The Gingerbread Man has Runaway to Malawi!

My niece's kindergarten class in Arkansas is working on a class project:

"Hi,

I'm the Gingerbread Man. My friend is in a kindergarten class at Pottsville Elementary. They will be reading lots of stories about gingerbread men the next few weeks, especially one about a gingerbread man that runs away. So I've decided to runaway too! Your friend is helping me. They were asked to send me somewhere fun that they would like to know more about, and they chose to send me to you! Please send a postcard from your area back to them at school. They will track my progress all across the US, and maybe even outside the US. This picture postcard will be posted on a large map. This will help the kids learn about different parts of the world. I know my friends will enjoy hearing from you and learning where I have run. Thank you for your help!

Got to run...

The Gingerbread Man"

(So instead of sending a postcard, because it will take 2 or more months to get to America and Xmas will be over, I've taken photos and recorded a short video of the Gingerbread Man hanging out with children in Chifundo, Salima District, Malawi.)

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The Gingerbread Man has run away to Malawi!!

Malawi is a small country in southern Africa about the size of the state of Indiana. The country's primary language is Chichewa, but numerous other languages are spoken throughout the country. More than 12 million people live in Malawi. The country is divided into three regions. I, the Gingerbread Man, have runaway to Salima located in the Central Region to visit a Peace Corps Health Volunteer.

Christmas in Malawi isn't celebrated the same way as in America. Malawians celebrate Christmas by attending church services with their families and preparing a feast that includes meat. Meat is a rarity in Malawian diets because it is expensive. Most Malawian families live on less than $1 a day, not enough to provide meat on a daily basis. Because of poverty, Malawians rarely exchange gifts on Christmas Day, don't decorate a tree, or bake gingerbread cookies. In fact, ginger is a rare ingredient in Malawi. Therefore, most cookies (or biscuits as they are called here) are made of ufa, or maize flour. Maize is also known as corn.

For some Malawians, gifts are exchanged on Boxing Day, the day following Christmas. This is an English tradition. Boxing Day, Dec. 26, is a time for parties and if they can afford to, exchange gifts of clothing or chitenjes, patterned cloth that is worn like a skirt by women.

I was very popular with children here in Salima, Malawi. To show their joy, they invited me, the Gingerbread Man, to a dance party, Malawian style. Children play music on drums made of plastic buckets or metal pots. 

Christmas ya bwino! (Merry Christmas)

Gingerbread Man in a village in Salima. Many Malawians in this area are farmers. You can see the farmland of a family behind me.

I've made new friends in Malawi. December in Salima, Malawi, is the end of hot season and beginning of rainy season. Imagine it is like Arkansas in the summer.

No Christmas trees in Malawi. Instead, the Gingerbread Man is hanging out in mango trees.

Ginger is a rarity in Malawi. Therefore, the Gingerbread Man is made of ufa, or maize flour, in Malawi! She looks like she is going to take a bite out of me...eeeek!

The school schedule in Malawi has three terms. The first term begins in September and ends with exams in the beginning/middle of December. Children have a month off to help their families plant seeds in the fields.

Christmas ya bwino chokera ku Malawi (Merry Christmas from Malawi)!