Twelve months of living in a totally different environment, culture, existence – you name it, it’s very different. Those twelve months have come to an end. Just far far too many things to remember and experiences that have happened. But of course although the country may be beautiful it’s the people that make it. And I have met some amazing people over the last twelve months. 
Most of them belong to the “school environment” but there have been other chance encounters with others as I sit drinking in a bar 
or on a beach or even just walking down the road – the plumber, the builder, the mechanic, the fisherman. 
All wanting to talk and make friends, – “Will you be my uncle?” “Can I be your friend” and of course the classic “Give me money” But even this is not done in any aggressive way but more with a smile on the face and a cheeky grin.
I don’t believe they actually think you will give them money but its more a greeting than anything else. I often suggested that just this once……. maybe ……… possibly ……… the Malawian could give the Mzungu some money for a change. This generally brought great guffaws of laughter and a high five – which invariably I missed! and felt rather silly trying to do it 5 seconds after their hand had gone down !
Looking back through my blogs many of them centre around my journeys to and from places; to the 
schools of course; to trainings of teachers and Head Teachers, 
to beaches at the side of the lake, 
down paths that you really don’t think a motor bike should go let alone a car; up hills that are incredibly steep yet unbelievably people are pushing bikes that are over ladened with enormous bags of charcoal or wood; ladies walking absolutely upright carrying enormous loads of wood or straw on their heads, well over their actually height in length. ( Does that make sense – just very very long pieces of wood !)
Sweat pouring down their faces in the heat of the day. They do this journey every day, either to sell at the local trading centre, or to their village, or just to sell anywhere! 
And every single one of them has a smile on their face. As you go past either on the bike or the car a raised hand to say hello and a smile always gets a hugely positive reply.
Occasionally and very occasionally you can be going along a path or track and there is no one around…… or so it seems! But come off your bike ( accidentally) or have a puncture or get stuck in the mud with the car wheels spinning and suddenly when you look up there is a sea of faces! Where they come from I have no idea. They just appear as if they have been waiting every day for me to come off !!!
They just appear from nowhere, and rather than stand and just look, they desperately want to help, to get you sorted in whatever way they can. They appear magically with the right size spanner to take a wheel off to mend a puncture or straighten a stand. I did say to one –
“Where did that spanner just come from?” and they just laugh and wink And again always with a huge smile and a tremendous willingness to help.
For the last few days of course I have been visiting the schools, both to say goodbye as well as to check that they are all up and running with the technology and the software.
Just 3 of my schools
Despite going to these schools over and over again I always just stand in amazement at just how many Learners are at the schools,literally thousands ………. both inside the classrooms and outside. How few physical classrooms there are. How open the spaces are all around the school. How magnificent the scenery is. How welcoming everyone is to see you.
As you arrive at the school, if you are lucky its directly off “the tarmac”, but many of my schools are along very dusty/muddy (depending on season – wet or dry!) tracks.
Many of these paths go through small trading centres or villages, where everyone stops and watches as you go past.
Every time I went through here I just thought it was the set for a “Western” ! Sorry it’s just my strange thought processes
The ladies sit on the ground with their tomatoes neatly piled in pyramid shapes on a maize bag, potatoes neatly stacked in small metal buckets that are over flowing with a pyramid shape of potatoes, maize laid neatly like a white carpet drying off in the sun, wooden stalls where vegetables are on display. Women at the water pump which clearly is the meeting place to chat and talk about the recent happenings. And the ever present shelter made from sticks and straw where the local males congregate to sit and chat, mending bicycles and playing 
Bao ( a great game played on a wooden board with large hard seeds amazing for maths which probably accounts for why Im rubbish at it ! ) . Everyone watches as you go past, many wave and smile. …….. Id love to know if they are the same people I pass every time and they recognise me, saying – “Hello here he comes again! ” ………..I kind of hope they do
You drive/ride into the school and never quite sure where to go as obviously there is no car park ! 
You just drive literally between the learners who again just stand very still and watch. You drive close to one of the classrooms or the Learning Centre, hoping that the door and burglar bars that protect the centre are open. Usually a good sign is if there is a chair outside with a bucket of water outside.
This is for the learners to wash their hands before entering the centre and using the iPads. As you walk into the centre the Learners are in rows sat on wicker mats. Each one with their iPad and headphones, working through the Masamu (Maths) App or the Chichewa (Language) App.
The teacher walks around the Learners just observing, occasionally talking to a Learner what to do or what not to do. When I say ‘talk’ thats really a euphemism for “shout”. Now thats in the nicest possible way. I’ve told all the teachers this and so its nothing they don’t know. Malawian teachers are really good at shouting. Thats not shouting because they are cross or angry ( as in a UK teacher shouting at a child within 30 cms of their face, which would produce a crying child in no time at all) but in Malawi they do that to explain what the learner should be doing. And amazingly the Learner sits …… listens …. and does exactly what they should do………. without batting an eyelid or showing any emotion at all ! I have a theory that they do this because of the class sizes of 200+ and this is really the only way to communicate. I have tried to get them to just go up and explain in a quiet way what the learner should be doing, but it may last for 2 minutes and then reverts again to “the shout” However, both parties seem perfectly content with this arrangements and the Learners are queuing up at the door to have their go !
The Learners iPads are effectively controlled by the teachers iPad The Learners sit with a screen that displays a lock. The teacher starts the session and the lock disappears and the Learners can begin the session. Usually after 20 minutes ( however long the teacher has set the session for ) the Learners iPad will again display a lock and their session is over.
Now for the majority of the Unlocking Talent project schools throughout Malawi, (some 130 at present) the iPads are locked down to just Masamu and Chichewa, but not Mangochi District ………. mine !
Why because I like to make things difficult for myself as always !!!! Why I have no idea I think its a self-destruct button The iPads being open also at the request of the Donor – Unicef – but nobody else did it ! See I just like to make things difficult I must learn the words “No …… It’s too difficult”!
The reason for having an “open” iPad is it gives the Learners( and Teachers) the ability to use other Apps. ………provided they don’t need connectivity ! With the iPad being locked to just 1 App, 
however good the 1 App is and it is excellent for Maths and Language, we are only using a small fraction of the power of the iPad. My schools have used an English Grammar App that exactly mirrors the final exams that Standard 8 Learners have to take……… to great effect with some amazing results.
We’ve also added some Role Model Videos of Malawian Women who are working in important jobs despite many problems whilst growing up. These videos can be watched by older girls to try to show them that Girls/Women can actually achieve great things through staying on at school.
The use of the Notes for Learners to use the keyboard …… something which they don’t encounter – punctuation, space bar, delete buttons all things they haven’t seen before. Insert images, video, text to be shared amongst the iPads
The Coordinators of each of the schools have learned the technicalities of the iPad and can transfer files, images and documents amongst the iPads to be viewed by the Learners. In this way not only are we giving Learners knowledge but also giving Teachers technological knowledge of the use of mobile devices. Something which gives them huge enthusiasm and great excitement …….. it does me as well They love learning how to use the technology. Ive trained, Teachers, Head Teachers, Inspectors, Advisers …… all of whom have shown a real enthusiasm for the tool and can see the huge potential – tip of the iceberg comes to mind.
The potential of the project Unlocking Talent is enormous. Sadly sometimes the organisation and project management can hinder rather than advance the project. 
But I guess that’s true of many projects. Education Specialist Volunteers, like myself, carry out many activities and supported by good organisational management the results are indeed amazing. Of course there are frustrations, but then you have to continually remind yourself that you are working in an African Country that is one of the poorest in the world. And the vast majority of Malawians really want their country to achieve and improve ……… this is particularly true of the dedicated group of teachers and Head Teachers with whom I have been working.
I could go on and on about the special moments that I have enjoyed during the last 12 months ……….. “No please don’t !” i hear you say and for those of you who have already stopped reading ……… well you haven’t got this far anyway ! Amongst many of the images that I have in my head of my experiences, there are 2 that stand out. One i have a photo of and the other I follow the advice of many people who say – put the mobile/camera away and just enjoy the experience …………
Ive mentioned about when you go into the Learning centres all the Learners are sat on mats with their iPads If all is good the teacher is walking around checking that the iPads are working and the Learners aren’t stuck on something. Sometimes because the App is an individualised program the Learners just work their way through the program with no need for help from the teacher (or at least that’s the perception of the teacher). As a result the teacher sits down somewhere and has a rest or secretly goes on their mobile and sends texts ( shhhhhhhhhhh don’t tell anyone !)
But occasionally you witness something very special. 
I recently saw this teacher in the photograph get down to the Learner, who had special needs and spend at least 15 minutes on supporting him. This would be impossible within the teachers classroom setting of 200+ learners in a pretty small classroom with very limited resources – certainly no time for 1:1
But here was the teacher spending time with an individual guiding them through the knowledge needed ………… nothing to do with technology but about advancing the Learners understanding of very simple basics of number. In the classroom this Learner would have struggled. The technology supported the learning of the child. To those who say why use technology when the country needs so much else …………… this is why technology is so important …….. it literally empowers the learner – not technological empowerment but Knowledge and skills empowerment so important for individuals growing up as well as the future of Malawi.
The other image of course is related to a journey. You wouldn’t expect anything else ! It was a Friday and the area I work in is mainly Muslim. This particular Friday was Eid al-Fitr All schools and public offices were closed. It was a National Holiday. But of course there were things I needed to do in a school so I arranged with the school, Mdinde school, to meet a teacher and adapt some iPads that weren’t particularly behaving. I visited the school, sorted out the iPads and commenced my return journey. This journey took me on one of the most difficult tracks that i journey along – in the rainy season its just mud and extremely slippy and in the Dry season its just pure sand and extremely slippy.
Fortunately i was in my car as this is the track where on several occasions on my bike the ground has come up to meet me, and Malawians appear to assist. As Im driving along the track taking care as even in a car the sand doesn’t make it easy to drive, I see ahead a large group of women coming towards me. Effectively blocking the road, dancing and singing at the tops of their voices. I slowed down and hadn’t got a clue what to do. As they got to the car …….. to use a biblical expression they parted like the waters of the Red Sea and just continued around the car. I was surrounded by approximately 500 women just singing, dancing, smiling, waving, laughing …………. I just sat in the car inanely smiling back at them and returning their waves. By this time I had completely stopped. After what seemed like hours but was probably only a few minutes, the whole entourage carried on its way down the track, singing, dancing, smiling, waving high fiving, waving flags whilst I sat now on my own in the car and just went
” Wow!” This was their way of celebrating Eid. An amazing event.
I carried on along the track only to see in the distance another group of women from the next village. This group seemed slightly larger than the last one. Forewarned about what was to happen I pulled the car over to the side of the track and waited for the swarm to approach. On they came all wearing amazingly bright coloured Chitenjes (rectangular cloth wrapped around their body ) singing, dancing, waving flags, laughing, smiling, waving flags. As they surrounded the car yet again many clearly wanted to high five me as they went past. I started to move a bit like “dad dancing” as I sat in the car. Many of the women noticed and applauded – Im sure not for my dad dancing but for sort of joining in with their celebration. At this point I think I must have been caught up in the moment and throwing all caution to the wind – as you do when faced with a situation such as this ! I opened my car door and joined them in their procession, singing, dancing smiling, and laughing. There was I surrounded by more than 500 women in one of the most rural parts of Malawi, dancing ( well just jigging a bit if i was honest) ……… well known for my previous dancing exploits and severely embarrassing my off spring on many occasions, “Dad, just stop !”….
I put all they had taught me and “Dad danced” all the way down the track with more than 500 women. Huge howls of laughter went up, cheering and just sheer pleasure, from both 500 women and myself ………… is this a Guinness book of records – hahahah.
It was a moment that just didn’t warrant taking out my mobile to record ……. it was indeed a “just live for the moment” experience. After a while they continued on their way and I had a long but fantastic walk back to my car. …….. still ‘Dad dancing’ !
As some would say “A Chance of a Lifetime”
Why did I get out of the car and join in ………… ” Carpe Diem ”
And while Ive been out here i have had so many “Chances of a Lifetime” Every moment, every chance has been amazing. ……………. But I couldn’t have done it and remained sane without my truly amazing family and friends who have kept in touch and given me so much encouragement over the last 12 months. To all of you I say a huge
THANK YOU – THANK YOU SO SO MUCH
Zikomo kwambiri
Will this be the last blog ?
Apologies if Ive mentioned it before but its the Rainy season –
The logon for each of them is via selecting a photo of their face. This isn’t always as easy as it would appear, as many of them don’t see their image very often, no mirrors or cameras. I then of course try to assist by saying in a typically English slow way “Is …. that ….. you ?” which only confuses them even more –
And there they sit in absolute silence working their way through their individualised App, while the teacher walks amongst them checking that they can all understand what they are doing. I just sit and watch and like watching a football match want to jump up and shout ……. “Thats brilliant !” ….. “Thats exactly what all teachers should be doing” ……. “Great support !” ……”Go on do it again ! …….. But I don’t! …….I just sit there in awe, watching a true artist practicing their craft and in the words of a good friend of mine “watching him weave his magic !”
Most of the track is loam soil which is composed mostly of sand , silt , and a smaller amount of clay, (I looked that up !) which when dry is great…………… but when mixed with water and the wheels of a motorbike become like a skating rink as the tyres try and get a grip. So Im managing to counter manoeuvre every slide and slip, not only avoiding rocks but also extremely high density loam parts. My back wheel doing amazingly well as I zig zag my way along the track. My mind starts to say you’ve done all the difficult bits only a few kilometres to the tarmac. ……………….. and then i sort of hit the highest density of loam that I had ever seen. I can only describe it as if it was in slow motion! It must have been over inseconds but it seemed like minutes ……..Literally with every slide of the back wheel I thought to myself Ive got this, and it slid to the right ……..I’ve got this,,, to the left……I have Ive managed it left …. right …….bang ! and i hadnt got it. Looking back now I have no idea why I just didnt ease off the throttle and come to a halt, but I didn’t Im pretty sure I was still pushing the throttle and like an ice skater going from side to side, increasing in speed. The ground very quickly came up to meet me. …….. And there I was lying on the ground, absolutely caked in a light brown soil all over me, my jacket, my shirt , my bag, my helmet, my bike, my light trousers even ! I landed on my bag …….. First thought of course wasnt have I broken any bones but ……. LAPTOP !. But its pouring with rain so i just got up and trusted all was well with both body and technology !!! not necessarily in that order !
As I rode home, of course to everyone I passed it was obvious I had come off due to the state of my clothing. Normally you get a lot of stares as you go past anyone and on this occasion these were intensified and generally came with muffled laughter !
This is torrential rain, the sort that wakes you up in the middle of the night with a few thoughts of “what on earth is that ?” descriptions such as “it’s coming down like stair rods ” (now they were an interesting piece of equipment that I remember from my Grandmas – do we still use them I ask myself ?), ” raining cats and dogs!” “it’s p ………….ersistently raining” or expressions from around the world “It’s raining dung head-first.”, “It’s raining old women with clubs.” “It’s throwing cobblers’ knives.” and the good old favourite “Il pleut comme vache qui pisse” Well all of these cannot describe what its like when it rains. But talk to a Malawian while I’m cowering under a shelter trying not to get wet and say ” The weather is horrible !” and they soon come back with “NO ! Not at all this is lovely weather !” after all its what they’ve been waiting for since last April. You never ever hear a Malawian complain about the rain. To quote “No Rain, No Life.” To them its their livelihood and indeed the difference between life and death. They just walk out in it like it wasn’t there, through streams and puddles; i use the term puddle loosely because it’s not a ‘Christopher Robin puddle who goes splashing in his red wellies’, these are lakes that a small goat could drown in !
– which I guess it is. But the effects of these “rains” is enormous and these effects happen literally over night.
I had no choice but to try – the worst case scenario would be Id tip my car on to its side the best would be that I’d be so proud of myself for getting past ! Pride here I come ! As I edged past the truck, reving ferociously, playing the clutch, windscreen wipers on maximum speed, tilting at an angle of 45 degrees, and “It’s still raining chair legs.” I guess at this point I closed my eyes and just drove feeling a bit like a motor cyclist on the wall of death ( do they still have those ?) Well suffice it to say I made it with out putting the car on its side. And as I passed the truck i opened one eye, and as far as I could see he was embedded in the muddy waters, I looked up at the driver, who had a big beaming smile on his face and he raised his thumb to say hi ! He wasn’t flustered at all, looking worried or anything – its just their way of life and they accept it. I have no idea how he got out and there is certainly no tow
truck to help him, but he must have got out because on my return journey all that was left were very very large muddy ruts in water.
Being someone who forgets where I put things I put down about 5 minutes ago, my apologies if Ive already mentioned this but just in case I haven’t – Malawi has basically two seasons…….., forget Spring and Autumn- …….it’s either hot or its wet….. and some times both ! We are now coming into the rainy season, as opposed to the dry season. The first signs of this are even more prolonged blackouts which somehow manage to coincide with no water coming out of the taps. This does seem a bit strange to me as when it starts to rain, there is less water coming out of the taps, but I’m sure there is a perfectly logical explanation. Blackouts also get longer with sometimes up to 36 hours without any power. This does make you more organised, but when you start at such a low base for organisation ……. well there’s a long way to go.
So the rainy season has just about started. I’m told not in a big way but it seems pretty dramatic to me. The first rains have started. They don’t just come with a few drops like an autumn shower, oh no they come with a strong wind, huge thunder claps and a sky that is lit up with sheet lightening. When all those things happen – you sort of think – it’s going to rain ! And it does – torrential downpours which last for anything up to 3 hours. At this point I did stand at my door and try to take a photograph. ……. I failed abysmally By the time my camera had realised that I had pressed the button and wanted a photo and decided to go into action, the lightening had stopped so I now have something like 17 images of total blackness !
Over the last 10 days I have noticed a huge transformation with the 
surrounding countryside. What used to be literally just barren very very dry land, dust, rocks where you’d have thought nothing at all could grow., have suddenly been transformed. After literally the first rain, there were people in the fields, literally hundreds of them, just digging the ground with their hoes. Huge areas of countryside changed not by machines but by sheer handwork, men, women and children in the fields with their very basic hoes. They just changed these dust bowls into a field which looked just ready for growing crops, mainly maize and irish potatoes I think but obviously other vegetables as well. Even my own area within the compound that I live, the ground which was previously just dust, plants have started to grow as if from nowhere.
Many may well be weeds but to see the green shoots coming up so quickly and so wide spread is just an amazing thing to see. With just two weeks of rain, the land looks ready to grow crops. I believe that there is only one harvest a year, no rotation or any other technical agricultural terms. They just get one shot at it. Apparently they either plant at the very beginning of the rains, as this apparently is the most nutritious rain, or wait a while to ensure enough rain and not too much sun to dry up the crops. And when the whole of the years income depends on it – ……. a tough choice. At the risk of sounding a bit like Whatsit Titchmarsh I’ll move on
At this point I should say that increasingly I find Twitter an absolutely amazing communication tool. I started off on Twitter as part of a support group discussions when I was endeavouring to develop a school. I found the advice and support then as it is now absolutely invaluable. My Twitter being purely educational with a leaning towards developing technology in order to enhance learning and trying to make teaching a little easier. My followers and following have increased considerably in the last few months and it really has been a great feeling of support out in here in Malawi where frankly talk of computers and educational technology is probably as rare out here as the good old English phrase “Do you think its going to rain tomorrow?” (it being the dry season and it hasn’t rained since about April )
Then two things happen …….. I ride on my motorbike some 100 km to my nearest school which is along tracks that can only take a bike. I arrive into the school area – its not really a playground as its just the land that the buildings are on, and Im totally engulfed
by a mass of children as the sight of a Motor bike is one that isn’t seen very often and certainly not ridden by someone who looks very different to them.They don’t speak but just smile and giggle and literally follow your every movement as you walk to the Learning Centre. The Learning Centre houses the 30 iPads which are securely locked inside a fortress looking chest with double and in some cases triple padlocks.
After half an hour the App locks and they go out of the room, avoiding those at the door who are so envious of their friends who have just been on these very strange but amazing devices called ‘iPads’. ……….
explain to a very educated Head Teacher what an iPad is just makes the ‘creative’ Apps seem so far away. Forgot to mention of course that in my most recent school , there are 17 classrooms and 9 of these are a tree !
– Ooops just realised I did take one —not good one but ………..!!!
As you ride down the tracks you do get the obligatory stares and complete standstill as if someone has suddenly said “freeze – except for your head It doesn’t matter what you are doing, carrying buckets of water on your head, riding a bicycle, playing in the sand, or just walking – You all have to freeze as this strange person on a motor bike goes past ! ” It really reminds me of the times when you walk in to a strange bar and the minute you open the door all heads just turn and look. Almost saying “What are you doing in our bar and who are you?” Its just one of those things you get used to . 
The buildings are usually in a square or just placed in rows, or to be honest any configuration that the contractors decided to build them in. Consisting of general breeze block ( sort of ) for the windows and a door and 4 walls.
“They do have playtimes However, throughout the day you see lots of children out of their classrooms. This is usually because their teacher is doing something else or is on a course or is absent because they are poorly and the Learners are outside. They don’t have any one to look after them. Sometimes when I arrive in a school I ride up on my motorbike right up to the classrooms . I am surrounded by 50 – 100 children because they want to just see the bike and to see me. They want to talk but their English isn’t very good. Generally the teachers chase them off.
Before I start as well – just to say a shout out to all those teachers out there who are just about to start back at school – when you get to the Bank Holiday you always think “that’s it summer hols over for another year – if you are anything like me – thinking, can I do this for another year or will someone twig on that Ive been fooling people for all these years !!!! Good luck to you all and it’s not long till half-term. There may be some compensation in the fact that you only have about 30 children in your class – I can hear you shout – “ONLY !!!!!! ” but read on and hopefully by the end you may be thinking well actually I am quite lucky – ( you probably won’t but it’s a thought !)
The classroom has bare walls and no furniture. The children sit on the floor. There are little to no teaching resources in the room with just a very old blackboard at one end. There is no electricity, no light and no running water. The openings for the windows in general have no glass, and very often the doorway into the classroom has no door. The schools often don’t actually have enough rooms for all the children so classes can take place outside in the open, usually in the shade if possible.
On arrival at a school you are literally greeted by hundreds of smiling faces who throng around you as you walk up to the buildings. They all want to say hello and just generally be with you as a huge escort.
The children come into the room, sit perfectly on the floor , put their headphones on and work individually at their own pace for half-an-hour. Each child logs onto the App by recognising their face and name. Every time they go on the iPad it starts off from where they left off, and reinforces or enhances their previous activities. Throughout the day there is a steady stream of children so that by the end of the day, up to 300 children could have had the chance to work on the iPad every day. The teacher of course monitors and supports the activities as the children work.
teachers but whole communities are excited by the Learning Centres and the learning that is taking place.
which was amazing in itself, 
or my journeys on the local bus on a 5 hour journey which literally had so many people packed in with bags and baggages ( I was sat in the aisle with someone else’s bag on my lap – haha ) that it took 30 minutes just to let someone off!. 
short the little girl talked to me throughout the journey. Every so often we stopped to let people off and suddenly we were surrounded by faces at the windows of people selling anything from crisps, fruit, sweets, toys, onions, vegetables. and somethings that I didn’t even recognise but was set straight by my information partner next to me. At the stop before I got off, I lost my little Malawian guide as she got off. She insisted that I took a selfie of us and she disappeared off the bus.. Just as we were about to set off suddenly she appeared back on the bus at the front gave the biggest smile in the world ever and waved. It was just like an image from the closing shots of a movie and actually an image that I will always remember
The sheer size of classes, upwards from 100 to 250 children in a room with literally a blackboard and no other resources. The expanse of ground that each classroom sits on with no real boundaries for the children to play in, just an open very sandy ground. Or I could talk about an amazing school and an Irish guy who is really trying to change the way children are taught by creating and building classrooms and working with teachers in order to bring the best out of the children. I have got all those ideas stored in my head, but the trouble is each day brings a new situation and experience. There must be a book in this somewhere ( if only I could write !!! )
People walking probably equal the number of bicycles being ridden. If you’ve ever been to Cambridge or Oxford, you’ll know that there are bicycles everywhere. Compared to Mangochi the number of bicycles in these two University towns are minimal. There are bicycles everywhere. Many of them are taxi bicycles, with a 
padded seat on the back of the saddle. When I say padded, slight exaggeration as its more like a very thin seat covered in leather. You can either sit sidesaddle or just go for it and sit with your legs either side. Walking down the roads every 50 metres there are ‘taxi bicycles’ strapping enormous loads on to the back of the bikes, people climbing on to the back of the bike with all kinds of articles and bags just balanced on their heads, boxes, plates of fruit, clothes wrapped in a large sheet you name it they balance it on their head. When you initially see the goods balanced on the head you think that its amazing how they do it, but to then get on the back of a bicycle and still balance it, is just awesome. Whilst walking along the street today, I was continually asked if I wanted a ride. I declined adding Id rather walk. With every request to ride you get a very cheery smile, and a laugh and a joke about why not ride instead of walk.
The main streets as I said are mainly tarmac but the side roads are very much dirt tracks. deciding to go and explore, particularly on the motor bike can be an experience as the back wheel slides from side to side as you go over the sand. I guess its a bit like riding on a beach. Which is very similar to the paths that people walk along when they aren’t walking along the road! It’s exactly like a path that leads down to a beach, reasonably hard but covered in sand and dust. In many places there are small blue plastic bags which have been discarded. Being one of very few none Malawians, if not the only one ! I walk down the street and I am fairly conspicuous. Most people look at you and a great many say hello in all different sorts of ways but the main greeting is – “Hello, How are you, Very well thank you” This is usually said with a smile and in one continuous breath even before I can say “Hello” and “How are you?” The warmth of people is amazing. If you smile even just slightly the greeting always always comes straight back “Hello, How are you, Very well thank you”