Welcome to Malawi – Sunday, July 13, 2008

Here I am in Malawi ‘The Warm Heart of Africa’. I arrived in Lilongwe about 10am Saturday morning (July 12/08). Macdonld, who works at the WUS-Malawi office, met me at the airport (with his 2 darling little girls) and drove me in the company 4x4 truck to the Crescent guesthouse where I am currently staying. I had been travelling for almost 2 days and the flights (Toronto-Amsterdam-Nairobi-Lilongwe) were long and sleepless. Last night was the first night I had more than 3 hrs sleep over the past 3 days. I went to bed at 8pm, slept for 14 hrs and then I only got up because I had a meeting at 11am with Macdonald. I know this will get a little better each day. Already today I feel much more rested.

Yesterday, despite my serious case of jetlag (somehow much worse than my travel to Vietnam), I managed to meet some great expats already. On the plane I sat next to a guy who has been working in Malawi for some time now and we chatted a fair bit and exchanged cards (yes I did up general business cards – gotta look like a development professional now!!). I learned a few phrases in Chichewa the National Lauguage of Malawi: muli bwanji – a general greeting like how are you; ndiri bweno zikomo - I am fine, thank you; zikomo – thank you, moni moni - hi. A funny saying for white people to say to little kids is “sharp sharp”, say it really fast with you thumbs up and the kids smile and laugh at you and give you the thumbs up back. Not sure how this originated but its great. The children are soooo cute here – you just want to squeeze them. In general everyone is really nice and friendly. I’ve noticed that when you are walking with a local Malawian (say either Fred the GH manager, or Macdonld from work) other locals will not bother me, but when I am walking by myself the beggars or souvenir sellers will approach. I try to politely but forcefully refuse. I’ve met 6 other Canadian girls from the University of Ottawa who are working here in Lilongwe on a 2 months placement. They are working on gender projects and health/nutrition projects. They are also staying at the Crescent GH. We’re all going out for dinner tonight (on the WUSC tab! Sweet!).

My official orientation for work starts tomorrow morning (Monday) 0830am and will run through Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon I am going to Mangochi (at town about 3-4hrs away, at the southern region of Lake Malawi) where there will be meetings with WUS-Malawi and CADECOM (the local NGO I will be working with). These meetings will go until Friday, when I am supposed to move to Dedza (a small town 1hr south of Lilongwe, on the border with Mozambique). As far as I can tell, the agricultural livelihood recovery projects that I will be assessing will be in the Dedza area. But I will find out more about this later on the week, hopefully.

OK so general impressions so far:

1. Electricity is a little dodgy. There was a power outage here last night that lasted a couple hrs. There are also no streetlights. So at night it is dark. Everybody tries to stay off the streets at night and now I understand and appreciate that. I’ve already used the headlamp that I brought with me, and the other girls had some candles too. The sun is up for 12hrs a day – typical for the equatorial areas I think - 6am to 6pm and when it gets dark, it gets dark fast. I’ll be keeping my mini flashlight in my handbag.
2. It is really dry and dusty here. Only the main roads are paved, and there are no sidewalks. Beware of fast driving trucks and ditches. Eek. I’m using tons of chapstick here b/c of the dryness, and I wear my sunglasses out a lot, not just for the bright sun but b/c of the dust. The dry season is April to Oct, the rains and humidity will come in Nov-March.
3. My family would not believe me when I told them it was going to be colder here in Lilongwe than Canada. But I swear it is true. The temp yesterday was 24C, and today its 20C. At night it went down to 8C. There is a light afternoon breeze too. It’s dry and not humid. If you don’t believe me you can check the international weather websites, the weather network has this feature too.
4. There is a lot of poverty here. You can see women walking down the road with piles of firewood on their heads that they use to cook their seima/maize meal (a staple crop like corn). Most women cook their food over open fires, with the smoke going right into their face and eyes and lungs. I can’t imagine the health problems that may occur from this. I have a stove/oven at the GH. But despite the poverty, everybody is so happy; they smile constantly and laugh a lot. I guess in a way all you can do is laugh about the things you simply cannot change.

I know my fellow classmates - IPMPers - have faith in my survival skills and believe that I am fine, and usually a quick email will reassure them. But for my friends and family rest assured really I am fine. I admit there is a lot I don’t know, and many things are strange, but I feel that I will be able to learn and adapt to this new living situation and culture. I will be keeping in touch regularly and I really want to hear stories from home, what’s happening in Canada (when I can’t download the BBC or the CBC national news online), and of course about the travels and internships of my fellow classmates. I miss you all!! Take are and stay safe!

Cheers, Kelly