What I’ll miss most about Malawi is the daily joy of the interns that stayed behind at college after graduation to help us for 3 weeks.  There were more than 60 of them.  Each morning they would wake up early to prepare for us.  They would go to chapel and start the praises and dancing.  They pushed us to worship with them as we struggled to get out of bed and wake up.  They continued to push us all day; to engage in conversation with them; to help us translate to engage in conversation with the people in the village.  Where does this joy come from?  I have to look to the villages.  That is where nearly all of them come from.  Not the villages I visited, but from all over Malawi. 

The start is the simple life.  There is much poverty all over Malawi, but still nearly everyone owns a plot of land.  Their ancestors had big plots of land.  As they have kids they just divide up the land.  The clay is in the ground.  They make their homes from the clay.  There is fertile land they tend for their life.  They can grow their own food in the rainy season. They know how to store rice, corn, sugar for the dry season.  They have everything they need.  In many ways they have more than Americans– their own land, their own house, and the skills to be self- sufficient.  In addition to this they also have more free time than Americans. 

The next piece is community.  They aren’t isolated in their homes like we are in the US. Their kids go out and play together everyday.  They talk to and support their neighbors.  A small wedding for them is 500 people.  The whole community wants to come together and celebrate.  The second piece of community is hospitality.  They don’t only extend it to their neighbors, they also welcome visitors with open arms, singing, and dancing.  The kids were the first to welcome us at the sound of the busses driving in, but the women were not far behind.  Visitors are not common.  It’s not easy to visit another village in the country.  People will walk to travel.  If they have more money they will take a ‘taxi’; which is usually a bicycle pedaled by the driver with the passenger sitting on a second seat behind them.  Visiting a village means intentionally.  The visitor wants to see the village and people in the village want to be seen.  It makes them feel recognized and loved.  In return the visitor feels the hospitality and appreciation. 

I am a foreigner, an azungu, but in many ways I was received as more special than a Malawian visitor.  They were seen by someone outside Malawi. It makes them feel loved.  This whole concept is hard for me to understand because it is so foreign to me. In the US we’re hesitant to knock on the door of a neighbor for fear of inconveniencing them or taking up too much of their limited time. 

Who am I that people in the village would care about meeting me and spending time with me?  I had to hear the answer from several interns.  I am Josh who traveled a great distance to visit each person I interacted with.  They will remember my name.  They will remember my smile.  They feel loved because of the small amount of time I spent with them.  They invited me to sit and join them.  I played with the kids.  The women cooked food for us and wanted to to participate and talk to them.  The men wanted to watch soccer with us.  The chiefs were just as welcoming as the kids.  There are many formalities with them that we would mess up.  They smiled, laughed, and corrected us.  They cheered us on when we finally got the Chichewa greeting correct.  Mouli bwanji. Ndiri bweeno kaya ino. Ndiri bweeno.  Zikomo. Zikomo. Welcome, welcome.  Thank you for coming. 

Then back to the interns.  In the US the expectation is nearly anyone can go to college.  In Malawi you have to finish your primary education at first, which is even more difficult for the girls.  Then they test into the public colleges, which are subsidized by the government.  Those who test the best have the lowest hurdle to attend college.  African Bible College, ABC, where we stayed is a private college.  These students tested lower and need to come up with more money to attend the school.  It’s been a long road just to get into college.  They feel blessed to be students.  They were chosen to help up and feel blessed by this also.  Just like the kid in the village that feels loved that an azungu traveled so far to spend time with them, the interns feel loved by our presence.  They feel loved by our attention.  They reflect that love and joy right back at us.  

It’s difficult to explain in words, but I think it is easy to see in the smiles in these pictures.