We're almost off

In just 36 hours we'll be spending New Year's Day on the plane to Washington Dulles airport, and from there to an overnight 15 hours later in Johannesburg, South Africa, and on to Lilongwe arriving on the 3rd.  It's still pretty hard to believe, but we just finished packing 2 trunks and weighing them to be sure we were under the 50 pound limit.  We decided to pay the extra for a 3rd bag, and it looks like we will be able to get everything there, including my computer printer/copier/scanner which we will leave as a donation when we return to the US in June. Since there were not printers and very few copiers in Livingstonia it seemed like the easiest way for us to have what we need to work on our project for the university.

There were a few times lately where I didn't think we were going to make it, like when our roof started leaking again 2 days ago on Friday, after 4 years of being OK.  We had water coming in the bedroom that morning and I was thinking we might not be able to get it dealt with in time to leave Tuesday.  It's an old problem that occurred after I remodeled the second floor 5 years ago, but we haven't had this much snow in 5 years so it hadn't recurred.  Thank goodness my remodeling contractor jumped back in to deal with it for us.  He'll stop further damage and work on determining the cause while we are gone, so we can get if fixed once and for all hopefully, but it was as close as I came to going over the top when I saw that water coming through the ceiling again.

I hope to be able to keep this up every month or so when we have access to the internet, and should have access again a couple of times before the 12th so stay tuned.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to post more pictures, I depends on the bandwith of the connections there, but I'm hopeful. 

From our house here in Minneapolis and the one in Malawi in these photos, to yours where ever you are, thanks to all our friends and family who have given us so much support, and please stay in touch or comment here --- we'll miss you! 

More video

Here I am on Christmas Eve working on this blog, seems a little strange, but this had been a pretty strange Christmas.  With all the preparations for the trip, it's been hard to remember that it is Christmas.  We haven't put up a tree since we'll be leaving a week from today... all in all, an odd holiday. 

I was pleased to see that my video uploaded the other day so I am emboldened to try more, and to do it while I'm still in the U.S. as I'm sure I won't have the bandwidth while in Malawi.  There was a student choir that performed at the Baccalaureate service the night before the graduation.  Since the University of Livingstonia is a Presbyterian institution, they had several choirs that they call "blessing choirs" that performed at the Baccalaureate, and this group was amazing.  I'm only sorry that it is so difficult to upload more than about 30 seconds of video as they just got better and better as they got further into this song. 

Enjoy!

Video Clip from Graduation

I'm playing around with this today and trying to see if I can get a video to load. This clip is where the graduates of the University were greeted personally by the President of the country, Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika.   It was taken from where we were seated just a few rows behind him at the graduation in September.

Getting ready to go!

 It’s hard to believe that 2 weeks have passed since my job ended.  The time has flown, and our January 1 departure date is rapidly approaching.  It has been an odd experience to stop working after so many years, and I've been grateful that I have the trip to Malawi to focus on as that gives me very little time to think about what a huge transition this has been.  People have asked me what I plan to do after we get back and my response is "I have no idea" - that is an odd feeling, but also feels right since we are making this huge transition in our lives and who knows what the future will bring.

Periodically, John and I have gone into a panic thinking about all that needs to happen before we leave on January 1.  It’s so hard to plan for what we might need in the next 6 months, and I have to keep reminding myself that we can buy some things there, although not a lot of things will be available.  We have taken our cats to my dear friend Elizabeth's house, which was probably my biggest trauma around the whole trip, but they have already settled in and are adapting well which is a huge relief.  I guess we all have some adapting to do for the next few months. 

We are beginning to focus on the strategic planning process we will be engaging in as well, and that is so exciting to think about.  I haven't felt this energized in years.  We already know of some friends who will be coming to visit, and John has arranged some connections at the University of Minnesota that probably mean some visitors while we are there as well, so that is very exciting also. 

I hope to post one more time before we leave, and will send out emails when I am there to any of you who have asked to be updated.  I don't know if I'll be able to post any photo's so am going to put a few more on before I leave.  I'm going to also include some video clips I hope. 

 We are starting the year with a bang!

There are so many images that I can still see from this trip. Here are just a few more, including the little house we will probably be living in and right below it, the view from our konde(porch). It is really quite nice, with a kitchen including a small stove and pretty good sized refrigerator, a decent bathroom with a shower and hot water, and a guest room for any of you that want to come visit. The picture doesn't do justice to the view we will have when the dry season is over as it is quite overcast, but we will have views of Lake Malawi 3000 ft below us.

More Photo

Malawi Adventure

October 8, 2007 - We are back from Malawi and our visit to has been quite incredible - the adventure has just begun. We were in the capital city of Lilongwe as well as the cities of Mzuzu, Livingstonia, Liwonde, Mua and Salima/Senga Bay. It was an amazing journey and one that I had been waiting for so many years to fulfill, to finally see Africa. We met so many incredible incredible people, including John's old friend Justin Funsani from his Peace Corps days, it's easy to see how Malawi came to be known as "the warm heart of Africa" - we could(and I'm sure will) learn a lot from them.

The moment we arrived we were involved in helping out with preparations for the first graduation of the College of Education students of the newly formed University of Livingstonia. I was helping to organize volunteers to print and assemble 1000 programs as well as some gifts and dipolomas for the students, and John was standing in at the graduation rehearsal for the Vice Chancellor who had to meet with the president and he also helped write talking points for most of the speeches, including the President of Malawi's graduation address. In addition to attending the graduation we spent our first week at Livingstonia meeting University and community leaders and faculty as well as leaders of the Presbyterian Synod of Malawi's northern region(with which the University is affiliated). We wanted to gather information about their needs to get a better understanding of the current state and to find out more about where they wanted to go as we assessed how we might help.

At the graduation, John and I were in the acedemic procession(wearing our U of M maroon and gold gowns) and ended up being seated on the podium just 2 rows behind the President of Malawi, who gave the commencement address, and next to the U.S. Ambassador and his wife. In attendance were members of Parliment, cabinet ministers, two paramount chiefs, traditional dancers, the families of the graduates, and, of course many of the local people who came for the huge celebration and state event - there were probably 2, 000 to 3,000 people in attendance.

As a state event, it was televised live and rebroadcast several times, so it gave some wonderful publicity to the University, and hopefully some greater credance to the promises made by his excellency(a bus for the University to use in transporting students and faculty from their remote location, a dormatory for the girls, approval of their accreditation, and paving for one of the roads to Livingstonia - all things that were sorely needed). Having skipped my own graduation years ago, I was thrilled to be apart of this one and am sure I will never attend a more memorable, historic, excitement filled graduation as this one.

After leaving Livingstonia we rented a car and did some sightseeing, first going to Liwonde National Park. We took amazing boat, jeep, and walking safaris along the Shire River in this national game park(and had elepants visit us every night outside our tented camp!). We then visited an historic Catholic mission that has arguably the best history center for traditional Malawian culture and an artists' wood-carving center, and had some pure R&R at a beautiful resort on Lake Malawi.

After reflecting on our experience and the information we gathered, we have decided to return in January 2008 for six months. They're very interested in having us update thier strategic plan which can help them set priorities and obtain funding now that they have passed this first important hurdle of graduating their first class of degreed teachers. John and I will work together on this. I'll also provide consultation on project management for their next admissions/enrollment cycle among other things, and I'll conduct some in-service management training and employee development for their staff. John is also hoping to spend some time working at the local hospital, as this is the type of work he did in the Peace Corps and the hospital administrator is a smart forward thinking man who has a wonderful vision for his health care center. It turns out my church has a Dr. and clinic that they have sponsored for many years that is only about 20 kms from Livingstonia and I hope to make a connection there too. It is truly a small world!

It seems like a near-perfect opportunity for us -- a good match with our skills, a country that John loves and that began to love in a very short time, and an opportune time for us to try out "the next thing." With this being only the 4th University to serve the population of nearly 14 million people, the need for higher education is off the charts, and they are so eager to learn and make this a success. I just couldn't imagine walking away from this opportunity, or from the wonderful people we met. And we get to bypass one Minnesota winter!