Sticks and stones

A challenge one always faces in moving to a new place is remembering peoples' names. You meet people in your workplace, around the neighbourhood, at church, at the market, and so on. Obviously, it is easier to remember names that are familiar - that you have heard before.

Here in Malawi, many people have English names. Some even have two names - a Chichewa name and an English name. But just because someone has an English name does not automatically make name-learning easier task.

For example, the other day I met a man who called himself what sounded like Wee-rad.
-"Chonde nenaninso (Please say again)," I said.
-The man repeated, "Wee-rad."
-"Wee-rad?" I repeated.
-"Yes, Wee-rad," he said smiling

Mike, my boss was standing nearby and stepped into save me.
-"His name is Willard."

This was a case of bewilderment/incomprehension via the Malawian accent.

Then there is the challenge of spelling. Many English names are spelled as they would be pronounced using Chichewa phonetics. For example, Jennifer becomes Enifer. In addition to that, Malawians do not tend to categorize names by gender the same as we would in English-speaking countries. For example, I met someone's Uncle who was named Missy.

But what takes the cake are not the names that are hard to hear, spell, or understand. They are the names that are perfectly easy to understand. In fact, you can even know their meaning from the moment you hear them! Like yesterday, I met a man selling wooden carvings named Lettuce ("Yes, like the vegetable," he said). There is a cook in the neighbourhood named Bambo (Mr.) Window, and another person named Salad. My favourite though is a night-guard by the name of Bambo (Mr.) Square-Table.

Perhaps I have entered into the second stage of culture shock - humour.

Happy birthday Dad!

Today is Dad's birthday - the first birthday I haven't been able to come home for May long weekend. It would be a bit of a long flight I think! Thinking of you and missing you Dad today especially.

A side note - I was unable to get on the computer on the 24th, but a special belated birthday wish to my good friend Heather. Happy birthday my dear friend!

A second side note - to those experiencing difficulty with the pictures, just click on where the pictures are, and my FLICKR site will open. You can them browse the rest of the pictures one-by-one, or you can select "JoyfulJangle's Photostream" and it will organize the pictures into pages.

Tsalani bwino (stay well)!

Sharp mind, soft heart

Every morning, I ask God to give me a sharp mind and a soft heart. The poverty is overwhelming here, so much so that it seems "normal". I must keep reminding this that this may be "normal" here, but that is what global health is all about...making poverty-induced diseases "abnormal".

Life here is certainly different than Canada! I have not had to face the full brunt of it as of yet, as the Eggert house has a refrigerator, a washing machine, and running water. But I am thankful for all those things, so many other things are different. The first time I went to the market, I didn't ever want to go back. Malawians are big into greetings, so even some person has just heard you say, "I am fine, how are you?" (in Chichewa of course) four times already, you must do it over again. There were so many people. It was exhausting. But now I'm quicker with Chichewa greetings and more confident, so I'm going to go back tomorrow!

Of course, if you don't go to the market, the market can come to you. A rather funny thing happened last weekend. There was a knock at the gate. Sarah came back into the kitchen and said I had visitors. "For me?" Who on earth would be knocking at the gate for me? "Oh, they came at 7 am but we told them you were still sleeping. They want you to come and buy paintings from them." I walked out and greeted the three men, and looking at the paintings spread all over the grass along the side of the road said, "Wow, this just doesn't happen in Canada!" I have another seller coming to track me (specifically) down this afternoon at the office. They all know I'm here and where I live. Oh dear oh dear!

This week I went out to the villages 3 days out of 5. I used my first pit latrine (a hole in the ground with an elephant-grass/bamboo structure built around." I met lots of excited, curious, endearing children, and gracious women. One little girl in particular stood out. Her name was Devi. She was two years old. I went to the International AIDS Candelight Ceremony in Bwananyambi. She started out about 15 feet away. By the time the celebration started, she was on my lap. She held my hand and walked with me afterwards, and even pushed through a circle of nearly 50 kids who had surrounded me - to gaze, to listen to me say "Zikomo, zikomo!" (thank you, thank you), and to laugh! It's strange - being an azungu (white/European foreigner) here is like being an instant celebrity. I had to remind myself that Jesus is the Saviour of these kids...not me!

There are so many more stories to tell from the past week, but I'll leave it at that. It's lunch time, which means the office shuts down for 1 1/2 hours and everyone goes home and eats with their family. The Eggerts left for Lilongwe for the weekend today, so it'll just be me by my lonesome. Tsalani bwino! (Stay well!)

Journey Excerpts

I left for Malawi on Monday, and arrived on Wednesday. Since I couldn’t update during my journey until now, I thought I’d just share some small excerpts from my travel journal.

May 12 – 11:00 pm EST

Here I am at Gate C33 at Pearson, not by myself, but with the Holy Spirit. I don’t know which it is – a divine dose of peace or denial, but I am calm and ready to go. Vicki’s whole family came to help me unload my bags. I just felt so grateful. All I could keep saying was thank you...

May 13 – 6:20 pm GMT (Heathrow Airport)

I dozed for most of the afternoon, and finally got a spot on the funky red leather couch. It was quite comfortable. I’m lucky I woke up. Feeling some butterflies now. The long gruelling 11 hours are ahead. I feel not too tired though.

May 14 – 6:25 am GMT+2

We’re 28 minutes from landing in Johannesburg, South Africa. The sun is rising on the left side of the plane. Here on the right side is a sky like a hazy rainbow. I can’t see the ground very well right now, but it seems to mostly be flat...It is midnight in Ontario, and 1 am in Nova Scotia. I don’t expect Mom or Dad to be awake right now. I can hardly believe I am! So...yeah, here I am in Africa (!). The strange thing is, even as I sit here and gaze out at the South African countryside, it still hasn’t really sunt in. Only 7 more hours until I touch down in Blantyre (which we already passed by nearly 2 hours ago heading over Zambia). Ah, the descent...

May 14 – 9 pm GMT+2 (Eggert house, Zomba, Malawi)

Only one word can fully capture today – SURREAL. I watched the sunrise in South Africa. I met a Christian missionary from Seattle. I made friends with the Malawi head of South African Airways. I took illegal pictures at Johannesburg and Chileka airports (unknowingly of course!). I met the moving, living, breathing versions of the Jones and the Eggerts. I walked barefoot on the rusty red Malawian soil. I washed dishes with a semi-solit pink detergent called Axion. I was greeted in Chichewa by Bambo (Mr.) John, a real Chichewa speaker. I took a hot (!) shower and wondered what Mom would do if she saw what a Malawi bathroom looks like. And now I’m sitting under my mosquitoe net, listening to the local dogs barking. Today I did a reflective spotcheck on the fact that I had just traveled down the entire African continent by myelf. As I gazed in wonder at in wonder at the red, rugged terrain passing below, I was flooded with the reassurance that I am not in fact alone. God’s presence was just...there. No questions. Just silent peace and gratitude.