An Update From the Field II
Saalim Recounts His First Six Weeks In Malawi Lilongwe
It was very overwhelming walking around the city the first couple of times because there are countless things happening wherever you look, what you might call a sensory explosion! It is also quite surprising that Lilongwe is the capital city because it is very underdeveloped and spread out.
It wasn’t the best start to the trip as our most important bag (containing 4 of the donated laptops and all of Saalim’s clothes) was lost in transit. Luckily we were told that this is Africa (T.I.A) and it happens all the time so we shouldn’t worry. They were right and we went to pick it up a few days later, the relief we felt is an understatement! We were in Lilongwe for the week coming up to the festival, Lake of Stars, so it was a really exciting time to be there, especially where we were staying at Mabuya camp- seemingly the hub of everyone and everything. We met some of the most interesting people, we have never been somewhere quite like this where everyone is so inspiring. So many people all doing the most exciting projects ranging from music workshops to filming.
Saalim & Lucy on arrival in Lilongwe Lake of Stars
Lake of Stars was one of the most incredible festivals either of us have been to. It had the most beautiful backdrop so it’s hard to believe that an idea of holding a festival there has actually been realised. It’s set on Lake Malawi and is absolutely tiny, which just adds to the charm.
The pace of it is very much aligned with the Malawian way, slow, and everyone seems to get on board with this immediately. Yet again, we met some brilliant people, notably a guy called Pete from the Netherlands who quit his management job and decided to walk from Cape Town to Cairo, a trip that would take him 3 years! It didn’t all go perfectly, on the first night Saalim’s wallet was stolen, Lucy was M.I.A for a good few hours but it was impossible to be angry waking up to that unbelievable view, the best hangover cure.
We stayed up for sunrise on two of the nights and they were purely unforgettable, the sun rising from the other side of the lake over Mozambique. Definitely the perfect place to spend a birthday as it was Saalim’s on the Sunday night, which conveniently also had the best music. After Lake of Stars we went back to Lilongwe to get down to business and sort out all the building supplies. It was hilarious going around all the different building shops and wheeler dealing. After all that was sorted we then had to go through the ordeal of hiring a 3 tonne truck to take all the stuff and us down to the village. Luckily the night before we were meant to be heading down to Mlambe things suddenly fell into place- a common trait of Malawi- and a bidding war proceeded with two trucks now on offer! Mlambe
By the time we got there on the Friday it was dark and the most surreal experience. The village is about 20 kilometres down a dirt track from the main road so very much ‘in the sticks’. When we arrived there were masses of children waiting for us, and even when we were unloading all the building materials. Then we went off to Steven’s house where we are staying, along with his wife, children, chickens and goats. We thought that it would take a while to adjust to the Mlambe lifestyle but its complete serenity immediately takes a hold of you, meeting all the people, feeling so welcomed, it’s amazing how quickly you adjust and now we absolutely love it. On our first day we had a meeting with the 6 local chiefs to explain what our intentions were. This was another bizarre experience but they were all so friendly and had some very profound things to say about how we can work together to improve the community’s future. We’ve had a full week working now. There are 9 ‘experts’ including Steven and Geoffrey who are both brilliant. Everyone works intensely hard so we try and keep up, it’s certainly tough though! Due to the hard work and lack of lighting, we have been going to bed at 7.30 and then are usually woken up early by a cockerel on top of our roof before we have to be up at 6! We are trying to learn as much Chichewa as possible but it’s hard and at times the language barrier can be frustrating! We constantly have a group of kids following us. Lucy feels like the pied piper… minus the flute. Everyone is so happy despite the fact they have so little, yet again, we are surrounded by inspiring people. The current school situation is awful - the one building they have is completely dilapidated, bat infested, dark and broken so most of the lessons are done under trees and in some of the classes there are 100 students. The new school block is very close to completion, the teachers can’t wait to be able to teach lessons in proper conditions! We did a boat safari yesterday morning, which was incredible as we’re staying at Mvuu, only about 4km from the Mlambe school. We saw so many elephants and hippos and we are both excited now for our next week of work…
Lucy walking back to the school with one of the pupils
