I've heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason...

Bringing something we must learn,
And we are led to those who help us most to grow,
If we let them,
And we help them in return.

-Wicked

This past week has been a bit sad, but also sort of marks the end of another part of my time in Malawi. Let's see if I can back up and fill you in on some of the stories:

Wednesday, 3/12 - Hannah treated the entire research team to lunch at the Hippo View Lodge, an incredible spot right on the Shire River. The place sort of reminded me of the African attempt at a theme park lodge or something. There are large hippo statues at the gates and enormous eagle statues all over that actually are sinks (the water comes out of the eagle's beak!). Lunch was nice, and then we headed up to the village. Unfortunately, the baboon baby that Hannah got so attached to the week before died while we ate dinner. It was really sad, and the Father was really upset. It was so malnourished and probably wasn't old enough to be away from it's mom. Poor thing.

Then in our bedroom that night there was a SCORPION! Scary...Vegas killed it for us! eeek.

Friday, 3/14 - I had to deal with one of those African tragedies that you hope is just a terrible generalization: A young girl showed up very late for our clinic with a baby strapped to her back. Rosemary, our nurse, asked if the child was her sister and of course it was her daughter. The girl was just 16 years old, the baby 8 months. This means she potentially could have gotten pregnant as young as 14 years old. At the time she was in grade 5 in Blantyre, living with a relative. She stayed next to a more wealthy Malawian man, who often commented to her that she looked thin, that her clothes seemed worn and pointed out how well dressed his wife and children were. He promised he could provide for her, and she says she was "tricked" into marrying him. I needn't explain what happened between this young girl and some pedophile-type man but now this 16 year old mom is desperately trying to take care of her son, and has just learned that she is HIV+. The baby as of now is not infected, but he will need to be retested at 9 months and 1 year. It was a pretty rough story to hear. I gave her some gifts and a bit of cash to help her in some small way. I'll bring some clothes donated by Hannah for her next visit.

The afternoon was bittersweet as well. We had a going away party for Hannah and the nurses gave us each a lovely ivory wrap skirt with the project logo stamped along the bottom. They sang a beautiful goodbye song and presented the gifts in very traditional Malawian style - on their knees in front of us. It was actually really special and incredibly thoughtful.

Saturday, 3/15 - In the morning, Hannah, Kathleen and I went to the market and bought gifts for Hannah to bring back home, new chitenje skirts, and some paintings for the bare walls in my house. Then we picked up the little boys that live at my house and took a field trip to the airport to see Hannah off. We all sat on the veranda of the airport and watched the plane land at the airport. The boys were so excited and I bought them all ice cream as a special trip. They were wearing their church clothes and were so well behaved. Saying goodbye to Hannah was awful, I cried. She was so wonderful, I am so glad that she joined me these past two months. Now I have a friend in Australia... guess where I wish my next vacation to be?

Sunday, 3/16 - I went for a run, by myself (JCF, MAM - don't worry. It was lovely!). I ran out to the President's house, talked with the army guy (a little Chichewa even!) and felt great. Kathleen and I met up with Liz and her parents for a really great dinner. Liz's parents are visiting Malawi for 2 weeks and treated us at the Italian restaurant in Blantyre. After, Kathleen stayed over at my house for the night.

Monday, 3/17 - No notice of St. Patty's Day whatsoever. Work was icky because it was raining and I was at a center with very little shelter. Then more bad news came - way, way back I wrote about a little girl named Margaret whose mother passed away at the Makhwila health center. She has stayed in our program since then as her aunt has no way to feed her. She has been doing so well, her weight has reached normal levels and she looks beautiful. Unfortunately, her HIV status changed this past week and she has seroconverted. I was really upset about this too. It is heart breaking, and in some way I feel very attached to this little girl. I hope she gets ARVs and I will continue to help her aunt care for her as best as she can.

28 Days til my mom and brother come to Africa!!! Whoo hooo. That's the benchmark to look forward to :)

-dkm