Blogs from Lilongwe, Central, Malawi, Africa - page 17

So... highlights from the last few days. 7-4-2007 "Forgotten 4th" Embassy row is a lot like fraternity row. We had to go to extend our visas, and I thought about stopping in on the Chinese and British just to say "hello." Anyway, we couldn't figure out why the gate was locked and unmanned. Enter our friendly Malawian worker from a nearby truck: "Ah, no one is working here today. It is a holiday, but only for the Americans." oops. Katie and I get called Africans over here for our tree-climbing ability. Met the 30 students at My Brother's Keeper music & movement school today. The kids at MBK seem to be a lot more open and self-confident than the kids at Hillside. Today made it clear that our experiences at the two schools will be quite ... read more

Again, writing from journal. After my last post, I realized that I really goofed Achebe's character name... I think it was actually Okonkwo. 7/2 Exhausted, but it's only 9:30 p.m. Great Mississippi-style breakfast prepared by Mr. Banda and Mr. Blessing (real name... so cool!). Fried eggs, sausage, buttered toast, and mixed fruit jam. We have each meal with Jerome and Tarrita. Got to change money and visit an internet cafe in "City Center" today. All locations are given by area number and then have some neighborhood name as well, so "City Center" is the area where a lot of gov't buildings and banks are located. Afterwards, we went to Hillside school on the outskirts of the city. Mission Africa, the organization hosting us and headed by Mississippians Chris and Connie Taylor, got involved with the school ... read more

While in Lilongwe, I stay at the Sunbird Lilongwe Hotel. Don't be fooled, it is not the Le Meridian as advertised on Expedia. They pulled out some time ago when Malawi nationalized hotel chains and called them Sunbird or something like that. It's not really clear to me what exactly happened… In any case, following my horrible cab ride, I now have a driver arranged through Africare or the hotel. So the manager of the hotel and I have become friends, as I believe it is some relative of his that chauffeurs me around. When he sees me, the manager, he asks if I need transportation for the day. Then we go into his office and he makes a call. All I know is I have the guy's number saved in my phone under "Driver, Mr.". ... read more

url='/Videos/3622.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3622.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'Mada scooping nsima Well to give you a quick update about the case of Sourire, the immigration official decided to reopen her case. She swore up and down that it had nothing to do with the pressure that had been brought to bear by us and others, claiming rather that she had been apprised of “new information.” But there was no new information—except the information in Sourire’s file which the official had neglected to read before interviewing her. But as my boss explained to me, a large part of being a lawyer is knowing how to remain deferential even after you prove someone wrong. On Saturday I came into the office to do some work online (we only get internet after hours and on weekends!), and then I walked into town with one of ... read more

url='/Videos/3582.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3582.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'Food stalls at Dzaleka Well I confronted my first real challenge here in a (near-)attorney capacity. Today a group of fifteen students who have been approved for a program to study abroad in a Western country had their interviews with the country’s immigration official to determine whether they would gain refugee status there. No student approved by the program has ever been rejected by the country’s immigration before, but to our great surprise a student from Rwanda I’ll call Sourire—whose refugee status has been recognized both by Malawi and UNHCR—was turned down. I went with a colleague to meet with the immigration official to try and determine what happened and whether she might appeal. The official was a nightmare. She couldn’t discuss individual cases, she initially said, ... read more