A Day in the Village
Sunday 22 June 2008
So I was just counted for the Malawi Census. I told her that I was leaving in two weeks (oh my goodness I’m leaving in two weeks!), but she didn’t seem to mind. And it wasn’t just a tally for the azungus. She asked me every question on a four page scantron (fill in the circles) survey. Who do I live with? Am I married? Kids? Disabilities? Do I have a radio? Motorcycle? Mosquito net? Does my toilet flush? (At first I thought she was asking if I had plumbing problems, but then I realized it was a question of actually having indoor plumbing at all.) Anyway, kind of funny.
Great weekend. One of my German girls, Joy, lives in Songa, which is 3 hours away. During the week she lives with my German twins and their family here in Zomba. Joy’s parents are missionaries in the village. They told me months ago that I should come out for the weekend, and it finally happened! I knew it was in the village, but I didn’t realize how village-y it is. 
I got a ride with the twins and their dad, Michael. Ben, Jon, and Mike (Africycle) came with too, which was great fun. We drove north to Balaka, about 1 ½ hours, and then another 1 ½ hours on dirt roads to Songa. Bumpy dirt roads.
Joy’s parents started a huge children’s program in the village. There is a kindergarten and a playground next to their house, and they have different children’s groups, activities, etc during the week. They also have leadership training on the weekends. The program has done really well, and has actually been handed over to Malawian leaders, which is the goal of all missions… So, they’re starting a new site thirty minutes further down the road.
When we got to their house (complete with grass roof!), Joy showed me around the compound. I got to pet Skippy, the donkey she got as a Christmas present, and hold one of her baby geese.
Then Johannes took us on a walk past the secondary school, the teachers’ houses, the maize mill, and past the cotton fields. For some reason I didn’t have my camera with me. Kicking myself for that one. Grrrr. The cotton had already been harvested, but there was still quite a few um, cotton puffs (?) on the plants. So cool! Don’t worry, Mom, I’m bringing some home.
After dinner we sat around talking by solar lights. It had been a rather cloudy day, so the lights were pretty dim and the water wasn’t too warm.
Being the only azungus in the area, I was wondering how security was for them. They have no gate, wall, or dogs. They have night guards, but Johannes said it was more of “social job” than anything, and that they definitely get a good night’s sleep while on duty. Ha when Johannes’ parents came to visit, they kindly asked if the guard could sleep under a different window- his snoring was keeping them awake.
They only had one theft issue in the ten years they’ve been here. Right away the first few months they were here, their solar panel was stolen. They knew who had done it, and the whole community went after the guy. Now, being caught for stealing is not a good thing- many people are tortured/killed for it, and they were really going to beat up the guy but Johannes asked them not to. But all the area chiefs said they were there to protect them, and if anyone tried anything like that again, they would be chased out of the area. So, no problems since then.
On Saturday morning we went with Johannes and Michael to a distribution of blankets to the elderly. It was suppose to start at 8 so we got there at 9 and it didn’t start til 10.
So, we walked down to the river, which was completely completely dry. It wasn’t even a creek. During the rainy season, there was major flooding in this area- 75 farmers lost their entire harvest of maize. And now there is no water. The ladies had dug down in one area and found some water, which they carried back in huge buckets on their heads. Johannes said that hole would be dried up pretty soon, so they’d have to dig down somewhere else and hope for water. Oh, and the water was really dirty. And this was the water they washed with, cooked with, drank, and of course mixed concrete with.
Back at the site, we met the gravel makers. These would be the guys that sat with a homemade hammer, all day, pounding rocks into gravel. In the States there are machines that do this. Here, we have men who make gravel.
After a while we headed back for the distribution. It was at a hospital that the government had built a few years back. The small building was built. And there it stands. No doctors. One nurse, certified after a two week training course, lives behind the hospital and administers vaccinations once a week.
Of course the whole distribution took about 2 hours longer than planned, time mostly spent sitting on a bench in front of the crowd with the boys, Johannes whispering an English translation to us. There were some prayers, a song, and a devotion, then some of the chiefs spoke. There was a big hubbub because there weren’t enough blankets for everyone to get one. All the over 70s were to be registered to get one, but many of the over 70s don’t know how old they really are- no written records. Johannes said they usually ask them questions about politics to figure out how old the people are. Can you imagine? The crowd was 75% women- the men die sooner than the women. (Largely because of more HIV/AIDS cases…)
About a month ago there was a distribution of these blankets for the orphans in the area. Since then, a large group of children have become orphans, so they were at the distribution on Saturday hoping for a blanket as well. Felt really sad for them.
We all got to help hand out the blankets. Village by village the elderly were called up, sat on the ground, and waited for a rolled up fleece blanket. As they left the meeting, they wrapped the blanket up in a chitengi, trying to keep it nice for as long as possible. One lady carried it away balanced on her head.
It was a wonderful trip. So great to be able to see all that. Won’t ever forget it. God has given me so many amazing opportunities this year. A few other things that stick out from the weekend…
- We passed by two primary schools on the way to the distribution. They both had about 700 kids in each of them. The first school had 4 teachers, the second only had 3. Can you imagine having 230 kids in your class? Oh my goodness. And most of these teachers only have a high school education and no teacher training. So sad.
- Sorry, this one is kind of gross, but I found it fascinating in a horrible sort of way. Johannes said at the kindergarten they were trying to train the kids to use the outdoor toilet for all types of bathroom needs. Traditionally, there is a small brick outhouse for um, number two. For number one, they just go to a small grass building without a roof. There’s no hole. This is the same building they do their bathing in. There are some rocks that they stand on while washing, but otherwise they just do their business all over the ground. How awful is that?
- It was so neat to see Joy in her home, playing with her Malawian friends, walking around barefoot, eating nsima. This was where she has lived her whole life (9 years), this is her home. So cool.
