Day 14-15 | Lake Malawi and Malawian Birthday Party
This weekend we started off with a day trip to the Butterfly Space Lodge, a beach by Lake Malawi. Despite another blackout, the restaurant and the view were stunning. By the water, there was a pool table, bar and deck area that had tables and hammocks. There were many other foreigners and locals enjoying the sunny day. Even though the water was a little chilly, it was still so refreshing to swim around.
On Sunday, we went to the local supermarket, Shoprite, by taking a bicycle taxi, but because the way back to our dorm is uphill, we helped out the driver by walking part of the way. In the afternoon, we went to a Malawian birthday party. We were invited by Baxter, the head of the Nursing and Midwifery Department at Mzuzu University. The party was also a church fundraising party for a primary school. It was really fun and we got a chance to see a traditional Malawian celebration. At first, the dancing queen and dancing king dance groups performed an opening dance. After Baxter made his grand entrance, an emcee invited people to come up, dance, and donate money by throwing it into a cloth. It was interesting to see a table where you could exchange your big bills for smaller ones so you could throw more money. In the end, they auctioned off the birthday cake. Nobody bid, so we ended up bidding for the cake and had it for dinner.
All the photos were taken by SHANTU (Verbal consent was obtained before taking the pictures)
