Letter to home Mar 25th

This is a copy of a letter received from Andrew on April 9^th.  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 !