Lake Malawi

Maybe the first question I get is: um, Malawi, and that’s where……? Inevitably, I say do you know where Madagascar is? Go straight west from Madagascar into the African continent, you’ll find Malawi. It is known as the ‘Warm Heart of Africa’.

This, however, is not how I found Malawi. I found Malawi as an undergraduate with work study support. A faculty member was hiring someone to clean fish tanks. I applied for the job, was hired, and spent three years cleaning tanks. Along the way, I learned about Malawi, its cichlid fish and their biological importance.

The second question I am asked (and always the first question my mother asks before I go back to Malawi) is: why do you need to go to Malawi? The answer to this question is straightforward (from a professional perspective). I am an evolutionary biologist, I study speciation. To address questions relating to speciation, there are few natural systems that are better suited than the fishes of Lake Malawi. Within the past 2-5 million years since the formation of Lake Malawi, over 1500 species of cichlid fish have diverged from a single common ancestor. That is, within 2 million years, a single cichlid species invaded Lake Malawi and speciated from one species into over 1500 species. The cichlids of Lake Malawi are the most recent and most rapid vertebrate speciation event ever identified. As such, they are the perfect natural laboratory to study how and why species are formed.

Yet my trips to Malawi serve a purpose greater than purely professional. I first came to Malawi as a young man, just after I graduated from my undergraduate studies. For the academic year of 1995-1996, I lived in Chirombo village and studied the cichlids of Lake Malawi as a Fulbright scholar. Though what I learned was much more than can be confined to cichlids.

I learned about the privilege that my place of birth provided. I saw unimaginable poverty and hardship. Mostly though, I learned about the joy of every day life, the happiness in the presence of need, the generosity of spirit, and an infinite kindness. These things were not taught, but rather experienced.

Now, 15 years later, I’ve brought students of my own to Malawi. We are here to study the speciation of the cichlid fishes. We hope to understand the genetic basis of divergent color pattern, the geographic distribution of fish courtship songs (fish sing much like birds or crickets to attract mates), and the ecological rules that allow the co-existence of so many closely related species of fish. This is what I am teaching my students. What I hope they learn while in Malawi, however, is much greater than anything I could ever hope to teach them.

From the warm heart of Africa….yindane bwino.


- Dr. Pat Danley has been with the Biology Department at University for three years, teaching Evolutionary Biology, Molecular Ecology and Population Genetics. For being a Pittsburg native, he has a pretty good grasp on the Chichewa language.

Kenya

Last year we were part of the first group to go on the Kenya medical mission trip and it was an incredibly enriching experience. Both of us were anxious to see the difference that a year had made: the improvements of the patients we had seen, the now-complete water tank for which we had spent hours building the foundation and of course the new friends we had made.

This year was everything we had hoped for and more. Planting seedlings allowed us to interact with individuals in the community and to see this beautiful country. On one particular occasion we were touched when an elder picked nuts and offered them to those of us who were planting; they were likely her meal for the day. Another new development was a clinical laboratory. We loved knowing the patients were being diagnosed correctly.

Kenya has helped us grow both individually and as a couple. We could not have possibly imagined the enthusiasm and love that met our engagement announcement on this trip; both from our fellow missionaries and from the local community. Kenya will always be part of our past and our future.

- The future Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Waller

Andrew Waller is a senior university scholar major from Katy, Texas
Christina Hughes is a senior biology major from Addison, Texas

Moments

I could tell you only of the moments I was filled with joy, but instead I will tell you that this trip has been filled with many emotions, ups and downs. I have laughed and cried. I have been overflowing with joy one moment and then filled with frustration. But, I do not regret nor curse these emotions or the moments that inspired them. These moments made me a better person and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.

I was filled with joy as I waved to the children coming to greet us and their laughter flooded into the van as we drove down a bumpy dirt road. An elderly woman, who took her bundle off her head so she could shake our hands and thank us, brought a smile to my face. Then the overwhelming sadness and helplessness felt when we saw a child at the clinic that we could not help, but could only pray over him and his mother. Wishing we could make everything better and do more than wipe away her tears. There’s the peace you feel when you take a crying baby boy into you arms and the crying ceases and he looks up at you with deep brown eyes. Only to have the peace taken away abruptly as you are told his parents are dead and he’s an orphan.

I want you to know these moments and experiences because they have changed me.
They have made me a better person and helped me to grow in my faith. They have brought me to the knowledge and comfort that God has been at every one of these moments. In the child’s laughter, the mother’s tears. He is the father to the fatherless and the ultimate healer. He has comforted me and I know that he is with all the people, young and old, that we have seen and met.

My team and I have been truly blessed with the joy of these people. They have given us more than we could ever give them. My hope and prayer is that these few moments of mine will touch you and inspire you. May God bless you and be with you!

- Sarah Lange is a senior majoring in pre-med from Wyoming. While she has studied abroad before, this is her first trip to Kenya.