Malawi Visit Tour and School Visit (Lake Malawi / Kande)

While our campsite was more of a western haven (once again, loads of white people allowed to wear and eat pretty much anything), we resumed culture-shockness once we left for the village, having to dress modestly and obeying the customs of the tribe.

This village was just outside our campsite along the beach of Lake Malawi. The campsite was nice. We set up tents on the beach under some crudely made roofing, were allowed to swim and do water sports, and there was a nice bar.

This village was a bit more what you’d expect a non-modern African village to be like. Loads of mud and brick huts with simple roofs, tons of mini gardens and small stalls for fish and other sorts of food, tons of corn crops and root-vegetable crops.

This village had a single proper water pump, installed by the Canadian government, that provided a clean and safe way to obtain drinking water. It was all metal, and had a lever to pump the water straight from the ground.

In this village, the men, if they were wealthy, had several wives, sometimes up to five! Not all marriages were based on wealth or arranged by parents, some were done out of love, which was nice.

It rained as we were visiting a house, where we stayed for about 30 or so minutes. Once the rain cleared, we visited a local school and hung around with the local students, playing with them and teaching them all about where we came from. Some were fascinated there were cities that consisted of just tall, tall buildings. Skyscrapers are some things these kids never, and will never, see, so the idea still fascinated them. None of the kids were shy, and had many questions. The few I were talking to had, of course, knew all about Obama (or, the fact that he was black and the US President) and were astounded to hear I lived in the same city as him, and just blocks away too.


So, this one girl apparently wanted to go the states really badly….reeally really badly. The 15 year old guy I was talking to kept nudging her too me…a bit odd. He asked if I was married, to which I replied no (first mistake), he asked if I was going to go back home eventually, to which I said yes (second mistake), and asked if there were a lot of jobs at home (third mistake). He promptly tried to set me up to marry the 14 year old girl who really wanted to go to the states…and marriage, it seemed, was the only way to get there. He was so determined that he tried to arrange a time to meet outside our campsite. I never stepped a foot outside the campsite after the village walk…

The school was a bit depressing, and not because of the infrastructure. In fact, it was one of the top primary schools in Malawi. What was depressing was that the national primary school graduation rate is between 30-50%, while secondary school is a shameful 6%, followed by a disgraceful 2% on the university level (and lets not even get into post-graduate studies). The Malawian government provides little to nothing for the students to go to school, barely any incentives, and its not a requirement. In fact, they rely so much on foreign aid and help that they really won’t do anything till the rich westerners do first. And its like this in many, many African countries, where they have relied so much on aid that they figure they don’t have to do a damn thing to help their infrastructure.

We visited a local hospital afterwards. Only 1 doctor and 2 nurses for 22,000 people spread across the village beach front for miles. Disgusting. Another area that needs so much work done. There were a ton of people waiting to see the doctor, many with flu like symptoms (I’m guessing Malaria) and just general check ups. The hospital was…well, it was ok. Nice beds for patients who are sick, and just enough equipment to get by. But only 1 doctor for 22,000 people? They can’t exactly ship in more in a time of crisis either.

It was certainly an experience, and one of the days where I learned far too much about the local area I was visiting.