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October 2, 2003

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Explorer David Livingstone died in 1873 looking for the Nile source and his death sparked a new wave of missionary zest in Africa. Scotland's Free Church came to Malawi in 1875 and after moving around because malaria kept killing the missionaries, they ended up in the Malawian highlands where the Livingstonia mission exists today.
From Chitembi beach we haven't given up reaching Livingstonia, a tourist attraction in Malawi that isn't on the shores of Lake Malawi. We hike up the escarpment, away from the lake, and after four hours we reach...tah-dah!...Livingstonia. Is this it?
Dr Robert Laws founded the Livingstonia mission at the end of the nineteenth century. During the fight for Malawi's independence in the mid-1960's, the missionaries refused to be evacuated and laid foundation stones that could be read from the air by their would-be rescuers. The message said "Ephesians 2-14" which refers to brotherhood in the face of adversity.
Livintstonia's village store: a bottle of ketchup, a box of sugar packets, a crate of soda pop, and cookies.
Women in Malawi always are working at something. They start the day by sweeping the grounds outside of their hut, fetching water from the well, and then pounding maize into flour for the day's meal. A baby clings to momma's back or sits at her side.