The Harvest is In
After the rains dry up the maize matures and harvesting has begun. Maize cobs are picked by hand, and dried at home, safe from the Baboons and Wild Pigs that plunder the fields.
Today there is food in the villages, people are happy and the worries of the hungry time are forgotten. Those with surplus maize thresh the cobs and get ready to sell it on the roadside, hoping someone will stop and buy. The cash income is used to buy clothes, cooking oil, soap and dried fish.
On the Market
The village markets are filled with vegetables after the rainy season. Cabbage, tomatoes and cassava are popular and cheap. Selling vegetables on the market generates cash income for those who have walked or bicycled far to come to the market. Many sleep at the market, staying till they have sold everything they brought.
Maize prices are better in neighbouring Malawi, bicycle 'caravans' wind their way across the border carrying up to 70kg of maize each. Sugar cane and papaya are freely available for those with a sweet tooth.
Time to Live
After the harvest the work is over, food is available and people have time to enjoy life. Children make wire cars out of scraps of wire and tin, soccer balls out of discarded plastic bags wound tightly into a ball and 'drive' old bicycle rims along the dust village paths.
Men take time to enjoy long conversations over a mug of tea, once the talking is done they play 'mbawa', a traditional board game requiring skill and a fast hand. The women continue to work around the home, visiting with family as the prepare food, fetch water and care for children.