Made it 🇲🇼

 At 12:31 PM the woman sitting next to me on my last flight heading into Malawi startled herself awake with a gasp. She pounded her husband’s arm to wake him and signaled for me to open the window shade. Her burka fluttered around us as she flapped her arms and pointed at her phone to show me the time. Totally not understanding the significance of 12:31, I asked what was going on? She was excited to see her three year old daughter who was waiting for her at the airport. And weren’t we landing now? 

They have been traveling for one month. She her husband and 110 other Muslim Malawians who went to Saudi Arabia to participate in the Hajj and visit Mecca. They walked with millions of others for five days. The photos on her phone showed swaths of people in numbers higher than any event I’ve ever attended, that’s for sure! As they walked, guards with huge bottles of water sprayed the people going by. The heat was tremendous— many people have died because of it. Overnight they stayed in tents— a city of tents. Huge white circus looking tents that people rent like hotel rooms. Along the route were pop up vendors serving food. Her photos were of course similar to those we have all seen on TV, but having her next to me sharing what she had just seen was enlightening. She was covered head to toe, I could only see her eyes, but in the photos she had pulled down her face covering, so I got a sense of what she looked like,

Her name is Abiba (sure I’m spelling that wrong). She’s been married for 4 years. She grew up in India and her cousin is friends with her now husband which is how they met and were subsequently married. He has worked in Malawi for the last 20 years, so after the wedding she moved to Malawi. She doesn’t love it, she misses home.  I don’t have any photos of her, that felt weird, but she did invite me over to her place the next time I’m in town!

It’s 3:46 PM now and I’m at the hotel. The place is great— I did try to take a shower, but there was no hot water and I’m not desperate enough yet for a cold one.  I am hoping that changes later today or tomorrow morning (that the water is hot, not that I am desperate!) Our luggage arrived, I brought in all 5 donated computers (thank you Julie Smith and Cannon!) without incident and now I am working hard to not take a nap before dinner. 

Here are a few photos I took:

Flying into Malawi

 

This is how many, many people travel along on the roads— hitch a ride on the back of a truck. 

This is an example of places along the side of the road where people charge their phones. Only 17% of households in Malawi have electricity, so if they have a phone, this is where they go.