My original work plan was to assess and build capacity for the villages in the diocese of Dedza, that had fishponds (somewhat) established. I had thought there were only 5, but it was brought to my, and the field supervisor’s attention, that there was one more (in the village of Muyowe) that should be included. So now I have 6 communities to work with. Which is fine, as long as every week someone doesn’t point out that there are more and more villages that I have to work with. I can only assess, train and hold workshops for so many people in my time here. Hopefully these are the only places that have actually initiated fishponds in the Dedza, as compared to the people who are interested in fish farming. So one more site visit isn’t so bad. Honestly, I’d rather be out in the field than sitting in the office.
Especially since there is still no power in Dedza, it’s been out all week. I might as well be in the field as opposed to an office in the dark, my laptop battery dead, scribbling on notepads. The real icing on the cake here is that the generator at the office has now broken down too. It was at this point that Catherine decided that when I get back from the field this evening we were going into Lilongwe to work. She’s hilarious. She started packing up half her office to take home with her – she packed her desk PC, modem, printer and half the papers in the office. I packed my laptop and clipboard.
So back to work - the site visit was a good one. The woman who was running the pond told me that she had stocked her pond with fish 2 yrs ago but the otters ate them all. Kind of sad, especially since there is a very simple strategy to deal with that – you can build a wooden lattice through the centre of the pond, with holes big enough for the fish, but not the otter. So whenever the otter enters the pond the fish swim to the other side of the wooden lattice. Rudimentary but it works.
Just like every other villager, this woman was so nice. After the assessment she ran off with her machete to cut some sugarcane for me. Like any good mother, she didn’t want me to leave hungry. It was my first time eating fresh, raw sugar cane. It’s not easy to eat. You need teeth of steel. You bite off the bark and strip it with your teeth. Then you suck the sugar from the wood pulp inside, then spit that out and tear into your next piece. Hard work, but its sweet and cool and refreshing. Villagers ice cream they joked.
On the drive back Spriano and Judith wanted to stop for a drink. If there’s one thing you need to know about Malawians it’s that they cannot miss a meal of Nsima (the maize-meal staple food). But for those on the road, you can’t always get a plate of hot and delicious Nsima, so they have invented Mahewu a maize-meal energy drink. It’s hilarious. I call it ‘Nsima-to-go’. It comes in a plastic milk carton type jug and its labelled Supa-Supa #1!! I bought one as well (you know, when in Rome…) but I have to say I’m not a fan of it. The ingredients listed were: water, maize-flour, milk, sugar and stabilizers. I simply cannot explain what it tastes like; I’ve never tasted anything like it before. When I took my first sip Spriano and Judith both looked at my face to anxious to see my reaction. But I had none - all I said was that ‘it was unusual’. They busted out laughing and then I did too.
The highlight of my day though occurred after the Supa-Supa #1 break. During the drive back Judith nonchalantly pointed to a huge rock cliff on the side of the road and said ‘See those caves up there? That’s where the pygmies used to live and made cave drawings.’
Que? What was that? We were driving past an ancient archaeological site in Africa? I must see it!! Ever so obliging (and probably not really wanting to get back to the office so soon either) the driver turned off the rugged dirt road onto an ever more rugged road and before I knew it I was 4x4 off-roading my way back into history. The cave site was really interesting. After a steep uphill walk you came up to a huge rockface with several shallow caves. On the rock walls were drawings of a lizard, hyena and a group of people holding hands. Pretty neat to think about how long ago they were marked there and by whom. Its also pretty neat to think that I’ve seen some amazing things that the average Canadian will never get to see in their life. I feel so lucky to be doing this.
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