Growing up in a blue-collar middle class family in western Pennsylvania, leaving home meant visiting my grandparents who lived about a 20-minute car ride away. Their small home in the city was my favorite place to be and if felt different enough from my split level suburban house to satiate my desire to travel. Leaving … Continue reading
Crafting an interesting and worthy end-of-build post has become increasingly difficult. Looking back I realize they sound the same. Not a bad thing, but perhaps teetering on boring. The countries are all so different, the culture and the homeowners too, but the emotions remain the same. Each time I want to tell you that we’ve … Continue reading
Eme gives the best hugs. As we greet each other every morning and throughout the day, we embrace. Her long sinewy arms enfold you in a gentle squeeze, heart to heart. Eme is a widow and cares for her 3 children on her own. She also cared for her 95 year old mother who would … Continue reading
One of our favorite challenges is learning the names of the people in the village and as much Chichewa as our brains can absorb! A now familiar name is that of our partner family great grandmother, Chilungula. Chilungula has spent nearly all of her 93 years in Nnima village in Salima district. Of her 8 … Continue reading
Two days of building already under our belt. First chance I have had to buy Internet access and attempt to write a thoughtful blog post. It feels as though our group of 10 has been together much longer. We are enjoying getting to know one another. Working together. Sharing meals. Roommates. Laughing and generally loving … Continue reading
Joseph greeted us with a warm, broad smile at the Kayak Africa reception at Cape Mac Clear on the southern shore of Africa’s third largest fresh water lake. Lake Malawi is so big you’d think you were looking at an ocean. Home to more species of fish than all those in the lakes in North … Continue reading
Apart from having nearly finished all the bricklaying on both houses, one thing left an indelible impression upon us today – seeing the inside of Salanawo’s old house. If you’ve been following, you will remember that she is the grandmother caring for her seven orphaned grandchildren. It is absolutely astonishing that this family sleeps in … Continue reading
Another banner day at the worksite! We made a lot of progress on both houses thanks to the hot, dry and sunny weather. The walls are nearly complete. The local craftsman erected wooden scaffolding in order for us to be able to reach the top levels. Once the walls are up, the roof will go … Continue reading
If ever there was a perfect day for building a Global Village house in Malawi, today was it. Hands down. Despite the fact that the bus was temporarily stuck in the wet sandy soil on the road to Thanguli village, our spirits were high and we were eager to get back to work. And because … Continue reading
Rain delay. The rains came yesterday afternoon and they’ve decided to stay. Working in the rain isn’t always a problem, but when you are building with “matope” (mortar) made with mud, too much water ain’t a good thing. Dirt roads that turn to mud when they are saturated also would make it challenging for our … Continue reading
