Hello from Mchezi!!!!

Hello everyone! Molly and Darren here from Mchezi in Lilongwe, Malawi.
We have officially begun our very mini peace corps. We are going to try to keep the updates coming as often as we can get them written.
When we first arrived around noon on Sunday we were immediately put to work. On most Sundays at Mchezi CBO all the OVCs (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) gather together to sing songs, play games and mingle. Today however was a unique situation. Our arrival coincided with the lone computer at Mchezi CBO crashing earlier in the week and the OVC register was completely lost. Today we spent a few hours going child to child gathering their information. To rebuild the OVC registry we needed to conduct face-to-face interviews to collect the lost information. This included name, age, grade, reason if dropped out of school, which parent had passed if not both, current guardian, living situation and any acute problems, such as lack of clothing, food, school supplies, etc. It was a tiresome experience. Molly filled out paperwork while Darren took head-shots of each child to upload onto the new register.
Molly wants to bring home every single child. The little girls sat on her lap the entire time, and one even fell asleep there. Later we learned that she was positive for HIV...
The OVC gathering concluded with the children lining up while we passed out pens (from a pharmaceutical company in the states, thanks to Goods for Good) to each child. They were ecstatic.
After the kids had left, we finally got the chance to move into our new abode.
We know, it looks (and is) a lot nicer than you would expect to find in the African bush. It comes complete with solar powered lighting, a kitchen (a camping stove and trash can full of water), a room with a hole leading outside (aka shower), an outhouse with feet placement and a key hole pee hole, and three bedrooms. It was built for the staff of the primary school, but as we know they are lacking teachers. Our next door neighbor is Mr. Kumanga, the headmaster.
After we moved in we got a brief neighborhood tour which ended at the hut of the local village headman. He is in his late 70s and is responsible for 34 different villages. He welcomed us with open arms and an open heart.
‘Zikomo’ means thank you in Chichewa. It was just about the only word we heard all day long.
We walked back to our house under an African painted sunset as children from all directions came running up to hold our hands and laugh at Darren's funny hair color.
We are very excited for this next chapter.
Check back tomorrow for more on life at Mchezi!
EDUCATE.INSPIRE.CHANGE.