August 1st

Wow, our last full day in Malawi. I cannot believe the month has come to an end so quickly. The first program of the day is to go to Lumbadzi village to distribute the blankets. Thanks to Karlene M and Jeannine F, together we were able to donate 30 blankets. Also thanks to Alex and Ann Q, we also donated crayons and pencils that we brought from Canada. These items were really appreciated, as Malawi is at the end of winter, it is a welcome warmth since Malawi’s winter at night can go as low as 4 degrees Celsius.

We all then went to Patrick house for a farewell get together. We ate and danced and visited one last time with family. As usual a goodtime was had by all. Thanks to cousin Phides, her friends; Patrick’s wife and sister Margret for all the great work in organizing the food. A special surprise tonight was a birthday cake for me that was secretly planned and believe me, I had no clue, thanks Paul and it the cake was so yummy. Everyone enjoyed themselves. It’s been definitely a great trip and went by so fast. Tomorrow we leave for home and are expected to be home after 10am on Sunday August 3rd,.
Thanks be to God for the many blessings he has bestowed on us. This has been a lifetime trip and a very memorable one. To our Malawian family and friends, thank you for your Hospitality. We will miss you. For our family and friends at home, we hope to see you soon. God Bless.


July 31st

Paul and Doris have finally found a room in the crossroads hotel and are moving over before we go to Mchinji. The funny thing is, because they do not have family rooms, they have given each family 2 executive deluxe rooms for the price of a standard family room. So we are living well these last 2 days before going home. Doris and Andrea have decided they are not joining us on this trip.

Patrick as usual is driving us there. We picked up Father Hamelin and the trip there went very well.
When we arrived in Kachebere, the view of the seminary is wonderful as it was built partly half way on Kakulu mountain. Father Hamelin is a perfect host, we all are listening to him as the stories he tells us about the building of Kachebere is just fascinating. Uncle Edourd Camire, actually known as brother Paul Camire in Malawi, is the Founder, the Planner and the builder of Kachebere Major Seminary. Kachebere major Seminary is his legacy. (May his soul rest in eternal peace). Uncle Paul came to Malawi as a missionary with the White Fathers around 1941. Years later, dad followed. Uncle Paul lived over 48 years of his life here at the seminary. Apparently when he showed his plans of the building in the planning stage, he was told the building would not stand and last long, but now over 50years the original building looks great and even survived a small earthquake. There are no other building like this in the area. We met people who also knew Uncle Paul. Brother Hamelin and others told us of how Uncle Paul and the workers started from scratch, they even made the bricks themselves, and the roof bricks too. We walked around to see the room he used to sleep in, the workshop where he spent endless hours and still stands; the machines he used, some over 50 years old and are still working. The garage, the Mill, the orchards(something dear to him as he came from a farming background), the gardens, the mini farm of pigs, cows, goats and chicken and now they even have fish ponds. This place is the most self sufficient place I have ever seen. You name it, it can be found on the property.
I wish to thank Father Hamelin for spending this special day with us, it was magical, fascinating and a day of discovery, a memorable day indeed. Uncle Paul was very modest in his accomplishments and Kachebere is truly a beautiful reflection of his hard work and truly his LEGACY. We are all so glad to have seen and walked around this place. Father Hamelin, thanks and bless you for this beautiful occasion. We tremendously enjoyed it.


July 30th

First of all, forgot to mention that when we left Doris and Paul in Capetown when we were in South Africa, they went a little crazy after we left them. Actually they decided to climb Lions Head. It is so high up that if you could actually see it in real life, I wonder if you could do what they did. By the way, they have a video of it too. It is so scary. They climbed so high but apparently the view below of Capetown city was magnificent. Noah and Andrea joined them too.

We had to wake up really early today for the trip to Lilongwe from Blantyre. We are taking an
executive coach to Lilongwe at 7am. The bus was in very good condition and very comfortable.
When we arrived in Lilongwe, Patrick was there to greet us with a minibus. He drove us to our hotels,
remember separate as there was no room in hotels. We stayed at Crossroads and Paul and Doris stayed at Capital Hotel. After we dropped everyone else, I went to drop off Ashley’s friend package at World Vision. Then Patrick, Phides and I went to look for bales of blankets to donate. We must have walked around a lot because I was so tired until we found some. I managed to convince the owner to take us back to Patrick home as the bale was way too large. Special thanks to Karlene M and Jeannine F, together we were able to donate 30 blankets to children.

As we knew that time is coming to a close for our vacation, we arranged our visit for the next day to Mchinji to see Uncle Edourd’s legacy. Father Hamelin, whom we knew when we were in Malawi before coming to Canada and who knew Uncle Edourd very well, graciously volunteered to give us a special tour of Kachebere Seminary. We will meet him tomorrow and leave Lilongwe together for the trip. I am looking forward to this trip.