Hey!! Who stole my shoes!?

It’s a lonely night in a big empty house. The occasional green glow of a solitary firefly is all that can be seen out the window across into the dark yard. An old dusty curtain hanging across the open back door is the only barrier between the damp outside and the unfriendly yellow glow of [...]

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I guess I’m not that hardcore.

Alarm goes off. 5:15 AM. “Man I’m hardcore”, I think to myself. Although I’m not feeling that great about it, ’cause my “hardcoreness” has actually been on recent hiatus, and I haven’t woken up early enough to do my sunrise exercise routine for a few weeks now. Quick trip to the latrine, then next door [...]

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Of Life and Death, but mostly death: Part 3- The Last Part

You sit and wait, and wait and sit, and shift your weight, and sit and wait some more. Just when you think your butt can’t get any more sore from the hard ground, everyone suddenly stands. Dust and dirt is brushed off everyone’s stiff limbs, and off everyone’s nicest set of clothes. There are hundreds [...]

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Of Life and Death, but mostly death: Part 2- The fate of Jimmy the Goat

Tonight I participated in the killing of goat. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. There was a shortage of food, so we went to the goat pen late in the evening to pick out a plump one. There was a lot of extra people over because my village mother’s brother died, and a lot family from [...]

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Of Life and Death, but mostly death: Part 1- The magic of a newborn baby

Remember my village sister Alice cooking by the fire from a couple posts back? http://whatyoumightbemissing.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/oh-right-stuff-gets-hard-sometimes/I was wondering about her struggles, and thinking that I should make an effort to find out more about her, instead being stuck in my head with my own troubles. After all that, and living with her for two months, I [...]

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Pimp My Ride… Malawi Edition

Meet Godfrey Moyo. A Malawian entrepreneur who has invested into his own business: 67 reflectors: 350 Kwacha 4 rear-view mirrors: 500 Kwacha 26 random stickers: 55 Kwacha Decorative string: Free from upholstery of an abandoned couch Double-padded back-carrier seat-pad with fringe: 1400 Kwacha Welded foot rests, handles, and back carrier assembly: 2500 Kwacha Three front [...]

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SOMBA!!!: How to get free fish by Lake Malawi

Step 1: Take a bike taxi on an early Sunday afternoon down to the lakeshore from the town of Nkhotakota . Walk along the beach and find a few Malawians sitting in a line, steadily and rhythmically, hand-over-hand, pulling on a rope that leads out to the lake. Wonder what exactly might be at the [...]

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What’s a Night in Malawian Jail like?

A dirty concrete floor, the smell of a mixture of urine, body odor and charcoal, an infestation of unknown insects. Not a pleasant place at all. Not a place you want to spend the night clutching your jacket, fighting off mosquitoes, and wondering what will happen to you next. Not the place you want to [...]

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The Joys of EWB Field-Work: Part 2

Of course it seems that all these “joys” I’ve mentioned are just obstacles, but the actual joy comes from overcoming these obstacles. Like the time we searched far and wide for the house of Area Mechanic- Benjamin Chaula. When we finally found his home after many wrong turns through the endless maize and tobacco fields, [...]

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Connecting With Africans…On the Court

(second post within one day, but I couldn’t help sharing this experience) I’m completely exhausted, totally dehydrated, my legs are trembling beneath me, and my arms are anything but steady. I have a pounding headache, and am covered in a layer of dirt and sweat. But oh God, I haven’t felt quite this good since [...]

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