Malawi

June 25

My overland tour officially set off from Livingstone, Zambia on Sunday, June 22. It was an early morning with a long day of driving to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia (as opposed to Chipata, which I said in my previous post).

There's a commonly used expression around here- "Only in Africa." It's used to describe pretty well anything that would otherwise surprise you. For example, the 2ft deep potholes that span the width of the road, or the police stops every 100km, or the concept of African time (which involves exponential multiplication of a specified time or duration).

I am truly in rural Africa now. Hot showers and internet are sparse. The cross-continental driving is an eye-opening experience, to say the least. The culture shock is immense, and I have nearly been brought to tears on a daily basis.

There is no longer the comfort of a television screen sitting between me and the images of starving children as I enjoy my hot meals. We stopped for lunch on our way to Lusaka, pulling off the 'highway' to prepare our meal. While we thought we were in a secluded area, in the middle of nowhere, we quickly learned that in Africa, you are never alone. Within minutes a group of children were scampering towards us. Barefoot, dust-covered, and swollen stomachs, they were mesmerized by us- 'the aliens had landed.' Who knows where they had come from, as there were no villages in sight. As we sliced our tomatoes and set out the bread and butter, the group of children, which grew larger with every passing minute, slowly made their way towards us, giggling, pointing, and staring.

We made our sandwiches and plopped into the dust to enjoy our lunch... only not a single one of us actually enjoyed our food. Our guide, a white Zimbabwean carrying an Irish passport, explained that unless we had food for all of them (the group was nearly 30 now...), we simply couldn't pass out our food. They would viciously fight for the scraps, leaving us to witness a scene even more disturbing. To keep from sounding like I'm describing a pack of wild animals, I must point out that these were the friendliest, more adorable children I have ever seen. And from my time in the kids program at Cleve's, I've seen a lot of kids. It's fascinating how the poorest of the poor will always return a smile and a wave. Not only could we have caused a serious scramble amongst the children, there are political implications in a group of white tourists simply giving away their food. Not that I feel it's my place to teach any of them a lesson, but I am not necessarily helping anyone in the big picture by rewarding begging- which leads the children to believe that if you beg from the whites, you shall receive. For true sustenance, the simple process of working for your food (money aside), must be learned. This is a fundamental believe in many world-aid organizations.

We packed up our lunch spot and moved on, without a morsel of food handed out. The children jumped and cheered and beamed their friendly smiles as we pulled away.

After a short night in Lusaka, we had a 4:30am departure for Chipata, which lies 20km short of the border to Malawi. We arrived early and a group of us decided to head out of a run to explore some of the rugged village and countryside. I was ecstatic to know that I had runners amongst me, since I was struggling with the long days sitting on the bus. We poured out our pent-up energy in a good 12km run, where we got a direct taste of the culture. It was clear that Africans are natural runners when an adorable 5 year old girl, on her way home from school, joins us in our run for nearly 4km. She was in a dress and bare feet with a book bag bouncing on her back.

It was on Monday evening that we heard news of the Zimbabwean opposition withdrawing from the election. I consider myself lucky to be so close to all of this (but at a safe distance), since I am hearing a variety of unique perspectives. As I mentioned, my tour leader is Zimbabwean, and we also have a South African on our trip. Both believe that the withdrawal is a 'ploy,' in an attempt to garner the international attention that the situation direly needs. The election is on Friday, so we'll see what comes of it.

Last night night we stayed in Lilongwe, Malawi. Mom and Dad- I shipped a rather large parcel, shaped like a 4.5ft tall wooden-carved giraffe. The running crew managed to squeeze in a late-afternoon run along the beach before jumping into beautiful Lake Malawi for a swim. Luckily I didn't have any anxiety issues and had a fantastic swim far out into the lake.

Before breakfast today the we went for a nice 30minute run along the main road outside our campsite. All of the children were on their way to school and joined us as we made our way through town. If you've seen the movie "Ali", the experience was much like his run through an African village. The children swarmed us, laughing and pointing at our shoes (an absolute absurdity around here), cheering us on as we ran. I couldn't have asked for a better way to see the most rural parts of this continent.

I'm now at Kande Beach on Lake Malawi and have a full day to relax and enjoy the scenery around here.

Posting photos isn't an option here, but I'll put some up as soon as I have the opportunity.

Tonight we've got a tropical punch night (featuring cane, a local liquor, and the cheapest vodka we could find) on this idyllic beach.... and the vacation continues.