VILLAGE LIFE

We work in one of the poorest districts in the already severely poor country of Malawi.   We work with local Malawians who have amazing testimonies of perseverance, courage, hope.  Best of all, we are living right in the middle of a village.  Although our home is very Western, with most modern conveniences and comforts we would enjoy in America, we can walk out our front door and find ourselves in the middle of Ntondeza 2 Village. 

View of our village from the road

Our neighbors have mud huts, grass rooftops (some of the luckier one have been able to add tin sheets to their roofs), no electricity, no running water. They cook their food over flames outside, they walk to the borehole to fill their buckets with water, they take cold sponge baths with no soap, they sleep on mats on dirt floors, they struggle to buy uniforms for their children to attend school  and to pay school fees … hence, too many here are uneducated. They dream of having enough money to buy luxuries … like soap, candles, cooking oil, shoes, clothes … or a blanket.  

At the borehole: a daily chore to collect the water for baths, cooking, drinking

Our friend Memory is cooking for us as at her house -- outside, over flames. 

When we are outside our home, we truly feel we have stepped back into the 1800s. Maybe earlier than that.  There are very few cars seen on the roads – which are mostly dirt.  Cows, goats and pigs wander lazily in the middle of the road, so drivers beware!  

I took this picture while stopped in our car, near our home.  
A typical Malawian traffic jam in Chikwawa:  cows!

Villagers walk slowly down the dirt roads, the women carrying everything on their head – from buckets of water to 50Kg bags of corn or rice, to heavy tree limbs used for firewood. 

Women and children carry everything on their heads. Buckets of water, 50Kg bags of corn or rice, groceries, wood, etc.

You’ll see young people lounging under a shady tree, since so many are unemployed, trying to catch a break when their motivation surges.  And the children play – always busy, making things, pushing homemade toy cars, climbing trees, picking fruit, waving. Always dirty, always in rags. Always smiling and waving.