A baby boy!

This little guy has a toy! It is a little truck made of welded wire and it has a stick attached so he can push it. Kids don't have a lot of toys but they have fun with whatever is around. We see quite a few playing marbles or making things with broken bricks or playing in the streams alongside the streets after a rainstorm. Just things kids love no matter where they live.

We went for a drive to Salima which is most of the way to Lake Malawi. We could see it in the distance but we ran out of time and had to get back to town. These are some women who had been out gathering sticks, something we see every day even here in the city. They tie them in a great big long bundle, often 20 feet long and a good 2 feet in diameter and then they carry them home on their head. These were actually very small bundles but a fun picture.

An amazing tree! The picture sure doesn't do it justice.

A basket shop along the highway out in the middle of nowhere. Actually, there are villages everywhere so I am sure they do just fine. When you look out across the countryside, seldom are the villages more than 500 meters to a kilometer apart.

A couple of little girls along the road. Actually there are a couple of little boys too but they hid before I could get the shot off. One is behind the oldest girl and the other is in the grass.

Another village on the way to Salima.

And another village.

A proud big brother.

We got to take the Ntholoas to the hospital for the birth of their son. After about 7pm the minibuses don't run so there is no way to get there other than calling an ambulance or walking. NOT! We picked them up at about 9pm, she had the baby between 4 and 5 in the morning and we were there to pick them up by 10am. He is about 5 hours old here.

President and Sister Ntholoa and their 2 sons, Robert and Precious. They will be part of the first group to go to the temple from Lilongwe when we go in August. They are so excited.

We found this picture on the internet and had to show you. This is the main farming implement in this country. This woman is working in a field of ground nuts as they call them here. We call them peanuts. It has been really interesting for us to watch because we got here right at the beginning of the planting season so the fields were mostly bare. We watched thousands of people hoeing their little fields into mounded rows, planting seeds by hand, fertilizing (if they could afford it) and cleaning any weeds out by hand. Now the corn is as high as an elephant's eye and we think that harvest season is approaching. We are waiting to watch the process.