Chéri, the elephants have been restless again

This past weekend, as a reward to myself for finishing my thesis and making some good progress on my assessment, Jennifer and I went to Liwonde National Park in the heart of Malawi. This was my first super touristy thing and a major treat after spending much of the first two three weekends in Malawi parked in front of the computer.

We had an amazing time and I have the pictures and a slight case of heat stroke to prove it.

Liwonde is set around the Shire (Shir-EE) River which snakes its way through southern Malawi. Liwonde is home to hippos, crocs, zebra, rhinos, loads of birds, antelope, warthogs, monkeys, two very reclusive lions, even more reclusive leopards, but most importantly, elephants. We were lucky enough to see many of the animals who call Liwonde home over the course of our one night stay deep in the park. We opted to say as far in as possible at a place called Mvuu (hippo in Chichewa) Camp and it was worth every penny.

The whole adventure started out with a 40 minute ride up the river passing hippos and crocs along the way under a clear sky (the first in about 5 days). My father has told me I convey my feelings well in these posts, but I can say there are no words to express the absolute natural beauty of the park.

The river was like glass, the clouds hung in the blue sky in a way that I never see at home; everything was more vivid in an almost haunting way. We arrived at Mvuu and only had a little time before we set out on our first game drive.

As soon as we left the camp, we were immediately surrounded by a wilderness I have never experienced before. It was so strange just stepping into a National Geographic safari. I had it in my head that we would need to drive for a while before we would see animals, but that idea was immediately erased as we passed warthogs foraging in packs, baboons grooming each other, herds of bushbucks, impalas, and even a few sable antelope. We went in search of elephants, but found hippos instead.

While hippos spend most of the day in the water to protect their sensitive skin, they venture on land at night in search of food. Let me tell you, it is impressive and intimidating to round a corner and face an enormous hippopotamus in the middle of the road. These creatures may look gentle, but they are the most dangerous animal in Africa to people and it was humbling to be so close to them.

While we did not see any elephants on our night drive - it was a great way to start the evening and experience at Liwonde.

Fast forward a few hours to when we are settling in after a decadent meal...

"Jennifer, do you hear that? I think something is outside."

Of course, like idiots, we open the door and come face to face with a grazing hippo no farther than about 15 feet from our porch. Needless to say we spent a mosquito-ridden period of time on the porch watching the hippo lumber around the meadow in front of the chalets. We also sent a restless night getting up to see what this or that sound was, hoping for another sighting. We were frequently deceived by the snoring Brit in the chalet next to us, who no joke, rivaled the hippos in volume.

The next morning we set off on our boat safari and it did not disappoint. While we saw many animals and birds, the undisputed highlight was the 60 plus elephants we spotted in the reeds along the river. We spent about an hour just drifting with the current mere feet from the herd. I have never seen anything like it.

I remember the first time I dreamed of going to Africa when I was younger. I had seen "A Far Off Place" with Reese Witherspoon and Ethan Embry and decided at that moment, someday, I would travel to Africa. And I would see elephants.

This surpassed any expectations I might have had.

There were a number of babies in the herd, which was a real treat, and they did not seem to mind our presence at all. I will be sure to send out a link to a shutterfly album as soon as it exists as I cannot post all the pictures here.

A love hate relationship

Below is a photo essay of my love/hate relationship with Malawi...there is a lot more love.

LOVE

The reason I am here: to help in some very small and removed way to improve schooling.This picture was taken at Chichiri Primary School in Blantyre

HATE

The reason I am here: an overburded education system of whichovercrowded classrooms are just a small part of the problem. Chichiri is one of the better schools yet I saw so many classes where there were over 100 students, many of whom sit on the floor.

LOVE
Finding unexpected things around every corner- This is St. Michael of All Saints

HATE
Spiders

LOVE
The fantastic attitutudes: teachers teaching under any and all conditions

HATE
SPIDERS!

LOVE

Amazing volunteers. Kerry (left) at UK citizen and recently married to a Zambian, took a 50,000 pound (yes that is double in dollars) pay cut to go work for a Zambian NGO trying to put computers in secondary schools across Africa. Moira (center) a 60 year old woman from Scotland, thought she should do something productive and generous (which for me means cleaning out my closet and going to Goodwill) so she decided she would come to Malawi and volunteer at an orphanage in a rural area of Blantyre for two months. Both women befriended me my first night in Blantyre and are reminders of the amazing people you meet in unexpected places.

HATE
SPIDERS EVERYWHERE! I am not kidding, these guys scare me to death.

LOVE
Beautiful sunsets over my city (if only on a very temporary basis)

What smell is Africa?

So CNN international was constantly on at the last place I stayed. One night they had a feature on Africa and were asking famous Africans what "smell is 'Africa'" (did you know Colin Firth aka Mr. Darcy was born in Nigeria?).

A lot of people said the smell of leaves after the rain. Some said sweat. So I am asking you. You Africa travelers from the West, North, East, and South [and I can think of at least one person reading this who has lived or traveled in each area - more for West of course ;)]. I am asking you - "What smell is 'Africa' for you?"

I haven't been here through a rainy season - so for me, it is smoke. I smell smoke everywhere and everyday. Most Malawians use small fires to cook their meals. Whether it is the wood sticks lighting the street food stalks in the markets, the charcoal heating the water at the lodge, or the leaves and grass that are burning along the roads and in the hills, smoke for me is Africa.

Death by mini-bus

So I am feeling rested now. I must admit, my last post was written after my twenty plus meetings in one week (not exaggerating) skipping lunches because I literally was running from meeting to meeting from 8-5, and staying up into the night writing my IP. I was pretty beat and was in need of a little break.

My new friend Jennifer has given that to me.

Jennifer is an English teacher in Zomba, which used to be the capitol of Malawi and is about one hour north of Blantyre. I met her through my last internship as she is part of a fellowship program that we administered in my office. Jennifer is fabulous. She has been so welcoming to me. She came down to Blantyre to pick me up (under horrible circumstances surrounding the death of her kitty - check it out on www.malawinme.blogspot.com)and brought me back to her home for the next few days where I will enjoy some real quiet, the beautiful mountains, greenery, and colonial buildings of Zomba, and fantastic home cooked meals.

More than anything, I appreciate not having to ride a mini-bus the "hour" here to Zomba. Because it is never ever an hour.

I know this because this past Sunday, Mairi and I took a day trip to Mt. Mulanje, the tallest mountain in this region and the heart of tea country in Malawi. And we got there by mini-bus.

I wish that I had the time to climb Mt. Mulanje, but that will have to wait for another trip. And possibly knee replacement surgery.

So we thought that a little trip out and lunch at the foot of the mountain would be the best possible option. The whole idea was to enjoy the scenic ride out to Mulaje through all the tea plantations, but when the big bus broke down we were left with the option of mini-bus.

It actually was a lovely (lovely for a minibus) ride out to the mountain. It was only about an hour and it was a fairly uneventful drive through some of the most beautiful country I have seen here. And that is saying something.

The way back is a whole other story. I had wanted to take pictures of the mountain from a distance and planned to snap them on our way back, but the speed simply would not allow for any picture taking. Plus I was a little preoccupied hoping that I wouldn't die or be injured in some painful way.

This guy was getting his money's worth out of all us passengers. When I say "all us" I mean a LOT of people. Now I expect mini-buses to be crowded. Packed even. Not just with people, but with bags, chickens, produce, and on this trip, even a bag of fragrant dried fish (ew). I expect mini-buses to be hot (that is why you sit near the back and by a window. I even expect them to be unpleasant. But somehow I did not expect the perpetual stopping and loading and unloading of people the WHOLE WAY.

I guess everyone on the way out wanted to get to Mulanje, but on the way back, people wanted to get on and off every few minutes. And the driver was all too eager to oblige and collect the fares.

Plus, I learned that people get to shop on their way places. You do not get on and just go. You stop at the little village markets the whole way - not to pick up people, but because the passengers want tomatoes at this market, and potatoes at the next, and then sweets at the one after that. Each market has its specialty. I was not aware of this phenomenon. I am all too aware of it now.

We would drive at breakneck speed for a few minutes and then he would jam on the breaks. Hard. And then we would linger. People wouldn't get out, but they would send market kids to go buy things for them. And we would sit there. And sit there. And sit there.

And the sun would just pour down on top of the mini-bus and we would bake, bake, bake.

I almost looked forward to when we would get going again just to feel the breeze. Until I realized how fast we were going and how we almost ran over that whole group of kids.

I started to laugh at myself. And this is why......

I brought a whole pharmacy with me: eyedrops, gas-x, enough Imodium for a small country, cipro, Sudafed, bite cream, suncream, insect repellant, cough drops, Advil, diflucan, malaria pills, oral rehydration salts, you name it...I brought it. And haven't needed or used more than 1% of it (yet that is, please don't let this hex me). It all seems so silly to me now that I am here.

What I do is this: I do boil my water, I do buy bottled water. I even used my little uv-light purifier once. I wash my hands. I take my malaria pills and sleep with a bed net. I will put on suncream if I am really going to be outside in the middle of the day for a long time and I put bug cream on my feet when I am going to be walking through grass (I started this after getting a number of bites my first day in Blantyre). But that's it. Really, sometimes I even forget to pay attention. Ask my friends how I panicked after forgetting not to drink beverages with ice. I just forgot.

So I was laughing at myself in the mini-bus because after all the initial precautions, and even considering the reduced amount of things I do now that I am here, I just did the most dangerous thing ever. I got on a minibus for a long drive.

In the end, it really wasn't so bad. In fact, looking back, it actually was fun. An experience to be had. I normally just take them around town, but this was quite a trip and it was worth it because it's the only way to get from here to there unless you are going to the major cities and can take a coachline bus.

So it was fun, and I wouldn't change it. I am sure I will have to do it again.

But I was happy to get into Jennifer's air conditioned Toyota for the trip to Zomba.

Just plain tired

I am behind again on the blog...but for good reason this time. I have been diligently plugging away at my thesis, integrative project, whatever. I am happy to report that I AM DONE. Oh yes, I am through. It has been sent, it has been approved, and the final form that will give me my Master's is awaiting a last signature. Hurray! I am thrilled. Over the moon. Finally I can enjoy Malawi a bit (well, I actually did go to the paper making factory and I took a day trip before I finished...but I was SO close that I told myself it was okay).

But the paper, and finishing up my data collection here in Blantyre has left me feeling really drained.

Or is it something else?

I have hesitated to write about this because I feel like a month is too short a time to already be tired by this, but I would say, one percent of the time it does drain me. I guess the best way to describe it is the feeling of constantly being on display.

Every morning, I get dressed, I eat breakfast, and I put on my invisible armor. I am stared at, I am laughed at (mostly by little kids and not in a mean spirited way), I am borderline harassed by men, street vendors, and beggars. I am overcharged everywhere because I am a mzungo (white person).

Ninety-nine percent of the time just smiling, laughing, or being firm solves whatever form of attention I am receiving, but the other one percent of the time I wish I could just disappear.

The kids are cute. I love the "how are you? "how are you" "I am fine how are you?" I LOVE IT. But the constant attention from everyone has been a little unexpected. I guess I didn't expect to stand out so much. Maybe coming from New York where no one bats an eye at different people, languages, and forms of dress is why I am a little surprised. I am not sure. And I feel awful that I sometimes I tire of it.

As good as it gets

I could not have asked for a better week unless someone appeared from the Ministry if Education and produced every last statistic I am looking for in the report format I am using. It has been busy, draining, and fantastic.

A quick explanation…. I am looking for every imaginable statistic, cost, number relating to pre-primary, primary, secondary, higher, non-formal, literacy….basically anything that is related to education at all. I have had people laugh when I convey all the information I am looking for. But this week has been as good as it gets.

Of course, I have to go to two other cities, and much of what I have received here is referrals elsewhere. But I have gotten some pretty crucial information and I am amazed at how easily people will give it and spend hours, if necessary, talking with me.

For example, today, I sat in an office (with a tied-up rooster at my feet) while a staff member listed teacher salaries for all primary and secondary levels. But it addition to that I was given the scale for each step in the salary ladder. I was given the salary of every staff member working in the schools and in education offices. If that wasn’t enough, he walked me down the hall where another staff member gave me three spreadsheets telling me how many teachers and staff members at each grade were in each school. Unbelievable! I am so impressed with how well kept some of this information is.

Yesterday was even better. I discovered the holy grail of education statistics in Malawi. It turns out the Academy of Educational Development, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the World Bank have poured a lot of information into building a database for the country of Malawi so they can track all facets of education. The Ministry of Statistics has in turn poured the statistics into the database. There are a variety of pre-built queries I can run to get information on Blantyre overall (ranging from number of dropouts, to enrollment, to orphans in school). But I lucked out, the “man” from the Ministry happened to be in the office that afternoon and he built reports for me on a school by school basis for my city.

You want number and type of textbook per grade per school? Here you go.

You want number of classrooms, latrines, and other facilities per school? Here that is too.

The list goes on and on. He created a variety of reports for me and I am visiting him in the capitol when I return for many more. Many, many more. I know there may only be a handful of you with wide eyes right now, so I will say this: THIS IS A HUGE DEAL. A MAJOR FIND!

Oh, and he let me put the whole database of preconfigured reports on my flash drive. So I can get information at my leisure.

All of this helps me feel better about the lack of a complete IP (my “thesis”). It’s getting there….slowly.

It's grasshopper season

These guys are popping up here and there everyday. They are sold all over town at the side of the road and I understand that are supposed to be fried and eaten as a snack. Hmmmm.