Day 46 – “I feel like the Queen of England!”

Liwonde, Hippo View Lodge

Today was the day of our trip to visit our World Vision sponsor child. The village was about a 2 hour drive from the WV office in Liwonde, via tarmac and lots of potholed dirt road.

We pulled up at the school at about 11am – and were mobbed by what seemed to be hundreds of children! They all lined up and yelled out “Welcome Michael and Kathryn” – I wonder how long they had been practicing?! We then met Rabecca, our sponsor child – looking just like her photo, and in fact in the same clothes!

We met with the teachers in their dark little office, we sat as school desks while they told us a little about the school. We were then taken on a tour of a few of the areas where World Vision had been helping to improve the life of the villagers. First the women’s sewing group – they sang and danced as we approached (something that happened a lot during the day), and we had a very warm greeting with them. K tried her hand at sewing using the treadle powered machines – to the amusement of the ladies!

We then met a farmer whose life had been improved by the digging of a bore hole – he was now able to grow bananas, sugar, yams and maize, and sell it locally to support his 7 children.

We dined on local village food at Rabecca’s family home, sitting on the floor with the family and World Vision staff, after which we were presented with some lovely gifts of a mat, brooms and bowls!

After lunch K held court at an impromptu Q&A session with the local ladies, while M recorded the event for posterity and even managed (with the help of Rabecca’s father) to keep the children still for long enough to get a group photo!

 

Then to the strains of the singing of the villagers we walked through to the village centre, to meet the village head men, and witness some singing and dancing! Needless to say we were completely overwhelmed by how we were being treated – two average Australians being treated like royalty – although we were quite embarrassed by it all the attention (especially M!) it was very enjoyable and something we will never forget!

We were then treated to the school choir singing songs about AIDS awareness (a strange topic perhaps for a bunch of 10 year olds – but it’s a huge problem in Malawi) – followed by some traditional women’s dances, after which it was speech time – which included us! We weren’t prepared for it, but hopefully we did OK, maybe the fact that almost no one understood us worked in our favour! We then headed off, followed by scores of kids trying to keep up with the car as we drove back through the village.

Overall it was an incredible experience (especially if you want to know how it feels to be a film star i.e. we haven’t done anything special to deserve this adulation) – quite overwhelming but very rewarding, and something we would recommend to anyone that has a sponsor child!