Chisomo Cottages March 28, 2009

The name means “Grace Cottages” and this is our home for the next couple of months. After 2 weeks in Zambia and a few days in the capital city of Lilongwe, Malawi, we have settled into our accommodations on Senga Bay. Lake Malawi is the third biggest lake in Africa and Senga Bay sits on the southwestern shore about a 2 hour drive east of Lilongwe. The lakefront property has a 3 bedroom house (where we are staying), a 2 bedroom / one bath cottage and many smaller units dotted around. They all have plaster walls and thatched roofs. The grounds are nice with spotty lawns and some hardy plants and huge trees.

View at Chisomo Cottages

The beach has white sand and small lapping waves, not to mention the occasional herd of cows walking by. Across the water you can faintly see the coast of Mozambique and a few closer islands. Along the beachfront are other small hotels, a mosque (right next door) and some private residences. The locals fish, wash themselves and their clothes in the water and peddle their wares: mainly baskets, wood carvings and small wax paintings. They are not hard-core salesmen and take “no” for an answer, which is nice. I did buy a few paintings for the main house as part of my goal here is to update the accommodations a bit.

The curtains in the main house look like they came from a British granny and the light fixtures resemble Amish bonnets. I bought meters of Malawian fabric and have ordered some wall sconces. That and some paint should make a world of difference. The main house is and will be used for members of Grace Ministries to come for retreats or conferences, or as a stop en route from point A to point B. I plan on working on the rest of the buildings, too, as they will be opened to the public and a source of income for the ministry. Tim is putting together a basic website for the cottages so we can advertise for guests. The profit from the cottages will be used toward the building of a local school, just a mile up the road. 

Chisomo Cottages

The interesting thing about the land for the school is that it was “given” to Grace Ministries by the local tribal chief. He was happy to have someone willing to build a community school for his people. The thing is, he keeps asking for more money! Every time Kennedy visits him, he increases the charge for his generosity! Needless to say, Kennedy avoids visiting as much as he can, but that’s not hard as Kennedy lives with his family in Lilongwe and travels quite a bit. The construction oversight will be Tim’s responsibility and the chief is being appeased by a local pastor. The workers broke ground about a week ago on the foundation for the 2 room schoolhouse and small office. We also hope to at least start construction on the outside bathrooms and the pastor’s house.

Tim drives around in a mid-sized truck with a canopied top picking up and delivering construction materials such as cement and bricks. Mind you, they drive on the opposite of the road as in the US, so I’ve had to warn him a few times that he was getting a little too close to the edge on my side! Of course there are no shoulders on the road and tons of people and bikes, so it’s not easy to drive anyway. There’s a small town, Salima, about a 20 minute drive away from our house but it only has limited stores. We plan on going into Lilongwe once every week or two for supplies, bottled water and a decent meal. We stay in a guest house for missionaries where we can get hot showers and use the washer and dryer.

If you disregard the ants, lizards, cockroaches and mosquitoes, life here is quite pleasant. With the calming sounds of the waves and the quiet village (aside from the mosque’s call to prayer throughout the day), it is not a bad place to live. It’s a little remote for my taste, but we will be getting some social interaction soon. Dan and Tina Moyer and family are coming for a visit in a little over a week so we’re looking forward to that.

Shermans and Bentons

We’ve already had a couple of Grace Missionary families stay with us, too. The Shermans and Bentons were traveling back to Tanzania from South Africa and stayed 2 nights at Chisomo. They are American families living in Africa and doing a lot of good work. Their combined 6 kids were very well behaved, kicking the soccer ball on the beach, playing in the lake and making popcorn. The females got to play a long game of Phase Ten and cook a huge pot of spaghetti together. It was much too short of a visit!

If anyone is interested in hanging out on the beach on Lake Malawi, we have the room! Please come visit and stay as long as you want; the only payment would be to pick up a paint brush or sit at the sewing machines every once in a while. Ahh, the missionary life!

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