Observations in van ride:
Two oxen pulling cart accompanied by two teenage boys.
Nice road
Group of residences, little boy playing with old tire.
Goats, lots of goats
Several villages with round houses with thatched roofs.
Catholic or Anglican Church.
Another Ox Cart.
Small roadside stands
Boys with bamboo displays
Women at well pumping water
Sudden stop for goats crossing road.
Small market areas, businesses in individual stalls.
Cattle grazing along side road.
More woman pumping water from well or bore hole.
Roadside stand with tomatoes for sale.
Police checkpoint, they stop a van ahead of us and let us through.
Another market area, people selling various goods, bamboo furniture, fruit, cabbages.
Electric wires. Are the villages able to afford the cost of the hook–up? Probably not.
Another girl pumping water.
What could be charcoal for sale.
The smell of smoke.
Someone on a motor cycle.
What could be a grain elevator? Or was it a water tower?
Burned grass: Luzu said that they burn grass to scare out the mice. They eat the mice, or sometimes sell mice on a stick to passersby.
Electric substation.
A large tree, approximately two feet wide, that has been cut down.
Salima Aids Support Organization: Started by a nurse in 1993 to increase AIDs awareness in community. Programs include youth outreach, home based care, work with orphans, voluntary counseling, and testing. One of the goals is to break down fears of AIDs. Before someone with children dies, they are asked to identify a family member who can care for their children so they are not orphaned.
They have what they call a children’s care corner every Saturday. As we were there on a Saturday, we got to meet the children, most of whom were under the age of fourteen and many of whom were orphaned. SASO provides them with two meals, play time, share experiences, promote oneness and nondiscrimination. The children’s care corner meets on the grounds of a primary school. When we arrived, they were gathered in the school building singing us a song of welcome. It was very special to be greeted in a joyous musical welcome by a lot of smiling shildren.
Later I asked what they liked best about coming to SASO. Here are some response: shoes (he was the only one wearing shoes), children’s corner, education, games such as football (soccer), and food.
As we were talking with some of the adult volunteer workers, I took a snapshot of a group of children gathered nearby. They were excited by the camera, and even more excited by seeing their pictures. They were laughing as the pushed to get a glimpse of the small photo on my digital camera. I had to move because the kids and I were making too much noise. So, I tried to take more pictures and they kept waving their hands in the air. It was hard to get them to stop moving for the picture as they wanted to move forward closer to the camera.
The final stop of the day was to visit one of the home–based care patients that SASO is working with, a young woman, aged 28 with two children whose husband walked out on here after her HIV diagnosis. She walked out to meet us, because their was a funeral going on in the village. It touched us all deeply that she did so, because she was so small, frail, and voiceless.
More observations from the van:
A village or church school with 2 VIP latrines
Two women carrying large metal pails on their head. Are the pails filled with water.
Man on a bicyle carrying a load of firewood tied on a rack on the back of the bike.
We are staying tonight and tomorrow night on Senga Bay, near Salima, Malawi, in a place called Carolina’s Beach Resort. I am sharing a dormitory with a very nice young woman named Stephanie. Senga Bay is on Lake Malawi, one of the largest lakes in the world. It is a bit windy as I write this and the waves are rolling in.
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