When in Rome...

We had a technical meeting at work yesterday. I was told it would sart 8.30am sharp- so I arrived in plenty of time, and, with no faith whatsoever in the system, set up my laptop and got on with my work. As I expected (it happened last time) the boss arrived at 10am. Still no movement. Other staff arrived at 11am. I groaned- I had been looking forward to lunch.

At 11.30am one of my colleagues came to tell me that we had a technical meeting today- so i dutifully packed up and went to the meeting room. When we were all assembled by 11.40am, the boss pointed out how late it was and asked everyone what they wanted to do. I watched with interest. It had taken 3 hrs to assemble everyone would he really let them all leave again? yes. everyone voted for an early lunch with the meeting to re-convene at 1pm. I cancelled my afternoon plans (silly me- thinking a morning meeting wouldn't affect my afternoon...)

I returned at 1pm to an empty, locked office building. 20 min later, people started wandering back and the 8.30am meeting was started at 1.30 pm (finishing at 5 pm). I have to say though- it was a really worthwhile meeting. they say good things are worth waiting for- adn Ive well adn truly proved that I fit the mold of whitey's who 'like to keep the time' :)

Today I spent the morning trying to figure out how we were going to achieve the commitment of training 300 farmers at the demonstration farm in soil and water conservation methods and soil improvement and crop management strategies between July and September with no facilities yet on the farm. I had a mild wave of panic when I was informed about it at yesterdays meeting, with the main field guys away for the next 2 weeks, no budget (that I know of) and July starting next week and all :)
but we’ve got a plan now. The whitey is happy! we’ll start the trainings in August (giving me 5 weeks to organise for a cement pad to be laid and grass roof constructed so we can have some shelter for the trainees, 2 pit latrines dug and 30 plates and a few pots brought for catering) and train 10 groups of 30, twice a week till we’ve achieved the target. The field guys will select who will come from their areas, they’ll contact the govt guys and tandem teach, I’ll chase up some booklets/paper resources so the trainees can have a take-home reminder of what they’ve learnt (don't think its been done before) and...we’ll borrow bigger cars so we don’t have to fix the road yet cos whatever budget there is- it certainly won’t cover converting a bicycle track to a road. Easy!

Then I got really excited cos i remembered this is part of what ive always wanted to be doing! Training key farmers who go home and train others...multiplier effect.

Despite the culture clash on time, its value and who actually owns it- Im really enjoying being part of a Malawian team of professional community development practitioners- They are so patient with my dumb questions and Im learning so much!

oh dear its almost 10 and there is a drunken party ramping up next door... happy sleeping to me!

photo overview of my week away

Mum and I worked on making curtians for their new house. I was actually trying to photograph the candle smoke...but got my beautiful mother as well :)



















Building OH&S aint quite what it is back home!



















Dads job is to keep a 1000 men fed. Thats a BIG job!





Sangulo.














This Boabab is at the gate of my folks new house. cool...






















Livingstonia - the home of Dr Livingstone himself is at the top of that plateau







I never get tired of watching the lakes many moods...


Enjoying a spot of luxury!













My folks 'new' bathroom- ive never seen anything so ...hideous! :)















This is 'snoop dog' she's old and friendly and came with the house

Where am I? Karonga. google it- its even more remote that Mangochi! Ive been cooking and sewing with mum and doing housy stuff helping my folks settle into their new house AND tomorrow we're having a PARTY!- Dad's turned the big 60! He's so healthy you'd never guess :)
I'll post some 'holiday' pics next week when I get back.
x

Bike Riding

Yesterday, i decided to visit my friends in the village on a bicycle instead of driving. Why? for fitness, to enjoy the slightly cooler weather, to see what its like for the hundreds of guys who work as 'bicycle taxi's' every day and ...to at least once -not be a typical asungu and show up in a car- looking as if we're incapable or far too busy or important to walk or ride.


So, I borrowed my friends bike and trialled it around the yard- a local squeaky, wobbly, upright girl bike with no gears and a HARD plastic seat. Next I practiced with a chitenje on and discovered that the best combo was a skirt with a slit up the back, and to put the chitenje on backwards so it stayed firm and didn't flap- revealing my skirt (or worse) my knees. Then I packed a light backpack with a couple of bottles of water, slathered myself in sunscreen & hat and set off on my most ecxellent adventure. The deep sand on the road out the front of our house nearly had me off, but I struggled through and was SO happy to get to the bitumen!


The village is about 12km outta town. 10km on the highway, then 2 on a dirt track. Once clear of Mangochi and her sister town -affectionately refered to as Suweto, i was flying along on the wide, open road, wondering why I didn't do this more often?! I got a lot of stunned stares and children screaming 'asungu!' - but no one bothered me.


About half way out I passed a woman and looking back, recognised her as one of my friends from the village. She was crestfallen- no car?! evidently she had planned the trip intt town to coincide with my visit knowing that I'd stop and shorten her trip... I offered her the bike, took her bucket and placing it on my head followed her beside the road for the rest of the trip. She had gone to Mangochi to get parafin (for light at night) and to take her 1yr old daughter to the hospital because she had a bad cough and diarrhoea. The hospital gave her panandol.


I wasn't surprised the child was sick. This was the same child who last week, after we had all washed our hands in the same bowl before and after eating together - was given the hand washing water to drink.

Im also no longer surprised to hear that the district hospital sent a sick and dehydrated shild away with panadol. I contemplated returning to the village later with re-hydration powder and a big bottle of clean water... but decided to be slightly less interventionist and asked the mother if she had salt and sugar. She had salt so we stopped and brought a cup of sugar from a road-side stall for about 20c and I did my best to explain that she had to boil the water and give the child lots to drink etc I donated one of my bottles of water to get her started.


I had a lovley visit at the village. Little 'Ha-' born last week was still alive and the mother was happy and well. I felt like I understood a lot more and was able to communicate better than usual- which was really encouraging. I left early though as I wanted to make sure I got through 'Suweto' in day light. On the way back I realised just how ridiculously unfit I am- and was glad for some beautiful sunset photo opportunities as an excuse to stop. Now that the land is dry and the grass is being burnt, the Boababs stand out majestically.


It took longer than I thought to get home and it was well and truly dark and i was well and truly exhausted- but it was worth it :)

Cake

I realised yesterday that i really enjoy making kids birthday cakes (or birthday kids for adults that take them beck to their childhood!). Maybe its cos its as close to 'artistic' as I get out here! Anyways- thought the piccy might cheer up my blog a bit. The kids had a BIG sleep over together last night and I can still here them all playing happily next door. Meanwhile I clocked up 11hrs of shut eye. This 'working' business is tiring stuff!

Next week I'm meeting local chiefs and gov't departments, digging soil pits on the farm (yay!), delivering the soil samples to a lab in Lilongwe (4 hrs drive away) then continuing on (7hrs drive) for a weeks holiday in Karonga -coinciding with Dads big '0' birthday. Mum is thinking about getting a lift to Lilongwe to do some shopping and help me with the drive up (keep in mind its not like driving to Esperance - its all high-alert people, goat, chicken, cow, bicycle, broken-down truck, smoke blowing minivan, pothole dodging road with stunning views and multiple police check points. yeah!

Quote of the Day

'you are looking so fat this month rina- your parents won't recognise you when you visit them!'

so be warned mum and dad - your mammoth daughter - about a whole kilogram heavier will soon be rolling your way!

Shot gun

kabOOM
kaBOOM
kabOOM
kaBOOM
The shots woke me with a start- was that really-? kaBOOM gunshots? It sounded like a small cannon. Distant- but not distant enough for my liking! What time is it?! I groped around beside my bed to find my phone kaBOOM! 3.23am. the waiting silence was deafening. kabOOM
then the neighbourhood dog choir started their howls
and the guards woke and started chatting excitedly
and I figured there were enough people awake at 3.23 in the morning for me to go back to sleep. so I did.

Exciting place i live in huh?! not really. It turns out 2 hippos had gone for a wander through a village near the river - and were not welcomed.

My colleague and I (both juniors in the language department) decide that it would be pretty cool to go and have a look at dead hippos- so we set off to the village where the incident had supposedly occurred. When we got there- no one knew what we were talking about. That probably had somehing to do with the fact that instead of saying 'we want to see dead hippos' (insert mime of gun and bang bang noises) - I think we were actually saying we wanted to see a 'wedding' that 'is' - followed by the mime. Eventually we got the word for hippo right- but then they thought we might want to get the shooters into trouble...but the 'offenders' were on the other side of the river- so they could take us in a boat if we paid...
we thanked them, cut our losses and went home- content to have seen a new village, and me- determined to get back to language learning!

Friends

When I first told my mum about my 'rent a friend' she said that she would be praying that this woman would become much more than that- a true friend. After the firewood chopping fun on Thursday and yesterdays visit to Saw-'s village I came home feeling invigorated- not exhausted and I thought 'wow- even though I can barely put a sentence together in their language- those ladies really are my friends'. There is something about a sense of belonging/being 'ok' with a group of people that just makes ya feel good :)

Friday night one of the ladies had a baby, so we spent the whole time visiting her and eating ugali and beans together and they gossiped and tried to teach me a song. Little baby 'Hawa' is SO tiny and almost as white as me! I pray she survives.