High points of the week

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First off, I finally gathered my thoughts on my market experience. I suppose I should set the scene first.

The market is a sprawling collection of wooden stalls of various sizes that probably takes up a square mile in the center of town. It is roughly divided between about a quarter of the total area specializing in fresh produce and the other 3/4 selling dry goods.

A river is the boundary between the two sections, and a few groups of guys make their money by charging a 10 kwacha (140 kwacha: 1 USD) toll to cross on their homemade bridges. Customers seem to choose their bridge by finding the safety:convenience ratio most suitable to them. Fortunately, when we got ready to cross we were by one that looked pretty safe and didn't have to walk very far to comparison shop.

Our bridge was held up by poles about an inch in diameter and the walkway was made of split pieces of wood tacked town by one nail on each side. The gaps between the boards afforded some really scenic views of the river running 30 feet below us.

The dry goods part of the market is pretty much a collection of what we would call "dig stores" in the US. Countries like Malawi get the imperfects of our modern consumer economy. All the brand-name merchandise with small cosmetic defects ends up bailed and shipped to these markets, where small vendors hawk them to customers. Pricing is very situational. Prices seem to be on a sliding scale determined mostly by the color of your skin, the quality of your clothes, and the believability of your accent if you happen to have learned a bit of conversational Chichewa.

Our work at Hillside is ongoing, and we are nearing completion on the photo project. Tuesday was spent documenting the infrastructure extensively.

On Wed. Katie and I were able to go to the official launch of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy. We heard speakers from organizations like the World Bank and got to sit among the Malawian Parliament (we just found a couple of empty seats and realized that we were with the MPs afterwards). Security is very lax here compared to a government function at home. We were under a big white tent with the whole Malawian gov't, and security check consisted of a guard poking his head into my backpack on the way in.

You guys should do your best to clear your schedule for the night of Fri., Aug. 24th. Somewhere in Jackson (maybe Millsaps), Mission Africa is going to be hosting its annual "Malawi Night" proceedings, and Katie and I will be speaking at least for a bit.

Would love to see you there, especially since I haven't seen any of you in quite some time now. Bring me a cookie when you come.

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