Unexpected Kindness

Meeting Ernesto, his family and the Head Mistress
Near Cape MacClear, Malawi
March 29th, 2009

We cleared the Zambian and Malawian borders easily mid-day and started driving towards our first destination in Malawi- Cape MacClear on the famous Lake Malawi. It was a long day spent driving in shifts and darkness approached sooner than either of us expected. With the huge population of Malawi and the villages built next to the roadside, as dusk approached we knew we needed to find a place to stay for the night. Soon after we decided we needed to find a place to stay we saw a sign for a school.

Pulling off the main road onto the school grounds we asked a man if it would be alright to stay there for the night. He told us we should ask the Head Mistress and guided us towards her house. I spoke with the Head Mistress and she said it would be fine, but she needed to speak with the others- the others being another well respected teacher Ernesto. All was cleared, we met Ernesto and were told to camp right next to the house.

We unpacked our tent surrounded by a host of children and various adults. Ernesto then invited us into his house. Bringing a flask of herbal tea we entered. We got the seat of honour sitting in comfort on a faded pink loveseat facing the household’s two televisions. The lovely Ernesto, our host, introduced us to his lovely wife and two children. It was an exciting night we were told, as Malawi was playing the Ivory Coast for a place in the World Cup! The atmosphere was incredible as we were surrounded by every person in the village- either camped out on the floor or peering through the house windows. The t.v. had extremely poor reception however and was mostly a series of black and white dots, but one could gather that the Ivory Coast were giants compared to the small Malawian footballers. It was almost painful to watch as in the first few seconds of the match Ivory Coast had already scored! There was a definite David vs Goliath feel to the whole thing.

The next morning we were woken by the school bell and packed our belongings up. Greeted by the Head Mistress, we were told that there was water for us to have a bath and we were thought very unusual indeed when we politely declined. Ernesto was also up, saying he hoped we had a good night’s rest and thanking us for staying with him. He then said he had something for us and went inside his house. Returning outside he presented a beautifully carved dhow (canoe). I was almost in tears thinking of how unexpectedly kind this man and his family are. Our words of thanks didn’t seem to match his actions of kindness. I can only hope that one day we might be able to return the same level of thoughtfulness to someone else.