WE CAN COOK AGAIN!

End of Week 10 and we have electricity again!

We’re nearing the end of November and I truly can’t believe it. Project Trust have often told us that the first two months are the hardest (obviously) and after that, time flies. This has definitely been true for us – we keep turning to each other and going ‘How is it nearly December??’

The past two weeks have been eventful to say the least. We were invited by Mary (our unofficial host who manages the nursery) to her house to see how the local doughnuts are made and to sample them with tea. We even got to watch MBC (Malawian Broadcasting Corporation) and catch up on local and international news.

Louise and I both had bouts of illness, so much so that we actually took her to a local hospital. It was confirmed that she most likely had a stomach bug and she got antibiotics. It was a bit of a scare, however, as Malaria is really common here and it shares symptoms with so many other illnesses. Luckily, she was given the all clear and we were able to continue work as usual. When she was feeling really lousy, I went into work by myself for the first time. This was both weird and strangely exciting.  I learnt, then taught, long division, had really lovely chats with the kids and did an ICT lesson by myself. I’m really starting to get to know the children, which I love. It’s great when I remember their names, or chat to them in my very limited Chichewa.

The rain has been interesting as the Malawians seem oddly defeated by it. People don’t walk in it, choosing to huddle under stalls and around buildings, so we get some really odd looks if it comes on when we’re walking home.

Louise when the power came back.

While the water has been on and off as usual, we heard a bang when the power went off two weeks ago. The next day I stayed home to look after Louise, hoping it would just come back on as usual, but it turned out there was a problem with the transformer in Baluti so the entire village had no power for 10 days. Other than our own personal inconvenience, there was no electricity to power the maize mills that are perpetually humming around the village, the shop keepers couldn’t use their fridges, the barbers couldn’t use clippers or charge phones (most barbers offer charging your phone while you get your hair cut) – there was not a lot of income coming into the village. The provider of electricity in Malawi, ESCOM, has an awful reputation as the country is plagued by black outs and they certainly proved their inadequacy, in our eyes. However, the power is back – the maize mills are humming, music sounds all over Baluti again. And now we can cook!

We went with some friends to a quiz at St Andrews’ International School – or SAIntS for short, I thought this was the cleverest acronym in existence. Was such a laugh, had a fantastic curry and came fourth (the winning three teams comprising mostly of teachers). Also went to an ex-pat Christmas craft fair the next day and had a cream soda snow cone! Cream soda is one of my new found loves, including phala and Fanta Passion.

Louise and I finally got to meet the other Project Trust volunteers who live down South, as they came up to Blantyre to renew their visas. It made us realise how lucky we are to have Matilda and Steph so close, they’re only a 30 minute walk away! Plus, they have kittens!

Got a video of a rain storm that I hope to get up soon and I finally have a picture of Louise and I dressed as Mario and Luigi. Hooray!

TTFN

Quotes and Anecdotes

Catriona: Sukulu? (School?)

David: No.

Catriona: Chifukwa? (Why? Or literally For what reason?)

David: Palibe fukwa! (There is no reason!)

I noticed that Malawians often ask when we ‘knock off’ when asking when we finish work. While I’ve heard this at home, I didn’t really understand why it’s such a common phrase here. Then I found verb in the Chichewa book, kuweruka – literally meaning ‘to knock off.’ I find this really interesting, it may just be me.

The kids here often use bottle caps to count with in Masamu (Maths), but if they don’t have any they just use their fingers, like at home. But if they need to count above ten, they continue counting with their toes. Vito once actually stopped to take off his sandals in order to finish his sums.

The kids all wear donated clothes that come from all over the world. Distinctive t-shirts that I’ve seen:

-          I recognised the logo on one that was a supermarket chain in The Netherlands

• A Twilight t-shirt
• Football shirts – mostly Celtic for some reason. I can’t decide whether this means they’re the most popular or whether the fact these t-shirts are being donated means the team is losing popularity. Also England, Arsenal, some Spanish team, Edinburgh and Aberdeen!
• Scotland Rugby shirts
•  A yellow one that reads Gordon Schools Volley Ball Team, Huntly. That was surreal.

There are some words in Chichewa that are borrowed from English, but spelt like Chichewa. It’s hilarious. Pronunciation is really different here – the vowels are more like French and pha is just ‘pa’, tha is ‘ta’ but cha isn’t ‘ca’ and sha isn’t ‘sa’. I get very confused. Also, keep in mind that R and L are pronounced the same.

tiyi – tea 

buledi – bread

anyezi – onion 

shuga – sugar

petulo – petrol 

sopo – soap

buku – book 

windo – window

diresi – dress 

kompyuta – computer

benki – bank

ofesi – office

sukulu – school

chenje – change

Immanuel

On my walk home from TST the day Louise stayed home sick, I was greeted by a young guy called Immanuel. He was 22, but still at school (age isn’t really a big thing here when it comes to placing kids in school). The guy’s English was really good, so I just got chatting to him.

Immanuel: So are you married? (We often get guys ‘proposing’ to us, so this wasn’t a surprise. My story is that I am, have been for a year (but no kids yet), and my husband lives in Scotland. This is literally the only way to get them off your back.)

Catriona: Yes, I am.

Immanuel: Oh. Well, I want to marry a white woman.

Catriona: I see, why is that, exactly?

Immanuel: I just love white women!

Catriona: That’s interesting, Immanuel, because I know many people who want to marry white people because they think they have money.

Immanuel: Money? What?? No! Of course not! I just love white women. I really love white women.

Catriona: I think you should marry someone because you like their personality, not just because they are white.

Immanuel: Ah, but you see, black women… they’re just so chatty! They don’t stop talking! But white women… ah, they wear skirts and they have legs…

Catriona: Immanuel, you know, where I come from, you have to be careful saying things like that because it’s quite racist… (etc etc etc)

He then asked me if I lived alone and I said no, I live with my friend Louise.

Immanuel: Is your friend married? (Louise doesn’t like lying about the marriage thing, so we always say she wants to be a nun.)

Catriona: No, but she’s going to be a nun.

Immanuel: Why?

Catriona: Well, she just loves God.

Immanuel: Yes, well I love God, you love God, we all love God!

Catriona: Yeh, but she REALLY loves God.

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Later, we’re coming up the the market.

Immanuel: So, why don’t you have babies?

Catriona: Well, Immanuel, in Scotland you wait until you’re, like, 30 before you have children.

Immanuel: Is it your husband? Can he not, uh,  ‘produce’?

Catriona: Uhhh, yeh, he can…

Immanuel: How do you know if you don’t have babies?? Do you want me to speak to him? Tell how it’s done?

(At this point the conversation kind of ended as I couldn’t stop laughing.)