No Frosted Flakes Here
Senga Bay, Malawi … The sun is already climbing fast and it won’t be long until the heat of the day begins to press in on the 
inhabitants. Close by the sounds of the waves from Lake Malawi can be heard rushing up on the sandy beaches, only to recede out and begin again. In the distance the sounds of gulls seem to move back and forth across the senses, as they amble, without apparent purpose across the heavens. It is morning and all ready the chores of the day at being executed by every member of the family. Unlike the West where children get up to eat Frosted Flakes or Pop Tarts, and watch the Cartoon Network, the children of Malawi are out of bed along side their parents and immediately take up adult chores along with their siblings, and parents. In Malawi the children have eaten a small bowl of porridge before the first rays of daylight streak red and orange across the heavens, and by the time most of the fishermen have come in off the lake from a night of fishing, they are had at work completing a long list of responsibility essential for the survival of the family.
Essential for Family Survival
Along the lake it is easy to see the children at work. The long stretches of beach leave open a wide angle view of their labor. Half of the 
population of Malawi is under 16 years of age. They are the present and the future. They are the social security for their parents, and they are the labor sharing present in any family unit. Without them most parents could not survive, and one day, when the parents are old it will be up to their children to totally and completely care for them until they die. Couples without children can face a dire future.
Off somewhere in the morning fog the sound of boat ores can be head as the fishermen return from a night of fishing. The village will come together to clean the fish, and some in the village will take the catch to market to sell so the village can survive another day. The children are already fetching the water, washing the clothes, and bringing water back to the village for the day’s needs. Without the children the village would not survive.
The children in the pictures come to the edge of the lake early in the morning in-order-to collect water for their families in the village. The older sister is in-charge, and the younger one’s carry the water home, but they stand back and allow her to wade out into deeper water where she can scoop up the buckets of clean, fresh lake water for the family.