Today Tessa & I were joined by Bob to do the village walk - we loved the experience with only 3 of us. Our guides were Benjamin & Nelson. We were joined by Winston & Donald Duck who escorted us to chat with the hope of selling us some of their art work at the end.

First stop was near the chief's house where we were told about the chickens who are totally free range and bring themselves back to their homes at night. Also about the staple diet for people across Malawi - Kasava - we saw some drying and had a go at pounding some with the huge mortar & pestles that the women of the village use. We also had explained to us how they mould & bake their bricks. These are used to build new homes or the outhouses. They all help one another as their society is based upon a culture of reciprocity.

We were taken to Benjamin's house where he lives with his one wife and two children. Malawi, although predominantly Christian, is a polygamous culture - where a man can afford more than one wife may have as many as he likes. Much of the country is very very poor with an average annual income of $600. It is in the bottom 3 countries in the whole world which made us even more blown away by how content the people we met were and how they are working hard to better themselves and educate their children. Benjamin explained how people get "married" in their tribe. Basically he & his wife decided it was time, he went and "kidnapped" her from her parent's house late one night and took her back to his. The next morning he tells his neighbours & relatives that he has something new in his house and they know tis means a wife. His uncle then goes to the wife's parents lace with a token amount of money and says "you have something missing in your house, she is now at Benjamin's". The wife's family then take a few days to debate whether they agree to this marriage and then one of here uncles comes to Benjamin to tell him. A dowry is then agreed which

Our next stop was the school. This was better resourced than the one I visited a few days previously, although still with 120+ children sitting on a concrete floor with one teacher. We visited standard 3 who demonstrated their singing and a game to us. We met the deputy principal in the library. The books have been donated by various volunteers and visitors from the overland trucks that come through Kande. Final stop was the medical centre, run by one man (who is a nurse & midwife), which focuses predominantly on maternal & children up to 5 primary care. They also provide medication for those with HIV in the neighbourhood.

In the afternoon Tessa went diving in the fresh water lake. She saw some colourful fish but otherwise had a guide who got himself lost and then managed to break the boat so he had to row them back with one oar. Thankfully they were only 1km off shore.

Our evening was spent being hosted by a local family for dinner. Food was delicious and entertainment was provided by the children. Impressed when 5 of them did the haka for us. We were a tad thrown when they asked us to sing them a song ... as a multi-generational international group we did "row row row your boat" as a round. Next time we'll be better prepared ...