Hello everyone. I’m still not at that training. Who knows when it will happen now. Ah well.

One of the things about living in a developing country is all the aid vehicles. If you’re in a conflict or disaster setting, you see UN cars everywhere – big landrovers with UN plastered across the side. In a nice peaceful country like Malawi, it’s trucks with aid organization logos. Out of every ten cars I drive past on the road, it seems like 1 or 2 is an aid car.

So the other day I noticed a new one: a nice shiny white truck with “Jehovah’s Witnesses” printed on the side. It reminded me of a story Jorge told me when we first moved out here.

At the time, Jorge was volunteering up in the refugee camp about an hour north of Lilongwe. His job was basically to keep a group of teenagers out of trouble during the school holidays. They watched movies, talked about girls, hung out in the market…

One day Jorge saw two Jehovah’s Witnesses ride by on bikes. He asked the kids “Are there more of them around here?” They said, yes, these people were frequently in the camp.
“They always wear white shirts and ties, don’t they?” He asked.
“Yes!” they responded, surprised that Jorge knew this.
“And they ride bicycles?” “Yes.”
“And they come and knock on your door, and you try to hide from them, right?”
“How do you know these things?” The kids asked in wonderment.

Jorge just smiled mysteriously, basking in his omniscience.