Weekendi Bwino!

Weekendi bwino is a Chichewa phrase that means exactly what you might guess it means - "Good weekend!" And that's exactly what I had!

Friday evening there was a get-together at Anne's house. We were supposed to watch "The Kite Runner", but our DVD was from Denmark and didn't have English subtitles for the Arabic (only Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and French I believe...we weren't all French speakers). So we ended up watching "Wild Hogs", all the while sipping on Fanta and eating some great cake made by Rhoda with some strawberries on the side.

Saturday was Ernest Pondeponde's wedding. Ernest founded Grace Orphan Care down in Ponda Bwino in lower Zomba. It was my first, and I believe only (on this trip) Malawian wedding. Some things were the same, and some were VERY different. Of course I can't comment on everything because we almost completely missed the ceremony for a couple reasons. One, Mike misunderstood our meeting time and we were delayed in leaving, and two, our planned time was too late because the wedding was actually on time. This is apparently a miracle in Malawi, according to those who have lived here a while.

From the reception, I left to meet Samantha and Miriam to head off to Liwonde via mini-bus. After a quick step into the market, I took my first bicycle taxi. Besides the fact that I was in a dress and probably showing way too much leg, it was quite enjoyable! I enthusiastically shook the hand of my driver, Mr. Ntondo, and thanked him for a pleasant ride. Then is was groundnut stew with pumpkin leaves and nsima for dinner, accompanied by a couple great episodes of House on the laptop...and bed at 8:30. I tell you, we're party animals! (At least I had an excuse, since I hadn't really slept since 4 am because of random disturbances).

Sunday morning, we all piled into the pick-up truck and headed off to Liwonde National Park to see some game. At first the fauna was quite sparse. We saw an impala here and there, and the odd warthog, which was all very exciting, but it wasn't until we passed the hotel on the reserve that things really came alive. We found a road that went down closer to the river, where I saw my first wild hippos. Tonnes of them! (Haha, get it?) We even saw some baby ones walking into the water, which was great because they mostly just pop their eyes and tops of their heads out of the water. We also saw a couple of crocodiles swimming among them. I got lots of pictures, though not of best quality, from the back of the pick-up.

But we did not turn back there. We were in search of elephants. We had seen a herd, but they were so small you could barely tell they were elephants. We wanted to see some up close. On one of our river-side roads, we spotted some in the distance. We could go no further, so we went back to the main road in search of a path that would take us closer to where they were. We found it! There were at least twelve of them - mothers with their babies. They started coming our way so we turned around and found another road to come around back to watch them walk off. It was awesome. Then we headed off to see what is reportedly one of the biggest Baobab trees in Africa, and as we were going along Sam nearly slammed on the breaks as an elephant over 4 metres talls stepped out on the road 100 feet in front of us. At that point, we decided following the elephant wasn't a risk we were willing to take (the elephants have killed people in this park in the past), so we turned around and headed home - thoroughly satisfied, and very excited at all we had seen. Or...at least I was!

Then I hopped on a mini-bus back to Zomba, just in time to walk to volleyball, where I did NOT make a complete fool out of myself (I'm sure I don't have to explain this, but this is not a common occurrence with me and sports). When I got home, the family was home from Lilongwe, and we had a wonderful dinner of smoked Chambo (fish) with nsima, cabbage, and good conversation - all topped off by an enjoyable telephone call from Mom and Dad.

Ndithu (indeed), it was truly a "Weekendi bwino"!

Malawi Trotting

I realized just now that I had better blog now because I won't be able to for a little while. On Monday I had the wonderful opportunity to *finally* go see Lake Malawi. Helen and I both had business up in Mangochi, so she combined her Mangochi business with a trip to the Lake for Edna from EI Canada, and her friend Beth and Beth's three daughters, Jennifer, Kristina, and Jessica. So I spent Monday on the beech! Then we retired to our campsite for the night. I shared a tent with Edna. As we were chatting before sleep, I had one of those "take stock of where you are" moments and said: "Edna, we are in a tent in Africa." It was one of those moments...good thing the gigantic baboons didn't start frolicking around the campsite until morning!



Oh, and we got into a traffic jam with a herd of cattle on the way back. That was fun too! I'll *try* to post the video...not sure if there will be enough bandwidth...



Tomorrow I am going to Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. I have no business there, but thought I'd hop along for the ride, for the chance to visit my classmate Anna, and to see the city. I'll just bring my work along with me and find a cozy nook to grind away my survey data.

Tsalani bwino zonse! (Stay well everyone)

Of Roosters, Swiss Army Knives, and Landscapes

One thing that surprised me after living here only a couple of weeks is how quickly life becomes normal when in a foreign place. I have blogged on the subject before.

And yet there are some things that though they quickly become normal, become no less accepted!

Case in point - I was just peacefully entering survey data into my database, and the neighbour's rooster started crowing. Now this rooster is my least favourite bird on the planet. It doesn't emit a nice little "cock-a-doodle-doo" like other roosters. Even other annoying roosters pale in comparison to this rooster. Each time it crows, it sounds like it is trying to die, but can't. It is one of the most awful sounds my ears have ever beheld. What is worse, it crows at all times of day, it doesn't matter the time. So many times I have wished our neighbours would eat the darn thing already! Since the crowing was particularly loud, and I have a lot of experience with it crowing outside my bedroom window when I lived near the office, I got up from my desk to see if it was right outside the office window. Indeed, my suspicions were confirmed as I looked out and it looked innocently back. With great annoyance, I walked through the reception area of the office, declaring my great dislike for this one particular rooster to the office staff, and proceeded to chase the rooster out of the yard. A remotely similar scene would never have happened at Health Canada!

Another example - all of the doors in houses here have locks with keys inside the lock. During my first night living at Edrinnie's, I locked my bedroom door when I went to sleep since the door wasn't staying closed. The bolt would hold it shut. Then just before midnight, I got up to go to the washroom, only to find that the lock mechanism was broken. Edrinnie heard me fiddling with the lock and alerted security, thinking it was a robber. When she realized it was me, we both fiddled with the lock from either side of the door. With bars on the windows, the only way out of the room was the door. Finally, with the help of my Swiss Army I got in my Costco First Aid kit, I forced the bolt open from the inside. By the grace of God, my bladder held out, though I was already making contingency plans that involved the plastic bucket I was using as my rubbish bin.

Besides that incident, and seeing my first (and then second) full-sized cockroach, living at Edrinnie's has been wonderful. It has been a blessing to stay with this sister in Christ, and to be blessed my her hospitality. Another thing I don't think I can accept without wonder is the mesmerizing view each day as I walk back from the office to her house. You can see Zomba plateau, and then all the way down into town. When the sun is setting and the sky is a flourish of colour, it is really a sight to behold. Heather shared a comment with me once that "the poor have the best backyards". Edrinnie isn't poor, but wow, it's true, here in Malawi going up the plateau, they have the best backyards. And baboons too!

Week in Review

What a lovely week I spent in Liwonde and the villages in the Ntaja district. It was enjoyable in every sense - except for the rides on the motorbike, which were painful enough that on the first two days I could barely walk for about 5 minutes. It's just a fact, not a complaint! I'm thankful we didn't have to walk, especially with the starter acting up.

With the exception of one focus group discussion, which felt like I was pulling teeth out of the women, the focus groups were splendid. People were giving great feedback, and I think together we were able to overcome the Malawian tendency to only praise projects instead of giving honest answers to questions about problems and challenges. There was lots of laughing, and even some musical interludes in some of the ladies groups. The ladies enjoyed listening to themselves sing on my audio recorder. In sum, I think that all four of us doing data collection (Thomas and I running the focus groups, and Khumbo and Francis doing the surveys) had a really great week, and all learned different things about how we can improve upon this project. By the end of the week, I had that wonderfully exhausted-yet-satisfied feeling - a job well done deserving of a good night's sleep.

The evenings were also a pleasure, since I was staying with Samantha and Miriam on the church compound in Liwonde. Their company was so enjoyable. The food was delicious every night. And the entertainment was nostalgic (Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman). I also *finally* watched "The Notebook". It wasn't at all what I expected - it was much better.

Tuesday was Canada Day. It was also the day we spent in my favourite village, Nsolomba. I remarked to myself on the motorbike as we drove there that this was perhaps the least Canadian Canada Day I had ever had, as I was likely the only Canadian for many many miles. I couldn't help but dream of the crowded streets in Ottawa and the Parliament Hill festivities, eating smoked meat poutine at Dunn's with the Ottawa gang, wearing red and white, having a BBQ at Mat's house, seeing the Brysons and the MacGregors, and of course, the fireworks. Yes, it certainly was a different Canada Day. Yet one of those things I longed for DID happen when I received a phone call that evening from my Mom. My parents were at the MacGregors house, so I got to speak to all the Brysons and the MacGregors. It was a delightful treat to hear their voices and to "be" at the party, at least in some small way.

So I now officially have collected all my data for both projects I'm working on. The month of July will be straight data analysis here in Zomba - though my heart does hope for a chance to get back out into the villages, just to visit, before I go.

Oh, one last thing, for those who were praying - I have a place to live! I'll be living with Edrinnie, a lady from my church here in Zomba. It's a 10-minute walk from the office. Thank you so much for your prayers.