The majority of volunteers live in rural villages with some volunteers closer to the BOMA. Peace Corps has recently decided to not place any volunteers (except for volunteer leaders) in the BOMA’s. Typical volunteer housing falls into three categories:

A mud hut with a thatched roof and a dirt floor is the least common of the three house types in Malawi for volunteers. A nearby well facilitates water and electricity is nowhere to be found. Although rare for volunteers, the majority of Malawi's people live in a mud hut.

	Probably the most common house for volunteers in Malawi - local brick construction with a concrete floor and a tin roof.

The local style brick house is made from kiln-fired mud bricks and usually has a concrete floor and tin roof or grass thatched roof reinforced with sheets of plastic. These sometimes have electricity but rarely have running water. These are the most frequent houses for volunteers.

Some volunteers (eg. those living in a more urban setting) live in government-built brick homes. These are usually sturdier than the local style and often have electricity and running water.

Most houses will have a fenced in yard and garden. Peace Corps also requires that the house contains minimal furniture: bed with foam mattress and a table with chair(s). Local craftsmen can make more furniture for you if you are the first volunteer at that particular site or wish to add to what the previous volunteer left behind. Many volunteers also hire a worker for their house for cooking food, cleaning or gardening.

All of these homes will having locking windows and doors (if these items are damaged or missing, Peace Corps will make sure that they are installed by your community before you arrive). Some volunteers have unfortunately been burglarized during their stay in Malawi. Peace Corps provides an allowance to hire a night guard for added security measures. Peace Corps also issues every volunteer with a compressed-air horn and a personal alarm for safety in the village and the occasional visit to a city. Don’t let these things scare you too much; Malawi is an amazingly peaceful country, but crime has gone up over the past few years due to economic instability.