My host family

Thought that I share with you some pictures of my new host family... well not quite so new actually. I've been living with them for almost three weeks now. And, everything is going swimmingly.

First, the lovely Phyness. Phyness is Director of Programs for the north (the country is divided into three regions: north, centre, and south) at CNFA. Phyness started her career as a home economics instructor with the Malawian Ministry for Gender. While she was working for the government Phyness was offered the opportunity to go on several training courses. She's travelled to Ghana for training and taken a degree in Business Administration from Durham College in England (both through government, or NGO programs). In total, Phyness spent 20 years working for the Malawian government and finished her career there as assistant to the Minster for Foreign Affairs. In her various roles with the government Phyness has travelled to Japan, England, America (New York!), and throughout Africa. She's been taking very good care of me.

Next, the delightful Diverson. Diverson has become my running partner for the last two weeks. He is very kind and runs slowly for me so that I don't keel over too quickly. Diverson works for World Vision in the accounting department. He is working on his CFA (I'm not an accountant so I'm a little unsure of the correct set of letters I should put together there). Diverson is getting married this September so his attention is currently a little bit diverted from his studies. Along with the work that Diverson does for World Vision, he also raises chickens (mkuku) for meat, and chickens for eggs. Right now, we've got seven cute little chicks running around the yard (I just appreciate them now and try not to think about where they're headed).

Sylvia has quickly become a good friend, and she is an excellent Chichewa tutor (and translator when necessary). Sylvia has a degree in marketing and she has done some work at hotels in Lilongwe and at NGOs in Lilongwe. Currently, Sylvia is running her own business. She travels within Malawi buying goods (mainly clothes) where they are cheaper and then re-selling them where they are more costly. She also travels to South Africa once a month to buy clothes, handbags, and requested items for resale in Malawi (this seems to be a fairly common practise - lots of things are available in South Africa that don't seem to be readily available here). Sylvia is a fantastic cook and she wants to open her own restaurant or guesthouse some day.

Finally, Bob! Bob and I communicate in a pretty basic fashion. I speak very little Chichewa and he speaks even less English. On the days when Diverson is away (for work) Bob and I run together. Bob is even faster than Diverson (apparently he played soccer when he was younger) and so now I can say 'slowly', and 'I'm tired' in Chichewa. Bob is almost as new at the house as I am. He cooks and cleans for the family and is in general a very nice guy to be around. His wife and new baby will be coming to stay with us next week.

That's it for now. This weekend is a long weekend and I'm heading to Blantyre to climb Mt. Mulanje. It is supposed to be beautiful. I'll update you next week!

Field Day Goodness

As a little aside to begin this post... this morning I was walking to the market area near where I live to catch a minibus to get to work. On my way I walked past an open air butcher. He was preparing (the gentle way of saying it) a goat. Hanging beside the goat that he was working was a goat's head (perfectly preserved, but without a body). My soft vegetarian's heart wept a little for the poor goat.

Last Friday, I went to a pretty fantastic field day in Nkhota Kota (north-east of Lilongwe and along the shores of Lake Malawi). Fields days are intended to get farmers out and to show them how different seeds, fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides work in the area that they are farming. Each field day happens at a demonstration plot where different types of seed (usually maize (corn for non-famers like me!)) are grown. From what I can tell a field day is part marketing campaign and part educational seminar.

From CNFA's perspective the field days are to help the agrodealers in the area promote their products and increase the number of farmers that purchase agricultural inputs (like hybrid seeds). Last week's field day had about 500 farmers in attendance, and representatives from several supply companies like Monsanto (sets off alarm bells I know - but I haven't yet gathered any negative reports about them in Malawi), Seed-Co. It also had many chiefs from local villages (the highest ranking chief in attendance was a woman), and many representatives from government. Best of all CNFA didn't do any of the work organizing the day, it was all done by a the local agrodealer (this the model CNFA is trying to work towards).

I can't say that I did much that was useful at the field day, but I did enjoy myself. There were presentations, discussion, skits, and dancing. I took lots of pictures, which I hope you enjoy.

I've moved...

My new place
I've moved out of central Lilongwe to Area 25 (it's what I'd call a slightly unimaginative naming scheme). It's definitely a little bit of longer distance to work now, but it the move has its perks. Chief among the perks is the fact that I'm living with my co-worker Phyness Thembulembu. She and her family have been extremely kind in welcoming me into their home. Phyness is a very successful Malawian so the house is pretty luxurious. I'll probably move later in the year so that I can get a feel for the living experience of a more typical Malawian, but for now I'm just enjoying having such a great place and great people to live with.

My host family
My host family has 3 human members, 4 canine members, 1 feline member, and an honourary member called Bob. The head of the family is Phyness. As I mentioned Phyness works at CNFA, where she is Director of the Northern Region. Phyness has four children: Nicholas, Devison, Sylvia, and Mercy. Luckily for me, Devison and Sylvia live at home so I have a bit of company around my age (Devison is 31-like me, and Sylvia is 23). Devison is in accounting and works for World Vision in Lilongwe, and Sylvia has a diploma in marketing and is currently running her own business where she travels to Johannesburg and buys goods and then resells them in Lilongwe. Sylvia in particular has been really fantastic about looking after me and helping me learn about all things Malawian.

I've also made friends with the 4 dogs whose names are Zambani, Thunder, Storm, and Black. The dogs are mostly around for guard duty I think, but they manage to sneak the odd pet. They've gotten used to me now so I'm enjoying giving out a fair number of pets and back scratches. The cat's name is Tweetie (like the cartoon). I'm not so sure I've made friends with Tweetie yet. He's cute, but inclined to randomly swat at you as you walk by. Perhaps I'm just a dog person.

Lastly, but certainly not leastly is Bob. Bob works as a live-in cook and cleaner at the house. Bob doesn't speak any English, so any communication that I've had with him has been limited to what's been translated and my extremely limited Chichewa. However, I look forward to getting to know Bob much better in the near future.

Chichewa
Sylvia, Phyness, and Devison have been extremely helpful in assisting me on my new mission to learn Chichewa. Although a large number of people in Lilongwe are very proficient English speakers (including my co-workers, and my host family) most people speak little to no English (like Bob). Most of the time if I'm speaking to an agrodealer at work the conversation has to be translated for me. Right now my learning quest has led to the point where I can competently say 'hello', 'how are you', 'I'm fine', 'see you tomorrow', 'how much is it', 'have a good day', and 'good night'. However, I'm adding to my vocabulary every day. I'm sure I'll be fluent in the very near future!

Running
I seem to have found a new running partner in Devison. I mentioned that I was interested in running in the morning to the family and they suggested that Devison would be good company.... so far Devison seems willing. The only catch is that we try to leave the house for work at 6:45 am every morning, so this means that running has been scheduled for 5:10 am. The sunrise was beautiful this morning.... perhaps the experience will convert me into a morning person. I'll keep you updated.

Kuwale Pictures

Time flies!

I thought I'd put up some pictures from a walk in a neighbourhood in the outskirts of Lilongwe. A better update is coming soon.Sadly, the Wisdom Shop was closed.