We've had significant problems with online communication over the past few weeks, largely associated with theft of phone line cable. Now we're back up and running for hopefully a good while.
I've posted a number of my newsletters today so the site is now up to date. These are newsletters I send to friends and family to enlighten them about life in Malawi. There are some deeply serious issues and I would be telling only half the story if I didn't share some sobering details, but I've also tried to include humour to lighten things up as well.
Hope you enjoy. If you feel prompted to give to any charities who work in Malawi, post a comment with the kind of area you'd like to support (eg children, HIV/AIDS etc) and I can put you in touch with some organisations.
Frog
Thursday 6 April 2006
Malawi Memo 22 March 2006
If I were to describe to you a day in my life in Malawi, today was quite a good day to choose. As usual breakfast was served to us by the ever reliable and efficient Mary. Before this, however, we held discussions with the very newly separated Arnold. He announced yesterday that Catherine was leaving him and would be around sometime that day to collect her things. And collect her things she did. According to Arnold, she took everything, including his clothes. Ah, the joys of family law disputes! Consequently, we have lent Arnold some money to get back on his feet. To his credit, he let Catherine come in and take what she wanted as he did not want any more fights. We’re not sure what has effected this change of heart, but we’re very happy about it.
After breakfast, we headed to an internet café because we are into day 23 out of a possible 38 of no landline connection (ie in the last 38 days, 23 of them we’ve had no phone.) There are a few different reasons for this. The first problem was that our surge protector paid the ultimate price in such a self-effacing way that we didn’t realise that it was the reason our phones were not working. The next problem was that someone stole a length of cable outside our estate. This took some 2 weeks to replace but even then our most important line was still not working so it took another few days until a technician could come and fix the wiring. We were restored for a whole 2½ days before someone else helped themselves to a length of cable outside our estate. My call to the phone company today for an update elucidated that the company has put out a nationwide call for cable as they are having trouble finding cable to replace the bit that was pinched. SIGH!
After the internet café, Martin dropped me at my Chichewa speaking group and headed to the airport to do battle with Customs over some technical instruments we sent to South Africa for repair under warranty. Customs wanted to charge duty! This is the second time I have attended the Chichewa speaking group, mainly because it took considerable perseverance to find them. I love it. It’s a group of 4 ladies all around my age who meet at a coffee shop for 2 hours on Wednesday mornings and pay a pitifully small amount to a guy to teach us how to speak his language. As you know, I’ve been trying to pick up bits and pieces of Chichewa since I’ve been here. Our mostly absent co-tenant has a very helpful text book that I have purloined and with that, Mary and Arnold’s guidance and practice wherever I can I’m doing OK as far as beginners go.
While I was at my group a lawyer from the Ministry of Justice rang me to arrange meetings in April to negotiate the Development Agreement we’re hoping to agree with the government so our project can go ahead. So in mid-April I have to take my admin/accounts person hat off and put my lawyer hat back on (if I can find it) and help to negotiate a mining agreement.
After lunch Martin sent me off on my own to the bank and post office while he stayed at the office and made phone calls. Before I was able even to get out of my car there were 2 food selling vendors and 3 guys on crutches lined up waiting for me. I bought some peanuts and bananas (I don’t always buy but this time I did) and, working on the theory that social security for the disabled is provided by the altruistic, gave some money to the guys on crutches. So then we were joined by quite a queue of guys on crutches – seriously I’ve never seen that many at the post office. When that line was through the guys who sell wooden carvings and paintings etc wanted me to look at their stuff. I managed to get out of that and actually make it as far as the bank, only to find that their system was down and that unfortunately I would not be able to withdraw money. I waited for a while to see if it would come back up but it didn’t so I proceeded to the post office. While waiting I chatted to the guy on the front desk and he asked for us to employ him.
Now the post office staff are very quick to tell you when their lunch hour is. We are exceedingly well aware that lunch starts at 12 noon and even if they are in the middle of checking your mail at 12, too bad. So, having arrived at the post office hatch at 1:20pm, I felt I’d given the staff enough time for lunch and that there shouldn’t be a problem. Not so. When the girl finally opened the hatch at 1:30pm she had a mouth full of sandwich and a look on her face as if I’d interrupted a sacred event! While waiting for the post office girl, a guy who I now know is called Patrick started a conversation with me, during which he asked us to employ him.
My next task was to try to find a vacuum cleaner bag as the current specimen has seen much better days. This is not the first attempt I have made to find said bag. In fact it will probably be my last attempt as ALL other avenues I have tried have rendered NOTHING. The shop across the road from the post office told me on the phone that they have vacuum cleaner bags but that I’d have to come in and see what they have. No, they couldn’t tell me over the phone whether they had my model. So today I decided I’d go and see what they have only to find that whereas the entire rest of the country takes their lunch from 12 or 12:30, this shop is closed for lunch between 1pm and 2pm. It was 1:35pm. Tomorrow!
Before I was able to get back in my cars, the wood sellers entered into quite intense negotiations with me to look at their stuff. It was probably 5 – 10 minutes by the time I greeted them all, found out how they were and as politely as possible begged to be able to get into my car and look at their stuff some other time. No, probably not tomorrow but maybe next week.
Later this afternoon we went back to the internet café, the first of which was not able to help us because of a power outage. While there, an attempt to send a 2 page fax to Australia proved futile but at least we had internet connection.
A happy end to the day saw me being able to cook dinner on our electric stove in full electric light and to eat it in full electric light while we watched cable tv.
Yes, the frustrations of the day still pale into insignificance when we consider the luxuries we also enjoy. This time of the month and year are particularly fraught for many. This is probably the last month before maize harvest begins and as most are paid monthly at or around the end of the month, very few have money left for food. I’m sure this is the reason for the number of people begging and the intensity with which the vendors try to negotiate a sale.
Another luxury we’d struggle without is the delight of being able to listen to BBC World on the radio. Our car radio is tuned to it so we are able to listen to all kinds of fascinating topics, readings and interviews while we do our best to anticipate what the mad drivers on these roads might do next. I had missed the “Beeb” as it’s affectionately known in Britain and it’s nice to have it back as a part of our life here.
In the meantime I’m pleased to say that the local media has continued its onslaught against gender-based violence. No doubt it will take time for entrenched views and attitudes to change, but at least the country sees the value of putting out a very clear message and if enough organisations join the fight then I think the country will see some lasting change. It’s obviously not possible to eradicate it completely but a shift in the balance of statistics would be very welcome.
This newsletter would not be complete without my latest chitenje report. I am very happy to announce that Martin has finally conceded defeat on this issue and in fact helped me choose some fabrics during our recent trip to Karonga. Previously he had groaned that it was not possible to find black or navy blue fabric and that everything was far too garish. (It is in fact possible to find dark, plain colours, but I’m not going to tell him where!) Karonga and Mzuzu, the city about half way between Lilongwe and Karonga, both have extensive cloth markets. We visited them last time we went to Karonga but this time the range was even better and the colours even brighter. My contribution to the local economy will keep the country going for the next few months and now I just have to figure out what I’m going to do with it all!
As further evidence of the breakthrough with Martin and fabric shopping, he had to make a business trip down to Blantyre last week without me. While there he purchased, unaccompanied, a fantastic painted wall hanging painted in brown and…wait for it…..orange! I’m a happy woman.
While we were in Karonga the local guys at the camp near where the mine will (hopefully) be decided that they were going to make Martin a Chief and are busy making him a chiefly spear. Martin was initially very flattered but is reconsidering his position after I told him that as a chief he would have to wear national costume.
I’ll finish this letter with an account of our new gardener and some idiosyncrasies in the local use of English.
We found ourselves having to hire another gardener after Mary’s son, Jeffry, sadly failed his high school leaving and has gone back to try again. We found Kennedy (we affectionately refer to him as “Gunshy”) because he advertised on the board at our favourite supermarket. He is so thrilled to have a job that he has been bobbing and bowing (I mean down on 1 knee) whenever he sees us, much to our embarrassment (For heavens sake, man, I’m Australian. We don’t believe in bowing to ANYONE!) We gave him some money to help him get to his father’s funeral recently and he rewarded us with more bowing and a vow that he will keep working for us “until my life is finished.”
A few of the “pearler” names we have come across recently include Revival (F), Tryness (F), Stywell (M), Stain (surely a ground for parental homicide) (M), Ronex (M), Robtcher (M), Auspicious (M), Joylet (F), Loyce (F)(possibly a typo??), Beston (M), Dickens (M), Smalls (M)(ouch!) and Gogo (F). Wake me up……
Our geologist was unwell recently and when he was on the up, we asked him how he was. His reply, “A little bit fine.”
With that I’ll leave you for another few weeks. Keep smiling (it makes people wonder what you’ve been up to.)
After breakfast, we headed to an internet café because we are into day 23 out of a possible 38 of no landline connection (ie in the last 38 days, 23 of them we’ve had no phone.) There are a few different reasons for this. The first problem was that our surge protector paid the ultimate price in such a self-effacing way that we didn’t realise that it was the reason our phones were not working. The next problem was that someone stole a length of cable outside our estate. This took some 2 weeks to replace but even then our most important line was still not working so it took another few days until a technician could come and fix the wiring. We were restored for a whole 2½ days before someone else helped themselves to a length of cable outside our estate. My call to the phone company today for an update elucidated that the company has put out a nationwide call for cable as they are having trouble finding cable to replace the bit that was pinched. SIGH!
After the internet café, Martin dropped me at my Chichewa speaking group and headed to the airport to do battle with Customs over some technical instruments we sent to South Africa for repair under warranty. Customs wanted to charge duty! This is the second time I have attended the Chichewa speaking group, mainly because it took considerable perseverance to find them. I love it. It’s a group of 4 ladies all around my age who meet at a coffee shop for 2 hours on Wednesday mornings and pay a pitifully small amount to a guy to teach us how to speak his language. As you know, I’ve been trying to pick up bits and pieces of Chichewa since I’ve been here. Our mostly absent co-tenant has a very helpful text book that I have purloined and with that, Mary and Arnold’s guidance and practice wherever I can I’m doing OK as far as beginners go.
While I was at my group a lawyer from the Ministry of Justice rang me to arrange meetings in April to negotiate the Development Agreement we’re hoping to agree with the government so our project can go ahead. So in mid-April I have to take my admin/accounts person hat off and put my lawyer hat back on (if I can find it) and help to negotiate a mining agreement.
After lunch Martin sent me off on my own to the bank and post office while he stayed at the office and made phone calls. Before I was able even to get out of my car there were 2 food selling vendors and 3 guys on crutches lined up waiting for me. I bought some peanuts and bananas (I don’t always buy but this time I did) and, working on the theory that social security for the disabled is provided by the altruistic, gave some money to the guys on crutches. So then we were joined by quite a queue of guys on crutches – seriously I’ve never seen that many at the post office. When that line was through the guys who sell wooden carvings and paintings etc wanted me to look at their stuff. I managed to get out of that and actually make it as far as the bank, only to find that their system was down and that unfortunately I would not be able to withdraw money. I waited for a while to see if it would come back up but it didn’t so I proceeded to the post office. While waiting I chatted to the guy on the front desk and he asked for us to employ him.
Now the post office staff are very quick to tell you when their lunch hour is. We are exceedingly well aware that lunch starts at 12 noon and even if they are in the middle of checking your mail at 12, too bad. So, having arrived at the post office hatch at 1:20pm, I felt I’d given the staff enough time for lunch and that there shouldn’t be a problem. Not so. When the girl finally opened the hatch at 1:30pm she had a mouth full of sandwich and a look on her face as if I’d interrupted a sacred event! While waiting for the post office girl, a guy who I now know is called Patrick started a conversation with me, during which he asked us to employ him.
My next task was to try to find a vacuum cleaner bag as the current specimen has seen much better days. This is not the first attempt I have made to find said bag. In fact it will probably be my last attempt as ALL other avenues I have tried have rendered NOTHING. The shop across the road from the post office told me on the phone that they have vacuum cleaner bags but that I’d have to come in and see what they have. No, they couldn’t tell me over the phone whether they had my model. So today I decided I’d go and see what they have only to find that whereas the entire rest of the country takes their lunch from 12 or 12:30, this shop is closed for lunch between 1pm and 2pm. It was 1:35pm. Tomorrow!
Before I was able to get back in my cars, the wood sellers entered into quite intense negotiations with me to look at their stuff. It was probably 5 – 10 minutes by the time I greeted them all, found out how they were and as politely as possible begged to be able to get into my car and look at their stuff some other time. No, probably not tomorrow but maybe next week.
Later this afternoon we went back to the internet café, the first of which was not able to help us because of a power outage. While there, an attempt to send a 2 page fax to Australia proved futile but at least we had internet connection.
A happy end to the day saw me being able to cook dinner on our electric stove in full electric light and to eat it in full electric light while we watched cable tv.
Yes, the frustrations of the day still pale into insignificance when we consider the luxuries we also enjoy. This time of the month and year are particularly fraught for many. This is probably the last month before maize harvest begins and as most are paid monthly at or around the end of the month, very few have money left for food. I’m sure this is the reason for the number of people begging and the intensity with which the vendors try to negotiate a sale.
Another luxury we’d struggle without is the delight of being able to listen to BBC World on the radio. Our car radio is tuned to it so we are able to listen to all kinds of fascinating topics, readings and interviews while we do our best to anticipate what the mad drivers on these roads might do next. I had missed the “Beeb” as it’s affectionately known in Britain and it’s nice to have it back as a part of our life here.
In the meantime I’m pleased to say that the local media has continued its onslaught against gender-based violence. No doubt it will take time for entrenched views and attitudes to change, but at least the country sees the value of putting out a very clear message and if enough organisations join the fight then I think the country will see some lasting change. It’s obviously not possible to eradicate it completely but a shift in the balance of statistics would be very welcome.
This newsletter would not be complete without my latest chitenje report. I am very happy to announce that Martin has finally conceded defeat on this issue and in fact helped me choose some fabrics during our recent trip to Karonga. Previously he had groaned that it was not possible to find black or navy blue fabric and that everything was far too garish. (It is in fact possible to find dark, plain colours, but I’m not going to tell him where!) Karonga and Mzuzu, the city about half way between Lilongwe and Karonga, both have extensive cloth markets. We visited them last time we went to Karonga but this time the range was even better and the colours even brighter. My contribution to the local economy will keep the country going for the next few months and now I just have to figure out what I’m going to do with it all!
As further evidence of the breakthrough with Martin and fabric shopping, he had to make a business trip down to Blantyre last week without me. While there he purchased, unaccompanied, a fantastic painted wall hanging painted in brown and…wait for it…..orange! I’m a happy woman.
While we were in Karonga the local guys at the camp near where the mine will (hopefully) be decided that they were going to make Martin a Chief and are busy making him a chiefly spear. Martin was initially very flattered but is reconsidering his position after I told him that as a chief he would have to wear national costume.
I’ll finish this letter with an account of our new gardener and some idiosyncrasies in the local use of English.
We found ourselves having to hire another gardener after Mary’s son, Jeffry, sadly failed his high school leaving and has gone back to try again. We found Kennedy (we affectionately refer to him as “Gunshy”) because he advertised on the board at our favourite supermarket. He is so thrilled to have a job that he has been bobbing and bowing (I mean down on 1 knee) whenever he sees us, much to our embarrassment (For heavens sake, man, I’m Australian. We don’t believe in bowing to ANYONE!) We gave him some money to help him get to his father’s funeral recently and he rewarded us with more bowing and a vow that he will keep working for us “until my life is finished.”
A few of the “pearler” names we have come across recently include Revival (F), Tryness (F), Stywell (M), Stain (surely a ground for parental homicide) (M), Ronex (M), Robtcher (M), Auspicious (M), Joylet (F), Loyce (F)(possibly a typo??), Beston (M), Dickens (M), Smalls (M)(ouch!) and Gogo (F). Wake me up……
Our geologist was unwell recently and when he was on the up, we asked him how he was. His reply, “A little bit fine.”
With that I’ll leave you for another few weeks. Keep smiling (it makes people wonder what you’ve been up to.)
Malawi Memo 3 March 2006
I last wrote just before we were expecting our colleagues from Perth. We had a very busy week with them but the meetings we attended were largely very positive and when we reached the end of the week we felt confident that our timescales are not impossible and that there is enough will within the various government departments for the project to go ahead. We are not counting our chickens yet (will anyone be counting their chickens at this time in history? Instead I think we might have to start counting our reptiles or platypi or something else that hatches from eggs) but we’re hopeful.
Apart from that it has been a trying few weeks here in Malawi. Since I last wrote, we have had 12 days (the most recent period is now into its 9th day and I’m sending this from an internet café) without a landline phone connection (and thus no fax or internet), almost no post despite the fact that we know people have sent us things, several hours without power (when you add up all the power outages) and last Sunday we hit the pinnacle: at 5:30pm we had no phones, no power and no car (the battery died on Saturday). No power means no means of cooking (or in Martin’s case, no coffee) and no car means no takeaways so for dinner we settled for cold leftover chicken and baked potatoes by candlelight.
Baking potatoes is my latest scheme to address the food shortages. I’ve been buying bags of potatoes, baking them and then taking them with me when I go out and about. When people ask for money I give them a potato instead. Most have appreciated it because it’s food they don’t have to go buy and cook and I prefer giving food to giving money. The price of rice and maize at the moment is prohibitive for many people who are literally surviving on the goodwill of others.
I have written much about the poverty in Malawi, especially the food issue, because that’s probably the most obvious and acute issue facing the country. Thankfully the rains this year have been better and the maize in many areas is looking strong. The government is forecasting a 96% increase on last year’s crop and let’s hope they’re right. In the meantime there is another issue I want to focus on in this newsletter: the plight of women and children in Malawi. It is less obvious than the food shortage because I don’t have women approaching me on the street asking, “Madam, can you please save me from my husband who beats me” (unless, of course, you count the events in my own backyard) and, of course, a lot of the violence happens behind closed doors.
However, recently the newspapers have been reporting more and more stories about violence to women and children. Last week there were 2 days when the n newspapers contained 5 articles between them, 2 about sexual abuse of children by their fathers – one girl was 15 and became pregnant and the other was just 5 months old! Another was a 12 year old girl being sexually abused by a man unknown to her and the other 2 were about the plight of women in general. Two of the men had been tried and convicted and sentenced to imprisonment, one for 3 years and one for 12 years. It appears that incest attracts a maximum sentence of 5 years whilst “rape and defilement” is a more serious crime, and attracts a longer sentence!
One article, entitled “Hunger with a feminine face” talked of families selling their daughters or forcing them into early marriage so they could afford food (in Malawi men pay the dowry.) Of course some women have turned to prostitution to make enough money to feed their families. Statistics show that women are far more likely to be HIV positive than men of the same age. Other women have died eating poisonous roots and berries while trying to find alternative food sources for their families.
Even more disturbing, I think, is an article in which the writer quotes a village headman who believes that a woman’s refusal to give her husband sex on any given occasion constitutes gender-based violence. To quote the article, “If you give a woman the right to say no to sex with her husband, you are at the same time giving the man the right to have sex outside the marriage. And this right will bring death in the family through HIV and Aids”. Village headmen are the traditional leaders in Malawi society and for that reason are very influential.
Another problem, not covered in recent newspaper articles, is that when men die, their extended families often lay claim to their possessions. There are many, many stories of families racing to banks to drain bank accounts, forcing the wife and children out of the home and onto the street and at times even killing the wife so that she cannot make any claims herself.
I think I have been in self-protective denial about the awfulness and extent of this problem, probably because there seem to be so many needs in this country, and probably because of yet another attempt to flee from the emotional demands of family law issues. However, I’m really pleased that the government is taking these issues seriously and there are a number of government and non-governmental initiatives to bring positive change in these areas. Our church has joined this throng and I’m excited about getting involved.
Tomorrow Martin and I are off to Karonga for a few days. I will be providing further training for Twisile (pronounced Tweesiray), our accounts clerk and will be helping Martin to look at Occupational Health and Safety issues. Martin will also be catching up with the local chiefs and making sure everyone’s up to date with their information. I was hoping that we’d have time to do a bit of travelling in Tanzania while we were up that way but unfortunately we don’t have the time this time. We’ll get back to Lilongwe on Sunday and then Martin has to leave for Blantyre (opposite end of the country from Karonga) on Monday morning. I’ve been spending quite a lot of time home alone lately as Martin also had a 5 day trip to Namibia recently.
You’re probably getting sick of the sound of my voice by now, (that’s humorous irony for the less subtle amongst you) so I’ll draw this to a close with an Arnold update. We had to give him a written warning for not being on the premises during work hours for the nth time. Since then he’s been immaculately behaved. In fact he has little time to get up to mischief because the grass has been growing so fast, and we have so much of it, that as soon as Arnold finishes mowing it, he has to start again.
By the way, we have hired another gardener whose name is Kennedy (we affectionately refer to him as “Gunshy”). He is so thrilled to have a job that he has been bobbing and bowing whenever he sees us, much to our embarrassment (For heavens sake, man, I’m Australian. We don’t believe in bowing to ANYONE!) We gave him some money to help him get to his father’s funeral recently and he rewarded us today with more bowing and a vow that he will keep working for us “until my life is finished.”
Life is precious. Bye for now and talk to you again soon.
Apart from that it has been a trying few weeks here in Malawi. Since I last wrote, we have had 12 days (the most recent period is now into its 9th day and I’m sending this from an internet café) without a landline phone connection (and thus no fax or internet), almost no post despite the fact that we know people have sent us things, several hours without power (when you add up all the power outages) and last Sunday we hit the pinnacle: at 5:30pm we had no phones, no power and no car (the battery died on Saturday). No power means no means of cooking (or in Martin’s case, no coffee) and no car means no takeaways so for dinner we settled for cold leftover chicken and baked potatoes by candlelight.
Baking potatoes is my latest scheme to address the food shortages. I’ve been buying bags of potatoes, baking them and then taking them with me when I go out and about. When people ask for money I give them a potato instead. Most have appreciated it because it’s food they don’t have to go buy and cook and I prefer giving food to giving money. The price of rice and maize at the moment is prohibitive for many people who are literally surviving on the goodwill of others.
I have written much about the poverty in Malawi, especially the food issue, because that’s probably the most obvious and acute issue facing the country. Thankfully the rains this year have been better and the maize in many areas is looking strong. The government is forecasting a 96% increase on last year’s crop and let’s hope they’re right. In the meantime there is another issue I want to focus on in this newsletter: the plight of women and children in Malawi. It is less obvious than the food shortage because I don’t have women approaching me on the street asking, “Madam, can you please save me from my husband who beats me” (unless, of course, you count the events in my own backyard) and, of course, a lot of the violence happens behind closed doors.
However, recently the newspapers have been reporting more and more stories about violence to women and children. Last week there were 2 days when the n newspapers contained 5 articles between them, 2 about sexual abuse of children by their fathers – one girl was 15 and became pregnant and the other was just 5 months old! Another was a 12 year old girl being sexually abused by a man unknown to her and the other 2 were about the plight of women in general. Two of the men had been tried and convicted and sentenced to imprisonment, one for 3 years and one for 12 years. It appears that incest attracts a maximum sentence of 5 years whilst “rape and defilement” is a more serious crime, and attracts a longer sentence!
One article, entitled “Hunger with a feminine face” talked of families selling their daughters or forcing them into early marriage so they could afford food (in Malawi men pay the dowry.) Of course some women have turned to prostitution to make enough money to feed their families. Statistics show that women are far more likely to be HIV positive than men of the same age. Other women have died eating poisonous roots and berries while trying to find alternative food sources for their families.
Even more disturbing, I think, is an article in which the writer quotes a village headman who believes that a woman’s refusal to give her husband sex on any given occasion constitutes gender-based violence. To quote the article, “If you give a woman the right to say no to sex with her husband, you are at the same time giving the man the right to have sex outside the marriage. And this right will bring death in the family through HIV and Aids”. Village headmen are the traditional leaders in Malawi society and for that reason are very influential.
Another problem, not covered in recent newspaper articles, is that when men die, their extended families often lay claim to their possessions. There are many, many stories of families racing to banks to drain bank accounts, forcing the wife and children out of the home and onto the street and at times even killing the wife so that she cannot make any claims herself.
I think I have been in self-protective denial about the awfulness and extent of this problem, probably because there seem to be so many needs in this country, and probably because of yet another attempt to flee from the emotional demands of family law issues. However, I’m really pleased that the government is taking these issues seriously and there are a number of government and non-governmental initiatives to bring positive change in these areas. Our church has joined this throng and I’m excited about getting involved.
Tomorrow Martin and I are off to Karonga for a few days. I will be providing further training for Twisile (pronounced Tweesiray), our accounts clerk and will be helping Martin to look at Occupational Health and Safety issues. Martin will also be catching up with the local chiefs and making sure everyone’s up to date with their information. I was hoping that we’d have time to do a bit of travelling in Tanzania while we were up that way but unfortunately we don’t have the time this time. We’ll get back to Lilongwe on Sunday and then Martin has to leave for Blantyre (opposite end of the country from Karonga) on Monday morning. I’ve been spending quite a lot of time home alone lately as Martin also had a 5 day trip to Namibia recently.
You’re probably getting sick of the sound of my voice by now, (that’s humorous irony for the less subtle amongst you) so I’ll draw this to a close with an Arnold update. We had to give him a written warning for not being on the premises during work hours for the nth time. Since then he’s been immaculately behaved. In fact he has little time to get up to mischief because the grass has been growing so fast, and we have so much of it, that as soon as Arnold finishes mowing it, he has to start again.
By the way, we have hired another gardener whose name is Kennedy (we affectionately refer to him as “Gunshy”). He is so thrilled to have a job that he has been bobbing and bowing whenever he sees us, much to our embarrassment (For heavens sake, man, I’m Australian. We don’t believe in bowing to ANYONE!) We gave him some money to help him get to his father’s funeral recently and he rewarded us today with more bowing and a vow that he will keep working for us “until my life is finished.”
Life is precious. Bye for now and talk to you again soon.
Malawi Memo 10 February 2006
I had no idea that when I came to Malawi I’d be embarking on a study of toilet paper but did you know that there are different types of 2-ply? Let me assure you that there are. We were actually onto a good brand of 2-ply and I should have stuck to it but ever the explorer, I have just brought a different kind – 9 rolls of it – and it’s just not the same! It’s to do with the thickness of each ply but I’ll leave it at that.
Such are the trivial issues one has to deal with in this place and I guess you tend to focus on them at times as a distraction from the not at all trivial issues like politics and poverty. On our arrival back from a lovely 3 weeks in Australia we were greeted at the airport by a guy selling green beans and another guy in a wheelchair. We were also greeted with the news of the various antics of the President. His most recent move has been to fire the Vice-President for not turning up to Cabinet meetings (which apparently he didn’t tell the VP about!) It seems that if he’d read his Constitution the President would have known that he couldn’t fire the Vice-President and that the only way to get rid of the VP was by impeaching him. As the President himself is still the subject of impeachment proceedings I can imagine he was not too keen to go down that road with the VP but an unconstitutional dismissal…..?! We’re still waiting to see what the fall out will be but we’re expecting something quite spectacular.
Back to the issue of the guys selling things, as annoying as it can be, our sympathy was really with them this week. Martin went down to the bank and the post office on Tuesday morning and found himself in the middle of a governmental attempt to round up all the street sellers and to move them on to a “less intrusive” area. Tear gas and shots were being fired and Martin found that tear gas is no respecter of persons. He was gassed not once but twice! I was in the area the following day and it was very quiet and subdued. The normally vibrant colours of the cloth market that usually operates on the rails in front of one set of shops (ie the vendors drape the various bits of cloth over the rails and then stand in front) was nowhere to be seen, although a couple of the vendors surreptitiously approached me, backpacks on their back, and whispered that they could do me a very good deal if I was interested. “Today is cheap price, Madam, very cheap.” I’m starting to come up with response lines they can’t argue with rather than just saying no. My latest is, “Oh, I’m very sorry but my husband would be very angry with me if I bought more chitenje (word for cloth)”.
As it happens, although there were a few quiet days on the street vendor front, the government backed down and the vendors are all back in force. It’s actually nice to see them. Despite the days when you really just want to go about your business without being bothered, the area just wouldn’t be the same without them.
Actually there are equivalents in Australia (well all over the Western world) to the harassment of the street vendors – yes, the telephone canvassers. We don’t get them here so we’d forgotten about them. Occasionally we receive calls from people who dial random numbers just for a chat but they don’t last very long because of the language issue. However when we were in Australia and staying with friends we received 2 calls in the space of 2 days from people trying to sell things. I guess that’s the power of the retail industry. As long as there is life on earth there will be people trying to sell you things.
Now, since so many of you asked about Arnold, our gardener, while we were back in Australia, I’ll bring all of you up to date. Just before we left a letter arrived for Arnold in our PO box. As he’d recently been married, I thought it must have been a congratulatory card or letter so I presented the letter to Arnold with much excitement (how often does he get letters, you know?) Well it was actually a Magistrate’s Court summons regarding the payment of Child Support for one of his children. I was aware that Arnold had been married before so assumed it was about one of his older children. Oh no, no, no. It turns out that this son is the same age, within a few weeks, as Owen, the son Arnold has with his wife, Catherine. I asked if Catherine knew about this and the reply was “Oh no, no, no. She would leave me.” Can’t say I blame her, to be honest. Arnold’s primary concern was not that he’d cheated on his dearly beloved, or that she’d be upset if she found out, but that the Court might put him in jail if he did not have enough money to pay. Naturally he thought we might be able to assist him in this regard. Strangely enough I found my sympathy beginning to wane but, not having quite reached the end of my generosity, gave him instead some free legal advice.
Arnold went the next day to Martin, who by then was up to speed with events. Needless to say he didn’t find much of a sympathetic ear in Martin either. As we were leaving, Arnold was stewing on the possibility of jail (a possibility I considered to be quite remote) and still trying to wheedle some money out of us. The court date was while we were away and we received an email from the guy looking after our work to say that Arnold had also approached him for money! I was beginning to think a night in lockup might not be a bad idea but as it turned out Arnold was able to do a very reasonable deal with the woman’s father, so that Arnold pays what he can when he can and if he can’t he simply needs to let them know. Catherine still doesn’t know and Arnold thought maybe I could understate his pay on his pay slips so she won’t know if there’s money disappearing to another source. In all other respects Arnold has been on his very best behaviour since we’ve been back but we really think it’s just a matter of time before he’ll step over the line irretrievably.
Otherwise it’s been a week of catching up after holidays, correcting the mistakes I made on Monday when I was still well and truly jet-lagged and preparing for the arrival of several business colleagues from Perth. Next week is a week of meetings with various government departments to try to resolve areas of possible dispute between the company and the government over an agreement to mine uranium in this country. Please pray because I think this represents the single largest challenge of the entire project. It will be an interesting but very busy week and after the dust settles I will report on more of the fascinating events that comprise life in Malawi.
Such are the trivial issues one has to deal with in this place and I guess you tend to focus on them at times as a distraction from the not at all trivial issues like politics and poverty. On our arrival back from a lovely 3 weeks in Australia we were greeted at the airport by a guy selling green beans and another guy in a wheelchair. We were also greeted with the news of the various antics of the President. His most recent move has been to fire the Vice-President for not turning up to Cabinet meetings (which apparently he didn’t tell the VP about!) It seems that if he’d read his Constitution the President would have known that he couldn’t fire the Vice-President and that the only way to get rid of the VP was by impeaching him. As the President himself is still the subject of impeachment proceedings I can imagine he was not too keen to go down that road with the VP but an unconstitutional dismissal…..?! We’re still waiting to see what the fall out will be but we’re expecting something quite spectacular.
Back to the issue of the guys selling things, as annoying as it can be, our sympathy was really with them this week. Martin went down to the bank and the post office on Tuesday morning and found himself in the middle of a governmental attempt to round up all the street sellers and to move them on to a “less intrusive” area. Tear gas and shots were being fired and Martin found that tear gas is no respecter of persons. He was gassed not once but twice! I was in the area the following day and it was very quiet and subdued. The normally vibrant colours of the cloth market that usually operates on the rails in front of one set of shops (ie the vendors drape the various bits of cloth over the rails and then stand in front) was nowhere to be seen, although a couple of the vendors surreptitiously approached me, backpacks on their back, and whispered that they could do me a very good deal if I was interested. “Today is cheap price, Madam, very cheap.” I’m starting to come up with response lines they can’t argue with rather than just saying no. My latest is, “Oh, I’m very sorry but my husband would be very angry with me if I bought more chitenje (word for cloth)”.
As it happens, although there were a few quiet days on the street vendor front, the government backed down and the vendors are all back in force. It’s actually nice to see them. Despite the days when you really just want to go about your business without being bothered, the area just wouldn’t be the same without them.
Actually there are equivalents in Australia (well all over the Western world) to the harassment of the street vendors – yes, the telephone canvassers. We don’t get them here so we’d forgotten about them. Occasionally we receive calls from people who dial random numbers just for a chat but they don’t last very long because of the language issue. However when we were in Australia and staying with friends we received 2 calls in the space of 2 days from people trying to sell things. I guess that’s the power of the retail industry. As long as there is life on earth there will be people trying to sell you things.
Now, since so many of you asked about Arnold, our gardener, while we were back in Australia, I’ll bring all of you up to date. Just before we left a letter arrived for Arnold in our PO box. As he’d recently been married, I thought it must have been a congratulatory card or letter so I presented the letter to Arnold with much excitement (how often does he get letters, you know?) Well it was actually a Magistrate’s Court summons regarding the payment of Child Support for one of his children. I was aware that Arnold had been married before so assumed it was about one of his older children. Oh no, no, no. It turns out that this son is the same age, within a few weeks, as Owen, the son Arnold has with his wife, Catherine. I asked if Catherine knew about this and the reply was “Oh no, no, no. She would leave me.” Can’t say I blame her, to be honest. Arnold’s primary concern was not that he’d cheated on his dearly beloved, or that she’d be upset if she found out, but that the Court might put him in jail if he did not have enough money to pay. Naturally he thought we might be able to assist him in this regard. Strangely enough I found my sympathy beginning to wane but, not having quite reached the end of my generosity, gave him instead some free legal advice.
Arnold went the next day to Martin, who by then was up to speed with events. Needless to say he didn’t find much of a sympathetic ear in Martin either. As we were leaving, Arnold was stewing on the possibility of jail (a possibility I considered to be quite remote) and still trying to wheedle some money out of us. The court date was while we were away and we received an email from the guy looking after our work to say that Arnold had also approached him for money! I was beginning to think a night in lockup might not be a bad idea but as it turned out Arnold was able to do a very reasonable deal with the woman’s father, so that Arnold pays what he can when he can and if he can’t he simply needs to let them know. Catherine still doesn’t know and Arnold thought maybe I could understate his pay on his pay slips so she won’t know if there’s money disappearing to another source. In all other respects Arnold has been on his very best behaviour since we’ve been back but we really think it’s just a matter of time before he’ll step over the line irretrievably.
Otherwise it’s been a week of catching up after holidays, correcting the mistakes I made on Monday when I was still well and truly jet-lagged and preparing for the arrival of several business colleagues from Perth. Next week is a week of meetings with various government departments to try to resolve areas of possible dispute between the company and the government over an agreement to mine uranium in this country. Please pray because I think this represents the single largest challenge of the entire project. It will be an interesting but very busy week and after the dust settles I will report on more of the fascinating events that comprise life in Malawi.
Happy New Year
Hello Everyone, and happy new year! For us 2006 slid in softly rather than with loud celebration but nevertheless we are filled with anticipation of another year full of adventure, things to celebrate and things to wonder about.
There is good news to report from Malawi:
1. The rains have started. Leading up to about the middle of December the weather became increasingly hot and sticky, as it does in the tropics before the rains. Then the storms began and the rains came and it has been raining with enough consistency to keep the maize growers happy ever since. We have had some storm casualties, including our printer, which took the hit on the phone line and sacrificed itself to protect the phone line, the modem and the telephone. The guy at the IT Centre gravely informed us that the printer was “flied” (Malawians interchange Ls and Rs without warning) and so we have upgraded. The microwave is also displaying no signs of life, which is perplexing, as none of the other white goods have been affected at all. As you can imagine, we have since equipped ourselves with surge protectors for everything we possibly can and we now sleep better at night knowing the computer, especially, should survive any storm that hits. We also had an 8 hour power cut following one particularly nasty storm, but it was a Sunday so we didn’t need to work and we spent the time talking to each other and reading. In the meantime, the good news aspect of this story is the rain for the crops and the cooler weather.
2. We have done a bit of traveling around the countryside in the past few weeks and there are fields and fields of maize at various stages of growth. Some fields have had problems with armyworm killing the crops but in the rest of the country the growth seems to be progressing well. We will keep praying for an abundant crop this season.
3. It has been all quiet on the domestic front (ref previous newsletters).
4. There have been many strong messages aimed at the President from various donors that this year provides him with a good opportunity to focus on working together with opposition parties to achieve some big goals, rather than focusing on differences. This is good news for our project as it will need the co-operation of Parliament in order to go ahead. We are hoping to have reached agreement with the government on all important aspects in time to present the agreement to Parliament for the June sitting. The political situation has been very quiet over the Christmas/New Year break so there’s not a lot more to report on that at the moment.
5. We have acquired some more office furniture and I now have my own desk and laptop to use. This is fantastic because previously I had to wait till Martin was out before I could use the computer. I am hoping to have some time for some creative writing this year and having a computer for my use will help.
6. We had a really lovely Christmas down at a Tea Estate in the south-east of the country. Martin and I have never been that far south before and it’s very different countryside to the rest of what we’ve seen of Malawi. There are rolling hills covered, as far as the eye can see, with tea bushes. Unpicked tea leaves are bright green and very attractive. The tea estate was beautiful, peaceful and very interesting. We had 2 Aussie friends who’d come to see us and spend Christmas and together we relaxed, did a tour of the estate and the tea factory and did some driving around. We saw Mount Mulanje, Malawi’s highest peak, which is magnificent. Due to the prevailing conditions it was surrounded by cloud, which made the view even more spectacular and evocative. At one stage we bogged the car trying to get a closer look but the fact that there are people everywhere in Malawi (which at other times can be frustrating) was to our advantage. We’d been stuck barely 2 minutes before a group of lads ran with undisguised enthusiasm in our direction. They had the car out of the muck in no time and were delighted to have earned some unexpected cash (not for the post-Christmas sales, I can tell you, but no doubt they would have had no difficulty spending it.)
7. Actually, the fact that there are no post-Christmas sales is also good news because post-Christmas the roads and shops are “normal”. If we had sales here, the roads would chock up and the traffic would be gridlocked for hours. Traffic here is crazy anyway. You have to have your wits about you and basically expect every car on the road to cut straight in front of you whether they do or not so you’re ready for it when they do (which is far too often). Martin and I often talk about volunteering for the Police Force for a day or 2 here and there so we can book people. However, I was driving recently and watched while a police van overtook me and the car in front of me up a hill into a blind crest and then into the face of a massive truck which he only managed to avoid because the truck slowed down. If the police drive like that, things are not going to change in a hurry.
8. There’s a road that starts at the edge of our suburb which cuts Lilongwe in half for us and is therefore very convenient. Until about a week ago there were massive road works on this road and the other end of it was blocked. The blockage has shrunk over the months so that we have been able to drive further and further along it but we couldn’t go the full length, which meant driving the long way round to just about everywhere. This is not a big deal, really, because Lilongwe is quite small but Chilambula Road is now completely open and we can drive the whole length. It’s great.
9. A whole lot of new chitenje (African cloth) designs are coming through and Christmas has provided me with a good opportunity to buy lots of it for various purposes. The chitenje sellers love me and sometimes when Martin is in their vicinity without me they ask him, “Where is your wife?” I’ve found a particular stall up near the markets where the range is perhaps not as good but the guy applies no pressure to buy. He simply lets me look and choose and then asks such a reasonable price that I don’t even bother to barter. I guess he knows I’ll come back which, much to Martin’s chagrin, I do! The other chitenje sellers that I patronise are set up across the road from one of the major supermarkets, outside another supermarket and across the road from a series of banks and the post office. I guess they figure they can get better prices as there are more azungu (foreigners) who go to that area. Consequently they start off with hugely inflated prices and there is some intense bartering before we agree a sale. They are also so keen to sell that they bombard you with cloth so that making any kind of reasonable decision is compromised. But it’s an interesting experience and I’m glad to be able to support local industry. (Martin says the same about drinking Malawi gin and the locally brewed beers, all of which are actually very good.)
10. We had a snake inside the house in mid-December. No, that’s NOT good news, but the good news is that it was very small and was discovered by someone other than me. The even better news is that there has been no recurrence of this unwelcome event and certain of us (me) are praying that there will not be for the duration of our time here. Apparently cobras are a local snake but we haven’t seen any, except a couple on the road when we’ve been driving in the country. That’ll do for my study on the habits of reptiles in Malawi.
11. Australia won the cricket!!!!!!!!
12. We’ll be in Australia to celebrate the cricket victory, woops sorry, to visit family and friends, from 15 Jan to 4 Feb. We’ll spend the first 10 days or so with my parents down near Albany and will then be in Perth for the rest of the time. There is a communal picnic/BBQ/whatever at South Beach, Fremantle, on Sunday 29th Jan from around 1-ish. We’ll position ourselves within sight of the café so you can find us. Those of you in Perth would be most welcome to join us. In fact, those of you not in Perth would also be most welcome to join us but I can appreciate that the logistics may not be favourable.
I’ll finish with a quaint cultural practice observed by Martin recently. Malawi seems to have been keen to adopt the Western white wedding model and so it’s not unusual to see cars with wedding streamers attached. This particular day, Martin saw a wedding car with bride only. Following that was another wedding car with the groom. The bridesmaids (in matching pink dresses) and rest of the wedding party were wedged in a public minibus following behind. I hope they made it to the church!
With that I’ll say farewell till my next installment but will hopefully see many of you in person before then.
There is good news to report from Malawi:
1. The rains have started. Leading up to about the middle of December the weather became increasingly hot and sticky, as it does in the tropics before the rains. Then the storms began and the rains came and it has been raining with enough consistency to keep the maize growers happy ever since. We have had some storm casualties, including our printer, which took the hit on the phone line and sacrificed itself to protect the phone line, the modem and the telephone. The guy at the IT Centre gravely informed us that the printer was “flied” (Malawians interchange Ls and Rs without warning) and so we have upgraded. The microwave is also displaying no signs of life, which is perplexing, as none of the other white goods have been affected at all. As you can imagine, we have since equipped ourselves with surge protectors for everything we possibly can and we now sleep better at night knowing the computer, especially, should survive any storm that hits. We also had an 8 hour power cut following one particularly nasty storm, but it was a Sunday so we didn’t need to work and we spent the time talking to each other and reading. In the meantime, the good news aspect of this story is the rain for the crops and the cooler weather.
2. We have done a bit of traveling around the countryside in the past few weeks and there are fields and fields of maize at various stages of growth. Some fields have had problems with armyworm killing the crops but in the rest of the country the growth seems to be progressing well. We will keep praying for an abundant crop this season.
3. It has been all quiet on the domestic front (ref previous newsletters).
4. There have been many strong messages aimed at the President from various donors that this year provides him with a good opportunity to focus on working together with opposition parties to achieve some big goals, rather than focusing on differences. This is good news for our project as it will need the co-operation of Parliament in order to go ahead. We are hoping to have reached agreement with the government on all important aspects in time to present the agreement to Parliament for the June sitting. The political situation has been very quiet over the Christmas/New Year break so there’s not a lot more to report on that at the moment.
5. We have acquired some more office furniture and I now have my own desk and laptop to use. This is fantastic because previously I had to wait till Martin was out before I could use the computer. I am hoping to have some time for some creative writing this year and having a computer for my use will help.
6. We had a really lovely Christmas down at a Tea Estate in the south-east of the country. Martin and I have never been that far south before and it’s very different countryside to the rest of what we’ve seen of Malawi. There are rolling hills covered, as far as the eye can see, with tea bushes. Unpicked tea leaves are bright green and very attractive. The tea estate was beautiful, peaceful and very interesting. We had 2 Aussie friends who’d come to see us and spend Christmas and together we relaxed, did a tour of the estate and the tea factory and did some driving around. We saw Mount Mulanje, Malawi’s highest peak, which is magnificent. Due to the prevailing conditions it was surrounded by cloud, which made the view even more spectacular and evocative. At one stage we bogged the car trying to get a closer look but the fact that there are people everywhere in Malawi (which at other times can be frustrating) was to our advantage. We’d been stuck barely 2 minutes before a group of lads ran with undisguised enthusiasm in our direction. They had the car out of the muck in no time and were delighted to have earned some unexpected cash (not for the post-Christmas sales, I can tell you, but no doubt they would have had no difficulty spending it.)
7. Actually, the fact that there are no post-Christmas sales is also good news because post-Christmas the roads and shops are “normal”. If we had sales here, the roads would chock up and the traffic would be gridlocked for hours. Traffic here is crazy anyway. You have to have your wits about you and basically expect every car on the road to cut straight in front of you whether they do or not so you’re ready for it when they do (which is far too often). Martin and I often talk about volunteering for the Police Force for a day or 2 here and there so we can book people. However, I was driving recently and watched while a police van overtook me and the car in front of me up a hill into a blind crest and then into the face of a massive truck which he only managed to avoid because the truck slowed down. If the police drive like that, things are not going to change in a hurry.
8. There’s a road that starts at the edge of our suburb which cuts Lilongwe in half for us and is therefore very convenient. Until about a week ago there were massive road works on this road and the other end of it was blocked. The blockage has shrunk over the months so that we have been able to drive further and further along it but we couldn’t go the full length, which meant driving the long way round to just about everywhere. This is not a big deal, really, because Lilongwe is quite small but Chilambula Road is now completely open and we can drive the whole length. It’s great.
9. A whole lot of new chitenje (African cloth) designs are coming through and Christmas has provided me with a good opportunity to buy lots of it for various purposes. The chitenje sellers love me and sometimes when Martin is in their vicinity without me they ask him, “Where is your wife?” I’ve found a particular stall up near the markets where the range is perhaps not as good but the guy applies no pressure to buy. He simply lets me look and choose and then asks such a reasonable price that I don’t even bother to barter. I guess he knows I’ll come back which, much to Martin’s chagrin, I do! The other chitenje sellers that I patronise are set up across the road from one of the major supermarkets, outside another supermarket and across the road from a series of banks and the post office. I guess they figure they can get better prices as there are more azungu (foreigners) who go to that area. Consequently they start off with hugely inflated prices and there is some intense bartering before we agree a sale. They are also so keen to sell that they bombard you with cloth so that making any kind of reasonable decision is compromised. But it’s an interesting experience and I’m glad to be able to support local industry. (Martin says the same about drinking Malawi gin and the locally brewed beers, all of which are actually very good.)
10. We had a snake inside the house in mid-December. No, that’s NOT good news, but the good news is that it was very small and was discovered by someone other than me. The even better news is that there has been no recurrence of this unwelcome event and certain of us (me) are praying that there will not be for the duration of our time here. Apparently cobras are a local snake but we haven’t seen any, except a couple on the road when we’ve been driving in the country. That’ll do for my study on the habits of reptiles in Malawi.
11. Australia won the cricket!!!!!!!!
12. We’ll be in Australia to celebrate the cricket victory, woops sorry, to visit family and friends, from 15 Jan to 4 Feb. We’ll spend the first 10 days or so with my parents down near Albany and will then be in Perth for the rest of the time. There is a communal picnic/BBQ/whatever at South Beach, Fremantle, on Sunday 29th Jan from around 1-ish. We’ll position ourselves within sight of the café so you can find us. Those of you in Perth would be most welcome to join us. In fact, those of you not in Perth would also be most welcome to join us but I can appreciate that the logistics may not be favourable.
I’ll finish with a quaint cultural practice observed by Martin recently. Malawi seems to have been keen to adopt the Western white wedding model and so it’s not unusual to see cars with wedding streamers attached. This particular day, Martin saw a wedding car with bride only. Following that was another wedding car with the groom. The bridesmaids (in matching pink dresses) and rest of the wedding party were wedged in a public minibus following behind. I hope they made it to the church!
With that I’ll say farewell till my next installment but will hopefully see many of you in person before then.
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