Hard to believe…YES! We are all here safe and well tucked into our huts for night #1! The volunteers are shuffling around and getting teeth brushed and last bathroom stops in before bed. We all arrived and 25 suitcases arrived also! That alone stands to be a wonderful start to this first two week journey. Seeing the faces of all the volunteers as they got their first glimpse if village made me so happy. Upon finally landing and finding every one of our suitcases it became very clear we in in malawi. Not only were the sights and sounds all different, but as i met our drivers outside the airport i was told that this week the bus that was to be used for our transport had broke down (of course it had). We were instead accommodated with 4 cars and a pickup truck with a trailer attached that would carry all of our bags. We all climbed in and headed off to the village. All of the volunteers had a tour of the village and unloaded belongings in to their assigned huts. We gathered together all had a cold drink and ran down the ins and outs of living here at Kumbali Village. It was about 5 o’clock and some people wanted to shower so since we only had about an hour and a half left of day light we got right to that. We then met at the table to for dinner around 6:30 and since now the sun was gone it began to get dark. Usually this is about the time the generator is turned on and all the lights in the main eating area flip on. It was then that I was told the generator was broken. Not really “broken”, but since it had been serviced yesterday and the man who did the servicing forgot to put the handle back on we could not i turn it on. Another reminder that we were in fact in Malawi 🙂 a few of the staff were scrambling to get in touch with the repair man so we lit candles  ate a wonderful dinner. We also had our first Chichewa lesson! it was fun hearing everyone try their hand at the local language. I thought by now we would have been able to find the handle to the generator, but come to find out the repair man had had an asthma attack and had been taken to the local hospital so this was now taking longer than expected. No big deal though it seemed everyone was happy with the candle light and enjoying the evening. Right before our meal had ended the generator kicked on and we had lights!

I tried to write this blog before bed, but as I was about half done I clicked something on the iPad and everything I had written disappeared. I gave up and tucked in to bed. Now it is either the middle of the night or almost morning and I’m attempting to retype it all so that I can post it in the morning before we leave for our first day at the local school.  I failed to set my travel clock so I’m stuck not having a clue what time it actually is.

I’m so thankful that everyone arrived safe and with luggage and seemed to enjoy our first few hours in Malawi. I’m sure the next 2 weeks will bring plenty of stories so ill do my best to post here often. Thank you to everyone who sent prayers and good wishes for a good travel experience. It seems it worked! Now it’s time to get busy with the work these teachers have come to do.

 Please excuse typos as I am typing on an iPad and working quickly 😉