“Ready To Fight This War With You”
Photo Credit: Kaitlin Houlditch-Fair
I had heard of the organization World Camp for Kids when I was in North Carolina during this project’s planning stages. I have a few friends who have done their Malawi program and each one came back raving “oh Andrew you HAVE to go meet World Camp!! You have to go see what they do.” By coincidence their American office is in my home town Asheville and their Malawi office is in my “new home” town Lilongwe.
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New Year, New Country
The long wait is over…..I am in Malawi. The rains have finally come and everyone is giddy and grateful. Flying in to Lilongwe I could see two distinct thunderstorms on the outskirts of the city separated only by a ray of sunlight and a patch of blue.
I met Peter Mawanga in person and feel like I have now formally snipped the red ribbon on the project. Peter is even more articulate in person and we’re both really excited about what this project is, could, and will be. Malawi is a warm country (in more than one way), in fact travel guides will refer to it as “the Warm Heart of Africa.”
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Do It With A Kick-A$$ Song
I had a great chat with Peter Mawanga a few days ago. It turns out he’s been traversing Malawi up and down the last two weeks in promotion of his new album Paphiri Ndi Padanga, which is getting lots of good press in Malawi. People are calling the radio stations daily requesting to hear it. He did an acoustic show with some of his bandmates for a live album promo recently… from the way he described it, I’m imagining Eric Clapton unplugged. Picture that concert but with a laid back Malawian guy in a perfectly placed stylish ball-cap strumming away to an entranced audience (…sometimes my imagination takes its liberties…) Check out a review of the album HERE.
I’d like to introduce myself beyond just the little blurb on this site. How did I become interested in Malawi? AIDS? Concept albums?
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Two Weeks Before Heading Off To Malawi
It’s two weeks before I head off to Malawi and I am buzzing. I am currently trying to read everything ever written about HIV/AIDS in preparation and the reading list just seems to be getting longer and longer. I am definitely “hooked” on this subject.
I recently got a CD of Peter Mawanga’s “Zanga Zo zama,” the primary musician who I plan to collaborate with in Malawi. Peter’s music is hard to get in the states and he actually arranged an inter-continental rendez-vous between myself and a mutual friend who gave me his CD. I closed my eyes yesterday and listening to the whole thing from start to finish and was left salivating at this guy’s breadth of musical knowledge. He rocks.
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2008 Grantees
