At the tailor

There is this amazing thing that you can go to the tailor and have a dress specially made for your or a skirt or anything that you would like to have. Only your imagination sets the limit.

The Tailor

You buy preferable a chitenje which is a traditional cloth. Then you show a picture of what you would like to have and if you want any modifications. 

Women in chitenje

In a few days or a week the tailor is done. You can then try on what he has made and tell him on the spot if you want any adjustments. Hopefully you get what you asked for.

Dress

I ordered a dress and a skirt but the tailor mixed up the two different cloth I had given him. In the end I am happy with the result anyway.

Skirt

Condomize

The rate of people living with HIV/AIDS is around 10-15% in Malawi. There are approximately 68 000 people dying every year from HIV/AIDS. Each day around 250 people are infected. This is causing pressure on the health care though around 70% of the hospital beds are occupied by HIV/AIDS patients.

Female and male condomes in the office

In the office we have a HIV/AIDS policy and in the toilets you find both female and male condoms. When having bigger meetings it is also announced where you can find the condoms. Each vehicle have a first aid kit with condoms. The UNFPA has a campaign called Condomize where they are promoting the usage of condoms and trying to end the stigmatization by distributing condoms. It was promoted on the music festival I was attending some weeks ago.

Condomes in the office

Rain!

Yesterday evening the first rain came. It hasn’t been raining since April. I had the same feeling as when the first snow falls. You feel happy! Lately it has been very hot and sunny but now the weather has shifted totally. Today it has been cloudy and a bit colder and the air is fresh and humid.

Rain and wet soil

They say the rain season shouldn’t start already so I guess the hot weather will come back but for now it is a very nice feeling. Looking forward to see all the plants turning green again.

Lake of Stars – Malawi Arts Festival

For three days there were music and all kinds of cultural activities going on. Everything was taking place right on the beach on three different stages. Most musicians were from Malawi but also from other African countries and Europe.

Mafikizolo playing

It was an amazing event. Everything was great. It was not a single thing I didn’t like. Even if I could feel the tiredness getting closer the music and the dancing blow it away.  Sleep you can do some other day. The advantage with having a festival on a beach is that you can also enjoy the lake and swim!

The beach

Changing people’s life

Tonight was a special night. I was invited for a welcoming party for interns from Norway. They will work for a music organization called Music crossroads. The Norwegians were playing traditional Norwegian folk music and some other songs and then the Malawians were playing typical Malawian music. The welcoming of the Norwegians were really nice and you could feel the warmth of the people.

One touching moment was when the cleaning lady was brought up to the stage. It was a celebration for her though she has got a scholarship to study nursery. To take the step from being a cleaning lady to start studying is a huge thing to do. It is something very rare to see here. Everyone was very touched by this moment. 

Sand music festival

Africa is music for me. Everyone likes music and dancing. So imagine spending a whole weekend on a beach only listening to music from Malawi and other countries in the region. It can’t get much better. I haven’t danced so much in a long time. I can’t complain of the choice of the location of the festival. It was right on the beach looking out over the lake.

The stage

Soon coming up is the famous Lake of Stars. In the end of this month musicians from all over the world is coming to perform at another beautiful beach. I’ll be there dancing!

The beach

Learning Chichewa

Chichewa is a Bantu language. It is the national language of Malawi as well as English. Chichewa means actually the language (chi-) of Chewa. It is also spoken in Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. In Malawi more than half of the population speaks Chichewa. Other local languages are Yao, Ngoni, and Lomwe. Only people with some education speaks English so when going to the field most of the farmers don't speak English. One of my biggest motivations to learn Chichewa, is to be able to speak with the people I meet in the field. Next time I go there I want to be able to say some simple phrases.

Tomorrow is my fourth lesson. So far I have learnt some greetings, introducing myself and talk about food. Here are some useful words:

Muli bwanji?                            How are you?

Ndili bwino, kaya inu?              I’m fine, and you?

Zikomo                                    Thank you

Tionana                                    See you

And my favourite word so far; Ndasangala, which means I am happy.

This is how my dining room looks like

Some words doesn’t exist in Chichewa so then you use the English word. But sometimes they also turn an English word into a Chichewa like word. For example “juice” is called “juwisi”. They also have numbers in Chichewa but you only use the words for one to five. But mostly you only here people counting in English. Sometimes you also have words that are similar to Spanish. For example “mbatata” which in Spanish is “batatat”, means “potatoes.

The grammar is very different from English but somehow similar to Spanish. You have different subject prefixes for different persons. What can be a sentence in English become only one word in Chichewa. For example “I was eating” would be “Ndimadya”. 

This is what I am struggling with at the moment. But it is very fun because every time I try to say something in Chichewa, people looks so happy. Sometimes they get carried away though they think I know much more than I actually do. 

My neighbourhood

There are two kind of people in my neighbourhood. The ones living here and the ones working here. I have hardly no idea who is living here because you mainly see them driving in or out of their houses.  

The best time of the day is when coming back home around 5 pm and then you have an hour before it gets dark. The colours during this time of the day is just beautiful. Just before the sunset, the light is dark yellow and everything gets very colourful.

Today when walking to the supermarket I had to pinch myself in the arm. I can’t believe that I am living in Africa. In this beautiful country with nice weather the whole year around, with exotic plants that we only keep inside at home, and very friendly people.

Even though I don’t know anyone in my neighbourhood it is impossible to walk through it without greeting people and even have a small chat. When passing someone, they say “hello”, or “how are you”, or “good day”, etc. When walking back home today, there were two young guys walking in front of me. When I was just behind them, one of them turned around and started to talk with me about football, work, where I come from, etc. Five minutes later we went in different directions.

My neighbourhood

By the way, do you know that you can go sledding here? Outside my house is a slope which is very dry because it doesn’t rain now. With some cardboards the boys are sledding down the slope. They have a lot of fun.

The other day when I was out running, a girl saw me in the street. When I was passing her she started to run with me. She talked and ran with me a long way. Then she stopped and said she was tired. I continued but then I also stopped. I looked back at her and when she saw I stopped she started to run up to me again.

Another day when walking back from the supermarket I heard someone singing behind me. It was a young boy who was listening to music in his headphones. When passing me he continued to sing and just stopped to say hi and then he continued running down the hill. 

Mighty wanderers vs. Bullets

It was the semi-final at the Civic stadium in Lilongwe today between the Mighty wanderers and the Bullets. The stadium was full. I don’t go on football matches often but I can imagine it is somehow similar. It was a lot of people everywhere.  

Supporters

People were selling all kind of food and drinks and accessories for the teams. There were of course the cheering sections, one blue and one red. Some of them where dancing and playing. I wander if they were there for the football or for showing off. But it was fun anyway with the music and the dancing. 

Venders, music and dancers

There were so many things happening outside the football field and so many people to look at so I almost forgot to watch the game. 

Mighty wanderers vs Bullets

Zikomo bus stop

When leaving my office you see people waiting for the bus on both sides of the street. On the right hand side it is a “normal” bus stop. Not a bus stop with a bus stop sign of course. When getting on the bus you pay around 50 cents. On the left hand side is the Zikomo bus stop. Zikomo means “thank you”. When getting on the bus from the Zikomo bus stop you just say “zikomo”. 

Zikomo bus stop

Kitchen garden

It is winter here but still you can grow vegetables. They say it will grow much faster starting from September. We just arrange the kitchen garden so that birds can't eat the strawberries.

Net over kitchen garden

In my garden I have strawberry, different types of salad, eggplant, tomatoes, sugar cane, coriander, mustard, onion, dill, parsley. I also have a compost. The compost is not a container as we have in Sweden. It is just one part of the kitchen garden that works as a compost. At first I thought rats and other animals would come but I haven't seen any.

Lettuce

Apart from my kitchen garden I also have papaya, mango, lime, avocado, and tangerine trees. For now it is only the papaya which have fruits so for the rest I will have to wait until next year.

Papaya

Nightlife in Lilongwe

Last night I visited three of Lilongwe’s bars and clubs. The night started at Alexander’s sports bar. There you warm up…. Then we went to The Living room. The Living room has different events every night like poetry, live music, movies, and DJ’s. A lot of expats were there. Next door is a club that reopened last night. It used to be called Zanzi but now it is called Amazon. The club has two dance floors and soon one more. The music was really good, especially the Malawian music.We danced all night long.

I got another nice compliment last night. “You are the first Muzungu I know that knows how to dance!” Can 

it be better?

A long night, that ended early in the morning at the best food place. 

Meet at a food place

First month in Malawi

It is exactly one month since I came here. Before coming here I was preparing myself that the first month might be difficult. I was thinking about everything that would happened. I would have a new job. We all know how lost you are on your first day. I would have a new house but no friends. I wouldn’t know how things work and where to go. But I have survived the first month. So far it has been very good. At the beginning it was a bit lonely but slowly I'm getting to know some people and to move around. Work is very good so far. I like the fact that I need to be on top tof a lot of things; procurement, staff guidelines, admininstration, vehicles management, accounting, IT, etc. I actually think I would have had done a much better work in Sweden if I knew what I know now just after one month here. But at the same time I think I wouldn’t have been able to contribute much if I didn’t have had the experience I have from Sweden.

My impression of Malawi is still that it is a very friendly and beautiful country. People always greet you and help you whenever you need it. My colleagues have been very helpful and are always ready to guide me right. The security is not a big problem. Of course I have the guards at the house but in general I feel safe. Yesterday someone told me, when driving at night I need to lock the doors and not stop at the traffic lights. I would never do that in Sweden even if there were no car as far as I could see.

As I have said before, Lilongwe feels like a very small city. Even Stockholm feels like a big city compared to Lilongwe. But Lilongwe has a very nice charm. I’m starting to find my way around in the city. In one way I feel life is easier when you don’t have a lot of options. Every day is dedicated to something. It is jazz on Sundays, movies and Hash on Mondays, poetry on Wednesday, etc.

So far so good. I’m looking forward to see what the next month will bring.  

Independence Day – 50th anniversary

Malawi was ruled by the British until 1964 when it became a free country. The country used to be called Nyasalanda. In the 1950s, Nyasaland was joined with Northern and Southern Rhodesia (Zambia and Zimbabwe). They formed the  Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The Federation was dissolved on 31 December 1963. After the independence, it took another 30 years before the country became a democractic country.

People waiting outside the stadium

The celebration took place at the Civic stadium. The president was there. The military were marching. There was traditional dancing. The whole day ended with a football match between Mozambique and Malawi. I went there but unfortunately they didn’t let us in. We should have been there at 6 am to get in. But looking at all people outside was not too bad either. 

Fortunately the dancers were practicing outside the stadium

Hash house harriers

Are drinkers with a running problem, or runners with a drinking problem, or how was it? It is perfect for me, don’t you think?! Anyway, it is a good way to meet people and to run all over Lilongwe. This group exists all over the world. I bet that those who knows about them have a lot of stories to tell. But here it is a “beginners” group. 

After running, everyone was going straight to the bar. I must say the run was very nice as it was in the wild life centre in Lilongwe. Then the show started with singing and animal sounds. As I was new, I had to be inducted. It was not too bad. I had to present myself. Then people started to sing and when hearing down down down down down, I had to drink a glass of beer as fast as I could. I bet that you who knows that I usually don’t drink and especial not beer, are probably laughing now. Well, some sacrifices have to be made. So every Monday, you know where to find me. 

View from the trail

First day of Ramadan

Makes me think about how naturally it is here with different religions. What is common for everyone is that they believe in God and belongs to a church. It doesn’t seem to be any tensions between different religious groups. The biggest religion is Christianity with about 82% of the population. Here you found mostly Catholics and Presbyterians. There are also smaller groups of Anglicans, Baptist and Evangelicals.  The second biggest religion is Islam, mainly Sunnis. 5 % of the population is either Atheists or practices traditional African religions.

This of course affects the life here. In my house there are two guards working during the weekend. One is Catholic and the other Presbyterian so one goes to church on Sunday and the other one on Saturday. And the women who helps me in the house is a Muslim so she goes to the mosque on Fridays.

Religion is an important part of life. People are asking me if I believe in God. When I tell them I don’t go to church and I’m not part of any religion they look at me as something must be wrong with her. Maybe it is.

The mosque in Old Town, Lilongwe

Buying a car is another story

At the beginning I thought I would manage without a car but only after a few days here I realize a car is needed. When it is dark, which is around 6 o’clock in the evening, it is not safe to move around without a car. It is possible to take a taxi but they are expensive and not easy to find. It is not just to stop one in the street. So I have accepted I need a car.

So how do you do when buying a car? First of all the most common is to buy second hand cars from Japan. You can either import them directly or you buy one in Malawi. If you want to import you will have to pick it up at the boarder. It takes about two months or so to get it. As I am already in Malawi that was not an option for me.

The car market is big and you can find cars for sale everywhere. I went to a car market which was an open space close to the road full with cars. There was no office only a lot of cars and a guy who was showing me around. Another place was in the parking lot outside a shopping mall. Another was in a street corner just beside the road. Other cars were taken to my office.

My car

The cars are not registered so when you have bought the car you need to register it. First you need to get the ownership of the car. When that is done they will give you your number plate and the Blue book. The Blue book is where you have all details about the car. The model, year, type of fuel, number of doors, etc. You also need a Certification of fitness. Before you can drive you need to insure the car. Then the car is ready to

roll. Even if I go a lot of help I have been running up and down to get all the papers.

Lot of paper work

N’Gala mountain – the smiley mountain

Around Lilongwe there are several small mountains. In Lilongwe, we are already at 1000 meter above sea level. N’Gala mountain is at 1400 meter above sea level.

N'Gala mountain

The climb of the mountain was tough. The fact that we are at 1000 meter about sea level makes it more difficult to breathe. I had to stop all the time to catch my breath. But the view was worth it!

The steep side of the mountain

View from the top

View over a village

On the way back I had the privilege of driving. We took a shortcut, this is what I call off-road!

Off-road

Field visit to Salima

Apart from visiting the two offices in Salima, we visited the Telecentre and the Agroforestry training centre. The Telecentre is a training centre where young people learn how to use a computer. They are trained on how to surf the internet and use the Office package. It is the only one in Salima. The centre have 6 computers and the students are sitting on boxes two or three in front of each computer.

In the Agroforestry training centre, farmers are trained on different ways of cultivation. It is like a showroom and each plot shows a different method of cultivation. One plot can show the difference between using chemical fertilizers and organic fertilizers. Or one can show how to increase the crop by the way of setting the plants and putting on the fertilizers.

The centre also have a kitchen garden which should be used for the personal usage of the farmer.

Kitchen garden

In the middle of the kitchen garden they put composted waste which works as a fertilizer for the garden.

Behind the kitchen garden is the house for energy saving stoves

Behind the kitchen garden is a house for the energy saving stove. The stove is made of 6 bricks and sand and water. Very little fire wood is needed to keep the stove hot which saves trees. The small house also makes the smoke to go out so that the farmer doesn’t breathe it in.   

Energy saving stove

Field visit to Mangochi

The way to Mangochsi is just beautiful, going through what is the end of Rift Valley and the boarder to Mozambique and then down to the lake. On the way you see people walking on the road, bikes everywhere, dogs, goats, cows, etc. 

Road to Mangochi

Early next morning when waking up the door was knocking. Someone said; “Give me my bucket”, in a harsh tone. I thought, how could they knock on my door at this hour? I didn’t understand what she wanted but I opened anyway and she went in, took a bucket and left. Five minutes later it knocked again. Now I felt a bit irritated. “Why are they leaving things in the room that they need?”, I thought. Another girl was now going in again with the bucket and then she left. Then I realized they had brought me hot water so I could shower.

When ordering breakfast I asked what they had. Cornflakes (no milk), sausage, bread, egg, omelette, chips (pommes frites). I asked for omelette and chips, no cornflakes, no bread, no sausage. I got everything anyway. I obviously have a communication problem when not speaking the local language Chichewa or Yao as they speak in this part of the country.

The whole day I spent in our district offices with the finance and admin staff and also the rest of the staff. The issues raised were reporting, budgeting, activity planning, challenges with laptops not working properly, too low “airtime” (telefon card), petty cash, not functioning accounting system and many other issues.

For lunch we went to the best local food place in town. It was hidden behind a house so you had to know it existed to go there. We had chicken, beans, vegetables and nsima. Nisma is the staple food here and is made of ground maize flour and water. The food was just excellent and until now my stomach hasn’t complained.

Aunt Marys restaurant

After work we went to see the lake. It was a beautiful place and the sun was just setting.

Nkopola

First week in Malawi

The week has been very good. I have a good feeling about everything here. People are very friendly, the work is interesting, my colleagues are very nice and the city has a certain charm.It has been a productive week. 

I have…

- recieved my work permit (for two years )

- completed my first job week

- finalized my first payroll for this month...pooh

- opened a local bank account

- driven for the first time on the left side

- taken farewell to the previous manager

- moved into my house

The garden

Winter or Summer

While people in Sweden are enjoying the summer, I’m “suffering” the African winter. Before coming here people said that I should bring warm cloths though it would be chilly at night. Even if I was told that, I was surprised how cold it is when the sun is gone. While you are enjoying the summer, I’m sitting here with my warmest cloths, the heater on and drinking a hot cup of tea. Well I think it is my preconception that Africa should always be warm that makes me feel colder. It is not much colder than a normal Swedish summer day. It is colder inside than outside so when sleeping I have the heater on, a warm cover, warm socks and pants and still feeling cold. Looking on the bright side of it, it will be two months like this and then the rest of the year it’s hot.

Sunset over Lilongwe

The best compliment

Today was the first day in the office. Comments like "it's nice to be back", "good to see you again", etc were said. But then it came…“Ohh Anna, it is so good to see you. I see you have put on some weight! Now you are ready to get started!”

So maybe I should reconsider my plan to get started with some serious training…?

First day in Malawi

This time the first impression was of course different than the last time I came here. But I remember that I was so surprise that there is no feeling of a big capital in Lilongwe. It is more the feeling of a big village.

The Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe is the smallest airport I have ever seen at least if we are talking about international airports. You can't see any planes except for a few small once. 

Kamuzu International Airport

When arriving you have to show your yellow fever card. Then you walk 10 meters to the passport control another 20 meters to pick up your bags and another 30 meters you are out.

I’m staying at a hotel the first week so I have the feeling that this is only another trip to Africa and I will soon be back home again. On the other hand I’m longing to move into my new house and to have the feeling of being home. But for now I’m enjoying walking on the red African soil again.

Street outside my hotel

This is a dream come true. A few years back I could've never imagine that I would end up in Africa someday. For a long time I have wanted to work abroad and I can’t really take in that this dream has now become true. 

Goodbye Sweden!

In less than 24 hours I will be on my way to Lilongwe, Malawi. All "goodbyes" and all "I will miss you" are said. My bags are ready, I am ready!

What is waiting for me? Someone is picking me up at the airport to take me to my hotel which is in the middle of a wild life center in Lilongwe. They say you can hear the roar from the lions in the night. Then a new job, new city, new people, new house, new friends (hopefully), new experiences....in short a new life is waiting for me.

I know that not all of you will be able to visit me so this is my way to share my experiences and be a bit closer to all of you.

Leaving home