From Malawi to Montana

The day after leaving Lilongwe, Malawi we found ourselves in the Heathrow Airport facing a ten hour lay-over.  What else to do but hop on the underground and check out London?  This was my first time in the city, and of course it is beautiful, clean and bustling with energy.  But the cloud of colonization loomed over our heads as we tried to enjoy the sites.  How strange it was to travel from Malawi, the former British colony to the capitol of the colonizers.  How vast the disparity was, a truly unfathomable gap in development, dignity and basic human needs.  Although Malawi has been independent for nearly 50 years, I could not help but think of the paternalistic, pillaging history that Britain and other colonizing powers (including the US), have lead while leaving behind their occupied territories in a disheveled wake of poverty and foreign dependence.

From London we returned to Denver, and although I swore to myself I would not set foot in an airport for some time, a day later I was on a plane to Montana to visit my family and friends.

Malawi, you have shown me so much!

What an unexpected, emotional and fast paced journey this has been.  Malawi certainly holds some of the raw truths of the world, surrounded by hardship, joy and beauty.  The last three days have been incredibly moving.

Thursday we were able to head to a wildlife preserve to see some of the most amazing animals in their natural habitat.   Cruising around dirt roads in the back of a beater pick up truck with an armed guard complete with an AK on his side, we saw warthog (I loved them!), nala, zebra, elephant, hippos, baboons, velvet monkeys, water bucks, and a few other animals I have never seen and can't for the life of me even pronounce their names!

Friday we were invited to attend a concert of "traditional Malawian music."  In my head I had pictured a tame auditorium with traditional instruments and a pulsing rhythm section.  Much to my surprise we arrived at the Paradise Motel, clearly a party venue with a line up of about seven reggae bands.  The party was on, the crowd was getting down; this was my Friday night party that I had so wanted to be a part of the week before.  However, I was the one and only white person in the crowd, and a female to boot.  The attention was out of control.  Although we had Malawian friends with us I was proposed to, danced with, poked, prodded and cajoled by both males and females the entire night.  To top it off, the parking lot outside transformed into a disastrous jam of vehicles, making our exit strategy totally impossible.  We jammed to reggae and deflected drunken suitors until four in the morning.

Today we visited three different orphanages with boxes of gently used school uniforms from the UK.  We were greeted by shouts of joy and songs.  Kids ran in the thick red dust after our truck and then waited patiently to receive a new shirt, or pair of trousers.  From tiny, dusty barefooted four year olds to teenagers, all of them joined in on the clapping and singing to show their incredible gratitude.  To be honest, I lost it for a moment.  Seeing that one shirt was so important to a child's happiness and quality of life, handed over by a strange looking, pale white girl brought tears of joy and total frustration to my eyes.  What an epic failure of humanity to  allow such a huge portion of the world to live in such conditions.  But the joke here is on us and all of the problems that we carry on our backs.  The smiles of these children beamed the truth of feeling pure happiness and joy without having anything.

The Life the Rest of the World Leads

As I type frantically by candle light in order to preserve the little battery life left in my computer, I thought I would leave my readers with a little picture of life in, well, the rest of the world outside of life as we know it.  Just as I was getting ready to cook dinner, on a luxurious electric range and not over open flame, the power went out.  Random rationing affects different parts of the city at any hour of the day and dinner time just happened to be our luck.  If I had built a fire like the rest of the small houses around the complex I would have eaten by now.

So instead, I sit here on my computer, on a slow and temperamental internet connection, still connected to the technological age, but by candlelight.  Somewhat romantic it would seem.  Another detail about our accommodations is that we do not have hot showers, so instead each wash is refreshing to say the least.  However, today we did not have water at all, the pressure was out.  Instead I had a bucket bath for the first time ever.  The staff here laughed when I told them I would figure it out, and it wasn't half bad, especially because the water was boiling hot.

So as you sit in front of the tube, enjoying all the modern comforts you take for granted, take a moment to give thanks for what you have and remember that the people of Malawi are still extremely happy, hospitable and quick to laugh.  I think these experiences are worth more than any amount of dollars can buy.

Malawi in Pictures

Garrick and I try Nsima for the first time, a paste made from refined corn flour that you roll in your

hand and dip in a tomato based meat sauce.  All Malawians we have encountered cannot believe that we don't have Nsima in the US, as a Malawian "cannot become full" without it.

A typical scene: women fill huge buckets of water to carry back to their households, while men sit chatting just across the street.

We gnaw on pieces of sugar cane, a local treat.  You peel the bark off with your teeth, chew and suck the sweet nectar and spit out the pulp.  Everyone had a good laugh at me because I couldn't get the bark off.

Little guys at the latrine project in a small village outside of Thyolo.  A couple of them are part of the work crew.

Scenes from the bumpy dirt road.  Mt. Mulange is in the background in this shot.

The tea estates stretch for kilometers in the hilly area of the Shire Highlands.  The leaves are all handpicked.

A little gecko that came out to our patio in the night.  Lizards have been the extent of our wildlife experiences so far. 

Friday night party

 As I sit here on my bed, a foam mattress with a hand carved bed frame, cloaked by a blue mosquito net, the mix of African-Latino-Euro dance music pumps away at the pub across the street. It must be deafening inside the bar, because I can hear it loud an clear through the thin walls of the guest house I am staying at, just a short walk away. It's Friday night in Blantyre, Malawi and as much as I wish I could join the sweaty dance party just on the other side of the street, I am confined to the complex, not allowed or really willing to risk going out at night. This really is a shame, because as much as I would like to experience the Malawian culture and night life it is not safe to go out without an escort. What a strange feeling, to become a prisoner because of my ethnicity and origin; I have never quite felt cultural boundaries this strongly before.

We drove into the city of Blantyre today and stopped in a few neighborhoods with our Malawian co-workers where very few Muzungus (white people) visit. We were stared at with piercing eyes by most, but were also received with laughter and pointing or a thumbs up in mockery from the children. What can I do but smile? To some of the kids I said hello or waived from the car, not sure if I should feel like a celebrity or a criminal, resembling some sort of colonial effigy riding in an unattainable chariot from another age in the form of a beat up Toyota 4x4. Of course, my intentions are only the best. We are here to perform an internal audit of our partner non profit that provides comprehensive water, sanitation and hygiene projects to the Malawian people, who are severely in need of a bolstering of their lackluster infrastructure. As I look forward to the challenge ahead, I can't help but wish I was able to blow off a little steam from the intensity of this trip by tossing back a beer and joining in on the dance party that is bumping to the beat of the bass just across the street, although it feels like worlds away.