Hello from nkhata bay (a town on Lake Malawi). Been a good few days involving a lot of swimming in the lake and playing with local kids although it is weird that the current heatwave in the UK means it's hotter at home than here! We have also spent a lot of time driving around. Unlike at home when you drive around and just see the side of a motorway here you get to see people pushing bikes carrying insane amounts of stuff, markets full of piles of fruit and little kids eager to wave at you. It's been weird being a tourist, after last year in SA all I want to do is do something to help. Unlike in SA where we also got to see the wealthier areas in Malawi everywhere you look is extreme poverty. It's hard to imagine how it could ever improve. Even with a decent education there just isn't the jobs around to help get families out of poverty. So many charities are doing things to improve access to clean water, schools, health care and so much more but as you drive through village after village the problem seems too huge. For now I'll just have to trust that the work these charities are doing is making more of a difference than is clearly visible and hope that by playing with local kids I can make them smile even if it is just for half an hour.