In the perfect moment .....

Occasionally .... you happen upon a moment that is just perfect to be in ....

Tonight under a full Malawian moon .... my friend Colin and I hung out with some of the staff at the farm we're staying at on the outskirts of Lilongwe .... they took us down to the village to hear some young guys who've been trying to get a band together ..... and before you scoff - this wasn't the usual development pornography stuff of men in loin cloths banging drums .... more young guys dressed like bob marley yet dreaming of being the african jay-z .... as chickens scratched around us ....

Sprawled out in the warm balmy night around a log fire ... after several bottles of south african red wine (the joy!) ..... the guys serenaded us with a ludicrous but charming session of Beatles covers (malawians get Ls and Rs mixed up .... so you can imagine "Ret it be .... Ret it be") - clearly what they thought the mzungus (meaning white people .... since yes - despite being brown - here i am apparently white) would like ..... and then some serious afro-hip-hop (i've no idea if it was more talib kweli than snoop - but it sounded amazing - and maybe bitches and hos in chichewa just sounds a lot more poetic) .... and then totally kicked it with a string of amazing local acapella songs .... those uplifting african harmony type songs that make your soul soar skywards .... make you breathless with the feeling that somehow feel that anything is possible .... and that magic could actually be real ....

We're off tomorrow to see a super-rural health centre where over a third of all the young women are infected with HIV and dozens upon dozens of children die from malnutrition every year ...... and where we're hoping we can find a site to set up a programme to stop mums transmitting HIV to their babies ..... and so i'm closing my eyes now and hoping the magic will stretch there too ....

PS Morning After: I'm a little sheepish this morning (and frankly hungover) ... i just found out this morning at breakfast .... that Madonna stayed at this farm when she - er - adopted her baby here .... perhaps not quite the fearless NGO-warrior image i'm striving for .... but still .... Madonna and I share a hotel!