The voices of these Malawi children "blew me away" and I just had to videotape them singing. They were very distracted by me and my camera, but you can understand why I was impressed.
At one point several of them streamed out of the group to stand behind me and see the video happening on my camera. "No, no, please, go back and sing. I'll show you the video when I'm done." I spoke to them which a Malawi friend interpreted to the children.
That helped and they understood. You can see that not everyone is singing. They were so fascinated by my camera. It is possible that it's the first camera they ever saw.
I did show them the clips when I was finished. They burst into applause and loud shouts of joy and laughter. When I told them (again through an interpreter) that I was going to put their lovely singing on the internet they again burst into laughter and joyous applause.
I'm not sure of the extent of their knowledge of the internet, but they sure had heard of it.
This happy mob of Malawi children greeted our van in pitch darkness out by the highway the night our team arrived. We were 14 Malawi adults, 2-two year toddlers and 2 Americans (my husband and myself). A couple team members went ahead to prepare for our coming and via cell phone, they knew we were near, so gathered the children to meet us at the highway.
When I say pitch dark, that is precisely what I mean. The only light was from the headlights of the van. No electricity here or anywhere near.
The children broke into loud melodic song as we stopped to turn toward their village. There was no road, only a trampled people path from village to highway. The van bounced over anthills and abandoned railroad ties and rails, swerved around bushes and stirred up lots of red dust all the while being serenaded by harmonious children's voices as they surrounded the van and kept pace with it as it searched its way through the darkness to the center of the village.
I was "in heaven". I've never felt quite so welcome before. Hearing the children sing such joyful songs and running along side the van with anticipation in total darkness was an experience I'll always remember.
Kari with village children
These charming children were not beggars. Never once did they beg. They laughed with such joy just to have me shake their hands, look into their eyes and hear me say, "Hello" They loved practicing their very limited English which consisted of "Hello, how are you? What is your name? My name is ..."
They would wait patiently for their turn to shake my or my husband's hand. We prayed for many of them. We laid our hands on them and prayed. It is our hope that many of them will become vibrant believers in Jesus and help lead their mud hut village into a time of prosperity.
These kids "love" church. Church is their big entertainment for the week and when a conference is held they are in "celebration mode" big time. The leaders had a very hard time keeping the poor Malawi kids from swamping the leaders in front. They love front row seats...a problem any church would love to have here in America!
Malawi children in church
The Malawi children in this village drink river water and are very satisfied with rice and sema for daily food.
Malawi Child: "Freedom is Not Free"
Mark and I knew our two military sons, Corporal Sam, our marine and 2nd Lt John, our army guy, would appreciate the message on this boy's ragged shirt. The condition of his shirt speaks volumes as do the words.
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