Chongoni Rock Art and Other News

On Sunday, I travelled with some friends to the Chongoni Rock Art Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site about 50km South-West of Lilongwe. The Area stretches across 126 square kilometres and incorporates 127 rock faces and shelters that represent an ancient painting tradition stretching back at least 2000 years. The rock art of Chongoni is divided into two schools. The older school, comprising mostly geometric shapes and patterns painted with red oxide pigments, is attributed to the Akafula hunter-gathers - pygmies who inhabited Malawi for at least 2000 years before the arrival of the Bantu-speaking peoples around 500 years ago. The more modern school - known as 'the late whites' - is associated with the Bantu-speaking Chewa people that inhabit Malawi today. Painted using clay, the late whites typically depict animals - both mythic and real. They are believed to be symbols linked to initiation and rainmaking rituals which are still practised today. Credit to the Bradt guide to Malawi for the information!

The 'late whites'

Detail

Bug

View from the hills around Chongoni

News from the farm

We attended our second Lilongwe Farmers' Market on Saturday morning, where we sold bottles of homemade lemonade, chickens, home-grown and freshly cooked popcorn, and a few vegetables. The homemade lemonade was a roaring success, so we'll be doing that again (my freezer is currently full of lemons). Strawberry is most certainly pregnant again, so we're expecting piglets at the end of August - well done to Roy for all his hard work. And finally, Nepear will shortly be starting an apprenticeship at the Kusamala Institute of Agriculture & Ecology. Kusamala is an educational organisation, located on the outskirts of Lilongwe, which seeks to promote sustainable agricultural practices in Malawi. This is great news for Nepear, who will be working at the centre three days a week and undertaking field trips to their outreach projects a few times a month. Hopefully this will give Nepear the contacts he needs to get back to doing agricultural outreach work. When he's not at the centre, Nepear will still be running Strawberry Farm.

Our pitch

Patience selling lemonade

Other news

Paddy's sister gave birth a month ago, so Paddy has a new nephew called 'Collins', whom I had the chance to meet the other day. The Diplomats Football Club played its second fixture in its series against the institutions of Malawi. This time it was the Parliamentarians who, despite struggling to fit into their football shirts, held us to a 1-1 draw with the help of a friendly linesman. Both Paddy and Nepear made up the numbers, with Paddy setting up our one and only goal.

Diplomats FC, featuring me (back row, third from right), Nepear (back row, fourth from right), and Paddy (front row, second from right)