I have made it to Malawi safe and sound. I’ve been spending my first weeks in country at Maji Zuwa, which is the place where I stayed when I visited two years ago. Matt was nice enough to let us stay here to become acclimated to the culture and to learn a few skills before we moved to the house at Khwawa Secondary School where Sami and I will be living and working; me for the next year, her for the next five months.

While at Maji Zuwa we have been learning a few key phrases in Tumbuka from the boys who work and live here. We’ve also been learning how to cook Malawian dishes over a fire from the women who work in the kitchen as well as from a few girls that live in the village.

The first Sunday we were here, Matt asked two of the girls who live in Sangilo Village to take us on a tour to meet their families, see their homes, the primary school, and the hospital. The walk around the village was also an opportunity for us to get out of Maji Zuwa for a while. Although this place is gorgeous and amazing, we were going a little stir crazy. We walked for an hour and a half and had a great time. While we were walking with Alice and Patricia (the two girls) asked for our surnames. After I told them mine Alice started smiling and I asked why. She replied that that was the name of her sponsor. This was huge news. My mom and dad are her sponsors! As her sponsors, they pay for her education in Secondary School including school fees, uniform and shoes, books, and a bicycle among other things. How often is it that you are able to meet the person that is benefiting directly from a donation or sponsorship? Another cool thing is that Alice will be one of my students at Khwawa CDSS (Community Day Secondary School). School fees for a CDSS come to about $15 and it’s more than most families can even think about saving for the children and in most to all cases, if there is a choice between education a son or a daughter, the son will be chosen as top priority.

Meeting Alice and learning that my parents sponsor her education was a great start to my journey in Malawi. A lot has happened since then but I plan to break up my posts into a few shorter stories instead of having one large one. Internet will be sparse so posting and checking emails will happen infrequently. I did get a cell phone and I am able to text a few times a week but calling out is really expensive.