This is a copy of a letter received from Andrew on April 9th. It was mailed from Malawi on March 25, 2014.
Hey All,
First off, I miss everyone very much. I am eager to read your first letters that
come in. This is the first I have
written. Postage is very expensive here
– they charge per sheet of paper and by weight.
I have been enjoying the experience thoroughly.
I have yet to snap a photo, which means I am living every moment. I will
soon take pictures.
This feels like the perfect fit. I am excited to see what my next few years
here will bring. I am 20 days into Africa as of this writing! We (there are 37 of us) first started off in
the Malawi Institute of Management (MIM) outside of Lilongwe after 30 hours of
total travel time. We were there for
five nights. We did some initial language and cultural training, vaccinations,
and initial medical briefings, etc.
We have since moved to the villages of Chinkhombwe (chink-ohmb-whey)
and Dombolera (dom-bo-rey-rah.) L’s and
R’s are often interchanged in both spelling and pronunciations. I live in the Chinkhomobwe village in the
Kasungu district. We were each assigned
a host family. My “Dad” Elijiah
(pronounced as in the States or as Ey-li-ah) is 77, my "Mom" is Irice (Iris) and is 56. My
younger brother is Steven, often called Sidi, and is 21. He is actually Elijiah’s
nephew. I have two younger “sisters” –
Delibe (Day-Lee-bay), the granddaughter is 16, and Martha ( Mar-ta ) also a granddaughter aged 4 almost 5. Delibe attends secondary
school when the family can afford it, but she mostly works around the house
cooking, cleaning and looking after my other sister. Currently she just started class for this
session (trimester). Martha rarely wants anything to do with
me. I find this hilarious, esp. when compared with the other “Iwe’s” (this means ”you” but is often used to refer
to children) in the village. They always
smile and wave to us on the way to classes.
They also yell “abo,” “abobo” or ”wawa.”
These are all informal greetings similar to “hey.”
It is beautiful here and I live near a mountain “Mount
Kasungu”, for now. I started playing soccer today with the village team. Also, we got our bikes, mine is a good
MTB. I have already organized the first
mtb race and I also rode on it to Kasungu boma to go to the market.
I was well prepared for this experience and have yet to be
“culture shocked”. I expect it might
happen in 7 weeks when I move to my site.
I am learning “Chitombuca” and will be placed in the mountains up north!
Yeah!! I packed very light compared to most people
and yet I still over packed. It is OK as
it will come in handy after I move.
We are a diverse group and we are learning a lot from each other. There
are a few people age 30, one is 32, another 64 but most are between 22 and
26. The courses we are taking are very
extensive & seem most relevant. I am
doing /will do well – I hope that stays the case once I really get my feet on
the ground. This week’s concept for the majority of classes is HIV/AIDS
education & I am learning a lot. It
will offer its own challenges within the context of whatever specific work I
end up doing here.
I wake between 5 & 6 every morning with sunrise and the
roosters – usually 5:30. I started this on day one with no issues from jet
lag. Most days, Delibe starts the fire
to heat my bath water and then cooks if there are going to be a breakfast other
than bread and peanut butter. My family
makes me bathe two times a day which I find very excessive! All of the other PCT’s (Peace Corps Trainees)
get the same! I usually take tea with
my father at breakfast and then study language while I wait for class.
Oh! I forgot, I am
assigned very few chores. I think this
is for two reasons: 1) my family takes pride in providing for me as a student
staying in their house, and 2) I believe it is part of male privilege. I am still trying to find ways to push back
against this but it is difficult for cultural reasons. Some mornings I help Sidi & Delibe sweep
the dirt yard! I find this tedious
because it is conceptually bizarre – they do it to keep the area clean but in
the process have constant soil erosion w/o vegetation. Rarely do I get water for the house from the
“borehole” (the word they use for well) with the exception of for doing my
laundry. I refuse to let anyone help me
with the laundry. Hey, you’ve got to
pick your battles! I do get teased for
the manner in which I do it, mainly because it is not the same as everyone
else. They tend to be very process oriented and it is a cultural faux pas when
you don’t do activities in the same way.
Faux pas might be a bit strong – I should say they find it very funny
and always try to ‘teach’ you the ‘right way’. All said and done, my clothes
are still plenty clean at the end of the day.
Back to the meals; lunch and dinner vary regularly because
PC (Peace Corps) gives my family food and a menu to follow in order to
supplement my presence. About 2/3’s of
the hot meals consist of nsima. Nsima is
a patty made from corn meal flour and is typically served with a relish of
chicken, soya pieces (look it up) or vegetables cooked in sauce. The vast majority of the time you eat with
your right hand only & no utensils.
It is kind of funny because nsima is very sticky. It is only scooped out as a patty for the
first 2 patties and is then spooned out like a very thick porridge after
that. It gets all over your fingers. BUT whenever a meal has rice
instead if nsima, we use spoons because it is “messy”!! Overall the food is very good, if not
monotonous. Chicken is served at about 4
total meals (lunch & dinner) per week and is the richest food we eat. I have come full circle as I now look forward
to it and I even suck the bones!
I still expect to be
mostly vegetarian in diet here and fully vegetarian when in the USA. I have had mphalabungu (small green caterpillars)
3 times now and they are quite good.
They are boiled and fried. Even
better are ngumi, (large termites) also boiled then fried. I have had those twice. I was excited today to have part of a custard
apple! I’m super happy to know that they
grow in this country. I have also been
eating guava nonstop –ripe & unripe- love it & in season now.
I go to bed around 8 or 9pm most nights, depending on
homework, if there is dancing in the village or socializing with locals or
volunteers. It is dusk at 6pm and dark
at 6:30 almost year round. For now we
are like children and are not allowed out after dark without an escort. Sidi typically comes with me if I am out in
the evening. Classes end at 5pm which does not leave much time to do more
than bathe & study. Darkness
redefines everything. I try to use my
head lamp very little. The family uses
one “torch” - a large dim flashlight - that lights a small area, plus some
candles. Dinner is always taken in the
dark with some poor light from the torch & my paraffin hurricane lantern
which is nearly broken!
I have become completely use to insects at all times, but it
really isn’t as bad as you would think.
I have used insect repellant one time ever. My mosquito net is a sanctuary at night
though and I keep it tucked in all around my thin foam twin mattress. Occasionally (frequently) I am awakened by
the squeaks and sounds of mice and rats scrambling in the rafters and on the
tin roof. In the last week, I
have begun to find a small pile of rat droppings in the corner of my room as
they drop them over the edge of the wall in the ceiling! With the doors of the house open while
cooking in the evenings, bats fly in & out of the rooms and the living room
while they catch insects. My USA mom
would go crazy!! (Oh, I saw my first
snake –my sister killed it - an African House snake, just like the two I had as
a kid.) But really the food is clean, my
clothes are clean and my bed is clean & dry, so what else do you need?! And I don’t miss AC or heating!
It is raining tonight & whenever it gets heavy the house
gets very loud with the sound on the tin roof.
I actually find it quite soothing.
I keep my water clean via either Iodine (emergencies,) water guard (a
bleach treatment) or by boiling. Then
the water is run through a British Berkefield water filter. This consists of ultra fine ceramic filters –
simple design but actually quite nice.
I take Malarone for malaria prophylaxis (oral! LOL) every
morning. I could have chosen Doxy
(daily) or Mefloquine (weekly) but avoided those because of the higher
potential for side effects. If I feel I
need the other benefits of Doxy. I can
switch to it later on but doubt that I will.
Cultural exchange is interesting. I am fortunate because Elijiah speaks pretty
decent English, so we often alternate in telling of traditions/cultural norms
in Malawi and in the USA. I dropped the
gay rights bomb on him the other day and he took it quite well, though he did
state “We do not agree with it in Malawi even though it is here.” Interesting conversation indeed!
I have been writing for two hours now and I am running out
of things to say! There is so much more
that this medium cannot convey!
Everyone please know
that I love and miss you. Tiwonanenge! (See you later)
Love, Andrew
Here is a quick language lesson for you:
“B”s typically pronounced like “W”
Monile = hello Yebo =thank you
Muli uli? =how are you? Nili
makola = I am well
Kwali imwe? = and
you? Nili makoslaso, yebo = well too thanks!
Tiwonanenge = see you soon/later !
