Taking advantage of down time

Wednesday I woke up early and planned to walk to Adziwa. Tovia said she wanted to meet me there so we could go over some things regarding current projects and new ideas. I didn’t feel great when I got up. I decided to walk anyway and figured maybe after the walk I would feel better. I took a bottle of water with me and headed for Adziwa. Walking alone is nice because there is no pressure to get where your going in any certain time. I was able to go slow and just enjoy. The little boys in the village just outside of our’s saw me coming and began yelling as they barreled down the path towards me. They all yell “Elleny Elleny!”. I don’t know how Erin became Elleny, but everytime I introduce myself to a Malawian and say “my name is Erin” the response is always “oh! Elleny!” So I just nod and smile and now have accepted that I’m just Elleny 🙂 I think I have explain in past blogs that Aaron is a common mans name in Malawi, but Erin for a girl just doesn’t exist.
After I met up with the little boys and had them walking with me I started to feel better. I had a carton with me of gloves for the daycare and one of the boys insisted he carry it for me. They are just so sweet. They all walked with me to the bridge and then handed me back my parcel and waved goodbye. Once over the bridge I was about half way to Adziwa. This is the point in the walk where normally the sweatshirt comes off. It has been getting warm during the afternoon which is nice since the mornings are so cold!
I realized that I hadn’t slept well and I hadn’t eaten breakfast so that may be why I didn’t feel great. As the morning went on I started to feel a bit better.
I arrived at Adziwa to find that Tovia wasn’t there. She had gone to buy food for the month for the children. James said this usually takes her until around noon. I was able to drop the gloves off to James and also speak with him about the pump. We installed a water pump at Adziwa 2 years ago. It was looking like it needed some repairs so we went to the pump and talked about what would be needed to get it fixed up. Turned out that with a bag of cement James felt the work could be done. I gave him the money for the cement and he promised it would be finished by Friday. We also want to paint the pump with the WCIM logo so I’ll find out what paint will cost sometime before the next team arrives.
About that time Paul showed up with the building crew so I walked over to see what they were planning to do today. They had decided to start thatching the roof so they were delivering a truck load of grass. I asked Paul if he was heading back to the village and lucky for me he was 🙂 this meant I could ride with him and avoid walking all the way back.
I had Paul drop me at the lodge and I used the Internet for a while. I headed down the hill for the village, again I was lucky that Guy was puttering by on his motorbike. He asked if I wanted a lift to the village. Even though I’m not crazy about being on the bike I took the ride so I could again avoid the walk. When rides are offered I try to take them only because I end up doing A LOT of walking each day!
I went to my hut and decided to rest for a while. I was tired and wanted to take advantage of the fact I didn’t have a group here. It has been a busy 2 1/2 weeks and maybe I was just feeling a little run down. I rested for a long time and then got up and ate a little lunch. The village was so quiet and empty so at about 4 I walked up to the lodge. I figured I might find some company and could check email or try and call my daughters.
I hung around at the lodge and found it was pretty quiet up there also. I called the girls and then ordered a sandwich for an early dinner. I had some money I needed to exchange since Thursday Sai and I planned to go purchase tires for the playground. I sent a text to Guy asking if I could change over some money and shortly there after a man appeared telling me that Guy wanted me to come to his house. I walked over and exchanged the money and then ended up sitting with him and his wife for a few hours. They fed me another dinner and dessert! Maureen (Guys wife) drove me back to village around 8. I went right to sleep and slept the entire night through!
I’m getting really excited for the next groups arrival!! Can’t wait!! Only a few more days 🙂