Transportation

I am sitting my house very sore after a traveling around chitipa for the past couple of days. This is pretty typical. Malawi is hard on the body if you want to go anywhere… There are a several ways to get around this beautiful country:

• Bus. There are certain buses that travel to all the main cities around Malawi. This is my preferred method of traveling, mostly because 90% of the time you are guaranteed to have your own seat. It’s usually more reliable too. There are scheduled stops, and departure times and you can even book your ticket in advance! The only problem is that 50% of the time something is bound to go wrong. I have several stories from bus complications already, here are two examples: (1) The first time I hopped on one of these big boys was on the way home from site visit- the bus broke down about 10k away from Mzuzu, our destination. It was horrible because we were so close, yet so far! We ended up hitching a ride with a retired catholic priest who was nice enough to pick us up after waiting almost 2 hours. (2) We were headed towards Mzuzu again to meet up with volunteers after our first month at site and really excited to see everyone. About 30 minutes after hopping on the bus we got a flat (question: how many Malawians does it take to fix a flat? Answer: 10). It took over two hours to find all the parts necessary to change the tire. Dylan, Isabel and I sat across the street and watched while drinking cold Carlsberg’s (beer) and a pint of whiskey (none of us drink in our villages… we were excited to be out). After chatting with a couple of Malawians and getting tire back on we were on our way. Unfortunately, the bus driver decided he was going to try to make up for the lost time and put the pedal to the metal. Nothing was stopping this guy! Not even a herd of cows that filled the road… one poor cow didn’t see it coming (question: what do you do when you hit a cow in Malawi? Answer: slow down, let the farmer chase you for a little bit then go on your way). It was traumatizing.
   
• Minibus. The most common way to travel from point A to point B. It’s a small van that has seats for 16 people. This does not mean that when you fill it with 16 people that it is full. Oh no no no no. I have ridden in a bus that squished 27 people into it at one time. Let me tell you, there are places you want to sit, and other spots you should avoid at all costs. The front is the best place to be, as much as I hate to say it, sometimes it pays to be white in this country. If these seats are not taken they are usually offered to us. The second best place is the very back seat against the window. Typically the back seat will only seat four as it is intended, but you may have to put knees up by your face because of a bucket of fish they have slid under your seat (yes, it smells). The worst spot is by the door since this is where they will continue to fit people in spaces you didn’t know were there. I’ve had people sitting on my lap, people hugging me, babies plopped on my lap, drunken marriage proposals, great conversations, and chickens in my face. It’s not always pleasant, but it’s Malawi.
   
   
• Matola. This is usually some type of truck that is traveling to a certain place that will pick up people along the way. It’s really hit or miss with these. Sometimes the ride is great, you have plenty of room, the sky is blue, the air is sweet and you are ecstatic to be hitching a ride in Malawi. Other times you are sharing the back of a pick-up with 20 other people and all their earthly possessions, pressed up to the side of the truck so hard you are convinced you will have a huge purple bruise left on your ribs, you lose track of whose limbs are whose because you are so tightly packed, and you can barely breathe because the dust and wind is so heavy.
   
• Bike taxi. Pretty much anywhere you look in Malawi there are people on bikes. Some make their living by offering rides to anyone willing to pay to hop on the back of their bike. The bikes are almost always decorated with red and yellow ribbons, bells, and anything they think to stick on to them. Often the back seat will be padded, but sometimes this is not the case. ALWAYS look for the padded bike taxi! I made the mistake once and will never do that again. Sitting on metal rods while traveling over bumpy gravel is horribly painful.
   
   
• Bike. This is my favorite way to travel. I love my bike. Peace Corps provided us with Treck mountain bikes with nice big tires. It takes me about 2 hours to bike to my boma (city center), and I don’t think I could do it with any other bike. Of course I would prefer it if the two hour ride was tarmac vs. the sandy/gravel mix, but you can’t have everything.

Overall, I love traveling around Malawi. Yes, sometimes it’s painful, but I am in constant awe of the beauty I am surrounded by. Anytime I have to head south, I have to go through this huge mountain range where baboons sit on the side of the road watching the cars go by waiting for someone to throw out food. The feeling you get when you are on top of the mountain range, coming around a certain bend to see Lake Malawi shining through the trees in incredible. Even stopping in the small dusty villages only to be hassled by women and children trying to sell you food through the windows is fun (they hiss at you to get your attention… it’s odd). I’m sure at some point it will all become less magical, and more painful, but for now I can’t get enough.

The Pad Project

This past weekend I made my way to Chisenga to visit an education volunteer, Susan. She has been at her site since last August and works as a teacher at the local secondary school. She asked Isabel, Dylan to help out with a program called the Pad Project for girls 14-18. The pad project was started to help girls in their teens stay in school. Here in Malawi, when a girl starts menstruating, often she will stop attending school due to the attitude of girls being “dirty” during this time, especially since sanitary materials are not readily available to the girls like they are in the states. They will often miss school for week, which puts them behind their fellow classmates and just adds to the other challenges young women face to get an education in this country. The project itself involves sewing local fabric into napkins that are easy to wash and assemble. Susan did a great job instructing the girls and providing them with everything they would need. She took the opportunity to put together an informal panel where the girls could ask any questions they wanted anonymously to us. During our pre-service training we discussed the challenges young girls face, but I haven’t had the opportunity to talk face-to-face with a teenage Malawian girl about her life. I wanted to share some of the questions they wrote and gave to us in advance that we discussed on the panel.

“What should I do if I have a boyfriend who has other girlfriends but he loves me more than everyone?”

“How can I go to university? What way can I be a nurse? What can I do to come up with good points on my exams? What can I do to be educated? What can I do to see your country?”

“What should I do if I have passed my exams with good results and I want to apply for some jobs but some people are discouraging? Why boys and girls when are in courtship if they want to do sex they use condom and what is the results when they fail to use condom?”

“Why is sex important? How can one get HIV/AIDS? Why is education important? Is it good that girl and boy should have engage in sex?”

“What should I do to fulfill my ambitions? I have decided to be a soldier after my education, but some people are discouraging me that I am weak and can’t manage the training at soldiers, what should I do?”

“I want to ask about: Teenage pregnancy, sex, boyfriends, education”

“What can happen if you make sex with a boyfriend while you are at monthly period? If I don’t have parents and I don’t have school fees, how can you help me? How can I care about myself while I am in monthly period?”

“If my boyfriend want to have sex with me, while I do not want to have sex, what can I do? I stopped my education because I have impregnated so I want to start again, but I’m fearing that my boyfriend can start gossiping me and discriminating me what can I do with this problem? I want to continue learning and my parents want me to be married while I don’t want to so how can you help me to solve this issue? My boyfriend is HIV positive while I myself am HIV negative, so he want to marry me, what can I do?”

“Is it true that when a girl is on period she can go to sleep with a boy and she cannot get pregnant? If you are married and you have one child do you get your period again? What does the term period mean?”

“Is having sex before marriage not good? Is having sex without condoms dangerous? I have a boyfriend and he want to have sex without condoms, I don’t want to have sex without condoms, but my boyfriend says he is going to reject me, but I love him so much. What can I do to solve the problem? I like school very much and this year I want to go to college, so tell me the steps I must follow to be a good leader of Malawi so that I can reach up choosing a good goal in my life. What is the best subject for one who wants to go to college? What makes you want to teach at this stage? I myself want to be like you, tell me how please!”

There are so many things I wanted and tried to say to these girls as they were staring up at us. Some of these questions were harder to answer than others, but I think we all did a good job trying to empower these girls. There are so many issues to address, I just hope that some of what I do while I am here will make a difference.

Greetings

I know in my last post I mentioned greetings in various languages, but the really interesting thing here is how people greet each other. I’ll describe my observations as I am sitting here waiting for a meeting to start. We are sitting around a church where the meeting will be held, the women are on one side, men on the other. The women are all dressed in their brightly colored chitenjes. Most are wearing one wrapped around their head which is what they do when they are attending a more formal get-together. It’s funny though because they still wear 2^nd hand t-shirts that say things like “Tina’s bachelorette party,” “Don’t hate me cuz I’m beautiful,” and various 5k run/walk and fundraiser t-shirts. Just so you know, all the clothes you donate to good will, if not picked up in the states end up here!
The men sit on the other side of the church. Again, they all wear hats- a sign of importance. Doesn’t matter what kind of hat, any will do. Some have sport jackets on, others in simple button ups. Every time a new person arrives they greet every single person who is sitting around.

 Women will walk up to the person they are greeting, kneel, shake hands with the other person with their other hand holding their elbow. Often at the end of the handshake, you do this snap thing with the other person’s hand. I have only experienced this in the North but they may do it in other areas as well. If you do not shake hands, you at least greet the other person by putting your hands together in a clap and as you greet them and give a small curtsy. If you are a woman greeting a man, the woman will often avoid eye contact. I have seen some women who when greeting a man, even while carrying a load on her head, will stop walking, kneel all the way to the ground on the side of the road to greet a man before heading on their way. When men greet each other they will shake hands and do what I’ve coined as the “manshake.” I’m not quite sure how to describe it, but do have to say it’s funny watching the males in our group as they awkwardly learn how to do it….

Breaking News!!! Bettina Spilled the Water!!

Sometimes it’s not fun being a celebrity. I’ve never been a person who wanted to be famous, the attention makes me nervous. Here, it’s unavoidable. Everywhere I go, people will stop riding their bikes to watch me pass, children will come shrieking from the fields or houses pointing and shouting ‘mzungu’ (unless I’ve already yelled at them about this in which case they will yell ‘bettina’ or some variation of my name), people stop outside my gate and will just stare and watch me cook or do chores. I’m freaking hilarious by the way. Anything I say or do is followed with laughter or cheers (it would be ok if this continued back home).

One of the not-so-good things about being so noticeable is always being a topic on the bush radio. This term was coined by a trainer during PST. Any news or gossip travels through the village at lightning speed. I don’t know how they do it. This morning I was breaking news! I woke up determined to finish my laundry that has been piling up around me for days and decided to take my big bucket down to the watering hole instead of the one I’ll usually carry on my head. I think this one holds 50 liters, which is nothing to an amayi, but for me, I’ve just gotten used to 20L and I’m not ready to push it. So I looked around and found my one and only bungee cord, strapped the bucket to the back of my bike and was off. When I got to the water hole I, as usual, was not allowed to pump my own water (mzungu privilege) and watched as the women took over. After the water was filled I gracefully (ha!) plopped the bucket back on my bike, strapped the measly bungee cord over the bucket and started to make my way home. I made it about 50 steps when I hit a rock lodged in the dirt and my bike went down, bucket, water and all. There was this huge dramatic wave as all the water splashed and soaked into the dry sandy dirt, it was quite impressive actually. Luckily I was out of sight of the women at the water hole, but not out of sight of a couple children and women sweeping the dirt outside of their houses. Completely embarrassed, I picked up my broken bucket, re-strapped it to the back of my bike and continued toward my house too ashamed to go back to watch it get filled up again. The women watching me pass sang a chorus of “pole, pole, sorry, sorry” as I walked by with 6 children trailing behind me. I hoped since this all happened around 6am, that that would be the end of it… but no. Throughout the rest of the day I’ve had people stopping by my house apologizing and asking if I was ok. I feel like I can hear people around my house talking about the mzungu who spilled her water this morning… I’m sure I am going to do far more embarrassing things, but I wanted to keep you up-to-date on the latest news via the bush radio!

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!