Taking a walk Malawian Style

I've spent the larger part of the past 5 years of my life surrounded by babies, baby products, baby styles, baby fads, baby everything (NICU(premature baby intensive care unit) nurse in a former life). The baby industry in America is a booming one finding solutions and products for the whim of every mother out there. Before leaving for Malawi I attended one of many baby showers, purchsed the Graco Deluxe blah blah blah, and I think it ran me somewhere between $60 to $90.

Now here in Malawi there is no baby r us, and there is no money to spend on items that are only going to get used for a few months.They carry their little ones, and sometimes even their not so little ones, using just a large cloth. Effective, practical, comfortable, and economical.

Simon and I have adopted this particular mode of transport as Simon is still not the sturdiest pup on his legs. It is a delightful hand and leash free solution to our daily stroll through the village. I figure the villagers are going to laugh at me no matter what, I guess I might as well give them something to laugh about. Consequently, since this posting, Simon and I are now responsible for 2 bike accidents, 3 dropped buckets of water and hours of entertainment for every Malawian we pass.

We will be traveling in this fashion to get to the lake for the 4th of July. Simon so far has tolerated about a 12 minute car ride in this fashion... we shall see how he does after 5ish hours.