MALAWI

After another long day drive from Zanzibar and a overnight stop we crossed the border into Malawi and arrived at our campsite in Kande beach on the edge of Lake Malawi! We thought we would posh it up somewhat and paid for an upgrade from our tent to a beach front cabin for $10/night each.
Most of the time here was spent relaxing, playing football on the beach and swimming in the lake. Our guide Wilson made us a alcoholic punch in the first night and we spent it chatting around a camp fire on the beach!
The next day was another highlight for us on the trip, but was also very eye opening. We took a guided tour around the local village next to our campsite. Initially they tried to sell us stuff which was a bit annoying but when we got to the village they left us well alone. We met all the local children, they were so excited to see us and just wanted to hold our hand and walk with us. As 'payment' they just wanted to borrow our sunglasses, get their photos or videos taken and look back at them on our phone screens which amazed them. The concept of a touch screen meant I had about 6 children around me at one point all trying to play with my phone.
It was also quite a sad visit, we went to the school where we learnt that usually there was 100 children/teacher. The small school had 1000 pupils in total and very little equipment mostly relying on donations for books, paper and pencils. We were told by our guide to ask before giving the children anything. When one child asked for our 2 litre plastic bottle we didn't know why, but we found out it was just so he could take enough water to school for the day. As the nearest water pump was over half a mile from the school. When we gave it to him a fight broke out between the children all trying to get the bottle off him so they could have it for themselves.
We visited the local health centre (nothing like ours at home) which services 4000 people. At which there was not a single doctor, but a few health assistants (we think nurses) and if they needed any other healthcare they had to go the the regional health centre over 20km away, obviously none of these people had cars and the ambulances wouldn't normally do anything other than emergencies so they had to somehow get there themselves.
That night we were cooked a local meal in the village, at the only house with electricity, which cut off after 10 minutes. Then the school children have us a display of African dancing and singing which we had to join in with. They were far better then any of us!!Read more