Well, another day is drawing to an end here in beautiful Malawi.
Yesterday we visited Area 25 in Lilongwe and handed out Bags of Hope and taught the kids some english songs. It was really fun!
Today we visited an orphan feeding centre in Namitete. We were told to prepare for just under 100 kids, so we made 110 bags. We were 56 short! This was one of the worst feelings ever!! Having kids sitting on the benches watching the other kids open their bags. It was awful!! I couldn't even look because I was on the verge of bursting into hysterical tears!! What a hard day. The director of the centre took down all the names of the children that didn't receive a bag and we are going to send them once we have made them up tomorrow.
Well, I'm signing off before the power goes down! That seems to be a constant problem every evening here.
Sue
Monday, August 2, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
We have arrived in Malawi!
Amazing! So blessed to have returned to this country again!! It wasn't without trials, but all that is behind us and we are here!!
A snap shot on our journey here. We left Thunder Bay airport Wednesday night the 28th at 7:20 p.m. All went without a hitch. Flight to Toronto was uneventful and so was our 2 hour airport layover. We left Toronto around 11:35 to fly to London, England.
We arrived in London in the morning and took the tube into central London and spent about 3 hours walking around checking things out and riding the London Eye. We then took the tube back to the airport and I pulled out my boarding pass to see which Terminal our flight was leaving from. UNKNOWING, THIS IS WHEN EVERYTHING WENT SOUTH AND QUICKLY!!! UGH!!!
There was no terminal printed on our boarding passes, this quite often means you are leaving from the same terminal as you arrived at. So, we went back to terminal 3 and saw that the Nairobi flight was departing from Lobby A. We decided to clear security right away so we could have a bite to eat before our flight left at 8:00 p.m.
We passed through security and showed our passports AND BOARDING PASSES to three different airport staff and were cleared for our flight and wished a pleasant journey. Once thru security I check to see what gate our flight was leaving from, it wasn't listed yet and showed that our flight now did not depart until 9:00 p.m. I didn't find this odd as flights are delayed quite often.
We went and ate and around 7:00 p.m. decided to check out some duty free shops. Upon purchasing Janika's pillow the store clerk who needed my boarding pass for the transaction, gave me a really odd look when I handed over my boarding pass, but he did not say anything. So I paid for her pillow and off we went.
We went to sit by the monitors so we can wait for our gate to come up. As we were sitting there, I started to feel really uncomfortable about the flight. I decided to get a closer look at the monitors, no info change. I went and sat back down. The feeling kept getting worse and at about 7:15 I decided to pull out the itinerary that the Thunder Bay agent said I didn't need because everything is electronic, but I of course kept it so I can scrapbook it later!!
I read on that itinerary that our flight was leaving from TERMINAL 4!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Talk about instant panic! I told the kids and Hannah to pack up and run! We ran to a help desk and they confirmed we were in the wrong terminal and couldn't believe that security had cleared us!! We had to get from one end of Terminal 3 to the other to catch a bus to Terminal 4. We arrived at the bus pick up location at around 7:25. The bus was there but wouldn't allow us to board!! They were on the other side of a glass so they couldn't hear our exclamations! We were in major panic and tears! And then he left............
Another bus arrived a few minutes later and parked outside. The driver was talking to somebody and I was frantically waving out the window and pointing to my watch (well Pirkko's, but that's a different story) and he just kept calming putting out his hand saying hang on! We kept waving and what seemed about forever, he finally let us board. I explained to him that our flight left at 8:00 p.m. and we were in a hurry. He asked you have to board at 8? I yelled NOOO, our flight leaves at 8, we have 20 minutes to be on that plane!! Well, he took off like a shotgun! We were stripping off belts, sweaters, socks etc so we would be ready to clear security AGAIN! What a site we must have been!! He drove so fast we were stumbling all over!
We arrived at security at about 8:47ish and must have cleared in about a minute or less! We were pro's at this now!!
We located a monitor and our gate? WAY ACROSS THE AIRPORT!! I told Jaako and Hannah to take off and run to the gate and Janika and I would follow. Due to a poor knee surgery, I can't run, so I walked very, very fast! Jaako being the awesome son that he is also took my pac and the laptop that we didn't pack up after security and began to run. I told Jaako not to separate from Hannah! So they took off!
As Janika is running, and I am walking very, very fast we start hearing announcements, "Would the Polkki family and Wilson family please board the aircraft at gate 8. We kept hearing the page. Then it got worse we heard "Would Polkki and Wilson please come to the gate right now! You are delaying your plane!!" A few seconds later, "Polkki and Wilson, your luggage is being removed from the plane so that the flight can depart!" I'm thinking oh crap Jaako and Hannah hadn't made it! And I'm yelling, no don't we're coming!! At this point I see Hannah just ahead of us and Jaako is nowhere to be seen!
Jaako decided to run ahead once Hannah grew tired. Although he didnt listen to me, I have to admit he made the right decision, Jaako saved our day!! He was just running up to the gate when that final announcement was given. If he had listened to me, we would have certainly missed our flight. With a plea full of emotion he explained what had happened and explained how I couldn't run! At this point I sent Janika running as well, I figured the more of us that showed up, the more likely they would be to hold the plane!
I then got there and the staff were very understanding and we boarded our flight! The time was 8:00 p.m. on the nose! How had we run clear across two terminals, taken a bus ride and cleared security and arrived at our gate all in 35 minutes??? A miracle! We couldn't believe it! We were so shocked that we had made it.
As we boarded the aircraft all the passengers were glaring at us and when we sat down, some guys said with a laugh "So you must be the Polkki's and the Wilsons!!" We all cracked up! They announced to the whole flight that we were holding them up! The worst part? Once we boarded, the plane didn't move anywhere for about 15 minutes!! What the heck?!?!?!
But anyway, we were on our flight, high fiving each other for making it and probably annoying everybody even more!! Ha ha ha
We arrived in Nairobi at 6:30 a.m. and had major flight delays. We were exhausted and just wanted to get to Malawi!! We finally left and arrived in Malawi quite late, but we cleared customs wonderfully and we were in Malawi. Our second home!
What a feeling to just walk out of the airport and smell the air that I love to breath and see the smiling faces of my friends! This is always one of my favourite moments. My lungs just fill with Malawian air and my heart soars to be here once again. I can't describe the feeling, but it's a great one.
I will write more tomorrow about our days here. That is if we have power. We have had black outs every evening here so far. Tonight the power came back on early enough for all of us to blog.
So until tomorrow..............................................
Sue
A snap shot on our journey here. We left Thunder Bay airport Wednesday night the 28th at 7:20 p.m. All went without a hitch. Flight to Toronto was uneventful and so was our 2 hour airport layover. We left Toronto around 11:35 to fly to London, England.
We arrived in London in the morning and took the tube into central London and spent about 3 hours walking around checking things out and riding the London Eye. We then took the tube back to the airport and I pulled out my boarding pass to see which Terminal our flight was leaving from. UNKNOWING, THIS IS WHEN EVERYTHING WENT SOUTH AND QUICKLY!!! UGH!!!
There was no terminal printed on our boarding passes, this quite often means you are leaving from the same terminal as you arrived at. So, we went back to terminal 3 and saw that the Nairobi flight was departing from Lobby A. We decided to clear security right away so we could have a bite to eat before our flight left at 8:00 p.m.
We passed through security and showed our passports AND BOARDING PASSES to three different airport staff and were cleared for our flight and wished a pleasant journey. Once thru security I check to see what gate our flight was leaving from, it wasn't listed yet and showed that our flight now did not depart until 9:00 p.m. I didn't find this odd as flights are delayed quite often.
We went and ate and around 7:00 p.m. decided to check out some duty free shops. Upon purchasing Janika's pillow the store clerk who needed my boarding pass for the transaction, gave me a really odd look when I handed over my boarding pass, but he did not say anything. So I paid for her pillow and off we went.
We went to sit by the monitors so we can wait for our gate to come up. As we were sitting there, I started to feel really uncomfortable about the flight. I decided to get a closer look at the monitors, no info change. I went and sat back down. The feeling kept getting worse and at about 7:15 I decided to pull out the itinerary that the Thunder Bay agent said I didn't need because everything is electronic, but I of course kept it so I can scrapbook it later!!
I read on that itinerary that our flight was leaving from TERMINAL 4!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Talk about instant panic! I told the kids and Hannah to pack up and run! We ran to a help desk and they confirmed we were in the wrong terminal and couldn't believe that security had cleared us!! We had to get from one end of Terminal 3 to the other to catch a bus to Terminal 4. We arrived at the bus pick up location at around 7:25. The bus was there but wouldn't allow us to board!! They were on the other side of a glass so they couldn't hear our exclamations! We were in major panic and tears! And then he left............
Another bus arrived a few minutes later and parked outside. The driver was talking to somebody and I was frantically waving out the window and pointing to my watch (well Pirkko's, but that's a different story) and he just kept calming putting out his hand saying hang on! We kept waving and what seemed about forever, he finally let us board. I explained to him that our flight left at 8:00 p.m. and we were in a hurry. He asked you have to board at 8? I yelled NOOO, our flight leaves at 8, we have 20 minutes to be on that plane!! Well, he took off like a shotgun! We were stripping off belts, sweaters, socks etc so we would be ready to clear security AGAIN! What a site we must have been!! He drove so fast we were stumbling all over!
We arrived at security at about 8:47ish and must have cleared in about a minute or less! We were pro's at this now!!
We located a monitor and our gate? WAY ACROSS THE AIRPORT!! I told Jaako and Hannah to take off and run to the gate and Janika and I would follow. Due to a poor knee surgery, I can't run, so I walked very, very fast! Jaako being the awesome son that he is also took my pac and the laptop that we didn't pack up after security and began to run. I told Jaako not to separate from Hannah! So they took off!
As Janika is running, and I am walking very, very fast we start hearing announcements, "Would the Polkki family and Wilson family please board the aircraft at gate 8. We kept hearing the page. Then it got worse we heard "Would Polkki and Wilson please come to the gate right now! You are delaying your plane!!" A few seconds later, "Polkki and Wilson, your luggage is being removed from the plane so that the flight can depart!" I'm thinking oh crap Jaako and Hannah hadn't made it! And I'm yelling, no don't we're coming!! At this point I see Hannah just ahead of us and Jaako is nowhere to be seen!
Jaako decided to run ahead once Hannah grew tired. Although he didnt listen to me, I have to admit he made the right decision, Jaako saved our day!! He was just running up to the gate when that final announcement was given. If he had listened to me, we would have certainly missed our flight. With a plea full of emotion he explained what had happened and explained how I couldn't run! At this point I sent Janika running as well, I figured the more of us that showed up, the more likely they would be to hold the plane!
I then got there and the staff were very understanding and we boarded our flight! The time was 8:00 p.m. on the nose! How had we run clear across two terminals, taken a bus ride and cleared security and arrived at our gate all in 35 minutes??? A miracle! We couldn't believe it! We were so shocked that we had made it.
As we boarded the aircraft all the passengers were glaring at us and when we sat down, some guys said with a laugh "So you must be the Polkki's and the Wilsons!!" We all cracked up! They announced to the whole flight that we were holding them up! The worst part? Once we boarded, the plane didn't move anywhere for about 15 minutes!! What the heck?!?!?!
But anyway, we were on our flight, high fiving each other for making it and probably annoying everybody even more!! Ha ha ha
We arrived in Nairobi at 6:30 a.m. and had major flight delays. We were exhausted and just wanted to get to Malawi!! We finally left and arrived in Malawi quite late, but we cleared customs wonderfully and we were in Malawi. Our second home!
What a feeling to just walk out of the airport and smell the air that I love to breath and see the smiling faces of my friends! This is always one of my favourite moments. My lungs just fill with Malawian air and my heart soars to be here once again. I can't describe the feeling, but it's a great one.
I will write more tomorrow about our days here. That is if we have power. We have had black outs every evening here so far. Tonight the power came back on early enough for all of us to blog.
So until tomorrow..............................................
Sue
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Another trip planned
Well, it's official. We are heading back to Malawi in August 2010. I realized this summer that I really missed my friends there and it has been over a year since I've seen them. To wait another year seems long and I'm getting anxious. I find myself thinking, do they have enough food? Were they warm enough this past winter season? Did they have enough seed to plant this spring? They are just now heading into their summer season and I hope their crops prosper.
I don't think we realize how simple our lives actually are. I know many struggle on a day to day basis. My family does. But when I put it into perspective to what I have experienced in Malawi, it brings me back to a heart of thanks. I am truly thankful for my family, friends and even my house that at times seems to be falling down around me. It still keeps me and my family warm and safe.
So being that it's the Thanksgiving season, lets all truly be thankful for all that we have been given. We grumble at things that break or things that we don't have, but we should be thankful that we have things to break down. We have a family that is alive and healthy. And when sickness does come, we have a hospital we can go to and medicines to take. It truly is a lot to be thankful for!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Sue
I don't think we realize how simple our lives actually are. I know many struggle on a day to day basis. My family does. But when I put it into perspective to what I have experienced in Malawi, it brings me back to a heart of thanks. I am truly thankful for my family, friends and even my house that at times seems to be falling down around me. It still keeps me and my family warm and safe.
So being that it's the Thanksgiving season, lets all truly be thankful for all that we have been given. We grumble at things that break or things that we don't have, but we should be thankful that we have things to break down. We have a family that is alive and healthy. And when sickness does come, we have a hospital we can go to and medicines to take. It truly is a lot to be thankful for!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Sue
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Trip so far.
Our time here in Malawi so far has been excellent. We've accomplished many things but many things still need doing. We've handing about 1200 Bags of Hope, helped a man with medical bills, provided Hiv medications for a lady for about 2 or 2 and half years. We've travelled to many villages distributing maize and Jaako has been speaking to the children.
Tomorrow we head to Mangochi and Chikulo which are very remote villages near Lake Malawi. They are the forgotten in Malawi. We will be spending a few days visiting some projects started by Catherine our good friend as well as visit sites for new plans by our friends Tracey and Mick. We are very excited to go and see how we can help. We will be spending time in Chikulo with host families and getting to know village life. We will also spend a night in their huts with them. I can't wait to go and truly experience how these people live, to be a part of their community.
Eat what they eat, sleep where they sleep and just be as they are each and every day.
I'm not sure if we will have any internet connection while we are gone so we may not be able to report back until then.
Sue
Tomorrow we head to Mangochi and Chikulo which are very remote villages near Lake Malawi. They are the forgotten in Malawi. We will be spending a few days visiting some projects started by Catherine our good friend as well as visit sites for new plans by our friends Tracey and Mick. We are very excited to go and see how we can help. We will be spending time in Chikulo with host families and getting to know village life. We will also spend a night in their huts with them. I can't wait to go and truly experience how these people live, to be a part of their community.
Eat what they eat, sleep where they sleep and just be as they are each and every day.
I'm not sure if we will have any internet connection while we are gone so we may not be able to report back until then.
Sue
Friday, May 9, 2008
Time is going by so fast.
Time is going by so very quickly. We leave for Malawi in just over 3 weeks!! I can't believe that we are actually going back. It still seems so surreal still. We have a team of 7 people going this time. Jaako and I, Clint and his son Sydney, my friend Lily and 2 university girls Laura and Carrie. I'm so happy so many people wanted to join this mission and help the people in Malawi. We have so many extra suitcase this time to bring stuff over with!!! We are bring over Bags of Hope for the children again as well as underwear for the girls and various health items like vitamins, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste.
While in Malawi, we will be doing 3 different things.
1. For the first week we will be going to visit villages close to Lilongwe where we will be based. We will distribute the Bags of Hope to the children, and food supplies.
2. The next 4-5 days we will spend visiting different schools in hopes of securing a partnership with one of them that we could send our scholarship students to.
3. The rest of the time will be spent up near Lake Malawi in remote villages that don't receive much aid. Our friend Katherine has some projects on the go up there and we will check them out and see how we can be of help.
Both Jaako and I will be reporting on our blogs as often as we can so keep checking back.
We are very excited to be going again. I can't wait to see my friends again. Thank-you to all of you that have helped the kids in Malawi. We make a difference. We really, really do.
While in Malawi, we will be doing 3 different things.
1. For the first week we will be going to visit villages close to Lilongwe where we will be based. We will distribute the Bags of Hope to the children, and food supplies.
2. The next 4-5 days we will spend visiting different schools in hopes of securing a partnership with one of them that we could send our scholarship students to.
3. The rest of the time will be spent up near Lake Malawi in remote villages that don't receive much aid. Our friend Katherine has some projects on the go up there and we will check them out and see how we can be of help.
Both Jaako and I will be reporting on our blogs as often as we can so keep checking back.
We are very excited to be going again. I can't wait to see my friends again. Thank-you to all of you that have helped the kids in Malawi. We make a difference. We really, really do.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
We are going back to Malawi!!
Our travel dates are confirmed and our tickets purchased. We leave on June 3 of this year to Malawi!! We are so excited to be able to go and see our friends and help them out again. We will be in Malawi for 3 weeks again this time around with 3 different missions on the go while we are there. We will begin the first week by going to villages close to Lilongwe and we will distribute maize and the Bags of Hope, then we plan to check out schools that we can possibly join forces with and provide scholarship funds directly to the school. Our focus will be educating into the medical field and hopefully some day soon be able to build a medical centre and staff it with our own graduated students!!
Next we will hook up with a local women's group that is teaching women how to earn their own income in order to support themselves and send their children to school. At this time we will have a chance to visit their orphanage they have up in Blantyre. We are so looking forward to going. We are going down as a team of 5 and possibly 7!! That's almost 10 suitcases of needed supplies that we can bring to Malawi with us!!!! Yeah!!
As our departure date draws closer, I've been in contact with many of the Malawian via email and again it's starting to hit home just how much need exists over there. Children and adults are dying over there. They die of malnourishment, AIDS and many other treatable illnesses. It's time to work our hardest at helping them turn their country around. I feel blessed to live in this amazing country where even though we don't earn a huge income or anything - we are completely and totally provided for! Our every physical need is met and much more. We really have no complaints even though those complaints come from my lips very often! It's time to refocus and concentrate on those that really need my help. I know that here are many in Canada and all over the world that need help, but right now Jaako and I feel called to help Malawi and we will do our best to help change it by educating one person at a time, feeding one family at a time and just being there for them.
Take Care,
Sue
Next we will hook up with a local women's group that is teaching women how to earn their own income in order to support themselves and send their children to school. At this time we will have a chance to visit their orphanage they have up in Blantyre. We are so looking forward to going. We are going down as a team of 5 and possibly 7!! That's almost 10 suitcases of needed supplies that we can bring to Malawi with us!!!! Yeah!!
As our departure date draws closer, I've been in contact with many of the Malawian via email and again it's starting to hit home just how much need exists over there. Children and adults are dying over there. They die of malnourishment, AIDS and many other treatable illnesses. It's time to work our hardest at helping them turn their country around. I feel blessed to live in this amazing country where even though we don't earn a huge income or anything - we are completely and totally provided for! Our every physical need is met and much more. We really have no complaints even though those complaints come from my lips very often! It's time to refocus and concentrate on those that really need my help. I know that here are many in Canada and all over the world that need help, but right now Jaako and I feel called to help Malawi and we will do our best to help change it by educating one person at a time, feeding one family at a time and just being there for them.
Take Care,
Sue
Saturday, August 11, 2007
My daughter's miracle
On August 7th we sent Janika and Jaako out to clean up their things off the side-walk. Well I guess Janika had left her umbrella across the street. Without even looking she ran out on the road from between two parked cars and a truck was coming. The truck slammed on their brakes and swerved, just missing hitting Janika dead-on. Janika under an adreniline rush was able to hobble inside screaming her head off. When Andrew, I and the driver were looking at her foot it was getting a major bruise on the inside of her foot and was swelling up. It didn't look very good. I got ready to bring her to the hospital. Janika cried and screamed "Please, Please pray for me. I want to be healed before I go to the hospital." In the commotion we didn't really hear or act on her crying so she screamed it again and this time Andrew prayed for her and then carried her out to the van. When we pulled out Janika said we had to think and talk about happy things so that she didn't feel the pain in her foot too much. As we were driving Janika started to say that her foot didn't hurt as much, she continued to say that it was getting better. By the time we got to the hospital she said she could move it without much pain. Irv and Jonie met me at the hospital and Irv carried Janika in. Sure enough when Clint Neubauer (the nurse) looked at it, it was pretty good. He was able to apply pressure and she could even walk on it a bit. And the amazing part was the bruising and swelling was almost gone!! It just had some bruising and swelling on the top of her foot. The Dr. looked at it and it was x-rayed. No fractures or anything. Just soft tissue damage!! So off we went home. We had to go by Wal-mart to get a tensor bandage for her and when we got there she pulled her croc off and yelled "Oh my God!!" I thought something bad happened so I turned around in panic - but she said " All of the bruising and swelling is gone!!" And sure enough when I looked at it - it was true. She now only had a slight discolouration on the top and no swelling. WOW!! Jesus had healed her! Her call for prayer healed her!! She now just has to be off of it for a few days and be careful but she is totally fine. Oh ya, as well at the hospital we realized that she had a tire scuff mark on the back of her arm from her elbow to her wrist! I asked if the truck had hit her body and she said "Not really - It just lightly skimmed across my tummy" I asked her where her arms were and how the truck could touch her tummy and not her arms and she said "I don't know" In that kid voice that says I her mom doesn't know what I'm talking about! So that's it in a big nutshell. Janika says she so happy that Jesus saved her from dying and healed her foot before she got to the hospital.I believe in miracles - do you?
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