African Adventures [part.four]

.January.10.11.
Today we set off on a big adventure. We were off to the home stay. We arrived in Mchezi and the kids came running. Precious!! We met Chris who is the head of the CBO and learned all about the organization and what they do for the community. They run an orphanage for children whose parents have passed away to disease. They have a tailoring program, poultry farm, home based care for HIV/AIDS patients, pig-ery farm, and a program for early childhood development. It was very interesting hearing about the different programs they have set up and over 5,000 people that benefit from this program! We then were introduced to their idea of a maize mill that they wanted to be the next project. Malawians do not have a problem coming up with ideas, but they do have a problem implementing these ideas. Thats where we come in. Throughout the afternoon we discussed costs and discovered that if implemented, we would break even within the first year! This equals a good investment! This then started the wheels turning of what we could do to help. We are currently still working with this project and are planning to start fundraisers to help pay for the mill. 
Later that afternoon we were divided up for our home stay. Jessica & I were paired with Constance, a 28 year old school teacher! She was the sweetest woman! 

She was so proud of her home and was so excited to have us there. She made us a traditional Malawian dinner of nsima, with relishes. She even brought out a special relish at the end that she had forgotten about... fish. She says, "This should still be good". I was skeptical, but tried a bite and swallowed it whole. Gross. I then downed a whole mango so I couldn't taste it anymore. Very interesting experience. She insisted that she sleep with us in the living room because she "couldn't have her guests sleep on the floor while I sleep in the bed". It was a very restless sleep, but I'm so glad we had that experience. It was so eye opening into the culture of Malawians and how they live.


The next morning Constance insisted that Jessica and I bathe together, aka splash ourselves with water and call it done. After her morning cleaning and making us breakfast, Constance took us back to the CBO house where we talked a little more about the maize mill. The kids were the best part. They loved looking at you and would giggle when you'd try to talk to them. It was such a great experience. We got back to World Camp later that afternoon and just took it easy.

.January.12.13.
Joe cooked an amazing breakfast and then we hopped back into the van and headed to the beautiful Lake Malawi, the 3rd largest lake in Africa. We stayed at Cool Runnings, ran by a superwoman, Sam. It was nice to relax by the beautiful lake. It is called the calender lake. It is 365 km long, 52 km wide and there are 12 rivers that run into it. So pretty! I loved watching the men fishing and all of the boats. A few of us went to the ciclid farm which was really neat, and then to the croc farm. Ciclids are caught in Lake Malawi and taken to the ciclid farm. They then are taken car of for a bit, then sent off to places all over the world. At the croc farm they raise the crocodiles and then kill them for their skin, that they ship off over the world. This area seemed to be more prosperous than in the city and I think it is because of the fishing industry. We had an amazing dinner and it was nice just to be able to hang out with everyone. 

The next morning we took a boat to Lizard Island (but I didn't see any lizards) and were able to snorkel around! It was so pretty! It wasn't as clear as I was expecting, but you could see some really pretty fish! We had lunch and then Sam told us about all of the programs she has set up in the community. She has a soccer team (they have to keep up their grades to be on the team), runs a health clinic at the gate, and more. She sponsors elderly people that she feeds. She implemented this program at the school teaching them to pick up a certain amount of plastic a day which they can earn money from. Then by turning in this plastic, they could raise thousands of dollars! She does not like to just give the people stuff. She like to teach them. To install a new mindset in the new generation. She was an amazing woman and very inspiring woman. 
We stopped at a market on the way back home and a few of us showed how good we were at bargaining (again, not me). Stocked up on African goods! We all had our last dinner together and packed up all our stuff! The next morning we headed off to the airport for our long journey back! 

This was an amazing experience and I am so glad I was able to go on this trip. I can say that I am a different person than when I left. I look at things differently and can't seem to get those little faces of those precious children out of the back of my mind. I truly enjoyed getting to know everyone on the trip and can say we've grown together as a family with Africa now as our bond. 


Zikomo kwambiri!!