Anne goes to work in flap flaps *Cell phone number*

My first day at work *sigh* I would like you to imagine what your first day of work would be like if you were in
Malawi…okay, stop imagining.

 

My expectations (as seen by my packing list) was more gear towards dressing for the field. When I walked up the 3 flights of stairs up to the TLC Office, the hallways were carpeted, the walls were a faint pink, but it’s very much a professional office setting. Me walking in with flap flaps (flip flops) was the best I could do with a black skirt and a white collared short sleeved blouse. I’m not sure if I left the right impression with the people there with my fashion choices, but they were all very friendly, especially when I greeted them, “Muli Bwanji!” (How are you?)

 

Tomorrow, I’m leaving for Mwansambo by Nkhotakota (sp?) I’m living with a family: mom, dad, son (15), daughters (14, 10, 3) and will have my own little room a little off the house. I think I’ll appreciate the space but I’m looking forward to fully integrating with the family. My project is to work with the field extension staff, to help them monitor and evaluate the forestry and irrigation projects as well as work on surveying the Chia Watershed Lagoon. I’m updating this blog one final time before I leave as when I’m in Mwansambo, I’ll have no electricity and therefore, no internet access. I will, however, have running tap water and/or a borehole water source. I also have a cell phone here and will include the number at the end of this blog. My accommodations will cost from 3000-3500 kwacha (about $30-35/month) and includes food as well. I’ll be supplying some of the food (ie. Bringing in a live chicken tomorrow night for dinner…should be interesting)

 

You can reach me at : 011 265 9 283182 (I get free incoming calls! J)

 

Until next time, eat well and rest well.

 

Funny Story: “You fell into what?!?”

 

It’s pretty dark at night, there’s no street lamps and along the sides of the roads, there’s usually a ditch or an open sewer. We have all decided to go out for dinner with our “coaches” who are long term EWB overseas volunteers. One of the JF’s (short term OV’s) stepped out of the mini-bus and onto the side of the street. Being fairly dark outside with more people coming out of the mini-van, he decided to step aside to let the other people out.

THWACK!

 

He falls into the sewer.

 

Good thing it’s dry season…

Chin Chin in Malawi

Woof woof! Cuckadoodledoo! We were awoken by the sounds of these animals, so familiar yet so foreign to our ears. The day started with EWB training on the history and culture of Malawi, extending into the NGO (non governmental organizations) in
Malawi. From my observations, NGO’s make up quite the industry here in Malawi, everywhere that I’ve roamed down the streets, I see white SUV’s with labels and symbols painted on them from a wide array of international NGO’s (EWB doesn’t have white SUV’s anywhere, everyone at the National Office uses bicycles to get around).

 

We were sent to the Market place for a scavenger hunt and it’s quite an interesting and another overwhelming experience.

 

“Chin Chin! Ni hao! Konichiwa!” Sometimes, this is all I hear, but most of the time, people are quite friendly, asking me where I’m from, what I’m looking for and if they can escort me around the market. The market has a smorgasbord of goods, ranging from shoes to clothes, chickens to frying pans, soaps to toys, etc. It’s quite an interesting place to find all your goods but if you don’t’ know your way around, it’s easy to get lost.

 

I’ve been approached by random people who ask me if they can be my friend. What do they mean by friend? Do they mean in the strictly, platonic North American definition or do they mean, let’s be friends and get married? It’s something to be weary of, but the people here are quite friendly and I’m not too sure if I have the right filters in place to interpret such open ended but simple questions.

 

I leave the market, looking at all the imported used clothing that they sell here. Most of the clothing actually comes from
Canada’s second hand clothes stores. I recognize the Gap fleece, the Johnson family reunion 1994 t-shirt, the Napoleon Dynamite t-shirts and wonder if there’s harm in flooding the local markets with used textiles. The textiles here are quite beautifully patterned (I have about 4 meter’s worth of cloth to wear as a wrap) and I’m sure it’ll do just fine, but I don’t’ understand why there’s so much western clothing flooding the markets and I can’t fully comprehend the marketplace in Africa with Western good flooding it. What do you think about this?

 

—-TANGENT!—

I’m the safest person in Malawi, apparently, after some gross misrepresentation of everyone chinese in the kungfu movies, I can beat anyone ugly.

Officially in Malawi

After 36 hours of flight, touching down in 3 continents, I arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi in one piece. My luggage, however was missing, lost in flight either somewhere between Toronto and London, London and Johannesburg, or Johannesburg and Lilongwe! I didn’t know and certainly didn’t pack an extra set of clothes or any more clean underwear. As soon as we arrived in Malawi, we were greeted, “Moni!” by Erin, the wife of a current long term overseas volunteer, living in Lilongwe. Stepping off the plane, we immediately felt this warmth, emanating from the tarmac at the Lilongwe International Airport. The sun is hot..very hot, but with a cool breeze, it’s actually quite nice here. That night, after given some time to clean ourselves up (remember, I had 3 continents worth of dirt everywhere), we dove head first into more EWB training, learning a little bit of Chichewa, a little bit of culture, a little bit of health and safety (it’s very safe here, I’ve drank quite a bit of tap water and ate food from the markets and I’m healthy). We arrived at our surprise for the night at Erin and Jason (EWB OV’s) home, where we were greeted by the local church choir. The experience was nothing less than overwhelming but pretty awesome. Dinner consisted of nsima (a maize (corn) flour paste with a consistency of mashed potatoes) with some relishes and meat. It was all prepared with love and tastes amazing! I’ll have no problems keeping food down. Despite lacking electricity and a wall which collapsed during rainy season, this family was nothing less than happy. We danced the night away in the candlelight to Agogo’s (the grandfathers) recorded music as he was a musician.