And that's exactly what happened! At a most inconvenient time (not that there's a "convenient" time for a car to die). On Friday morning I drove Patience to the maize mill, and as we were trying to leave, the car decided it would rather not start.
*****side story...
The most important crop grown in Malawi is maize (similar to corn); after it's grown it is dried, picked off the cob, and ground into a flour. When the maize flour is cooked with water, it forms a puddy-type substance which is called "nsima." Nsima is the major food staple of Malawi--it is eaten with everything and with almost every meal.
The maize mill is where everyone goes to turn their dried maize into flour. Although I've eaten plenty of nsima, I had never actually gone to a maize mill and seen the process.
Everyone usually packs their maize in 50 kg bags. They unload their maize into metal buckets that have small holes drilled on all sides.
The bucket is then dipped into a container of water to soften the maize, and the excess water drains out of the holes.
When I asked Patience if I could help, she told me to "put the maize in water." Not understanding, I started to dump the maize straight into the water (to her horror). I think it was at that point that I decided we would all be better off if I just took pictures instead. =)
After the maize is softened, it is put through the mill, and comes out on the other side as flour.
*****
When the car failed to start, Patience started to walk back to Esther's House with some of the maize flour so that she could have lunch ready on time. After waiting close to 3 hours Bruce, one of our houseparents at Esther's House, returned from the market and biked over to the maize mill to save the day. He was able to "pop-start" the engine--3 men pushed the car down the road while Bruce turned on the engine. I was extremely thankful that the car was no longer in a public venue, but once we returned to Esther's House, the engine would not start on its own again. Bruce was able to pop-start the engine again (with the help of 10 little boys pushing the car), and we got the car back to our house in town.
Alyssa and I unfortunately have been stuck at the house since then. 3 and a half days. We're going a little stir-crazy to say the least!
When a car breaks down in Malawi, there isn't a local Sears that you can take it into to get it fixed. You have to know someone who knows a mechanic, the mechanic will have to travel hours away to find the right parts, and then he attempts to fix your car in your front yard.
Our mechanic had to ride a bus 3 hours to Lilongwe to find the right parts, but since he wasn't able to leave til Saturday afternoon the shops were all closed by the time he arrived and most of them remained closed until Monday morning. We are praying that he will be able to fix the car tomorrow morning, and we are REALLY hoping to get away from this house and back at Esther's House by tomorrow afternoon. It has been really frustrating to be only 10 miles down the road but to not be able to be with the kids. I miss them so much! Please be praying for Henry to successfully fix our car!
There's a phrase that everyone uses here that is fairly accurate, which is "we're running on Malawi time." It pretty much means everything in Malawi runs much slower than you're used to. A car problem that would've taken a few hours to fix in the U.S is now going on 4 days. It's been a good chance for me to practice slowing down. I don't do well with idle time or relaxing, but there is only so much work you can get done with you're stuck in the same place for days. I'm so excited to get back to Esther's House tomorrow!
Alyssa and I have been working on a couple of different projects at Esther's House lately--I'll be sure to update you on those in the upcoming week!
♥ S
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