Dave and Phyllis Bouwhuis in Africa

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Hi to all you woodturners!

Just wanted to give you an update on where we are. We first were sent to Lusaka, Zambia for about two weeks then to Blantyre Malawi. We will probably be here for the rest of our mission. I was made a councilor to the mission president a week after we got here. We preside over the Saints and missionaries in this country. There are two branches in Blantyre and one in Lilongwe which is four hours away but an enjoyable drive. All the way up and back, day or night, you see natives walking. We have to go up there every two to three weeks for training.

Malawi is known as the warm heart of Africa. The people here are very friendly and nice. Here in Blantyre you are either going up a hill or down one but they are not real high or steep. Luckily we have a car which makes it nice. There are eight missionaries here in Blantyre. They are some of the worlds greatest.

When we were at the (Utah Woodturning) symposium and people heard where we were going they all said, “Go to Malawi” and here we are. It is pretty and green even though we are nearing the end of the dry season. We had a shower for about two hours a week ago and I think it was the only rain for several months. The rains usually start the end of October or early November. There are lots of big trees some native and a lot of real high eucalyptus gum. The rains have started since I first wrote this. I am including a page out of my journal that I think will be interesting to the club members. Maybe you can print this out to share with the club next week. See the attachment.

Dave & Phyllis [davephyllis@gmail.com]

Monday September 24th,

P day. A day to catch up and relax? Well anyway. We had talked to several people at the craft places about wood turners. There are always bowls and round things so I keep telling them I would like to see someone who has a lathe. Finally we found Frank who said he would take us and show us some wood turners. We told him we would call him this morning at 9:30. I called him and we agreed to meet at the Mandela museum in ten minutes. The museum is right close to us. We met him and he took us down a winding mountain road to Chkwawa in the Shire river valley. Or rather we took him. When we got out of the car it must have been over a hundred degrees. He took us around back and I could hardly believe my eyes. Look how these guys were turning.

	This is probably the best picture of the lathe. The posts on either side of the belt are set three to four feet in the ground. The motor is in the upper right of the picture. The motor pulley is wood. The main drive shaft in this lathe is covered with wood. This man is taking out the center of the bracelets he is making. The bracelets at the bottom will be finished by hand and sent to the craft markets. Notice his tool rest and how he is holding it with his foot.
	This picture of another lathe gives a better look at the shaft. It looks like they take a rear truck axle and find bearings that will fit on it and then mount the bearings in the posts and set them in the ground. The end of the gear is hollow. To mount the wood to the lathe they shape a piece of wood to fit the hole and drive it in.
	He is swinging the hammer with all his might. Notice the bowls to the left. The goblet has a loose ring on the base.
	Using a saw to square off the end of a log is not recommended.
	He is making a lid for a bowl.
	Bowl with the lid he just made.
	He is carving the side of the bowl with animals and baobab trees. His tool is a flexible shaft hooked to a drill.
	This old wood carver sits under his tree and carves masks out of ironwood.
	Two ironwood rhinos.
	Ironwood tree. Everything they did was made out of Ironwood which is an extremely hard and heavy wood.
	Ironwood carvings.
	This is a load of sugarcane going to the factory.
	Sugarcane fields as far as you can see.
	These are the woodturner’s tools.

It was a very enjoyable and interesting day. We will be coming to this same area with the missionaries in a few weeks for a zone activity to the Majete game reserve. It should be fun and we should see some animals. After we got home I worked on the journal and mom weeded her vegetable garden. We had supper, did our exercises and went to bed.