Two Villages

Yesterday we went to two villages, both without water or electricity. What we saw was very hard to imagine and the large majority of this post may be difficult to read.

At the first village, we parked the mini-bus and then walked a few hundred meters to a small water source where there were some families washing clothes and dishes and gathering water. There were mostly women and children there. They were very happy to see us! We shared some greetings and took some photos - they love having their picture taken and especially getting to see the digital photo after it is taken. There was a girl who looked to be about 12 or 13 who very proudly showed us how she lifted the bucket of water, which contained about 20 L (5 +/- gallons) and put it on her head and then flexed her muscles. It was very funny :) I need to let you know though what this water source was like - it was a small hole that they dig, about 3 feet in diameter by about 1 foot deep near a small stream that was fairly dry because it is the dry season. They fill up shallow pans with the water and then empty it into the 20 L bucket. They fill up several buckets and then the women put them on their head and carry them back to the village - they never spill a drop.

From there, we walked with them to their village. It was several hundred meters (about 1 km). They let us know that they walk to the water source at least 5 times a day and sometimes as many as 20 times. As we approached the village, they begin drumming and dancing as a welcome to us. They gave us such a warm welcome and the children came running to meet us as we approached. There was some more dancing and then they set up some chairs for us and they asked us to sit in the chairs while the entire village gathered around and sat down in front of us. There were about 200-300 people or so (the entire village was about 380 families, each with about 5 people per family). One of the men from the ministry of health, who is a partner with WFP spoke to the village and let them know why we were there. Then the chief spoke and he let us know that the water source their water source is polluted and causes disease among the village. They share their water source with He asked us to help them get a clean water source so they don't have to share their water source with the animals and they can reduce diseases like cholera and diarrhea.

Then we took a look around the village. There were many houses that were brick, they make the brick right there. The roofs are straw and the houses are on average about 200 SF big, and about 5 people live there. In the entire village there were 38 pit latrines, meaning only 10% of the village has some kind of sanitation facilities. They don't usually share latrine facilities, so the rest go in the bush. In many cases, children are afraid of going in the pit latrines because there are no concrete slabs on the top of them - it's just a hole in the ground that is about 10-feet deep. Sometimes, especially when it is raining, the ground around it gets soft and the children fall in and drown.

After the chief showed us the village, we came back to the main area where they did some more drumming and dancing and we took lots of photos. The children LOVE to have their photo taken. I'll try and post some later, it looks like I can pretty easily upload them to this computer that I'm using.

The second village was very similar - I'll write more about that later. Some of the things that were truly outstanding to me was that the villages were extremely welcoming to us, they basically have nothing yet they set up the chairs for us and welcomed us into their community and let us see how they live. Many people speak English very well, but most speak native Malawi. There is a strong sense of family in the village and protection of their children. It is clear that these folks need some help.

As we left the village, they all walked with us back to the mini-bus, singing and cheering along the way. When we got to the bus, they begged us for some bottled water. It's very hard, because we didn't have enough for the entire village, and giving out one or two bottles would surely have caused a ruckus.

When we got back to Blantyre, Nelson, our bus driver, took us to his favorite place to eat, called Martin's. It has lots of really excellent local fare, including Nsima which is sort of like polenta. I had some vegetables, pumpkin greens in a nut puree, beans and rice - it was fabulous.
~k