Life in Malawi as at 23 August 2005

I’m still getting over the end of a cold which has been more notable because of its length than its intensity. Martin is a cold & flu tablets convert so I tried them and they do reduce the symptoms which at the time was a blessing. For him they work in every dimension but for me I think they end up elongating the length of the cold. I seem to remember having tried them before with the same result. Also we are into the last couple of months of the dry season so the amount of dust about is considerable. Most of the locals use wood fires to cook and fires are used to burn rubbish in the drains, do small burn offs etc, so I guess my nose won’t be too happy for a while yet. It’s annoying but not life threatening, in contrast to the plight of many in this country!

My body is still reacting to the water or the soap powder used or something because my back in particular is constantly itchy. There is a very high level of chlorine in the tap water because you can smell it. We boil and filter our drinking water so are probably not consuming that level of chlorine but we wash in it every day so this could account for some of the reaction.

So there’s the inevitable adjustment factor in the physical and emotional realm. I miss family and friends, my cat, Tamsin, and the beach and strolling into Freo but I don’t miss the cold and the rain or the working hours or the job. We are working from home here and find that we might be at the desk anytime from 7am but I don’t remember the last time we were still at it after 5pm. Unless we’re entertaining visitors, but that’s hardly the same. And without exception our visitors have been interesting and delightful. Sometimes I cook for them. Sometimes Arnold, our gardener come errand boy come cook, cooks. He’s done lasagne, which is excellent, and chicken pasties which were a bit dry but otherwise very tasty. On Thursday he’s going to cook a spinach pie because Martin’s coming back from up north with another visitor.

The other option of course is to eat out. It’s not expensive and there is a good enough range of places to choose from. Our favourite at the moment is Mama Mia, an Italian restaurant in the Old Town. The service is good, the food good and reasonably priced. They have an extensive bar and the ambience is light and friendly. We are yet to try the Chinese restaurant in the Portuguese Club but that also has very good reports. If it’s just Martin and me and we can’t summon the will to cook there’s a very basic little café just up the road. They do a very basic stew with rice or chips for just over A$3. You couldn’t cook it for that.

Shopping is not too bad. The supermarkets are generally well enough stocked, although you can guarantee that at any given time there will be something you can’t buy. At the moment it’s brown sugar. They have raw sugar coated with caramel something or other, masquerading as brown sugar, but the real mccoy is nowhere to be found. No doubt next week I’ll be able to find brown sugar and something else will elude me. It pays not to be desperate for any particular ingredient and my cooking is largely adaptive. We eat what we have and if I want to cook a particular dish I keep in mind that I might have to create a variation of it if I can’t find all I need. However the basics are always available – milk, bread, eggs, rice, some kind of meat, vegetables and fruit. The local fruits are very good. I think we’re onto the fourth papaya from our garden. I love papaya and the flavour has been unbeatable. The mangoes are starting to appear on the trees but they won’t be ripe for another couple of months. In the meantime the strawberries are also abundant when you’re out and about but I’m a bit reluctant to eat them because you can’t guarantee they haven’t been watered with contaminated water. There’s no way to wash a strawberry well enough without cooking it. I have found a recipe for strawberry chutney that I’ll try. I’m not sure about the thought of strawberry chutney, but for $3.50 for the equivalent of about 4 or 5 punnets I’m willing to try it.

What’s good about living here? So many things and most of them really quite subtle. Our house staff are a joy to live and work with. They always have a ready smile or laugh and whatever you ask them is done without comment or complaint. I certainly don’t regret not having to do my own dishes or washing or housework, although I feel very strange having someone else do it for me. We live in a walled “estate” and there are lots of tiny (and not so tiny) black kids running around playing their simple games and yelling at the tops of their voices with the joy of life. When they see us coming they wave and yell. If we are on foot some of the brave ones will run up for a closer look.

When I’ve been out walking around the neighbourhood, many people avert their eyes because they are shy or feel for some reason they cannot speak to a muzungu (foreigner) but then there are almost always 2 or 3 or more who yell out “hello” and want to know who you are, where you’re going and generally what you’re up to out of friendly curiosity. And maybe to practise their English.

It’s also an incredible privilege to meet people who live in the most despondent circumstances but who can still greet you with a smile and wish you a good day.

I’ve begun a study of minibuses as you may have read about in other journal entries. I’m trying to accrue a collection of photos but most don’t like having their photos taken so this is proving to be a challenge. I also want to start a study on “transportation by bike”. Now you might imagine I’m talking about people who ride their bikes around the place but I’m not. There are many people who ride bikes but the ones I’m most interested in are those who load their bikes up with all kinds of produce and sometimes ride but usually walk their bikes from here to there. We’ve seen bikes carrying a (single) front door, bikes with a 12ft high pile of firewood, bikes with a brace of dead chickens hanging by their feet from the handlebars etc. All because they can’t afford a more “effective” vehicle. I’m going to try to collect photos. I may have to pay for the privilege but I have a collection of small change for that purpose (as well as for the beggars you inevitably meet every time you go to town. As the wealthy are the source of social security for the disabled in Malawi I do feel inclined to give when they ask.)

Martin’s up north for most of this week so tomorrow I plan to go into town by minibus to check our post office bag and do a bit of shopping. Maybe someone will agree to take my picture in the minibus.