The past month has been eventful in various ways, momentous in fact, when you think that after 18 YEARS of world domination the Aussies went and lost the Ashes. At least they waited till I was out of the UK but there are still plenty of British people in Malawi and they have not been reserved about their jubilation! I think the only other Australian I know in this country at the moment is in fact a German. Our house co-tenant, who’s not here more often than he is, is also Australian but he’s not in the country at the moment. Thanks (or no thanks, depending on how hard you’ve taken the loss) to DSTV we were able to watch a good deal of the cricket and, despite the outcome, it was a wonderful series to watch. The time difference between Malawi and Britain is just 1 hour at the moment so that made it all the easier.
On a more positive note, our Australian German geologist brought out a video camera duty free last time he came out. I’ve been hankering after one for a while and he was happy to organise it all for us. Martin has been referring to me as Quentin Tarantino and feels that no one is safe but secretly he loves the excitement of it all. A couple of weeks ago we were out near our front gate because I wanted to film the entrance to the property. I think almost the entire population of the neighbourhood’s children appeared as if on cue and wanted their pictures taken. So they ended up on film and on the digital. We spent the rest of that week printing pictures because each child wanted their own copy. They’ve since been lined up outside our gate wanting more. Quentin Tarantino and Lord Lichfield! I have posted some of the photos on another website - www.ialmond.com/malawimemos
The biggest challenge I’ve found in the past month has been the informal water restrictions; informal because nobody actually knew they were going to happen and because they are not evenly meted. We should actually be fairly safe because we live next door to one of the former First Ladies of the country but, when asking around, we seem to be without water more often than most of our friends. Perhaps the FFL gets preference, which is why we end up with less. I don’t know but what I do know is that any time after 6am we have no running cold water – sometimes all day and sometimes for a couple of hours. As this situation is “informal” we never know when we’ll have a day without water. Thankfully our co-tenant had the brilliance to sink a bore and this does alleviate many difficulties but it still makes showering a drama. Yesterday, for example, we had no water all day and no power for some of the day. No power means no hot water, even if the tank was full (which it wasn’t). The hot water tank can be filled from the bore but for some reason it wasn’t so when the power came back on the element tried to heat water that wasn’t there and fried itself instead. So no hot water, no cold water. (Even if the hot water is running, you can’t shower because it’s too hot without cold water. Unless the hot water tank is filled from the bore, the cold water doesn’t seem to be running at great enough pressure or often enough to fill the hot water tank.) It’s very unusual still to be without running water at 6pm but we were and, of course, last night was the night we’d been invited out to dinner to meet the US Ambassador and the British High Commissioner, among other people. We were due there at 7:30pm and by 6pm I still had not showered, smelled and had a BAD head of hair. We resorted to phoning a friend!
It’s not just showering either. Try flushing the toilet with no running water all day! Oh yes, I could spend an entire email on toilet issues in Malawi but I’m sure you’d rather I didn’t go there. There is some good news, though. Most of the time, if we look in all the shops around town, we are able to buy 2 ply toilet paper. Happiness if found in small delights.
On Sunday Martin and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary (another example of time flying!) It was exciting to think back to our wedding day and remember the many special moments in the day and especially the group of friends and family who shared it with us. We took off for the weekend down to a nice hotel in Zomba, a pretty city in the south of Malawi. It was lovely, a quiet, secluded place, set on the side of the hill overlooking the valley below. It went all too quickly, but weekends tend to do that. Anyway, the first year has been full of interesting adventures and we’re looking forward to what the next one will hold.
Other than that, life has been full of a lot of day to day stuff. We’ve had quite a few work colleagues stay here for a day or 2 at a time so we entertain quite a lot and have also been entertained, which is nice. The first dinner party we went to was back in July. One of Martin’s business contacts – he and his wife have been very generous with their hospitality and have invited us to the company’s Lakeside retreat next month.
The dinner party we went to last night was hosted by a delightful Indian couple whom we met when we went into Mrs Patel’s fabric shop to have some sheet sets made. We did this because a careful search of the entire city of Lilongwe drew a blank on sheet sets. It seems that at any given time there will be a random item of some kind that you cannot buy here. At that time it was sheet sets. Right now? Lemons. I think that’s part of what’s interesting about living here because you can’t assume things and you have to be creative when you can’t find something. At that time (it was back in June, I think) we could not find sheet sets so we had them made. Mrs Patel owns the shop and because they looked after us well we went back and had curtains made and various other things. I think that qualified us to be dinner guests. The Patels are Malawian born British citizens of Indian heritage but all their children are in the US. I guess that’s the reason for their connection with the US Embassy and British High Commission. Anyway, it was a very interesting evening.
I hear that news of the food crisis in Malawi has made it to Australia. Yes it is serious and there are reports of children dying from starvation/nutrition related illnesses. Martin and I cannot understand how this is possible with a country full of charities. Also, there is plenty of food in Malawi but there is a serious shortage of maize, the staple food. Sadly, Malawians are accustomed to thinking that if there is no maize they will starve. Last year’s maize crop was a bad one but the country also produces a lot of very good rice and both Irish and sweet potatoes are in plentiful supply, as well as many other kinds of fruit and vegetables. The government has started a “Feed the Nation Fund” but the word is that it’s already being mismanaged. Mismanagement here is one of the biggest problems with the country. So, for those in the practice of praying, the poor of Malawi are very deserving recipients.
As I’ve previously reported we are constantly asked for money or to buy things when we are out and about. The truth is, whether we give or not makes little long term difference to these individuals. What they really need is “hope and a future” ala Jeremiah 29:11. We are of course hopeful that our company’s mining plans will be successful as that project could add significantly to the country’s economy. So far the progress is good and we are finding favour with most if not all of our business associates. However, probably our biggest challenge is obtaining the government approval we will need to proceed. We’ve heard stories of such approval taking up to 8 years whereas ideally we need it by the end of 2006. This is another source of prayer.
To finish on a much lighter note, I have started fabric painting classes and it’s great fun. I’ve been twice and in probably one or two more classes I will finish my first project, which is a cushion cover with a “funky bird” picture on it. In the last class I attended we were like our own little UN contingent, with representatives from Korea, Nicaragua, Burundi, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone and of course, Australia. Malawi is very multi-cultural, especially because of the aid community and it’s great being an international community.
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