Holidays Reds (opposite of blues?!)

If I don't post over the next month or so it's not cos Im slack (like usual)- its cos I FINALLY got a cool holiday plan :)
Next week I'll be in Mozambique doing an intensive language course, then Im off to Namibia for a 2 week camping adventure tour, then a week in Joburg doing boring stuff, then... catch up with my folks in Lilongwe adn be back 'hone around the 10th of january. See you then? watch this space for Namibia pics :)

Catch Up

Where do I start?! Its been such a chaotic few weeks with more adventures on the horizon. SO once again, I've turned to my photos to jog my memories, and help give you a 'visual' on the action :)

A few weeks ago the organisation I work for ran a permaculture training course for 12 schools in the district. My understanding is that it's somehow connected to World Health Organisation and all the school feeding programme signs that have popped up all over the district recently.

There's been a fair bit of discussion about whether feeding kids at school is a good or a bad thing - lets just say that in some cases there are unintended consequences such as parents stopping feeding their kids at home now that food is terribly scarce... BUT the idea of the permaculture is that the schools can have school gardens that will teach the kids good skills and supplement the maize porridge they are recieving with a something more nutritious.

A major part of the permaculture course is promoting a varied diet contiaing the 6 food groups each day, so the lunches were always a source of great amusement and/or complaint! Unfortunately the training was all in Chichewa, so i did my bit ferrying people morning and afternoon and after a few days discovered it was much more fun helping the cooks preparing food under the tree outside.

My language helper really appreciated the opportunity to learn about a different kind of farming and was teaching her extended family all that she had learnt at the end of each day. They are planning on getting a garden started inthe next few weeks.

RAIN. oh boy did it rain, and overflowed the rain gauge so all I know is it was 100mm +. I am very happy to report that the drain we've been building for months coped very well and only breached in one place. That was actually quite gratifying (in an egocentric way) because it was a portion of the drain I had asked to be widened and the workers basically boycotted and told me it would be fine. huh! the design plans never lie!

Anyways, I was concerned about the bit of damage we got from the river where the drain breached, but the farm manager wasn't worried at all- in fact he was grinning from ear to ear when he told me that if it had rained like that last year (without the drain), all the ridges would have washed away and we would have had to start all over again!

the drain has even attracted some unusual wildlife!

The other great thing that happened is that the money came through for the farm operating costs, so we were actually able to buy seeds. We've got maize. We're a real farm now.

The photo below is about $3000 in the highest currency available. Just imagine a wholecash economy with $5 as the highest currency. crazy huh?

The rain also brings the bugs. One day as i was driving to the farm, I noticed groups of kids clutching a cup in one hand and twig in the other squatting by the sides of the road collecting something. The car was kicking up little clouds of something that looked like chaff. Curiosity finally got the better of me adn I pulled over to see what all the fuss was about. The white clouds were piles of insect wings adn the kids were collecting.... flying ants.

They are a real delicacy here and a great source of priotein, so when offered, I quickly popped one in my mouth before I had time to be grossed out. not bad. not great either.

Unfortunately we haven't had great follow up rains, so the crops are just popping up and everyone is holding their breath to see what happens next. Its been a really late season. Thankfully the farm gets more rain up on the plateau than down here in town. We get heaps of thunder and lightning along the lake shore- even taking out our internet- but it never amounts to much.

I 've been LOVING the cloud formations and the clear air that lets you see for miles... I know photos really don't do it any justice- but here's a shot.

One final thing to write about- I got invited to a 5 yr old birthday party last week and it was SO MUCH FUN!!! made me realise just how much aI miss having a social life. The swimming pool madness was finished off with a glorious braii (BBQ) with *sob* LAMB chops...

I was in heaven and really enjoyed just hanging out and chatting and watching the guys paly pool until late in the night- well, 9pm I think it was- but thats late for me nowdays.

Well, thats the summary of the last few weeks- and the internets just gone off so im hoping I don't lose it all. sigh. one of the reasons I don't blog as often as i should. cross fingers....3 hrs later ...please...

because is A good project

I was greeted with an amusing and horrifying, yet somehow gratifying site this morning.

Our farm manager has done some 'house art'. I found it amusing that someone would actually write that. Horrifying that its permanent...but gratifying that it's in response (I suspect) to all the hard work we've been doing at the farm.

Today didn't disappoint. Moving 11 tonne of manure was hard work- and that was just in the morning! they were heading back after lunch to get some river sand. Unfortunately I had an afternoon meeting..

So, ever wondered what 11 tonne on manure looks like?! Here's my day in pictures...

First it all had to be shovelled into sacks, which took 2 days. Then the guys stacked it all up ready to load into the truck.

50kg bags of manure- on their heads. Most of the time they would pick them up and swing them onto their heads themselves...then RUN!!! But one of the guys is alot smaller and less muscled than the rest (an orphan), so instead of letting him do light duties- they just helped load him up!

Running to the stockpile. I calculated that each worker has carried 9 tonne each in the last 2 days- carrying the bags to the loading area, then loading and unloading the truck.

Several miracles happened today- firstly they managed to fit what I calculated to be about 11 tonne on a 7 tonne truck. Then the truck made it all the way up the bicycle farm track without getting stuck! It was SO exciting having a truck on the track that all the village kids came running all the way up to the farm to see what was happening- then pitched in!

Yup- thats 10 kids carrying a 50kg sack for the fun of it. OH&S would have a fit.

Snapshot US elections

'Obama!'
I stopped. 'Obama! Yes we can!' I replied with a raised fist and a teasing grin. The market fish sellers cheered and the mango seller grinned and launched into a monologue about Obama and America. My language hasn't got to politics yet. After registering my blank expression he returned to business 'Mango ten kwacha ten kwacha'.

I love cross cultural connection, however brief -but sometimes it is on the most random topics!Some events, for better or worse, have massive ramifications. All the way to Mangochi markets? i wonder.
time will tell.

Snapshot

Mangochi's one monument - the bell tower is looking quite speccy at the moment - and isn't costing half as much as Perths bell tower! :-P The sudden onset of flambuoyant tree blooms has brightened the whole town up a lot!

The farm managers brother died last night. bad headache at 6pm, dead by 10pm, buried by 10am. There is no soft focus lens on life here. its raw. it hurts. Three days of mourning, then back to farm work on Thursday. Life goes on. it has to.

Conquering the blues...

...with a weekend road trip!

Cape Maclear is only an hour away- Im wondering why I haven't discovered it before!

holiday blues

Here starteth my whinge:
I think the worst thing about being single and living away from 'home' is holidays and weekends...as in- what do you do with them?
I relished the solitude of weekends for the first 6 months...but now Im just bored.
Then I remembered that I have all these holidays to use and started thinking 'great- where'll I go?' only to realise that the excitement of 'travelling through Africa' has worn off somewhat now that I live here... and if Im bored with weekends- whats my headspace going to be after 3 weeks solo?!
The only place that really interests me is Ille de Mozambique which is 2.5 days away by public minivans and train (and they speak Portuguese not English which sucks when you're lost) OR 1.5 days drive on remote, civil war torn roads...again- neither of which look appealing if you're going solo.
POOR ME!!!!
There endeth my whinge. thank you for reading.
There is a storm brewing. It rained at the farm but hasn't rained down here yet. thunder. cool :)
Im going to go back to reading my 'Lonely Planet' guide for inspiration. wish me luck.

Rain!

I was going to write about the joy of finishing budgets and proposals...or about shovelling 7 tonnes of cow manure today, or maybe even about lunch with 'the crew' at a 'resteraunt' in the market place next to a 'cinema' playing C grade videos so loudly we all had to lip read...

But all of todays events paled into insignificance when it started to RAIN.
yup, huge drops falling from the sky, crashing into the parched earth causing mini craters and puffs of dust like miniature red waves...it looked as though the ground was moving.
The children...half naked, running and dancing along the roadside, muddy rivulets streaming down their pot bellies, faces tilted and arms outstretched to the skies in celebration.
The wet season is coming...

Snapshot

I was admiring a police pick-up today- thinking it was in pretty good nick for a car in these parts... then I noticed it didn't have a windscreen.
eh- windscreens? who needs em!

The RAC

So...once upon a time there were HEAPS of contract workers at the farm and it was the weekend, so there were HEAPS of kids around too... so the whitey decided that since everyone had been working so hard for so long that some music would cheer the place up a bit. There was no radio in sight so the whitey decided to use her car as a giant stereo.


Well, with african rasta blasting out across the landscape, the kids flocked to the car to dance and perform to their reflections in the paint work, while the mothers paused to watch and smile. The young men even heartily joined in singing - busting some moves with their hoes (the other kind)


It was one of those perfect moments really, where everyone is smiling and life is good.



Eventually the music stopped- which didn't surprise the whitey cos her MP3 player was low on battery. She explained with a smile that the battery was flat and continued measuring out contour marker ridges. Little did she know the truth of her words.


An hour later the 6 workers who jovially piled into the car to catch a lift home were sadly disappointed. After working 6am-11am, they found themselves pushing a car uphill along a bike track in the heat of the day. We tried roll starting it 5 times and eventually decided to push it the km back to the gravel road. 15 kids joined in for the fun.


The whitey was frustrated. It was Sunday. She was 45 min drive from help. The flat battery was her own fault. She called her dad :) her dad gave great advice but unfortunately was about 12 hours drive away, so the young men from the local village wandered out to show off their manly car fixing abilities. It was the village spectacle. At one stage a guy sat in the drivers seat pumpinng the clutch saying we needed to get fuel through the lines. The same guy wanted to take all the spark plugs off. Thankfully we didn't have the right tools.


Then a battery appeared from somewhere and they connected the terminals using a knife, a pair of plyers, a piece off the jack and a scrap piece of metal. That managed to get enough power to get the starter motor ticking, so they went off in search of wire and returned with some copper wire from a radio. Two hours after the problem was first discovered it was collectively decided that it was time to start pushing again. This time the bonnet was open with the new battery perched on top of the engine. This time a guy ran along side holding the wires to the terminals. This time the car car roared to life. The village cheered. The kids wooped. The 'mechanics' asked for money. Money paid and arguements settled, the workers once again jumped in the car. Fanta? the whitey asked. Applause. Minutes later everyone was sitting in the shade drinking cold fanta and munching on peanuts, the car quietly idling nearby. 'no more music' the whitey said with a smirk.

Life

Its Saturday 1 pm. I had a much needed sleep in this morning (8.30am) but then the day started. I went to help a friend take some bags of cement to her home so she can render it- which then involved filling up with fuel, discovering a puncture, getting the tyre changed, during which time the farm manager left a missed call on my phone...but I had also run out of credit so i went off to buy some more units from the corner store and called him. 'We have 20 contract workers today!' he exclaimed. He'll need more money. We'll need to make sure all the contour marker ridges are measured out and dug so the new workers dig the ridges at the correct angle...I said I'd be there by 3pm. Meanwhile my friend gave me more money to purchase the remaining bags of cement- which I brought and loaded up, then stopped in at the markets to get some fruit- bananas and mangoes. the mangoes (ive got one stickying up my left hand right now!) are still pretty green and sour- but mango all the same! I was home by 12, ready for some breakfast. I'll leave at 2.15pm drop the bags of cement off on my way to the farm and spend the cooler afternoon marking out contours with an 'A frame', wooden pegs and a hoe, wondering how my Saturday got reduced to 2 hrs and 15 min...

Things are coming along really well at the farm though. 25 workers- 5 labourers and 20 contract workers for the next week means there is hope of egetting everythign done before the rains come. We've had a lot of trouble getting enough people to work- even after I figured out there was a boycott over pay which we managed to sort out. If there is meant to be 5, there will ususally bye 2 or 3. If we've got 10 lined up- we'll get 7. "Too many funerals' the farm manager said one day. 'Everyday there is a funeral! - its not good. ' I asked if the people were dying suddenly from malaria or accidents - or had they been sick a long time? They've all been sick a long time. AIDS. don't let the thought creep into your head that its not a big problem. It affects EVERY aspect of life here.

So- my Farm report:

- We've finished the farm plan and decided what to plant where- now we're working on sourcing the seeds and fertiliser etc

- The water management drain is 75% finished and the extra contract workers means the 5 labourers will be available to work on it solidly over the next few days...miracle!

- I've found a local farmer who has about 15 tonne of cow manure he's happy to have cleared away for free?! and a sympathetic local farmer who's willing to let us use his 7 tonne truck at fuel cost price...another miracle. i know I found chicken poo- but it's too strong withount months of composting and we haven't got time. Ive moved it to next years 'to do' list.

- I've been sourcing all sorts of tree seedlings to plant at the first rains while we're waiting to have resources and time to set up our own nursery. Those materials are slowly coming together too, but we should have about 100 fruit trees and 200 woodlot trees ready to plant in the next few weeks. yay!

- our training facility? it fell down. I don't really want to talk about it. lets call it a cultural learning experiance for me-and leave it at that! :-z

- I've also been told there is a donation that I can acces for the farm - so ive been busy not only dreaming big, but researching prices and the best way to go about getting things done and putting together a proposal and budget for the next 12 months...

So yeah- Ive been busy, along with continued language learning and still not feeling 100% after the virus/infection I had last week. Ive also been staying overnight sometimes - housesuitting a friends house near the farm which is awesome to save driving...but there's no internet!!!! waaaa :-) so im getting lots of work done- but feeling very disconnected from the outside world. well- my weekend ends in 10 min. better pack my overnight bag.

til next time

twenty tonnes of chicken poo...

The highlight of the week was...
thats right- chicken poo. more precisely finding someone who can supply me with twenty tonnes of it! "but i don't have any boys to spare- you'll have to bring your own, and they'll need gumboots. That pit is pretty deep" ... after a slight cringe I was stoked. Now I just gotta organise the finances and the truck and the shovels and convince the MEN to pick it up- or maybe next year :)

Other than that, this week has been pretty frustrating. Feeling unwell Monday, trip to the doctor Tuesday and an overnight in Blantyre due to not feeling well enough to take on the 2.5hr drive home solo. Wednesday...got home in the morning and spent the afternoon sleeping. Thursday went out to the farm, attended a staff meeting, sourced manure, got home and slept 2.5 hrs heavily before dragging myself up to make dinner.

Today...we've agreed the antibiotics aren't working, my 'annoying health issue' seems to have become a throat infection of some description and im not up to driving. SO, someone will drive me to the doctors again tomorrow. yay. The good news is that this time the doctors visit will be combined with catching up with my mum who's in Lilongwe for the weekend (Yay!). bad news is that Lilongwe is 4hrs drive rather than 2.5hrs. oh well.

The farm...is progressing painfully slowly. The rains are coming SOON and there is so much to do! how to prioritise? As always, we'll do our best.

A visit to the doctor

Often living here doesn't feel difficult. We still eat, cook, sleep, work... but tonight I found myself packing for a doctors visit tomorrow- and it suddenly struck me as odd. I've never packed an overnight bag for a routine doctors visit before...
its ok- it's not an emergency. im not dying- I'd just like a quick visit to the doctor to get a niggling health issue checked. Easy, right? call in the morning, make an appointment, show up, wait an hour, see the doctor, go home.
Not so Malawi.
Because I refuse to attend the local hospital (which services almost a million people and probably wouldn't look at me anyway cos I don't look sick) I have to get up at 5 am, leave for the nearest city at 5.30am (less people and animalian traffic on the road), drive for 2.5hrs, then I have 2 options- walk into emergency at one of the private hospitals, or take a ticket at the doctors and wait for my number to be called. See the doctor, then I can go home.
Unless...I'm given a prescription to fill, in which case I'll probably spendthe next few hours trying to locate a chemist that has the prescribed medicine in stock... and then do our grocery shopping and then drive 2.5 hrs home again. OR
Even worse- I might need tests- which means either way I'll end up in the emergency department of a private hospital and invariably stay the night whilst waiting for test results. Last time I went to the doctor I had to talk him out of sending me to South Africa for the day!
Sometimes life here conspires to be difficult, but thank God for access to health care I say

Rallies, *amadan and Really hot weather

Its 4.43 Sunday avo. I'm sitting at my desk gazing out the window...wondering what - out of all the events of the past few weeks- I should write about. The light is golden on the guava tree outside. Soon the light will turn crimson red as the sun lowers through the smoke haze...then darkness. It won't cool off much though. Its 34 deg inside and probably won't go much below 30 deg tonight. the hot has arrived. It's funny how fast it came. One day was cool in the morning and hot in the afternoon- then it just didn't get cool again. As fast as that. I have a fan, but I still wake up thirsty and drenched in sweat through the night. It'll probably start raining in about a month, so at least for now the humidity isn't too bad.

Enough about the weather! (good to see Im still a good weather obsessed Aussie at heart!). The last few weeks have busy. The change in weather has signalled that its definitely time to get fields prepared before the rains- so we've been busy at the farm finishing off the drain, starting our tilling (with hoes) and have finally started our farmer training! So far we've had 3 groups of 25 to 30 participants, being trained in contour ridge marking, box ridging and compost making. Here's a few photos...

Using the 'A Frame' the participants made. Digging the contour marker ridge.Making a 'chimato' stack for composting.Meanwhile 'the lads' - the farm workers :) were busy finishing off our new ablutions block. Yay! Now that the grass has been burnt it's increasingly hard to find a discreet place to pee- as I discovered one day when the local chief saw me squatting with a chitenje discreetly wrapped around me and came over to greet me! hehehe

We have another training day this week, then it's full steam ahead getting the farm ready for planting.

One day last week I was visiting a friend for a cuppa after a day at the farm and heard a bit of a commotion coming from the school next door. I went out to investigate and discovered that the opposition leader (yellow party) was about to arrive for a rally. Sure enough he showed up in a big black car in a convoy with body guards running either side... very cool.

Part of the convoy and the opposition leaders car.

I hung around for a bit of the speeches which he delivered with great passion from the back of a ute (he's the one in the yellow shirt on the right), then wandered back to finish my cuppa.

The next day was the celebration day for the end of fasting, so I brought goat meat for my friends from the local butcher and headed out to celebrate with them. It was very different from my experience of this day in Indonesia several years ago- I guess mostly because of the incredible poverty here. In Indo the entire day before the celebration was spent cooking and preparing copious amounts of cakes and goodies. The actual day, after morning prayers, and in fact the following 3 days was spent gorging yourself on the cakes, entertaining visitors with the cakes...then visiting everyone in the town and eating their cakes too!

Everyone was excited about the celebration here too- but I couldn't see much evidence of food. I gave my gift to my friend and hung out most of the morning playing with the kids and drinking utobwa (fermented millet drink- a bit like a strawberry yogurt shake in consistency) then, after prayers, each house prepared their meal and shared it with the other families in that enclave of the village. First there was ugali and chicken, then ugali and fish, then ugali and goat stew, then rice and beans (which I suspect they brought out just for me cos theydidn't think I'd eaten enough ugali- but a) it doesn't take much ugali to fill me up b) even with 3 courses- 1 plate of each doesn't go far between so many people and c) I eat meat more than once a year-this was a special treat for them). It was a lovely communal feel all washing our hands in the same bowl and eating out of the communal dishs...I covered the whole experience in prayer that I wouldn't get sick and I didn't! :)

The market butchery( the butcher declined to be in the photo).

Eating together.

Well, it's now after dinner and this party animal is ready to hit the sack- so I'll leave you with my favourite photo of the week. :)

g'nite.

grubbiness

Ive been wondering for a while how to convey the grubbiness of living here... everything has a layer of dust- varied only by depth... and moisture content. At the end of a day I can roll the dirt- sunscreen mix off my face. my work-shirt collars don't come clean anymore and my feet? - you'd be forgiven for thinking they get washed once a week- not the twice daily ritual of soaping and scrubbing they endure. I can't tell the difference between tan and in-grained dirt anymore!

Anyways, last night, 3 of us ladies (all well groomed individuals in Australia I might add!) were discussing the state of our feet and I decided it was time to blog it.

i call it: 'grubbiness a la africa'

I have so much to write about- farmer training, weekend retreat, political rally's and preparations for religious celebrations...but Im too tired today. I woke up witha cold and am now (10am ) heading back to bed. til next time!

Friday

I slept appallingly (sp?!) Thursday night and decided at 3.30am that I wasn't going to get up at 4.50 as planned to be at the farm by 6am. My commitment to the farm is 3 days a week. I had met that commitment and didn't think it wise to drive more hours than I'd slept. So...I got up at 5.40 to tell the farm manager I wasn't coming and slept wonderfully til 7am. I spent the morning baking bread, working on my draft Farm Plan Report and chatting to Mama A- the lady who cleans our house 3 mornings a week. I had taken her to visit her daughter in the village yesterday on my way to the farm and visited her home here in town which was nice. She is such a sweet old lady and very patient with my ciYawo and my wanderings through the house while she's trying to clean it!

A colleague came over for lunch (smelt the bread?! :) and it was a great few hours discussing and sharing how life here has impacted us so deeply. What will we do when we go back to Australia? We've changed and we won't fit our old lives any more. To be honest, the future looks lonely and uncertain. Neither of us regret coming here and being a part of this world for a short time- its a privilege. But when we consider the future we've both started to realise that the cost is possibly greater than we ever imagined. I suspect the benefit is going to be greater than we ever imagined too. The sheer scale of God's plans always amaze me and he's been good and faithful til now so I really have no reason to doubt his faithfulness in the future!
There is a song by Sara Groves called 'Painting pictures of Egypt' that I think captures the feeling well. The chorus says "I've been painting pictures of Egypt, leaving out what it lacked, cos the future feels so hard and I wanna go back, but the places that used to hold me cannot
hold the things I've learned- those roads were closed off to me while my back was turned...'

After that I had a 2 hour language lesson. Although my teacher was quite despondant the other day about how much vocab I've forgotten :( I would like to point out (in my defense) that I am now much better at using the vocab I DO have in an understandable sentence structure. I can also distinguish words and process them when different people are speaking now MUCH faster than before-so Im understanding alot more of waht is going on around me, even if I am slow to form sentences in response. Either way, whether Im doing better or not- we're both working harder at my language which a good outcome :)

After language I collected all the veggies in our veggie patch that were ready (about 20 tomatoes and 20 capsicums) and decided we really needed to eat a lot of capsicum for dinner! SO we had fish, steamed veggies and indianish stuffed capsicums. The recipe was so yummy I've put the link in for you. The only thing I did different was add a tiny bit of liquid to each capsicum after stuffing it so the masala mix didn't fall out.
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=248791

After dinner we watched one of my favourite movies- 'Japanese Story'. Normally it is the storyline that hits me the hardest, but I have to admit I felt terrbily homesick watching the scenery and felt a bit teary during the 'Perth International Airport' scene (!!!) remembering my own departure from those bleak gates. I lent it to a South African friend last week and I heard (via the rumour mill) that he loved it so much he edited out a few scenes and showed it to his village friends?! I wonder how it interacted with their world view? How would they interpret it? He's coming 'round for dinner tonight so I'll have to ask him how it went.

A Week in my Life - Wednesday & Thursday... the following week

Hmm, didn't keep to the 'everyday' thing too well did I? well- i wrote a long post last Thursday evening- then the power went out and I lost it all...after that I couldn't be bothered. sorry.

This week has been another full one. My life seems to revolve around drains and coming up with new strategies to deal with all the things that challenge my world view on a daily basis.

The drains are coming along well and about 80% to plan- so that's pretty good. The training facility has been halted for a few weeks due to financial issues, but is now progressing again slowly.

The farm manger told me a few weeks back that he has leased one of the adjacent farms (about 2 acres), so I had been watching with interest as his workers raked up all of last years crop residues into windrows. I finally asked if he was going to burn it and was disappointed to hear that yes, he was going to burn it and put himself into debt to continue using inorganic fertiliser this year. I decided to take it as a challenge to make our demo farm SO good that he'll be making his own compost manure within 3 years :). Anyways, on Monday we were working ( I dug a few meters of the drain! ouch!) when I noticed a lot of smoke from alarmingly nearby... As the flames moved rapidly from his farm into the adjacent bushland, my heart was in my mouth! The flames were big and aided by a hot, dry wind it was fast approaching where we were working- but no one else batted an eyelid. The guys kept working and the women continued to relax under a tree (lunch break), only moving when the fire was within meters of them and had enveloped them in smoke. After a while the farm manager had to go off to fight the fire where it was getting too near to some village houses, but didnt seem phased at all - just slightly annoyed that the children had lit in the middle of the afternoon rather than the evening when it was easier to control.

I found the contrast of our culturally learnt responses to fire amazing. 4yr olds play with fire here all the time. The fires lit this time of year burn vast areas- but its seen as a good thing here. If this fire doesn't burn it, the next one will ...

I was feeling really upset and indignant the other day about how I had been treated in a situation. It wasn't right, or fair- but then a local friend visited and gave me the gift of perspective. We discussed her life at the moment- her bicycle that she uses as a taxi business is broken- so she has no income, her sisters have gone to live with their husbands in another village- leaving all their children with the grandmother and eldest sister who are struggling to find enough food to feed them. My friend also suspects that she and her youngest child- who is always sick- need to have an HIV test- but she is terrified of the answer and can't summon the courage to do it. Her husband is dismissive and doesn't want to talk about it. While we were talking her youngest child was constantly crying and whinging with the occasional tantrum. I offered to get her a drink and got her some milk and biscuits whilst thinking to myself that she could probably do with some discipline as well. It was only after the child ravenously devoured the food and sat down with a contented smile to quitely amuse herself that I realised that she had been hungry -really hungry and I wondered when my friends last meal was if it's at the point where there is no food for the kids either... Malawians are opportunistic- and the brazen few will harass you for money in public and make you feel like everyone views you as walking ATM. But Malawians can also be very proud and tend to ask less when they are really in need- that is, until it gets desperate- then they will knock on a rich persons gate and throw themselves on your mercy or calousness as the case may be...

Im still really struggling with the material discrepancy between human beings- all made in Gods image. Poverty- now THAT's not right or fair.

A week in my Life - Tuesday

Thankfully today was a little more orderly than yesterday. Started the day with a lovely time of reading, thinking and praying through Deuteronomy 28-30 in preparation for taking on Micah-the next book in my 'read through the Bible' quest. :)

Whilst munching my porridge I managed to figure out how to download the GPS waypoints myself (very proud) and sent them off to a kind friend to be made into a 'proper' map- then headed into work and spent the morning drafting a funding proposal for the farm (anyone got some spare cash they'd like to see go to a good cause?!) and chatting with a colleague.

Its good having another chick to swap stories and commiserate with. The current 'issue' for me is pay rates. no, not mine :) but another whitey would like to take on my language helper but apparently isn't willing to pay what Im paying- and it's partly my problem because I upped her pay rate from the previous employer -who's doing the advising...so it's all a bit messy. Yes, Im paying more for a few hours than some people get in a day -but just because the economy here doesn't work doesn't mean I have to be stingy. I decided to base what I pay on what it actually costs to live rather than the 'standard' wage. The standard day wage for unskilled labour could currently buy you 1 kg of rice and 2 tomatoes, or 7 eggs- its not even enough for a carton of milk!!! grrr Im SO glad Ive only got 1 persons pay to worry about!

I had salad for lunch- a short lived treat after a visit to the markets in Blantyre on the weekend. lettuce, broccoli mmm, answered a few emails then a short nap :) and back to work to type out a government brochure on how to make compost manure. The brochure was in Chichewa, so I asked a colleague to translate it into ChiYawo... for me to type, format and print for the Farmer Trainings happening...soon. By about 4pm my office felt like a sauna and the girl in the office behind me was taking a nap, so I knocked off early and went and had a cuppa tea with another colleague of mine :) we talked about...how we've changed and what it'll be like to go back to Australia, relationships, life...girl talk :)

Tonight I cooked chambo for dinner- its Lake Malawi's prime fresh water fish- and the best tasting fish ever I think it's safe to say! and, Ive spent the rest of the evening finishing off the documents I was working on today and printing them for tomorrow. Its all one big party here (yawn) g'nite

A week in my life- Monday

Im out of the habit of writing- to everyone. Its not that I don't have time (we always find time for the things we really want to do) and its not that Im so used to everything here now that I have nothing to write and opinionate about. No- not at all. Its that...well, Im not a tourist, just observing any more- Im 'in' it. I think ive been here long enough now to realise that so many things don't have easy explanations...and the tragedies and celebrations happening around me are happening to people I know and care about and it affects me deeply. I find it hard to write about things that matter to my heart. But i also want to share what life is here with you...so im going to do a 'week in the life of me' which'll give you a snapshot and hopefully get me back in the habit :)

SO

Today is the first day of Ramadan, which, in this part of the world has meant an over night swap from the excesses, drumming and wild parties of the Unyago initiation celebrations to pious fasting as outlined by the Quran. Food and drink and sex are banned during daylight hours for the next month. "Fasting is a shield," said the noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) "Whoever spends the month of Ramadan in complete faith and self-rectification, his previous sins will be forgiven."

I've only ever experienced Ramadan and Idul Fitri in Indonesia, so Im not sure what to expect here. In Indonesia I was living with a devout host family. In Indonesia I fasted- but this morning I ate my brekky with thanksgiving and filled several large water bottles in case the farm workers weren't feeling so devout after several hours digging in the hot sun. Then after fuelling up the car I popped into the office for a few minutes to touch base and let the boss know where I was for the day- then off to the farm. Not quite direct though- some friends of mine- an expat couple with a young daughter were moving house up to a town near the farm today, so I stopped by their place, picked up the mother, daughter and a car load of boxes and delivered them to their new place...then I went to the farm.

When I arrived around 10am, the farm manger was lying in the shade and workers had just about finished for the day. They had no qualms slugging back the water. They've progressed really well on the drains distance-wise, but not quite according to design, so I chatted to the farm manager about that for a while and he nodded in agreeance. Im a bit worried cos he has a massive boil on the back of his neck that he's had for 3 days. It looks/is super painful but he was adament about trapesing all over the farm with me to get the last few GPS co-ordinates I need for the map...for the Farm Plan...for the funding proposal etc. "Its my jobo' he said with a grin. It was hot work- the season has definitely changed- its hard to believe a few weeks ago I was wearing a jacket and stockings under my skirt for warmth!

I dropped him home just before 12 and headed to the only resteraunt in the area. Are they serving food? yes- rice and chicken please. A colleague saw my car and came over for a chat. Apparently at the last meeting when the boss had promised the farmer training would happen in September, my colleague had retorted 'this year or next?!'. hehe I guess locals DO feel the same frustration at delayed timelines and empty promises. The training faciltiy is 5 weeks overdue. We're meant to be training 300 farmers in compost manure making and contour ridging- but we have no roof. sigh

After lunch I went to my friends house and played with their daughter and eventually got her to sleep while they unpacked and got on with moving in. Boxes and chaos today, comfortable home tomorrow! I left there around 4 pm and headed down the mountain. Its about a 45 min drive home down a pretty steep, windy road in places. The police pulled me over and wanted a lift to the next town. sure. I think the one in the front seat was trying to see my speedo- but he wasn't wearing his seatbelt so I felt safe with ammo :)

At the next police stop, near Mangochi, the policeman seemed to be just on the verge of asking for a lift when my friend from the village appeared and butted the police man out of the conversation! She attends Islamic school so had her black smock and headscarf on today. I spied 2 other women from the village with their babies behind her so I told her to hop in and informed the policeman I would be turning around now. Their village is only 12 km away- but thats a LONG way when you're lugging a kid on your back- whether you've eaten that day or not! They told me they'd been getting immunisation shots for their kids and visiting another friend from the village who had a baby in hospital today. a little boy, safe and sound. yay! Back at the village I greeted everyone, held a baby etc then headed off. so tired. Unloading my car at home I discovered that one of the kids had peed in the car :-z

got home around 5.30pm, hopped straight in the shower and my house mate cooked pasta for dinner while I finalised my receipts and cash records for August (yawn) then I cooked a cake for desert cos we've got lots of mushy bananas that need using today. cake was good :)

now- its 9.20 and im looking forward to bed! g'nite

Ladies and Gentlemen- may i present 'the drain'!

this is going to take all the run off water from that hill and slowly transport it to the nearest natural drainage channel- protecting all tha tlovely soil from erosion and providing plenty of opportunity for the groundwater to be re-charged! its good, very good :)