How does someone show hospitality? We have learned new ways during our time in Malawi. The people of the “warm heart of Africa” try very hard to live up to their reputation. We are the recipients of that good will to the stranger. Sometimes it is a bit overwhelming.
Today we arrived at the church where we were to have services. The “church” was a school room. As we arrived at the gate of the school yard, people began coming out of the building to greet us. They were smiling. They were clapping in rhythm. They were singing. We could not understand the words but it was a beautiful sound of welcome.
Once we got inside the room where the service was held, everyone in the church sat on benches or on reed mats on the floor… except us. They found chairs for us to sit on – one delivered by bike! Another act of hospitality.
Soon after the service began we saw a procession coming through the gate toward the room where we were meeting. About fifteen children and youth with matching shirts marched in and sat on mats in the center of the room. They were the choir from a church we visited earlier in the week. They walked over two hours to get to the service so they could sing for us. After the service they had to walk the same distance to get back home. For us, it was a lump-in-the-throat kind of experience.
At the close of the service the circuit presented us with gifts, a wrap skirt for Sue and a shirt for Herb. The gifts were presented with singing and pageantry. At the moment of the actual presentation the persons holding the gifts knelt down in front of us to present them. What a humbling experience!
Every time we eat in Malawi the ritual of hand washing takes place. Someone – usually a woman but not always – comes into the room with a pitcher and a basin. Each person puts his or her hands over the basin and water is poured over the hands. In most cases a towel is given to dry the hands. It is a ritual. It is hygienic. It is also an act of hospitality. We also find that a very warm experience.
The Malawian way of eating is to take the food from the plate with the right hand. Usually this means breaking off a small clump of nsima, rolling it around in the hand, then dipping it into relish before placing the food in the mouth. In other words, there are no knives, forks or spoons involved. But they usually find a fork for us – another act of hospitality.
The night before we went to Cape Town there was no room in the Inn (Area 10 Annies). Steve and Rhoda insisted that we stay at their house. While we waited in the sitting room, we could hear a lot of activity taking place in the rear of the house. We found that they moved their new bed, purchased the week before, into a room where we could have privacy. This act of hospitality had to have disrupted every routine in the house and displaced at least 3 people from their beds.
Those are all ways in which hospitality has been shown to us. Our problem is how to receive such gracious hospitality from many wonderful people. We are trying hard to learn…even although it can be unnerving, we are deeply touched.
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