Looking Back

I've just spent a little time going back and reading most of Jaako's blog and reading people's comments. I'm amazed and so very grateful for the support that we have received from so many of you. I thank God for each and every one of you. When Jaako came to me back in May of last year, I could never at that time have imagined all that has happened and all that is still to come. I just sit back in awe of all that God has done.

When Jaako and I stepped off the plane in Malawi, I was still unsure of exactly what God wanted for me. Jaako was pretty clear - he had come to help the children. As we started going village to village, a passion grew inside of me to see these people not only get by, but to prosper.
The Malawians are great people. They have a silent strength in them. They carry the weight of their situation with no complaint and most of all they carry hope in them. They are a nation that have not given up. They work very hard and will do anything to meet their needs and the needs of their families. They are very relation oriented. Family is a very big deal. You will see a working man not only supporting his own family, but he will support his parents (if they are still alive) and he will also support any of his siblings and their families if they are in need. They are not a greedy nation. They will give until they have nothing left to give. I watched this in awe and in wonder. Hope arose in me as I watched them. I believe they are a nation that will one day prosper.

Jaako and I had so many experiences in Malawi. We saw many great people, awesome animals and we also saw and witnessed much despair and sadness. We battled many emotions at the same time. It took awhile to adapt. We also battled much sickness. Our North American bodies just weren't up to speed to the Malawian way of life. We were off and on being sick the first 2 weeks, nothing that stopped us from going out to the villages, just enough to make us feel blah. The last week we both got pretty sick from the different foods we had eaten in the villages as well as the parasites we got when we got stuck in a flood. (I will write more on the flood on another day) We continued on to the villages right up to the day before we left. In the flood we picked up a disease called Belharzia. It's a parasite tape worm that moves through your body laying eggs. The eggs hatch in about 3 months causing you to be extremely sick. Many lose their hearing, sight etc.... God lead a lady to us who told us about Belharzia and that we should get a treatment before we left Malawi and take it when we got back to Canada. If once you've taken the treatment and you don't get sick then you did not have Belharzia, if you do get sick then you do have it. Well Jaako and I both got sick. Jaako got a really bad migraine that lasted over 12 hours and a fever. Then he was fine. I turned yellow and I was really weak, disoriented and fevered. A few days later I had stomache cramps like I never had before. I thought I would have to go the ER as I was beginning to lose my mind. It was pretty bad. All of a sudden it just ended and for the next few days I just broke out into a sweat every now and then. We are now feeling much better and we thank everybody who prayed for us.

Sue