18 July – Malawi
After such a discouraging evening on day three, we decided the meetings in Blantyre were too important to reschedule or miss. In spite of not having enough fuel to get back to Lilongwe we realized that to go back to the states without completing the reason for coming, i.e. meetings about the future plans for the International School, would never be understood. Fuel shortages like this, the ones that shut down an entire nation for weeks, are almost unheard of in the United States, and unless you experience the feeling of helplessness that goes with such a shortage, it is probably impossible for me to find the words to describe the panic that goes with it. The nation is suffering, and the few shipments of fuel that are entering the country are not enough to stem the panic, fear, and irritation that is being faced all over this land. Tensions are rising, and protests are scheduled for this next week. Although Malawi is such a peaceful people, there is concern some difficulties will accompany the protests. But, now back to our situation.
We’ve made the decision. We will go to the meetings and if we cannot find gas for the car we will just wait, watch, pray and look for fuel until we find some. We leave the Mission around 8 for the city.
Our meeting is almost half way across the city, and just as we enter the outskirts of Blantyre from the east we pass a station with a line of cars, only about a dozen of them, and it appears the man at the pump is actually putting fuel in the first car in the line. Unbelievable! Unimaginable! It can’t be. Both Scott and I do a double take. Sure enough, what we saw is real. It is not an illusion. Finding gas has become almost like the illustration of the guy stumbling across the desert, parched, dehydrated, and near death. Across every sand dune he sees rivers of cool flowing water, pretty girls, and tables of scrumptious food. Well, the reality is that we didn’t see these but we did a gas station with an attendant pumping gas. And a second glance convinced both of us that it wasn’t an illusion. We went on the meeting place, but we decided the minute our Malawi friend, the one that said he would help us find fuel, reached the meeting place he and Scott would go right back to that station and see if they could get fuel. I went on to the meeting.
The discussions lasted for nearly 3 hours, when we were interrupted by a phone call. Scott and our friend were at the house of the man with which I was meeting, and wondering how they should plan their afternoon. We took a break from the meeting, which by the way, was proving to be very valuable and important to future plans for the school. All of us meet at the house for quite a pleasant lunch, after that Scott when back with us so we could move forward with plans to implement the success of the work. I realized our trip to Malawi, and this important meeting, was leading in the right direction. At around 4 PM we adjourned and Scott and I started back toward the mission where we would stay overnight. Another trip would be needed the next day to meet with more of the people involved in the school. Success was riding over the horizon on a white horse. And our tank was registering full. We would be able to make the trip to Senga Bay the next afternoon where more fuel had been stockpiled early in the month for us. To top this off, that would give us enough fuel, after our meetings in Senga Bay to make it over to Lilongwe for the next series of meetings. As bad as day three had been, day four proved to be just the opposite. It was a very successful and fruitful day.
Second Report — From Dick Stephens and Scott Gordon- The Webmaster