Why Malawi?

I’ve always had a curiosity of Africa ever since those commercials when I was young. You know those commercials. They ask for money to help feed and clothe a starving kid in Africa for only $20/month. Usually they showed kids without any shoes or clothes on, skinny to the bone with stomaches protuding from their bodies, flies buzzing around their nostrils and mouths…I remember as a kid watching those at first and thinking, “WOW, these kids have it bad.” In college, when I started to travel, I wondered what it was like to be in Africa, to be able see and experience these conditions first hand (but, I’d also see those nature shows with lions, hippos, giraffes, etc. and think how awesome to be like the Croc Hunter and see these animals upclose).

Post college, I had a very different experience that rocked me. I came across a video that touched me deeply but also haunted me (check it out if you haven’t already, it’s called Invisible Children). The video helped me to tune in a bit more to the issues of gross injustice in Africa like children soldiers, hunger, AIDS, clean water…

A few months ago, I was approached by April Diaz and asked if I would consider going on a trip with some Newsong staff to Malawi. Newsong had just started a 10-15 year partnership w/ Y-Malawi an awesome organization down there doing holistic development and this would be the pioneering team to experience what’s going on down there first hand. HERE’S A CRAZY COINCIDENCE. I’ve been sponsoring a child in Malawi through World Vision for 2 years+ now! He’s actually in the Area Development Project that we’ll be going to (Nkhoma)! I’ve dreamt about meeting my sponsor child Daniel! Without needing to think about it too much I said YES!

daniel-map1 Here’s my child sponsor friend Daniel M.