Traveling the road between Ntcheu and Dedza recently, I was reminded of what first shocked me over 11 months ago when I first arrived. The road between Dedza and Ntcheu is not only the major highway of Malawi (the M1); it’s a national border. This particular stretch of Malawi’s largest road is the political boundary between Malawi and Mozambique.
11 months ago, I travelled this road for the first time. I’m sure I looked pretty lost and green (I was). I spoke no Chichewa and really had no idea where I was going and was pretty convinced I was going to end up in the wrong place. There was an old man next to me. Along the way, he kept point things out, in Chichewa since he didn’t speak English. On this particular stretch of road, he got my attention, and very deliberately pointed one way and said “Mozambique” then pointed the other way and said “Malawi”.
Mozambique faced a 17 year war which saw millions of Mozambiquans fleeing into neighbouring Malawi. Malawi remained relatively untouched. And even now, if you look closely, the reminder and difference remains. In between newly built and painted stores, you see old buildings whose brick walls were ravaged by fire. In Malawi, there are simply new markets and new shops, with many an old run-down one in between… But no obvious trace of war.
The road is the border, but people run back and forth selling cabbages, onions, tomatoes, heckling you and yelling out the name of their particular good.
Can you Imagine a road along the Canada-USA border? Imagine a significant part of the trans-Canada highway running ON our national border. How about USA-Mexico?
Now add the effects of a prolonged war on one of those sides.
I’m sure that borders are important. Certainly, people feel a great sense of pride over their particular lines on a map (hence all the Canadian flags sewn onto backpacks). But when you look right and then left and realize that you are looking at 2 different countries, with different regulations and different economies but whose people mix regularly, who depend on the same markets and same customers… National borders make a whole lot less sense.
They become geo-political lines drawn on a map. It’s enough to make me pause, every time, and wonder.
Hey you nice article. infact One day I was travelling in the same car with Luke Brown and Brett Stevenson and told them that the road divides th two countries. they both didn’t believe at first until they verified later on. Do you want to say that your border is entirely sealed from that of USA?
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Colleen Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Not “sealed” as such… but certainly less easily accessible with far more controls. The idea of having a road on the border is unthinkable.
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very well information you write it very clean. I’m very lucky to get this info from you.
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