My Year in Numbers

The song Seasons of Love from the hit Broadway musical Rent, talks about all the ways in which you can measure a year. It can be measured in seconds, minutes, days, weeks, months or can be measured in sunrises and sunsets. It could be measured in miles traveled, or number of walks taken. It can be measured in a school year gone by, or by the students themselves. If I chose to look at my year in Malawi as numbers that could be measured it would look something like this:

Seconds in Country: 28,857,600

Miles Driven on Malawian roads: 9,843 

Miles from home: 8,553

Feet hiked up Mt. Mulanje: 6,889

Pictures Taken: 6,000+

Members at St. Andrews CCAP: 1,500

Eggs eaten: 1,062

Exchange rate of the Kwacha: 725

Average number of readers on my blog: 535

Mangoes eaten: approximately 500

Number of Students: 250

Classes Taught: 168

Hours Spent in Worship: about 120

Days without Electricity: 106

Students that Graduated: 75

Books Read: 72

Blogs Written: 65 and counting

Malaria Pills taken: 52

Inches Remus Grew: 25

Haircuts: 20

Visitors from Home: 10

Times chased by an Elephant: 6

Earthquakes: 2

1 Unforgettable and life changing year

Numbers can never fully show how amazing the past year in Malawi has been for me. I cannot begin to quantify the impact of daily life and all of the things I was able to experience. The only number that can accurately capture this year for me is 100. I am 100% sure the past year, my time in Malawi, the hours I spent in a classroom and in a church, the days I went without power or water, the number of people I met and grew close to, the smiles and waves I got while I drove on dusty dirt roads will stay with me a very long time.