First Days in Lilongwe Return

This summer’s adventure begins with a return visit to teach in Lilongwe, Malawi. It was my third time to Malawi, but this time I did not travel alone. My pastor and friend Jeff Horton traveled with me and taught as well. It’s a different experience to have someone to travel with that’s not my wife. However, it feels less stressful to have someone there through the long journey..

Our flights to Malawi from the US were pretty routine but long. We had a nine hour flight to Amsterdam followed by a 10 plus hour flight to Johannesburg. In Johannesburg we had our only glitch. When we checked in with Delta in Seattle, our bags were tagged all the way to Lilongwe, Malawi. With our flight schedule we were staying overnight in Johannesburg with a long layover. We wanted to collect out luggage there. The attendant in Seattle said that was not a problem. I had my doubts. I wanted the bags tagged only to Johannesburg. She wouldn’t do it. On arriving in Johannesburg, we didn’t get our bags. We had only tucked away a few things to wear in our carry-on luggage so we ended up with little to change into. We survived. The next day we arrived in Malawi in early afternoon.

After we did some grocery shopping, we had Indian food for an early dinner. We finally arrived at the campus and settled into our house there. Sleep came easily that night.

We had arrived a few days early for teaching as we wanted to attend the college graduation of the daughter of our friend, the director of the school where we would be teaching. A couple from our congregation had helped to fund his daughter’s tuition at Africa Bible College, commonly known as ABC. We wanted to be able to take photos and share with this couple her big day.

The graduation took place outdoors on the school campus in Lilongwe on what appeared to be a sports field. A large platform was set up at one end of the field. The school set up chairs directly in front the platform, but they were in the open air. On each side were two large tents set up to provide shade from the sun. On the left side was also another covered seating area, but they didn’t have a direct view of the platform. People were sitting wherever they could find shade. It wasn’t a particularly hot day, but the direct sun was hot.

The ceremony was pretty long. Quite a few different people gave speeches both from the college and the government. What we found amusing was that each speaker would address the various important people present, and that seemed to take five minutes each time just to do that.This little guy and his family were sitting in front of us. He kept us entertained until he fell asleep.

Finally the time came to hand out the diplomas. I didn’t have a very good viewpoint as I was in the back of one of the tents. The graduates names were called, and each one would then walk across the grass in front of the platform. At least some walked. Others danced or ran or even did a flip. It started getting fun. Once they were at the other side they walked up onto the platform to cross and get their diplomas, but people weren’t watching that part. It wasn’t as fun. With the diplomas passed out, there was a recessional with all the dignitaries and graduates. Then the party began.

A kind of air horn was popular making lots of noise. One would blow into it to make the sound. People were all around taking photographs. What did we do before everyone had phone cameras? We joined the family in taking pictures, and we were included in some of the photos as well.

Finally we headed back to the campus. There the family had set up a tent, and we had a celebration of food and speeches. It was fun to hear what the siblings of the graduate had to say about her. She’s the third in a family of five. With the party over and our conversations coming to an end, we retreated to our house to rest and get ready for another busy day.

Sunday we were up and ready to go when Bern came to pick us up. We were going to a church out in the countryside of Lilongwe. This is a fairly new church that Bern and his wife, Anna, have started. They bought land in the area, and in conversation with people in the area learned that there was no nearby church. People indicated their desire to have one there so Bern and his wife (who is also an ordained minister) started one.

It was a long drive out to the church. While the church has begun building a nice brick church, it has no roof. They are currently meeting in a building with plywood walls, a tin roof and a dirt floor. The put some plastic sheets on the floor to sit on. The service was well attended. When we arrived it, was already mostly full. They do sit by gender with the women on one side and the men on the other. One woman sat with the men, however, because she counted the offering with the man next to her. Half of the congregation seemed to be children.

At one point they took the children outside where they sat under a tree and had a lesson. Bern’s three youngest children did the children’s program. They seemed to have good control over the kids. They impressed me. With the children gone there seemed a little more room inside the church.

The special music is always a fun time. They had a group of women who did a few songs with great energy and movement. It was fun. The offering time offered a new twist for me. There was the usual procession to the front to put money in the receptacles. However, this time two women brought up containers of dried maize and placed them on the table. The maize harvest had just ended, and this was their first-fruits offering.

After the service Bern wanted a picture of the whole congregation with Pastor Jeff and me in the middle. Afterwards we gave out some reading glasses. We brought some with us from our friend with VISTA Missions. I wanted to make sure the glasses were mostly for the older members of the church who would probably benefit from them the most. We had them sit in the chairs we brought out for the picture and then began to see if we could find the best lens for them. They seemed really happy to get them. Jeff was taking pictures of them with their new glasses.

One development that happened just in the last week was that someone had come and drilled for water. There is no close water source in the area. They found water, but at this point it is still unusable as there is no pump or basin to catch the water. They protected the pipe by surrounding it with bricks. Ayone want to buy a pump?

We didn’t get back to the campus until about 2:00, and then it was nap time. Classes start on Tuesday so we have some time to get everything ready. Stay tuned for more adventure of the summer of 2026.

Credits:Photos of the unfinished church building and the eyeglasses distribution taken by Jeff Horton. Photos of us at the graduation and the group church photo taken by the Kalukusha children