Zithunzi

This one will be relatively short. I'll include a few pictures here for those of you that prefer to be entertained visually. As a reminder, if you want to look at all of my Malawian pictures, then check out the link to the left. Apparently this isn't obvious to some of you, but the password is "malawi" and the username is my email: bjvonasek@gmail.com.

Our first snap (Malawians call them "snaps" instead of "pictures," this makes me chuckle to myself) shows Bryan's new preferred way of cooking. The local name for this contraption is mbaula. It's designed to be used with charcoal, and that's exactly how I use it. As an environmentally conscious Peace Corps Volunteer, I'm supposed to be against the idea of using charcoal to cook my food. Supposedly, it uses up significantly more firewood than using firewood directly, and because deforestation is such a problem here in Malawi, we're supposed to look out for this kind of stuff. But I like it. Why? One, it's cheap. I bought all of the charcoal in the two bags below for 1000 kwacha (about USD7).
Two, once you get it started, it doesn't produce any smoke. This gives many advantages over cooking with firewood: you can cook (or warm yourself) indoors, no smoke in you eyes, you don't reek of smoke after cooking dinner. Three, it doesn't make black soot all over the bottom of your pots and pans (this is a pain when your cooking with firewood). Four, a little bit of charcoal goes a long way. For this reason, I especially like charcoal for cooking beans since they often seem to need all afternoon to cook. In sum, I say, "Srew the environment, and give me my charcoal." I don't feel so guilty when I contemplate my miniscule carbon footprint. (Guess what-I burn my trash too- good thing there's not very much of it.)
Our next snap here is Bryan's new house. Compared to the one at Chadabwa, this one is very nice. When the wind blows, I'm no longer aftaid that the roof's going to blow off. There's electricity inside (although its not completely reliable and blackouts are frequent). There's a sink,

toilet, and shower (but no running water, we're expecting that sometime within the next decade). All in all, it’s handsome and sturdy, just like the one living inside. However, I’m still worried about the upcoming rainy season because I’ve heard that the roof leaks a lot, but we’ll see what happens.
I’ve should have shown a picture of this a long time ago, but here it is now. This is one of my most prized possessions (though it’s not really mine, I’ve have to return it to Peace Corps whenever I finish my service (if ever?)). Its handsome and sturdy, just like the one that rides it (did I already use that line?). Now that I’m not stuck at school all day, I’m riding it a lot, and I have become attached to it. I wash it religiously every Saturday or Sunday. Its been very reliable; it only failed me once when the old freewheel stopped cooperating last year and I had to push it home four miles. Most Malawians are very confused by the height of the seat, and I always fail to explain to them about the leverage of a fully extended leg.

"The humbleness of a warrior is not the humbleness of the beggar. The warrior lowers his head to no one, but at the same time, he doesn’t permit anyone to lower his head to him. The beggar, on the other hand, falls to his knees at the drop of a hat and scrapes the floor to anyone he deems to be higher; but at the same time, he demands that someone lower than him scrape the floor for him." Carlos Casteneda