It is my eleventh day here in Malawi and I am growing to love “ The Warm Heart of Africa” more and more. In just 11 days, I have experienced two trips to Camp Hope as well as adventures to Dedza and around Lilongwe. Lilongwe is the capital of Malawi and home to the World Camp house, which has quickly come to feel like home to me. Each time we return, I am always excited to get back to our evenings of dinner and chatting and days full of trips to various markets and other spots around the city.
Everywhere you go, there are vendors along the side of the road with all sorts of goods from sugar cane to woven furniture and everything in between. On the trip home from Camp the other day we even saw members of the Gule Wamkulu, a secret cult that performs dances at ceremonies, walking along the roadside.
One of my favorite parts of coming “home” is the men who work around the house. John is the House Manager and one of my favorite people to chat with. Each morning when I wake up John can usually be found in the kitchen and makes my mornings a delight (which for me is no easy task) his big smiles and mannerisms can cheer up anyone’s day; not to mention that he makes one mean shepherd’s pie! Ngoni is the Grounds Manager and he is always bringing in beautiful eggplant and tomatoes that he grows in the yard and greeting us at the gate with the enthusiasm of seeing a much missed friend. He makes coming home feel like a celebration regardless of how long I’ve been gone.
During
our trip to Dedza and Camp you get to drive past some beautiful
scenery, mountains which stick up out of the ground so sharply it is as
if someone dropped them down from the sky. Baobab trees that stand broad
and tall against the backdrop of villages with tall grass fences and
roofs. Kids drive cattle carts alongside the road and roving bands of
goats stress Emily out by always lingering too close to, if not in, the
road.In our trip to see the ancient rock paintings near Dedza we got to hike up one of the mountains to a cave with 2,000 year old paintings of animals and people on the ceiling. There is a chameleon, a duck, a person, a lion, a bull as well as other animals painted in black and white and still very visible after all this time. On the way back down the mountain to view even older rock art, we even saw some monkeys hanging out in nearby trees.
Closer
to the village, there is rock art done by Pygmies that is 10,000 years
old. The Pygmy rock art is red and reaches impressively high up, the
Pygmies used ladders or stood on each other’s shoulders to paint all
sorts of scenery including a nearly 20ft tall giraffe which was my
personal favorite.The longer I stay in Malawi, the more I see how beautiful this place is. Whether it is the beauty in the culture of kindness or the incredibly cute kids at Camp and everywhere else or in the breathtaking sunsets every evening, I cannot stop marveling at Malawi. In the next few weeks, I have no doubts I will continue being amazed as we travel to the Lake and as we start work on our different programs that will kick off in September and October.
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