Culture

The topic for this post comes from a question that one of our visitors asked us one day at the dinner table, “How do Malawi women feel about being dominated by their men?”

A woman in Malawi is not much more than just a worker. When a boy gets to be of marriage age he will pick out a strong wife who will work hard at home and in the garden and will bear him lots of strong children. Women clean, cook, hoe in the garden, bring water from a distant well, and take care of the children all day long. It is not uncommon to see a couple walking on the road with the man empty handed while his wife is toting a baby tied to her back and a 50 lb bag of corn on her head.

What shocks our visitors the most when they first come to Malawi is that the hostess does not eat at the table with her husband. She will be eating outside on the mat with her children. When guests arrive to her hut she will give up her seat in the guest’s favor and sit on the floor. Her husband gets to remain at the table.

It is pretty shocking for someone coming to Malawi for the first time. But it is not all that bad! A lot of times on the surface there are a lot of traditions that the woman has to show to the visitors. But when the visitors have gone she will become more on equal terms with her husband and some of the husbands are a little afraid of their wives!

We get uncomfortable when we do not understand another culture but Malawians have their own value system, just like we our own. Thousands of years of Malawi culture cannot change in a day! It will happen little by little and has to first come from the inside rather than being imposed by outsiders like us!

Leaky condoms

I found this article on BBC Africa. It is about the “weakness” of the UK made condoms that are sold in Kenya. After the Kenyan government tested these condoms they found that they leak. The Kenya government gives out 160 million condoms each year to prevent people from transmitting HIV. It is reported that “Almost 7% of the adult population are said to be living with HIV.” The head of the HIV/AIDS control program said, "Those people who are using this particular brand of condoms are going to be very worried."


This is such a sad story. It kind of reminds me of an incident a friend of my told me when he was working with one of the AIDS organizations. There was a shipment of condoms that came in and the instructions on how to use them were stapled to the condoms themselves!


But it is not a laughing matter. AIDS in Africa is growing like a wild fire! The people that suffer the most from this pandemic are partners of promiscuous spouses and their orphaned children. People infected with this deadly disease are shunned by their friends and family. Why gamble with your life and rely on something as undependable as a condom?


The best way to protect oneself is abstinence. Former President Bush may have made himself unpopular by recognizing this, but he was right!


This picture was taken in Zambia near Kalomo.

SA pigeon “faster than broadband”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8248056.stm

Tonight was one of the rare nights that I get to watch TV. I came into the living room as my husband was watching BBC World News. One story made me pay closer attention. It was about Winston the pigeon delivering a message faster than broadband.

I had to laugh. You see, I am on African broadband and I have grief with it most of the time! Sometimes it takes 1 hour to attach a file to my letter. Sometimes nothing happens at all!

I guess I might have to take MSSU internet classes through “pigeon” for it to work faster!

The Warm Heart of Africa

Malawi is one of the warmest countries in Africa. The people here are nice and very hospitable. When they invite someone to their house they bring out their very best. If one has to spend the night in their hut, they give up their bed in favor of their guest.
A car accident I experienced in Malawi on May 5, 2007, demonstrates their warmth.
When we first arrived in Malawi in 2003, our white friends told us that if we hit someone on the road, not to stop and go straight to the nearest police station. The reason was that a mob could take vengeance on the driver right then and there. I always remembered the advice but on the day of the accident my instictual reactions took over.
The chances of having an accident are extremely high here. We have to share the road with pedestrians, bikes, goat, chickens, pigs, and cows, all the time swerving all over the road to try to avoid potholes the size of Grand Cannon.
To make this story easier to understand I will give the 3 Malawian men in it different names.
On this particular day I was going into town to meet a friend of mine. As I was coming down the hill, I saw Mavuto on a bike with a huge bag of corn somehow fitted on the rear carrier. He started swerving some and I honked to warn him that I was coming. For safer measure I moved over to the other lane to give him plenty of space. But at the very moment I caught up with him, his bag broke loose and he swerved right in front of my wheels. I slammed into him. Almost instantly my windshield lay in pieces on the ground next to the spilled corn. Mavuto was in the ditch face down and not moving. I had this sick feeling wash over me, “I KILLED A MAN!!!” All my thoughts of leaving were gone. I ran up to him to check his pulse and to my relief he was still alive. Lifting him was useless for he was at least 200 lb of pure muscle. At the same time a crowd started gathering around me. Two men, Pacharu and Moster, ran up and helped me drag Mavuto into the car to take him to the hospital. At that point I could not hold my tears back and just wept with relief that Mavuto was alive. Not knowing why I was crying, Pacharu took my hand and held it all the way to Zomba repeating, “Madam, he is alive! Madam, he is sitting! He is ok!” In the end Mavuto only had one cut on his elbow where he had taken out my windshield. His bike was OK. Although the accident was not my fault, I felt so sorry for him that I reimbursed him for his corn.
The moral of this story is that you should not believe the worst about people. I count Pacharu and Moster my saving angels. They helped me with my language barrier and stayed with me while I was questioned by the police. I believe that Malawian people are the warmest and kindest people that there are!

Bats, it’s what’s for dinner!

I like going to Zomba market to shop for fruits and vegetables. I love the way everything looks and smells and all of the variety of produce I can get there. The best part about going to the market is that it makes me feel at home. In Ukraine there are outdoor markets, just like here.

Today, however, I was offered a special treat that I have seen only one time before in my six years in Malawi. It happened when I was buying green beans from one of the ladies. A young man of about twenty came up to me holding a bowl full of something. At first sight the things that he was selling looked like newborn fried and skinned chicks. But that was until I saw the remnants of the bat wings attached to the little bodies. Yes, he was selling fried bats for 10 cents each! He even had a little packet of salt so each customer could season his bat to his liking!

So now if you do not feel like eating mice you can always opt out for a bat! And this time they did smell just like chicken!

Of marriage age

Today for the first time in several weeks I bought The Nation, Malawi’s main newspaper. As I was leafing through it an article about legal age for marriage in Malawi caught my eye.

The article talks about the decision of the Malawi Parliament to adjust the legal marriage age from 15 to 16. In some villages it is reported that some girls are given in marriage at the age of 14. It states that the girls of such an early age need to be given a chance to complete their education. “The girl-child just like any other child has the right to education and by allowing her to get married at 16, the commission smothered the universal right.”

I completely agree with the article. Although education is important, there are other more pressing issues the government needs to address. How can a girl of 14, 15, or 16 give birth to a healthy baby? She is almost a child herself. I feel that her chance to be a care-free teenager has been taken away from her.

The author of this article is Ananiya Alick Ponje- a second year student at Chancellor College in Malawi and was printed in The Nation on August 31, 2009.

I beg your pardon?!

When one travels to another country one seems to use this question phrase a lot, especially if there’s a big language difference.

Malawi is one of those countries. One of the main languages here is Chichewa, also known as Chinyanja. It belongs to the Bantu family of languages that are spoken in this part of Africa. In this family, the consonants “R” and “L” are interchangeable. When I came to Malawi I became Ilina and my husband, Mark, is known as Maliki. From this we get jewels like “I want to cut glass” and “Let us play God.”

One of the funniest examples I have ever heard came from a missionary in Zambia. One day he and some other visitors from the States decided to visit a local Church. At the end of the worship the preacher got up and told them how happy the people were to have these guests. He said “And to show you our warm Zambian welcome let us crap (clap) three times!”