What's in Season?

We thought you might be interested to know what is growing in Malawi right now. As the rains have ended it is now harvest time. People have begun to harvest their maize, but we are most excited about some other treats. Pumpkins are everywhere, including our backyard. We didn't even plant them and they are growing. Because they are practically free we have been eating a lot of them. Some of our creations have been pumpkin soup, pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin pie filling (eaten for breakfast).

There are also these crazy fruits called Mphomba that are kind of a cross between a cucumber and a watermelon. We thought it was a cucumber at first and tried to eat it when it was really immature but it was really bitter. Even when it is ripe you need to put sugar on it to taste good. These are also growing all over our yard so Kristy decided to make jam out of them because we just couldn't eat all of them.

Guavas are also in season and practically free.

Katie and Nick

Our friends, Katie and Nick, arrived safely and happy to see us, even though the luggage didn't make it. The luggage turned up a day later after 2:00 a.m. wake up calls to Nancy and Gene and pestering Lilongwe and Johannesburg airport officials. (Here is Katie calling Nancy)

From the airport we went straight to Mua Mission, then the next day back to the airport to pick up luggage. Here we are next to some bamboo

Then to Senga Bay, where monkeys stole my apple, where we took a boat ride to an island to swim and fish, and where we enjoyed good food. We were so focused on a fishing trip that we didn't think about putting our swimsuits on, but that didn't stop Brian.

Nick was really excited to be able to do some fishing and even managed to catch a couple.

What? You can't see it? Well have a closer look.

We also did a little shopping and had a nice lunch.

Here are our other visitors

They have met a couple of our friends here already too. Here is Katie, Kristy and Angela at the hotel in Lilongwe.

We sent them on Safari at Luangwa National Park in Zambia and are waiting for them to return today. We'll go to our village before they leave us on Sunday.

NAPHAM and UNICEF

The National Association for People with HIV/Aids in Malawi (NAPHAM) expanded to include a support group in our village. We helped to register them last year and again this year. The support group should receive aid in the form of supplemental food, medicine, and technical training, like getting the most nutrition out of available food, and medicinal uses of indigenous herbs. NAPHAM must be linked to UNICEF, as you can see in these pictures. The Chairperson of the support group, after having gone to a training, is explaining to the Group Village Head (GVH) the medical supplies received.