So much to say, so little time.

I love to write, but often procrastinate because I have too much to say in one blog and not enough time to put it all down.

So, I rarely write!  Hmmm. I don’t think I will change at 52 years old.

While I “wait” for that elusive time to write my next blog, I decided I was overdue for an update on our activities at Hope Village. So, instead of long blogs (and who wants to read those anyway?)...here are a few brief bullets on why we stay too busy to write!

Don Ministers to a Witch

Every Saturday Don and his translator Dennis drive into “the bush” to share God’s word with the small village of Tamare.  One day his friend in this village died. A witch was arrested for putting a spell on him.  She confessed to the “murder by sorcery” and was released. Don’s recent blog, "A Witch Killed My Friend" tells more about this story, how he embraced her when the village turned against her, about her regret and sorrow, how and why she placed the spell that killed the man.  Best of all, Don will share about her acceptance of Jesus Christ, and how the village—including the dead man’s wife—is now encouraging her, praying with her, and coming beside her as she fights the demons that still tug at her.

Don's first visit with the witch.

Don’s New Passion – Spirit Dancers!

While riding our bicycles through a nearby village last month, Don and I unexpectedly encountered our first Gule Wamkulu (Great Dance).  It is performed by the Nyau, members of a secret society who wear masks to represent ancestral spirits. They believe they are guardians of the dead who protect us and lead us to the “other side”.  Some consider the Nyau to be evil, others see them as harmless. Either way, they are full of cultural history, mystery and intrigue. They do not share their secrets or their identities.  Don, however, is “breaking in”. In hopes to evangelize, he has established a respectful and friendly bond with the local Nyau leaders. They have agreed to share their secrets with him over a period of time, as the relationship is deemed trustworthy.  Don certainly makes for entertaining future blog-writing!  

The Nyau would only allow me to take pictures of their 
Gule Wamkulu after Don gave them some money!

Organic Gardening is in Full Bloom

Since the trip to Kenya earlier this year to learn about organic farming, Don has enjoyed getting his fingers dirty and sinking his teeth into a new Hope Village project to bring vegetable gardens to many people in our local villages.   The greens are prolific and the villagers are using the produce for food, as medicine, to resell, and most important, as a service opportunity to help those who are hungry. It’s a beautiful program that allows the poor to sow, reap and share with the poor.

Don poses in front of the first community gardens at Hope Village 
during the planting stage. 

The Travesty of Malawian Education

I have devoted most of my spare time the last few months organizing tutoring for students during the school holiday, establishing a new Hope Village library for students and villagers, and preparing all of the Hope Village children (those who are orphans or deemed most vulnerable) for school with school fees, school uniforms and school supplies.  According to Unicef, only 13% of Malawian teens attend high school, and of those, only 15% of the boys and 7% of the girls will even finish.  This is a TRAVESTY. I am committed to fighting for the right to education for Malawian children.  I am convinced that while poverty remains a barrier to education, education is the key to finally and fully eliminate this curse of poverty.

The primary school students came to our Hope Village classrooms
for English tutoring over the recent school holidays.

Computer Training

Ten computers were donated to Hope Village from a police municipality in Holland. Challenging as it is, I've been trying to educate the teens in the villages to use Microsoft Office.  The challenge, I quickly realized, isn’t to teach Office, but to teach COMPUTERS.  None of the children have used a computer, or a mouse, or a keyboard.  A space bar? What is that?  How do you move that cursor on the screen?  And what is a cursor, anyway?   Oy vey!  So far to go! But, so thankful for this generous donation.

Fallbrook Visitors

Late in the summer we hosted 2 teenagers from our church in Fallbrook, Michelle Madden and Chase Dugas. They walked in the shoes of the villagers, shared their culture, their talents, their faith. They brought funds for the clinic and Annie’s Closet … among other gifts. Pictures and stories were prolific on Facebook, but I’ll do my best to devote a blog to this visit as well.

Michelle and Chase were serious about doing things
the way the Malawians do them!

Family Visitors

Don’s nephew and his wife (Eric and Amy Taylor) and their friends (Tim and Rana Vincent) spent time here at Hope Village in August.  We crammed in a lot of Malawi activities into one week, but the most notable was a little training from Amy.   Amy works in speech therapy in San Diego public schools, so used her network to gather donated resources for special needs children.  She unloaded 2 extra suitcases here full of games, activities, and devices—all for children with autism and cerebral palsy. We have been busy putting these to use with special children here at Hope Village over the last month. Great stories and pictures to follow.

Amy works with Salome who has cerebral palsy

Hope Village Goodbyes

We said goodbye to Paul and Esther Rombout and their 2 children Ezra and Anna last month. They have lived and worked here as missionaries from Holland for the last 7 years. They were committed to this project from the very beginning, and left a legacy of unselfishness, faithfulness and love (not to mention changed lives in the children and villagers they adopted and cherished as family). We are praying for their “re-entry” into the Western world, for a life that God will reward for their years of sacrifice.

The Rombout family

At the same time, we are getting ready for a goodbye to our close friends, Hope Village director, Paul Gill, his wife Tracy, and 2 children Chloe and Benjamin. They will be gone for 3 months on their first missionary furlough in years.  We will miss their companionship and friendship, and pray for God’s provision in keeping the home fires burning in their absence!

The Gill Family

Annie’s Work

Annie must write a blog for herself (she takes after me procrastination in the blog-writing department), but I can say she has been busy with school, baking, helping in the clinic, dressing kids from Annie’s Closet, serving when and where needed, and enjoying a plethora of Malawian teenage friends. Most of all, she has been enjoying her "bestie" Chloe Gill, creating lasting memories since their dreamy days as next-door neighbors are limited.

Annie has been blessed with a life-long best friend in Chloe.

For more on Annie, here's my last blog: Black Coffee and 9th Grade

That’s all for now! If you are reading this, I thank you for visiting this page, for your interest in how God is working in Malawi, and for your prayers for our family.  We will be home in January!

Love from all of us – Don, Leanne, Annie

We took a day off of work last month to visit the tea fields with our visitors.
Malawi is beautiful, in so many ways.

Black Coffee and 9th Grade

Two days ago I watched Annie take a sip of black coffee she had just made.   

“Ummmm.  Ahhhhh. This is sooooo good!” 

Her eyelids were half closed as she was drowning in the moment, enjoying the rich African coffee, the complex aromas and flavorful oils from the beans preserved by using a french press.

Black coffee? At 14 years old? When did that happen? 

I don’t remember making that black cup for her the first time. I don’t remember when she moved from a mocha with whip to a mocha no whip, to a light mocha, to a plain latte to a black coffee…to a coffee connoisseur who appreciates the richness and boldness and purity of 100% Arabica coffee beans.

Well, okay, it is true there are no Starbucks in our remote village in Malawi in the middle of Africa.  Sure, it’s probably quite logical that Annie had to learn to drink black coffee during one of the many days we’d run out of milk or sugar in our home in our remote village in Malawi in the middle of Africa.

Still, seeing my daughter drink black coffee and like it – no love it – still gives me goosebumps as I write this (yes, I am unashamedly a coffee freak.)

Don is no longer my black coffee partner. Without a fancy espresso machine here in Malawi,
I can still make him a creamy cappuccino, worthy of documenting in this picture!

Now that I think about it, she must have matured into my black coffee-drinking buddy about the same time she ended 8^th grade and started 9^th grade.  All without pomp and circumstance. All without calling attention to herself.  All in Annie’s dainty, demure disposition.

Demure definition: “Characterized by modesty and shyness.”

I cherish the memories of Demure Annie in the 5^th grade at Iowa Street Elementary with Mrs. Fieri.  This teacher was passionate about writing. Her “Showing Writing” lesson would teach Annie’s class to embrace creative words … 

to feel the words and 

mold the words and 

delight in the words 

like a warm, squishy puppy that you want to snuggle and kiss, words that are alive and jump and just bring out the JOY in your soul.  

In this 5^th grade Showing Writing lesson, Annie had to choose a fresh phrase, an adjective that attached to her name to cleverly capture her true spirit.  And then, she had to create a paragraph of creative metaphors and similes to describe her name phrase.  The writing assignment concluded with a "fashion show" to read and show her writing in character.

Her personal description: Demure Annie 

Her costumed character: an angel

That was five years ago!  And this demure damsel--who somehow resembles a confident teenager more than a shy, modest 5^th grader and is now drinking black coffee and homeschooling in Africa and working on advanced Geometry and writing her own creative, showing words that would bring tears to Mrs. Fieri’s eyes--is really in high school!

While our three other children had 8th grade graduation ceremonies at a brick and mortar junior high school, Annie sat quietly at our dining room table in Malawi, finished her last test, closed the book, and walked outside to begin her day at Hope Village.   I sat next to her, finished my coffee, put her book away (for her!), and never related the close of that book with the close of 8^th grade.

Could I have done more to commemorate this academic occasion? Gulp.  Yes!  

So I write this tonight for Annie.  In lieu of a junior high school graduation, a family party, a summer celebration with friends before high school, I hereby publicly acknowledge that Annie Green has finished 8^th grade. (And she excelled, if I can be so un-demure!).

So this blog is my own little Hallmark card for my little girl.

“Congratulations on a job well done.”

“You’ve made your mom and dad SO proud.”

“You are a STAR.”

“You’ve made it to high school!”

“Keep drinking black coffee because studies show it increases your academic performance.”

OK, maybe I can do better than these trite greetings.  I’ll get help from the psalmist who wrote:

“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,

the fruit of the womb a reward.” (Psalm 127:3)

So, here is my real greeting:

“Annie, you are truly a gift from the Lord. You are a reward yes, but your dad and I did not earn you, as your feats far surpass our parenting proficiencies. You are demure when appropriate, but full of body and flavor too, as pure and complex as fresh-roasted coffee. And oh, by the way, thank you for drinking black coffee with me…and big congratulations on excelling in 8^th grade.  We are so proud of you.  You are loved, and cherished!”

My girl!  Ready to conquer the world.