Went to a birthday 'top-up' this afternoon for one of our loan officer (KP)'s daughter. A birthday 'top-up' is a sort of public dance party where friends and well-wishers step one at a time into the circle of guests to dance and throw money at the birthday girl, ie. top her up with cash.
So I boarded a minibus and headed to KP's home in Ndirande township. Compared to the houses I've seen, KP's house is quite comfortable, set back from the main path with a little front porch for watching passing neighbors and cooking on the charcoal stove. But considering it lacks indoor plumbing and is home to KP, her husbands and their six kids and grandson, I'm guessing it gets pretty cramped.
But back to the party... It was fantastic! Haven't seen so many smiles since I've been here. The entire village showed up to dance in the dirt. Most wandered over from neighboring houses or followed the blasting music (congratulations Rihanna, you have saturated the Malawian market), up the path from the paved road. And as always, so many little kids- I never anticipated the low life expectancy to be so eerily apparent. Tiny creatures, probably only two or three, toddled around- live ragdolls with runny noses. Their independent ability to run around the neighborhood unaccompanied is mildly ironic given that in their lifetime, most wont ever make it out of Blantyre. But nevertheless we danced, and sang and drank Carlsburg and Fanta all afternoon. It was a good day
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