I’m not starting this blog post with any intention of having a profound thought at the end- rather I wish to describe likely our most Malawian experience yet. First I must introduce you to Freeman (he’s a free man as he told us many times). Freeman works in the operating theater as an assistant at QECH and his favorite color is red. Conveniently, his favorite football (read- soccer) team is the Blantyre Bullets whose colors are, yes, red and white. Thus, Freeman regularly sports red sunglasses as he rides his candy cane status bicycle with matching helmet. Safety first.

Freeman is also a professional “azungu** wrangler” to use Elizabeth’s phrase. He pushed us onto a minibus and herded us down the slope towards the stadium gates, reminding us all the way, “No money in your back pockets” and “where are your phones?” To this second question I held up my candy bar phone and received a chuckle as he agreed no one would try to take it from me. With hair newly decorated with red and white ribbons, we were ready to shove our way through the iron gate into the sunny boisterousness of the stadium.

As we paraded across the stands, the shouting got louder, and Freeman was loving it. He walked last in line so he could keep us all in his sights and waved his hands over his head welcoming the noise like an excited olympic athlete in the opening ceremony. We found some seats, bought some lollipops, and settled in to watch the match.

The teams were both good and it was a tight game. Every time there was a shot on goal an eeeee-AHHH would follow the ball’s path. Punctuating the shouts from the crowd, and Freeman’s advice to the players “Foward, forward! Go now!” was the “Ssssss, ssssss, ssssss” of people selling everything from tangerines to hardboiled eggs to chips (aka crisps) and sodas to earbud headphones. After a relatively early lead taken by Lilongwe, we got a penalty kick at the beginning of the second half to tie the game 1-1. The crowd erupted. Freeman initiated a group hug and then danced to the music of the crowd. About ten minutes before the end of the game, a second goal slid by the keeper sealing the 2-1 win, Blantyre Bullets.

It was an exciting end to a great game.

After the game, I realized how glad I was that we had won. All of the stores close to the stadium were closed (we had to get pretty creative about dinner) and I realized that in the event of a loss, there would be a lot of drunk and very angry people. I’m glad we won.

**Azungu is the plural of muzungu meaning foreigner

 

As I am writing this, I am sitting in our living room alone at 2:30 am. We will be leaving in a couple hours, but I cannot sleep. I have too many thoughts swirling through my head and too many emotions in my heart, so I decided to write them down for you.

Throughout the summer, we have been having house meetings. Whenever we find a challenge to living or working together, we sit down and talk it out. These meetings are often difficult and force me to reconsider where I come from on a variety of issues, but tonight’s was only beautiful. We thanked each other for this summer, for the lessons we have learned, and for the experiences we have shared. Tonight, I told you that I am thankful for every single day we have shared together. That is not to say that they have all been good – some days, I have been frustrated. Some days, I have been angry. Some days, I have lashed out. Still, some days, we have laughed until we cried over communication mishaps. Some days, you have taught me skills with the patience of a saint. Some days, you have given me a new perspective and helped me see things from a different direction.

We do not grow, as individuals or as a family, from the easy things. We grow from the challenges, from working to understand each other, from respecting each other, from seeing each other’s perspectives.

So, I thank you. Thank you for all of the challenges. Thank you for the frustrations. Thank you for making me a more patient, understanding person.

Thank you for accepting my mistakes. Thank you for teaching me what is important and what I should let slide. Thank you for helping me grow as a person in ways I could have never imagined.

Thank you for making it hard for me to see the computer screen as I type this because, although I have cried many times this summer, mostly from laughter or excitement, I am finally reduced to a sobbing mountain of tears at 3 in the morning because I am not ready to leave you. Each of you will forever hold a special place in my heart. You are not only my co-workers or my housemates. You are my family. We have lived together, worked together, and grown together. Like any family, we have had our ups and downs, but they have only brought us closer. I am truly thankful for every moment – the easy and the hard – and I cannot imagine this summer without you.

I am glad that I do not know the Chichewa word for goodbye, because that means I can only say “see you”: Tiunana. And of course, from the bottom of my heart, zikomo kwambiri.

 

With more love than I could possibly express,

Leah