Independence Day in Malawi

Last weekend Malawi celebrated Independence Day and I went to Blantyre with some other volunteers to check out the festivities. As a side note, Blantyre is the biggest city in Malawi. It has a little bit of industrialization, and a city centre! (an exciting feature). The first President of Malawi (Hastings Kamuzu Banda - president from 1963 to 1994) decreed that there be no building taller than one story in Lilongwe (the capital city - and the city where I live). So, Lilongwe has the feel of a very, very large village or town rather than the grandeur of a capital city. All this is changing though - there is a promising amount of building going on in Lilongwe.

Three other volunteers and I headed to Kamuzu Stadium on Independence Day (Monday July 6th) to see the celebrations that had been planned. We arrived a little bit late (I think we got there around 9am) and joined one of the many lines snaking away from the building. Unfortunately, about a half an hour after we got there they closed the doors and we found out that we weren't going to get in. The stadium has a capacity of 60,000 and you can see from the pictures how many people didn't get in.

From outside the stadium, we watched the current president, Dr. Bingu Wa Mutharika arrive. He was standing in the back of a car waving to the crowds. We also saw a marching band, and some soldiers in formation. The military also put on an explosive show that was very loud (you can see some people covering their ears in the pictures). I could feel the shock waves from the explosions hit me... I guess it also helped to keep the crowd in order.

Sadly, we missed the good stuff that happened inside the stadium. We heard that there was some traditional dancing and much oration. To console ourselves we headed to one of Blantyre's ice cream shops (I think they have two!) and we enjoyed our ice cream tremendously.

Hope everyone had a fantastic Canada Day!