I have potatoes. I had potatoes would be more correct. Six tiny potatoes. Last week Chimwemwe and Isaac helped me clear out three small beds in which the beans, peanuts and beans had ‘matured’ and were ready to be, either harvested or composted. I had finished harvesting my tomatoes…probably about 50 in all. And I had used all the beans as green beans, so there were none remaining. But the potatoes had stayed hidden underground…until my students nimble fingers dug them out. So I boiled them and put some margarine and basil on them…and considered it a delicacy.
Laura visited my site last week and it was interesting to again compare our experiences. We visited each other before, although that was in the very beginning of our stay in Malawi. It was great to have her come after more than a year at site…to hear her perspective on my village, my students, neighbors, headmaster, bike taxis. I get so ingrained in Kalumbu that I find it hard to remember that different parts of Malawi are in fact – different. Imagine. Laura’s village is far more connected to her nearest city than mine, at least in terms of her students’ behaviour and fashion sense. If a girl gets pregnant, she won’t marry the father of the baby, because he’s the one that got her pregnant. In Kalumbu, the two will immediately be married…as to not have the child born out of wedlock. Just two examples.
As I left this morning, I was constantly asked IF I was coming back. Everyone thought I was going home to America…and wasn’t coming back. No, I explained – I’ve just paid rent, we transplanted tomatoes, I’m still waiting for my passion fruit vine to flower. If that thing doesn’t flower before I leave in December I may seriously consider extending my contract here! And yesterday Chimwemwe broke my heart. We were having our Wednesday afternoon Chichewa lesson and were discussing our “Get Chimwemwe into a Better Secondary School” Project that the two of us are working on…when he said that he was glad that he wasn’t selected straight out of Primary school to go away to a government secondary school because than “I would not have met you, madam.” And now I can only hope and pray I will not let him down as we fight to get him into a school with more teachers, resources, knowledge to give.
10 April 2009
Back from Dedza. Our supervisor asked for some 2nd year volunteers to lead subject discussions for the 1st years at their 3 month mark today. But thanks to lack of communication among Peace Corps staff regarding transport I actually missed my session – and had it over lunch instead. It was strange, being the ‘expert’. And refreshing to hear about their ideas and struggles…it breathed enthusiasm into the coming second term that I’ve been dreading a bit for its intensity.
Tomorrow I begin on my first camping excursion…that doesn’t consist of pitching a tent in the backyard. We head to Mzuzu tomorrow and have Saturday and Sunday to buy ‘camping food’ before we spend 3 days hiking out to the beach. Wish me luck!!!
21 April 2009
We are back in Lilongwe. Whew. Jeannine’s First Camping Experience wasn’t as tramatic as she thought it would be. Though her ass did hurt a lot more than she ever thought possible! But oddly enough I was thankful for it because it meant that my shoulders weren’t weighed down by my pack. I can thank Mike’s hiking pack intelligence for that tidbit of information. But so my hips were bearing the weight…and giving my tush a lovely workout ☺. But after the first day of hiking the walking motion was automatic and I could move together with the pack [by the time I leave Malawi, we will be ONE] up and over rocky hills and along narrow precipices, crossing questionably constructed bridges and fording deep fast moving rivers. And all along we had Lake Malawi on our left, which made for some amazing views from the tips of the bays we hiked around. We managed the hike in two days and a few extra hours. And Ruarwe was beautiful; a restful sanctuary with comfy chairs to read in and the lake to jump into from various rocks when we wanted to cool off from sunbathing. Dinner was served family style…which made the individual activities of the day seem more communal, homemade and lit by lanterns.
To get back out of our secluded oasis, we were rowed out of the bay in a dingy to the Ilala, one of the boats that ferries passengers up and down the lake. We traveled from Ruarwe to Nkhata Bay – took about four hours, and made the trip seem so much simpler than the hike in; oddly enough. And that was the end of ‘vacation’. Lilongwe is ridiculous this week due to a new group being sworn in…meaning half of Peace Corps Malawi is attempting to sleep at the house. We are escaping tomorrow morning. As early as possible, to avoid the chaos and then coming back in Friday to get office work done, pack up stuff, say goodbye to a volunteer that’s going home and celebrating the birthday of another. And then it is back to site, for the start of Term 2. Hurrah. Truly, I will be happy to have some normal structure back to life here; to be at school, to have students at my house, to chat with my neighbors that I haven’t seen in two weeks. So life moves on.
Funny story for April ☺
In Malawi there are these wonderful inventions called rubbish pits in the cities so that all the trash on the streets can be swept into these 6foot deep trenches. We like to call them Azungu Traps…as we are always wary of them as we walk along the road. Walking home from dinner last week in Mzuzu [in the dark] makes the journey a tad more precarious. And thus I found myself floating briefly in mid-air before plummeting to bottom of a very deep Azungu trap…complete with concrete box at the bottom. Thankfully the only injuries were a lovely bruise on my ass, a scraped ankle and a disoriented head for a bit. So, when in Malawi, if your wandering about in the dark [which you shouldn’t be doing anyway] keep an eye out for deep holes!
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