"Chilende"

In Malawi’s capital of Lilongwe, Chilinde is one of several high density, low income areas or townships where the workers of the city live.  My family also lived there and encountered scenes like this on a daily basis.  This painting sums up a lot of what Chilinde is to me.  There is a scruffiness to the area, but there’s also a beauty.

I was walking through part of the township with a friend in the Peace Corps who was to return to the States a few days later.  She wanted to use up her film and asked me if I saw anything she should take a picture of.  I thought to myself, “Yes, everything around you.”