Our journey begins everyday.

Everyday brings a new adventure. We don't have to look for it, we only have to look.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Malawi - Livingstonia and Nkhata Bay

Most of our Malawi time was spent in two places.  Lukwe Eco Lodge at Livingstonia and Mayoka at Nkhata Bay.  The first location is known for amazing waterfalls, nature, and the historical community of Livingstonia.  In Livingstonia we walked around the villages, met locals, did a bit of work around the lodge to help out the owner (Auke, a nice Belgian guy) and just hung out. 
Nkhata Bay is basically a tourist draw on Lake Malawi where you'll find many young travelers (or volunteer workers) coming to unwind for the weekend, read: party. We spent 3 weeks at Nkhata Bay, where we played in the lake quite a bit and spent the rest of our time volunteering.
Me and my brother spent lots of time on this dock. Sometimes the local boys would join us.

Beach soccer









Mister Chocolate, as we called him had many stories to tell. His father was the first doctor to get trained in Malawi. He was always at our lodge selling chocolates. 
Lake Malawi
The Malawians use the dugouts canoes as everything from cargo to fishing boats.
We did lots of cliff jumping because there were big cliffs and deep water
These are two of the guys who worked at the hotel. Everyone who worked there were really nice.
Me and my brother took a carving class with Rasta kelvin.
We didn't carve the chairs, only the board Kelvin is holding.
The soccer games are hectic every time someone scores a goal. All the supporters for that team come on the field and throw dust and dirt in the air
This was our bungalow. We had a view of the lake from our balcony and we were about 20 meters from the water.
My brother and I spent the last couple of days in Nkhata Bay making this Bao Board game.
We were making clay so that we could fix the pizza oven.

We helped some of the local boys with setting up email accounts and other computer stuff.
My mom helped the widows with sewing. They had a sewing machine even older than ours. The hand crank was very practical, due to the frequency of power outages.
The little kids loved to have their pictures taken.
Every weekday morning my mom carried a little kid to nursery school, where she volunteered.
Josie and AJ were the masterminds behind all the volunteering at Butterfly Space.
We all helped out at this little nursery school. It was fun chaotic work and it was pretty hard. The kids would sometimes jump out of the windows instead of using the door.







These were the two woman who ran the nursery school.
We helped our dad paint the primary schools new class one day.

School under a tree was something we saw regularly in Africa.