Happy Mothers Day, Amayi

It's Mother's Day in Malawi. This is a National holiday, so schools are closed. They print special chitenje fabric just for the occasion each year.

This also marks my first holiday as a teacher. I spent the day reading and playing with the neighbor kids. We did leaf imprints with crayons and played cards.

This evening I helped the kids pick mangos from a nearby tree. The mangos are small and unripe, but I guess to a kid it is better to eat now then wait two months for something better. They eat the mangos right off the tree, skin and all, with a bit of salt. Not my cup of tea, but they enjoyed it.

Then I chatted with some of the amayi (mothers) while they cooked dinner. I helped peel the stringy parts off the stems of the pumpkin leaves, then I helped pound peanuts into sinjiro (peanut flour), which was added to the pumpkin leaves and tomatoes as a side dish for nsima. All in all a good holiday!

So, in the spirit of the holiday, sing a little 80s Madonna with me. (For some reason I have had her old classic songs in my head off and on since I got to my site. Let's not analyze that too deeply.)

Holiday

Celebrate

If we took a holiday

Took some time to celebrate

Just one day out of life

It would be so nice!