We arrived the first evening at Pastor Peter's in near-silence. Hoping to break the ice, I offered him the opportunity to play with my camera.

The friends who participated in Camp Malawi really blew me away. Without their dedication, this would have never happened. None of us are teachers and yet when we arrived each morning in the classroom and became just that.

We are constantly getting positive feedback from the children, teachers and other adults about how grateful they are for everything that was done at Camp Malawi.]]> http://www.weareonemalawi.org/blog/2008/09/camp_malawi_thank_you.html http://www.weareonemalawi.org/blog/2008/09/camp_malawi_thank_you.html Camp Malawi Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:03:41 -0500 Upon meeting Humphrey you immediately recognize his sweet and genuine spirit. He has a concern and sensitivity for others that is expressed through his conversations and actions.

As Humphrey and I got to know one another it was amazing to me how much effort he put into better understanding me and my life in the United States. I was struck by how thoughtful his questions were as he asked about my job, what I like to do, and what I thought was the most different between Malawi and the U.S. He had clearly thought about how he could better know me and my life.

In this photo taken by Rosemary, the boys are joined by ESF student Uledi Banda.

From left: Uledi, Eston, Happy, Hamilton, Humphrey

Just received some photos from Rosemary, from the excursion to Lilongwe in August. After the jump, take a look at our boys in the big city!

At the dictator's tomb.

Just an update on what is happening here. Last week, we took the 12 boys to the capitol city for an educational trip. We visited the soccer stadium, an animal sanctuary, the tomb of the former dictator, "big" office buildings, grocery store, dry cleaner, photo studio and the airport. It was quite an adventure that they will never forget and it opened their eyes to a whole new world outside the village. Oh and the most important part of their development - we ate pizza and ice cream, two foods loved all over the world!

As you celebrated 4th of July, we celebrated Freedom Day on the 6th of July. It has been 43 years since we gained independence from England and it's always a big day of celebration with a soccer match being the highlight. Unfortunately, right now we are experiencing a breakdown in our democratic process with Parliament shutting down twice in the last two weeks because of huge disagreements. The budget is only able to operate until July 31, so we are hoping that things can be resolved before then or everything will shut down.

The nation of Malawi has been in mourning the last couple of weeks because the wife of our President has passed away. She died of cancer on May 28 and there have been services in each of the three regions for her. Yesterday, she was buried on the farm they own in the southern region. It has been a difficult time for our President, since they were married for many years and she was a real helpmate for him in running the country. She has a foundation which helped many of our women and children, so she will be greatly missed.

We have arrived back in Malawi after having a great time in the US attending a seminar, visiting friends and relatives and eating a lot of ice cream! When I am there, it is hard to imagine that Malawi really exists and when I am here it's hard to imagine that the USA exists. It is like two different planets. We are experiencing the start of winter with temps in the 60's at night. Without heaters in the houses, it can feel chilly, so we put on layers of clothes in order to sleep comfortably.