[Cup] ndi chayani mu Chichewa? How do you say cup in Chichewa?

---

On Chichewa Tuesdays, for 700 Kwacha each (a little less than £3) Dick comes to the house and gives us a one hour lesson in Chichewa; the language of the Chewa tribe of Malawi. English is taught in secondary schools and therefore all educated people speak it well, but those in the villages and others who have left school following their primary years, communicate in their local language. This is predominantly Chichewa across the country, but many speak another language such as Timbouka particularly in the north.
Last Tuesday my colleagues were stranded at the hospital waiting for transport and so I had a lesson alone. Repeated text messages updating me on their progress made me think they would arrive imminently and so Dick and I got to chatting. One of the first questions a Malawian person might ask after enquiring after your health and where you are from, is ‘Are you married?’; ‘do you have children?’ So, in keeping with the custom, this is where our conversation began. Dick, it turns out, is married, he has four children and has recently taken a job at the National Audit Office in Zomba, leaving his wife and kids at home in Blantyre about 40 minutes away by car. I asked him if he liked Zomba and he told me that he did, that he enjoyed the rural feel of the town. Dick’s office is located at the foot of the plateaux and very close to the botanical gardens and is surrounded by greenery and trees. Dick told me that Baboons and monkeys are frequently sighted in the grounds. One large male baboon that they call Willy, is particularly fearless and frequently mugs lone women workers stealing whatever food they might be carrying with them back into the office, particularly if it is visible from the top of their baskets. He mentioned the squirrels which are tame and asked what animals we have in the UK. I explained that we don’t have large animals like Africa but that we do have animals like squirrels and so on. “Do you have Teddy Beers?” asked Dick? I was slightly stumped, because of course we do have teddy bears, but perhaps not quite in the sense that Dick meant. “Erm, no we don’t have any bears” I said; “Where are beers from then?”; “I’m not too sure” I said, “I know they have bears in Northern America and Canada”, “do you pronounce it bears? Oh ok, these are beers, of course” Dick said pointing to a Carlsberg beer bottle which has been pressed into service as a candle holder. “Yes that’s right”; “So you don’t have Teddy Bears in the UK then?”
Last night, it being Tuesday and therefore Chichewa night Dick arrived at 6:30 as usual. The only drawback was the powercut, so we had Chichewa by candle light and learned such useful terms as “Mumagwira ntchito ya upsychologist, ku Zomba Mental Hospital” and “Simukudwala misala” which roughly translates as “you are not mad”.

---

Photos

Peters Lodge
for your decent and excellent acomodation.