I wanted to write a few words about the wonderful experience I had on my most recent trip to Malawi thanks to Erin Hempen and With Change In Mind. If you have ever for just one moment thought about visiting Africa to truly experience it’s people and its land, I can tell you without reservation that the best experience you will have is With Change In Mind and its volunteer adventure vacation package. You spend your time in the company of remarkable people, you do meaningful work that is necessary and appreciated and you come away with a cultural experience unlike anything you could imagine. www.withchangeinmind.org/ This was my second trip to Malawi and my first time to be able to live in Kumbali Village while in Malawi.

We arrived at the airport in Lilongwe and were met by Erin Hempen the director and CEO for With Change In Mind. After our long flight it was great to have our bags taken to the bus and be provided with a bottle of cold water. Five of us arrived together on our flight from Washington DC and we waited for the next flight to land with two other members of our group. Once we had all seven of us on the bus we headed out for Kumbali Village where we would be staying during our time in Malawi.

The drive to the village was as I had remembered Malawi to be. Lots of people walking along the roads, lots of traffic, big round-a-bouts, smiling faces, lots of waves and hellos from the people as we passed, maze fields everywhere and dusty roads once we got off the main highway. As we left the main road and passed the presidential residence I knew we were getting close to the Village.

We drove up into the hills from the main road and I immediately noticed the number and size of the trees. This is unusual for this part of Malawi due to the over use of charcoal by the people living in this area. The village where we would be staying is situated in this forest on top of a hill within a farm that consists of around 250 acres. (More on the farm a little later.) Kumbali village is at the end of the road and so it is very peaceful and quiet. There are a series of adobe huts with thatched roofs built in the traditional style of Malawi for the volunteers. The huts are all very well done and are arranged around and facing into a large common forest “green”. We dropped off our bags, used the toilets provided only a short walk from our huts and also got a chance to see our hot shower rooms as well.

After getting situated in our huts we walked down to the dining pavilion and kitchen area to meet the staff and have a chance to get to know our trip mates a little better as well. All of the public buildings at the Village are open air and add to the over all feeling of being very connected to the forest, which is great. We met some of the staff that would be caring for us at the Village and were briefed by Erin on our project for this trip. We were there to assist with the construction of the Learning Center building, build some playground structures and to help out in any way we could at the orphanage. After some more talking and introductions we were served dinner. Not only are the rooms provided at Kumbali by With Change In Mind as part of our trip, we were about to learn that we were in for a very special treat when it came to the food also provided by With Change in Mind as part of our trip package.

The food for our first dinner arrived and we were all very impressed with the quality of the food and the presentation as well. We quickly learned that the cooks at Kumbali Village were extremely talented and there was no doubt that they absolutely knew there way around a kitchen. In the two weeks we were at the Village I can honestly say we never had a bad meal, not once. Breakfast every morning before we left for the orphanage was fantastic, the sack lunches they made for us everyday were great and gave us that extra boost we needed to continue working through the afternoon and the dinners were all memorable in there own unique way. I had not expected the food would be as good as it was and our meals together quickly became something we all looked forward to every day.

Our first morning in Malawi and after breakfast and placing our lunch orders we headed down the hill to the orphanage at Adziwa. If this is your first time to Malawi there is nothing that can prepare you for a walk through the small villages and neighborhoods where the majority of the people live. All of the people you meet on your walk are extremely friendly and eager to greet you as well as shake your hand, all of them. And the children are remarkably open and eager to be with you and try out there English. You quickly find yourself surrounded by dozens of children of all ages wanting to hold your hand, to talk with you and to just walk with you for a bit. You quickly realize that the reputation Malawi has for being the soft beating heart of Africa is truly based upon these remarkably friendly people. We had this same experience every day that we walked to and from the orphanage, not just the first day. It is remarkable and something that will stay with you the rest of your life I’m sure.

We arrived at the orphanage for the first time and again were greeted by dozens and dozens of the young children that were there. With Change In Mind provides on going monthly monetary support to this orphanage and you can tell that everyone there, from the staff to the children, appreciates all that With Change in Mind and its volunteers, like you and I, do on their behalf. The children want to talk with you, they want to hold your hand, they want to run with you and they especially love to have there pictures taken so they can see themselves on the back of your digital camera. You could easily spend the entire day just hanging our in the orphanage and playing with the children. They are absolutely delightful.

We arrived at our work site which is a short walk down the path from the main orphanage building. The Malawian contractors had already started the new learning center building and it was beautiful. If you have never experienced a large thatched roof structure you are in for a treat. It is not unlike walking into a gothic cathedral for the first time. You are struck by the volume of the space, the intricate wood pole structure of the roof and all of that beautiful straw thatch on the roof just wraps around you. The members of our volunteer group that wanted to help with installing the thatched roof were quickly escorted up onto the roof and given a quick lesson by the workers on how to tie thatch. Everyone had a great time learning a new skill and getting to know the men who were building the new learning center. Over the course of the eight days we spent at the construction site we were allowed to help them whenever we asked, which again is a great opportunity to learn a new skill and to make a new friend.

We started work on the play structures we had planned to build using mostly recycled materials and purchased wood. Plans were brought out, material was laid out and construction started. We worked daily on a climbing dome made of used tires, a small car and airplane built from wood and found objects as well as a small grocery store. We had also contracted with a local metal shop to build a frame for a swing set that we wanted to install as a part of the playground. After we arrived we had decided that one of the three swings on the swing set should be a basket style swing for infants. I did a quick sketch of what the infant swing could look like and then we walked across the valley to the metal workers shop to see if he could build this for us. He not only could build it for us he had some great ideas on how to make the basket swing better than what we had originally envisioned. This is just another example of the unexpected experiences you always have in Malawi and how eager and willing the people are to work with you as a visitor to their country.

After working at the orphanage daily for about a week we all left on a Tuesday morning for our Safari in Zambia. This is another unique opportunity provided by With Change In Mind for it’s volunteers, a safari in the middle of all this wonderful experience. The safari was everything you could have hoped for in a truly remarkable two weeks in Africa. The accommodations at the safari lodge were great, the experience with the safari guide was beyond great and the food, while not nearly as good as the food at Kumbali, was fine. We went out on three separate drives in South Luangwa National Park and were never disappointed. Our driver was great and very knowledgeable about every animal we came across. He even found leopards for us three times, in one day! Lions, Elephants, buffalo, hippos, crocodiles, monkeys, birds, zebra’s, giraffes just to name a few of the animals we regularly encountered. Just another reason that these trips With Change In Mind can be so meaningful and something you will never forget.

We returned to the Village ready to dedicate the playground and learning center in a ceremony with the Adziwa community and turn all of our collective work over to them for there care. The caregivers and adults in the village were very grateful for the beautiful new building and play structures. They sang us songs as did the children. The chief of the village was of course there and his remarks left n doubt the appreciation that he and the entire village has for not only Erin Hempen but for all the volunteers that come with her each year to contribute to their lives. It was a very moving ceremony and by the end of it we knew that the work we had done did make a difference to all of these people. Whether you worked in the sun on the construction projects or helped care and feed the children in the orphanage all of our individual efforts were recognized and appreciated.

The farm where the Kumbali Village is located is in itself a unique and wonderful place. It has a large forested area where we were staying that many of the villagers in the area consider to be a sacred site. On one of our return trips from the orphanage in the evening we heard a small group of women that had come to a secluded part of the forest, away from the village, to chant and pray. It was a very moving experience and added to the richness of the experience we all had in this place. We also had the opportunity to tour and learn that the farm has a large permaculture center where they teach the local farmers how to begin to utilize more sustainable practices in there own farms and how to grow a variety of crops for both there use and sell in the markets for added income. There is also a dairy heard on the farm and the milk from these cows is used to produce a wonderful yogurt that was available in the Village as well as sold in the area. They have a coffee growing and roasting business that is getting up and running now. And of course they have a beautiful hotel on the property with about 16 rooms, a fabulous restaurant on site and it all sits within beautifully maintained gardens.

Now that I am back home I occasionally have been asked by my friends and family what was the most memorable part of the two weeks I spent in Malawi and Zambia. I always have a ready answer for them. My answer is that there is no one experience that can begin to sum up the entire two weeks. Every day in Malawi there is something that happens to you, someone you meet, some vista you come across, some sound you hear, some interaction with a new person that you can say to yourself if that was the only memorable thing that happened in the entire two weeks the trip would have been totally worth it. But I had that type experience every single day I was there. I again want to thank Erin Hempen and With Change In Mind for the wonderful work they do in Malawi and especially at Adziwa Orphanage. The entire experience of living and working in a village is unique and enriching. It allows you to affect the lives of real people on a one on one opportunity. I don’t know of any other organization that puts together such a comprehensive and fulfilling experience.