Tomorrow we depart the Northern shores of Lake Malawi and will make our way into Tanzania crossing over and down the Great Rift Valley. Not well promoted, Malawi is a small country of 14 million people packed into a country where Lake Malawi takes up more than 1/3 of the country’s landmass. The country is extremely poor but the people are friendly and the children have dreams of becoming doctors, nurses and teachers. The country relies heavily on foreign support through governments and NGO’s and we’re told corruption is rampant and much of the money does not reach the intended causes. The country is hilly and scenic and more lush than Zambia due to the closer proximity to the equator although still some distance away. The country boasts over 10% of its land surface allocated into 9 National Parks or Wildlife Reserves however our organized group tour did not give us the opportunity to see any of the parks so we really can’t comment on them.
The highlight of our trip through Malawi was a walk through the small fishing village of Ngala where we were met by smiling children eager to hold our hands and walk with us through the dusty paths that led through the town and surrounding areas. I met one young girl, Agnes, 9 years old and in grade 4. She is fatherless but has dreams of becoming a doctor. She is mature and articulate and we know she will succeed and we have reached out to one of the townsfolk to try to find her through her school and help us get in touch with her. Hopefully we can do something to help her in her journey.
Malawi is definitely a country to explore independently and there is so much more to see. Maybe we’ll return some day.