Last
Delivery (by Kirk Collins)
We
are on the home stretch of our trip. One full container
with 240 chairs to be delivered. This will be our last
but biggest day. As we were leaving the hotel there seem
to be a black cloud which looked like smoke out on the water.
We were informed that it was a swarm of flies called Lake
Flies. They literally looked like a cloud of smoke.
we were told by a local artist that some of the woman take
nets and capture the flies and eat them. We all looked
at each other and said together "no thank you".
We
piled in to our "luxurious" bus at 8:00 and headed
south towards St. Ann's Hospital located in Nkhotakota.
The road along lake Malawi was beautiful. There were
fisherman in the hand dug out canoes, woman in the streams
washing clothes and the children walking to and from school
again were incredible. With each group we passed there
were waving hands with bright smiles and some dancing until we
were out of site. I love the children of Malawi.
Well,
we have successfully unloaded 140 wheelchairs, 40 to
Nkhotakota Hospital, 40 to St. Ann's Hospital, 40 to the CBR
Project and 20 to the Dwanger Sugar Estate. We assembled the
wheelchairs under a tree where Linvingstone had rested in
1861.
As
we are traveling south to Salima we stopped at the Nkhotakota
Pottery Factory. The Malawi economy rose 2.5% with all
of the purchases made by our group. Dick was the biggest
contributor with a total contribution of $280 with new
dinnerware and coffee mugs. Russ and Suzanne came in
second with a new tea set and coffee mugs 
while the rest of us ran a distant third but with good
contributions. The ride to our final stop was long.
Most dozed while some enjoyed the passing scenery to Salima.
Villages with crowded market places, hundreds of people
walking on the side of the road with the driver constantly
honking the horn encouraging people to get out of the way.
Goats and cows everywhere grazing and oblivious to the people
around them. Lots of woman preparing maze for drying,
children walking to and from school and some men working the
fields for the next or continuing crops.
As
the bus pulls in to Salima Hospital we notice all but one
ceremonial box has been unloaded and the wheelchairs setup.
Dick, Chuck D. and Bill arrived early with Frank (Southern and
Eastern Africa Hospital consultant, and Rotarian in Malawi)
and with the help of some locals unloaded the lorry and had
the final chairs all on display for governor Larry arrival
with his troops. After all the ribbing was done we took
some last pictures with the last chair and everyone
congratulated each other on a mission well done. 2000
wheelchairs delivered from the south of Malawi to the north.
What an incredible country with equally incredible people.
We can't wait to return.
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