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It has taken me about a week before I can write this post.  It took me a bit to re-calibrate myself to life here in Texas.

The last day (Sunday) in Kalembe I went out with Father Joe to mass.  It was in a village not too far away but the problem was that the rainy season had started.  I am sure many people have driven in mud so they know what it is like, it was an interesting trip none-the-less.

We finally reached the village and everyone was waiting outside for us.  So we parked and went in and began setting up.  People started to come into the church and sit down and the mass began.

Here is Father Joe during his homily.

There were also baptisms that day so we had a whole ceremony for that.  I think there was around 20 kids to be baptized.  I was laughing the whole time watching the kids get all nervous to be baptized.  But it was a lot of fun and we were glad to get them all baptized.

Here is one girl looking forward to be baptized.

After we finished mass the villagers cooked some lunch for us and gave us a bunch of food.  It is mango season and we got 3 basket fulls of mango's, along with a bunch of other food.

On the way home we stopped and bought some goat because we were going to barbecue that night.  We went home and finished up the night at home just hanging out.

Here is Father Livinus, Me and Father Joe in front of their new rectory.

The next day Father Joe took me to the airport and I was off.  The plane rides were not too bad but my plane from Ethiopia to Toronto was delayed 2 hours.  So we finally got on the plane and what they had decided was to skip Rome on the flight schedule so we left from Ethiopia straight to Toronto.

The great thing was that the plane was almost empty and I got to lay down the whole time across 3 seats.  It turned out to be a very quick plane trip because of that.

I made it home and my mother and I went and got a burger right afterwards.

It is not a few days after Christmas and everything here is fine.  I have not been doing much, just planning the wedding and eating as much as I can.

It turns out that after this 2 1/2 months in Malawi I lost 8 lbs. which I was not happy about so I am trying to eat a lot.  I head back to Malawi near the end of January.  I was advised by the Priests to spend time with my fiance here, so I am.

Anyways everything else is going good.  It is raining now in Malawi and the crops are growing.  We are preparing to drill more Bore Hole's this year along with other projects.

I thank everyone for their support and prayers.

Kalembe

Kalembe (in the region of Chamama) is where I am now.

It has been a while since my last blog post because we have no internet out here.  It is just as of 2 hours ago that we got internet.  So since Sunday I have been out here and what a week it has been.

I try to say that with the least amount of drama as possible.

Sunday morning, Father Joe, Father Livinus and I left Bowe at 6:00 in the morning heading for Kalembe.  We stopped in Kasungu and did some shopping before we headed to Kalembe.  The rectory was just finished the week before and we had to buy furniture and different appliances to furnish it.

So we did shopping and headed to Kalembe.  There is no water here yet, they are working on drilling a well and actually today they found fresh water so hopefully they can begin drilling soon.

Here is the Rectory.  The piles of bricks are for the fence being built for the complex.

So three bachelors in a house we started to get creative with cooking.  The first night we brought some food home from Kasungu but the rest of the nights we cooked in the kitchen.

The rest of the week we spent arranging and re-rearranging the house.  The rain came this week and so it has been colder than usual.  The downside to all of this was that the bugs really really came out.  So the first night there was about 500 bugs in my room which was not fun.

The next few nights it got a lot better.

This is after one of the first nights I was there.  I had to cut the sun out because it was too bright.  The light painted everything orange.

Other than that I have just been working on the different projects all week.  There are a few things we want to change on the church at Kalembe.  And there is the Commercial Center at Bowe I am working on.  Tomorrow we are having a barbeque to wrap everything up and then on Monday Father Joe and I are leaving at 6:00 in the morning.  My flight leaves at 3:30 pm but we are going to make a stop in Bowe to see everyone there before we leave.

This is after a rainstorm.  I am standing up on a hill above the rectory.

I am excited to get home and see everyone.  I made a request that I eat no chicken or rice while I am home.  Other than that I am going to enjoy the sweets the steaks and all my friends and family.

To The Bore Holes

I cannot express the amount of knowledge and experience I am gaining from staying here in Africa but can only say that it is a lot more than I expected.

At the beginning of last week I was making preparations to go out and survey Bore Holes in Kawiya (Kuh-vee-yah) Zone.  Timeyo and I were going to spend Friday and Saturday out driving around and then Monday also.

So as the preparations got under way I made sure that I had all the equipment I needed.  Mostly a GPS so I could record the positions of the Bore Holes.  So with everything set we left at 6:30 on Friday morning.

One of the many Bore Holes.  The Catechist is standing next to the Handle Here.

As we went from village to village I noticed that the villagers were ecstatic about having us come there.  They wanted to show us their graciousness and gratitude for bringing them water.  So in the two days we did this I ended up collecting 1 got and 12 chickens.

Here I am receiving the goat:

As we continued on from village to village there were certain pieces of information I was collecting.  Not only the lat/long of the Bore Holes but also the population of the village and the surrounding villages.

So Timeyo and the catechist we were with liked to talk a lot so I had to push them along because I wanted to get to as many Bore Holes as we could.  But while they were talking and talking and talking I was having fun with the children and was playing little games with them.

The first day ended and we visited 20 Villages and recorded 20 Bore Holes.

I came home that night and was pretty exhausted.  I ate some food and went to bed early.

The next day was the same routine but we left at 6:00 this time.

We went all day and went to a total of 18 villages.

Now I have to say, going to a village is much easier said than done.  Most of the roads we traveled on would be highlighted on a Extreme Sports Channel for offroading.  There were some really nasty roads.

So we finished the day spending 12 hours out.  When we came home that night I had a strange feeling in me.  So I ate some dinner and went to bed.

The next day (Sunday) I could not even get out of bed.  And I stayed there the rest of the day.  I think it was from exhaustion but I was having all sorts of symptoms.  So I rested the entire day and then went to sleep.

Today I feel much better although I am resting again today.

Big E leaves for Nigeria tomorrow and I will be heading out to Kalembe to finish my stay there.  I have two weeks left here so not much time at all.

When at Kalembe I will work with Father Joe and the contractor to get the Guest House Underway.