Blog 4

Malawi July 2025 Blog-Day 4

Bible Verse:  Proverbs 8:34-36

“And now, my children, listen to me:  happy are those who keep my ways.  Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.  Happy is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.  For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD.”

The day started off early with the usual hearty breakfast.  I tried a new dish, rice porridge, which was very tasty, as long, you used multiple packages of sugar!  Our first stop was the new Library where we spent the morning processing and labeling all of the books that have been donated.  Resurrection, alone donated well over 10 suitcases full of mostly children’s books.  After several hours, we barely made a dent in the inventory of books before it was time to stop for lunch. What praise to the library staff for their giant undertaking.

We were invited once again to the Permaculture Demonstration Farm for a delicious lunch of sweet potato in nut sauce stew, lamb, pumpkin leaves, and fresh bananas.  I typically don’t like sweet potatoes but the potatoes mixed into the nut gravy was fabulous!  What was so impressive is all the food is grown on the farm!

The afternoon was spent at St. Francis Catholic School, located near the Library. The class took part in several contests where students were broken into Team A and Team B and competed in spelling, history, English, and Bible character questions. The best part of the competition was listening to the students after they got a correct answer shout out in unison “Have you seen a genius?”, clap their hands, beat their chest, then arms up.  We also loved hearing the students break into song throughout the afternoon, upon a cue from the teacher.  COR team member “Madam Deb” broke the students into teams of six students with members from our COR team and led the class in a tower building activity. The winners of the overall competition received 1st place ribbons, chocolate bars from the US, writing tablets and pencils. The second place team received a small bag of trail mix, writing tablets and pencils so no student went away empty handed. We then spent some time outside in the compound mingling with our Opulence partners and playing games with the local children. At the end of the program one of our team members asked a student what was his favorite part of the day and his response was “spending time with you.”

The beautiful day ended too soon as we boarded the pink bus to head back to the hotel.  I think I speak for all of us when I say we looked into those smiling faces of the students, so happy to see us, and hope we will be back in the morning.