Can the machinist make us...?

Our second full day in Malawi!

The day began with fried eggs and chips (French fries) before we headed over to the bank. A super thrilling hour of waiting in line ensued only to result in my card getting declined and having to wait another hour in line again. The rest of the team was being really tech savvy to get data and minutes onto their cell phones.

Then time for more materials sourcing! After Thompson drove us around for an hour on a wild goose chase to find a promising bearing seller, we gave up and called our machinist, hoping he would have some ideas – and he did not disappoint. He can make and find the bearings as the design requires and was on-call to field other random questions. Thompson brought us to people who sold bikes and we purchased some parts before one of the men brought us back to his house to see his collection of old bike parts. After looking through his products, lots of bike chain, wheels, and other parts were bought. The rest of the morning was devoted to finding electric parts for the phone chargers and eating PB & Apricot Jelly sandwiches that Torrey packed for us.

Blantyre Market was next to find chitenjes to wear in the community and other parts for the design. There were lots of sounds and smells and sights to take in at the market with vendors selling everything from various meats to cell phones to shoes to beautiful fabrics. The team picked out many, many pieces of different colors and designs and probably saw almost every option the market had to offer. It was a very successful trip to the market, we even had multiple marriage proposals.

On the way back to the lodge, we stopped at Shoprite to buy more groceries for the weekend and got caught in the midst of traffic from the soccer game. This evening, we witnessed a lovely sunset and dined on oatmeal, mozzarella cheese, salami, and pineapple. We prepared for a planning day tomorrow to get ready to meet the community on Monday.

Zikomo!

Maggie and the team