15 June 2019
After first arriving in Malawi, we were greeted at the airport (after a seriously grueling trip) by the Malawi Peace Corps staff holding welcome signs and cheering for each of us as we walked through the airport. It was a wonderful welcome of smiles. We then all boarded the notorious mini busses to travel to the hotel where we would be staying during our first week of pre service training (PST). We were all so jet lagged and dead inside, we needed a solid place to stay to recuperate and this place had running water AND electricity baby.
The Andersons at the hotel, getting the easy going introduction to Malawi.
This first week was full of all manner of activities: policy pow-wows, delicious food including the introduction of nsima, getting to know each other, and even a non-talent talent show to blow off some steam.
When the week was over and we had practiced all our Chichewa greetings, we shipped out to our homestay village where we would be spending our first few months with host families to show us the how to’s of living in Malawi.
As we drove through different villages, every single pair of eyes turned to watch our American faces (and as we would learn, this would be the case every second of every day no matter where in Malawi we were). Our busses turned from the pavement down a small dirt road and before we knew it, we had arrived. And holy hell were we nervous. That excited kind of nervous.
The ENTIRE village (then some) had gathered to greet us and never, ever in my entire life, have I felt so absolutely welcomed. Just pure happy chaos. We clambored off the busses and were completely engulfed by a sea of smiling faces, dancing bodies, singing women, laughing children, and crying trainees. It was absolutely surreal; a once in a lifetime experience I will never forget.
Can you just imagine it? No you can't, trust me.
There is no way my words could even come close to expressing this joyous occasion. We were all so wanted and instantly loved. Just bombarded with welcome!
After being engulfed by this wave of welcome, we finally met our host families. There was literally a DJ. All the trainees sat in a group, all the mothers sat in front of us, all the children to our left, and all the fathers to our right. It was a lot like a sorting hat ceremony, if Hogwarts was full of Malawians. When your name was called, you stood up and danced your way to the front to meet your dancing host mother (called Amayi) and host father (called Abambo) and any other siblings. They were already embracing us like family and they didnt even know how to say our names.
When my name was finally called, I danced my way forward, far better than anyone (obviously) and met my Abambo and Amayi and we walked hand in hand to my new home.
Such an incredible experience, I can't even tell you.
My host mother and I standing in front of my little two bedroom house during pre service training.