And the Silver Bean staff member of the year award goes to......

This is Chifuniro

Chifuniro is this young man's name. He quickly became my favourite after arriving at the Ministry of Hope Crisis Nursery. It is a place where babies are brought when abandoned by their parents, but also a place where babies are brough when the parents are incapable of taking care of the children between birth and three years old. Often, mothers die, as is the case for Chifuniro, and the reasons vary from AIDS related illnesses to malaria to any number of things. Yesterday, I saw a photo of Chifuniro's dad holding him before he was given to the Crisis Nursery. Even from the photo, you could tell he loved him. Here, Chifuniro is given a chance to live, to eat all he needs, to receive medical attention if necessary, and prepare him to live with his father again when he can eat solid food. It's a really unique ministry and much needed in the local population where fathers can not take care of babies in their early years but love them and want them to live. We might head to the nursery a couple more times before we leave, but yesterday I had a really cool afternoon with Chifuniro. Andrea was inside preparing 'memory books' for the kids. Photos, family trees, where the child came from, details that will allow the child to have a glimpse of their past rather than nothing. It's a really cool way to allow the children to know where they've come from. So, Chif (as I call him) and I took a walk around the garden, I sat him in the grass and he was playing with a long piece of straw. We just stayed out there hanging out. It's a bit hectic inside at times. Once, it was myself and eleven babies. So, knowing that most of them were down for a nap, it was OK for Chif and I to take off. I went to bring him back to his room and he started to cry. He doesn't make much noise otherwise, but he didn't want me to leave. And neither did I.

That was a bittersweet afternoon.

Soon, on the 14th of December, Andrea and I will leave Lilongwe and head for Blantyre. Why the 14th? Well, because a fellow Canadian we met is driving down there on that day and we want to score a free ride. If it wasn't for Andrea, I think I'd hitchhike all the time. You meet some pretty interesting characters along the way. About a month ago, we hitched a ride between the Mushroom Farm and Mzuzu with some political activists. They seemed harmless enough though... We'll see how we get from Blantyre to Harare. We might have some interesting stories for you there.

Much love to all my family and friends. I hear the weather is beautiful. We anticipate the snow. - Michael

Pastor Dave and the Reverend Chris Vyn

I guess I just feel inspired, that's all. I appreciate Dave for his witty cynicism, but more so for his faithfulness to the church. I appreciate Chris for his genuine love, but even more so for his stunning good looks. I guess it runs in the family.

So if you see these guys downtown at 2 AM, give them a ride home, they deserve it.

On a more serious note, we really care for the both of you. We hope the Third Space is well. Dave, tell the guys at hockey that I'm coming home soon. That's it.

Michael

The cutest baby on our trip so far.

To Eloise, Monique, and Christian. We miss you guys a lot and thought we'd share your cute baby with everyone else, although I think everyone in Peterborough has already seen this photo. Sure is the 'money shot'.

Michael and Andrea

Flight Insurance

Looks like we have one more adventure to go. We'll probably we heading down to Zomba. Reminds me that I need to contact the Africycle guys (can someone email them and get them to contact me as I don't have their address). We'll stick around there for a couple days, head to Blantyre, the largest city in Malawi, and then take a bus from there to Harare passing through Tete, Mozambique. We might even be able to use our Portuguese. We'll see how that all works out. I guess that's a word of advice to all you off-the-seat-of-your-pants travellers out there who would wish to change their tickets later on. Buy flight insurance.

Much love from the warm heart of Africa

Michael