Chinkoswe

A few Saturdays ago we had the opportunity of going to our first engagement and taking the two volunteer teams with us. So there was over 20 white people at this party. The two soon to be married were Lewis and Thokozani. Lewis was our language teacher and also one of the interpreters for our group. Here an engagement is like a wedding. When they get engaged, they have to get divorced to end the relationship. So… what is fun about this party you ask??? There are a few things! The groom comes out with another man with their faces covered and the uncle has to pick which one it is. Then the groom holds a basket and the DJ has everyone come and give the groom money. If you have brown hair come give money. If you are pastor, come give money. If your are an mzungu (white) come give money. Then, the bride comes out with 2 other ladies with their faces covered and you have to guess which one is the bride. The aunt has to pay to pick the right one and if she picks the wrong one, she pays more. What was tricky, was the bride was not even in the first group of 3 girls, she ended up being in the second group. So we gave money lots of times! It was so much fun!!! And some of the guys broke out into some great dances including the worm. I got a lot of ideas for my friends and when they get married.

Birthdays.. birthdays

We have been celebrating Johanna’s birthday throughout the month of August. You should never only have one party!! At the new school that we are teaching at the head mistress said that she wanted to meet with both of us. I thought… I sure hope that after only a week of teaching here that I am not in trouble. So we sit down in the conference room and the other two ladies sit down next to Mrs. Beatrice and then they break into Happy Birthday. It was great. Surprised us both. And they got her the wood carving of Malawi. On top of having cake now at least 3 times, we are planning a trip to the lake with the ladies and one more dinner to celebrate Johanna turning a ¼ of a century. Whoo hoo for birthdays!!

Gule Wamkulu

From what I have learned the Gule wankulu consists of a secret society based on animism. Most of the costumes represent animals. These men are usually tribal dancers. They often are used for entertainment, such as weddings or celebrations. When a new chief comes to a village they are hired to dance. Their meetings are taken place in graveyards. This is where they initiate new people and where they all get dressed and prepared for meetings. They almost always have a group of women following them. They dress as different characters or different animals. When they put on the costume they are no longer human, they are the type of animal they are wearing. One of the pictures I have taken looks like the men are wearing my grandma's aprons. Quite amuzing. Although most of them are just for entertainment, some are also used to call spirits. We have seen some while driving and instead of wanting to laugh, I have felt a need to pray. They made me feel very uncomfortable. Some like the ones in the aprons.. we just laugh at and try to figure out what kind of animal they are trying to be. What do you think these men are???

Happy Birthday MOM!!!!!!!! (and Johanna!)

On Thursday night we had a girls night. We had great food and we watched Hairspray. I made this lovely sign for my mom and then since we had just watched the movie, we felt like there needed to be some great poses. We took two and this one was my favorite!! Mom, I do love you and miss those great long phone calls. The bottom of the sign says "love you and miss you." My supervisor is in pink, that is joviel Janet. Then we have the adorable Anna Marie on the end in the striped shirt, Joyful Johanna is next to Anna Marie, then there is the lovely Lisa in blue, who happens to be Anna's mom. And then there is Spontaneous Sam in black and her mom Marvelous Mary on the other end. Just fabulous ladies!! just fabulous!! And happy birthday roomie!!

Red Light, Green light (Aka:stop, go)

After a week in the village, the last day we spent the afternoon playing with the ladies and their children. While many of the men were setting up for the Jesus film I was having a blast. They taught me a few great games where there was a lot of running, dancing and laughing!!! After many of their games they annouced that they wanted us to teach them some games. This would be red light, green light. Here I am trying to show the ladies to run when the leaders back was turned. It was quite entertaining because I met some of the most competitive women that day. These ladies kicked some tail on duck, duck, goose. We renamed it duck, duck, chicken because they didn’t have a word for goose. Duck is “dnima,” so you say “ndima, ndima, ….koo koo. Man those ladies can run and the children, but most of the ladies were carrying their children on their backs and still running with all their might!! I lost a few calories this day!!!!

Our bathroom after a summer of teams...

Throughout the summer if we are lucky the volunteer teams leave us goodies. These goodies include things such as granola bars, fruit roll ups, cheese crackers, pop tarts, vanilla wafers, real Fritos, sunglasses (for me), and many skirts from all the ladies, or at least I think only the ladies gave us skirts. But the one of the best has been the shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotion. Although many of these bottles are almost empty we enjoy them ever so much. They are ridiculously priced here!! And I was recently introduced to "love spell." No, no one tried to trick me into falling in love with them.. although I have that effect on many. =) Anyway, Its like any many miney moe (never actually spelled that.. don’t know if that’s right) in the shower. Our guard that cleans our house once a week organized them and I think he might of color coordinated them as well. Way to go Charles.

Mozambique Bound

This past month has been busy with all the volunteer teams, and once they left we went to see some friends. I'm sorry it has been a month since an update. I will try my best to update away. We spent 4 days in Mozambique and I was blessed with another stamp in my passport and having the feeling once again that I don't understand anyting. It is a Portuguese speaking country. Where we went you spoke Portuguese or yao. It was funny when I did actually have a conversation with a man, it was in Chichewa. Never thought that would happen. My chichewa was very broken, but I was able to tell him where I was from and where I was going. First breakthrough in Chichewa 101. My teacher will be proud.