swimming, dancing, matola riding and fish eating - all in one weekend!

This weekend we enjoyed a day trip outside of Mzuzu. We first went and visited the wood carvers' market, which is in Chibaka, about 40 Kilometers outside of Mzuzu. The craftsmanship of these men, who work with incredibly primitive hand tools and sandpaper, is simply remarkable. Each item is beautifully carved and smoothed to perfection. The carvers themselves are so poor, and they want to sell you something so bad - they literally chased us down as we were leaving and begged us to buy their things. It is difficult and sad to say no, but you just cannot buy from every vendor. To them, a rich "mazunga" (white person) is the luckiest stroke ever, and to see us walk away without buying from their stand is heartbreaking. We tried to "share the wealth," as they say in their own words, by buying from several people. We came away with some awesome souvenirs, for sure. One of the men we bought from was named "Fresh Coconut."

A woodcarver proudly displaying his work. We

had just bought an item from him, so he is in a

good enough mood to let us "take a snap," as they

say here.

We then drove to Nkhata Bay, which is on Lake Malawi - Africa's third largest lake, ninth largest lake in the world. There is a sort of resort on the lakeshore that Ralph and Bonnie Marron(director and Standard one teacher of Rafiki, respectively) patronize often. The resort is owned by an Australian woman and another Brittish man. We were treated very well there - like VIP customers. We ate "Chomba," a national dish which is breaded and fried talapia fish, by the shore. They set up a special table for us by the shore, served white wine and Malawian coffee along with out Chomba and banana fritters. (Actually, Nick had tried a local beer called "Kuche Kuche instead of the wine.) It was wonderful, but sort of strange, in a way, compared to the poverty that was just outside of the resort property.

Lake Malawi.

The DelVillano family, 16 days away from their

first anniversary. :-)

Lunch by the lake - the picture cannot capture the

warm sunshine and warm breeze that we felt. It was

wonderful.

Sandy Lu and Fred swam in the lake. Nick would

eventually fall in with his clothes on, while

playing Frisbee.

We walked down the beach after the meal and encountered some local fishermen boys. They were very happy to greet us and to let us take some pictures with them and their boats. As Rebecca was getting out of the boat she told one boy how beautiful his country was and how much she loved it. He looked at her with sad and tired eyes and said, "You think it is beautiful because you are a visitor. To me it is just gray." This seems so telling of the Malawian people - so blessed by natural beauty, but so troubled economically and in terms of health. It was a profound moment.

On Sunday we had the pleasure of accompanying the children to church. In order to transport all of the children to the three churches that are attended by Rafiki, they must rent a vehicle called "matola," which is either a large van or a big flatbed truck. Rafiki rents the van type (more safe) and packs the kids in there like sardines. Seat belts do not exist. The children climb all over each other, singing the entire time. Church was in a large, simple room - concrete floors and plain white walls. There was no alter, but a wooden table and a few "fancy" chairs. They also had a podium and some plastic flowers. Everyone sat in plain benches. All music was a capella, but there was a lot of it, along with dancing. The readings and sermon were in English, the music was in Chitumbuka.

On the way home from church in the Matola. Names,

going in clockwise order are Uncle Nick, Eves, Bright,

Haggart, and Albert.

Later on Sunday a local church choir came to Rafiki to film some dancing for a DVD they are making. This has become a popular thing to do among local performing choirs. The land is beautiful and the buildings are clean and very expensive compared to the surroundings - a good reason to film on our property. The children danced in some of the dances. Nick was invited to dance in the large group dance as well as the men's feature dance. They got a big kick out of the mazunga dancing African style, and probably thought it would be a big asset to their footage. Later Nick played a bit of trumpet for them and even let one guy try his trumpet - that was definitely a thrill for both parties.

Uncle Andy with Gerald.

Nick dances with the men of the choir. They cheered him

on constantly. He was quite the spectacle.

A choir member tries out Nick's trumpet.

Nick shows him how its done.

We ended the weekend with a sunset walk around the property, right up against the fence. Surprisingly, some of the little red brick huts with grass roofs that are so typical here are situated right next to the barbed wire fence around the Rafiki property. We could smell camp fire and hear laughter and clanging of metal pots in the darkness. Again, prosperity surrounded by poverty. That is becoming a huge theme of our time in Malawi. And as striking and painful as it is to see, we also observe extreme joy from even the poorest people. They seem to find happiness in a life that can be so dark. Malawi truly is the warm heart of Africa.

In Christ,

Nick and Rebecca

P.S. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! The mini missionary fathers celebrated with a lunch at a local Indian Restaurant that the long term missionaries have found to be safe in terms of food poisoning. It was quite good. THANKS FOR BEING THERE FOR US DADS - We are who we are in part because of who you are. We love you!