A series of cultural events

May 9^th, 2011 11:49 pm Malawi time

Muli Bwanji!

This morning I awoke to the local mosque messaging the dawn at about 4:30am. It sounded so beautiful! Luckily I could go back to bed! The schedule began with waking up at 8:00am to go for a walk through the village with one of the other JFs! We then convened at 9:30am to start off the sessions with another hour long language session with Duncan. From 12:00 to 2:30 I was in the market  working on a scavenger hunt! I stumbled through the phrases that Duncan taught us like Muli Bwanji “How are you” Ndili Bwino, kaya inu “I am good, and yourself?”. We were given a scavenger hunt to buy malaria medication, a cell-phone, a Nshima spoon, retrieve money from a bank machine, etc. We were also suppose to find a restaurant, which never happened. I bought some chichenje which is Malawian fabric that women wrap around their lower half. My favourite part was trying to speak with the people, when they were both surprised and amused by my interest in learning the language.

I have 5 minutes of free internet a day where I am temporarily staying, and beginning on Thursday I will be headed off to Chitipa. It will take two days to reach the district.

Today I tried a beer that was made of maize (corn flour), sorghum (another type of flower), milk, and yeast. It tasted like raw bread dough floating in white wine. I was one of the only JFs who managed to taste it! I feel like it was like a rite of passage.

Also, it is so awesome having APS at our disposal right now! Learning their perspective on the African-Canada connection in terms of advocacy and acting as a resource was really insightful. I realized today that Duncan was in the play-pump video that we showed in our session at McMaster. There are seven APS providing information and insight on our placements right now. Tomorrow I have another meeting with the CLTS leaders (my placement). I get to sleep in tomorrow until 10:00am!

Goodnight!

Karina