Bees, Bingu, and Bee-lining it...

Bingu...
I'm writing this post while enjoying the delicious bubblegum-like taste of a lollipop that came wrapped in DPP blue with Bingu's head on it. After all the speculation about the elections and instability we had a very quite election week. Even the Malawians that I've talked to have been surprised how quiet voting day and the subsequent days have been. I would call it a small victory for Malawi. Free, fair, and peaceful elections.

The victor in the elections is most certainly Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika and the DPP. He has moved from a minority government to a majority government. Apparently the DPP has been struggling to implement a lot of its plans because they only had the minority. It also seems like a lots of political old-timers lost their seats. So, Malawi is in for a little bit of a shake-up, which I think is good. (Also, I'm happy Bingu gets to stay around for a little bit longer - if only to save on the cost of photos and the like - it seems that every public building in Malawi is graced with a photo of Dr. Mutharika).

Bees...
It appears that there are a band of rogue bees on the prowl in Lilongwe. Several other volunteers managed to wander into the middle of a swarm of bees last Sunday. They were chased down the street by bees for several hundred meters and were only rid of the bees when a quick thinking Malawian sprayed them down with bug spray and helped them into the showers of the guesthouse where they were staying. Luckily, I missed the bee attack. But, I was around to go and get several tubes of bee sting cream and some antihistamines for the not so lucky ones. I got a ride with the guesthouse owner and it was a bit of a surreal experience... there were cars running in the street with their doors open (because the bees had gotten in through the open windows as the cars drove through the swarm - and owners abandoned the vehicles). This might be a little odd in Canada, but is really weird here, because everything is gated. Theft is definitely a fact of life. You don't see cars with their windows down let alone in the middle of the road with the doors open and the keys in the ignition.

We were told later on that someone had destroyed two hives without trying to kill the bees first.. thus a bunch of angry bees were unleashed on the world. There were reports of bees disrupting voting lines in Lilongwe on Tuesday, so I guess it took a while for them to get over their outrage at having been un-housed.

In case you're worried everyone was ok. Just a few stings here and there.

Bee-lining it....
Also, on the weekend I went for a little 12 km run for the Lilongwe Wildlife Sanctuary. It was a lot of fun. There were about 150 of us I think, and I would say we were about 75% Malawians, and 25% azungus (that's what they call us foreigners here). I had a great time and got lots of encouragement from people on the streets. I think the fun run is a new concept here in Malawi, but I would say it shows a lot of promise. However, if you're ever planning such a run... please don't start it at one o'clock in the afternoon.... it's just ridiculously hot (it even got to the Malawians).

Till next time.... =)