Iris Malina

Back in April, when I first got the MFS-scholarship, Johan and Emil promptly decided to come and visit me in Malawi. A good excuse to go somewhere unlikely, and a revenge to the New Zealand trip that never happened. ‘Of course’ I said, but since I was convinced something would inevitable screw up, and my whole trip unexpectedly be cancelled, I could not imagine it would at all work out, and they (and me) actually get here.

But it worked, oh it worked! They are now safely back in Sweden, after a hell of a week, with what we jokingly called ‘Malin's adventure travels’ . So many sights, and so many stories.

Like that time we hiked to look at a bottomless pit.

That time Johan bought a tiny giraffe that could not stand up. And I bought a very, very ugly wooden hippo.

That time we were too heavy for the canoe we sat in, and all that awkwardness when the guide and the guy with the paddle had to push... and we were too heavy anyway. But hey, we saw hippos!

That time the Land Rover broke down in the middle of Liwonde National Park, and we sat in the shade of a termite pile, curiously observed by impalas and water bucks. For hours. And none of us were even irritated, amazingly enough.

That time we had wild elephants VERY close up, in and amongst the huts where we were staying.

That time we handed over a ridiculously thick bundle of money.

That time we got to sit in a car with actual working air condition! AND seatbelts!

That time we thought the minibus was full to the verge of bursting, and yet five more people got crammed in.

That time the minibus smelled of fish.

That time the minibus looped Mangochi for a full hour before taking off, attempting to pick up more passengers.

That time a child was handed to me, through the pick-up window. No questions asked.

That time when I had to choose between holding on the vehicle I was sitting on, in order not to fall off, or to make sure my chitenge (that is my wrap, or skirt) was indeed covering my knees. According to the other people on the pick-up, me not flashing (gasp!) my legs where more important.

That time we all fell to sleep at 21:00 (most nights actually)

That time (those times) we drank cold beer and watched the sunset.

 

 

 

That time we kayaked around and island, in a kayak that had a mind of its own. 

That time we cooked a huge dinner, nsima and all, and had a long discussion about development politics together with friends.

That trip, when I was the boss.

Yesterday, I purchased one hundred empty 0.5 l water bottles, 60 kwacha each (~1kr), to use for my water samples. So the next thing to do is to actually go out into the field to measure pH, conductivity, temperature and turbidity, at my purposefully selected sample points. And also collect seven times six bottles of river water, for later analysis of metal and nutrient content in the laboratory. 

The prospect of spending the bulk of the upcoming weeks in a chemistry laboratory, sweating and pulling my hair.. I don't know how I can possibly pull this of (the project, not the hair)!

 

A bag of one hundred sample bottles.

 

I'm slowly starting to make friends here, both Malawians and non-malawians. Lake of Stars was very useful in that sense, with great may contacts being made. For instance, this weekend I was invited to a barbecue up on the plateau, overlooking Zomba. Unfortunately, the weather this weekend was unusually cold. Like actually quite cold, I reached for my fleece for the first time since I arrived. And the Malawians put on winter jackets! Climate change my friend, these weather anomalies are getting increasingly common they tell me.

And this coming weekend, I'm heading for the Mulanje Massif in the south, for some proper hiking. It is a cluster of some 25 peaks, the highest being 3002m, with green tea plantations covering the lower slopes. Three days hiking, two nights in tent and some 2200m altitude, together with the Malawi Mountain Club, which I was introduced to by a gentleman on the Lake of Stars. How exciting!

I have now been here in Malawi exactly one month, and I thought I would summarize some of my findings about the country, its inhabitants and me being in the midst of it.

 - The people here are exceptionally friendly. Everyday, people approach me for some chit chat, some pleasant polite conversation; Muli bwanji? Ndili bwino, kaya inu? Chabwino! (How are you? I'm fine, and you? Very good!) or to ask me what brings me to Zomba. In the market, I'm likely to be charged a higher prize than my malawian friends, so called mzungu price, but it is never unreasonable. And when I get on a minibus, I always end up where I need to be without very much hassle.

 - People here have such great names. I have come across people actually named Precious, Innocent, Blessings (all male names), Miracle and Gift, along with a wide range of Chichewa, Tonga names (both local tongues spoken here) and more common English names.

 - During this whole time, I have seen only one male carrying a child on the back, in all the other cases it is mothers and sisters carrying the little ones. There are no such thing as baby strollers (barnvagnar) here, it would not work anyway with the way the streets look. Instead all small children are carried on their backs in simple colorful cloths referred to as chitenge, which is the same fabric most rural women wear as skirts, or wraps.

 - Remember the lyrics to Toto's Africa? "The wild dogs cry out in the night, as they grow restless longing for some solitary company [...] It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you. There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do. I bless the rains down in Africa..". Well, the wild dogs are indeed crying out in the night. All night, every night!

 - The bugs here are MASSIVE. Massive wasps and massive bumblebees. They seem friendly enough though. Thankfully. And the ants, on the other hand, are really, really tiny.

 - I keep being surprised by my own skin color, repeatedly. All I see around me, all day long, is dark skinned people, and when I glance down on my arms every now and then, I still find myself thinking "Whoa! Pinkish white!".

 - My feet always seems dirty, no matter how often I wash them (which is daily). The red, fine dust of Africa sticks to my skin as if its life depended on it. Even when I'm wearing socks and shoes.

 - At home, I would never buy bananas. And I would not voluntarily touch brown ones. Here, I'm all of a sudden totally fine with brown, even black bananas. Even the ones that are ripe to the point of emitting a slightly alcoholic scent.

 - Oh, and the trees are amazing! But I'll save them for another special post!