[We’re in Lilongwe with MK & Sam! In honor of the internet connection being relatively amazing here, I’m going to cover a topic to which I’ve been looking forward for a while: toys and games. Legos, K’nex, and trains were the toys that made me want to be an engineer as a kid, but they’re not really available here. Instead, the kids have figured out their own ways to play.]
Ingenuity is crucial for optimal play in both low- and high- resource settings. These guys strut around the market at Namitondo every day with push cars fashioned from old pill bottles and wire hangers. A much more expensive 'craft' version of these is also available at the curio market in Lilongwe.'The beautiful game' is of course also common here. In every part of the country we've seen, from private schools with proper nets to tiny dust yards with three-stick goals, young boys play some form of soccer after school. I still refuse to get used to calling it football.Other familiar toys we've seen around are cards, slingshots, and (my favorite) basketballs. There are no hoops, but the ball still works for a giant game of catch.Interestingly, we frequently see young men (and occasionally old men) playing mancala outdoors in the trading centers. Reportedly, the game was popularized and public tables were set up as part of an initiative to keep young people busy and reduce HIV/AIDS transmission. 'Mankhwal' means 'pill' in Chichewa.Of course, we like to play, too.
Liz and I have also been occasionally playing in the nurses’ evening pickup netball games, but we neither of us has wanted to take time away from the action to take pictures. Netball here is played on a weedy dirt court and what are essentially two small basketball hoops with no backboards, with a carefully-kept children’s soccer ball that Comfort stores at home. The movement of the ball follows rules much like ultimate frisbee, but only two people can shoot and there are 7 players for each team on the pitch at a time. We’re not very good, but it’s fun!
