When The Grove first went to Malawi 20 years ago they were greeted by the women and children the same as today, but they weren’t able to meet with the chiefs.  The village chiefs are responsible for planning and managing their village.  As Live Love Malawi expanded their reach they were able to slowly build up this communication with the chiefs.  First it was just one chief at Chipampha, then two chiefs.  As the positive results came for these initial villages more and more chiefs took notice.  Recently they have been hosting a Chief’s Conference at the college campus. This year there were more than 150 chiefs who showed up!  Live Love Malawi primarily supports 5 villages but they have the attention of so many villages surrounding Lilongwe. 

We formed a giant chain of azungus to greet the chiefs.  We did a terrible job with Chichewa, but they smiled, laughed, and tried to teach us.  They smiled even bigger if we got it correct.  Then they all got their photo taken before starting the conference.  They sat together, ate together, and broke out into small teams to dream about the future together.  These weren’t just men.  Nearly a third of the chiefs are strong women.  

We printed out and framed their pictures as a keepsake of their time together.  For most this conference is the only time they get their picture taken.