We very much enjoyed our Christmas break. On Christmas Day we went all day to Diana's hometown. We ate together with the family and have celebrated Diana today is still with us
The bird is Diana and 20 months old and has lived 10 Africare months in the house. She has finished her treatment against tuberculosis and it goes very well with her. She can join, grows and learns fast. She loves to dance and sing! Every day when she comes home from school she sings a song for me. She is very active and run around all day. Besides singing and dancing like Diana animals. She helps the gardener likes to give to the chickens eat.
Every time I look at her I'm so proud of her. She is so young, but has lost all her immediate family. She was malnourished since birth and has had tuberculosis twice, but she has never given up. She still has nightmares and her behavior often requires a lot of adjustment, but we know that God loves watching her.
Mary love to go to school. They may be up to 5 counting and the alphabet practicing. Her favorite word is NO! She speaks mainly Chichewa (the local language) and likes to play with her doll. She stops her every morning in bath, Dress her up (with some help from mom) and the doll does on her back, as Malawian women do with their babies. Maria's grandmother is happy to stay in the house Africare. During the Christmas holidays she spent much time with us and to have enjoyed them at Maria. Mary really like to sing songs in Chichewa with her grandmother.
| Hannah is a 10 months old, very sweet girl. Ze brabbelt de hele dag in babytaal. She likes to crawl around the house and developed well. If she does she starts screaming loud hunger. We make ourselves likuni phala of corn, soya bean flour and she loves it! We are building an increasingly better bond with her grandmother. Her grandmother now meets every month to visit. |
| Brandina Yosefe recently moved into the house Africare. She was born on the same day as Maria, 2 years later. Ze is nu 3 months old and has a lot of trouble to get, most of her food spits them out again. Brandina's mother is mentally limited; doing better with her but she is unable to care for her twins. She cares for Brenda, although she sometimes makes no sense and leave them alone in the hut are her all day. The grandmother helps her daughter much which goes well with Brenda. Two children were too much for the family and therefore Brandina lives with us. |
Currently, the rainy season in Malawi, which means we have to spend much time indoors. The house is the whole day filled with laughter, screech, howl and singing. We read a lot of books, sing the same song over and over again and I try to teach the children that play is much more fun than fighting. Unfortunately they do not always agree with me. We look forward to the sun is shining again so we can be out again! There is no end to the laundry and it's difficult to get everything dry. We have lots of power outages so we often cook on coals. The corn and the beans who have planted grow well and the chickens multiply rapidly.
Two weeks ago, my mother has arrived in Malawi and it's nice to have her with us. She helps us a lot with Brandina! She loves to take care of her and tries her as often as possible to give small amounts of food, will hold Brandina increasingly within. We are very grateful to us for 8 weeks visit. Maria and Diana called her already agogo, which means grandmother in Chichewa.
A father to the fatherless, a defender of the widows, is God’s heilige huis. Psalm 68:5
Love,
Nicole
