First Impressions of Malawi

One of the many people that we met when we were in Malawi asked us about our first impressions of Malawi. I told him that my first impression was deforestation. As I write this one month after returning home there are three first impressions that stay with me: deforestation, coffins, and goats. My first sight of Malawi came when our flight from Johannesburg was descending to the international airport in Malawi. Even though I was sitting in an aisle seat, I had a decent view out the window. The very first thing I noticed was the lack of trees. No, the landscape was not entirely denuded of trees, for there were patches of trees.

After I got in the van with Luzu for the trip from the airport to Wendels –– about a 30-minute drive give or take –– I resumed my observations. I noted large areas without trees, and something else. There were large areas of land that had been burned. As the days wore on, a common sight were these burned out patches of land.

In Malawi, it was very common to see individuals selling there wares by the side of the road. Some had small stands; others merely claimed a patch of land. Fairly early on in the trip, I began to see that many if these “vendors” were selling charcoal in what were similar to baskets on the top of long poles stuck in the ground. The charcoal could be used for cooking. So, this would account for some of the deforestation. But what accounted for the burned land.

Luzu provided the answer. If memory serves, there are two common explanations for the burned land. One is more obvious, clearing land for crops. The other is less obvious. I wrote in a recent entry that people burn land near their villages to draw out mice, which are eaten. One of the things that vendors sell are mice on a stick. Once I knew what I was looking for, the mice on a stick were easy to recognize.

In my first glimpse of Malawi as we were driving from the airport to Wendels, we all noticed the large number of coffin makers selling their wares in these small roadside stands. This is a very sad and visible sign of the high death rate in Malawi. It sounds very callous to say that I got used to seeing a lot of coffins for sale during my time in Malawi. I don’t mean to be unfeeling, but after a couple of days I just had to turn off the large number of coffins for sale.

I’ll write about goats tomorrow.