I’ve been getting lots of emails asking me about what life in Thyolo is like, so I think it’s time I filled you all in. I am currently living in a village called Nchima which is just outside the Boma. All district capitals are called Bomas in Malawi. I have currently been living with Mr. Nzengo, his wife, and their three daughters. They have a nice house, complete with electricity, a tv, their own private water tap, and a latrine. I have my own room and I am quite comfortable here. I was expecting that I would not have electricity when I was in Malawi, but I am close to the Boma and a lot of the houses here are hooked up to electricity. I’ve been keeping up with the news; my family is Catholic so we’ve been watching a lot of the Pope’s visit to the UK.

There are banana trees and mango trees everywhere here! Thyolo is known for its bananas; mango season hasn’t quite started yet, but I’m very excited for it. You can always see chickens and goats roaming the roads everywhere here as well; my family has 7 chickens that are always kicking around in the backyard, I feel bad for them though because I know one of these days they are going to end up on my plate (one already has).

I love exploring the marketplace here in Thyolo. It lines the main road through the Boma and it has everything you could ever need! On the left side of the road there are stalls upon stalls selling fruits and vegetables, and on the right side of the road there’s many shops selling soaps and toilet paper (very important to always carry this around with you because otherwise you won’t have any). After that there’s a couple stalls selling bike parts and then you get to the clothing section.

You have to leave the road and continue into the market if you are looking for clothes. If you’re wondering what happens to the clothes you donate, it’s pretty likely it ends up being sold on the side of the road in a developing country. There are piles upon piles of used western clothing being sold here! People here mostly just wear western clothing, except women usually wear a chitenge (an African cloth wrap) over their skirt as well. My favourite part of the market is where they sell all of the African fabrics. They are so beautiful; I could just walk by them for hours. I’ve bought two chitenge’s so far and I’m hoping to get an outfit made soon.

For the second part of this blog I’m going to fill you in on what a typical day usually looks like for me. I wake up at 6:00 every morning and watch my family bustle around the house getting ready for school. I usually take my bucket bath around 6:30 and then get ready for work. It took me awhile to figure out how to wash my hair with just a bucket of water! I started with the “dunk my head in and hope for the best approach”, but I’ve got it to pat now using just my facecloth. At 7, Mr. Nzengo leaves on his motorbike to bring his wife to work (she’s a primary school teacher) and I have a bit of time to myself. When he returns, Mr. Nzengo and I have a breakfast of hot chocolate, eggs, and peanut butter bread. After that I head off to work for the day.

Any number of things can happen at work. Sometimes I go to the field with a co-worker, sometimes I spend time teaching people computer skills, and sometimes I’m meeting with people, just planning my approach or getting to know my co-workers. I’ve only had 6 or 7 days of work so far, but I think things are going to pick up this week. I go home for my nsima lunch at 12; people usually take a 2 hour lunch, so sometimes I head back to the market for a bit or to the internet café.

Work finishes for the day at 5, I head home, have my second bucket bath, spend some time with my family, have rice for supper and usually go to bed around 9. Weekends are pretty relaxing, this weekend I headed out to the town of Limbe and bought myself a bike! I really like it and it’s definitely handy. Now I can get around faster and hopefully explore more of Thyolo. This weekend coming up I’m heading back to Lilongwe for my first APS team meeting. The African Programs Staff are long term volunteers in Malawi, since there are only two JF’s here during the fall we get to tag along on the APS meetings.

A few things now to clue up this blog; I haven’t checked in with you in a while on my physical, emotional and mental state. Physically I am still healthy! I had a bit of a rough go at the beginning of last week, but I am feeling well now; still no sign of Malaria! The sun really takes it out of me though and I’m always exhausted at the end of the week. Emotionally I think I’m starting to come down from the honeymoon stage on the culture shock curve and am starting to miss home a little, but I’m still charging forward now. Mentally I’m a bit frustrated with the speed at which things happen at work. It’s been challenging for me to get used to the slow pace of life at work.

In other news, I posted a few pictures to facebook, I find facebook uploads them quicker then wordpress does, so I think I may continue to post pictures on facebook when I have the chance. Anyways, thanks for all the support, prayers, and emails; keep them coming. Also, I love getting questions, so keep them coming as well. I’m working on a more thought provoking post on my work, so I like getting questions.

Much love,
Maria

If you decide to head off to a developing country such as Malawi, there is one word you are sure to hear! In Malawi it is Azungu, but it changes of course depending on the local language. Azungu means “white person”. I was told I would be referred to as Azungu quite a bit, but I actually didn’t really experience this during my first week. In Lilongwe there’s lots of Azungu’s around so nobody called me Azungu and Thyolo was pretty tame as well (although this is because I stayed in the Buma my first few days which is the capital of the district). But alas, I have had several experiences now being called Azungu, one of which was quite unsettling.

I have been working at the District Water Office (DWO) in Thyolo for a few days now and before I go on I must express how beautiful Thyolo is. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been! It is every bit as beautiful as I ever could have imagined Malawi to be. I’m going to try and post some pictures at the bottom of this blog entry if I have time, so fingers crossed! The DWO is unlike anywhere I have ever worked. Everything moves at a very slow pace, not because people are lazy, but because that is the way things work here. On my first day I mostly just introduced myself to people, had a few conversations about the water infrastructure in Thyolo, and worked on increasing the computer skills of some of the staff. On Wednesday I got to go to the field though!

Mr. Banda, the Water Monitoring Assistant (WMA) for Gravity Fed Schemes (GFS), and I went to help out with the repair of a pipe that had been washed away when the river rose earlier this year during the rainy season. Since Thyolo is so hilly it has 4 quite large GFS’s; they consist of an intake gate at the top of the mountain where a spring is located and then the water is transported by underground pipes down several sides of the mountain. There are taps for villages located along the length of the pipes. The civil engineering student in me found it quite interesting of course! Anyways, the scheme is maintained by a repair team who collects money every month from households in every village that is serviced. As the WMA, Mr. Banda went out to monitor the repair of the pipe and I got to accompany him! It was here that I had my first experience as an Azungu.

Along the way we stopped briefly by a school so that Mr. Banda could show me the tap there. As soon as we drove past the school children started chasing us and by the time I had gotten off the motorbike there was literally about 200 children surrounding me, all chanting “Azungu Azungu Azungu” and reaching their hands out to touch me. I felt a bit like the fish in Finding Nemo that the seagulls are all fighting over, “mine mine mine”, “Azungu Azungu Azungu”. It was quite unsettling and made me wonder what a white person represents to them because my presence certainly didn’t benefit them at all. I say they were reaching out to touch me and shake my hand, but looking back they could have just as easily been reaching out for money since many children in the village where I’m staying often run up to me with big smiles and say “Give me my money”. (I don’t think that’s what these school children were doing though). I can’t decide which I prefer, the children who harass me or the children who are afraid of my white skin and run away.

On Friday, I moved in with a family from the office. I’m not really sure how permanent the arrangement is going to be, but I’ll keep you posted. I like living with a family much better than staying in a guest house. Everyone is really sweet, I’m just trying to figure out where I fit in the family dynamic. Right now I am still very much a guest, I try to help out where I can, but I’m also trying to figure out how things work within the family. One of my goals now is to help make nsima some night this week. To refresh some of you, nsima is the staple food here, it is a porridge consistency and you eat it with different relishes. The most unusual relish I’ve had thus far is fish. The reason this was unusual for me was because I was served the entire fish; face, fins, and scales! It took me awhile to figure out how to eat it. Unfortunately my body still seems to be having some problems adjusting to all the new foods and new routine. I usually go to sleep around 9 and wake up around 6.

In other news, it has rained the last two mornings I’ve been here! I thought this was supposed to be the dry season; apparently normal weather laws don’t apply in Thyolo. I was also quite excited to discover that there is a Salvation Army church here. I went this morning; it was quite a different experience to what I’m used to, and it was all conducted in Chichewa so I understood very little. But they sing some of the same songs that I sing at home, I’d never have known though if they weren’t listed in English in the songbook though because the language and tune make songs completely unrecognizable. Christianity is the dominant religion in Malawi; being asked what denomination you are is a pretty common question.

Anyways, call me up or email me this week. I’m a bit slow answering emails, but I’m usually free after 5:30 if you want to call. The time difference between Malawi and Newfoundland is 4.5 hours. So instead of chilling in the UC at 1:00 doing nothing, give me a call! I was going to post some pictures here, but unfortunately it’s WAY too slow and I’m on my lunch break. Better luck next time. Miss you all!

Much love,
Maria

Well, my shoes are caked in red dirt, I’ve gone through most of the clothes I’ve brought, and I’ve got sunscreen everywhere! That’s right, I am finally writing to you from Malawi! I’ve been in the capital, Lilongwe, for about 3 days now and so far I really like it; Malawi is pretty chill place.

Getting here was a bit of a nightmare involving 5 days of travelling, a 16 hour flight, a night in Ethiopia, and me almost getting on the wrong plane to Nigeria, but I made it nonetheless. I’ve been spending the last few days with APS (African Program Staff) Mike and Owen getting caught up on the workplan for the water and sanitation (watsan from now on) team in Malawi and the Water Monitoring System which I am hopefully going to be kicking off in Thyolo. Speaking of which, I am heading down to Blantyre tomorrow and then on Tuesday morning to Thyolo to start work. I will be staying in the Boma, which is the capital of the district. I’ve got the impression that it’s not a big place, but a beautiful one. I’m going to be staying in a guest house for the first few week, but hopefully will be moving in with a family soon after.

To check in with you guys, I must say that physically, mentally, and emotionally I am pretty content. I still have lots of reading to do so that I can hopefully kick ass on water point monitoring (WPM) and I’m a little bit nervous about starting work, but mostly excited.

Just a couple short stories and observations for you:

– Malawians are really nice! There’s a reason Malawi is the warm heart of Africa.
– Malawi is really short on fuel right now, I realized this 10 minutes after arriving when my taxi broke down on the side of the road.
– Toilet paper comes in different colours, so far I have seen blue and pink!
– Cell phone units are really expensive! I’d love to hear from you (+256 991 764 034)
– The local currency is Kwacha, it’s really inflated. 135K = $1 CAD. It’s quite weird to pay 250K for breakfast and realize you’ve only spent $2.
– I played ultimate Frisbee today with Owen and a bunch of locals, it was awesome! I was exhausted 10 minutes into the first game, but I played all 4 anyways. It was wicked fun and I got a little bit better towards the end (not much though). – Thyolo is basically the banana capital of Malawi, if you know me, then you know I love bananas. I should have brought my banana case with me, haha. Also, mango season is coming up!!! I had one yesterday, it wasn’t quite ripe yet though so I didn’t get the full mango goodness.
– I experienced my first Malawi power outage my first night here. The power just goes off every now and then.
– Summer is just beginning here, so it is going to get HOT. The temperature now is perfect for me, but it’s going to get much hotter. Luckily Thyolo is a little cooler because it’s in the hills.
– I had a grand old chat with this nice Malawian man when I was having supper tonight and found out that his brother was a priest in St. John’s for 11 years! First Malawian I met who has heard of Newfoundland. He quite enjoyed my stories about snow and called his brother up while I was talking to him so he could tell him he’d met a Newfie. Quite funny!

Anyways, I’m excited for Blantyre tomorrow and even more excited for Thyolo. I’ll keep you posted on my first minibus experience (actually I kind of had one in Ethiopia, lots of people crammed into one tiny bus, suitcases thrown on the roof and everything) and I’ll give you more info on my work placement once I get started.

Tsalani bwino,
Maria