June 4th, 2014

June 4^th, 2014

Language

Since moving to Malawi, I have learned how to greet people in countless ways and languages (or so it seems). As I have mentioned before, during training I lived with a family who spoke primarily Chichewa, but knew and understood about 5 other languages from Malawi. Unfortunately, Chilambya was not one of those languages. Because of this I was able to pick up Chichewa and tidbits of the other languages my fellow volunteers were learning. I then moved to my site in Kameme which is known by the rest of Malawi as having the most languages in a specific area. I live close to the boarder of Zambia and Tanzania which both influence Kameme since many products and services are imported here to Malawi. As a result, Chitipa speaks over 22 languages. In Kameme, according to the traditional authority, there are 6-8 languages spoken in this small area. We have seen this demonstrated at the start of each meeting, where the first order of business (of course following the prayer), is to agree on which language to use.

My favorite thing right now is learning how to greet people in each of the languages, I’m up to four! 

Here is a small sample of what I have learned:

General Greetings:

-        Mwaghona! (Hello! Chilambya & Chinyha)

-        Muli scheti? (How are you? Chinyha)

-        Muli akiza? (How are you? Chilambya)

-        Muli bwangi? (How are you? Chichewa)

-        Muli uli? (How are you? Chitumbuka)

Morning:

-        Makata (Chinyha)

-        Mwalamusha (Chilambya)

-        Mwadzuka (Chichewa)

-        Mwauka (Chitumbuka)

Afternoon:

-        Mwaomba (Chinyha)

-        Mwalinda (Chilambya)

-        Mwaswera (Chichewa)

-        Mwatandala (Chitimbuka)

Thank you:

-        Wasalipa (Chinyha)

-        Ndagha (Chilambya)

-        Zikomo (Chichewa)

-        Yewo (Chitimbuka)

As you can see, they are pretty similar. Most people will get the jist of what I am saying even if they don’t really understand that particular language. I’ve been told that you can sit in on a meeting here in Kameme with four people and they can each be speaking in a different language, still understanding each other. It is fascinating that things get done here, and maybe why meetings take 5 times as long here compared to the states, at least that is one of my theories.

I’ve also included the speech that I gave during swear-in at the ambassador’s house. Five of us were chosen to speak, four of us in the languages that we learned during training and one in English. The speech was split up between the four different languages and then translated fully in English. I was the last to go, here is my section:

Umuchinzi wabikikwa kale

Mwaghona mwensi!

Ngati bantu be bakufuma ku America sona ma volontiya, tukwikala mu mwoyo uwa kuswigha nu kusekelela chifukwa cha ba Malawi be twabamanya nu kubaghana.

Posona, tukwanda imbombo uithu iyi ni myoyo ya kwighuka. Tukwitikizya izya mbombo yithu yo yili kuntazi kuti nkulu hee, lole tukusimikizya kubomba akiza nukuyipa sana ku Peace Corps naku Malawi.

Twasalifya sana, pakutupa umwabi uwu uwa kubomba imbombo iyi. Ndagha ndagha ndagha!

Rough Translation:

Respect has already been given

Hello everyone!

As people from America, we are living in awe and great happiness because of Malawians we have known and loved.

We are starting this job with open hearts. We acknowledge that the job we will have in the future is challenging, but we promise that we are going to work well and will dedicate ourselves to Peace Corps and Malawi.

We thank you for giving us this opportunity. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Language has been fascinating and frustrating all at the same time. I am hoping to get a tutor in the next week or so in order to better understand the villagers I meet on a daily basis (plus being able to talk to my landlord might be helpful). It’s exciting, and daunting at times to be learning a language that only a miniscule percentage of the world’s population uses. At times this motivates me, when else will I ever have the opportunity to learn such a unique language?? But at other times it is extremely disheartening, what is the point? I will never have the chance to use it once I leave. Hell, as soon as I leave Chitipa, Malawians look at me like a crazy lady when I great them in Chilambya! It’s all part of the game I suppose. I am embracing the here and now, going with the flow, and taking the time to fully immerse myself in the culture. That’s why I’m here, right?

May 26th, 2014

May 26^th, 2014

A day in the life of a PCV on site lockdown:

5:10am- Alarm goes off. Lay in bed and listen to things scurry over my tin roof for about 10 minutes. Finally find my lighter and light the candle next to my bed.

5:20am- Head out to the Chimbuzi (bathroom… ok, hole in the ground). Check around for any snakes/bats/huge spiders before entering. While I have yet to see a snake in my Chim, others have come across black mambas, green mambas, and cobras of other varieties…

5:30am- Go on a run with Isabel. Say “Makata” to every single person we see, and get stared at because of our scandalous leggings with shorts on top (fully clothed head to foot, but you can see the outline of our legs…not ok). Oh and we are running, people don’t do that here… crazy Americans.

Side note: I have dabbled with running back in the states. I enjoy the exercise but have never been able to keep it up for an extended period of time. Here it’s a different story. I love the excuse to wake up early to watch the sun rise over the mountains. The feel of morning here is unlike anything I have experienced in the states. I remember running along the river in Tennessee and feeling something similar watching blue herons flying over the misty, rocky river; but here, the sky is a different color every morning, the chickens crow and birds call, the wind sweeps over my small little valley making the palm trees sound like waterfalls. It’s magic.

6:30am- Back to the house. Grab a bucket and head to the borehole (waterhole). Carry 20L of water on my head back to the house. Get laughed at by all the women along the road since I am usually pretty soaked by the time I get home… Often they will try to take the bucket from me, but I have convinced them that I am capable of fetching my own water. They will call their friends over and point at me laughing still. It’s the worst when someone decides that they need to try and have a conversation with me while I am standing there with water on my head. I don’t know how the amayi’s do it. They usually have buckets twice my size and will walk twice the distance. By the time I get back to my house my head is wobbling all over the place because my neck is tired. I can only get better right??

6:45am-Take a “bath.” Basically splash around in a bucket of cold water really fast and hope my neighbors don’t look into the holes in the wall/come into my courtyard (no door and its outside).

7am- Start the fire. Boil some water for coffee, make breakfast. Usually I’ll have eggs or oatmeal depending on what’s around. I can only buy oatmeal in Mzuzu, so it’s pretty precious.

8am- Since I already have coals going, I may make rice, beans, or sweet potatoes for later.

8:30am- Do dishes from the day before. Sweep out my house since the dirt is constantly falling from my walls. Battle some termites who like to eat the dirt and bricks (who knew?) of my house.

9:30am- *** Read/Yoga/Blog/Write letters/Go on a hike/Wander around the village to talk to people.

12ish- Maybe head over to Isabel’s, if she isn’t already at my house. Wander over to the ladies who sit under the trees by her house to buy some tomatoes or avocados. Make more food. Chat.

5ish- Head home since it’s no fun walking through the village in the dark (snakes!).

5:30ish- Visit with a neighbor probably on my way home, or they will stop by my house. I will give a report of what I did that day, mostly in English trying to throw some chilambya, or chinyha words in. They will respond mostly in chinyha throwing some English words in.

6ish- Eat leftovers from lunch/breakfast (who am I kidding, I’ll probably just eat some peanut butter). Light some candles and read more.

8 or 9pm- In bed. Maybe watch a movie if the solar panel was outside during the day.

***This is of course if there are no meetings, or special events going on. If there is a meeting, it would look like this:
9am- Show up to meeting on time, realize we are the only ones there… ask around to make sure we are in the right place

10:30am- The people leading the meeting show up (even though they are the ones who told us 9am). Do greetings, sit around for a bit.

11am- Meeting (maybe) starts. Once the group decides on which language to use (because there are 7 to choose from), they begin. We can loosely follow what they are saying, but mostly we just sit in the corner and try to look attentive.

1pm- The meeting might be finished. What was covered would probably take 20 minutes to cover in the states. But that’s ok, because we are in Malawi… it is what it is. 

Obviously my day to day routine will change once I am no longer on lockdown. For the first three months of being at our site we are told to not start or be involved in any projects. We are to integrate into the community and basically learn how to live on our own in Malawi. In a month, I will start doing community assessments to identify the needs of my community from my community. Once I have a better understanding I will attend an in-service training in Lilongwe at the beginning of September. There we will hopefully learn more skills specific to what our community needs are. After that, I’ll be off and running!

May 21st

May 21^st, 2014

I wish there was a way to talk to each of you individually rather than over this blog. I was having a weird day today. One of those days where all you want to do is stay in bed, eat junk food and watch trashy movies. I slept in which helped since usually I am up at 5am each morning. The junk food and trashy TV though are harder to come by. Instead I ate the banana bread I made over the fire yesterday and opened more of the letters you sent with me before I left home. I cannot explain to you how grateful I am to have each and every one of you in my life. The letters and love you sent with me is overwhelming. It is not often that people have an opportunity to have letters written to them these days, and to have so many people in my life that I have known since I was a little girl, to those who I only met this year, write to me poems, funny memories, inspirational quotes and sometimes nonsense (Michael)… I am the luckiest. 

Not to worry mom, I am still saving many of them since I know I have a long road ahead of me.  I’m not going to lie, if it felt like there were pictures in the envelope I opened it (sorry Liz). I love having so many photos of friends around my house! I especially appreciate the photos from all places I lived over the past couple of years. I have hung up photos from home of family and animals, I have photos of the beautiful Smoky Mountains (thanks Kevin!), photos of the farm on Bainbridge, and from vacations to Vancouver with some of my favorite people (Beki & Mary!). I have hung up some of the inspirational poems and mantras you have sent me, a wedding handout (congrats Emily & Jeff) along with the paper text messages from my seestor J I want to write back to each of you individually but do not have your addresses… if you would like a letter back PLEASE PLEASE send me your address!!! Mailing letters has become one of my favorite things since being here and I would love to thank you specifically for anything you sent me!