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What is life like here? The hardest part about living in a third world country is that everything takes a great deal more time and energy. Where as in the States we could have a page long to-do list and get most everything done in one day, here it can take a day for each item! Even going to the bank can take hours. Nicole cooks all meals from scratch - even tortillas and sometimes bread. There are no dishwashers or vacuum cleaners. She does have a washing machine, though!
There are two seasons: wet and dry. The weather is temperate to hot most of the year with two months being cooler than the rest.
The average Malawian lives on less than a dollar a day. We stay in the bottom 12 poorest countries in the world. The life expectancy when we arrived in 1998 was 38. It is now 32, and some reports say even younger than that. At this point there is no lack of older people, but as this middle generation is being wiped out the problem of orphans is growing and placing a huge burden on grandparents. Roughly one in 6 people here have AIDS.
The staple food is hard to describe. It is something like grits, but in a dense patty that looks almost like a hamburger bun. It is called nsima (nn-see-mah). It is eaten twice a day with some "relish" on the side - vegetables or meat.
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