This and that

So over the past few weeks there has been a major fuel crisis in Malawi. It is more of a diesel crisis and it has affected everything. Outside every gas station that has diesel there is a line of cars/trucks and people that easily stretches ½ mile; but if you’re willing to pay that right price to bribe the gas attendant, you can leave you container and come back in a few hours to get it. The whole bribery system here is getting ridiculous. I mean you can’t go more than a few miles without seeing a policeman taking a bribe from a mini-bus driver or the gas attendant taking a bribe to let someone skip out on waiting in the 10 hour diesel line. Yep that’s right folks, on average the people in line are waiting ten hours to buy gas. Sometimes we get impatient when we have to wait for ten minutes in the McDonald’s drive thru, can you even imagine waiting in line for ten hours to buy gas? Well, don’t worry I couldn’t either. I see the people in line, but I really doubt I could do it. The gas attendants would probably try to charge me more too; they would say “no this is the myzungu price for gas”. Ahhhhh! Is it sad that I can visualize that scenario in my head? The problem is coming from the fact that the Malawian government doesn’t have the money to buy gas. This seems kind of funny to me, not b/c I’m an American and we don’t have to worry about this sort of thing, but because two weeks before there was a big article in the Blantyre papers about how the President just bought a private jet for himself. I mean the jet only cost 2 billion kwacha. This situation is funny because it’s like any person in the world that lives way above their income level, and at the same time has terrible credit and a mountain of debt. I mean I went to a music and arts festival in Blantyre last weekend and it was sponsored by the German Embassy! I mean come on, they have a sponsor for everything here, so when anyone gets a good some of money they go out and spend it on something luxurious. I guarantee you that the president could have kept that 12.5 million us dollars and saved it for something important (like gas for the country) and some first world country’s embassy or international aid organization would have donated a jet to the Malawian government in less than 6 months. So instead the Malawian government had to borrow like 15 million dollars to buy gas so the country can go back to normal. By the way, with a shortage of diesel that means there will be a shortage of water. I have been doing fine on personal water intake, but the villages around us have been really struggling to get water.
Last Thursday I got to see some of the country on a trip to visit two pedagogical workshops being built at primary schools in rural areas. I went with a couple people from the school and a woman from the DAPP office in Blantyre. On the way we passed mulangie(sorry my spelling is so wrong) and I got another great reminder about the little beautiful things Malawi has to offer. Mulangie Mountain is the highest peak in Malawi. I don’t know how tall it is, but I could see the top while driving, so I’m thinking not very high. Anyways, I was captivated by how beautiful the mountain and landscape were. There was a luscious flourishing green forest covering the entire mountain! I was so excited to see all the trees together, the view was mystical. The forest was untouched; I was actually in shock that the people hadn’t ravaged this land as well. Then I remembered that Malawians believe that part of the mountain is cursed so that is probably the reason none of the trees have been cut down. The sky was so clear while we were driving by the mountain. The clouds looked like they were right above the car, they looked so close, close enough for you to reach you arm out the window and grab a big, white, fluffy clump of them right out of the clear blue sky. A kind of weird way to describe the view is just to say it was pure and untouched. I can imagine being on that road 100 years ago and everything looking the exact same way. There isn’t much if anything I can say that about in the US, but this mountain looked like it had just been on its own for a very long time. I wrote some words in my notebook while I was looking at the mountain that might really help you visualize what I am trying to say. “The forests look like one of David’s (my cousin David) paintings. All the perfect blotches of different shades of green mixed together in such a crazy way, the combination of colors makes you want to just stare at it for hours and just see if maybe you can find a hidden Buddha in its amazing beauty.”
This past weekend I went into Blantyre again. It was more of a work oriented weekend for me. I went to the DAPP country office and worked on a study guide for the English students , their final English exam, and the rough draft of a primary school survey I am making for the primary schools around our college. I worked for most of the day on Friday and on Saturday from 8-1. All I wanted to do was join in on the festivities in Manhattan, but I was 10,000 miles away! Plus I never know what happens until Sunday night or Monday morning. I mean yes I could call home and find out, but my mom feels it is necessary to tell me about what the KU basketball team is doing when I talk to her. Needless to say I would rather wait an extra day or two until I could find out on my own. Like I said before I went to the a music and art festival called the Blantyre Arts Festival. I went with Chihiro and we met another DI there. The other DI was Valentina from Italy, and it was the first time we had the chance to meet. She works at the other TTC at Chilengoma. We were at the festival for a few hours and i got to see Lucious Banda, one of the more popular reggae singers in Malawi and a play put on by an acting troop called The Frogs. The play was put on to challenge the people of Malawi to stand up for themselves and do things together. I had heard that drama was a very popular way to get politically and community development messages across, but I didn’t think I would have the opportunity to actually see one of these plays. It was actually very good and I enjoyed it immensely. Both nights I stayed with Lawrence at his house and both nights were terribly hot. Friday night was so hot that I couldn’t get to sleep until 3 am. I stayed awake with Grisham and watched Transformers 2 and Inglorious Bastards, both of which were very good movies. Sleeping in Blantyre is like sweating out a fever. You wake up 5+ times a night sweating profusely, at least once needing to change your sweat soaked shirt and you can’t wait for the morning to come so maybe you can cool off a little bit. On Saturday I got to bed around 11, but still had trouble sleeping because of the heat. Although it is dreadfully hot when I sleep at Lawrence’s house, I don’t mind for a few reasons. The first being because I actually have people to talk to when I’m there. His family treats me like I’m a part of their family which is great and I can actually have conversations with Lawrence, Grisham, and Prisca. I think I could talk to Lawrence’s brother Jonathon too, but he is a very quiet guy, so we don’t talk much. The other great thing besides great people is ice cold water. Now I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right I am being selfish and probably spoiled, but being able to wake up to a glass of cold water is so refreshing. Their house has electricity, so they have a fridge and freezer that runs constantly and after a long hot week at Amalika with warm or hot water 90% of the time, a glass of frosty H2O might possibly be the best thing on the planet!
On a sad note, Young the DI from South Korea left today. Her 6 month tour of duty is over and she is headed back to her school and then home. I will miss her very much. This is my 6th week. I am almost half way there and it was great to have my first 6 weeks with someone that had been here for 4+ months. She taught me a lot about the students and the school itself. Young and Chihiro have acted like two older sisters for me since I have gotten here. They have showed me around and gotten me little things that I was in desperate need of. Things like a blanket and mattress slip cover, also a little hand held mirror for when I put my contacts in. I used the reflection of my camera and computer screen for over 2 weeks before they hooked me up. It was very sad to see young go, it was sad for several reasons a couple being that unless we meet while traveling odds are that we will never physically see each other again, and more importantly I felt like we were on the same page on so many things. Although she had been here for a lot longer than me, I felt like we shared common feelings on a lot of the different issues, topics, and concerns about the project and people here. I guess one isn’t more important than the other, but I am sad to see her go. I am also happy for her, because it was time for her to move on. Now with Alberto and Young gone, in the next few days there will be 2 new DIs coming. One from South Korea and one from Japan. Hopefully I will get to know them like I have gotten to know Chihiro and Young, but only time will tell. Good luck Young!