 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
"Supporting the Light"
We arrived at Blantyre airport on Wed 25th September off the SAA flight from Jo'burg. Charlie and Thom were there to meet us and soon we were heading into town to our accommodation at The Paradise Motel – or as George calls it, Paradise Lost! It is a bit basic but the showers have hot water, so what else does one need!
But we hadn’t travel far when our trusty ABBAS 4x4 was indicating a lack of water! Thom quickly pulled over to the side of the road and we found that we had stopped beside a stream! Thanks Lord! As you can see from the photo above, Jim and Charlie were a great help and George was too busy recording the occasion!
After getting settled into our motel we headed off to Kips for lunch but on leaving, our 4x4 was playing up again on Thom and needed a push to get it started. George insists that he did help to get it rolling before stopping to take this photo!
Our vehicles, kindly provided by the directors of Abbas Rest Orphans, were playing up a little and we were all glad to see Aubrey arrive, ABBAS’ driver/mechanic – a real Mr Fix-it!
One of the jobs we had to do while acclimatising in Blantyre was to collect and pay for the 500 bible we had ordered from the Blantyre Bible Society. It was good to meet again Kamwana Muyaya the sales manager and to find that the money that we brought from New Life Prestwick was also able to purchase 400 Chichewa hymnbooks
The most common Kwacha note in use is 500 MKW and at that time each £50 note was exchanged for 27 x 500 MKW notes, so it wasn’t a wallet one needed to carry the money but a rucksack :)
As we were going to be in Muona for nine days, Charlie organises a visit to Shoprite to allow us to stock up on provisions and lots of bottled water. If there is anything you would like to eat during the time in Muona, now is the time to buy it!
Soon we were all loaded up and ready to go but one of our vehicles didn’t much fancy the three hour journey to Muona and refused to start. It took a while to get it going and we were concerned that we may not be able to leave that day, but Aubrey triumphed yet again!
We stayed in Blantyre for a couple of days to get used to the heat – mid twenties, knowing that we would soon be down in the Muona area where it often hits the high thirties! This photo shows typical city homes with their corrugated roofs.
Heading out of Blantyre on our journey south to Muona, we were overtaken by a Malawian bus-truck! Yes indeed, once you leave the city areas where the minibuses operate, public transport is by open truck – not good in the wet season!
Above is another photo of the Malawian multipurpose transport vehicles – at least the ride must have been comfortable. Though the bales on the back look very precarious – hope the driver didn’t have to do an emergency stop!
This photo was taken as we descended into the Shire Valley region. The river Shire is seen in the distance, beyond the lake.
After about one hour on the M1, the main tarmac road that runs south, you turn left (south east) unto this red earth road towards Muona. This road eventual comes to Chiromo on the Malawi – Mozambique border.
On this 2007 visit, Charlie had managed to rent for us a first floor flat belonging to Fatima Parish that was not occupied at that time. It served us well for our time in Muona and we were grateful to the Sisters for renting it to us.
It was a two bedroom flat, each with a shower room and toilet, and Charlie insisted that Jim and I have one each. Although the windows were all covered with mess, it was reassuring it see the blue mosquito nets! Charlie, gracious as he is, installed a bed for himself in the large wide hallway!
It also had a large lounge which proved a blessing, as we were able to use it for our daily meetings with the pastors who we helping us with the seminars, and also for our end-of-day debriefs.
As Charlie didn’t have space to relax in his hallway-bedroom he used the lounge to study and prepare and very soon had claimed the sofa as his own! But wedidn't mind - he deserved it :)
Jim was soon settled into his room and with the indispensable bottle of water at hand, began preparing notes and checking over the material for the seminars. We had arrived safe and well in Muona once again!
Copyright 2007-8 (c) Almond Ministries
