Malawi: The bus to Blantyre

The main north-south highway from Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, to Blantyre, the commercial capital, passes through a dry, flat landscape of scrub grass and small trees, broken by cultivated fields, with goats and cattle wandering close to the road and groups of men squatting under trees. The bus passed roadside stalls selling fruits, vegetables, household goods and auto parts, and piles of bricks and crushed stone for construction. Most villages consisted of small round huts of mud bricks with thatched roofs and a store built of brick or concrete. The bus passengers who were not sleeping were watching slickly produced Nollywood videos featuring rap artists and scantily clothed women alternating with locally produced videos of fully clothed church choirs swaying to the religious beat with cutaways of ministers in white suits preaching up a storm and scenes pirated from Hollywood religious epics. The contrast—in both the amount of exposed skin and social message—was striking.