The team all arrived safely and were welcomed by our Malawi brothers and sisters with many hugs and greetings. This trip is unique as it has several different components which include Alpha Training, Youth & Young Adult Training and Economic Empowerment. All of which provide much needed opportunities for learning, sharing and empowering.
Pure joy. Today we witnessed pure joy over something every American takes for granted, water. Through our partners, Water Access Malawi / Water 4 we were given a tour of some of the water wells funded by Church of the Resurrection. Our first stop was the village of Chikasu, which means Big Hoe, 2 hours east of Liliongwe. We drove down a dirt road surrounded by houses and smiling faces at every turn. Once we arrived at the drilling site we were able to learn more about the drilling process from Joseph, Water Access Malawi’s director. The drill we saw was manned by 6 workers, and takes 5 days to complete. They were on day 2 and they are currently 39 feet down. The completed well will be 50-100 feet deep. Water Access Malawi hoped to drill 25 wells in 2017. The well we visited was 24. After visiting with the villagers we said our good byes to countless faces and continued to our next stop.
The second village we visited was home to a recently completed well. We were greeted with beautiful singing, dancing and waving of branches. The villages gave us a very warm welcome complete with seats arranged under a lovely shade tree. We heard from the village spokesperson, Esther, about the impact of the well. She told us the women no longer have to get up at 4:30 in order fetch the water for the day. The children can take 3 baths a day if they wanted to! Side by side we blessed the well and the villagers. Watching water pour from the well was truly a blessing and privilege.
Our last stop of the day was a beautiful treat. We ate lunch at the Livingtonia resort overlooking Lake Malawi. Lake Malawi runs the length of the country and resembles a beach more than a lake. The roar of the “ocean” made for a lovely end to an amazing day.
Zikomo kwambiri (thank you very much in Chichewa, the national language of Malawi)
October Malawi team