Refugee Camp

Hey yall!!

As Lydia told you in the last update Delour is from the DRC and he is living with us, so today we went to the refuge camp that he lived in when he first came to Malawi. It was a very bumpy ride for the last 20 min to the camp. If you can picture a road made of dust leading to a camp that is built from the dust then that is what the camp looked like. There were some nice buildings when you first approached the camp, those were the hospital, the UN building, and a school. We drove in and parked next to the house Delour lived in, from there we walked to the church. We were warmly welcomed by the church members, and ushered to the front of the sanctuary. The service then proceeded with the the pastor welcoming us, Chris thanking them for having us, a praise song or two from the AMAZING choir. Then our very own Amanda preached from God's word, with Chris following after her. Did I mention that the entire service was translated by three different people, including the service (one of them was Duncan!).

After the service and the usual round of photo's and handshakes the team of students ended up in two groups, while Chris and family and Craig were taken to another area. The students were lead around the camp and taken past several of the other churches, having been united as a team during the walk. At one point the students were surrounded by a crowd of Ethiopian refugees who broke into song about Jesus being King. Some of the bracelets that the girls have been making were passed out to the children, who followed us around through different parts of the camp.

When the team went back to the church to meet up with the staff, but they were gone! After a little bit of confusion the students went to the Pastor's church to hang out. It was nice to be in somebody's home, and see how they live, it was also a major blessing to hold the Pastor's second born- Habakkuk (he was an amazing little boy, very happy). When we did finally re-unite it was to get back on the bus and do the bumpy ride home- to our very late lunch of whatever was around.

The rest of the afternoon was hanging out, doing loads of wash, and “trinket” shopping, where I must say some of us have figured out the art of bartering!!

The service and time we spent at the refugee camp gave our team a lot to think about and process. The team spent over an hour discussing what we saw, and getting some clarification from Chris about what the UN is doing for the people. It was hard to think about how individuals survive on the meager existence that the UN provides, and not being able to legally work also makes it very hard. The picture that was painted about the refugee's existence was one of hardship, not knowing what will happen next, lots of moving around, and for many great joy in their relationship with God. It gave team members personal challenges as they took in the enormity of the situation for refugee's world wide and some of the hopelessness the people experience.

On another note, as was mentioned previously, we are heading to a weekend conference this weekend!! Ten Malawian students, four teaching sessions, and lots of beautiful lake. We are excited, all be it a little bit nervous about our bus ride tomorrow (26 people, 26 seats on the bus, second van, 32 people's worth of luggage, food for the weekend= fun 1.5 hour car ride).

Please pray
-For the ride to the lake- it could be very interesting :)
- The time that we spend with the Malawian students- both in teaching and social time
- A good last few days in Malawi
Much Love- DNB