More farms

There are lots of great places to travel to in Malawi, but the trips I value most are those to people’s homes and villages. Last summer my colleague Clemente and I traveled to Seattle for a short course at the University of Washington. It was his first time to the United States, and one day I took him around to different Farmer’s Markets. He was pretty impressed by the array of fresh produce – especially the berries and cherries which were both in season then. Ever since he’s been talking about his farm and the different fruits and vegetable he grows. Yesterday he picked me up from the guest house and we drove first to the home he and his family are building about 10 kilometers outside of town. Housing is very different in Malawi than the U.S.; the whole concept of Mortgages do not exist. When a family builds a house, they build what they have money for. It’s not uncommon for families to live in a house that only has walls and a roof for a year or more while they save money for the electricity, ceilings, etc. At Clemente’s house I met his family for the first time; his two youngest children are 3 and 6. I’m pretty sure they hadn’t seen many white people in their life, because as I sat in the living room area little faces kept appearing around the corner, then I heard screaming, laughing, and little feet pattering down the hallway. This happened four or five times before the kids were distracted by lunch.

After a lunch of chicken, greens, and nsima we drove another 3 kilometers to his garden. His garden is situated on the outskirts of a village area, and on a small tract of land he grows an amazing variety of food stuff – maize, sugar cane, banana, rice, pumpkin, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, strawberries, onions, peas, beans, tangerines, mangoes, and fish ponds. It is enough to feed his entire family of him, his wife, three children, and two adopted children! Since it’s the dry season there wasn’t much growing, but we did harvest an enormous bunch of bananas, several stalks of sugar can, and some sweet potato greens. The neighbors also came along – a teacher who is the director of an organization of teacher’s living positively. “Living positively” is a way to describe living and staying healthy with HIV. In recent years many organizations have sprung up in Lilongwe and elsewhere aimed at creating support for people living with HIV/AIDS – these groups help people access health care, provide emotional support, educate others, and attempt to reduce stigma. It was so interesting to talk to him about his opinions and where his goals for making a positive impact.

At the end of the day Clemente needed to drive some mango saplings to a friend's house on the other side of Lilongwe. The car was completely full so the only place for the three-year-old to sit was on my lap. He sat on my lap without screaming and spent the first few minutes of the car ride examining my shins in great detail and touching them with a finger (white skin is fascinating I guess). However, by the end of the trip he had relaxed enough to rest his head against my shoulder and fall asleep.