique.

Taking a water refill break.

We stayed at a motel in Manica, Mozambique on Saturday night.

Bridge over a river in Zimbabwe.

One of many petrol refueling stops. Petrol stations a very few and far between in Mozambique and while Zimbabwe has several stations, they simply don't have petrol. Thank the Lord we have several jerry cans!

New personnel!

Just to let everyone know, a couple from Italy called Will and Brunella have joined us from Italy to help with the work in Malawi! They have many years of experience in missionary work in various parts of the world, and are a very welcome and needed addition to the team. We will post some pics as soon as we have some.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Long time!

The last few weeks we have had a lot of people writing to point out that we have not updated our blog for a long time... shame on me! I have been too busy for the last while to get to it, please forgive me! I will be posting some stuff in the next few days, so stay tuned!