We met up with Dean Kalilombe and Yasinta at St. Paul’s Cathedral and then picked up Fr. Lymond Sonjo, an old friend from last year. We will be with him for church on Sunday. We drove out to Thylo, first to see a kitchen garden at All Saints and then to meet with a group of women leaders who planted individual Kitchen Gardens in thei
r parish. We were thrilled to witness both how the gardens were thriving and how the communities of people were working together. We were greeted with songs and dances, and the women showed us their work. We conversed with them, with Yasinta as translator, about introducing a livestock project. In Thylo Parish, the women agreed with one voice that they wanted to begin a pig operation. They warmly expressed their thanksgiving for the gift of permaculture, and even sang a song in Chichewa that went “Permaculture, Shines Shines.”
It’s charming how the older women gravitate to my mother, and powerful to see how the younger girls and women look at me in my collar. I am more aware this trip than I was last year of my functioning as a female priest in Malawi; my embodying this position as a leader in the church. It has a significance, particularly for Malawian women, that is humbling. At first, they cannot even see my collar. Then, when I am introduced to them as a priest, they whoop with joy and bless me and tell me that they like my collar. What a privilege it is to be here.
On we drove out to Mulanje, which is the most beautiful area of Malawi in my opinion. The verdant tea plantations and towering Mount Mulanje are an unbeatable combination. We visited Sodza in Mulanje Parish, which is an outstation of St. Andrew’s. Again, we met the women of the parish and saw their gardens. We noted how beautifully they related to Yasinta; with mutual respect and enthusiasm.
We gathered around a woman making a small cookstove out of clay called a chakohita, and the leader of the women told us of their first year of doing permaculture, what their problems were, what they hoped would happen next. They are interested in mbuzi: goats! They will build the kholas, or goat sheds, if we can find a partner parish to provide the goats, and our conversation made me excited to set out to see Christ Church’s goats on Friday. On our way back to Blantyre, we stopped at the Mulanje Hotel for a late lunch at 3:30 pm. I had chambo, the national fish of Malawi, and it was delectable. Each time we sit down for tea or a meal, we brainstorm with our Malawian friends and partners about the projects as we get to know one another. We talk about the Olympics, about Obama (a HUGE source of excitement here, but also disbelief that Americans would actually elect a black man to be President), about food and family and how our cultures differ. And we laugh so much together.
We had our first early night, having planned our day for tomorrow. John, my mom and I relaxed for an hour or so, then had a light dinner in the restaurant before turning in. Fr. Lymond asked me to preach on Sunday out in Manyamba, in the village where I worked on the priest’s house last summer. I will fall asleep thinking about the gospel passage “See, I am sending you out as lambs among wolves; be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” It’s a great passage for me right now, because Jesus tells his disciples not to worry about what they will say when they must speak; that God will give them the words they need!
Photos: Introductions in Thylo; A woman in her garden in Mulanje Parish; Cindy showing the potter her picture.
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