Tension

I remember being in Canada a few months ago and watching the news. Watching how a simple protest in Tunisia turned into a huge and unstoppable riot. The same happened in Egypt and other places before: France, Algeria... Then I got here, and there was political unrest and riots in Burkina where I was supposed to be sent initially. I remember all those times, thinking to myself, selfishly, “I’m so happy not to be there right now, so happy to be safe and not afraid of going out or travelling”. All those times that I’ve seen something like this on TV, I’ve never realized how people there can feel, what happens in their mind.

When I was here in Malawi in June, hearing about the stupid riots in Vancouver on the night that the Canucks lost to the Bruins, I remember thinking “what a bunch of idiots, rioting, burning cars and looting shops for absolutely no good reason, just because they are a little upset. That is madness, that is unfortunately humankind”.

Now here I am in Malawi, at a time of protests, frustrations and political unrest. Malawi never had riots or protests before, even if they have been having problems for at least six years now. It started with electricity shortage, then water shortage, then lack of foreign exchange. None of these have been fixed, and on top of that, there has been for the last year, petrol and diesel shortages. All of the shortages are more and more frequent and lasting longer, sometimes they are planned, sometimes they just happen randomly. The President made a new law that people are not allowed to fill up their jerry cans at the gas station. He wants to prevent people from buying fuel and selling it on the black market when there is a shortage, which kind of makes sense at first. But when there is no electricity, people, businesses, groceries, mills, and others need to have backup generators to keep working. Guess what, those generators use petrol or diesel, and the owners need to fill up jerry cans at the gas station to have their generators working when the electricity fails. Right now Malawi is not on the right track due to all these problems. Things need to change for it not to fall apart.  Here is a great article summarizing the events of the last year that led to the protests that are happening now in Malawi (Situation Report Malawi).

There was a scheduled demonstration/protest on July 20th 2011. The President did not agree with it and it led to a lot of frustrations. The protest took place. It started by people walking and chanting. Then the President made a public announcement in Lilongwe (during which the power went out!! haha) that made the crowd really upset and the policemen started using tear gas to disperse the crowd. The people took shelter in shops, breaking into them, then some started to steal, leading to policemen shooting people… There were bad riots and protest in the main cities. from south to north: Blantyre, the business capital;Lilongwe, the Capital; and Mzuzu. Although some other district towns also protested, like Karonga. The riots got out of control, especially in Mzuzu. People were burning buses, government vehicles and buildings and police stations. Young men were going in the streets with machetes and scaring the non rioters. It lasted for at least two days, and at least 18 people died with many more injured. Then things calmed down. There is another protest scheduled for August 17th. Protesters and organizers are hoping for a change in the situation before then and they also request the President to resign his mandate. I doubt that any of this will happen. It makes the situation here pretty unstable and scary. Who knows what is going to happen then and how bad things can get. Hopefully, things will not get worse and they will be well controlled this time. But so far it seems like the tension is rising on both sides of the fight, and no one is moving outside of their initial position. We will see. If the situation gets any worse and is still precarious, EWB and other NGOs will have to evacuate their employees. The protests are not targeting expats, but it is hard to predict the reaction of the road blocks policemen and other people in the cities and towns if the riots keep happening and worsen. We stand out, we appear as has having a lot more money and bribing unfortunately happens too often in this country. Even though we are not a direct target, we can easily become prey. Ah, but don’t worry, these are only my personal thoughts and concern for the future weeks, as there is no real threat for now. The situation is unpredictable and unstable but not unsafe.

On my end, things have been going pretty smoothly. I’ve stayed home in Senga Bay. I’m in a good and safe spot. I cooked, I cleaned, I worked, I slept in, I swam in the lake, had some sachets and coke, drank some wine… waiting for things to calm down and go back to normal. Now they are, so I’m back at work.

That’s it for now I guess. I hope that you are all enjoying your summer as well as the peace and freedom that we all take for granted.

Much much love to you my dear friends and family. I’m glad I have you to support me and send me messages when things get tougher like it was last week.

Ge

Rice and ocra or plain rice, that is the question?

Or the beauty of misunderstanding …

It was Lisa’s birthday on Tuesday and I wanted to do something fun in the village for her. As I told you before, Lisa has been living with me in the village for the last month. She was doing her field research in Salima District. Celebrating a birthday is not a Malawian tradition…at all. In fact, most people here don’t even know when their birthday is. Anyways, I was trying to plan a big dinner with duck and african cake (banana bread!), me and some neighbours were rehearsing a birthday song and were talking about making something fun for Lisa. So I thought everyone was clear and that things would work well. I got Lisa (and myself) super excited about that duck feast! We went back home earlier that day to be able to help with running errands at the market, killing the duck and cooking. We got home, Maggie was apparently gone to the market (said the neighbour), so we decided to go meet her. We couldn’t find her as the market is a labyrinth. Since we didn’t know what she bought and what was needed, we walked back home without buying anything. It was now almost dark. I couldn’t see a duck anywhere, or any sign of delicious meal anywhere, but Maggie always hides things really well. Eventually, she started cooking rice…which we never have as it is more expensive than nsima, so I was getting exited. An hour later, the rice was ready, but we didn’t prepare anything else yet. Lisa asked Dew and Maggie if she can prepare the relish and they said that there is nothing to prepare. So she left and got the pot of relish that was already prepare in the storage room (Dew’s room!!), but Dew said no, we don’t eat this with rice. She asked what was in the dish, he answered “ocra”. Now both me and Lisa are a bit confused. A few minutes later, came our plate… plain white rice…and a huge portion of it. No duck, no relish, nothing else…ah, and water to drink. Where was the fanta, the feast that we talked about?? Most boring meal I’ve ever had so far in the village. So Lisa asked to see the ocra relish wondering why this couldn’t be served with the rice. He said it is because they cooked it a different way with soda…baking soda??…yes. We tasted, it was ok, but cold. Verdict, both me and Lisa would have totally eaten this relish with rice. But why not them?? After a long discussion and laughter, we realized there was no clear reason except that they don’t eat this type of ocra with rice and we would. This was a nice proof of cultural difference and a big misunderstanding!

I invited Lisa for a big meal at my house in Senga Bay to make up for the failed birthday dinner. We went to the market and got a bunch of food. We prepared burritos and carrot cake! And got some cheap wine. Good times. It was awesome to have Lisa around in the house.

So I moved to Senga Bay, in a rustic cabin that I rent from a couple living in Lilongwe. They rent it from a Malawian but with the fuel crisis, they never go, plus it is cold right now, so I use it in their absence. It has a gas stove and a fridge, a hot shower and a flush toilet. It is on the beach. There are many cracks in the floor, walls and ceiling, so a bunch of bugs. So far I saw spiders, ants (big and small), a few giant whip scorpions, a bunch of geckos, a black snake, and a big monitoring lizard (probably a few meters long. I thought it was a big snake on the beams of my ceiling (inside the house), but then we saw a leg…ouff! I can live with a giant lizard, but not with a snake. Andrew has been in Senga Bay for the last few days trying to help me settle in and try to make the house a bit less bug friendly!! haha. We went hiking over the weekend and had some fun adventure discovering my new neighbourhood. Apparently there are hippos around, but I didn’t see any yet and we didn’t feel like walking to the hippo pool an hour walk through the wood, villages and beaches. Next time maybe! I found a bike that I can borrow from one of the gardeners/staff where I live. So I might take it sometimes to go explore. It is exiting! I’m a bit worried to live in such a remote place, but I’ll get use to my new environment and will be less and less scared of it. I quite like it. I can cook whatever I feel like, I can watch movies, read, do my own things whenever I feel like it. It’s great to have some space and time for myself as the last many many months of my life had been quite busy and I’ve definitely lack some alone time.

I’ll see how it goes, but I have decided to stay part time in the village (Salima) and part time in Senga Bay. I really appreciate my host family and I don’t want to make them sad. The village is 3km from the office where I work. Plus I want to be there with them once in a while. Life in the village is interesting and fun, I feel at home and I don’t want to lose this. My house in Senga Bay is 20km from my work and getting there is a bit of an adventure. I either hitchhike or take a matola (back of a pick up). Then I have to walk 1.5 km or take a bike taxi to get home.

 

Bye for now, I have to go back to work

I’ve added some pictures on my flicker page, have a look!

Ge

 

Note: I got all my gifts from Canada, the same day…haha, it felt like a real birthday (2 months later! yay). Thanks you so so much you guys, this is priceless. I had a delicious coffee on the beach on Sunday and I thought about how amazing my friends and family are. Big big hug to all of you. Everything will be much appreciated. The book was also a great idea, especially now that I’ll have more time to read. And my favorite…the small bottle of Espresso Vodka…haha, you are awesome. I’ll keep it for a though day. Fred, the DVD of our family videos from the 90’s was also ridiculously funny, what a great idea to make me laugh. We have a fantastic family dude. I love you guys and thanks for supporting me out here in my crazy adventure on the other side of the world. I feel loved and it is an incredible feeling. xx

Honk once to let me know you’re around!

To follow up on my last post about cars, buses and roads in Malawi, here is something ridiculous that happened to my friend Lisa. She is using a motorbike to go to the field but the horn is broken. The horn for a vehicle on the roads of Malawi is like the mirrors on a car back home, really important! People use it when they go too fast and don’t want to brake but let you know they are coming, or simply to advise or even better, to say hi to someone on the street. If you don’t honk, goats, chickens, cows, pedestrians and bikes will stay on the roads, so not having a functional horn is a safety issue here. Lisa, decided for safety reasons to go to the mechanic shop to get it fixed. She was in Salima, and there are no real big mechanic shops. She went to one of the small shops, explained the small problem, took an appointment for the afternoon and gave the dude K500 so he could buy the stuff needed to fix the bike. When she got back from the field around 2pm, she left her translator/driver at the shop to check things out and call her when it was ready as she had work to do. Around 4:30, she called him and asked if the bike was fixed, the translator said no, and that she should come. When she arrived at the shop, the bike was in pieces on the ground and the mechanic was drunk trying to fix other stuff. He took the money she left for parts and went and got drunk!! The translator never thought of calling Lisa because he knew she was working and didn’t want to disturbed her. This is a typical Malawian problem…so frustrating! Anyway, she was out of her mind and asked the mechanic to put the bike back together because she needed it. After arguing a bit, the dude did what she asked him. But even after all this, the horn was still not working. She took off without paying him. The next morning, the motorcycle wouldn’t start. She had to push it to another mechanic shop. This mechanic eventually fixed the new problem (collateral damage!) and the horn.

Mechanics in most small towns are not well trained and they make judgement mistakes. They often fix things momentarily until they break again due to the lack of tools, spare parts or knowledge of the actual problem. They are limited in a lot of ways. And costumers don’t like to bring their vehicle to the repair shop because they will often come back unfixed, worst and/or without any fuel left as the mechanics will take it to run errands or visit family. When you find a good mechanic, you hold on to them as they are rare.

This problems also applies to drill rigs. When they break, they take a long time to be fixed because the drillers don’t have enough money for the repair and the spare parts are hard to find. This will obviously affect projects and delay everything.

Maintenance is not something Malawians are used to do. Maintenance of their vehicle, their borehole or mostly anything. Therefore, when breakdowns happen, they are often important ones that could have been avoid if the vehicle (or borehole) would have been serviced properly. But why would you want to spend money on something that is not broken??

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Malawi is now well into the dry season. The sun took over the clouds. The beautiful green luxurious landscape has been replaced by a brown layer of soil. The crops have been harvested, the trees are losing their leaves. The wind is slowly picking up and the nights are getting colder as we are entering, at a strangely fast pace, the cold and dry season. It is still warm during the day, but really cold at night. In some parts of the country (further inland), it gets close to the freezing point. Houses are not insulated and most don’t even have windows to prevent the cool air from getting in. It feels like September in Canada. I was not expecting this climate, so I’m often cold. Grace, I should have brought with me the cute tuque you gave me for Christmas! I regret it now. But the cold weather only last a couple of months. Everyone says that September to November is unbearably hot, even at night. I find it weird that the coldest and hottest months are right next to each other. Then will come January and the rain will start again, making the warm air extremely humid….

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I’ve been feeling sick this week, hopefully it is nothing serious. I’ve also found a place to a stay in Senga Bay. I’ve only seen the outside of it while walking on the beach a month ago. I’m getting the keys tomorrow, so I can move sometimes next week. It is a small and rustic cabin by the beach. It has electricity and a toilet inside, but the best of all, is that there is a kitchen, small, but with an oven apparently! Yay, I will be able to bake and cook my own food… I can’t wait. I can stand living in a village, having a latrine and an outside bathroom. I can stand sharing my room and even my bed. I can wash the dishes using sand and wash my clothes by hand. I thought I would have problems with integrating and making friends in the village, I thought I would find it hard to do the tasks, but it turns out that what I miss most is to cook. Ah, don’t get me wrong, I cook in the village, but I have to cook the things they like (nsima and some kind of relish) the way they do it and when they want to do it. Since wood or charcoal is expensive, I don’t feel like I can cook my own things if I feel like it, which would probably be impolite of me anyways. I’m excited to go to the market, find stuff that is in season, be creative with it and cook something! Pho, burritos, crepes, pasta, apple crumble, cake, oatmeal…and coffee! I’m also happy that I’ll have more freedom and alone time. Time to read, reflect and write, I miss this tons. I thought that electricity and running water would be the things I miss most, but they aren’t. If anything, they make you dependant and when there is a shortage (which is often), you rely on them and can’t do much. I’ll have the best of everything now: power, running water and the lake right in my backyard if I need water (I have a good water filter now, so I can even drink it…thanks Andrew!). The cabin will not exactly be mine, but I am renting it out from an older expat couple, who Andrew knows. They live and work in Lilongwe. They only go to the lake one day every six weeks or so. The deal is that I live there, can use all I want, keep it nice and clean, and go spend a night somewhere else when they are coming. I think it is a pretty awesome deal as housing in Senga Bay is hard to find and pretty pricey. I’ll try to arrange transport with someone living there and working in Salima, but for the moment I’ll commute using a motola (back of a pick up truck!!). It is only 20km away and costs K100 each way ($0.75). I’ll let you know more about my new life by the lake in my next post, I’ll try to send pictures, but it is quite hard to upload them through Blogger. Sorry!

Now, I have to tell my family in Salima that I will be moving. It makes me sad and breaks my heart a little. But I’ll visit them; I’ll go for lunch every week. I just know that they will have a hard time understanding that I’m moving. ahhhh, if only they could read my blog! haha…

Ok, that’s it for now

Ge