Mom's Home

Olive and Zahara:  The sounds of Mom's home

Mom's home immediately became my favorite place in Malawi.  As you drive away from Blantyre the scenery changes from the closeness of urban poverty into what most would imagine as "Africa".  An open landscape of green and golden brush that is freckled with grass rooftops of brick huts.  Smoke rising from assorted fires from different villages off in the distance.  Soon we come up on a mountain that Cashion tells me is "His mountain."  I thought he was joking but it really is their family's mountain.

Kapalamula Mountain

This land is very fertile and many people have tried to buy it from the family since the 1960's when Cashion's grandfather from India purchased it.  His dad had a lot of goats and a surplus of crops which employed a lot of the surrounding villagers.   

David.  Used to be one of Cashion's goats.  We ate him.

There is an atmosphere of love and happiness at Mom's home.  Something that comes from decades of living life by working hard, loving harder, and staying strong in faith.  A lot of the surrounding villagers had a lot of traditional practices going on that Cashion's mom and dad refused to be apart of because they knew despite tradition it wasn't right.  They shielded the kids from "coming of age" practices most people would call straight up abuse.  

All the kids from the area seem to gather here and are welcomed with the fruit of the season and corn on the cob.  The trees here are plenty providing papaya, mangos, guavas, bananas, and avocados.  A snack for everybody.

   

Nieces, nephews, and neighborhood kids gather at Mom's home everyday.

My first lesson in Malawi was from Cashion's Mom.  As I sat on a bamboo mat talking with her about life people would come by and ask for help throughout the morning.  Someone needed money, someone needed food.  Each person she would give a small job to.  Either picking avocados out of the tree, peeling beans, or gathering wood, they would be given a meal to eat for their work.  Things that didn't need to be done but she had them do to keep them honest and give them the prideful feeling of working for their keep.

Mom with her grandkids wearing a shirt my mom sent over here.  It's her favorite.

Mom had 10 children.  Some where born at home in the village and some she walked over a mile to have at a small clinic down the road.  Two of those children passed away leaving 4 orphaned grandkids that she raised to be my wonderful nieces and nephew.  They are such good kids and it's because of the way she loved them that they are so thankful for their lives.  So may kids in Malawi are suffering because they didn't have someone like mom to take them in when a parent passes away.

Side of Mom's home looking out towards the road.

They live off the land and do what they can with Mom's teaching pension ($30/month) but they still to purchase things like soap, toothpaste, hygiene products for the girls, salt and sugar.  We usually bring a load out of stuff every time we visit and Mom is always so grateful.  

I wanted people to know about this special place in Malawi that I love so much.

...Although I'm not a huge fan of the pop a squat bathroom...