Banja Langa Mu Malawi [My Family in Malawi]

On October 26th I had the pleasure of meeting my sister (and the QDOBAS meal she brought me) at Kamuzu international airport, welcoming her into Malawi (and the the QDOBAS into my belly) after 603 days of being apart. She stayed for almost a month in Malawi and during that time I think she turned into a peace corps volunteer herself.

Having Alisha in Malawi wasn't like having a guest in my home, but like she already fit here. She knew her place and adapted without a problem. On our first night in the village we were BOTH cooking dinner over the fire, wrapped in only a chitenje, sweating the usual extreme amount....Something that has become a part of my everyday life, quickly turned into an us.

When ants were crawling all over her sweaty body in the middle of the night she laughed instead of freaked out (okay maybe she freaked out a little). Before I would even open my eyes in the morning she was already sweeping the floor (something I do almost everyday when I wake up). She carried water on her head like she'd done it 100 times before...I don't think she spilled an ounce walking from the borehole all the way back to my house. Alisha made great company in the village, and spent her time here without complaint of not having conveniences we often have in the States.

While Alisha was here we also traveled a bit around Malawi, ate Chinese food with other PCV's, drank all four of Carlsberg's beers, went to a Halloween meetup at Kuti game reserve, hiked on Zomba Plateau, cried in disbelief over Trump's victory, snorkeled in lake Malawi with 100's of cichlids, and ate lots of fresh fish. [Pictures below of all these adventures].

Our time together in Malawi flew by, even though she stayed nearly a month, and before I knew it we were already saying "until next time."

Below are a few words from Alisha about her time spent in Malawi:

---

Having the ability to travel at such a young age has given me priceless time to develop and mature in other countries, surrounded by other cultures. At this point, when I emerge into a new country I do not feel immense “culture shock”, but rather, I search for that newness in hopes that it teaches me something or brings out an emotion I haven’t yet experienced. Malawi is no different. Malawi was able to give me a new perspective on so many things. To this day I cannot turn on the shower or step into a car without closing my eyes and feeling the heat and hearing the sounds of stepping into a stone bafa or riding in an over-stuffed mini-bus taxi. Privilege. I believe our society leads us to think that it is privilege that allows us to act or to have differently, in majority with a negative tone attached. Malawi and one PCV reminded me that privilege knows no boundaries and it is privilege that drives my desire to prioritize the environment. I realize this sounds crazy; how can we use such a negative word on something so important? Have you ever considered a world where putting the environment first will lead to death in a village? In the United States we can feasibly put the environment first, make it a priority, tell others that they are wasteful and being harmful. We are privileged enough to be able to plan for the future generations to come and to make decisions today that will hold on for people who haven’t even been thought of yet. Malawi and small, village communities are different. They don’t have that luxury. When they draw down water from a stream they do so knowing that they will be able to survive another day. They don’t have the privilege to ask if lowering the water table will take away potential water for future crops or to ask if animals and livestock downstream will be able to find water. They take the water because that is the way to survive today. This is not to say that in the future this can’t change. That is why programs like the Peace Corps exist; to teach and the serve for the betterment and sustainability of communities. I asked the PCV what funding sources looked like for the environmental sector of Malawi and she responded with another question, “If you were a developing country leader and you saw that countries leading the world weren’t making the environment a priority, where would you put your money?” She is right. We with the privilege to “reduce, reuse, recycle” are supposed to be leaders. We are supposed to be inspiring others to want to conserve their land. Right now we are being falling short; we tell developing nations that they are wasting their resources yet we are passing laws that allow us to dump chemicals into our drinking water sources. What example does that show? Malawi is in a location geographically that is already and will continue to experience the effects of global climate change. To make matters worse, the effects they feel there are much more drastic because they don’t have spare resources to compensate for longer periods of drought or high volume flooding. But they survive and they survive with pure faith and joy for life. Every day I woke up in Malawi I was eager to feel that joy just to be alive. It was a deep joy that healed any heartache or stress. Joy that can’t be learned or bought. Joy from holding nothing tangible, just thankfulness that we have all made it another day.

---

After sending Alisha off, back to the United States, it was only a few short weeks until I was back at Kamuzu International Airport hugging Mom and Dad for the first time in nearly two years and welcoming them to Malawi. What a reality it became that my two loving parents flew nearly 9000 miles to see parts of my life in my new home. And it was then I realized how much I really had missed them!

Minutes after arriving in Malawi we piled in a rental car and Dad learned how to drive on the opposite side of the road....the 100 plus kilometers straight to the village. I think Mom wanted our destination to be somewhere with a pool, but with our tight 11 day schedule I convinced her that my very HOT village and Lake Malawi would be the second best thing ;)...or something like that haha.

When we arrived in Chipoka my parents jumped right into village life (they had no choice with me as their daughter). They slept at the very modest lodge in my village ($6/night breakfast included), which during their 3 day stay had a total of 4 hours of electricity, and no running water. They learned to embrace the unbearable heat, bathed with a bucket, and ate fresh fish with the head and scales still attached...the full Malawian experience. They met and ate with my Malawian friends, cooked a chicken from start to end, rode bike taxis, and carried water on their heads. After a day Dad was already telling Mom they should apply to be Peace Corps Volunteers in the future.

My parents favorite experience (probably of the whole trip) is captured in the picture below; Mom and Dad with my friend Alexander and his family. On Sunday after taking my parents to church, where they were introduced and welcomed by the whole congregation, they were invited over to one of my most motivated student's houses for lunch. Alexander's family served my parents nsima and duck (they killed one for this special occasion, really an honor in Malawi), and my family brought Fanta to celebrate the coming together of two families from completely different worlds. Although Alexander's parents spoke little/no English and my parents speak no Chichewa the communication between the families was present, pure, and beautiful. Sharing a meal in Malawi is a wonderful thing, and I believe my parents truly understood why after this day. The smiles in the picture below speak all the words needed to describe the feelings had during the time spent on this Sunday afternoon.

The next day we shared a meal with my landlord and family. Dad helped clean the chicken from start to finish, and and even collected water to do the dishes afterwards :)

Below: My Malawian Family (also my landlord) and Mom and Dad.

On Tuesday we left Chipoka and headed up the very narrow road north to begin the second half of our trip, full of delicious food, scenery, and wild animals. First I took my parents to Nkhata Bay (a must when traveling in Malawi) where we stayed at a lodge known as Mayoka Village. Our time here was short, but busy. We went on a free boat trip that the lodge provided and myself and Dad went cliff jumping with all the other 25ish year olds on the boat, while Mom cheered us on from the boat (and encouraged Dad-in his 50s- not to do anything too crazy). I must say people were impressed when they saw "this old man" cliff jumping in Malawi.

From Nkhata Bay we made a stop in Mzuzu to get lunch with my friend David at a little backpackers lodge (that also serves amazing Korean food) called Joy's Place. This was the first time David had ever tasted anything like stir-fried noodles, or a veggie burger, but he loved them both, as well as meeting my parents.

The final part of our trip was a 3-day Safari in Zambia at South Luangwa National Park. Both Dad and Mom loved this! We were able to see almost all the kinds of animals in the park including lions, zebras, giraffes, elephants, antelope, hippos, crocodiles, etc. We stayed at a lodge called Croc Valley where at night there were hippos grazing grass right outside of our chalets. The night guard had to walk us back to our rooms because of the hippos being so close. Below is a picture of the chalet we stayed in and Mom and Dad with their camera gear and spotting scope ready for the safari.

The trip seemed to go so fast as we were go go go practically the whole time. On December 14th I said goodbye to Mom and Dad as they headed to the airport for their flight back to the States.

#peacecorps