Poverty in Malawi

I moved to Malawi in June this year because my husband, Martin, and I have work here. I am now approaching the 2 month mark which is quite amazing. In some ways it feels like I’ve been here much longer because I can now find my way around Lilongwe without getting lost (well most of the time) and because I don’t feel quite so weird about being white and standing out like chalk on a blackboard! I have discovered that many Malawians say hello just because I’m white and they’re curious and wanting to be friendly but there are also a number who say hello because they want you to buy something from them. It’s very understandable when it’s their livelihood and if they don’t sell, they don’t eat. And it is a fair assumption that because we’re white we have money to buy their produce but it is annoying when they follow you up and down the street, “Madam, you want strawberries? I give you very good price.” Even though I politely say in their own language, “Thank you but sorry, I don’t want anything today”, they continue to follow “OK, what about oranges? I have very nice pineapple. Banana?” “Thank you but sorry. I don’t want anything today.” “Well maybe onions…?” Often I can be across the road and quite a distance away and I’ll be spotted and the persistent contingent will cross the road with their wares (often a life risking exercise) to chase me on my way, “Madam, you want….?”

I try to buy local produce when I can because the local sellers benefit immediately and if you buy at supermarkets you are generally benefiting wealthy South African businesses. The challenge is to overcome the overwhelming desire to escape because if you show the slightest interest you are swamped with people all selling a similar assortment, all offering madam a “very good price” and all competing with each other for the sale. Who do you buy from? What is a good price? I want to pay a fair price but what is that? And when you are swamped, the ability to decide what and how much you need evaporates instantly. We’re learning that if you want to buy from local vendors, you must decide beforehand exactly what you want. You don’t even look if you don’t want to buy and, when swamped, you take a deep breath, randomly select a seller, buy what you need and very firmly repeat as many times as necessary, “Thank you very much. That’s all. Thank you but I don’t want any more today. Thank you.” Then there are the wood craftsmen and the cloth merchants and the ….

I have always known that I am comparatively very wealthy but I have not experienced being treated as wealthy to this extent before. In my profession I am used to mixing with people who are infinitely more wealthy than I am but here it is very different. We really do form part of the most wealthy in the nation and I find it very strange. The local produce sellers are one example. Then there are the Indian traders in town. I hope it’s not too much of a generalisation to say that most small businesses are run by people of Indian/ Pakistani/ Middle Eastern descent. They shower us with praise because they also know that we are wealthy and have lots of money to spend in their stores. One such proprietor told Martin, “Mr Martin, I am overwhelmed by your patronage.” Another has his wife cook us Indian delicacies. Usually when we leave these stores we are asked, “When will you be back?” So far I have resisted the urge to respond with “Is it my irresistible personality you’re so charmed with or do you have your eye on my purse?” How hard it is to like and accept people purely for who they are and not for how they might be able to benefit you.

White people are far more likely to be pulled up by police for contravening a road law. Black people are pulled over for completely different reasons – often to do with the road-worthiness of their vehicles or what they might be carrying in them. We’ve heard that the police generally don’t bother pulling black people over for contravening road rules because they have no money to pay a fine so why bother fining them? When dealing with government departments you can find obstructions put in your way that may well be removed if you are prepared to “lend” them money for their children’s school fees or whatever. So far we’ve not had to do this but many of the white people we’ve talked to have.

The relationship I have with our housekeeper is a most interesting one. Mary is delightful. Not only does she do her work efficiently and cheerfully, but she will do anything asked of her immediately and without complaint. She is also teaching me how to speak Chichewa. She watches the 2 of us rattling around in this huge house while she and 3 of her 4 children live in cramped quarters on the premises. She also watches us buy luxury food and other things while she struggles to put her children through school. I don’t know how she does it. In her shoes I would struggle not to be bitter. She has the intelligence to have done whatever she wanted had she been born elsewhere. She talks of having been entered into an arranged marriage at 15 and the mother of twin boys at 16. 5 years ago her husband thought he might like to take another wife. Her choice was to accept that or go it alone. Her strength and dignity demanded of her that she go it alone and so now she brings up her 4 children without his emotional or financial support. She says being married at 15 is “very, very bad” and I agree with her heartily. We help in whatever way we can but the differences in wealth, life experience and opportunities will never be bridged. Yet we are friends. The fact that this is possible is an enormous tribute to Mary.

I am sure I will wrestle with the “we have so much and there is so much poverty” issue for as long as I am here. There are as many different answers to this issue as are people who live here so I am just going to have to work my own way through it.

On a lighter note, we continue to be entertained by the quaint names and signs that we find and there are some more examples below.

Names of the Week
McWonderful – I cannot imagine who in their right mind would call their child McWonderful but someone has because his name appeared in the local paper.
Berito – I am not sure if he is a beefy guy but another genuine name (I apologise for such awful humour)
Rouline – do they just make them up?

Interesting Pieces of Trivia
· Traffic lights are called “robots”
· The mobile phone has gone crazy here. We’re not sure why when it is so much cheaper to use a “ground line” as they’re called. One theory is that as mobile phones show up the caller’s number, people can dial your number and hang up. This is a sign that you should ring them back because they don’t have enough credit. Even government officials use this practice.
· There is no unleaded petrol available here. I made an idiot of myself a few weeks ago by pulling up to the “Super” pump and then trying to move the car. The attendant asked me what I was doing and I said I was looking for the unleaded pump. He looked at me as if I had come from Pluto!

Quaint Signs
The security staff at the gates to our estate wear badges on their shirts saying “Safeguards”
“Zero options club and bar” – would you seriously consider drinking there?!
The “God Will Provide Computer shop”