To BP or not to BP...

Murmurs of a gas crisis have been heard ever since we orginally crossed the border into Malawi. We thought we were invincible with our 80 liter tank and our two full 20 liter gerry-cans locked and loaded on the roof. We couldn’t imagine the crisis hitting the capital.

Yesterday we were proven wrong. We walked out of the World Camp house to see a (no exaggeration) kilometer long line of cars waiting to fill up with petrol. At this point we had under a quarter of a tank (+ 1 gerry-can) and we assumed that deliveries would be made. Again, we were proven wrong.

We headed into Lilongwe today with finding petrol as a priority. We are hoping to go to the lake this weekend with Momma Levitt.

As we reached the city, lines were forming at every gas station, but to our surprise, there was no gas. They were lining up in hopes that that station received the coveted petrol. We followed suit and parked our car in line at the BP in the government district. All the cars were abandoned; it seemed like the drivers went on with their daily activities and used the line as a parking lot.

We visited two of MCBO’s partners, Goods4Good and Theater for Change, within walking distance of the car to escape the heat and use Internet.
(Sidenote: We discovered that MCBO + Goods4Good are featured in November’s issue of Vogue…check it out!)

A few hours later, we had lost all hope. We gave up on gas and realized the Lake would not be a possible excursion this weekend. Minutes later, MCBO’s director, Chris, called to inform us that the BP on the drive out to Mchezi had just received a shipment of gas. We raced to the car in an attempt to make the cut.

It took only an hour until we were smiling and singing, with a full tank!

The remainder of the day was spent at MCBO where the volunteers distributed TOMs shoes to the OVCs. They looked so fashionable! Songs and soccer with the neighborhood gang until dark…and of course, beloved nsima. Its good to be home!