As soon as we entered Malawi our spirits improved. The corrupt Mozambique authorities were behind us. Even the customs helper was polite, well spoken and nicely dressed with a professional demeanor. He was the complete opposite of all the screaming pushy ones in Mozambique. He helped us get thru customs and when I gave him about $6 and he politely thanked me. I thanked him for his help and shook his hand.
The first small town we came to was dirt streets, some small wooden shacks calling themselves stores or food stalls and one or two old cement buildings in desperate need of fresh paint. We wanted a Malawi sim card for our phone so we could call the friends of friends who had invited us to stay at their home that night. One of the small wood stalls had an airtel sign so I stopped but did not expect much. Dee stayed in the truck as I ducked through the doorway into the dimly lit wooden stall. To my complete surprise I was greeted by a man in pressed dress shirt who smiled and asked in almost perfect BBC English, “Good day, how may I help you.”
Despite the surroundings the next few minutes were as cultured as the same transaction would have been in a fancy shopping mall in the US.
Over the course of the next 15 minutes while we got the phone working and topped up with airtime several other nicely dressed men and women came in and we enjoyed polite, rather refined conversations. The confidence and self esteem which the Malawi people displayed was a tremendous contrast to most of what we had seen so far in Africa.
A bit later Dee and I stopped at a tiny locals restaurant and enjoyed our first dish of the traditional corn meal balls called, Nshima. The surroundings were rough but the interior was neat as a pin. There was one round table in the room with 5 seats around it and we sat down to join a local man eating there. The woman running the restaurant, like everyone we had met so far spoke perfect English with the same refined way of speaking. She told us we were the first “visitors” to ever eat at her restaurant. Her name was Maureen, her smile radiant, her food delicious and her company a delight- we had been in Malawi less than an hour and we loved the place already.
Rob
Malwi is full of wonderful freindly people I had the best 6 months of my life working in Malwi running a lodge.
If you make way as far as Livingstonia there is a lodge almost at the top run by an Ozy called mike thelodge is called the mushroom farm give it a try
If not just enjoy the wonderfull scenery and people all the best
We wish we could have made it to Livingstonia – everyone recommended it but alas not enough time. Besides that gives us more reason to return here.
Malawi sounds like such a treat!! Love the photo, too. Now that is a BEAMING smile, for sure (but then we know that everyone loves meeting the two of you!).