I was working my butt off on July 4th, but today-Malawi's Independence Day-I have no work to do and lot's of time on my hands. Thus, here's a long awaited post with some ramblings:
Life goes on in Malawi. This time of year there is a lot of dust. I've been ridding my bike a lot here, and there are usually one of two different problems to deal with-mud or dust. It seems like just yesterday that I was pushing my bike through the mud, unable to ride it because the mud was sticking everywhere to the tires. Cursing and very upset, I dreamt of the dry season, when there is no mud and you don't have to ford rivers just to get to work. Well, the dry season has come, and I completely forgot about the dust. You think I would have this figured out after three years, but apparently I don't. It now happens on a daily basis where I'm ridding my bike down a dirt road (95% of them are dirt in Malawi) on my way to school or something, and I spot a big truck coming from the other direction. In this situation, the best thing to do is run for hell in a direction perpendicular to the road, away from where the truck has come and where the truck is going. The reason for this is that it's bone dry this time of year. We haven't seen a single cloud for a few months, and trucks passing down a rural dirt road tend to create a huge dust clouds that people have been known to get lost in forever. At least we have mud and the rainy season to look forward to in November/December (by then I'll be on my way out of here!).
A few days ago I got roped into invigilating (watching over the students while they take an exam) the much-anticipated national exams that the students take to pass secondary school. With my bachelor’s degree and air of authority, I am considered an expert on the physical sciences. Therefore, the school that I work a little bit with thought it imperative for me to do much of the legwork for the practical part of their physical science exam (in which they attempt to do experiments with equipment and materials that they have never used before, such as ammeters, graduated cylinders, and stop watches). Of course, I agreed to this. End result: I felt like a super busy waiter on a never-ending (12 hour) shift. We showed up at 7am to set up for the exam, and then we proceeded to run around for twelve hours answering questions like: "Sir, what am I supposed to do with this [he holds up a beaker full of bromine, but it sure doesn't look like beautiful, brown bromine after it expired two years ago and has been sitting in the African sun for at least three years]," "Sir, I don't have this," "Sir, I don't have that," "Sir, sir, sir..." We had a limited amount of equipment to use for the various electrical and chemical experiments that they had to use so we ended up having the students take the exam in shifts- many, many shifts. We were having them do each experiment for 30 minutes, and while that group did their experiment we had to wait on them: refilling chemicals, washing equipment, fixing equipment, etc. Then we would bring another group in for 30 minutes, and then another, and then another... until I realized that it was late afternoon and we still had three groups to get through. We ended up finishing at 7:30 in the evening, and I was exhausted. The last group was taking the exam after the sun had set, and this wasn't a problem until the power went out. We had to scramble around looking for candles for a few minutes, but it all worked out. I remember invigilating last year at my old school, and I thought that was difficult when we got done early in the afternoon. This year, however, was exhausting. After getting done, I went home, went straight to bed, and slept like a rock.
I think I'm correct in saying that immigration is still a big issue these days back in the States. That's the impression I get from listening to the BBC sporadically. I find it interesting that we have similar problems with immigration here. The following analogy is fitting: Malawi is to South Africa as Mexico is to the United States. Even though (at least from an American perspective) South Africa has plenty of problems and it can't be considered a "developed" country (certainly parts of it are developed, but other parts are as bad as it gets on this planet), many young Malawian men dream of going to South Africa to work and live happily ever after. Especially in the area where I am, many men get married, have a few kids, and decide that the best way for them to provide for their family is to run away to South Africa, find a job, and send money back to their family in Malawi from time to time. This is basically what goes on between Mexico and the US as well. I've spoke with many Malawians that have worked in South Africa, and a few experiences seem to be common there: 1) They do work that South Africans refuse to do (e.g. hands-on agricultural labor, cleaning, gardening, etc.). 2) They have a hard time integrating into South African society and are generally disliked by South Africans (this is the xenophobia that we always hear about). 3) They are often there illegally, end up getting caught, and find themselves deported back to Malawi. 4) There main purpose for going to South Africa is to make money, more money than they think they can make by doing the same amount of work in their homeland. However, it takes many of them longer than expected to find regular work, and they usually face lots of trouble early on after immigrating. Does all of this sound familiar? It does seem like many of them actually end up making a decent amount of money that they send back home, but that money goes back to a home that hasn't had a father around in a while...but I won't go into all the problems that leads to.
That's all I got for today. I'll try to post more frequently in the near future, but I can't promise anything.
"There is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for." Paulo Coelho
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