Thanksgiving

The first holiday away from the family.  Thought it was going to be tough.  But then I realized Malawi doesn't know or care about Thanksgiving.  Ah, much easier.  It's just a normal day.  But keeping in tradition over the past few years, the McGraths did a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night with most traditional dishes sans turkey.  It was a great time of worship and the food was incredible.  Pictures below.

On Saturday, another group of friends were doing Thanksgiving dinner as well.  So, I doubled up.  I sucked it up like a true american and shoveled down another incredible meal complete with multiple desserts.  It was a smaller and more intimate dinner - I don't have pics, we ate outside with candlelight which my camera doesn't like.  

On Sunday, I finally ate at the KFC.  I ordered the only sandwich combo on the menu - complete with coke and fries.  A really expensive meal for Malawi - about $7 USD.  The sandwich was really good, and the fries were better than the fries anywhere else in Blantyre....which are all the same.  It felt good to eat there.  I needed a comfort meal.  I found it unique that the Malawi staple - nsima is included on the menu.  An apparent attempt to lure Malawians in there, but the nsima meal is still far more expensive than any other place in Blantyre.  SO not sure how much nsima is sold there, but I can guarantee no malawians from CURE have eaten there.

The children's Christmas party (Dec 7) is in the planning stages.  I'm working with the hospital marketing director to develop a program for the kiddies.  Also, working on a staff Christmas program for the following week - that fell on my plate as well.  It's all good fun though.  I can't wait to party with the kids.  

Small group meets for the 2nd time this Tuesday.  At my house, the CURE guest house.  Attendance was only 7 for the first meeting.  We hope to have a few more people as we discuss what the gospel means and the early church in Acts.  Pray for this group, I desperately want it to grow and not become a boring, stuffy study with the same few people leading the discussion.

I'm going with my translator, Lawrence to his home village two weeks from now.  It will be my first time seeing his childhood stomping grounds.  I'm helping him create a blog and post info about a project to help children and the elderly in his village.  I will have a paypal link up soon.  If anyone is interested in donating money in order to purchase supplies/essentials for the village.

Thanks for following, always.

Alex - friend

Dave Burgess, medical director and ortho surgeon at CURE

we made dessert bowls since there were too many choices

Aysha, physiotherapist at CURE, Amina (daughter) & Nadine McGrath

Konde decorated for Thanksgiving 

Nina, german volunteer at CURE

Francie, german missionary

Roy Miller, anesthesiologist at CURE and Maxi (local NGO)

John McGrath. most gracious host ever

Humphries, friend/pastor/radio program host

Greg and Afton (american missionaries)

My top 5 favorite meals in Malawi

1.  Rice with Mince Meat and Salad.....only about .35 at the canteen at the hospital.  Tasty, cheap and the hottest freaking hot sauce ever is readily available.  I eat this meal multiple times weekly.

2.  Chicken and chips at the gym.  The gym that I frequent is part of the Malawi College of Medicine that is right next door to CURE.  After a workout or squash match, I order chicken/chips and a Fanta orange.  The chicken is breaded and fried, french fries are called chips here.  It's fantastic, some of the best chicken I've eaten in Malawi.  Only about $4 and there are tables outside to sit and relax in a nice breeze.


3.  Chicken pot pie/coke/chocolate cake at the Cafe at CURE, which runs about $4.  A little more upscale dining at the hospital, and a little more western.  Safina, an indian lady that runs the cafe, makes AWESOME cakes. My favorite is chocolate on chocolate.  She knows how much I love her cakes now so I get hooked up sometimes.  She makes a mean chocolate milkshake too.


4.  Nsima with soy pieces and salad.  Nsima is ground maize which looks like masked potatoes but has no taste.  It's the staple here - it's dirt cheap.  Malawians roll the nsima into balls with their hands and then dip the nsima into salad or spinach and add a piece of chicken/soy/beef/goat and then eat in one bite.  I don't really care for the beef or chicken with nsima - it has bones and is usually tough.  The soy pieces are good though.  I don't like using my hands though.  It's offensive but I have to use a fork, discreetly.  About .35 at the canteen or other small restaurants everywhere in Blantyre.  Malawians eat nsima for every meal with different sides.


5.  Cereal or oatmeal at my house.  Yep, when I'm tired of everything else, I resort to my comfort food - american cereal.  The milk isnt the best here, but it works.  I've found corn flakes, honey nut cheerios and granola with fruit here.  However, the cereal varies every week - so you don't know what's in stock ever.  There is always flavored oatmeal at the grocery store - currently on a strawberry yoghurt flavored oatmeal kick.  I ate chocolate flavored oatmeal for the first two months and got tired of it.


That rounds out the top 5.  As you can see, I'm eating well here.  Lots of good food.  But also watching the budget and not eating american food out every night, which you could do here.  I'm adjusting to preparing meals for myself here, which I'm starting to enjoy.  Pic of nsima below with chicken and spinach as the sides & the infamous chocolate cake as well.

and the sickness creeps in....

It happened.  I got sick.  Almost two months down, thinking my immune system is awesome and I can handle anything in Malawi, reality hit my square in the face.  Mother's Day was Monday and CURE hosted a golf tournament on a game reserve/lodge.  The course is decent, but the cool thing about the place was the game roaming around.  Sabel, zebras, kudus, giraffes around the 500+ acres.  I managed to spot a zebra, kudu and sable.  No luck with the giraffes.  The kudu are massive and a pack stared me down for a solid 3 minutes before I turned and walked away.  I'm not messing with animals bigger and faster than me.  I don't care about a photograph that much.  

During the tournament, I started to feel sick.  Stomach felt really weird and I started having hot flashes. For the next 5 hours, I sat in pain on a couch wanting the tournament to end badly.  I couldn't wait to get home.  When I finally did get home, I went straight to bed with a pounding headache, backache and an empty stomach that felt like it was going to explode.  I had trouble staying asleep with the throbbing headache to managed to fall asleep several hours.  The next morning, my alarm went off and I turned it off completely.  My stomach felt the same and my head was still throbbing.  I wanted to cry.  Seriously.  I hate headaches, but accompanied with stomach pain, its torture.  I slept most the day.

Remember the episode of Saved By The Bell when Zack skipped the first day of class and stayed home?  Mr. Belding sends the gang to convince him to come to school but they just end up rehashing the summer and Zack remained at home.  Well, that's what it felt like, a few people dropped by sporadically to check on me.  I woke up several times and there was someone knocking on my bedroom door.  It showed me what great friends that I've already made here, it's amazing.   

Well, the sickness started to fade later that night and by the next morning, I was back to 100%.  But I now know that getting sick here is no joke.  I dont know what caused the sickness but I tested negative for malaria.  It could have been anything - water, food, patients, village kids.  Who knows?  

Well, I leave you with a few pics of our 10th anniversary baseball game.  Played with a tennis ball.  I organized and pitched for both teams.  I had several strike-outs pitching underhand.  It was tons of fun.

How much money is too much money?

Reading "Radical" by David Platt and it couldnt be better timing.  Most of the questions that have been on my mind for a while are present in the book.  I have constantly asked myself if I would give up everything for Christ.  After all, in the book of Mark, Jesus asks a wealthy guy to give up everything and follow him.  Of course, the guy chooses his things and I read that and think the man is crazy.  But I choose my things over Jesus - A LOT.  Probably more than I realize, I like to think the sacrifices I do make are sufficient.  And Jesus only asks certain people to give up things - not everyone, right?  But is this mindset biblical?  

Why is such a hard subject for churches and groups to tackle.  Because, it's the ultimate test - God or the world.  I definitely side on the opinion that lots of things/money is usually a bad thing.  But I know this isn't necessarily true either.  I know people use money and financial stability to support groups, charities and individuals worldwide.  We are blessed with nice things, to use moderately and without dominance or possession over us.  I need to get past the point of attachment.  Past the point of money and things being HIGHLY influential in my life.

Doesn't it boil down to trust.  Do I truly believe God will provide?  Do I truly believe he will take care of me if I take a leap of faith?  Do I choose his provision over my bank account?

I don't know why these questions continue to pop up.  I don't know the answers or I think I do but with some variance depending on the mood.  I don't want to live a lukewarm Christian life.  I want to trust God over everything else.  

Why aren't there more updates?

A few things.  Sorry, I haven't updated much.  I had no idea that it would be a challenge to send out photos and accurately describe life here.  So much is lost in translation and my photos may tell more about life here than my words.  I don't have much left in the tank after a long week at the hospital and I have to really push myself to update this blog and return emails.  It's not that I don't care and don't want everyone to be in the loop - but the culture is so completely foreign, that I myself still do not know what's going on around me some of the time.  I have struggled to forget everything I know about what I expected the job to look like.  Nothing is straight-forward, even the simplest of tasks takes hours or days to complete.  There is nothing wrong with the work flow at the hospital, I am very quick to judge and feel that something isn't right.  As an american, I have this prideful idea that different is wrong and anything but our way isn't best.  If I keep this mentality, I won't last here.  I will suffer and I will not accomplish much.  

I am a tourist surrounded by natives.  I try to put myself in the same situation if a Malawian visited a hospital in South Carolina.  How strange and different it would be.  And it wouldn't be up to the Malawian to change anything, just to adapt. Christ is really working on my temper and lack of patience.  Relationships are key here - more than anything else.  At the end of the day, that's all we have...including our relationship with God.  If I neglect talking and mingling with people here, I'm setting up my own roadblock.  I don't want to live in a bubble, eating American meals and just hanging out with american and british friends.  I want to be part of Blantyre, I want to see what life really looks like.  I want to truly LIVE, that's why I came. 

Packages - here's the deal.
Please don't send anything that you would freak out if it was lost.  Packages take 6-8 weeks to arrive and shipping is expensive.  Letters are great and I would cherish anything handwritten.  Please know that I am not in need of anything here - there are shops and grocery stores here.  I love trying new stuff and I really have no choice with most foods.  If you want to send something - duct tape the box.  Put items in a ziploc bag.  Place anything valuable in the center of the box.  The reason for these precautions s that the locals will cut packages and pull things out.  It's a running joke here, it's so common.  The post office clerks laughingly say "Mice got a hold of this one, haha." They laugh and you cry.  Fair trade for being an an azunga with more money than lots of villages.

Love you all, you don't know how much I look forward to texts, calls and any communication with friends and family.  It's like coming home every time I hear from people.  Distance keeps us apart but we remain close.  I think that's a beautiful thing.  

Love you all.    

Month down in Malawi

Lots of things happening here.  I'm updating kids everyday.  Lots of new patients and lots of kids that are returning for follow up appointments.  I've been in surgery most mornings and the other half of the time in the children's ward or my office.  I will post links from time to time on my FB page - but there are kids under this tab that are my kids.

http://cure.org/curekids/list?country=malawi

I played french cricket a couple weeks ago - really odd game.  Played squash last friday with one of the doctors.  its like racquetball but the ball is smaller and doesnt have the bounce of a racquetball.  He killed me.  But I will get better, just need to play more.  I'm riding a sketchy bike to and from the the gym.  It may fall apart, its a game to see if it makes it there each day.  By Blantyre standards, its actually not bad.

I'm getting used to shooting with a DSLR and I think my pictures are getting better.  Lighting in the OR is a challenge - along with the surgeons white gloves that reflect a lot of light.  The trick is seeing a shot before it happens and being prepared.  Since a lot of surgeries are knock knees or clubfoot, I know what to expect.  

I'm taking video as well in the ward.  My youtube channel link is below.  I hope to get some exciting video, not all of it will be kids laughing and waving at me.  SO stay tuned there.  

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC0n-XgjocxK_lZ9xINLRIA?feature=mhee

My faith is really strengthening here.  I led the chapel service for all hospital staff on Tuesday and the message was definitely spirit led.  The words came naturally, I dont know why I worry about public speaking.  Especially when it's bible study or discussing the word, everyone is on my team here at the hospital.  No one is looking to tear me down.  

Some things in the works - Christmas program for staff and the patients/possible half marathon in Lolongwe (Malawi capital)/Media for our 10th anniversary in October - will have lots of pics and videos for this celebration/helping with youth group on Friday nights/helping paint the guesthouse (where I live) and printing pictures to place in the rooms......lots to do.

Surgery collages that I create for CUREkids - send out to followers after procedure is complete.

7 Knots and a Saviour

From the second that I breathed on my own, grace has filled my lungs.

My heart is a million tiny holes.

The soul is a ship turned towards home.

The waters are rough and my body is bruised.

My head aches from the pressure.

The light grows brighter as the night sky darkens.

This journey has lasted a lifetime. 

I won't reach home this spring.

light from other ships twinkles in the distance.

I think I'm alone.  Far from home.