Down from the Plateau

There is a lake that runs most of the north-south length of Malawi, filling part of the Great Rift Valley that runs from southern Europe all the way to South Africa.  Lake Malawi is as long as Lake Superior and about 50 miles across at its widest point.  Unlike Superior, the water is warm, not quite bathwater warm, but warm enough to spend a half hour or even an hour in without chilling down.  And on a day like today, with a strong southeasterly breeze, its crystal clear waters breaking in 5 - 6 foot waves make for some of the best bodysurfing imaginable.  

One of the accompanying photos shows Chombe Mountain, in the clouds, as viewed across the bay from Chitimba Beach where we're staying tonight.  With luck (no clouds, that is), we'll watch the full moon rise this evening over the moutains of Tanzania, some fifty miles away.

We have come down from the plateau this morning to begin our journey south to Lilongwe, the capital city, and then westward into Zambia to visit South Luongwa National Park where we hope to see at least 3 of the "Big Five" of Africa's great wild beasts.  More about that in a subsequent post.  Today, we're at Chitimba Camp on the great Lake Malawi, just down the treacherous Garoti Road from Livingstonia and, with the magic of wireless internet, we can finally send along some photos with this post.

Yesterday was "opening day" for the newly-named Straight to the Heart Bursary (so-named because Malawi is widely known as "the warm heart of Africa."  We awarded our first two scholarships to Rose Banda and Paul Nguwe Msiska, two volunteer teachers who I've been working with at Livingstonia Primary School.  They are both hardworking teachers who do a great job against incredible odds.  Rose's standard 3 (third grade) class has 128 pupils and Paul's standard 4 class has 77.  Neither of them finished their secondary education because they couldn't pay fees, and now both plan to take their final exams in November.  As with secondary ed here, fees must also be paid to take the exams, and those fees are due by April 15th.  The rest of the scholarship money you contributed will be awarded prior to the start of second term which begins on April 27th. 

The accompanying photo shows Rose and Paul (in the middle) along with local chief Ptembe and the headmistress of the secondary school where they will take the exams, Mercy Jerre. Both Paul and Rose hope to go on to university after they have completed their secondary school exams and both want to be teachers.  Based on what I've observe, they are both well-suited to the career.

By the oddest of coincidences, too long to explain here, on Saturday we will attend the wedding of a young woman from Frederic in the city of Mzuzu, about two hours from here.  Annie Lupo met her husband to be, Fred Gondwe, when she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi.  They had a daughter together, Sinyala, and last fall Annie decided to return to Malawi to marry her daughter's father.  This strong-willed, ambitious young woman has already found employment as an administrator at a local coal mine.  The photo shows the young family visiting us in Livingstonia last Sunday. 

It is 82 degrees in the shade of the Tiki hut as I write this, a strong breeze blowing off the lake, the water a beautiful azure blue.  We feel blessed to be here amongst all this beauty in the company of the friendly, laid-back, humble Malawians, many of whom we now call friends. We'll try to make another post in the next ten days before we return to the plateau, hopefully including some photos of large animals.  Hope this finds you all happy and healthy in the burgeoning spring.