Mob Justice and the Livin' Ain't Easy

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7/27

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Sorry it’s taken me so long to write this next entry. We’ve had frequent all day power outages which can make things a little difficult around here! These past 3 weeks have definitely had their fair share of highs and lows with time moving fast and yes, even slow. I’ve had some kind of cold symptoms for about two of them but really I think it’s all the red clay-colored dust and exhaust in the air. Anyway, it’s left me totally wiped, sleeping away half my evenings right after work. Not much writing has gotten done so I’ll summarize my days as they come to me.

Our busy times at work have included meetings with DFID (MEJN’s funder), AICC, a policy symposium on agriculture production and an all day Saturday meeting in the Mchinji District that focused on reworking the justice system for women effaced with domestic violence issues. We’re on the front lines of fighting corruption or as Alex says, we’re on the front lines <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">watching other people fight corruption. Haha c’est la vie!

Our most exciting day in the office thus far was on a mid-Thursday morning when all the sudden tons of shouting was going on right outside our second floor office window. I peered the curtains open and saw a few people running outside. Just then, Felix, MEJN’s driver, came in to tell us that some guy had stolen a bag of money from a shop nearby. Freenzy, one of the regional coordinators, came in laughing saying that she couldn’t believe someone would actually try to steal in this town. Before I had time to ask what she meant by that statement 10 then 60 people came out of no where. In the middle of the scuffle, I could see one person in the middle dragging the man who stole the money by his collar. Everyone encircled him, kicking and punching with all their might. I couldn’t believe that all this was happening right before my eyes. Our co-worker, Matilda, casually walked in to tell us not to worry. This was called, “Mob Justice.” Apparently, from years upon years of the police not having the capacity to handle crime, Malawians have substituted themselves with their own respite. Matilda said it’s gotten better over the past couple of years, especially given the new administration under President Joyce Banda. In her words, most Malawians don’t set people on fire any more (yes you read that right)….even though this practice still continues in many villages (and even shady spots of the city) if you’re caught stealing. Kind of ironic and hard to believe I’m living in what’s coined the “Warm Heart of Africa” as Malawi is known to the rest of the continent. To add, I think I (purposely) failed to mention this time last year a “mzungu” (white) woman was walking in Old Town wearing pants and a covered top when she was surrounded by locals who began to rip all of her clothes off because she wasn’t wearing the traditional dress code here for women known as a chitenje (che-ten-jay) or long wrap-around skirt. Needless to say, despite Fletcher telling us Malawi is now an “open society” and we’re free to dress as we please, Alex and I always caution on the conservative side.

On another late Thursday afternoon, we were told to not even come to work on Friday because the whole capitol (and country for that matter) was put on alert about protests. Apparently last year, in a move to rid illegal street vendors from the businesses adjacent to our office, the Lilongwe (LLW) police resorted to force when locals retaliated leaving 20 people dead. And on the one year anniversary the police were going to rid the streets of the vendors again. So we were advised by our colleagues in all seriousness that in case we didn’t want stones thrown at our head (uh-huh) or possibly worse it’d be best to stay at home as the office would be closed as a result. Point taken! Among all the acronyms used here due to all the aid organizations there’s one that the ex-pats and now I use in our daily vernacular: T.I.A – THIS IS AFRICA.

It’s also been a sad time at the office as one of our co-workers passed away. We weren’t given much info as to the cause but we do know he was only in his early 30’s. I shared the news one night out with our friends here and it turned into a whole convo about how many death notices people get by email to the point that it became almost just another email. Again, short life expectancy is just one part of daily life here that literally for their own survival mode people do not dwell on death. It’s been a lot emotionally for Alex and I to take in, more than my words and selected stories can describe. But we’ve yet to lose our sense of humor people! Reflecting over lunch one day Alex said she wasn’t sure how much more she could handle. No sooner did she finish that sentence then when all the power and lights in the city went out. All we could do is bust out laughing.

Lunch time has become one of our releases here. We came across a small Italian bistro named Augustos that serves REAL Italian bread with OLIVE OIL and even gelato. It’s amazing how convo over just a bit of bread and oil can become our own slice of “home” but it really has in a sense.

Speaking of home, life at Sally’s keeps getting more exciting for us! We’re now down to 2 light bulbs in the entire house. One in our bedroom and one in the hallway, which is always fun at night …cold bathing and using the restroom by flashlight…more romantic that way me thinks. We also now have an entire family of large rats that keep our kitchen good company so we don’t leave any food outside of containers. All my senses wanted to scream the other night when one scurried right over my feet but after opening the sugar jar the other morning for my tea only to see that it was infested with crawling ants I somehow managed to just shrug my shoulders and go about my night. To be fair, Sally did go out and buy a “water heater” for our baths. And by heater I mean a short electrical cord that plugs into the wall on one end and has a small metal coil on the other end that you stick into a mini tub to heat up instead of waiting for water to boil on the baula or charcoal pit. I’m pretty sure this contradicts everything I was taught when I was younger about sticking electrical appliances in big tubs of water but hey – T.I.A., right?! I find it creates a kind of suspense each moment bath time comes around to see if we’ll be meeting our maker via electrocution. GOOD TIMES!

Luckily by now, just about all of LLW has taken pity and have offered up their showers and kitchens to us. We’ve gone over to Lizzie’s a few times to cook dinner altogether, which has been awesome and Jam has us house sitting once a week while he’s on a 2-month trip back in the States. There’s no heat there and it gets pretty cold at night so Alex and I collect firewood each time we go and I tend to sleep by the fire we’ve made.

We do continue to meet some wonderful people here I must say who sometimes even out match our stories. Though unfortunately, they’re mainly the opposite of uplifting. One of our friends was mugged the other day when she got into her car after grocery shopping at our local market when some guy reached in through her car window and swiped her knapsack that had her laptop in it. Luckily, there were cops nearby and were alerted immediately. She witnessed them chasing the man down, shooting at him as he ran into the field across from where we live. He managed to get away but dropped her bag in the process so all but her money was recovered.

Another girl we had dinner with who works at the Central Hospital and is less than a year from becoming a doctor told us that she was treating a patient the other day when she went to grab some supplies and was accidentally poked by an infected HIV needle. She hasn’t told her family yet and has to wait another 6 weeks to find out if she now tests positive for HIV herself. It’s absolutely surreal… We were introduced to another awesome lady named Ally that works as a doctor at the hospital and tells us how common these kind of events are here in LLW. She told me a story about a 10-yr. old Malawi boy she was treating who had been severely neglected and malnourished. Ally said when he first arrived he only weighed about 12 lbs. and didn’t think he’d make it through the night. A few months later though and he’s now bouncing around the hospital halls to which she says that miracles also happen every day here. I exchanged stories with her about my time at PSU volunteering with THON for kids battling pediatric cancer and she said she’d love for me to volunteer for the day with her kids! So hopefully that happens soon.

One thing for sure missing in my life right now is exercise. So on our Friday off day what was only meant to be a “little” jog turned into a run around the entire city in true Lindsay Miracle fashion but Alex was a good sport about it fighting the congested dirt-filled streets and sinus infection she gained from it. Trooper!

Later that night, everyone met up at the usual Friday night ex-pat place, Harry’s. The idea had come up to climb Dedza mountain located about 1hr 20 min. away. All of the Grassroots Soccer people had a Saturday event to attend to so we only had 2 other takers – Erik, Jen’s old roommate and Sebastian, an Argentinian we had met briefly at Cape Maclear but who’s doing grad research on agro production in LLW until August. We all place bets on who is actually going to show up the next morning at 7 a.m. at the minibus park and head home to pack and sleep.

7:20 a.m. rolls around the next day and there Alex and I stand in the bus depot thinking for sure it will end up being just ourselves again for this adventure. That is until…Sebastian arrives on scene with a hand full of bananas. He gladly haggles the ticket prices for all of us and the “3 Amigos” as we will come to call ourselves set out for Dedza.

Once we finally tracked down the hidden path to start our 2.5 hour ascent we’re abruptly thrown into steep terrain taking 2 steps forward and 1 slide back…minus Paula Abdul. Alex experiences some difficulty so Sebastian stays with her while I forge ahead taking a moment to pause on each rock boulder and take in the views that surround me. We push on, hiking through the thickest bushery I’ve ever encountered with pricker vines wrapping around our bodies. it was the only instance in my life where I could legitimately say, “if only I had a machete.” Alex was clever at the first peak we reached and maguyvered her camera to take a picture of us. But the top….reaching the top was amazing! Looking out on my right was Mozambique and Malawi to my left. We all celebrate with some trail mix commiserating over our master programs before racing the mid-day sun down the long switch back mountain path.

The next day we recovered our legs by exploring the forbidden market to which the only way of entering is by paying 15MK ($.10) to cross the most Indiana Jones – looking bridge I’ve ever seen over any river. A great start to my birthday weekend for sure but let’s get on with the celebration already!

A little hard to celebrate your last night of being 27 though when no one goes out on Monday nights, the streets deserted by 6 p.m. no matter the day and it’s unsafe to walk to the store 5 min. away since someone was just murdered there a couple months ago. Wahoo! SO Alex and I did what any stir-crazy, bucket-bathing mzungu on the cusp of turning 28 would do. We paid our guard, “Banda” to walk us to the store so we could buy ourselves a bottle of wine!

Now for my actual birthday. First off, y’all are amazing for the many messages, emails, videos and even the attempt to send me flowers here, which apparently is easier to do to the slums of Baghdad then to little LLW, Malawi. From the bottom of my heart every one of you made my day, which started at 6:30 a.m. when Alex blasted the Beatles song, “You Say it’s Your Birthday” on her computer followed by lighting a single match stick for me to blow out and presented me with the perfect birthday present I could receive at this particular moment of my life – a bottle of Extra Virgin OLIVE OIL haha.

I permitted myself to leave work at 4 p.m. to get ready for my birthday dinner at the Sanctuary Lodge. Alex took me here for an early birthday present over the weekend after our long run. The place is set in the heart of the woods and resembles a classic ski lodge with a wood beam ceiling but replaced of course with African décor. There’s an outdoor patio whereby during the day you can watch all the monkeys and baboons swing in the trees and even come up to your table. By night, they light the whole place by candle light and all you can hear in the cool air is the sound of the crickets. Perfect spot to begin the evening. So my Tuesday night began with Lizzie picking us up and being welcomed in the car with a huge “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” and oversized party hats for everyone that night to wear. It felt like my fifth birthday party all over again. I take the lead on DJ-ing the music and cue “Eye of the Tiger” as we pull out of the driveway. Maybe it’s one of those ‘ya had to be there moments’ but being in a jam packed car on the rural streets of Africa with everyone wearing these ridiculous (awesome) hats and listening to Rocky’s theme song but I’m still cracking up about it even as I write this. THANK YOU LIZZIE!!!! …We do a lil’ tour of LLW after dinner at the Lodge hitting up the locals spot, Alexander’s Pub, and dancing the night away to throwback jams at Zanzi. With truly limited resources, my birthday was GREAT SUCCESS!! 😊)

When morning arose we were on a mission. Background: Sebastian had mentioned to us at Dedza that he was headed to Victoria Falls for his last week in Africa and was looking for people to join the trip. As it turns out, Fletcher was called on a whim to conduct a side project in Lusaka, Zambia the other day so with him there for the next 3 weeks and nothing to do in the office it dawned on us that we could move up our own trip to Victoria Falls which we were saving for our last week here. Just needed to get the OK email from Fletcher, which came through late in the day yesterday – SCORE!

So Alex and I raced all around Lilongwe. First to the Zambian Embassy to obtain visa applications then to the internet café in town to type and print out our travel letters and make copies of our passports. Next, we had to exchange our Malawi Kwacha currency for U.S. dollars. Let me say in hindsight that I should’ve brought a ton more U.S. currency with me (for many more reasons you will come to know). Since President Banda devalued the Malawi currency by 49%!t(MISSING)he U.S. dollar and other forex (foreign exchange currency) is valued highly but is scarce in the country’s existence. By the fourth visit to an exchange bureau and by the dear grace of God we were able to be approved to exchange our Kwacha back to dollars. By 3 p.m. we rushed over to the bus park and secured our tickets to Lusaka, the midway point to Livingstone, Zambia, where the falls are located. And THIS is where our journey begins……
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