Palmbos Family in Malawi: Our First Week

It's good to have our first week under our belts. We spent the first week getting our feet wet and trying to figure out how to balance work and time with the kids. The kids were not allowed to come with us to Dzaleka Refugee Camp this week. We are waiting for official permission for the kids to come to the refugee camp during the "work" hours. Today we were able to go to the camp as a family to worship with the Swedish Pentecostal Church. Sundays are a bit less formal as far as visitors within the camp.

Sunday school began at 7:20. Steve and Jack attended a class, Jenn and Jessie attended together and Charlie and Casey went to class with me. Jenn would like to visit several different Sunday schools to get an idea of how There is Hope can better serve the children in the camp. She really has a passion for children's ministries. I hope that while we are here I will be able to help her in this area.

Steve has focused his attentions on building the There is Hope conference center just outside of camp. He has been very helpful in building layout, budgeting, and general building knowledge. There is a bit of a learning curve for him in language, the metric system, and Malawian building codes. But he seems to be catching on fast.

I have lost track, but I believe the power has cut here almost every day. It's usually only a couple of hours, and doesn't bother us too much. The kids get a kick out of using flashlights to maneuver around the house. Jake and Jenn like to take advantage of the evening outages by going out for dinner.

Some highlights for the week have been trips to the camp, a family visit to the Crisis Nursery and a field trip to the Lilongwe Wilderness Center.

I'll let the pictures fill in some of the information gaps.

All packed up and ready to go.