Visitors!

March started off with a bang and then just kept rolling with the goodness. I mean, I didn’t really get much work done besides Week Zero with the new volunteers, but I certainly kept busy.

Let me gush for a sec about the newbies. They are awesome – I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them and I really feel like they will do great here. The week was a bit overwhelming at times with TONS of questions being asked, but Shelby and I knew what we were signing up for. We will also get to go back for the final week and the swearing in ceremony, which will give us a bit of a before and after experience with them. It should be really cool to see how much the new volunteers change after 2 months here.

Right after seeing them through the first week in country I took some vacation time to rush down to Blantyre to meet my parents as they arrived for the start of a 6 week stay in country. I would be spending the first 2 weeks with them, giving them the lowdown on the country and guiding them up north to get a glimpse at my experience here. After that they would return to Blantyre to volunteer at an orphanage there, and take short trips into the countryside on weekends.

We spent 2 days in Blantyre and as we walked around I talked with them about the flow of life in Malawi, as well as how to stay safe and culturally appropriate.

We caught up over our first breakfast together

We also ate all the delicious food. I got spoiled rotten while they were here!

One of the cooler spots in Blantyre is the Mandala House. It is the oldest building in Blantyre (1879?) and the ground floor hosts the countries best art gallery (my humble opinion). When we got there they were just locking up the doors to close and the owner was generous enough to unlock and let us scope the place out. If you get down there ever, check it out for sure!

Street side mural on the way to Mandala house - I have not seen anything like it in Malawi!



The Mandala House - Historical location, art gallery, and restaurant

After storing their extra gear at the orphanage we hit the road on a major Malawian bus line for Lilongwe.

My parents enjoyed the views as we headed north (so did I honestly, it is the furthest south in country I have been!) and got a kick out of me buying food from street vendors out of the windows of the bus.

Best father ever?

Buying some roasted maize.



Street vendors always approach the busses trying to earn some coin.

Arrival in Lilongwe was stressful for them; they got stuck on the bus as a crowd of people heading further north boarded before they were able to disembark. Both of my very stressed parents squeezed and wiggled their way through the crowd to make it out in time!

We stayed one night in the capital before continuing north the following morning. After their experience on the bus, my mom wanted to give hitchhiking a shot – She has read a number of volunteer blogs about how ‘great’ hitching can be. It can be some of the best experiences for both travel and people, or represent the worst aspects of transport in the developing world. It is always an adventure. Fellow volunteer Ame Burk wrote best about it HERE.

We took a few hours working my father over, but eventually he broke down and agreed to trying hitchhiking. This would be my mothers first experience with hitchhiking, luckily it was a good one.

Dad practicing his hand wave, the Malawian signal for "Pick Me UP!"

Lookin' for that hitch

Nap time is the best time

It took us about 2 hours to officially get on the road, but overall the experience was awesome. Go team Ellis! (My mom did offer my hand in marriage to the first woman who gave us a ride…. I did not follow through however)

We spent 2 nights in Mzuzu to decompress from all of the travel and I showed them my favorite sights: Green Shop, the Chitenge market, Chipati Lady (mmm yummy!) etc. We stayed at Joys Place (AKA the haven of the north) and again, I ate all of the foods.

Mom took this cool picture of a woman selling her wares in the Chitenge market.

Next we went to the lake to stay at my favorite spot (so far) along the Malawian shore – Nkhata Bay. We planned for 2 nights, but it quickly turned into 4.

I relaxed by playing Bao. Bao is THE game in Malawi

The views, swimming, and weather were amazing.

Monitor Lizard!

Returning after a trip to do some Deep Water Free Solo climbing - it was flipping awesome.

Time at the lake was fantastic, a much needed vacation and a great way to mark one year. We got to meet a bunch of Peace Corps volunteers from my group and my parents had a blast talking to everyone they came across. (mom was so boisterous that she even lost her voice, refusing to give it a break as she caught a cough)

Next we made our way up to my site and home, Thazima Village. We spent 4 nights and highlights for my parents were – learning to use a pit latrine, a game drive into Nyika National Park, and a village dance party!

The dance party was particularly cool, it was put on by my village headman and good friend Mzikilla Mhone. Mzikilla and his wife Onless are the equivalent of my in country parents, and are also great friends. It was really a touching time to have mom and dad here with me to meet them and to share some food and culture.

Morning in the village.

 

Breakfast! The most important meal of the day.

We took some 'snaps' at the local market.

My counterpart, love this guy!

This is our serious face.

Dancing with my village headman, Mzikilla Mhone

Waiting for the celebration to start.

Khunga with the parents.

Mom dancing with Grandma Mhone

Sekulu getting down with dad!

Everybody loves a dance party!

Nyika Grass on the safari.

Orchids in bloom

Bush Buck checking out someone's laundry





After almost 2 weeks it was sad to see them go. They made their way back south from Mzuzu to Blantyre in one very long day of bus travel. We have been chatting a few times a week as they relay their experiences in the south and it sounds like the time here has left a profound imprint on them. I had a blast and was super excited that they got a firsthand glimpse of what my life is like here in The Warm Heart of Africa! Now who wants to visit me next?!

 

 

Malawian of the Moment – Rhabson Mhone

 So on the day I went to visit Prince in his munda, I ran into the old man of the Mhone village while he was working his plot of land.

Rhabson Mhone

As I was walking down the back side of the mountain I live under, I came upon him sitting under a simple thatch roof that he takes shelter at during days he works the fields.



Taking care of his paprika.

 

I kid you not, he was rubbing two sticks together to make a fire. This guy.

Almost there.

 

 

Success!

 

You wanna know why he was starting a fire? To smoke a cigarette. Not just any cigarette, but one made from locally grown tobacco and hand rolled in a cornhusk. Naturally.

Hand Rolling a Cigarette

 

He calmly looks at me and says “I don’t buy matches”.

Enjoying the fruit of his labors.

 

I sat down to talk with Sekulu, and to watch. (Sekulu is the Chitombuka word for grandfather, and the way you greet any elderly man in order to show respect)

We ended up talking in ‘tombuka for over an hour. He talks so fast and so eagerly that I typically understand only about 10% of the conversation, but he never bats an eye. No matter how many times I sheepishly laugh and tell him “Nindapulikiska” (I didn’t understand) he just keeps rolling, saying whatever happens to be on his mind.

One of the things I love about him is that he is always laughing, always happy, always talking away.

While we chat he shows me what wood he uses to start a fire, and what dried leaves make the best kindling for the first embers.

The tools.

 

Prep work

 

 

Ready to get started.

 

I give it a shot and with considerably more effort succeed in making smoke but am promptly rewarded with two sizeable blisters. He did it without batting an eye.

What a bad ass.

I later find out that none of his sons or grandchildren have learned this skill from him – undoubtedly one skill of many that will fall by the wayside in coming years as old cultural traditions and knowhow fail to be passed to the next generation.

 

I enjoyed our time so much that I came back the next day to take photos, I was rewarded with an interview when one of his sons that speaks a little bit of English came by and joined us.

The answers are not verbatim, but based an aggregate of responses as a result of the tedious translation process.

- How old are you?

He thinks for a moment and then responds “I was born in 1939.” This is pretty common in Malawi, as there is little value placed on a person’s actual age and most people only keep track of the year they were born. I quickly do the math – He will turn 76 this year, and is easily one of the oldest members of the community.

Unprompted, he then follows up with comments about how few people lived here then, how ‘clothes’ weren’t around - the adults all were hunters and wore animal skins. The children too, if they wore anything at all.

He talks about training to throw a spear at game, and about how the road was already built but was much smaller then and how so rare it was to have visitors. He remembers walking to the nearest trading center 3 days away in Livingstonia.

- How different is the park now?

First he talks about how much game there was. “There used to be lions and more leopards and hyena. There used to be cheetahs, more elephants. So many zebra”.

Rhinos have been gone for so long that I need do draw a picture of one in order to get an answer. “Oh yes! They were here too, but many more in vwaza, they have been gone for a long time. Some people from Zambia were coming to hunt them with guns”

“The Eland herds were so big then. Sometimes three or four hundred at a time” (it is now exceptionally rare to see more than 5-10 at once, even though a group of over 100 was recently spotted on the high plateau.)

He mentions being kicked out of the park when the country established it and removed all of its inhabitants. He chuckles when I ask if people were angry about this.

“Of course they were angry, but it was with President Kamuzu Banda. We couldn’t say or do anything against the government then – it was a one party system you know.”

He talks about how the crop system was different then (few people grew maize and now few people grow anything else).

He talks about his family and marriages, and then he buttons up a bit. I can tell it is time for the questions to end.

He rolls another cigarette while we finish our conversation more casually - After an hour or so the English skills of our translator have been exhausted and we decide we will continue the chats another time.

 

I leave him and his son to get back to weeding his paprika crop. The more time I spend with this man, the more I like him.

Malawian of the Moment - What is it?

So for those of you following along at home, you may remember that I am working on a photo project of portraits of interesting people I meet in Malawi. The first photo that inspired this whole idea is this guy here.

I dig it.

It is my first time doing something like this, but having a whole year left in my service and an abundance of time at site, I thought it would be a great opportunity to take on something a little bit artistic and interesting to me.

All of the portraits are going to be in black and white, because I think that when you see a picture of someone’s face without color, you really focus on the content of the image and come up with your own idea of who the person is. I think that a lot of people tend to gloss over this in a color image.

With black and white your brain has to do extra work filling in the missing information, and maybe it adds some along the way. At least that is how it works for me - I feel more pulled in.

So while I am working on this, I thought I would tie it to interviews of some of the most significant of those humans I meet along the way. The questions from person to person will differ, and it doesn’t have to only be Malawian citizens – just people that are contributing to the social landscape of the country, Peace Corps volunteers and Expats included.

So let’s get started, shall we?

Line Dancing

As in it seems like I take 2 steps forward, and then one step back (or 2 or 3 Arrrgh…..)

At least that is how work feels for me at the moment. (pic not mine)

After GTOT in Lilongwe to prep for the new trainees arrival, I had a scant 11 days back at site before having to turn back around and head all the way back south. I am now in the office ready to greet them as they come off of the plan tomorrow. I’m only just a little bit excited.

 

Uh…….. more like….

I CAN’T FLIPPING WAIT!!

In the mean time I have been dealing with a variety of issues at site. Right now, things are ‘Just OK’ 

:/

Malawians use the phrase 'just ok' to reflect being very good or very happy, and it has become a running joke amongst volunteers as we use the phrase very differently stateside.

Before I left for GTOT my Village Headman told me he was going to get the village together to work on the contour ridges and tree planting for a new woodlot I had just finished training him on how to build.

I was OVERJOYED when I returned to find out that they had in fact gotten together and done the work of digging ridges, planting with vetiver grass to control erosion, and planting seedlings.

AWESOME!

Ok, so that is about the greatest thing ever to happen in a Peace Corps service right? (slight exaggeration here, but bear with me – It is the little things that get you excited) I was blown away that the work happened and was self-directed. I heard about it before I saw it, and overall they did a great job. There is a little bit of work left to round the woodlot out, but damn, good job team Thazima.

Unfortunately everyone I normally work with is pretty busy working the fields right now, especially the tobacco growers as now is the time they start pulling leaves for drying.

I was feeling prrrretty bored and had not checked out the tree nursery in well over a month – the last time I was there was when they were supposed to finish sharing out the last of the seedlings for the season.

I show up and find the fence collapsed, weeds overgrown, and about 100 seedlings that have rooted into the ground, never being shared out.

CMON GUYS! FFFFFFFffffffffffffffffffffuck…… sigh. okay.

 

This image pretty much sums up the two immediate emotions I may have experienced. (images borrowed from teh interwebz)

I wanted to scream and cuss out loud, but didn’t. Instead I sulked back to my house, had a few glasses of homemade bucket wine and proceeded to head up to the top of Thazima Mountain to sit on my favorite rock and think.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find that having a mild buzz can help me mull things over a bit better, and I wanted some time to myself.

I had not seen my main counterparts in almost a month (mostly my fault traveling so much and all) and both of them were pretty involved with the tree nursery. This may seem like a small thing to get bummed over, but when you spend so much time working towards something AND it is so central to all of the other work you want to do in the community, it is pretty easy to get frazzled when things aren’t going quite right.

It honestly feels like no one seems interested in working with me right now!

This is where I ended up:

This is the vista I seek out when I want some time to myself.

I had a lot running through my mind- personal stuff, work with the park and community, bigger work at the national level in the coming year (Camp TIECH, connecting the bee group with OVOP), and lastly the fact that I would be leaving site soon soon for yet another 3 weeks first as part of PST and then later as part of spending time with my parents. (Can't Wait!)

I came down the mountain a few hours later feeling better.

I made a point over the next week to talk with two of my counterparts about the next 14 months of my service: what they wanted to do in the community, what role I would be playing, and how they would be stepping up to take the lead in all of the activities.

Emmon (my neighbor and a local Health Services Assistant) and I sat in my house after dinner one night and talked for the better part of an hour.

It was a great conversation. We covered all the bases and he had a really great perspective on what was to come, including the immediate work needed on the tree nursery.

I even cried a little bit at one point as we talked about what my service was beginning to mean to me in this second home of mine.

I really am starting to truly and deeply love this community.

The next day after lunch I went looking for Prince in his tobacco fields so that we could have the same talk.

On my way there I ran into Sekulu Mhone. His real name is Rhabson, but Sekulu is the term for grandfather in Chitombuka, and at 76 he truly is that. That experience was unique in and of itself, so much so that I am doing a separate blog post on him and our talks.

You can find it HERE as he is the first person I will explore in my Malawian of the Moment

After conversing with Sekulu, I found Prince and family in his tobacco shed tying leaves for hanging. His 2 year old daughter calls me by name with a huge smile when she sees me.

Over the next few hours I sat with him and helped with the work while we chatted. A huge thunderstorm rolled in on top of us, and we spent the time huddled next to a small fire, shaking with each monstrous thunderclap. We had  much the same conversation as I did with Emmon.

As the rains dwindled and dusk set in, we walked back together. I felt at home walking up the muddy slopes with my friend and his family; I was emboldened by both of my friend’s words and my anxiety about work for the next year diminished with the fading sunlight.