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Africa » Malawi » Central » Lilongwe
July 5th 2012
Published: July 5th 2012
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6/26

Salome was kind enough to drop us off into Old Town. We pass by villagers who many have walked 2 + hours just to work in the fields for the day. Alex points out a nearby prison named Maula, which happens to be the largest one in the country. Prisoners, a hundred at a time, are kept in small houses and sleep on the floor side by side living out their days.

Malawi has a consistent smell of burning wood as most of the fields in small patches are being burned to rid the crops of field mice. The mice then scatter about only to be caught, dried out, and sold on the side of the road again for a snack, mmmm....

We arrive in Old Town and stop in the office where we'll be working for the summer with Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN). We introduce ourselves tto everyone except Fletcher, our lead researcher (and internship coordinator), who had to meet with donors in Kenya for the week. Right across the street is an internet cafe run by an Indian man who I joke with will be seeing a lot of me since I am without a computer. After a long Malawi lunch we bought a local cell phone and stopped by "Shoprite", the town's supermarket. We picked up mosquito nets for our rooms and bought the other essentials: peanut butter, jelly and bread =). Though I was enamored wtih the bread because everyone cues in a line to wait for each loaf to pass through a bread cutter.

With the essentials in tow, I decide it might be a good idea to see if the U.S. Embassy can help locate and/or assist in shipping my laptop from LAX to Malawi. I have no idea how far of a walk it was to reach the Embassy on the otherside of town but writing to you 2 days later my legs still hurt.

The best part about reaching the Embassy was that Alex worked there 3 summers before with the State Department and knows a good amount of the staff who work there still. She points out a large abandoned building adjacent to the Embassy building, the Malawi Congress Party" (it states out front) and offers that it was bombed a few years ago and that party is no longer in existence - awesome. So anyway, with Alex beside me, it didn't take much pleading to the security manager to let us in. While waiting for the Consular Officer, Alex asked the HR admin she knew if we could met this summer's interns (as a way to make connections orrr get invited to the Ambassador's 4th of July party...one or the other). One of the interns named Megan tells us that if we're interested, she's going to Zambia for safari this weekend for an all-time low price of $500. We tell her that we just MIGHT be busy and unable to go (seeing how that's close enough to my Cali rent). As we're waiting and chatting all the sudden the U.S. Ambassador to Malawi walks through the door. We jump up immediately to introduce ourselves and explain that we're here working for MEJN for the summer. It is clear she is both quite familiar with the organization and even more impressed with the work they do. Perhaps this means we'll be invited to the Ambassador's home for her July 4th party? .....ehhh no so lucky in that regard....today at least. Soon after, the Consular Officer, Heather, meets with me and says that while I cannot use the secured diplomatic post service to mail my laptop, she can contact TSA directly in LAX to locate it. BTW, it's good to have friends in high places because apparently she contacted the head of TSA and I received a lightening response. A big THANK YOU to Lee and Ms. Tara Macken for helping me hunt it down during the whole process!!!!!

We leave the Embassy and make the 40 min. trek home. Salome or "Sally" as most everyone knows her as cannot believe how far we've walked in a day. She is roasting peanuts in a small pan above a small charcoal stove on the kitchen floor telling us all kinds of stories about Malawi and herself. Working as a nurse in the U.K. and as a native of Malawi, she explains how bad the HIV/AIDS endemic was and still is in her country though slowly improving. She is one of five siblings but two have already passed away. Her youngest sister was only 26 and 3 months pregnant at the time. I cannot begin to imagine. The current life expectantcy in Malawi is only around age 40. We retire to bed after affixing our mosquito nets above the beds. Now we're getting the FULL experience.

6/27

Each morning so far starts off with Malawi tea (aka crack water) and toast. After breakfast, I boil a pot of water on the small charcoal stove outside for another SPECTACULAR hand wash bath experience. Did that delivery seem convincing? Once washed up, we walk into town to check email at an internet cafe then meet up with Jenn, one of the contacts my professor gave me for Malawi. Jenn, a super interesting individual (and highly entertaining), has been working in Malawi for the past year on a global health fellowship with Baylor. She gives us all the inside scoop of the places to go in Lilongwe then generously drives us over to Devil's street to show us how and where to book bus tickets to Zambia. She also takes us by other districts in the city that include furniture...clothing, etc. We drive down "Coffin Rd." as its known because this is where many of the people pick out their coffins since at a point in time not so long ago MANY people were passing away.

Later that day she texts us to come out for dinner to meet her friends. We immediately reply YES and get excited that we'll be meeting other Americans and expats working/living in Malawi. Jenn graciously offers to pick us up (as she lives in Area 6 as well) at 7pm so 6:00 rolls around and we start to get ready. Out of nowhere we hear a different women's voice coming from the kitchen. No sooner Sally comes rushing into our room pointing to her mouth saying "SHH Shh shh....(creepily laughing) IF you speak or come out of the room, I will KILL you" and proceeds to walk out. It felt right on the borderline of joking and 100%!t(MISSING)ruth so we stay in our beds carefuly not to make any noise. We can hear Sally refer to the woman as "mama" so I'm thinking it is her mom and she doesn't like white people....kind of an odd feeling. Sally comes in 2 more times and says the same thing that now starts to freak me out a little bit. 45 minutes goes by... I'm about to pee my pants and Jenn will be here any moment to pick us up. Alex and I devise a plan to jump out the bedroom window but quickly realize all the windows in the house have welded bars on them. Jenn texts us that she's outside the gate right as Sally walks in and asks in the best mama Cleo voice, "Have ya ever been in prison?" (NO) "Well ya just have." With no time to ask for an explanation we rush out the door and head to dinner at Buchanans with Jenn, her roommate Erik and friend Lauren. The story made for a great ice breaker to say the least. Afterward, we met up with Jenn's other friend, Matt, who was watching the Euro Cup just a few yards away at Chameleons, a popular expat bar. It was packed!

In that time, Alex and I met a Malawi woman working with the EU and a Serbian man with the World Bank. Though we only chatted for 10 minutes or so it was long enough to explain that we're affiliated with MEJN and for them to invite us to a government delegation of some sort (which unfortunately never transpired). Regardless, one of the great things about being abroad in such remote countries is having access to all the top officials of aid and international development organizations, since there aren't many hang outs in the capitol city of what is known in the aid community as a "hardship" country.

As it turned out it was Matt's bday that night so we all headed over to the "Shack", which is one of 2 clubs in Lilongwe. Alex said she used to come here all the time and I can see why. They played all the best early 90s hip hop and we danced the rest of the night away. Lucky for us it's less than a mile from our house but Jenn drove us home since it's a very bad idea to walk after dark any where due to roaming hyenas, wild dogs, thug, etc. The usual. Great first night out in the City!!

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9th July 2012

Have you ever been in prison?
Love that line! I can't wait to see what is going on with Sally and hopefully it will just be funny weird and not scary weird! Really enjoying the blog and living vicariously! Also, will you actually get back your laptop? We are doing well here - mired in poop and burps but still in bliss!

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