The rains were supposed to end a few weeks ago. However, thanks to those industrialized countries; in the developed world; with their SUVs, power plants, technology, smoke, smog, plastic bottles, fossil fuels , and Al Gore with his climate change; the weather has been slightly different this year. We have still been getting a lot of rain.
The farmers in the area where I live (which I guess includes just about everyone, including myself) have all been telling me that these late rains will cause problems with the upcoming maize harvest, as a large portion of the crop may be rotting. I remember a few months ago when everyone was complaining that we weren't getting enough rains. Now we are getting too much. I guess farmers are the same all over the world: they are never content with yesterday's weather or tomorrow's forecast. But I shouldn't make it sound like we are having monsoons all of the time because we do still have some beautiful sunsets.
On a different note, Friday was the last day of Term 1 at my school. I'm now at the capital, and this afternoon I will be headed back to Dedza College of Forestry (the place where I had most of my training last year) to spend 10 days doing something called a Reconnect. I will be meeting back up with everyone that I went through training with, and we will have the chance to complain and joke about our first few months on our own, develop our language skills, and learn about other useful things like grant writing and such. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again (I've already been seeing a lot of old faces today). During this time, I should also have an opportunity to visit the family I was living with back in November. I have a nice framed picture of us to give them, and I'm hoping they'll give me another sack of spuds or maybe some peanuts like they did when I left Dedza in December. After that, a bunch of us are planning on taking a multi-day hike along the northern lakeshore. I haven't done a lot of traveling so far, as I have been busy with school, so I pumped to finally have a chance to get out and see more of Africa. I should have some cool picks from this little adventure in a few weeks.
As I said, I am now done with school, and we will begin Term 2 in three weeks. All in all, things have been going well for me. The two boys that I have living with me are now like my little brothers, my students appear to at least be learning something, my Chichewa is getting better everyday, I have lots of IGAs (income generating activities) lined up in the community, and Chadabwa is truly beginning to feel like my home. Two weeks ago, the boys helped me triple the size of my garden. It's looking pretty good, although the maize we planted is having some trouble (They keep trying to convince me that we need to apply fertilizer while I tell them we just need to make more compost. I have a feeling they're going to put down some fertilizer the next couple of days since I won't be around to stop this from happening. This country's addicted to fertilizer, but it appears to be the only immediate solution to feed everyone because there are simply too many people living here and there is not enough land to feed everyone.). It will be nice to have a break from village life for a few weeks, but I already miss everyone back home in Chadabwa.
Before I go I should tell you about the funeral I went to a few weeks ago. In the area where I live, the predominate tribe is Chewa while the predominate religion is Christianity (especially the Catholic and Presbyterian flavors). At this point, I don't entirely understand how these two cultural aspects-tribe and religion-coexist (there does appear to be some tension between the two, perhaps analogous to the superficial feud between science and religion), but both are very important parts of the Malawian culture. Anyways, this funeral was strictly of the Chewa variety, without any Christianity added. Certainly it was different than any funeral I have seen before, and although it's difficult for me to explain it in words (I will have some pictures in the future (this time around the chiefs wouldn't allow me to bring a camera) after I am "initiated" into the Chewa tribe (a friend has told me that this "initiation" will consist of spending a few consecutive nights at the village's manda (graveyard)-obviously I will have more to say about this in the future))), let me try to highlight some of the more interesting parts. The entire village community was, or more accurately-was expected to be, present. There were also many people from outside the community (they were all very surprised to see me, a white man, that far away from Town at a funeral in the village). I would estimate that there were about 300 people present. This was a surprise to me because (I say this with no intention of disrespecting the individual) the man that passed away was only an ordinary person in the village. The highlight (yes there is a highlight to a Chewa funeral) of the ceremony was the Gule Waukulu, which means Big Dance in English. This consisted of three traditional dancers, in elaborate costumes with disturbing masks, putting on a ten or 15 minute performance in which they danced while collecting money from the crowd. If I interpreted everything correctly, the idea is that the dancers represent spirits, and these spirits have the responsibility of escorting the deceased into the afterlife. The funeral definitely involved mourning, but the Gule Waukulu was more like a celebration with people laughing and enjoying the dance. I will have more to say on Chewa culture in the future since I find it fascinating, and I am becoming good friends with a guy that is always telling me that he will teach me things “DEEP into Chewa culture.”
That’s all for today folks, but I will leave you with a word of wisdom. The next time you are disgruntled with the “economic crisis” just think that it could be a lot worse if you were living in immense poverty like the people I see here every day. As Eric the Midget likes to say, “Buy for now.”
"Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish. And yet it also pleases me and seems right that what is of value and wisdom to one man seems nonsense to another." Hermann Hesse
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