Dictionary

I've had a rivetting Saturday. After a lovely sleep in I sat down to... update my dictionary. grrr for getting so behind, but I want my whole word list (english to ciyawo) entered before my solo visit to the village on Tuesday. its almost 4pm and Im up to 't' which would be great except that all my verbs have been entered in the spreadsheet as 'to ...' so Im really only half way. Oh well, I also made some biscotti with almonds I found in Blantyre last week, so at least I have something nice to snack on.

I need you help- Im starting to get total writers block on this blog. I guess nothing is new anymore and I assume you are bored with my language learning?! (i am) Is there anything in particular you want to know about? anything I can go photograph for you? hehe. what do you want to read about? Any suggestions would be helpful- otherwise you'll just get irregular updates on my language progress until I start 'work' ...then Im sure I'll have plenty to write about :)
So, in the spirit of sharing my joy with you, here is a teeny tiny portion of my word list thus far...

mosquito -ususu
mosquito net -masikito
mother -mama
mountain - litumbi (pl. matumbi)
mouse - likoswe
mouth -pakamwa
movie house- movidiyo
mucous -manila / mamina?
friend (my) -ajangu
friends (my) -acimjangu
husband (my) -walume wangu
wife (my) -wamkwangu
my/mine -wangu
nail (building) - msomali
near -kwakuwandika
neck -lukosi
necklace -nikilesi
need, want, like -kusaka

My Head Space

Hiya! sorry for not posting regularly these days...Ive been getting distracted by language study (woohoo! miracles do happen :)

As of this week I have upped the ante (sp?!) on my language 'regime' having realised I only have 1 month left to get to the stage of cummunicating by myself.

My repertoire now includes chatting to our night guards, daily lessons with 2 language teachers, one day a week driving/village visits - observing and listening AND as of Tuesday - a “rent a friend”. Saj- is a beautiful lady, early 20’s, 3 kids, doesn’t speak English, has spent her whole life in a little village about 20 min drive outta Mangochi. She seems really nice and the plan is for me to go there every Tuesday (just the avo's to start with) and just hang out and try and chat- doing whatever she and her sisters are doing- which on Tuesday was destringing pumpkin leaves and shelling beans for their dinner. 2 guys took me out to introduce me so it was all a bit- unnatural...but I hope as I head out there regularly by myself I’ll blend in as well as a white chick with a car in a small African village can...

So, whats on my mind this morning?
- Zimbabwe's elections are tomorrow and Im praying for a miracle. This link: http://www.sokwanele.com/map/all_breaches is really interesting- but abit depressing. A summary guide on how to rig an election...ya know- i always thought that dictators just didn't count the votes- or didn't allow the votes- but I was so naive!! there is a whole plethora of ingenious ways of swaying votes, deciding who does and doesn't vote, intimidation, payoffs etc that would result in a much more ego boosting positive indication in the dictators favour than just not counting the vote at all. Everybody likes to feel popular.

- Our own politics are abit interesting- apparently the current president created his own party AFTER he was elected (ignoring the constitution), hasn't allowed parliament to sit for at least 6 months now and gave away all the countries reserve maize to a relative (Mugabe is his father in law) - and I just read this morning that the previous president (currently facing serious corruption charges) has got the all clear to run for president again in the elections next year. yay.

- What else- can green curry paste be swapped in for red curry paste in a recipe? surely...

- I need to do some more languge prep. We are going through wordless kids books and, in 30 min blocks we are constrained to only using Ciyawo, and I have to describe everything I see on the page, with Swa- helping. Its great- I can say stuff! Im also getting her to record stories about her day/life and I tell her what I think its about-then we listen to it together and she fills in the gaps- then I can listen when she's not there and here a 'normal' monologue- already knowing what its about. very cool.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Fridays? Im not sure if its Fridays themselves, or the anticipation of the weekend. no can't be the latter cos the weekends aren't that different out here- just time to catch up on everythig that didn't happen through the week :)
Its 8am. gotta run.
ps got a phone call from Oz yesterday- thankyou thankyou thankyou! floating on cloud 9.

Catch up

I hope you all had a lovely Easter break! I feel like I've been away for weeks. So rather than bore with lots of words about my parents visit, I thought I'd write a summary and post a few pics taken over the past week.

My folks arrived 9.15pm Tuesday night after a gruelling 13 hrs drive. We were up crack of dawn Wednesday for an overview tour of the work here and some of the projects I may be involved in ...soon. We had lunch at Neptunes (my fav restraunt) and met up with most of the TLC staff (future colleagues) which was awesome.

Crack of dawn Thurs we drove to Blantyre and shopped all day. We went to a Chinese resteraunt for dinner where Dad had his first sweet and sour dish for about a year. The resteraunt doesn't have much of a reputation but we hit a winner that night.

Friday we slept, and chatted and read books etc. I wanted to go to the Mohammeds Birthday parade but i had such bad hayfever/allergy that I wasn't really up to it. Apparently it was attended by tens of thousands of people and was pretty amazing to see.

Saturday the manic shopping continued as M&D are trying to purchase everything for their new house in Karonga cos the shopping is better in Blantyre than Lilongwe. Blantyre actually has a shopping centre!

Sunday I woke up to the sound of church bells ringing out over the valley. Beautiful. Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed. We were once again up too early to get to Liwonde National Park for a Birthday Safari for mum. An elephant showed up especially for the occasion :)

Monday we were back in Mangochi and lounged around for the day completing 'jobs' that revolved largely around cooking food and eating it. lovely.

today...M&D headed off with relatively little phaffing after brekky and meeting Swa-. Dad also helped me move my desk so I now have a view out the window rather than a beige wall. love it.

Happy Easter!

My folks are here and though its been flat out- its also been alot of fun showing them what I do now, where i'll be working in a month or so and today...up at crack of dawm (again) to head to Blantyre for shopping! Tomorrow is both Good Friday and Mohammeds Birthday so it will be interesting spending it in Muslim/Chrisitan city. I pray it will be peaceful.

Well, as I consider what Easter means to me I want to share with you quote form my favourite book- written thousands of years ago, but shedding so much light on the life of Jesus:

Phillipians 5-11 - 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
May you have a blessed Easter.

Monday

Todays achievements include 7 sparkling clean ceiling fans and getting to 'C' in my 'words Ive learnt recorded english to Ciyawo' dictionary. What an exciting day. Village visits was cancelled, so i (with an amazingly willing Swa-!) took advantage of my lingering cleaning bug and had a spring clean marathon. windows, bathroom shower bays, curtains, walls, floors (with polish!)...you wouldn't know a humid, wet country could be so dusty. Unfortunately I forgot to get a photo of one of my super-clean white ceiling fans while I was up the ladder (boohoo), so a few pics taken at intervals thoughout the rest of the day will have to suffice.

A cameleon in the back yard

A quick trip to the markets for fresh food supplies- my folks are coming tomorrow for a week! Trying to find some exciting veggies to roast with the chicken Baba Lemon is going to bring 'prepared' for me tomorrow. Did I tell you that a few weeks ago they moved the market?! there one day, gone the next. the old market burnt down just before I arrived, so everyone had just 'squatted' and set up their stalls in the ashes. Then one day the local authority decided it was time to start rebuiling and moved everybody on...so the market is now around the corner in a narrow street with the fish section located right in the middle to ensure maximum exposure to the aroma on a hot, still afternoon.

Upholding a long standing tradition of HungryJacks for late lunch after a cleaning spree :)

Musings, golf and reality

Well, my taste of poverty ended on the 6th morning. Nothing major- i just woke up with an overwhelming desire to clean the house in preparation for my folks visiting next week...and there was no way I was going to lug in all that water to hand wash 6 sheets, 2 towels and mop etc so I ceremoniously made myself a piece of toast for brekky-spread with vegemite and hopped into the cleaning.

What did I learn? Malawian food is simply wonderful -and ugali is a great comfort food that is quick and easy to cook. I made it on MK1745- but only because I was feeding 1 person, had no relatives and no unbudgeted needs or emergencies. I really missed my fruit and I'd be struggling to buy clothes or medicine on that. It shocked me how labour intensive life was- not just carrying heavy buckets of water, but ladelling it out one cup at a time, hand washing clothes and wringing them out, making fresh relish and ugali for every meal- no refrigerator or microwave, making extra trips to carry things whilst carrying a candle...and at the end of it all, a cold splash and a hard bed. I didnt even have to pound my own maize or gather and carry firewood or squat over the fire to cook (all with a child strapped to my back!)- and my muscles were still sore! yup- they do it tough.

So what do you do after a week of hard work? Play golf. haha. yup, today we went for a game of golf at one of the lake resorts (I didnt even know there was a golf course there!). It was beautiful- green, shady course, boabab trees, lakes (a little croc arrived with the winter flooding!- one potential problem growing). We played 9 holes in 4 hours with much laughter and fun and Gilmore shots and victory dances...and it was good. Good to laugh, good to have fun, good to do something outside the house and Mangochi, good to forget the world and all its cares for a moment and try and find that little white ball and get it in the hole. It was a breath of fresh air. Many photos to follow Im sure :)

On the way home we passed a matola (minivan country bus/taxi service)by the side of the road and the driver and another man were beating the *#!* out of one of the pssengers dragged form the van while the rest of the passengers looked on. We prayed, slowed right down and discussed whether it would be wise to stop and intervene in such a volatile situation. As we passed they stopped kicking him and got back in the matola. He lay still for a moment then slowly got to his feet. I could see him gingerly limping away as we rounded the corner. We came back to earth with a thud- much like a golf ball landing on the green.

A must see Swiss movie- ' As it is in Heaven'

A Taste of Poverty III

Wednesday to Friday- variations on a theme.

I have discovered that hot restless sleep magnifies the sounds of the night...crickets, the breeze rustling the trees, over-ripe guavas thudding to the ground, the close footsteps and muted voices of the night watchmen- all punctuated by the neighbourhood dogs goading each other into a choir of howls.

I have enjoyed the simplicity of eating within my budget- rice with a little sugar for brekky (the cassava I bought were no good), ugali and greens for lunch and steamed pumpkin with kidney bean 'soup' for dinner. I look forward to ugali at lunch time- but don't seem to to be able to face twice a day :)

Kidney Bean Relish/Soup:

bring one cup of dried kidney beans to the boil with plenty of water in the morning. Take off the heat and cover. In the evening, simmer for an hour or so until soft (pre-boiling cuts 2 hrs of simmering time). In a separate pot heat 0.5- 1cm of oil, add a diced onion and a diced tomato or 2 and some salt to taste and allow to cook 'til tomatoes are breaking up. drain most of the bean liquid into a separate bowl and pour the oil mixture over the beans. leave on low heat for a little while to allow the oil/tomato/onion flavour to permeate the beans.

serve the bean relish with ugali or rice OR If you prefer the soup option, serve the relish into bowls and add the reserved bean liquid to taste. simple and delicious.

Wednesday both my language helpers arrived for the lesson having not eaten one or two of their previous meals. I guessed from their restless lack of concentration and served up anzacs and bananas with the usual glass of water. 'pangali' was said with a shrug or the 'malawian gesture' of clapping both hands together then holding them apart with a resigned shrug- 'there is nothing' AAAAAAAH!!!! How do I respond? they are both very well off by malawian standards- not only do they work for me, one is a teacher and the others husband has a well paid job. If they're running out of food on a regular basis- then what about the rest of the population?Budgeting doesn't work in this culture- the extended families needs come before the individuals - but at the same time- i know my generosity has been factored into the equation. take a deep breath and respond to one at a time....

the power has been on and off a lot this week which hasn't effected me much- except for internet access and the outside taps running out of water haha another bout of divine sense of humour :) I haven't been using my alotted 4 buckets of water a day- partly cos my wrists and lower back hurt from carrying it. By Thursday night everyone elses houses had no lights cos their transformer batteries had run out- but my place was a conspicuous glow of outdoor security lights :)

speaking of lights-I haven't minded spending each evening reading by candle light but I don't feel much like spending Friday night alone with no lights- so Im breaking that one from now on. thought I had better be honest :) well- have a good friday night- I would love to go out fo rdinner with friends and go see a band afterwards...oh the things we take for-granted

A Taste of Poverty III

Tuesday afternoon: Who'd have thought this would become a foodie blog?! well its not your average foodie blog and its definitely temporary. After a delicious lunch of ugali and greens (pictured), I sat down to do my budget...and im scarily close to having spent my (generous) $2/day already.

Rent (equivalent for a 2 roomed, tin roofed ‘apartment’ with shared ablutions), charcoal (fee for using gas stove), soap and candles come to 610MK. 4 Buckets of water a day and food items already purchased brings the grand total to 1515MK. My food supply so far consists of a weeks supply of maize flour, oil, salt, onions, beans and rice, and a few tomatoes, cassava, a pumpkin, a days supply of greens and some peanuts. Im really hoping there’ll be room in the budget for an egg with dinner tonight.

I’ve chosen a bad time to take on this challenge. With harvest still a few weeks away, maize flour is at an all time high price and tomatoes... I dunno why they are so expensive- but they are 20-25 MK each which means if you are working a manual labour job- your days wage could buy you...4 or 5 tomatoes! Go figure.

I also have a confession to make- this afternoon as I was starting my grammar lesson, my blood sugar levels dropped and I got the shakes and couldn't concentrate...so I ate an anzac bikky. I guess it shows that the ugali looks impressive in quantity but doesn't have substance. Esn- then informed me that i could buy a quarter kg of sugarfor 30MK, so, as soon as the lesson was over I stunned a shop keeper and she introduced me to the evening markets- amazing seeing the whole place bustling with people in the cool of the evening and lit with candles!

I ended up having my egg for dinner. yum!

If you like the look of the food - or you're curious to try it -the recipies are all in my blog archives somewhere tagged with 'cooking'. Im amazed at how tasty oil, onion and tomato can be- and how comforting a stomach full of ugali is- Im really enjoying this challenge.

A Taste of Poverty II

Your challenge should you chose to accept it is to taste poverty for 7 days.

yup, I say 'taste', cos as was pointed out- we cannot truly have any any idea what its like to have nothing- until we have lost everything...so until then, my goal for the week (starting Monday 10th March am) is to live as close to the standard of a middle class Malawian as possible.

Monday & Tuesday morning: So far, it has gone much as could be expected...
The bed wasn’t too bad- not too great either, but I slept ok. I decided to forgo the cold splash this morning- but after and hour of hauling water and scrubbing to get my clothes clean...Im dripping sweat at 7.30 am and a cold bathe is sounding pretty good...except that means carrying more water...

Breakfast yesterday was abysmal. I was assured that it was possible to make a nice rice porridge using just rice and water... but I ended up with plain rice for brekky that only marginally improved when I poured my black tea over it. This morning Im trying cassava which is a root vegetable that smells almost like bread...but tastes like a whole lotta starch- again, not too bad, but not great either!

After a day in the villages where 4 of the 7 meetings were cancelled due funerals or attendees busy in their gardens protecting them from elephants, and 2 villages inaccessible due to road conditions...we got back early and I decided to visit our neighbours over the road who were sitting out the front braiding hair. Communication was pretty limited as only one of them spoke Ciyawo and another a little English, but they were very friendly and shared their baobab fruit with me (ish!) and tried putting my hair into 3 braids which slipped out within minutes :-)

Dinner was a candle lit affair of steamed corn, pumpkin and left over rice (not a Malawian meal as such but I wasn’t hungry enough to eat ugali), whilst reading ‘Kidnapped’ by Robert Lewis Stevenson. Its all about atmosphere I say!

Well, I would post this now if I could but either our internet connection is stuffed or google/blogger is experiencing some problems... and just when I finally got a microphone that works for skyping too :-( ok..its now wednesday and we've finally got internet AND power back (not that Im using the lights- but its handy for powering computers... hehe).

Blantyre

we wandered up and down every aisle- soaking in the colours and variety of the ...supermarket shelves :) It's been about 2 months since I last made it to the 'big smoke' of Blantyre, so even grocery shopping was a real treat. We also indulged in 'Indian' for dinner and had iced tea and spice cake at a cafe in one of the old colonial buildings- what a lovely day! the next day I took my housemate to the airport for her holidays and proceeded to get lost trying to find the right road to Mangochi. no helpful road signs here - BUT I made it home with a greater appreciation of the size of Blantyre.
my first though this morning was 'oh no!' hehe my week of tasting poverty has begun. A cold dipper shower, proceeded by carrying more water in from outside and boiling up myself some plain rice and tea for brekky. yup its gonna be a long week!
Im off on a village visit this morning- then Ive got all my washing from the weekend waiting for me. God has such a a sense of humour- I had planned to use yesterday to catch up on all my washing to minimise the amount of water lugging etc this week...but the power was off all day wasn't it?! so I ended up handwashing all my sheets and towels anyways :) they who want to taste hardship cannot be choosers about when it suits them !!

A Taste of Poverty

Your challenge, should you chose to accept it is ...

Most of us have never experienced true poverty. We’ve never wondered where our next meal is coming from. We’ve never needed an ‘essential for life’ commodity (ie food, medicine, clean water etc) and not had the means to secure it.

The closest I have come to being in true need was backpacking (where banks were fewer and farther between than I had anticipated) and at uni. The first year at uni we lived day to day- and it was amazing how God provided- even if it was weeds from the backyard (nettles) and rice for dinner! Another year at uni I was working 3 jobs and living off $10 a week for food. But even in those ‘tough’ times- I was in such a position of wealth and power! Backpacking; the need was temporary- I am wealthy enough to travel!- that is not poverty. At uni; my money was being spent on rent and paying bills for a car and text books, and later- paying a mortgage!- that is certainly not poverty- especially when there is centrelink to fall back on.

In contrast, the poverty here is true poverty. Systemic through the whole community. No government welfare system to fall back on. Day by day, living on the edge.
Then I read the world stats:

Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day.

The poorest 40% of the world’s population accounts for 5% of global income. The richest 20% accounts for three-quarters of world income.

According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

Its hard to believe isn't it? I thought living here would make it more real for me- but in many ways it hasn’t. We are great at blocking out that which we don’t understand- and even better at seeking out our personal comfort first.

I have felt challenged to use my resources more wisely (see 'Food glorious food'); I have been challenged by my own double standards of what is good enough for me vs what is good enough for others (see blog ‘money money money') and I have been challenged – as a global citizen to proactively identify at a deeper level with 3 billion of the people I share this planet with.

My response? At a life and heart level- is to leave the wealth and comfort of my home and see what can be done practically. But even in that I can cling to my comfort, my way. So, as an experiment, as a step towards identifying, Im going to cut my standard of living for a week- and i would like to invite you join me (pregnant and nursing mothers excluded).

Your challenge, should you chose to accept it is to taste poverty for 7 days.

I’m not going to prescribe how, or what that looks like for you- if you join me in this you need to own your commitment. But i recommend you set the bar out of your comfort zone. It may be forgoing your take-away latte for a week and giving the money saved to a charity. It may be halving your grocery shopping allowance or choosing to not use electricity in your house for the week. think about over the weekend. If it is something you would like to do with me -write me a comment/email to let me know you’re on board (accountability! :-) and savour the experience and the insight the week will bring.

My goal for the week (starting Monday 10th March am) is to live as close to the standard of a middle class Malawian as possible. That means:
-Money for the week: 1725Mk- approximately $14 (usually supporting a family of 6+ so Im being soft!)
- no electricity (except for my computer so I can tell you how its going!)
- no running water- and paying the local rate for every bucket carried in from the tap outside
- cardboard instead of a mattress (but Im keeping my pillow!)
- pay rent and pay the equivalent of a weeks supply of charcoal to use the gas stove
- pantry access denied :-)
To be honest- Im not sure how I’ll go- I may not be able to make it the whole week- or i may go hungry- but Im going to give it a good shot.

Im off to Blantyre tomorrow- so I'll 'see' you Monday!

Philosophising goals

Enough about driving and accidents- why do you do what you're doing?
what is your motivation?
what is your criteria for success- or failure?
I think we all have multiple motivations for the decisions we make- and rarely look at our criteria- until something happens that gives us the impression we've either really succeeded- or really stuffed something up...or in my case, have been sitting around thinking for too long :)

Why am I thinking about such things? because Im in Africa- ive taken all the steps to do and be what Ive always wanted to do and always wanted to be... Its not a dream anymore-its reality. Im doing the language learning, about to embark on figuring out where I fit within the evolving organism of aid work in malawi, and the particular approach of the organisation Ive aligned myself with and all the different expectations of the people involved and I find myself thinking- 'why am I here?'

In any life circumstance there are multiple 'things' that can be pursued or achieved- relationships, the 'job', self development, $, status etc
My answer to 'why am i here' will influence my experience. If I don't have a clear answer- then my experience will be shaped by other peoples answer to my question.

I want to build meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships with Yawo people. I would love to spend lots of time in a particular village and become part of their daily lives and understand their world view...but i wonder whether this would be an indulgence- given the time preiod Im here. 2 yrs is nothing in the life of the village. im a flash in the pan.
I would love to wrestle with the practice of wholistic development- taking people seriously. This involves alot more relationships- at a very superficial level- relying on the strength of the deeper ties of our malawian co-workers. Its a lot less relationally satisfying- but achieves a greater positive impact in the community here and personal training for the future.
Is it possible to balance the 2? Is it possible to achieve a degree of 'success' in either in the 2 years Im here? how do i define success?
well, on that note I have finished my brekky and 2 cuppas and desparately need to do some language prep in the next 30 min before my next lesson...
I'll keep thinking about it...

Ode to Malawian Drivers II

Every week we drive down this crazy hill with hairpin bends and long grass and bicycles. Right near the top though, the road goes sharp left- but there are skid marks and a mangled safety rail where somebody evidently didn't make the turn.

I asked a local Malawian about it. He said 2 trucks went over about a month ago- both loaded with gravel, the second truck without breaks. 4 people died. Why am I telling you this now? cos today I discovered that my colleague Ben had photos- and they are such a sobering reinforcement of everything Ive been whinging about... that they deserve to be posted as a sequel. I promised Ben I would reference him and share a cut of the royalties, so- thanks for the pics Ben- the cheque's in the mail.

these pictures may disturb some viewers.

Ode to Malawian Drivers

Another day in the village...another exhausted me. more driving. more intense listening. more understanding. more attempts to be understood in an obscure African language... followed by more grammar (woops- forgot to cancel my 4pm language lesson!).

Nothing new, just slow progress on the old. So, I thought I would dedicate this post to all the wonderful Malawian drivers out there who load their vehicles to capacity with maize, strap a bicycle or 2 on top with 5 to 65 people around the edges and then proceed to crawl along the road at 40 km/hr because:

a) the engine's not big enough to carry the load;

b) their suspension/dif/ axel are completely stuffed (see a);

c) they don't have any breaks and they know it;

d) their steering is stuffed and anything over 40km will send them careering out of control;

e) all of the above.

And who, in the mean time motion for you to pass on a blind corner, drive in the middle of the road- or stop (in the middle of the road) to kindly pick up more passengers who stand scattered across the road while their produce is loaded on top. these guys are awesome- they are the lifeblood of this country- ok thats a bit excessive- but think of how many bicycle trips they are saving- and how many car trips- greenhouse gas emission?! they are saving by cramming 6 loads onto 1?!

unfortunately the best ones don't get photographed cos Im gripping the wheel trying to keep everyone alive- but here is a taste of what I came across today. I hope you enjoy the scenery too!

And of course my favourite...

And the winner is...

Green.
All I can deduce from that is that all my readers are conservatives. Happy Green won with 75% of the votes, with Stereotypical African getting 25% and 1 person-really didn't care. Whats wrong with candy pink? its nauseating thats what.

Why have I suddenly felt the need to re-decorate my blog? hmm- be glad I wasn't in a house with a can of paint handy- in fact, if i remember correctly a certain apartment is still painted 2 shades of jungle green with a sky blue fridge and eggplant purple ' feature wall'... my interio decorating has never been subtle.

The header? Dr Seuss- a painting called 'Free Bird'. Google it to see the whole pic and tell me what you think. how does it make you feel? hehe I was it in a Dr Theodore Seuss exhebition and absolutely loved it- what a metaphore! Feel free to buy me the original any time :)

Doing life

I visited Swa-'s family village yesterday- and decided to photograph for you a fairly typical scene on the major highway (it has 2 lanes of bitumen- its a highway :) between Mangochi and the Mozambique border. I hope this gives more perspective to my previous post :-z

When we got to the village we heard that her cousin was sick, so we walked through the village to where the patient was being cared for at her fathers house. We paused to greet every person we passed, and for each an explanation of relation was given; 'this is my sisters daughters husband', 'this is my fathers brothers wife', 'this my fathers other wife's sister', 'this is my other sisters daughter', 'this is my husbands relative' (too hard basket :).

We entered the large, half built brick house, greeted everyone in the dark corridor and were seated at the door of the patients room. He was probably early 30's, stretched out on his back, skin and bone, every breath an effort. 'He has sores on his legs' Swa- explained helpfully. We sat in the dim, resigned silence of the house. This man was going to die.

After afew minutes my 'western analytical' brain kicked in. 'Have they taken him to hospital- why isn't this man in hospital?' I asked. I knew he wouldn't have a bed there, but there might be something they could do- something they could give him more than orange cordial... Swa- spoke with her parents in hushed voices and finally answered 'they say they do not want the doctor to yell at them for bringing him now, and if he dies there it will be too difficult to bring his body back'. We took our leave and walked back to where her sisters were sitting, but she was troubled 'too many people are dying of strange sickness now' she said.

I enjoyed hanging out with Swa- her 4 sisters and their cloud of children. We sat and ate guavas and maize while the kids played or suckled and the sisters talked and laughed. It made me miss family and appreciate the strenght of this matrilineal culture. Here, the women usually stay. Men marry into the womans family and move to the womans village. In this village each daughter had a house within 30m of their mothers house. Their auntys were 100m away, creating a strong sense of community and belonging. It also creates a level of security whereby the women have support if their husband takes a second/third wife- or he is trouble and they send him packing...

The conversation turned serious again- back to their cousin. There were raised voices, frustration. Swa- explained. The man had been taken to the hospital a long time ago- for 2 months, but then they took him to his wifes house. His wife stayed elsewhere and didn't care for him so they brought him to her fathers house to die. She offered to take him to the hospital- we had a car here- but the family said 'no'. They were afraid of the hospitals way. If someone comes back too many times and is not getting better, then they give them an injection and they die. They reminded her that when their sister was in the hospital the nurse came to give an injection and everyone around said 'what is this? is she that sick?' and a few minutes later their sister was dead.

How can I process this?! Is the hospital proactively killing terminally ill patients-or is this belief a culmination of too many people being taken to the hospital too late? There is a strong belief here that the hospital is where you go to die- no wonder the doctor yells. My housemate who did 7 weeks of nursing at the hospital assures me nothing of the sort goes on. Its all coincidence and rumours.
Before we left I took some photos and captured some of the dynamics of these beautiful sisters. I felt honoured to be included. They said I had to come back to eat ugali and pumpkin with them as a proper welcome. I look forward to it.

I was woken by a phone call this morning. ‘Hello Lina- I just want to tell you that patient we visited- he is dead. Yes. I am going there now'.

Random amazing fact heard on BBC news this morning:

Zimbabwe's official annual inflation rate is: 100 000%

Defrag

Yesterday was village day- where I chauffer and sit under mango trees with the women while they sing and talk and have meetings. I think I understood twice as much as last time – which was pretty encouraging. We had lunch (2.30pm) at Neptunes- my favourite Malawian restaurant (If you come visit, I’ll shout you a meal. Trust me its worth it!), caught up with some of my colleagues who where renovating some offices in that town, then headed home in good spirits.

Back to Mangochi we got a phone call saying one of those colleagues had been in an accident and a child had been hurt.
Troopy vs child.
I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach. News filtered through in various phone calls. My colleague was ok. He was with the police giving a statement (uh oh-its 3yrs for theft here). Others were bringing the little girl down to the hospital in Mangochi – could my housemate (a nurse) meet them there? ‘What use would I be at the hospital?’ she asked in dismay- ‘An advocate for a little girl that needs it’ I answered. I hadn’t prayed so fervently for a long time.

My colleague had been driving on a straight bitumen road. He saw the little girl step on to the road and he hit the breaks. She kept running. He swerved hard. Thump. She regained consciousness on the way to the hospital. She was fading in and out from concussion but the prognosis was good. No broken bones. Pupils dilating evenly. Superficial grazes. They kept her in for observation overnight- but there were no beds so she spent the night on the hospital floor. This morning she had been moved into a bed – sharing it with a 4yr old in traction (plastered leg, string tied around the ankle, attached to a brick dropped off the edge of the bed). The hospital is SO under resourced, under staffed and over crowded!

Meanwhile my colleague gave his statement and was cleared of any fault. Praise God. It could have been so much worse in so many ways.

We’ve all had a scare. It could have been any one of us. I know I have complained about the driving conditions here before- but no matter how careful you are, it really is just a matter of time before you hit something/someone. Driving into a villages with clouds of kids around. On the open road; goats, cows, people, bicycles and broken down trucks can greet you anywhere and on any corner. I’ve swerved a drunk guy staggering out onto the road from behind a truck, had a woman stop in front of the car and put her hand on the bonnet, breaked hard to avoid a bicycle carrying mum, dad and baby on a corner with a truck carrying 50 odd people coming the other way- its nuts. Please keep our safety in your prayers.

Lake Malawi

that pink was making me nauseus (sp?) ... so back to green :)

How was today? I think I need to defrag before telling www. So, back to the weekend...did I mention how lovely the resort was?! I swam- in a swimming pool (no bilhazia) there were deck chairs... there was a resteraunt, palm trees, stunning lake views and those cute little love seats all along the lake shore. The first night a huge thunderstorm hit about 1.30 am and finally moved out of 'keeping me awake' range at about 3.30 am...so not much sleep, but amazing to see the lake in storm.

Saturday night we played a few games of pool. It was so lovely to feel 'normal' for an hour- even if there were cinyago (freaky masked dancers) providing the evenings entertainment 20 m away. I think I just have to accept that there are some things about this country/culture that I will never understand or appreciate...ie cinyago. Not the best pics I know, but it was night- and you get the idea :)