Ambassador to Africa

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6/24

Well ladies and gents....I'm back in action! Off to the great motherland...Africa, my dream. Of course by now we know that my adventures always start off with a bang, right? No, they didn't lose my ticket to the Philippines and I don't have to worry about the only ferry to cross the Celtic Sea being out of service for the season. THIS time the fun began at flight check-in where I was told my overweight bag (80lbs) would cost me $400...but then it was $200...and then it was $100. Two attendants, one supervisor and a strong arm Irish lad by the last name of Mackey I was able to finagle one bag into two free of charge. Off I went through screening where 99.9%!o(MISSING)f the time yours truly gets "randomly" selected for world's most violating pat down. TSA made me take out all of my luggage for them to do a thorough search. Getting close now to departure time they let me go. I grabbed my belongings, met up with Alexandra and 2 glasses of red Shiraz-Cab later I arrived in D.C. at 2 a.m. ...only to realize that my laptop was missing from my carryon. Fantastic! So I write you now from 30,000 ft. in the sky en route to Ethiopia...phone disconnected (since it doesn't work globally) and several messages left to TSA's Lost and Found with pleas to L.A. friends for their help. What else to do now then reflect on this journey to come. Another red wine? Okay, but only since you insist.

13 hours later we touch down in Ethiopia and although we didn't have enough time to leave the airport I can already tell the difference in my new continent. The people here were dramatically thinner and shorter than even I expected. Malnutrition at an early age causes stunted growth and so it's easy to spot the adults who were most affected by food shortages growing up. Our next layover was in Lumbumbashi, Congo (DRC), for an hour. We stayed on the plane while it got cleaned and new passengers loaded on. I am surprised by the amount of foreigners traveling here. When we landed in this "city" all you could see from the sky looking down were closely congregated villages swept over in a layer of dirt and outlined only with very thin dirt roads. From my seat in the distance I could see maroon and blue baret soldiers carrying their rifles acting as security for the tiny airport.

42 hours and 4 layovers later we arrive in Lilongwe, Malawi (the Capitol), where you as far as the eye can see you're surrounded by countryside and again long thin dirt roads that lead into Lilongwe airport. Immigration turned out to be no hassle. One guard checked as you arrive that you've received your yellow fever vaccine to which you just show your yellow card. They didn't even check our host letters. But of course nothing is ever that easy. As Alex and I stood to claim our bags from baggage, we were the last ones standing. Only 1 out of our 4 bags arrived so we wrote down our info to the baggage claim manager, exchanged some money and finally met Salome, our host "mother". Salome, a mother of 2, is in her early thirties I'd say and fashionably dressed. She tells us that her car got a flat tire and it'd be appreciated if we could each pay $20 each to help repair. After that long trip I was happy to pay so we could catch our taxi back to Area 6 where we'll be living for the summer. On our drive to Salome's home my eyes were wide and my smile beaming. Women in wrapped dresses carrying their babies on their back in a satchel while balancing oversized baskets on their heads. Teenage boys on the side of the road holding long sticks with what Alex told me were sun dried field mice on them (10 on one stick!) for "rush hour" commuters on their way home who might want a snack. Oh yeah, and rush hour for this laid back country deemed, the "warm heart of Africa", is like a Sunday drive back home.

Salome's home was the first home to be built in the new Area 6; Lilongwe itself is divided into about 50 Areas. She's been building it since 2002 and still ongoing. It is a larger piece of land and the home has 4 bedrooms, a dining, living room, kitchen and 2 but 1 operational bathroom for now. Our room, 1 other bedroom and the living/dining room are tiles, the rest have a concrete foundation. Salome has papaya trees in her front yard and a large garden in the back where she grows massive amounts of peanuts to sell at the local markets. We walk to a local market briefly for some basic supplies left in our missing bags. Upon return we have a modest meal (full from the plane rides) of chicken in a tomato carrot sauce, rice and papaya. Salome's maid (as this is custom) named Nyakacharrie (say that 5 times fast) starts my bath. There is no hot water working so I am left with a few pots worth of boiling water poured into a plastic tub within the bath to wash off. With no mosquito nets in our bedroom Alex and I prevent the mosquitos by lighting a citronela candle at our bedside and fall asleep amidst our first night. After of course killing my very first spider in the bed 😊))).

I first awake at 5 a.m. to the call of prayer at the local mosque. 5:30 a.m. the roosters and 6:30 a.m. everyone else in the house. We are served Malawian black tea and toast for breakfast which I'm eating as I write listening to Alex strum a guitar we found in our room which is that of Salome's daughters. Today I venture out into the City of Lilongwe. Today I am in Africa................!!!!!!!!

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