Since 1998 I have traveled to Malawi at least once a year, sometimes 4 or 5 times per year while carrying out various education projects for Virginia Tech. However, in 2004 I took a group of teachers from Southwest Virginia to Malawi on a Fulbright-Hays Study Program, when one of them suggested that I should set up a Study Abroad experience for my college students. And thus began Malawi Study Abroad in the "Warm Heart of Africa," as Malawi is known. I invited colleagues from two other universities, Radford University and North Carolina A&T University to join me in the endeavor. And so we prepare for our 4th Study Abroad. Students are busy collecting things they will need to teach in three primary schools in the Domasi area, Malemia Primary School, Domasi Government School, and Domasi Demonstration School. With passports in hand, vaccinations over, and malaria medication ready, they ponder what they will need for a month in a developing country. Nights will be very cool (after all it's the coldest part of their year in this sub-Saharan country) but days will be sunny and pleasant. They'll be in schools that require girls and women to wear skirts substantially below the knee; men teachers wear ties; however, our young men can forgo the ties but should have on shirts. After all, teaching is a profession and they want to be sure they don't look like a vendor or field hand.
We leave Dulles International in Washington, DC on June 21 on Ethiopian Airlines; refuel in Rome and on to Addis Ababa, where we'll board another plane for Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. We'll spend two days in the capital but mainly visit Freedom Gardens to the north to learn about sustainable agriculture. Travel to Zomba with a stop over at Dedza Pottery and other points of interest will put us at Annie's Lodge in Zomba by dark. Zomba is our home base and was the colonial capital of Malawi. From Annie's Lodge we will travel each day to Domasi to the schools. During the 20 day stay there, we'll take a short safari to Mvuu Camp in Liwonde National Park, and travel to Mt. Mulanje, where we'll hike on the third highest mountain in Africa for a day. We'll end our adventure with a trip to Lake Malawi, where we'll visit the village of one of my former students, stay at Club Mak for the night, go to Mua Mission, and back to Lilongwe for our trip home. These are the highlights but each day is filled with new experiences -- the colors, sounds, smells of an entirely different environment. Each year I get to not only visit the many friends I've made in Malawi but also experience anew the culture and people through my students' eyes.
