Christmas Projects

These are the “Christmas Trees” from the yuletide gifts request. First, it’s me fingering the papayas at the nursery. Right behind me are the guavas.

Next, we have the kids from the two families who received most of the trees. In the first attempt at this photo, they looked sullen, just like everyone around here tends to look for photos unless you tell them to smile. So I made some joke or goofy noise or something and . . well, at least they smiled, if a bit maniacally.

We bought a total of 52 guava, papaya, avocado, and peach trees, with a few msangu (a deciduous, leguminous tree that can be planted anywhere—especially in the fields—to nourish the earth with its nitrogen-fixing action and sparse canopy that lets a lot of light through).

Next, we have the Mosquito Nets for APPM (The Association of Preschools and Playgroups in Malawi). When I dropped them off, Mrs. Malamba (guess which one’s her!) said, “Oh, I feel that I am going to cry I am so happy.” She’s a dear, she is, and has an extremely well-developed sense of how to run an NGO. Her big heart and all around competence mean that she’s vulnerable to getting stressed out, so it was kind of nice to give her a little boost. The international organization PSI (watch out for that name; they’re solid) provided us with the nets at cost, which saved us something like $35.

Here they are out front, with all 40 nets (Mrs. Malamba, Martin the treasurerer, Matafala the accountant, and some dude who was standing nearby when we needed to take the photo).

And here we are in the courtyard. As you can see, these nets are spacious.

Thanks for the Trees: Rebecca and Mike in Vancouver, Brielle in Eugene, and Curt, Deb, Kathryn, and Ben in Churchill, MT.

Thanks for the Nets: Patrick in Chicago, Curt/Deb/Kathryn/Ben again, Ethan and Laurel in B.G., and Norma in Twin Falls.

Y'all rock. More pictures are coming very, very soon, because I'm departing Malawi very, very soon.