Nora Goetz, Guest Author
Our plane touched down in Lilongwe (February 29) without having to buzz the airport to shoo grazing cows away from the landing area! That may sound strange to you if you have never landed at Chileka Airport in Blantyre, Malawi.
Watching all our luggage loaded on the van that was to take us to the Korean Garden Lodge was a bit like watching an old Charlie Chaplin movie. About six porters were tossing bags onto the rooftop carrier or trying to stuff them into the boot. It was clearly a challenge to get each piece situated just write so nothing would topple off. When the last bag was stowed, the van was twice as high as it had been.
Soon we pulled into the courtyard of the Korean Garden Lodge to be greeted by excited shouts of “Mom! Mom!” It was Winston Fatsani, my Malawian son whom I had been telling everyone about. How good it was to be able to hug him again!
Winston had declared me his mother after spending a few days at our home in 2006 on a Blantyre Synod and Pittsburgh Presbytery Partnership trip. We have stayed in touch since that time. Many excited emails passed between us since I learned I would be returning to Malawi.
Winston now works at the American Embassy in Lilongwe. He decreed that I must not travel around Malawi alone so he will escort me as I travel south for a week after the main group heads home. He will take a week’s vacation and we will go to Blantyre, Migowi, and Zomba together to visit friends. I look forward to our adventures together.
Photo of Winston Fatsani and Nora Goetz by Joy Gaska.