Well, as usual, I show myself to be a very inconsistent blogger. And there are plenty of other matters that could easily extend my procrastination, but it has been over 2 months and one of my friends gave me the gentle nudge that I really ought to communicate. So, here we go. Last I left you, I was sitting in Hartford, visiting Aften before continuing on to BC with her. Now I presume most have heard through alternate means (most especially Facebook), but for those who haven’t heard, and because I cannot get tired of sharing and celebrating it, exactly 2 months ago today, we got engaged! It was in New York City, after a little serenade (with the use of a busker’s guitar), and she said Yes!!! If you want the full story, you’ll have to ask me personally, since to give details of my love life is not the mandate of this blog. I will at least gratify you (and it is my joy to show off my beautiful fiancée!) with one of our engagement photos taken in Vancouver.
I got back into Malawi on New Year’s Eve (very sadly sans Aften) and 2nd term classes started quite promptly after that on Jan. 4th. Of course, all the Malawians (students, fellow staff, and those in my church) were eager to hear more about the engagement and asked if I had any pictures to show from the “chinkhoswe.” Now, in Malawi, engagement doesn’t work the same as in Canada. It is not a private affair of a proposal just between the man and woman, but is a big public event/ceremony that one has to save up a bunch of money for (in fact, I have been asked by a former student to support him in starting a business so that he can save up for his chinkhoswe). It includes music, dancing, food and/or at least Cokes/Fantas, marital advice from family, and, depending on the tribe, negotiations between the uncle of the future groom and the uncle of the future bride. As I understand it, these negotiations conclude with each uncle tearing off a leg from a roast chicken, signifying that they have conferred with each other and if the couple is to ever to have marital problems, they should come to these very same uncles for help (lest the marriage tear apart like the chicken). So needless to say, I had to tell Malawians that while in Canadian engagements there is a nice romantic story, and the offering of a ring, there is no chinkhoswe ceremony to speak of.
This term has been going very well, continuing on with the same courses from last term. I am especially loving teaching through Church History and am finding that even though I have taken courses on the History of Christianity three different times through my education, I am still learning (and re-learning) a ton in course preparations and it is really helping to solidify things even more and also see themes and discussion points that emerge to help to make it relevant for the students. For Church History 2 (Reformation to present day), upon the students request, since one of our classes is during the last period in the day and it can often be too hot to concentrate well, we have 2 typical lecture-style classes and 1 discussion class in a week. That discussion class is more based off of an issue or implication that rises out of the lectures and enables the students to respond practically and theologically to the course content. I prepare some questions (which we may or may not get through), and then we arrange ourselves in a circle and go for it. It is a class of 8 and many of them can be quite vocal and so we’ve come to a number of heated discussions that, I think at least, have prompted good thoughts and reflections. Through the month of February we have a college inspector who is dropping into classes (unannounced) and will be giving a review of the college at the end. He happened to come to one of these discussion classes (so far the only class of mine that he’s dropped in on), so hopefully he appreciated its pedagogical value as much as I do!
In the course of the term so far, we have also had Spiritual Emphasis Days, Sports Fellowship, and Work Fellowship. Spiritual Emphasis Days happen once a year and go from one Monday afternoon through the day of Tuesday, and provide a retreat of sorts from classes and an opportunity to focus on a spiritual theme together as a college, listening to a guest speaker. The theme this year was “Running with a Purpose” and I found the teachings to be excellent, encouraging, and challenging. Last term in Sports Fellowship the lecturers won an unprecedented victory in soccer against the students, and so coming into this term’s Sport’s Fellowship, the students were not going to hold anything back; and it showed, with them annihilating us something like 6 or 7 to 1! Despite the slaughter, it was good fun! Work Fellowship is another regular activity of each term where one afternoon the faculty join the students in maintenance and upkeep work around the college, which includes slashing grass (in lieu of lawnmowers), filling in potholes in the driveway, etc.
There were fears through the month of December, with poor rains, that in addition to the rise in prices due to other economic factors, that there would also be a poor harvest this year. Thankfully, the rains have just come a little late this year (with the help of a cyclone off the coast of Mozambique), and have come through January in abundant supply so that the harvest looks like it will be a good one. The last few weeks in Malawi have been especially hot and humid, leading to some discomfort and lack of energy for me, but I’m thankful that I have better adapted over the course of the past year to such things (though, I must say that I absolutely loved coming for winter back to the States and Canada – well, Vancouver, so not really winter at all, but still much cooler and more delightful for me than the heat of Malawi!). Adding to the difficulty of the humidity is the fact that power cuts and water shortage remain a continual problem. For example, as I write this, just 10 minutes ago the power went off and will probably come back in a couple of hours. Since I need power for the internet, you won’t be seeing this blog until the power is back. The water has actually been out since Sunday this week (usually it’s not this bad), but thankfully as I’ve been writing I’ve heard the sound of it begin to trickle back – ah, I get to take a shower tonight!
I mentioned about the national economic situation in Malawi last posting and also some of the effects on the students food budget. The situation has continued and as is normal in the rainy season before the harvest, the prices have gone up even more, and this especially on local grown foods as well. There is the normal rise and fall, but this year things became drastic where in the course of a week in early January, the price of the staple food, maize flour, used for making nsima, doubled in price! It has since been fluctuating and prices will vary in different markets. Now, the students (and pretty much the whole country) eat nsima every meal (except breakfast generally), and so you can imagine the effect that would have. The students have made even more efforts to trim their budget, but it has been insufficient and resulted in a shortfall. As it stands, they will not have money to ride out the last 2 weeks of the term. It is a complicated situation and opinions differ regarding what the solution is or whether any help should be given to the students, but anyway, I mention it so that you might pray for God’s hand to be over the situation and for mindsets and attitudes to be brought to Christian maturity while also physical needs (and possibly even desires) could be met. It is an opportunity for growth not only for the students, but also for those in church leadership. There will be an EBCoM Council meeting next Thursday and the matter will be taken up there.
Aside from the difficulties associated with the food, I have still very much enjoyed joining the students for lunches. It seems that over the past few weeks there has been a group of students who have particularly become consistent in joining me, and they have also made it their mission to teach me some new Chichewa words every day. Without writing them down, I’m still very much hopeless at remembering them, but slowly-slowly things come along. Sometimes we’ll try to speak in Chichewa – and sometimes I ask them to summarize the lectures back to me in Chichewa that I’ve just given them in English. Other times it is just nice to chat in English and discuss things from why missionaries do things the way they do, pointing out cultural distinctives between Canada and Malawi, sharing experiences, talking about classes, and (a new one for today) them treating me as a dictionary to explain nuances between different English words – which is only fair since I use them to learn Chichewa!
This coming Sunday is an annual event called EBCoM Sunday, when the faculty and students of EBCoM go out to the various affiliated denominations around Blantyre and lead the services and promote EBCoM. I will be going with three students to a nearby Zambezi Evangelical Church. They have an English and a Chichewa service, so I will be preaching in the English service and one of the students convening, while the other 2 students will preach and convene in the Chichewa service. In the course of the morning, more information will be given about EBCoM, and then an offering will be taken to support the running of the school. I have yet to prepare my sermon, but it should be a good time, and I know I enjoyed it last year.
Anyway, that’s all from me for now. No new pictures right now, but a little while back a professional photographer who’s a friend of one of the missionaries came and visited and took some pictures around our different ministries, so I’ll try to get my hands on some more of those and post them. He also did a brief video thing of me explaining a little of what I’m up to here, so if anyone’s interested in that, it can be seen below. Thanks for reading!
Greg
