Tuesday, October 10 — leaving Mangochi

Blantyre, Malawi

This is our last day at the Feast here in Malawi and saddens grips me. We love the Malawian people, they truly have the warm heart of Africa as the travel advertisements go. Bev and I have gotten into the personal lives of so many of the Malawi brethren and feel satisfaction in being providers of hope not only spiritually, but vocationally as well. We have taken at least ten application for livelihood development projects to consider and to fund before the beginning of the year. Most projects to this point, both in scholarships and livelihood development have been successful. We try to tell them about the LifeNets mission of providing practical aid that makes people self-sustaining and then helps them help others. Bill Jahns and I both gave sermons, Bill about the Resurrection and I spoke about marriage. Since we enjoyed the children’s choir so much earlier, I made a special request for them to sing again. They did. Then the church choir sang as well. It was beautiful. After the service was complete, Beverly addressed everyone about LifeNets and gave some important pointers about our programs Then the lunch. Today we invited everyone over to the Nkopola Lodge for a lunch. All 140 people came and enjoyed a delicious lunch, provided by brethren in Boston, Houston South and Central Illinois. Time to go. Our driver is “Peter” from the Customs and Excise Office of Malawi. He works for my Rotarian friend Agnes Katsonga Phiri who is the head of that division. Rotarians help one another and this was a BIG help as the 100 mile distance from Lake Malawi to Blantyre is difficult to arrange. I cannot say enough about Rotary’s support for what we are doing to help people. We were taken to the home of Mark and Agnes Katsonga Phiri. Agnes has gone to visit her daughter in London, but the house is made available to us. Mark is a bit late coming from work. He is also a major poultry producer in Malawi. He had been President of the Chamber of Commerce. He has dinner with us served by home servants. A young orphan girl Loughan who is Agnes’s niece lives with them. She is a senior in high school. She is very friendly with us and we enjoy her presence. Mark Katsonga Phiri is a very competent person who is intimately acquainted with the politics and economics of Malawi. We do see him as the President of the country in the future. The six of us carried on an animated conversation until 10 pm. It was fascinating and enlightening.