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Published: December 28th 2007
‘If the shoe fits’ (or even if it doesn’t) - Friday 21st Dec.
The ‘MTO attackers’ first big match was on African time, starting an hour late, with a first half of 30 minutes and a second half of 1 hour 10 minutes. The game ended with the other team walking off as they disagreed with a decision made by the ref (who was from their team). African logic?! Final score was 2-2 which wasn’t bad considering that the second, longer half of the game, we had somewhat of a disadvantage, being that we were shooting towards the goal that happened to be behind a path that is frequented by women carrying loads on their heads, children on bicycles, and any other obstacle you can imagine.
We brought our trainers with us to lend to some of the players. It wasn’t exactly ‘if the shoe fits’. The guys got them on a first come, first served basis, which the 3 ‘shoed’ players seemed to be happy with even if the trainers were cutting off their circulation or slipping off their feet. We (me, Katherine and new volunteer Kaye) sat on the sidelines with the kids and cheered. The kids were
well chuffed when they realized that I was wearing ripped jeans. They started showing me all the tears on their various items of clothing and were very happy. All in all it was a nice day!
‘How many Malawians do you need for a boat tip?’ - Saturday 22nd Dec.
5 apparently. 4 to drive and 1 to translate to the mzungus who fell for the scam. Our day started with negotiations with Davis (one of the local guys who try to sell us their paintings, woodwork and trips) over the cost for us to go out on Lake Malawi, instead of just looking at it as normal. We had arranged a private trip but 4 extra locals had turned up to join us. In the end, Davis agreed for it to be just us, a driver and himself (to translate).
The vessel we were to go in was a little old motor boat named Lovemore. I was not sure how much I was going to love Lovemore when I saw the driver constantly bailing water out of it. However, if the boat sunk, what’s the worst that could happen? A few croc bites (though we were assured
we weren’t sailing close to them) and a bit of bilharzia.
We had planned on sailing round to several of the bays near us - Musaka and then Kudzi. We got as far as Kudzi and our picnic on the sand when the sky went black and the lightening started. So much for our all-day trip in the sun. Enter Kudzi lodge and bar. Although we never did get to see much of the coast, what we did see was stunning and we did have a nice afternoon! When the storm finally settled, we headed back ‘home’, with a stop on the way to jump off and do some swimming (the bilharzia was too tempting).
Later in the evening we headed to ‘probably the best bar in Mangochi’ (if the Pano bar does say so itself) for some Malawian music and dancing. ‘Dancing’ is the operative word. We TRIED to dance but then found ourselves having dancing lessons from the locals. Needless to say, we didn’t enter the contest. It was another great day.
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Jill Kolas
non-member comment
Thanks for the beautiful art work
Hi Joanna, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you!! Just wanted to say thanks for the beautiful artwork you sent. When I got the letter, I thought...who in the world is sending me a letter from outside the US? I couldn't imagine! But what a wonderful surprise. I have hung it here at work for all to enjoy. Take care and I hope and pray that you have a safe and incredible new year. Love, GP Jill