Nkhoma Mountain

Saturday, September 28

I look at Nkhoma Mountain numerous times a day.  I have been here now a long time. But I have not climbed the mountain.  So today, Rinske, Lisa, and I decided to do it. Rinske has been sick this week with a gastro bug and I must say I was thankful that it made our pace slower today.

We hiked for about 2 ½ hours.  We did not do the rock climb to the very top but did have some incredible views.  We had some boys that climbed ahead of us the entire way. We would pass them and then round a bend and find them again ahead of us. I left them some small toys and granola bars and they were so excited.

About half way up there is a large plateau.  There are many villages, paths, planted fields and a lake that are completely hidden from our view from the guest house.  It was kind of like stumbling onto a hidden world.

On our way down, we passed a church congregation heading up the mountain for a special service with Bibles in hand.  They were lovely to greet and many wanted to have pictures with us. We laughed a lot which felt so good.

On the way back, we passed the back side of the children’s home. It was laundry day. With the power outage and the water shortage, things were getting rough. Nicole commented that there was not a clean pair of panties in the place. She hired women sitting outside at the hospital and gave them buckets and they went to work. The number of little clothes items was insane.

When we got back to the inn, I took a quick shower and dressed.  I loaded up in a rental car with Melissa and the girls and we drove to Dedza.  This is a little village with a pottery shop and little cafe and gardens. We had a lovely late lunch and I did a little shopping.

The evening was fairly quiet.  I got to talk to Wayne. A few new visitors came by from another inn.  The grand finale was that Rinske and Lisa both gave we goodbye HUGS! I got so excited I spilled my coffee all over Lisa, but it was a great end to my day.  I have come to love these girls and their wit and dry humor. I have loved their teasing and their honesty. I hope they are leaving with a different view of Christianity and have experience some Southern love!