An Introduction to Malawi

If you speak to any Malawian and ask them to describe their country the response is all the same: Malawi is the warm heart of Africa. It only took a few short days in country to see just how warm it is. Every greeting is robust, mellifluous, and met with a smile. The kids, or as they’re known colloquially, the iwes, mob you, but in a good way. They just want to hold your hand or give you a thumbs up accompanied by a tittered Boo! or Shop!
Not only are the people friendly, inviting, and warm-hearted, the country itself is beyond beautiful. It’s amazing the vast degree of landscapes in a space roughly the size of Indiana. There are pine forests (filled with monkeys), granite mountains, cacti savannahs, baobob trees, and I even have a rose bush in my front flower garden. You have to love a place where mangoes are so bountiful you can simply pluck one from the nearest tree, regardless of the yard or property owner, there’s a tree nearly every 100 ft or so. Just ask the iwes for a mango and they’ll come back with a basketfull, it’s beautiful. Avocadoes and papaya are also quite similar, I’m in tropical fruit medley heaven.
It’s the sort of the place where people welcome you into their homes with an offer of food. It’s a tad rude to decline, Palije ntchindi, it shows no respect. This has been the source of some conflict, say when the offer includes an offer of meat (this is rarer than you think though). But I’ve got a fail-proof way of declining said offer, I say I’m buddhist. That way I can get out of eating meat and going to church. That aside, Malawi is a place where the second most common phrase behind hello, monile, is nawonga, I am grateful.
Sure, the iwes yell azungu at you quite often, but it’s more from their seeing so few white people, as we’ve visited many remote villages and all. You shouldn’t take offense though, I certainly don’t in any case. It’s pretty cute to hear the iwes practice their English: Good morning (it’s the middle of the afternoon), how are you? I am fine and how are you? It’s always so proper and said without inflection. It sort of makes me feel guilty to even say “y’all” around them for fear of corrupting their proper English. On the other hand, I don’t feel guilty at all about cussing, especially considering the kids have absolutely no grasp of what I’m saying. I’ve resorted to yelling “fuck” at any minor mishap just to exercise the privilege.
I can say without a doubt, I’m so grateful to be in such a beautiful place. Every day holds something new and I’m relishing every opportunity to embrace what it holds. I hope you like the real start of this blog, again my apologies for not writing more until now. Hopefully, I can post more frequently. In the meantime, enjoy these few pictures.