A life changing journey

Stepping back in time to remember mission in Malawi and treasured visits to the market

By Mary Olenick
September/October 2013

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It has been six years since I left mission in Malawi, Africa, and returned home to coordinate Scarboro’s Lay Mission Office. The best part of this interesting, fulfilling and often challenging work has been preparing others for overseas mission, sharing in their excitement and watching them overcome their uncertainty and fears before starting out as new missioners.

Once you have served in mission overseas, the experience never leaves you. Part of me will always belong to the people of Malawi, giving thanks for their friendship, for what they taught and shared with me, and for the ways they challenged me to see with new eyes. I learned to embrace the simple way of life, to accept people as they are, to look for the good in everyone, to listen to others whose opinions and ways are different from mine, and to accept the people’s love and caring when I was lonely and missing family and friends in Canada.

One of my special memories is of visiting the markets. Markets were not just places to buy fresh vegetables and fruit, they were also gathering places to catch up on the local news and gossip. I did not need a sign to point me there; I let the noise of the busy, crowded marketplace lead me.

Row upon row of tables stood loaded with vegetables and fruit of every color, shape and size, all making a beautiful artistic pattern. Some were stacked in perfect little pyramids and I wondered if one accidental push would bring them all tumbling down, like dominoes.

Every table had a simple roof from which hung bunches of plastic bags of various sizes and colors to contain shoppers’ purchases. The clusters of bags made a rustling sound in the breeze. Behind each table was the vendor wearing a big smile, calling customers to buy. Little children sat among the vegetables and babies slept there too while their mothers took a break from carrying them. Older children played beneath the tables as people milled around, some visiting, some bargaining, some buying and of course sampling the delicious foods.

Besides fruit and vegetables, you could also buy fish, live chickens, eggs, rice, beans—I had no idea that so many different colours and kinds of beans existed. Charcoal and other household goods were also available, as well as clothing, fabric for chitenjis (the wraparound skirts worn by Malawian women), shoes, flip flops, artisans’ work, and hundreds of other items. If you could not find something in the stores, you could go to the market and most likely find it there.

Now that I have allowed myself to step back in time and revel in this sometimes insane, noisy, but wonderful market of my memories, I hope I was able to give you a glimpse of another people and culture and their wonderful way of life in a country so far away. As a Scarboro missioner, you too can make this journey—a journey that will change you forever and give you memories to last a lifetime.

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