Ash Wednesday and Mzuzu

On Tuesday, we had just settled down to play some Civ when Andrew rolls by with a new person- Anna. She grew up in Lilongwe (the daughter of a Norwegian Diplomat) and was just visiting Malawi again after a few years away. We showed off our kittens and asked if they knew anyone who could give them a nice home. Andrew offered that his dogs were hungry. He invited us to dinner for Anna’s last night, we finished up some school work and got a motorcycle taxi over to his place just as the sun was setting making for a beautiful ride. We haven’t ridden a motorcycle since the rains had come, and there were some difficult parts in the road but our driver knew his way around and got us there smoothly.

We made it just in time for the sunset, and met the 3 guests that were working with the drone project and USAID. Unfortunately, the drone project was coming to an end to be continued at a later unspecified time. We spent the evening laughing and belittling Australia followed by a long walk home very early the next morning.

We woke up to prepare for class, and then went to church. We sat with the teachers in the back and had ash painted on our foreheads, before doing some praying and singing. We ducked out after half an hour to continue to prepare our room for the kitten onslaught of pee. As we had lunch, the cat threw up to reveal long writhing worms in her stomach. That just. Kept. Moving.  We will be getting medicine for her in Mzuzu.

On Thursday, we helped organize donations in the hospital. People had kindly donated many, many things many of which are completely useless here. The funniest was a few fancy baby outfits, with no arm or leg holes but with large wings on each side. The dentist helping out showed it to us, to see if we could figure out what this strange outfit was. We figured it was to swaddle newborns. Completely useless here- they would just use a chitenje. Theres plenty of medical equipment that no one knows how to use, and so many expired medical supplies. Sasha did find a perfect exothermic reaction for her students- ankle heaters for newborns. You just snap a metal in the center and it gets warm. Fortunately it had expired and could no longer be used for medical purposes. But it worked great as a class demonstration!

On our way back we ran into a couple, Martin and Nicole, with impressively big cameras from the UK. We invite them up for cordial, and we heard about their travels and discussed our work here and at home. Martin was very good at getting interesting answers out of people so he was able to tell us some things about our own island including some tips on getting into Kaya Mawa. We showed off our school, and they confirmed it was very good compared to many that they had visited in villages across Africa.

Friday rained all night and into the morning, which is quite rare. It was just like home! Usually the rain is beginning to slow down- but climate change is messing with everything. The lake level has risen to almost what is was 15 years ago, which is very exciting.

Saturday we set out for the Ilala. We boarded with our fellow teacher, Faith. She had to go to the mainland as her laptop had been stolen. She was next door getting her hair braided, when someone walked into her home and stole a selection of valuables. The police came by and alerted all potential laptop fixers on the island that one had been stolen. Fortunately on an island there are only a few places expensive things can go and someone is bound to hear about it. By the next day, someone had come to try to get her latop cleared so they could bypass the password and the police were called. He was arrested, and swore he only bought it. They whipped him until he gave a name of who sold it. Then they arrested him too. He was (literally) tied to the boat, as we went across.

Every criminal arrested on Likoma is treated the same way. Tied, or chained to the Ilala. Last year, there were three rape cases. The first was an 11 year old who was sent to go cook (and had been since the age of 8) for the man that raped her. The next two were arrested at about the same time, one who had raped a four year old and one that had sex with a goat. (the first reported goat sex on the island) They were chained on the Ilala together, but the one who had raped a goat had a bag over his head so no one could tell his identity. The one who had attacked a child just sat quietly, no shame. All three are in jail and will be for a long time.

While we thought we had explored much of our island, we met Nicole and Martin again who showed us we really had not. They had found a factory for chandeliers and other workshops and some big houses we had never even heard of. For such a small island there is a lot we have yet to explore. We got to see them throw 12 barrels of diesel overboard off of the ilala as we left – enough to power the entire island until the next boat comes. 95% of Malawi is powered by hydro power from the bottom of the lake, and soon Likoma will be solar powered.

We sat between our new UK friends on one side and our Malawian friends on the other side, a remarkable contrast. We watched Martin walk around the boat and talk with many, many people. Nicole explained this always happened, and always manages to have quite intense conversations very quickly. Bruno, our favorite police man, came by. After many laughs and accusations, he brought over perhaps a 6 year old boy and introduces him as his son, Faith. Faith was very quiet and sweet. The head teacher from the other school came by as well, and was quite tipsy – smacking Bruno’s head many times and giving big painful handshakes. When we talked of something else, he got distracted and picked up Faith, pretending to throw him over the side of the boat. We got to see the policeman side of Bruno very quickly appear.

Faith (the teacher) purchased some fried fish, and we enjoyed a taste with salt. We made it to Nkhata bay around 11pm, where James from Mayoke bay came to meet the four of us. He led us out of the craziness, where person after person would try to step in front and offer to carry our bags or give us a ride. Then left us on a deserted street to get the car. “You must get very tired of the island to put up with all of this for just a weekend away” Martin observed as we waited. James came back with the small car and a driver, so we sat three in the back and three up front. When we finally got back to Mayoka Village, Anna was there sitting around with some friends! She jumped up and welcomed us, and introduced us to the dive instructor and a man from Montana who accused us of being Canadian.

Martin bought us a beer and we sat around for the next few hours talking about everything- mainly Martin and Nicoles motorcycle trip from Alaska to Venezuela. They pulled out wallet photos to show it, which is something we plan to do now. Far classier than pulling it up on your phone. We talked of life on the Malawi coast, and then went to sleep. When we awoke there was a bit of rain and the spirit of adventure.

Martin and Nicole kindly drove us to Mzuzu in a huge truck that they had rented in South Africa. We filled them in more on the struggles of the school and our lives in Malawi, and they told us we should write a sitcom. Though a sitcom like this would be very difficult, and things that are just life here may seem racist at home. We probably have lost touch with what is “PC”, but many differences are more from growing up in a first world country vs a third world one than a black vs white one. They drop us off at Joys, and take their leave. They donated some money to help us to buy some calculators for the students and invite us to stay in their town in the UK if we are ever back.

We relax with some delicious Korean food, and chat with some Peace Corps volunteers that are present. We sometimes are afraid we are not getting enough done, but they seem to be often struggling even more than us. Simon who we met 6 months ago and showed a dislike for the continuous handshaking, now fights a grimace every time he must shake a hand. But he does have even more movies for us!

The next day was spent finding the perfect chitenje fabric, finding deworming tablets, and grocery shopping. We visited our friend in the hospital, who is still unable to sit up. But we brought him more books so he can more easily pass the time. We navigated our way to “Phonewood”- Ryan by sensing the directions and Sasha by asking directions. We picked out a big pile of calculators for 1000-2000 each (40,000 each in shoprite) and went home. We packed everything together and talked with an Australian lady who lived on the coast who also invited us to come visit.

The Bishop sent us a car and we headed off to Nkhata bay. Ryan stationed himself with a nice view of the loading docks (it made for a great slow TV), and Sasha went to visit the shops. She talked with Beaura who lamented the complete lack of guests staying in the area now. Most of the bay is aimed at locals, but her shop is for the tourists. Sasha also went to the very local market and sorted through a pile of clothing to find something with a nice pattern. Soon, she had 5 women digging looking for a pattern for her as well. And eventually, we did all agree on a nice striped shirt for MK300- 50cents.

On our way back on the Ilala, we sat down below and purchased a mat to sleep on to watch everyone load. A French woman, Salome, and an older American man came to say hello- they had just met at the previous lodge and he was just walking her onto the boat. He worked business for 30 years, and is now living 3 months in Malawi, 3 weeks home, and 3 months in Malawi for many years doing volunteer work. He told us his friend was very quiet but he would leave her in our capable care and headed off the boat. She had just come from Kenya, where she and another girl she had met in the hostel rented a car for a cheap price. They wanted to drive to Nairobi and drop it off, and drove into the night. The roads became too treacherous with the rains, and so after 4 hours they decided it was impossible and so turned around. But the man had a GPS signal and so was able to cut the truck off so it stopped in the middle of the road. They tried to leave to go somewhere safe, but they were too far away and the area was dangerous. He called and demanded money for him to be able to come back. Nothing like this can happen in Malawi, however!

We went upstairs and shared a round of beers. Sasha finally got to meet Ian, who is making a lodge on Chiponde beach. He is American, and his wife is English. They tried living in England and then America, finding they weren’t getting far on their income and decided to sell both houses, and move to Malawi. 27 years ago, he came here as a hippy. He got off the beach and asked some fishermen were he should camp. They took him to the most beautiful beach he has seen before or since, and he had a fantastic few days there. He always wanted to come back, and 27 years later they did. With very little experience, they set out on this project. They have found some very good Malawians to help, and are very excited to get it done in June.

We stashed our things in Salome’s room, and then slept on the mat outside her door. Around 2am, we awoke to a deserted hallway and rain pouring down. Everyone had moved to the other side of the boat. We snuggled closer to the wall and pretended it wasn’t happening. Ryan stayed dry. Morning came and Chifundo came to say hello. She offered us a spot on her boat going back, and it was very exciting to see John round the corner in a massive blue boat. We loaded our things, and brought Salome along. We thanked them profously, and Christina found us on the dock and helped us carry everything back. She put the big bin on her head, and put the small piece of meat she bought on the very top.

We spent the rest of the day sleeping, before jumping back into teaching class.