Day 3, April 10, 2018 Malawi

Busy day at our sewing guild with our tailors for The MoonCatcher Project. We are still fixing some of the pads that had been made before we got here. We were visited by other volunteers on and off all day long. It was fun to see the sewing room filled with women working and talking together.

Our translator, Mary, showed up and was instantly helpful and loved by everyone. Mary helped us negotiate our conversations with Esme, Sophie and Elizabeth as we showed them what needed to be changed on the pads. She also worked out the logistics for our trip to Lilongwe and up north to Keni’s village as well.

We will leave for Lilongwe tomorrow and spend the night with Mary at her family’s house. Emily has invited us to her house for dinner so we will have a chance to speak with her and learn more about the people we are going to be working with in Chituka village.

The following day we’ll shop in Lilongwe and then head for the village. I imagine it will be a full and very long day.

We managed to get quite a few completed kits together today and the ladies will continue the work for the next two days while we are away. I hope to come back to work that has improved a great deal. These poor women had to listen to me ask them over and over to redo things. I want the kits to look beautiful and feel this won’t happen if it isn’t understood how to attend to the details.

At the end of the day, we delivered Lori’s books to the orphanage. The older teenage kids loved being able to get books especially one boy who ask if she had novels. When he heard that she did he was so excited and walked away with a stack of stories. Kelly read picture books to the little kids who crowded around her, pressing in to see each page.

Can’t wait for a nice warm basin bath and then off to bed.

I forgot to mention that we had nsima tonight, the favored food of Malawi made with maize and eaten with one’s hands. FUN!