That’s right, living in another country can often mean that you get to celebrate Mother’s Day twice a year – once with your home country and once with your new neighbors. In Malawi, you might consider buying a chitenje (wrap-around cloth used as a skirt or baby carrier…or anything else) for your mom on Mother’s Day. Because my Chichewa (language) lessons are starting to pay off “slowly by slowly,” as they say here, I was excited that I knew what this one said, so I picked up a “Happy Mother’s Day” chitenje . The print looks like this:
The writing on it says “Zikomo Amai” meaning “Thank you Mom.” I like the picture of the child walking towards his/her mother because Rachel is just getting to this stage of thinking about learning to walk!
So, today, to celebrate Mother’s Day with you, I am reflecting on all the fun I’ve had with my kids these past few months as we explore life in Malawi. Most of these examples include some sort of work as well because keeping up house here just takes longer than it did in the states, so I try to involve the children when I can, just so that I have hope of accomplishing all the tasks I need to! It makes the chore less of a “mommy needs to go and do this right now and will play later” and more of a “can you please help me do this?” If only all chores could follow such a pattern!
Filling jerry cans with Mommy! We have periodic water outages. These tend to be for at least a day at a time, but have been up to 3 or 4 days long so far. It’s important to “always be ready” for a water outage, particularly with small children and with no idea how long it will last, so we have jerry cans of water waiting in the garage and big bottles filled with filtered water in the kitchen pantry. These have kept us well supplied (while conserving water) through an outage. Both kids love water, so I had them join in the chore of filling jerry cans one day. Of course, Micah imagined the cans were a train engine with cars and Rachel enjoyed drumming and splashing along.
Family gymnastics. We hired a tailor for a week, which is quick way of getting a number of jobs done. For example, if you want new curtains, a dress, placemats, bags or anything else made, you can hire a tailor. One job we had him do was covering cushions to have “couch cushions” to tumble on. Rachel is becoming quite the climber and Micah is becoming quite the tumbler! These cushions allow them to play a bit more safely. Plus, this way, we have auxiliary seating for guests, if we have lots of people over. We stack them into steps, make houses out of them, sit, slide, roll, tumble or even rest on them – a big hit!
Making rag dolls– As the tailor did his work on our hole-filled mosquito nets (what we originally hired him for), mended clothes and made new cushions, we collected any scraps from the floor and kept them for the end of the week when we had him make two rag dolls like Raggedy Ann and Andy. Chopped up old mosquito netting makes excellent stuffing!
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| Yes, the tailor prefers to work outside on the front porch! I told him weather wasn’t predictable enough for that in PA! |
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| His beloved Raggedy Ann doll! |
Micah has been requesting rag dolls ever since I brought out a Raggedy Ann and Andy book which has become his favorite for the past few weeks along with My First Little House on the Prairie books which also have a rag doll in them. I couldn’t believe how excited he was to hold his doll for the first time! All it had was the body, red and white stripped legs and black shoes, but he loved it. I’m in the process of sewing in the yarn hair after drawing the faces on with sharpee makers. He was so engrossed in this process that he sat for at least an hour last night watching me put in the hair. Now, onto the clothes! A bit more challenging, but I got some neat Malawian fabric to experiment with.
The endless laundry parade. As in any country, washing laundry is a constant chore, especially when using cloth diapers. I don’t mind too much. It adds rhythm to my life :). Here, we hang our laundry outside to dry on the bottom terrace of our yard, so I even get more exercise, too! This chore usually draws the children outside, even if they were stubborn to leave the house earlier in the morning. Rachel is still small enough to ride down in the clothing bin, which she loves.
She also loves emptying the clothing bin whenever I’m not watching…
And, so far since arriving here, the weather is nearly always gorgeous! I never really need to worry about it raining on my drying laundry (although I did run to tear my laundry down one day as I heard the rain coming over the mountain, which was a thrill in and of itself! The rain, not the laundry). Although, rainy season is just around the corner, as we were reminded yesterday with a wonderful thunder and rain storm. Once the rains start coming, I’m told it’s very hard to completely dry any laundry!
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| The view I enjoy while hanging the laundry |
The endless dishes parade. I didn’t grow up with a dish washer, but I did get kinda used to having one as an adult. It’s back to being the dish washer here! It’s continuous work, but I do enjoy the view out the kitchen sink window!
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| Blue skies, tropical trees and the sounds of neighbor children playing often accompany my afternoon dish routine. |
I haven’t figured out how to involve the kids in this chore yet…but in due time, we will!
So, we’ve found a lot of fun together in the rhythm of life we have here, which is rewarding to remember on Mother’s Day. I feel like I’m not giving the whole story, though, without disclosing days like today when being a mom meant getting up earlier than I wanted to, doing two loads of laundry, cooking three meals, cleaning up the dishes (and floors, hands and faces) from those meals, baking bread, mopping the floors after one child peed on the floor (and proceeded to walk down the hall) and pooped in his pants, changing diapers, cleaning out dirty diapers, eating dinner to the accompaniment of a screaming baby who could not be fed fast enough, and feeling guilty for needing to do so much house work instead of spending quality time with my kids, but seeing no other alternative. I know many other moms who can resonate with me during such days!
Thankfully, I also had some calmer moments of playing on the porch with the kids, watching Micah take such good care of Raggedy Ann, arranging a “soft house” out of cushions and blankets, snuggling up in a chair to read story after story to Micah, cuddling Rachel as I nursed her before her nap, hearing the beginnings of “Mama” intentionally coming from her mouth and watching her crawl very decidedly towards me, then stopping on her knees and reaching up with both hands (melt my heart). It is good to be a mom. I love it, even though it is exhausting at this stage! Not only that, but I love my Mom and am thankful for how she undoubtedly endured those long, hard days raising us kids as well! Zikomo Amai! Thank you, Mom!
Ah, thanks for the window into your life…good to see you and the kids again! That tailor is way too cool – I want to pay someone to sew on my (non) porch! I have enough to employ him for quite awhile! Also good to see someone in the family take an interest in Raggedy Ann, since it is in the bloodlines. Gareth has absolutely no interest at all, perhaps even a distaste for his Raggedy dolls. But then again – they weren't made by a Chichewa speaking tailor on our front porch!
gretta
If you knew how happy new blog postings made us all, you would drop that mop and steal more time on the computer!
Happy Mother's Day; loved the pictures of the kids "helping" you with all the daily tasks. And how I love the picture out the kitchen window; I was just looking at my video this weekend of the sights and morning sounds out that window…makes dishwashing much more pleasant.
Love Micah and the doll, and what fun to make doll clothes. Did you ever find the sewing machine? And how did you find this tailor? How fun to have him for the week!
Rachel is looking so big! A doll, too!
Happy Mother's Day! The view makes me miss Africa, but then your description of the chores, mosquito nets, and water outages…not so much. But God gives you grace to do it. (And after a bit, you sort of get used to it. At least that's how it was with me after a bit with rolling blackouts in Uganda – though still not pleasant). Know we're praying for you guys. We'll miss you at Reid and Rachel's carving pumpkins this year.
I laughed when you mentioned 'slowly by slowly.' I remember that phrase from Uganda. Mpola mpola
Becky, thanks for sharing your insights, pictures and experiences…you are so articulate, and thanks for including the "yucks" as well as the "yays" of your life as a mom these days 🙂 Praying for continued joy in the small things, and encouragement during the rougher days…you can do it!
So great to hear an update! Your post brings back all sorts of childhood memories from our days in Liberia! When we were old enough the kitchen calendar contained a series of initials for whose turn it was to help with dishes 🙂 Those days will come for you too!
Your pictures and descriptions also make me want to come visit. Here's hoping that can happen some day. We continue to pray for you all!
Thanks, Beth! About the tailor, we got connected with him through someone at church. I found the sewing machine in the guest room where you were staying!
Oh how we miss fall activities like pumpkin picking and carving! As for power outages, they've become more plentiful, but we don't mind them as much as water outages. After all, "water is life"! That's a Malawian saying, which I assume may stretch beyond Malawi 🙂
I remembered "slowly by slowly" from Uganda too 🙂