4 Months!

Yesterday marked 4 months of us being here in Malawi. Can you believe it? On the one hand I can barely believe it, but on the other I totally can. Our time here so far has been filled with life changing learning experiences, has been tremendously eye opening and also extremely challenging.  I have days where I’m so close to pulling all my hair out and booking the next ticket back to Canada, and then days when I want to stay here and do everything I can to make a positive difference.

So I find 4 months to be a good time of clarity in a new place- the newness and excitement of being in a new place has worn off, you’ve been here long enough to get somewhat adjusted to your surroundings, you have started to really understand how life around you works. So I thought this would be a good time to do a little analyzing (because you all know how much I love to do this!) and share with you what we both love and greatly dislike about being here in Zomba.

Danny and Josh’s Top 5 'Likes' and 'Dislikes'

Top 5 “Likes”

1. Zomba is so green.
This was completely unexpected. When I thought ‘Africa’ , I thought dry and dusty, but here in Zomba it is just the opposite. Its proximity to the Zomba plateau makes it rich and lush with enormous boa trees creating tree canopies like no other. It really is a beautiful town!
    

Botanical Gardens in Zomba

The road leading up to my workplace

2. The Green Mangoes.
I’ve never loved mangoes like I do here. They quickly became an after dinner staple for us and not a day went by that we didn’t eat one, two, or three! Now that the mango season is over and there are none to be found I am so craving them. We got really good at determining when the best time was to eat each one (I like mine just a little under ripe) and there is nothing like that sweet yet slightly sour taste.. .obsessed much? And then of course there was that time when we bought almost 100 of them…

mmmmm...

3. People’s relationship to the land.
Every bit of land is used to plant here. Maize (the main staple crop- a white corn) can be found growing everywhere from people’s yards to right next to the highway. It literally is everywhere. It seems that everyone here is a farmer or someone in their family is, and this has really led people to know where food comes from, they understand food cycles, and put so much work into preparing land, planting and harvesting crops. People do have a special relationship to the land- and I really respect that. This is just so very different from Canada, especially west coast Canada, where if you were to ask some of the younger generations, I bet some people would say that food comes from the grocery store!

land outside our house

4. The Market.
This is more under Josh’s top five than mine, but Josh loves markets. He loves to see the variety of goods and what people are selling.  Here in Zomba, the market is a fairly lively place and it has become somewhere not only for him to go to everyday, but a place where he has become known (he is the ‘black bean’ guy), experience Malawian culture (the sellers love that he has mastered the hello, how are you formalities in Chichewa) and even made friends.  The other day at the market he even sold the radishes that he harvested from our garden!

First harvest! Radishes

I think my number 4 would be the visits to the field and to the smaller villages that I sometimes get to go on for work.  During this visit I was engaged in a focus group with a group of women discussing issues of water, animal control and food security.

Field visit to Mangochi

5. Starting a Garden and the experience this has given Josh.
This garden has become a hobby and learning experience for Josh. He has had a very unique opportunity to work alongside Malawian farmers (he has stated on numerous occasions what a deep respect he has for these workers), and gained an understanding of how vulnerable you are when you have such a dependence on the elements (rain/sun). 90% of the population here in Malawi depends on rain-fed agriculture- so you can imagine how devastated and crippling it can be if there are persistent droughts or floods. Here in southern Malawi we are experiencing periods of drought and this has left thousands of farmers with destroyed crops, leaving them with no choice but to replant, wasting all of their resources, or engage in some other income generating activity. Life is by no means ‘easy’ here.  And I think this has given Josh a deep appreciation for how hard people work here.

This was not what I pictured when
josh said "I want to start a garden"!

Top 5 ‘Dislikes’:

1. Being instantly judged because of our skin color.
I think one of the top things that has bothered us the most here is that we get instantly judged because of our skin color. Because we are white we are seen as rich, basically as a bank. People automatically assume we have money and they constantly ask us for it- usually at least once a day.  And because of this assumption, we are finding that people don’t really get to know you as a person, they might only want to know you because they think you have money- so you have to be really cautious about who to trust.  This has been very different from what we are used to and been hard to deal with on a daily basis … as we have never before experienced such instant categorization or being put into a certain ‘class’ because of our skin color.

2. The stares.
Although I’ve lived, and worked in two asian countries this is something that never gets easier. But here, as opposed to Japan or the Philippines, the stare is not only uncomfortable but it also makes you feel like a target and becomes a bit of a safety issue as well.  Zomba is a smaller town, so there is not as big of an international community as other cities in Malawi.  Everywhere we go, and every move we make we are being watched- and this gets old after awhile. Sometimes you just want to blend in! And because Josh and I don’t have a car, we walk everywhere (the average expat drives)- so I think this causes even more stares, especially when on one occasion Josh walked to the market with our fan in his hand to get it fixed! I’m sure you can only imagine….‘What is this crazy muzungu (white person) doing??” 
So we have found that a simple hello or ‘muli bwanji’ will cause people to stop staring and either look away because they are embarrassed or to say hello back- this has been a better coping method instead of just trying to ignore it, or pretend it doesn’t exist.. because it does! As for safety, we generally try to walk on roads that are well populated and during the day-  as we learned our lesson about walking around at night!

3. The lack of amenities and transportation options.
Zomba is not a big city, and it lacks any real amenities. This is just frustrating to us. We are coffee shop loving people and not having one place to go here has been a real drag. And for goods, there are certain things that Zomba just doesn’t have, and you have to go to Blantyre (about 1.5 hours away) to get things like hairspray, or canned tuna, or decent ground coffee. Zomba has a small supermarket, but it is not well stocked and things tend to run out quite fast. We have learned that if something is in stock (like sugar) to buy it right then and there because if you wait it could be all gone the next day and the next shipment might not be for a couple weeks. So this leaves you with no other option but to go to Blantyre, but with the lack of transportation options, mini-bus or hire a driver for $$$, and the lack of fuel, this is not necessarily an easy thing to do.

4. The Power Outages.
Having to worry that the power might go out any second and planning your day around these outages is definitely on our top 5 dislikes. The power goes out usually around 6:30-9pm every night, so if dinner isn’t ready you are stuck eating peanut butter and jam sandwiches by candlelight. These power outages also affect my workplace, and things get pushed back or simply can’t get done (i.e print a document) because of them.. talk about a P-A-I-N!

Me eating a bowl of cereal for supper yesterday by candlelight- lol

5. Watching the economy crumble and having to let it be.
The last item on our list of dislikes is just watching the economy get worse and worse here. Inflation is around 10% since mid last year and we have seen this lead to people becoming more desperate, as we experience more people trying to sell us things, more people looking to us for money or to give them a job. In particular these higher prices for goods and services is creating a larger gap between those who can and can’t afford things- as a doubling in price for a stack of tomatoes is a pain to us, but to the very poor, this means they might not be able to eat. The lack of petrol and diesel available in the country has left many feeling extremely frustrated and we even felt this first hand yesterday as we waited 30 minutes in a fuel queue… and that was short.  I know people who have waited for 7 hours just to get petrol.  This fuel crisis has become a common occurrence here in Zomba, and “We don’t have fuel” or “We can’t go because we don't have fuel” are phrases we have come to know very very well.

Cars lined up in a fuel queue.
The filling station is up this road, around the corner,
up another road and around that corner!

Fire trucks don't get priority.
We've also seen ambulances in the fuel lineup.

But all in all so far this has been an unforgettable experience, one that we wouldn’t take back.  I hope these reflections have given you a little taste of life here for us- We still have 2 months to go, as my contract ends at the end of April, so I’ll be interested to see what will happen in these upcoming months!