Sunday in Malawi

What a day it was!!

We were invited to a church service, memorial, and celebration at the home of Rev. Matiya Nhkoma - father of PhD student and Malawian son Nelson Nkhoma.

The we drove about 2 hours to a place called Chinteche, which is on Lake Malawi - one of the great lakes of Africa and the one that we had such a beautiful view of from our little home on the Livingstonia plateau in 2008.  It is a beautiful drive down from the highlands of Mzuzu, which sits about about 4200 ft elevation to the Lake, which is the color of Caribbean blue.

Chinteche is the village where Nelson grew up and where Matiya and Mariya Nkhoma have their main home.  People here are much more tied to their homelands than we are used to in the US.  If you ask someone where they are from, they will tell you the name of the village where they grew up.  If you as them where they stay, they will tell you where they are living now, and most people have a piece of land and have built or are building a home in the villages where they were born.  They will visit those homes or keep them for when they retire from work.

We attended a church service that lasted for 3 hours but which was filled with the most amazing music from the local choirs.  The service was about love and was quite delightful.  At the end Rev. Nkhoma told the history of involvement for each of the 25 or so foreign visitors who were at the 10th Anniversary celebration.  Each was recognized in front of the congregation and thanked. Here is a photo of the congregation with the Women's Guild in their black and white uniforms.

After the service, there was a brief graveside memorial for the mother of Jenny Kirk, who with her husband Henry of Chehalis Washington, helped found the University 10 years ago.  Jenny’s mother died when John and I were here in 2008, and they held a memorial service for her as she had come to love Malawi through visits from the Nkhomas to the Kirks and from the Kirks stories of their time here.  John held up a cell phone for Jenny at that 2008 service so she could hear, and her Mother requested to be buried next to the little church in Chinteche where she had helped to support orphan care.  It was very touching as those of us who played a part were given small bouquets of bouganvilla and other flowers to place on the grave.  Both the Women's Guild and the Mzuzu church's choir (in brown) paid tribute.

We were then taken to the home of the Nkhoma’s where 30 or 40 people were present, all the visitors from Mzuzu and the foreign visitors like John and I.  Matiya introduced his family – Nelson’s youngest brother Andrew was there as was Matiya’s 84 year old sister.  The Nkhoma’s house is large and the land is beautiful and just a short distance from the Lake, but does not have running water although there was electricity.  So the local women prepared food for around 50 – 60 people at an outdoor kitchen with no running water.  And it was delicious!!

When the food was eaten we walked the short distance to the lakeshore where local villagers had gathered for traditional dancing and music.  It reminded me a bit of a powwow in the US with various drum groups and dancers taking turns.  They had carried down the big chairs and loveseats we were sitting in outside at the Nkhoma’s so the honored guests would have comfortable seating.  Children were crowding around greeting us and one little girl wanted to hold my hand while we were walking down.  John said that one of the men we had been talking to up at Nkhoma’s took his hand when they were walking down and he was glad that he knew what was happening as men holding hands is a very normal sign of companionship and affection here.

We remarked that a percussionist would have a field day listening to and working with these musicians because the rhythms are so complicated.  Several of the foreign guests joined or tried to join the dancers but the foot work was quite complicated too – I thought about it but there was only one rhythm I could make sense of so I decided to sit it out. We managed to leave just in time to get back to Mzuzu before dark as the roads are quite dangerous after dark with people, cows, goats, chickens and people all on them – and potholes or other damage harder to see.  We almost hit one chicken looked like he was crossing the street but then stopped in the middle and changed direction.  Since it was getting close to dark the chickens were going home to roost and the goat and cow herders where moving their animals back home too.

The singing and dancing was still going strong and I’m sure lasted well into the night.  It was quite a magical day that we felt privileged to be invited to be a part of.

I'm going to publish a separate page with some photo's of the celebration and dancing at Nkhoma's.