Chasing the Sun

80% of Malawi’s population lives in villages.  Best I could tell a village is 6 to 25 small mud or mud brick houses with grass roofs.   They are typically 6 by 5 meters or smaller.   The kitchen is a pot sitting on an open fire, on the ground outside.  An outhouse completes each homestead.  Goats and chickens roam around and do not seem to belong to anyone in particular.  Children run around playing with sticks, homemade balls, bicycle rims, and each other.

The villagers are primarily subsistence farmers.  The women keep life going.  They bring in water from wells in five gallon buckets on their head.  (I gave this chore a try.  I had help getting it on and off my head, they pop it up on their head like it was a feather chapeau.  I walked slowly with one hand on the precariously balanced bucket.)  They do it up to 10 times a day with no help, no hands, in a long skirt, barefoot and often with a baby strapped on their back – -all while looking incredibly comfortable and elegant, sometimes talking or singing while they walk down the dirt roads.

In addition, they are drying maize, picking tomatoes, peeling vegetables, gathering eggs and cooking on an open fire.  They may do some piece work or make baskets to earn a little money.

We went into a few homes.  There was nothing inside except mats on the floor for sleeping.  When I say nothing.  I mean it literally.  No clothes, no shelves, no books, no table, no chair, no cupboard…nothing.  They own the clothes on their backs, buckets for carrying water, pots for cooking and a few bowls for eating.

Most of the men are farming or fishing.  They walk or bicycle almost exclusively for transport.

This is how 80% of the 15 million Malawians live.

That said, they celebrate life!