Last Night in Lilongwe at Kiboko Town Hotel

We left Liwonde National Park midmorning after a few persons took one last safari.


We woke to hippos crashing into the Shire River.

Mary, Sue and Emily will be heading to Blantyre in a few days to train women from Malawi to lead writing circles.

The rest of us are packing, repacking, exchanging money and tending to details. Some have shopping to do and vendors are everywhere. Others are out of Kwacha, but filled with more than teak, ebony, fabric, beads, and other Malawi souvenirs.

We will head to the airport in the morning.

We held a closing ceremony yesterday with baboons, monkeys,and warthogs all around us before we went on an evening jeep safari.

What began three weeks ago is not ending. It is a beginning, an opening.

The people of Malawi, especially the women and children have welcomed us with open arms and hearts. Our hearts have grown larger, beat stronger and our arms are much longer, will reach across the sea.

Again, thank you to all who have blessed us.

At Mvuu Wilderness Camp

We changed plans and arrived today, Saturday May 21 to Liwonde National Park. We parked the Coaster and took a boat across the Shire River. Hippos are all around us and will lullaby us to sleep.

More after rest and safari!

On Way to Mayoka

In Mzuzu for lunch, internet, banking, errands and hoping to find diesel before we head to Mayoka, the hot spot party town African style.  Susan's bartending skills will finally be appreciated!

We loved the women we wrote with at Livingstonia University.  We learned much about fabrics, the significance of clay pots and women.  We were most impressed to learn the group of women we wrote with gather together on a monthly basis to support each other.  We hope that writing becomes part of what they do.

We were honored with a goodbye gift, a wood carving of Malawi

Mercy came to the Stone House with a warm letter and send off before we left.

One other thing:  Our wish for Livingstonia, a beautiful place with beautiful people and historical significance for Malawi, is an improved road which will help the university grow in numbers and the businesses have the people they need to be successful.

We learned the difference between chombo and chomba!  :)

Off to Mayoka.  Warm greetings to all our friends and family in Malawi, the Untied States, Canada, Peru, Switzerland and the entire world!

In Livingstonia on top of Malawi

Threw clay on potter's wheel on Lake Malawi.

At Tukombo Village did everything!   Welcomed by Chief and dancers and Banda family treated us like family.  Some visits were school for orphans, preschool, HIV support group, progressive farmers, women in the rice fields and at cassava wells, health clinics in need of resources including electricity and water, the goat project, and more.  We were joyfully exhausted.

Enjoyed writing with around 400 girls at Tukombo Girls School and were invited to evening dramatic performance.  The thunderous welcome by girls made us feel like rocks stars.  Look out Madonna!  Our only big night out after dark!

Elder ceremony was joyous with dream quilt squares.  Enjoyed our time with the women.  Quilted with others as well and...

Due to this year's rainy season all travel books need updating.  The road to Livingstonia is more than harrowing, but we are alive and well.  After a day of rest today which included some walking to the falls and the elders of the group continued to the bottom of the falls and were late for lunch.  Robyn, Sue and Kari and local women quilted on the porch and m (except the person who told us to go right instead of left on the way to Livingstonia) of Malawi are doing.

P. S.  We figured out we should go left before we took that wrong turn.

Dining with the Birds

In Malawi and we're tired, but happily eating. More after rest if Internet is available.

Mary Promised Surprises

Some hungry travelers in New York:  Blue Smoke BBQ beckons

Pillow panic:  lost and found

Some baggage on the "ramp": luggage in limbo

Other luggage:  curbside crash - soggy clothes

Toilet clog:  plumber at mid-night 

Hotel:  Check-in/check-out/check-in

At front desk light bulb bursts:  glass shower to match the pouring rain outside

Thanks to South Africa airline's technicial problems:  Flight cancelled and rescheduled for Thursday

Having fun in the Big Apple!

Malawi, Friday or Bust.

It's just three days now before the 2011VFWI group leaves for Malawi. The excitement builds and I sit in the midst of a mountain of amazing supplies and gifts donated by our open-hearted supporters. By tomorrow night I will have packed: pencils, notebooks, t-shirts, erasers, educational scholarships for girls, prayer cloths, quilting materials, a computer, books, Amherst Writers and Artists resource manuals, pencil sharpeners, medicines and more. All contributed by you!

I also carry the many spiritual gifts of love, prayers, inspiration, encouragement, presence and guidance that you have given so freely. Without it VFWI could not thrive.

While only six women make the physical trip with us, there are hundreds of other women, girls and men who will be with us in spirit. One of my favorite aspects of this work is to share stories about you with the people of Malawi and in return to tell you the stories of the people of Malawi. That's what it's all about for VFWI - connecting people through story.

I invite you to check in often to "listen" to a story or two and share a story with us as well.

Many thanks for all your support, inspiration and caring!!
Love,
Mary

Women Connecting

My name is Julie; sometimes I am lovingly referred to as Jules.  For my fifty-third birthday, surrounded by jewels in my life, around thirty friends ate cake, drank, laughed and shared stories, hopes, and concerns.  A  PowerPoint presentation with photos and quotes from women in Malawi on a previous VoiceFlame Writers International trip made this birthday a celebration of the power of womens connection.

My favorite first born daughter surprised me by flying all the way from Switzerland to Seattle.  What a surprise, what a gift.  I've learned so much from my daughter, now a woman who chooses her words wisely with care.  She makes me laugh.

I haven't stepped foot into the "warm heart of Africa," but my heart is pulsing with gratitude for the women in my life, the women who will welcome me when I arrive in Malawi, all women.  Some have given blessings, words of encouragement, others little gifts like mosquito wipes and a lavender stress ball, and/or donated funds to support the education for women and girls and the costs of leadership training for women to learn the Amherst Writers & Artists method for writing.  Zikomo!  Thank you!

Since it was my party, we did what ever I wanted.  We wrote.
"It's really true that getting woman together to realize themselves and power is so important!  Women, who together through gaining self knowledge and confidence, can accomplish so much.  Writing they can learn a lot about themselves and how they relate to the world and others."  Ellen


One woman wrote a letter to a woman who is no longer alive, but her legacy lives on in a preschool and through the things she said, words my friend remembered.
"I loved the way you lived life with great gusto; always doing and doing, often for others.  I quote you pretty often it seems.  My favorite: 'You either have a good day or a story to tell.' So in some way every day is a 'winner.'"  Barb


I look forward to personally delivering a letter from a friend of mine adressed to a 
"Dear Woman of Malawi," ...

We are all connected!


Today, 
Did you have a good day?  
Do you have a story to tell?


In what way(s) was your day a winner?

The Muse's Reply

“What is the pulse of this journey?”

asked the woman

who hoped the muse

would answer her questioning words

about the far-away land

where disease, famine and trauma shatter fragile spirits.

She felt a stir within her spirit,

an answered prayer for the journey

looming on the horizon of the courageous woman.

She listened intently to hear the soft-spoken muse

 who uttered these wise words –

“Quiet your fears; hear the women beckoning you to their home land.

“They want you to walk their ancient land,

to listen for the ancestral spirits

who will share their stories of life journey

woman to woman.

You will hear,” said the muse,

“soul-wrenching words.

“Your mission is to carry the ancestor’s words

back to your home land.

Go now. Awaken the ancient spirits

from the depths of their despair. Their journey

will be the story of every woman,”

whispered the muse.

“I will wake up the grandmother muse

so you can hear her wise words

of survival in a land

that does not honor the female spirit

but imprisons the soul whose journey

stays locked in a repeating pattern of generations of women.

“The ancient souls cry out to sister women

like you,” said the muse.

“They beg you to share their words

that speak of earth and land,

heart and spirit,

movement and journey.”

Your journey is the journey of every woman.

Let the muse’s words sustain you.

Plant your feet on the land and follow your spirit guide.

- Sue McCollum

Malawi May 2011 Travelers

Moni!

Welcome to the VFWI travel blog! Our desire is to bring you the faces, voices and scenes of Malawi, Africa as we travel, write and create with the girls and women of "The Warm Heart of Africa." We invite all our friends, family and supporters to follow our adventures and share your comments with us on this wonder-full journey. In just 19 days we will be on our way. If you are moved to do so - we would love to receive your blessing as we continue to prepare and travel.

So without further ado here is the Malawi May 2011 travel group. From left to right: Susan Turk, Montreal, Canada; Julie Gardner, Seattle, WA; Sue Hickman, Lafayette, CA; Mary Tuchscherer, Lafayette, CA; Sue McCollum, Purcelleville, VA; Robbyn Alexander, Oakland, CA; Kari RIdge, Leverett, MA and Bhatupe, Oakland, CA (originally Malawi, Africa).
Not pictured is Jane Ashley of Arlington, VA.