Visit Every City

August 14th, 2023

We nearly left Kadoma on time. Traffic in Harare is usually pretty rough in certain areas, but we figured it should be better than usual since it was a holiday. We were correct about that, but there was still traffic in many of the usual locations. Additionally a presidential motorcade stopped traffic completely in one location. Overall the drive to the airport was uneventful. We had one last chance to make plans, ask questions, give a few answers, and generally just have good conversation with Mabasa. I had a chance to sit and talk with Chisomo over coffee in the morning. We appreciated their hospitality very much and enjoyed our visit in Zimbabwe, but the time has come to head to Malawi.

We arrived at the airport nearly on time. It was great to see a new wing of the Harare airport in use, but we still had to check into our flights and drop off our baggage at the old counters which was a bit confusing. Once we were through the five step process clearing customs, we walked through the newer terminal to the old terminal where it was obvious that all the shops and restaurants were beginning to pack up for their move into the new area. Thankfully the Corner Cafe was still open and we were able to get some coffee and chips before boarding our plane.

There’s reliable wifi in the new wing of the airport, but not anywhere near our gate which was in a newer part of the old wing. When we found out for certain that our plane hadn’t yet arrived, I had to rush quickly back to the new wing and connect to the wifi since our phones didn’t get any cell service at the airport. Some persons think the cell signal will improve after the elections this month. Perhaps it’s true that the government officials slow down communication at such a time so people have more difficulty getting their opinions across to large groups of people.

I was able to get a message to Lena and also to one of the elders in Lilongwe who would be picking us up at the airport. Our flight left about an hour later. Thankfully the drunk man who got off the plane at our pit stop in Zambia didn’t cause any delays. When we got off the plane in Lilongwe we were thankfully only slightly delayed in the customs process. I had forgotten one document which I don’t think I had ever been asked for all the times that I had remembered it in all my previous trips to the African continent.

Our two pastors in the central region, Haiton Thungula and Cephas Chapamba were there to meet us along with Cephas’s son George and Wiza Mkorongo from the Lilongwe congregation. I remember first meeting Haiton and Cephas in Zambia in 2011 when they traveled with a few other men there for a leadership conference. Lena and I were there to serve at a youth camp and teach English well before I was a pastor. I had no idea I would be working with these men all these years later.

We decided to head to the city of Lilongwe that afternoon to drop off Wiza and meet with Haiton to discuss our plans for the week. Flying in late meant we hit rush hour traffic headed back into the city. In addition to there usual line of cars, trucks, pedestrians, and cyclists, the roads in certain places were lined with cars waiting at filling stations. The central region of Malawi was experiencing a fuel shortage. I rode with Haiton. As he drove and we reminisced and discussed life, he explained that Malawi hadn’t produced many exportable crops this year and had no foreign currency reserves to purchase fuel. For some reason this hadn’t affected Blantyre in the South or Mzuzu in the North. That evening, on our way back home, we saw several more queues at stations that were closed, but who had hired vendors to watch the stations and distribute small amounts of fuel for exorbitant prices. We opted for a neighbor who had probably bought fuel over the boarder in Mozambique and was selling it out of water jugs from her home. Her price ended up about the same as the others, but there was no line and we also had promises of fuel in the morning.

Along our drive towards Mchesi where the church hall is, I noticed brand new roads being constructed all over along main thoroughfares leading directly into and through the city. There were new shopping malls, restaurants, apartment buildings, compounds. It was almost like visiting a new city in many places. It seems that, although there were some setbacks like fuel shortages, Malawi is experiencing some very large improvements. The roads especially make me happy because it means more ease of movement for people and products through the city and potentially around the country. Most Malawians have struggled for quite a long time and the country hasn’t seen such major progress for a while. I hope and pray this means life might get a little easier for some.

It already felt plenty late when we arrived at the church hall in Lilongwe. This was a very familiar place to me with many memories, mostly good. Very little had changed in the neighborhood since I had first stepped foot there in 2017, but progress is happening in the slum area of Mchesi as well little by little. Two pieces of notable progress on the premises were flushable toilets with excellent flushers, and a new roof and ceiling on the church hall. The new roof was harder to notice in the dark, but the new ceiling looks spectacular!

I wish I had a photo or video of the reunion of the Chapamba family and Nick, but sadly all I took were a few photos of our delicious late night family dinner. We ate and chatted and shared stories for a while until Cephas finally realized how tired he was. While I haven’t hardly seen any mosquitoes on this trip so far, I still slept under a net just in case. I know they are coming.

– Lewis VanAusdle