Now five months in Malawi and we are still so up and down. Here's hoping it's not pregnancy! I jokes, I jokes ;) No Malawian boyfriends yet Dad, only a few proposals and an actual marriage. I could bring one home yet! I've had plenty of people asking anyway...I may be white but seriously, I don't have the cash to fly you home with me lover boy! Eeeeesh. Anyway, I go from wanting to go home more than anything to neveer wanting to leave. It can still be testing, like when you're getting ready for bed and you nearly set the mosquito net on fire when it comes within inches of the candle, or when we're so wrecked from a day's work that we cave and eat noodles or pb&j sandwiches for dinner, when we are too exhausted to make a lesson plan for class the next day and end up giving a test or just playing games. It’s hard to remain enthusiastic and energetic all the time, as most would expect volunteers to be.
One really awesome thing is that we can now converse freely in ChiTumbucka with teachers, fellow volunteers at Mtende, randomers we meet on the road. Emma and I took to learning a phrase a day and we've excelled from the normal, everyday greetings to local sayings: expressions of happiness, sadness, surprise. Our favourites being ‘iwe afunta’ (you are crazy!), ‘emma chimponde chane’ (emma is my peanut) and ‘ndine mirendo yie!’ (I am not a tourist!)…so so useful. To be honest I don't even think it's ChiTumbucka at this stage, it's Malawian...we are becoming Malawian. Well, not so much that we have their amazing patience but we're picking up a few keys traits....eating nsima with our hands (the Only way to do it), carrying buckets and bags on our heads, ripping at sugar cane with our teeth, picking up boiling hot pots with our bare hands (no longer have my princess hands!!), scrubbing fire blackened pots with sand. So many things...but we don't have a choice really, it's their way or the highway when you're thrown into the middle of an African community. Speaking of which I haven’t even had the chance to describe to you all who these people I now live with are. The characters, their way of life, their beliefs, fears, routines...there is a lot to tell. So many different stories and experiences to share.
For starters the village of Mantchewe resides 11km up the Livingstonia Mountain and 4km from the town of Livingstonia itself. Farming is the main source of income for the majority of these rural folk: maize, cassava and bananas being the most prominent crops. For a village so close to the famous and touristy town of Livingstonia, Mantchewe is quite poor, primitive and lacks in services. There is no electricity. Boreholes and communal taps act as water sources and the chiefs (of which there are many) decide who owns what farming land and where. From what I have gathered it is quite easy to attain farming land here but it’s the time that crops take to grow; the length of time which farmers are waiting for the harvest; that results in many months of hunger and near starvation. Luckily at the moment the maize is being harvested (explains why so many of my learners have been absent from class. They are at the maize mill with their mother/brother/sister..never father, men do not do the domestic duties) after the rainy season so the staple food of nsima made from maize flour is much less expensive than before. Those who are not farmers are teachers, builders, carpenters, pastors...unfortunately jobs are scarce in Malawi at the moment, with a decent paying job requiring 5 years experience, and we thought things in Ireland were tough. We certainly have it better than the third world.
A scary fact for you all; a basic labourer in Malawi receives an average of 8,000 kwacha a month which converts at about 17 euro. A bag of sugar cost 1 euro 50. If you put this into perspective, the rising prices of certain items against this wage has put Malawians in a very difficult position. Many people cannot afford two meals a day let alone clothing, meaning children run around in tattered clothes and men & women work the fields barefoot. The people here live in very basic conditions: red brick or mud houses with black plastic and straw roofs (like ours!) or a tin roof if you are well off. The poverty that these people struggle to survive through every day has only really hit me in the last few weeks. From money raised through the mock wedding back in March we were able to help the poorest orphans and vulnerable people (those who lived with medical conditions such as HIV, the elderly and disabled) in the Mantchewe and surrounding areas. We bought 20 tins of maize at 2,000 kwacha per one 20 litre tin of maize (about 4 euro 50) along with soya pieces, salt, sugar, beans and soap. We had a list of maybe 40 people, those in the most difficulty getting priority. From this organisation we learnt a lot about the lives of people here and how the rising prices of everyday commodities are affecting these rural farmers. A bag of sugar now costs 600 kwacha, about a euro twenty and yet no one here but the pastor and head teacher can afford to buy a bag. It's heartbreaking, knowing just how much accessibility we have in the first world, how easy life is when here, everyday is a never ending strive just to feed and clothe your children.
I got what I came here for, a reality check. On more levels than I can ever explain.
The depth of understanding I have gained will simply never be enough to fully relate, I will always be from the West. I will always be the lucky one. The more I think about it the more ridiculous it is...how at home we need aid to bail out our billion busted banks and people here are starving while aid organisations either just give and give to these communities without properly educating them or they use the majority of their money getting here and then don't distribute it properly. Then again, maybe they are the lucky ones. At home we have so much, too much. So much stuff that we break it and replace it, that we waste it and refuse it. Here, the life is simple. The culture may baffle us to no end and have us pulling our hair out but when a Malawian can sit on the side of a road waiting for a lift to drive by at any moment from maybe 6am to 6pm, you have to admire their patience, their calm and collected attitude to everything. Maybe sometimes too calm but as my old sage of a father says "there is always a way". I think that's how the Malawians look at things. Don't freak out, just go with it. TIA and things don't always go to plan but in the end we'll make it through. As Malawians will always say no matter what: feel free. And as for having 'stuff', people here certainly do not have a lot of stuff. You're lucky to have some pots and plates for cooking and a blanket to keep warm at night.
And despite this the generosity of these people seems to know no bounds. We have been invited to countless lunches and teas by Peter and his family (though at this stage they insist on us calling their house our home :'), random people we have chatted to only a few times will stop us on the road to ask us to share in their dinner, with most of them insisting that we learn how to cook nsima (we already know how to cook it, we just don't ‘cause it's an absolute pain to cook! xD). The teachers at our school will rock up to school with a bag of sweet potato or maize from their own garden under their arm for Emma and Jen. They are so kind and considerate here, they do not have much as regards material items but they have so much experience, love, and kindness to share. From a piece of advice when cooking soya pieces to worrying about us when we head off down the mountain a little later than usual on a weekend, I don't know if I'll ever truly be able to appreciate how much these people care about us already. And then there's how much We will miss Them but that will only make me tear up. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of that at home and without the help and support of those people I would never have made it here but for everything we have in the first world, we are not yet a shining example. Not when you take account of all we have, not when you compare this world and ours, not when you put it all into perspective. How can this be that I already feel like this? Only five months in this crazy continent, this baffling country and I am attached, I am at home. It must be true what the people I have met here say, those who have lived in the West and have decided to shift everything to live here…that everything in Africa is more intense. Deeper emotions, thoughts and ideas that can only come from the fact that humanity began in Africa. The first happiness, love, pain and sadness. It’s as if it is buried deep within the red earth of this continent. Explains why I feel like I have no control over my own emotions but that’s a conversation for another day, we’ll see how my blog posts will change once I return, eh?
Well, in terms of events and day to day activities, I left you all with fantastical visions of fishermen at night with their lanterns, children with drums and homemade guitars and pinky/red sunsets on the horizon at the beautiful retreat of Cape McClear and then us crazy volunteers trying to capsize each other on the Southern edge of Lake Malawi. We continued our normal routine that week.. continuing the painting of the nursery with the primary school, organizing the distribution of supplies to orphans and vulnerable in the area, That weekend there was a choir festival at the New Apostolic Church in Mantchewe. While Emma, Toby and Will spent some time relaxing at the lake, I decided it was best for me to stay up the mountain and have some me and the community time. Being someone who frequently needs attention and people around her, this was an invaluable experience for me.
In only three days, I realized that I actually did enjoy my own company, that I could do being alone and that I was becoming much more independent than I had thought. Friday I visited Joshua’s pregnant wife in hospital (he asked me to predict the sex of the baby…eeesh!), bought the ingredients to make Will a cake (for reasons I owe him a cake) and enjoyed getting lost on the way to the Post Office. A lovely phonecall from the rents the next day and even better finding out that my legend of a brother Derek will be coming to visit me at the end of my placement!! I am too lucky. He is sacrificing a new bicycle to visit his sister, it’s going to be the best adventure bro! The choir festival was absolutely incredible. From 2pm to 5pm the choir succeeded in proving that love for God is one of the major factors in keeping the spirit for life and determination to survive within these people. I was crying with joy and surprise. Two months of training and the members know how to conduct a choir, improve harmonies and just sing their heart out. Imagine every professional choir you have ever heard and double it, double it with the sounds of the Warm Heart of Africa. Don’t worry, I hung around afterwards to get plenty of videos to show the Ballinteer Parish at home how it’s done. I was immediately sold. Unfortunately, despite their attempts to make me sing, my efforts would have seriously paled in comparison. The people appreciated my presence immensely and I was urged to come to church at 8am the next day. After that I was invited to lunch with the apostles. I felt a little more than intimidated as the only female at the table but the men quizzed me throughout the meal. The topics ranged from the comparison of the Irish economy to the Malawian economy, the situation in Syria,the place of religion in the lives of Malawians, democracy in Malawi, living in a third world country. Even though it was me being constantly asked questions, I learned so much about Malawi and how western aid, African and American politics and the poverty effects the overall development on the country. It was exactly the weekend I needed and not only did it allow me to connect even more with the community, it enabled me to see a whole other side of it. The men who have four wives and forty children, the women who work without break to provide for their husband and children, the men who rely on their pastors to guide them in every aspect of life, the people whose only release from the harsh reality of everyday is choir practice every Tuesday. Just, wow.
The next week we gave out our first distribution of maize to the most impoverished orphans in the area while Will and Toby went to Blantyre to promote Livingstonia honey at a farmer’s market. Emma and I had people kneeling at out feet grabbing out hands in a fit of happiness and disbelief that one fundraising event could feed their family and so many others for a week. We were overwhelmed to say the least. I found out that my favourite student, the one I had wanted to sponsor, Mphatso had been taken from his mother by his father to the Northern town of Karonga and would soon be moving to Britain. That was a sad day… Veronica’s baby Prince has FINALLY accepted us into his hearts and at Permaculture that week we were holding his hand and picking him up no problem, such a breakthrough!! We spent the majority of Permaculture that day chasing the kids around with bamboo and my personal favourite, a giant nsima spoon. I wonder if this game would be accepted at home…. Sad note, one of our fellow volunteers Eloise has been quite sick for the duration of her time in Africa. From malaria to perhaps typhoid, Ellie put up with hospital visits and days in bed with the most inspiring and encouraging optimism of anyone I have ever met. Despite her efforts to stay, Lattitude felt that it was in her best interest to go home and that weekend we headed off to Lilongwe to say goodbye to her, to give her a proper Malawian send off. Emma and I ended up going down the mountain on the Thursday evening, staying at the bottom that night and getting on the fastest minibus we have ever been on in Malawi at 5.30am on Friday morning to catch the 7am bus from Mzuzu bus depot. It was never going under 120km or over 140km at any one time and I can honestly say we feared for our lives as we bombed it along the insane mountain roads from Chitimba to Mzuzu. We got there just as the bus was about to leave and stood between the usual crowds of people, sacks of maize and baskets of bananas on a typical Malawian bus. We soaked up the supermarkets, fast food restaurants and internet cafes as usual, being the typical starved of normal civilization volunteers that we are. I got a bit too excited about the fancy dress party at Mabuya and carrot cake at Serendipity and we celebrated Ellie’s time in Malawi with stories of our time and the sharing of our completely different and yet startlingly similar experiences in Malawi. Saying the first of our goodbyes to just one of the volunteers made us realize just how strange it will be not to be around each other every day or every weekend. We have become so close for a group of young people that only just met each other five months ago. It will be extremely difficult to leave these people, to leave the relationships we have built through the rough and the amazing times but we know they will carry through. Personally there ain’t no way I ain’t seeing Emma Muller again, that girl will be getting a visit from me no matter what.
And so this concludes another extremely lengthy blog which I have been typing at Kande Beach on the lakeshore for a large proportion of this day but it’s worth it to share these thoughts and moments with those back home. Lots more has happened since Lilongwe but I’m afraid that will have to wait ‘til next time. Jenny is being far too unsociable and Emma wants her laptop back! So long for now everyone, I’ll be back before you know it. How I’ll feel by then, I won’t know until it comes but for now I miss you all terribly and I would do anything to have you here with me. Lots of love, Jen.
Cheeky lil message from dear Elvie, Happy Birthday Elvie!!!:
Thought I should let everyone know one of the most profound messages that jenny has received during her time in Malawi:
No love without fish – creepy drunk Malawian.
Peace and love, Elvie Broom.
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