Christmas Weekend and Beginning of Week 2

On Friday we started our interviews with the community members and the Chiefs of Kumponda 1 and 2. With Mr. Masamba we visited some of the community members in Kumponda 2. We drove to the house clusters and Mr. Masamba chose the households we could interview from there. Each interview went in depth and we learned a lot of new information about the community from them and we can't wait to come back to share it in detail. After spending time in the community we went to Levison's shop to share some new parts. 

Once we finished at Levison's we left for Lake Malawi, and after a long bumpy ride we made it. After we arrived we enjoyed looking at the stars (THERE WERE SO MANY) and went to sleep. The next day we enjoyed a hearty breakfast and planned what we wanted to do that day. We all decided to rent some double kayaks. Tristen and David, Brian and Thompson (our driver) and Sydney and I shared double kayaks. We attempted to paddle out to an island in the lake but the island looked way closer than it actually was. It took us about an hour and a half to paddle there, but once we got there it was well worth it. We swam in the beautiful warm water around the island, while Brian climbed up the hill side making very believable bird calls. Once he came down we found the perfect rock to jump from. By the time we had jumped off a few times we were tired and ready to head back to the shore. On the way back Sydney and I paused in to jump off the kayak into the water to cool off. Tristen and David on the other hand took lots of breaks. It seemed like every time we turned around to check where they were, they were laying down in their kayak resting. After our adventure, the whole group grabbed a late lunch at a local restaurant, lounged by the pool, and played UNO (I will not reveal who won). We were exhausted by the end of the day and went to bed to be ready to leave the next morning. On our way back to Blantyre that day we first stopped at "the Northern stretch of the Shire river on the border of Liwonde outside of the nature reserve"(as described by Brian) to look at some hippos. Then we stopped at a big game nature reserve to observe more wildlife. At the wildlife reserve we were lucky enough to see some monkeys, warthogs, sables, and kudus.  The animals as well as the landscape were beautiful however, we had to continue on.

When finally made it back to house in Blantyre Dan prepared us some delicious homemade spaghetti sauce for dinner.

Today we first stopped at Levison's to pick up our materials. Most of the parts turned out well but there are still some parts that may need adjusting. Then we stopped at the market to pick up ingredients for our special Christmas lunch in the community. We bought a vegetable called "Chinese", rice, and some chickens. In the community we worked on sanding down the ends of the rollers so they would fit perfectly into the bearings. David, Brian and I also interviewed another committee member, and found out more interesting things about the community's needs. Our lunch today was so delicious and filling that we weren't even hungry for dinner, so we have just been playing some board games and resting for tomorrow.