Jamie & Kip watch the sunrise

Breakfast @ Nkhotakhota Pottery

There had been far fewer children around Nkhotakhota at sunrise than at sunset the previous day. Kip, Jamie and I had the beach to ourselves while the rest of our pals slept their jetlag off. Later during Kat's morning yoga session, some children did materialize to stare, but were sharply admonished by a groundskeeper; the tongue-lashing didn't chase them off, but kept them from walking around the short wall separating guests from the locals. Not having experienced such blatant separation before, I literally sat on the wall between worlds and chatted with the kids—fruitlessly, as it turned out they didn't speak English.

Now in Kande Beach—after an unnerving police check where Kat's giant video camera caused some concern until she showed fake footage of the seatback in front of her—we were finally introduced to the twelve We Are One boys for whom we'd worked two years, Kip's adopted brothers, the basis for this educational fund. We originally had twelve volunteers, so Rosemary hit upon the idea of pairing us off; unfortunately one person had to drop out, but Kip handily took both Raphael and Happy under his wing.

The first thing that struck me about Benson was his desire for affection, but his simultaneous need to hide that desire. Rosemary warned us in advance that Malawi doesn't have a huggy culture, but immediately upon introduction Benson began leaning against me or putting his arm around my shoulders—all the while studiously avoiding eye contact. Unsmiling and serious most of the time, he would gamely chuckle when I made a joke—whether he understood it or not. And when the times to hug arose, he hugged so hard.

Benson @ Pastor Peter's

Benson receives his afghan

Drummer @ Pastor Peter's

After initial introductions, we were off to visit Pastor Peter, the man whose influence had made Moffat into the man and minister that he is today. A 25-minute walk from We Are One Academy, Peter's house was swarmed with people eager to welcome the muzungus, including hordes of laughing children. We spent some time snacking on lovely soft rolls that the locals inexplicably called "scones," chatting with Pastor Peter about life in Kande Beach, and enjoying a welcome song and dance from the women of the village. Just like in Nkhotakhota, the children of Kande Beach were thrilled with the concept of starring in little movies, shrieking with laughter at the videos we took of them.

While at Pastor Peter's house, some of us lent our cameras to our young partners. Benson took to it immediately, especially loving extreme close-ups; many children in the yard were subjected to a lens directly in the face with a slightly blurred result. Eston got the best deal of all, as Kat allowed him to play with her video camera—something they were unlikely to have ever experienced before.

Benson tries out my digital camera

Mercy @ We Are One

Back at the orphanage, the cook-cum-headmaster Mercy and her assistants had finished butchering and cooking a goat in our honor, which was served alongside rice rather than nsima—we were being broken in slowly. The orphanage had only recently acquired a solar power generator—"recently" as in earlier that day. The light was dim but sufficient.

We learned during dinner that family members share what each cannot finish; Benson, a tiny boy hoping to catch up to his taller brothers, had an insatiable appetite and cleaned everyone's plates.

We played some icebreaking games, took some private time with each of our boys to get better acquainted, then wrapped up the evening distributing afghans handmade by Rosemary's knitting group in Missouri—each unique blanket bringing huge smiles to the boys' faces. The men went to the boys' dorm, the women split into two guest rooms, and we drifted off to sleep in our simple orphanage on the beach.

To find out more, please visit the We Are One Malawi website.

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