A day in Colonial Williamsburg...African style….

On Wednesday we visited Peter’s village Ntchitsi, this was an authentic, very well kept, African Village. There we met most of Peter’s extended family and learned both the female and male jobs of the village. The women learned to mash and separate corn (to prepare it for making nsima), while the men learned to plow the fields and build a house. They told us that if we could not perform these tasks then we were not worthy of an African bride or groom (we’ve all passed the test, uh oh). To top off our visit in the village, we were able to hold some of the babies and carry them on our backs. As a parting gift, the village gave us some peanuts that they had grown themselves. After visiting Peter’s village, we went to visit his primary school. We toured the school, met the head master and many teachers, and all of the students (>1000). We learned that each grade has one teacher and the first grade class happens to have 233 students! The students had some skits and songs prepared for us. We performed the Do Not Touch skit and the Thief drama. The school challenged the visitors to a game of tug-of-war. It was hardly a fair fight, 12 visitors against 1000 malawian children. We lost miserably. Before leaving, we were able to bless all of the children and teachers with gifts. The 1st -3rd grade students received toothbrushes and the 4th-8th grade students were given pencils. After visiting the school, we visited a local government hospital where we toured the pediatric wing and also blessed those children and familes with gifts and prayers. What an awesome day!