What's in a title?

21/4/13

Didn’t I say I would do a blog post this week? And I did. YES.

The past 2 weeks have been quite busy: at TST we’ve been doing lots of Maths tutoring. One of the Malawian volunteers was leaving so the kids got sweets and the adults had a party of sorts. Basically, we were all herded to the ICT room, where music was played and everyone started dancing. I was trying to imagine my old teachers at Meldrum doing this, but couldn’t. It was a great example of how different the culture is over here; Lou and I are so used to it that it doesn’t take us by surprise nearly as often, but this certainly did.

That day we also had an Italian woman visiting TST. Mary Cristina’s French was better than her English, so when Edwin asked her to introduce herself to the TST kids, she spoke in French which Louise translated to English which then Edwin translated to Chichewa. I was really cool to witness – it made me ashamed that my French is still miles better than my Chichewa after being immersed in the latter for 7 months.

At home, the water was off again. The entire village was dry for 3 days – the longest we’ve ever had to cope without. While this doesn’t seem like a long time, even with water stored up we all really struggled. We never know whether the water will be off for 2 hours or 2 days, so we are conservative of every drop. Bucket showers are seen as an unnecessary luxury and the toilet only gets flushed once a day (with used dish/clothes washing water). This is hard enough with 2 people, but Georgia was also staying with us. We made it fun however, as it became a bit of a competition to see who could use the fewest dishes in one day. On the bright side, electricity has been really good recently. Although, given the chance, I would definitely swap no water for no power. I hadn’t washed my hair for 6 days when the water finally came back on.

Last week I accompanied Louise for the Street Child Ministry before church. The street children are welcomed into the Pentecostal Church where they all sing together and play some drums. I found it really moving to witness all these children united by their faith. Then Pastor Francis comes through to preach to them in Chichewa, before they receive mandasi and sobo (round doughnuts and fruit squash). When I was briefly around for the Street Child Ministry on Easter Sunday, I had noticed Saidi – a TST child who had run away a few weeks ago – and I had asked him why he wasn’t at TST and whether he wanted to go back. While I couldn’t get a coherent reason out of him, he and fellow TST-runaway Esau said they wanted me to take them back to the centre. I told them to meet me outside KFC the next day at 10am, but they didn’t show. I wasn’t altogether surprised – add the fact that these kids had no way of telling the time to Malawi’s tendency to be late and there was next to no chance of the kids making an appearance. Last week, he looked even worse than before – absolutely miserable and not even joining in the singing and clapping. So I decided to take him back to TST there and then, before I lost sight of him again. Esau also found his own way back the week before. The change in Saidi is almost indescribable. He is always delighted to see us, throwing himself into the work we set him and, most importantly, happier than we’ve ever seen him. If I leave Malawi achieving nothing else, I will be satisfied. All children should have the chance to be happy. That is one of the many things that TST gives these kids.

So yeah, climate change is messing us around. We’ve had far too much rain, way too late, and now we’re ranging from having November-esque heat to nights where we can see our breath in front of us! What is this?

So Georgia left us last week. It was sad, especially because she’d been living with us for the past 2/3 weeks. And with Steph gone home, it’s just Matilda, Louise and I left of the Baluti/Nancholi crew. But we shall prevail! (What we shall prevail, is still unknown.)

I don’t have any pictures! So here’s a picture I took of Steph’s exposed shoulder after I claimed it for Narnia.

TTFN

Anecdotes

We came home from work last week to find three kids playing outside. They had pair of rollerblades and two of them had a skate each, skating one-legged-ly alongside the wall. The third kid looked just as happy as he pretended to skate in his flip-flops.

When washing the dishes after we make nsima or phala, I always poke the dregs down the plug hole. Louise is constantly paranoid that the sink will block and I always wave her away saying ‘Nsima/phala is water-soluble! It’ll be fine.’ Well, I managed to block the sink. However, I simply unscrewed the U-bend and emptied it, feeling like a pro. 

Apparently I am doing a monthly blog - it's April now

7/4/13

Eeeee, when did I last clock in? 10/3/13? Okay, what’s happened since then?

Well, it’s the school holidays at the moment, so there’s been no Nama Simba for two weeks. This unfortunately coincided with our Project Trust Desk Officer visit. So we couldn’t show her the work we do at the nursery. We did still take Kate to TST, however, and showed her where we live. It was really great to see her again and give her our feedback on our year so far.

Kate’s visit happened to be right after my parents came to Malawi. After I met my Mum and Dad in Lilongwe, we spent two nights in Central Malawi at the Tongole Wilderness Lodge – luxury with a capital L. An entire ‘River Suite’ to myself, complete with a bath the size of a small swimming pool. The lodge was built near an elephant river crossing, so it was not uncommon to see elephants going for a dip. I even got to see a wild leopard tortoise! Since I’ve been fascinated by tortoises for as long as I can remember, it was definitely the highlight of the trip. I then took my parents to Blantyre to show them around, before we went down to spend two nights at a tea estate in an area called Thyolo (Cho-low). It was hard saying goodbye to my family knowing I wouldn’t see them for another 4 months, but my current mantra is ‘less to go than has already been’.

Our friends who we used to refer to as the ‘Nancholi girls’ have all moved out of Nancholi. It is the nearest village to Baluti so we could really easily see them, as they were only a 30 minute walk away. However, as Matilda has moved in with some friends she works with and Steph has gone home to England, Georgia has moved in with Lou and me. It’s really nice to have her around, and she also shows her gratitude towards us by buying us doughnuts and jelly beans. J Georgia will be leaving us soon, however, to go back to the orphanage so volunteers at in Tanzania. It will be really hard to see her go – the ‘Nancholi’ girls have been our closest friends while we’ve been out here and she will be sorely missed.

This Easter Sunday, Georgia and I went with Louise to church. She goes to a Pentecostal Church in Blantyre that also runs a project for street children that Louise helps out with. I’ve always said that I could come along just for that, but when I looked in and saw a tonne of kids who had run away from TST, it was so demoralising. These are children who couldn’t take living in an institution, because of the routine or the rules or any other restriction that they don’t have to deal with on the streets. I tried to convince each of them to come back, but they all had ‘good’ reasons for leaving and couldn’t be swayed. It won’t stop me trying, though.

Speaking of TST, we’ve been pretty busy this week with the kids being off school. The kids just shout ‘MASAMU’ (Maths) as soon as they see us nowadays and we are often swamped from the minute we get there until the minute we leave. It’s such a contrast from the first 6 months – it makes me wish we had had only been spending the afternoons there from the beginning. At least next year’s volunteers will find it a bit easier to find their feet with our advice.

This week has been tough water and security-wise, but we should get it sorted before I next write a blog post. However, this month I did find a chitenje I’ve been looking for since I came to Malawi, which was great. I was so happy, it was unreal. The simple pleasures…

I know I joked that I would hopefully get another video of the house up before April… but I have failed. I apologise. It’s been a busy month etc. etc., but the main reason is that I hate editing and I couldn’t be bothered. HOWEVER, I do have some adorable pictures of our new kittens (well, 7 month old cats) called Lightning and Mantha (Chichewa for cowardly). ENJOY

Okay, I will do a blog post in 2 weeks. I have told you now, so I actually have to follow through with it. Otherwise, you must all berate me and make me feel small.

TTFN

(Btw, everyone who hasn’t already should watch Pitch Perfect – it’s hilarious. Other films I have watched this month that I recommend are Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Taken (because it’s hysterical) and Amelie. That is all.)

I made my Dad a video for his birthday that we 

intended to feature the kittens wearing party hats. 

They didn't make the cut.

 ^ This is a spikey cucumber

                      Tongole Wilderness Lodge

Huntingdon House on Satemwa Tea Estate

I am a Malawian now.

3/3/13

This week has been busy but not particularly exciting, so I’ll try to find something to say about it.

We have decided to go to TST in the afternoons now, rather than the mornings, as there are more children about and therefore usually more for us to to. To fill this time, we have been helping out at Nama Simba more as the children usually get sent home around 1.30pm at the latest. It has been earlier this week however as, due to the maize shortage, the caregivers have only been able to supply one meal for the children, rather than two. The children are becoming more manageable as time goes on and we spend most of our time playing with them. They all love the ‘Round and round the garden, like a teddy bear’ rhyme and when we do it once the children shout ‘Ine! Ine!’ (‘Me! Me!) for a good 15 minutes, demanding their turn. Since my Chichewa has improved, I’ve been able to pass a ball around the kids. This sounds simple, but it would have been impossible 4 months ago without knowng ‘dikirani’ meaning wait, ‘ayi Iwe, apa’ meaning no you, (stand) here, ‘osamenyana’ meaning stop fighting and, of course, praise words like ‘eya, wakhoza’ and ‘zili bwino’.

At TST, we’ve been providing Maths help as usual. Juniyo struggles with writing, so I tend to get him to copy out simple Chichewa words, their English translation and draw a picture. One day he came to me looking rather dejected, which was sad to see as he usually greets me with a smile. I asked him if he wanted to do some Maths like the others (ukufuna Masamu?) but he said no and that he wanted to play a game. So I taught him a paper game, not sure what it’s called. The aim is to have won the most boxes at the end, gained by being the one to finish to box, drawing one line at a time. Anyway, he really seemed to like it, but was hindered by his desire to make the page look symmetrical. Not the most competitive kid I have ever met, but such a sweetie.

We did manage to to buy a 5 kg bag of maize flour this week, so I have been able to feed my phala addiction. As we haven’t been having lunch at TST anymore, and the lunch at Nama Simba tends to be served with this minging fish that we don’t like, we haven’t been having any nsima. I have missed it more than I had anticipated. Nothing fills you up like nsima and I’ve found that a lunch of banana on toast just doesn’t leave me satisfied. To make up for it, we cooked nsima and soya ndiwo for our dinner a couple of nights this week. It’s really tasty and filling, and we feel very Malawian for it.

I have also become quite good at balancing things on my head. The African stereotype that women carry buckets on their heads for miles and miles is bang on – it is completely sociably acceptable to cart any manner of things around on your head, even if you’ve got two empty hands and no baby on your back. The balance of the Malawian people is absolutely phenomenal; I have never seen anyone wobble or drop anything – not even very young children. I am nowhere near as good as the locals, but I give it a good go from time to time.

So, I have 2 videos for you this week! Do enjoy. The internet connection I am using is really slow, so I'll post the links here if and when they are completed.

http://youtu.be/mB1xusn-n5k

http://youtu.be/s4OwmZHjZBc

TTFN

Notable Event

This week, we went into town to shop at our favourite cash and carry, only to find it absolutely empty. We have no idea whether it has moved premises or closed down… but it makes me sad. We’ve been going there religiously for 5 months, and they had the best and cheapest pasta. RIP Sana Cash n Carry.

2013!

So it’s been a while!

It’s now 2013 and I am almost halfway through my gap year. The weather at the moment is crazy – sometimes as hot as October but with proper torrential rain to go with it. When I started writing this (which was the 28^th of January – I am an expert procrastinator), I was watching a movie but couldn’t hear the audio due to the sound of the rain on the roof. We have to shout over the din just to make ourselves heard. Then today, Louise and I had to do a lot of walking through Blantyre and were absolutely dripping – it was so horribly sunny. Would love some snow please.

So I have been back in Blantyre for about a month now. My fortnight long holiday evolved into three weeks due to visa issues getting back into Malawi. However, I am here now and glad to be back in my little house again.

It was really great to be able to spend Christmas with my family and I’m so glad I did. It was much more difficult than I’d imagined to switch from my minimal living conditions to the opulence of Dubai. I found it difficult to deal with how much food and water went to waste while I knew how much people were going without back home. It was a lot to get used to – a little snapshot of the reverse culture shock we’ve been warned about for when we return home.

As soon as I got back into Malawi, African life hit me like a tonne of bricks. On the bus journey home, three guys were caught in the possession of cannabis through a routine police check. Everyone loved the show – a huge crowd gathered and lots of people were taking pictures and videos. The drive back was really lovely otherwise as the start of the rainy season had caused the scenery to change completely – everything has gone green and there is maize growing on every available patch of land.

The rain has been so heavy recently that we are often house bound by it. Last week it was the worst we had ever seen, so much so that we couldn’t manage to walk to work. We walk alongside a river that very frequently bursts its banks and trekking through the mud is like trying to cross a swamp. We felt very Malawian – the locals are defeated by the rain, choosing to take refuge under buildings and trees rather than walk in it.

Work at TST has been busy, as we have been doing Maths exercises with the children who aren’t at school. It’s so great to see them improving and they really seem to enjoy it. They come and demand ‘Masamu’ every minute – even when we’re eating lunch! I’ve also been doing a lot of first aid – mostly bandaging up toes and feet as many of the kids don’t have shoes. I am still astounded by the bravery of these kids as I attempt to reattach toe nails or bandage up a ridiculously deep cuts – very rarely do they utter a word of complaint. They even help to cut the bandages to size with their uninjured limbs.

I met a Med student from London on the eventful bus ride from Lilongwe to Blantyre who invited us round for cake last week. (The cake was amazing, thank you Angela!) There was a strange tree in the back garden with these massive blah blah fruits that Louise and I had never seen before. We took one home to try – it smelt really bad but Angela assured us it tasted better than it smelt. It is, without a doubt, the strangest thing I have ever eaten. It weighed about 2 kg with a spiny skin and was filled with tens of grape sized seeds. The actual flesh was really tasty, but cutting it up felt like carving a dead animal. Unfortunately, without a fridge, there was no way Louise and I could go through 2 kg of fruit, so the ants claimed the rest of it before we had to throw it out.

I am sorry this has taken so long to go up – I’ve got lots planned for the rest of the year so I promise more pictures and news.

TTFN

Notable Events

The other week, were on a routine minibus trip home when we were stopped by the traffic police. This is quite a normal occurrence and nothing usually comes of it. However, this time the driver was taken to the side of the road and, we presume, questioned. The driver did look a bit suspicious – he had one trouser leg rolled up and the other down, and made no attempt to rectify the matter. Lou, our fellow travellers and I simply watched as the policemen walked away with the driver without a backward glance. We followed the lead of the others by disembarking and then walked back towards the station to get another bus. It was one of those moments where we had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Our house and the Nama Simba nursery buildings are surrounded by a wall and we go in and out via the front gate. It has a padlock that is never locked. However, one day last week we came home to find it locked for the first time in 5 months, with our copy of the key inside the house. And this is why we were forced to climb our own gate to get into our house.

To try to encourage volunteers to explore and get to know where they are living, Project Trust recommended that we draw a map of the local area and send it back to Coll. Louise and I decided to make ours out of our rubbish as nothing goes to waste here. We used bottle tops, plastic bags and receipts to recreate Baluti. We have also recycled various items around the house to save money – we have a door stop made out of Fanta bottles, empty peanut butter tubs holding our cutlery and a shower curtain that PT provided us with cut up to make a washing line, to store our fruit away from the ants and as a curtain for the bathroom window.

This month I also received a letter from Freya at home that had been missent to Malaysia! No wonder it took so long to come. Thank you Freya! 

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.

---

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.)

The rain is here!

End of Week 8, it has officially been two months!

We’ve be so busy this week, but I feel like I have absolutely nothing to say!

Nama Simba wasn’t very eventful this week. I did feed a child phala for the first time. Most of the children are old enough to feed themselves, but this was one of the younger ones and she kept missing her mouth. I also discovered that the children that I thought were called Loofa are most likely called Ruth. It gives you some indication of how people speak here; even when they speak English it is often a challenge to understand.

This week we spent a lot of time doing Maths lessons, helping to assess the abilities of 4 new children that have joined TST. I actually had to teach Louise how to do long multiplication – she’d been taught a ridiculously complicated method and therefore had no idea what the kids were doing. I also got to teach algebra! I love maths so much, it’s insane. We also taught ICT again. Precious, who didn’t know how to use a keyboard when we started, was typing his name by the end of the day. It’s amazing how fast these kids learn, it makes us so proud.

On the 31^st of October we had rain. And I mean real rain, torrential thunder storms that leave you soaked in minutes. As there had been no sign of it when we left the house that morning, we walked home in the wettest conditions in months with no coats or umbrellas. Two men saw us going in our gate, soaked to the skin, and applauded our efforts. The mornings have started to feel very cold since the rain has arrived and while on a hot day a cold shower is very welcome, this morning I was rather glad I could use the fact that we had no water as an excuse not to wash.

This Friday we went to a friend’s Hallowe’en party as Mario and Luigi. We were very proud of the costumes we made on such a low budget. I even had to stitch Louise’s hat by candle light one night when the power went off. I am extremely dedicated to fancy dress.

Mairi will be happy to hear that the Quotes and Anecdotes section is back this week. I may leave it a bit longer before writing another blog post, so I have more to say next time.

I will try to find some pictures of our Mario and Luigi costumes on Facebook – TTFN

Quotes and Anecdotes

We thought we were going to be teaching a lesson on conjunctions, so we started writing out example sentences using and, but and because. All I could think of was really depressing ones about the kids, like: I want to go to school, but I can’t afford an exercise book, My parents have passed away and now I live on the streets, I have attachment issues because I was sexually abused when I was young. We decided these were not quite suitable.

This week I fell over spectacularly, and skinned my hands, while trying to show the kids the lotus position to prove that I was Buddhist.

Louise: I was going to mark Mary’s work, but her head’s in the way and I don’t want to wake her up.

A turkey (nkhuku tembo) wandered into our classroom this week. While the kids just ignored it, I attempted to chase it out whilst doing my amazing turkey impression. There were two Malawian volunteers just outside the door, who gave me extremely weird looks.

There was a window sticker in one of the minibuses that read: STOP GOSSIPING OTHER PEOPLE MIGHT BE RELATIVES INSIDE.

During our ICT lesson, it started raining. I ran to the window to see, only to hear Louise tell some of the children: ‘Come on, sit down. I’m sure you’ve seen rain before.’

We met 7 year old Chippy on our walk to work, so we took him back to TST with us. He was slow and kept stopping because he wanted me to carry him. People kept asking him if he was okay, because it really looked like we were doing a Madonna and kidnapping him.

We were passing a market and the stall owners kept trying to get our attention when one man shouted: ‘Madam! Orange!’ I took it really offensively, thinking it was a ginger dig, but he was just selling oranges.