Blue Nsima

Over the weekend we had a birthday for a friend. We 'themed' the party and ended up using some food colouring in the food. We invited our landlord and landlady to join us for the meal, and they were quite intrigued by the blue food. At some point one of suggested that we should try putting some food colouring in nsmina (the local food that is made out of maize flour). Nsima is very much the stape food in Malawi, it is eaten at lunch and dinner, and sometimes it is eaten in porridge form for breakfast.

My landlady, Mrs. Adams, loved the idea of trying out blue nsima. Thus, last night we ate blue nsima. It was a little shocking to see on the plate (usually it's white), but it was a delicious meal. Last night we ate it with beans, pumpkin leaves with groundnut (like peanuts) flour, and bean leaves.

The picture shows Mrs. Adams enjoying some blue nsima.

It's Obvious!

This morning when I was running I was joined by another, Malawian, jogger. It was good timing because I'd just had a discussion the day before with my work mates about how few Malawians exercised for pleasure (or fitness I guess). And, I guess my co-workers are right, the majority of Malawians are in great shape because they work all day.

The Malawian that joined me today is used to running long distances, but this morning he was late leaving (it was already 5:30am) and he saw me and decided to run with me instead of his usual routine.

After jogging for a while we exchanged names. I went first, and then he said 'My name is Obvious'. Ok, I thought I won't forget that name (in general I'm not very good at remembering people's names). Apparently, Obvious is a fairly common name in Malawi (although I haven't run into anyone with that name before).

I'll be looking out for Obvious on my future runs.

May it Rain

This was the scene outside work this morning when I arrived. I said it looks like rain, and Mathias (one of my colleagues) said he didn't think it would rain. But, we really need the rain because we've been a week without anything falling from the skies. So, he said he said he hoped he was wrong... 'may it rain' he said.

Now, it's been raining for about an hour and a half. The plants (crops) are happy, the people are happy. It's a good day for rain!

Rainy Days

After a short time home, I'm back in Malawi (and I have been for a few weeks!) In Malawi, it's the middle of the rainy season right now. The rains in the central region have been fairly good and everything is beautiful and green. (Friends in tell me that Lusaka, Zambia has turned into a giant mud puddle, and sadly in the south of Malawi the rains have been very poor and the crops are dying).

It's quite a transformation since I left just before Christmas. There is maize everywhere, and I mean everywhere. The farmers fields are thick with young maize, people's backyards have become gardens, there is maize growing just behind the building where I work, and there is even maize between the road and corner shop next to my house. People are taking every opportunity to grow the food that will have to last them all year long. Since the rains have been fairly regular in the central region, farmers in the area are also preparing to grow food that will help to feed the other regions of the country that haven't been so lucky.