So peter and I have arrived in Malawi! It was quite the journey getting here! We woke up really early Sunday morning – about 12:15 AM to get to the airport for 2:30 because we had a flight to catch at 5:10 AM. So we were hassled about all the luggage we were carrying and told that we were going to have to pay money for the extra weight. Well that’s terrible news. So we packed our carry-ons as full as we could and ended up paying $72 for the COTN bags we were carrying! It was a bummer and the whole ordeal nearly caused us to miss our flight.
Our first full day in Malawi was spent in Mgwayi village. COTN has been working in this village for only three years, but it is really close to Njewa, where we are staying so we were able to walk there. We were paired up with a family – so we met all the members of the family – 5 children and one mom. We saw where they lived and we had little chores – I cleaned the floor by applying more mud to it, interesting concept I know! And then Peter and I were sent to the market with money and some words on a paper and we were asked to buy the necessary goods! I must say I really enjoyed that part…trying to sort out which vegetables were which in Chichewa. So we learned that matimati are tomatoes, nsomba is fish, ufa is corn flour, anyesi is onion, mchere is salt, and mafuta ophikira is oil. Then to finish off the adventure, we went back to the village and cooked some food!!
Today (Tuesday) Peter and I were separated and I must say I didn’t like it much! I mean it was fun to come back and share stories with him, but it just wasn’t the same. Maybe it was because I was the ONLY Azungu in the village today, and it is a little embarrassing to have EVERY single child in the village holler at you, stare at you, and run to see you. Also, I made a baby cry today for the second day in a row! All I did was get a little closer than they liked and waahh…waahhh…I didn’t know what to do!! Should I pick the baby up? Or will that just make them cry harder…how do I get myself OUT of this situation…most of the time I just laugh. Another time I touched a child’s hand and she wiped her hand off…hmm really?? I swear my hand was clean so that couldn’t have been why she wiped it….no she wiped it because it’s a WHITE hand.
So today peter stayed back at Njewa and the COTN office so he could meet with some COTN Malawi staff members. Fun, FUN, Fun! While I traveled a short distance to a village called Mtsiliza, where COTN has been working for 13 years. I spent all day meeting the widows involved in the widows program. It was really something to hear all of their stories. I was extremely encouraged by their grace, their sense of community, and their sense of empowerment. My only concern in regards to the program is its sustainability. They said they rely tremendously on outsiders from the West coming in to buy their products, and that they have not been able to find a market for their goods in Malawi. So when teams from the states visit Malawi they quite often buy things from the widows, thus their only clients are foreigners. All in all it’s a wonderful program and it empowers the women by providing them with skills to start their own businesses.
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