Taking Back Lives - Blog

Yesterday, I interviewed a boy in Form 1 named Victor who is an orphan, like so many students here. He lives with his grandparents, one of which is handicapped. They do not have jobs besides farming in their field. Victor walks for 2 hours to get to school every day. He watches football but does not play because he is afraid of breaking his legs. His goal is to study and practice medicine in England. The struggles of the children we meet are difficult to listen to, but their hardships are shared by their peers and friends. They have accepted it as a way of life.
Cassie and I are sitting at Kande Market eating peanuts and Mandazis and drinking soda out of glass bottles [real old school!] wasting time before another meeting at 1PM. As a side note, as I am writing this blog in my notebook, about 17 local kids have gathered around us. They are just standing, watching us and fighting for space [count update: 30+ kids]. Cassie has made a new pen pal BFF and we've been harassed for our pens and notebooks. The wooden drum strapped to Cassie's bike has been broken in by 3 mischievious boys who simultaneously gave us a mocking dance show to solicit a response from the two tired muzungu girls. We met with the chief of Mazembe today and the Mazembe community. We introduced our plan for the agriculture portion of our community development program and they were very excited about and welcoming to the plan. We spent Sunday and Monday in Nkhata Bay which is definitely a destination for future visitors! PS- check out Aqua Africa.  Tomorrow marks the last day Cassie and I will spend at Mwaya Beach. Saturday we head to Lilongwe and then Monday we make our way back to the states. This has been such an amazing experience! Thank you TBL!