Dog Days of Summer...

Adjustment to coming back home was at first, pretty easy.  After nearly 24 hours in the sky and 50 hours of being awake (I couldn't sleep on the plane) we found ourselves at home.  The thick Missouri heat made us long for the sunny, 80 degree days and African breeze.

My Super-Dog  :)

But, we were home... back to our friends, our families, our pets...  our house, air conditioning, warm water, Shakespeare's Pizza and Andy's Frozen Custard.  (Yes, I have a weakness for those.)

We all adjusted to our sleep schedules, ate our favorite foods to excess, told our friends all our stories, and answered question after question.  We sorted out the trinkets that we bought and gave to our family or friends.  We laid in bed at night and thought about the times we had, the faces we saw, and the tears we felt but, our cheeks turned upward with the smiles of knowing something good was done halfway around the world... and we contributed to it.

But as the days went by and time kept ticking, the thoughts didn't stop as they do from the typical vacation or business trip.  Everywhere you turn, there is a reminder.  A reminder of something or someone you encountered... its an amenity that you took for granted (like hot water), a great job, a car with windows and air conditioning.  A blue sky and clean air that makes you feel free and happy, no matter what it is, you suddenly realize how much you have that has so often been taken for granted.

Earlier this year, I started into the world of multi-sports... duathlons and triathlons.  I had taken a month off training and such to make the Africa trip, but this past weekend, I had another triathlon.  I was a little nervous.  I felt mentally unprepared to swim a half mile followed by the bike and run.  I had been out of my "groove" for a month and this was the longest competitive swim I'd done yet..  I told myself I could do it and realized the challenge before me was minuscule compared to the challenges I had just witnessed in Africa, their challenge simply to live, and that the challenge I had this day was a personal choice.  I remember as I swam, the brutal sun beat down on my head through the rubber swim cap.  With each breath I took... as I looked up, I could see the sun rays as they sheered through the puffy white clouds, with deep gray centers.  My thoughts were that of "thanks."  Thanks for the world I was living in, thanks for the physical ability to do such a thing, thanks for the freedom, free time, friends, family and other support for such a hobby... once again realizing that the people I just met really didn't live in a world that provided opportunity for a "hobby."  The same thoughts raced through my mind again and again as I watched the asphalt roll under the tires of my bike and I listened to the sound of fine gravel under my feet as I trudged through the run in the heat.  My only request was for God to let me have a good enough time that I could make it to church by the 11:00 service. 

Wow... I really have an easy life.

While the people in Africa were happy people, they had so little.  They had "life"... and often for a limited time.  Sickness, or injury could end the one fragile thing they had.  So many things that we take for granted... in "our" world.  The only fundamental difference between my world and theirs is "where" God put us on this earth.  Simply, where we were born.  It doesn't matter if it is in Africa, the hills of South America, a jungle in Asia, or an island in the South Pacific... too many children are missing out on what they deserve in those places.

That wasn't a choice made by us, but rather at a much higher level.  If you don't believe that, then you must believe it was science, simple chance, probability or heck, even aliens? Whatever the case, it was in no part a choice made by any of us actually living it.  Maybe you call it "luck."  Either way, opportunity is limited for some and I realize more and more that we need to do what we can to provide others some simple "opportunity."  Opportunity to grow, to become educated, to be able to make decisions about their future, and their destiny... because everyone should have the simplest human rights that I have.  To be what they want, to change themselves the way I can choose.  To grow mentally and spiritually.  Without some type of education, where would any of us be?  Did a day ever exist in our modern lives when we didnt have the opportunity to have a basic education?  No.  It was given to each and every one of us.  Some of our grand parents or great grandparents possibly had limited access to it, but our generations progressed, knowing that education was fundamental, we as a society decided that educating our young was a fundamental right, need and mandate.

I'm reading the book "Three Cups of Tea," the story of Greg Mortenson.  Its the story of a mountaineer, who was raised by missionary parents who took him to Tanzania as a young boy where he grew up.  He is somewhat of a strange fellow to say the least, but during a failed mountaineering expedition on K2 in Pakistan, he spent time in a mountain village and found the children to have no school... to be sitting in the cold, scratching with sticks in the dirt trying to learn.  The tells the story of how building these schools in the most remote locations of the world changes people's paths in life.  I'd suggest you read it... it might help you to wrap your mind around what some people in the world are missing and the obstacles and barriers that stand in their way.

It doesn't seem realistic to many of us living the bountiful lives we live, in such a great place... but it is a harsh reality to so many people around the world.  Its not a matter of politics, or religion... its not a matter of "helping our own" before we help others... its about lending simple opportunity to human beings who are willing to help and grow themselves if equipped with the basic tools.  It all begins with basic education and literacy. 

Think about it and do what you can... be the change, make a difference and sleep good at night.

Thanks again to Be The Change Volunteers for bringing this into my life.

--Dusty

What a weekend!!!

It started out Friday as we left the lodge about 4pm in two small vans and set out to get fuel.  That was a success!  Lawrence was driving our van and got us into a filling station with minimal wait.

As we set off down the road, it was about dusk.  It is cool and dry here now and its been cloudy the past few days.  At night it is in the 50s and in the day, it gets up a little over 80.  The sun rises right about 6am and sets about 5:30 according to my GPS... and sure enough, its right again.  (I'm sad to say, I've been awake voluntarily for sunrise everyday... a shocker for those who know me.)


Anyway, we set off for lake Malawi which is about 75 miles away, about an hour and a half on these roads... thats because dodging all the kids, goats, bicycles and general population walking on the roadway.  Not to mention everybody drives on the wrong side of the road here.  The entire way, there were people along the road.  The countryside was pretty but too dark to get pictures.  :(

There were a lot of rolling hills and in the distance, odd shaped mountains.  Not really in a mountain range but rather a few random mountains peaking up by themselves.

Every so often, we would have to stop at a police roadblock where they actually had gates across the road.  I'm not sure of the propose because they always just opened they gate and we went through, no questions asked.

Sooo... We drive for what seemed like forever dodging all the people in the road until we come to a dirt road.  (Believe it or not, many of the main roads here are really good paved roads.)  As we head off the beaten path, the hopes of some luxurious resort are quickly fading.... luxurious just meaning the presence of hot water.  Within a mile or two, we turn into the "Lakeside Resort."  A few of us walk into the reception area where the guy clicks a switch and turns on one of those illuminated picture frames of a jungle waterfall, emitting the sounds of tranquility.... chirping birds and water raining down.  He looks at it and grins with pride.
Now let me be honest... This was a really nice gesture but I think this thing had probably sat out in the sun and been rained on for a few summers worth of garage sales before he scored this prize.  The once beautiful green jungle foliage was now faded to aqua green and then entire thing was cloudy as if it where out of focus.  I believe the speaker has been rained on, or possibly submerged as the tweeting sounds of the bird actually sounded more like the squeak of the bathroom door that is right next to where I've been sleeping or the floor all week.  The tranquil jungle rain and waterfall sounds have somehow morphed into more of a static and hiss but... if you closed your eyes, you can ALMOST imagine it is not a hiss and a squeak.  No luck in actually making the sounds out to be a waterfall and birds... Id never know what it was supposed to be if I hadn't seen one 25 years ago in a truck stop in Oklahoma.  None the less, this guy is proud, and I am respectfully in awe.  After all, this is his castle.

So John (the Irishman) and I go to the first room as the guy unlocks it.  We go in and see two beds for the three of us.  Yay!  We get to bond... Some more. I guess Grant and I will be sleeping together.  (Its just real good that we are all very secure with our masculinity.)

I go to the bathroom and turn on the light.  The first thing I notice is a really nice set of roots growing out of the baseboard by the toilet.  I turn to the shower and grab the knob on the left and give it a twist.  With a spitting crackle, the shower sprays ice cold water all over my shirt sleeve.  I step back and wait... and step back some more since the flowered shower curtain is about 8 inches too short.  I wait, and I wait.  I step out and check on John.  He is standing arms crossed looking at the TV.  Aljazeera news is on.  Its either that, or Aljazeera news.  Nope... no HBO in this place.

I go back the the shower and I stick my hand in.  Is it still cold?  Can my imagination pull some luke warm change out of it?  (You know the feeling when you really HOPE the water is getting warmer, and its not.)  So, I go back to John and tell him I think it MIGHT be getting warm, because I'm hoping that, and I think God might not let John down if I start that story.

Pretty soon John walks out to go look at the others rooms.  Within seconds, he comes running down the sidewalk yelling at me to "get yer stuff, wee'rre a'moovin'!" in his hilarious Irish accent that I just love.
Turns out John has found where everyone else is staying, and it faces the lake, with its crashing waves and wind nearly at the doorstep.  The room is three times the size, has two beds and a bunk bed and... you guessed it, hot water.  (And smaller roots growing out of the bathroom baseboard.)

When the night finally settled, Max moved into the room with myself and Grant and John went into an identical room just next door with Doug and Glen.  Nobody had to top-bunk it this way.

We all explored around the best we could in the dark, all amazed by the lake.  It had sand, and waves, and it was less than 100 feet away.  This place is gonna be okay!

Jimi ordered us food and we all ate, excited to be somewhere new and everybody had a bed and hopefully hot water.  We ate, jabbered and went to sleep.

I decided a sunrise in the morning would be a good camera shot so I set my watch for 5:20 and got up.  The lake runs mostly north/south and across the lake to the east is Mozambique, so I am stoked to get some really cool pictures.

I wake up and go out with my tripod to the beach.  As it turns out, the wind coming off the water is kinda cold and about 30mph.  Not real conducive to holding the camera still, and...its really cloudy.  I wait it out and get some pretty cool pics, I hope.  Grant, Lynda and Doug also ventured out and we eventually walked down the beach.  Turns out it was very nice, and relaxing.

Then, we run into Coconut.  Coconut just happens to have a bag of stuff to sell on the beach and suckers a few of us into ordering some cross necklaces and such from him that he is going to carve.  We order the necklaces and buy a few trinkets that seem pretty cheap.  By the time we walk back down to our resort, word is apparently spreading that we are in the area as the local peddlers are migrating into out cozy little resort courtyard.  Everywhere we go that day, they go.  Arriving with more and more stuff, and as the day goes on, the stuff gets better and better... and cheaper.

Turns out Coconut wasn't the only, or the best deal in town.  Who names their kid Coconut anyway?  He didn't even answer to the name when you said it.  Grrrr.

Turns out the day went pretty quick. After HOT showers,  we all walked down the beach to another resort where there was a large beach and messed around.  A bunch of us got in the water... even though this huge lake allegedly has those skin boring parasites in it...I think we all escaped being attacked.  We ate a buffet lunch with some real authentic food like some fish with big teeth that really smelled like fish, nsima, rice, chicken, and all the African fixins.

We lounged around, played ball with the local kids on the beach, bought more junk from the roaming beach peddlers, and headed back to our resort.

About 3:30 we loaded on a tiny little boat... well, most of us did, a few stayed behind in case we sank so all of our families could be properly notified, and we rode out and around a small island.  Turns out bald eagles live in Africa and fly all over the place.  We probably saw three or four on the trip.  Our boat ride was fun, the boat was small, the waves were big and a few people got a little wet, but it was a good time!
Upon our return, the peddler's merchandise multiplied and got cheaper.  Turns out they TRADE stuff.  They love clothes, shoes, and anything you can pull out of your bag.  Several people traded flip flops and the like for bracelets and such.  I ended up losing my sandals, a cheap Timex watch, a Walmart brand multi tool and a little cash for a really awesome carving of a fisherman that stands about 3ft tall.  I traded those size 13 shoes to probably the only guy around big enough to fit them.  (They don't grow Malawians very big at all.)

 (Notice all the bare feet in the pictures...  The shoes got traded for loot!)

We ended the night with a great supper together and Kayla, Mikayla, Abby, Max, and Megan doing some BTCV! art in front of my camera.


We retired and I woke up again to take sunrise pictures to find wind and clouds again.  We had breakfast and gathered for our own little church service where Timothy gave a great talk about having God in our hearts.  Lawrence followed up with some great prayer and songs... even some of the peddlers joined us, even Coconut.

The last of the peddling was done and we headed out only to stop in the roadside markets.  (We figured out where the peddlers get their stuff!)  Everyone got some really cool stuff to include drums, statues, baskets, and bracelets.  I even traded a package of AA batteries for a hand carved African mask.  :)

We got back to Lilongwe around 2pm and had pizza.  We were all exhausted from such a great time together.  Its obvious we all have the same appreciation for the situation we are in and love meeting the local Africans and interacting with them.  They treat us so good, so friendly, so warm and genuine.
They may not have much it water, but their warm hearts make up for it.

I'm thankful for this experience of a lifetime, with such great people.  I couldn't ask for more in my life... well, I could, but I don't feel the need.  God provides all I will ever need and this experience reaffirms that every day.

Well, the dogs are barking so, that's my sign... we're back in Lilongwe and its time to sleep.

I will add pictures to this post hopefully tomorrow, so check back!

Goodnight, and don't forget your conversations with God.  :)