Meeting the farmers of Mchinji

What an interesting day! This morning we traveled to the Mchinji district of Malawi, which is about 100 km west of Lilongwe, to meet with staff and members of MASFA.Following a presentation about MASFA by Khumbo, we had the opportunity to interview the six farmers who had come to meet us. And what lovely people they were - they were very friendly and more than happy to share their stories with us. We found these interviews particularly useful for the documentary as we were hearing directly 'from the horse's mouth' about the benefits of being part of MASFA and NASFAM. Thanks to all of the farmers who gave so generously of their time to help us out.

After these interviews, one of the farmers invited us to go and see his maize crops that were stored at his house. You can see a photo of him beside his crop at the top of this blog entry. We had a go at trying to shell nuts with the ladies that were hard at work at the back of the house. Apparently, our technique wasn't very good and would eventually lead to blisters! So, to prevent any unnecessary suffering on our part, the ladies showed us the proper way to shell the nuts that would minimise pain.

We also met loads of the local children and they posed for some photos - so happy, so cute and so well-mannered. We would happily have spent the whole day chatting and having fun with them all! Alas, that wasn't possible but all the kids waved us goodbye and kept waving as we were driving away until they were just tiny little specks on the horizon. The future of the tourist industry in Malawi is safe if those kids are in charge - they sure know how to make you feel welcome!!

Back in Lilongwe, we interviewed Joshua (Head of NASFAM Commercial) and Betty (Head of NASFAM Development). So, all in all, it was a pretty action-packed day. We're both still feeling the effects of the long journey to Africa but we're hoping that one more good night's sleep should erase our jet lag. It gets dark very early here so that should help us nod off! Ciao for now - check back in with us tomorrow!

For more information about NASFAM, log on to http://www.nasfam.org/
For more information about MASFA, log on to http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/producers/nuts/masfa_malawi.aspx