week 8

Woke up Sunday morning and was planning to go to church. Then as I thought about it I really felt that I didn’t want to go and sit on those pews not understanding lots or getting much out of what I do understand and I did feel like walking. I also didn’t want to be stared at so much so I decided to go up the mountain. It was a beautiful morning for it. When I got to the mountain hut the watchman told me he would escort me up—not necessary but there was no talking him out of it. I practiced two Chichewa questions on him (do you have a wife? And kids?) about halfway he noticed more azungu at the hut so I told him he should go back down as we couldn’t figure out who they were and I knew my way up. Couldn’t quite see the lake from the top but stunning panaorama. Turned out the three azungu were from the guesthouse-two british med students and an eye dr-and they’d brought up or were led by two of the missionary dogs, shadow and sprute…it was nice to have company on the way down.
That afternoon I had been invited to a choir festival by Beria, barbara’s housekeeper. The invite was for 130 so we went over about 3…it was in full swing but I don’t think we were late at all. Lots of people crowded into the quad area of William Murray Secondary School. Lots of familiar faces but no real idea what is going on. A choir festival is a money raising activity (that I knew)…the hosting choir invites many other choirs for an afternoon and then they have “competitions” as to who raises the most money..they take representatives from 3 or 4 different choirs standing at the front and people go up and put money in their baskets…whichever one has the most sings the next song…then it is repeated with different choirs…and all the money raised is for the hosting choir (that I didn’t know). Luckily I’d brought small money with me because it is more fun and they like it more when you go up multiple times…and of course you dance your way to and from the baskets…good time and happy moods!
My Chichewa lessons have continued but I feel that they are slowing down on the pick up. The first week I sped through lessons 1 and 2 and then 3 and 4 weren’t too bad. Then 5 had me stumped for at least 2 weeks probably more like 3. Now I’m on lesson 6 and this is going on my 2nd week…but then I’ve also been busier during the days and so not studying everyday like I should be. I can answer some simple questions now but still hearing them is a bit confusing as they speak so fast. (as people speaking foreign languages always seem to do from the learner’s perspective) Chichewa is an alliterative language…the prepositions have to agree with the noun case and the beginnings then often start with the same letter…for example “there is” is pali unless the preposition ku (in) is in the sentence somewhere in which case pali becomes kuli. Lesson 6 is going to take a while…(mu nyumba umo mulibe anthu. There are no people in the house there.)
I was back at the epilepsy clinic on Tuesday. We got our system working…I was the runner between the dr and note taker and the attendant who would explain to the patient about their records and medication…going smoothly until one girl comes in with her sister’s health passport (medical records are kept by the patient in Malawi) and epilepsy book (for the study they are doing). Took us ages to find out why the name on the passport wasn’t the same as the patient we had in front of us…problem working through translators but also trying to get answers from the girl who was probably a bit slow. Finally got that it was her sister but still not getting useful info as to why she was here. Then another person came in…I don’t know if it was a guardian or just someone who knows her but she explained that the sister wasn’t supposed to be in the study as she hadn’t had seizures in a couple of years but that this one should but she refuses to take her medication. A bit of an impasse I think but we’ll see what happens. Told to take her meds and she agreed…
Thursday Klaasje, me, abusa Chapota, mr. thousand and Hennie Smit went to one of the prayerhouses under the nkhoma CCAP church, Gowo. Only 17 km from nkhoma but the road was not very good so it took us about 2 hours to get there with the stops for checking on the road and finding ways around impassable areas. It was a beautiful view from the top where the prayerhouse was. Met some of the elders and community leaders and then went inside to conduct the meeting. Started with singing then Klaasje was given time to ask her questions…she didn’t know she was supposed to have questions—she was told they would have register books for her to look at and get her numbers from…but she did well—asked about the membership (26) numbers of youth (18?) and whether they are following the curriculum that was given to them (Choose Freedom) whether there are more females or males. I still don’t really know what she’ll do with this info. Then Abusa gave a homily out of the Easter story and then they had a discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of the congregation. They are good at meeting together to support each other and to praise God. They are not good at tithing because they have very little money. Problem solved when Abusa pointed out that tithing doesn’t have to be money but all that you have—harvest of maize, tobacco, soya, pumpkin, etc. that can be given to God? Yes, the church can use these things as well.
Saturday I went up the mountain again. On my flight from Ethiopia I met Miriam who works for USAID in Lilongwe and she came down with two colleagues to climb the mountain. They planned on leaving town at 8 which would put them here around 9…a bit late to start the climb with the sun shining but we have all day so there is no pressure to push and we can take advantage of any shade we can find. Too hazy to see the lake but we had a good chat at the top. There was a group of Malawians having a church service on the other side of the peak—nice background music. They were impressed with my house and the station as they had pictured the mission scene as very stark and yet in comparison to what they’ve got working for the big agency and embassy…I was surprised…I’ll have to try it out sometime as the said they have guest bedrooms if I want to stay in Lilongwe…I’ll have to see how other expats live.