Day's Diary

June 4, 2007 ~ A Juggling Act

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There are times in my life when I think that I am really a juggler and life itself is a juggling act, an exercise in keeping all the events and responsibilities of life in motion at one time. The key is to move smoothly back and forth between events without dropping anything along the way. That was Wednesday. Praise God that for this time, I didn’t drop anything. That is always my fear, but maybe that is the fear of any juggler.

After chapel, I had 45 minutes to run to the bank, get the needed kwacha for the day, get petrol for the truck and look over my lecture notes before class. I made a quick phone check on the group from Nebraska that was working at Domasi, to be certain that they had all that they needed and they did. That was easy. Although I am scheduled to teach two classes on Wednesdays, I had made arrangements with my second class for them to work on a project and report to me on Thursday. So I only had to teach the one class.

After class, I collected my colleague Takuzi Chitsulo and we headed to Blantyre to gather Silas, who had gone ahead to take care of his ailing truck and then to go the airport to meet the group arriving from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Takuzi asked that we stop at his mother-in-law’s on the way so he could pick something up, which we did. We gathered Silas at noon and he took over the driving. (He drives faster than I, especially in lunch time traffic.) We made it just in time to meet the plane. Steinsford Mchenga was there to greet with us. (He and Takuzi had studied with some of these folks the year they were in Pittsburgh.) We, mostly Silas, had a firm conversation with the woman who manages the VIP entrance to the airport and we were able to bring the group in that way. It is much easier because the staff takes care of the immigration and customs inspections. After gathering luggage and the like we were off to Grace Bandawe Conference Center to get our eight guests settled. The group was in the minivan we had arranged, the luggage in a second van, Silas and I following in my Isuzu, followed by a van of Partnership folks who had come to greet our guests. On the way, Silas got a call from the pastor of the Sadzi congregation, who had just returned from Scotland. He wanted us to take him to Domasi to see the group there since he had been away when they were at his church. We told him we could, but it would have to be on our return to Zomba from Blantyre. This would not have been an issue if Silas hadn’t had to leave at 7:00 p.m. for Lilongwe to part of an official delegation to pay respects to the President on the death of his wife. My job was to be the time keeper and see that all of this happened in a timely fashion (one of the benefits of being the time conscious American in the group).

We had the official welcome for the group at Grace Bandawe but the travelers were to lodge at a bed and breakfast just up the road, so after the welcome and a light snack, off we went to get them settled. Once we were certain that they were settled and that Steinsford was there to meet their needs, we headed back to Zomba to collect the pastor from Sadzi and his wife and go to Domasi. To help with time, we asked them to walk from their house to the main road and we would pick them up there. The timing was perfect and we headed to Domasi. The group there had just finished painting the kindergarten when we arrived. They had worked for two days around the children to get this project done. After we greeted them and gave the pastor some time to visit with them, we had to go to the kindergarten to admire the work. Then it was down the mountain to get Silas home to pack and catch a bus for Lilongwe. We were back at the campus by 6:00 p.m., so he had just enough time.

Charles and Alinafe had prepared dinner for me, and I planned to get to the computer and work on lectures, since I have three classes to teach on Thursday. But the big news of the evening was that Charles and Alinafe’s house was finished. They wanted to begin to take things to the “new house.” That was understandable. They have been married for six months now and they have not yet had a place of their own. They have lived apart, Alinafe taking care of Charles’ mother until she died, or they have lived with me. They have not had the opportunity to begin their lives together in their own place. They were so excited. So I suggested that Charles load the truck while I prepared my lectures and when he had it loaded, I would drive them down to the house, we would unload and come back to begin again. So that is what we did. That way I got to do my work and they got to move. He loaded in record time, he was so excited, and off we went to unload, in the dark. They joyfully lugged boxes and bags and placed them in the new house, which was so freshly painted that we had to be careful that we didn’t place things too close to the walls; the paint was still tacky. In three trips everything that could go had gone.

When we returned to my house, they went to bed and I went to the study to finish preparations for Thursday’s classes. About 10:30 p.m. I fell into bed exhausted but content. I had done all that needed to be done without a mishap. I can only thank God for that – juggling successfully completed for one more day.