A few things that have struck me . . . .

Ladies and Gentleman, I’m still alive, if only barely, hahahah! The dementia is starting to set in! Mwhahahaha! This life that I am living is so very different from those that I’ve known before, although there is one element that ties them all together, it is a strange life. The sheer contrast to my previous life is far to overwhelming for me to cope with right now. My mind is quite a jumble of what to write about. The basics are that I am eating well, I’ve not been sick, and that things are still going. As I’ve been quoted as saying, “Always forward, never straight.”
Perhaps, I’ll just pick and choose a couple of things that have struck me as different and wrote this in a James Joyce-esque stream of consciousness sort of way. Let’s give it a try, shall we? DISCLAIMER: None the things listed below are meant to belittle the Malawian people.
1.Fish tied to the front grill of mini buses barreling down the highways. This is a unique phenomenon that I was really taken aback by. The first time that I witnessed it I naively thought, “Oh, look as a symbol of how much these people like fish they strapped some fake fish to their care. Oh, isn’t that cute.” But that didn’t really make any sense. I asked about it and I got the simple explanation that it is a method to dry fish. Now you’d think with the way they use charcoal and firewood with reckless abandon that a little to smoke the fish would be a good way to preserve them. But no, here in Malawi they strap them to the front of the cars, blaze down the road, and pick up little bits of extra insect protein as they go.
2.The facts that I have seen no Malawian in this entire country use the restroom once! When I was living with the Chingualu family in Dedza I never saw a single person use the bathroom once. Now, I am spending lots of time at my landlord’s house and I never see any of them use the toilet. Apparently, the reason for this is that Malawians don’t like it when other people know they are defecating. This drives the locals to do two things that I find silly; one is to stealthily use the facilities by cover of darkness, and the other is to cop a squat in the cornfields. The fields do need to be fertilized, but I can approve of untreated waste being dumped in the open when cholera is a major concern here.
3. How incredibly objectified I feel in this country! Being a male who grew up in the United States, I successfully avoided being thought of as an emotional object. However the Malawians have cut me down to size. My landlord, who is 70 years old and studied agriculture at the University of Massachusetts, tells me that when he was a little boy in Southern Rhodesia (present day Zimbabwe) white people weren’t considered people. White people weren’t “anthu=people” because we had no souls! When little children see me, they scream, “Give me money!” (Makes me question the merits of international aid programs) The children stare at me, which is “normal”, but then they also follow me. That makes sense too, cause they really have nothing to do, no toys to play with, and no place to go to “chill”. What makes me feel dehumanized is when I tell them in their own language not to follow me, they repeat what I say, laugh, and continue to follow me. The adults also laugh at me when I do normal things that the Malawians do. I’m very accustomed to being stared at, with and without gaping mouths. But when I’m treated like that it makes me feel as if they don’t recognize I have feelings- a soul if you will.
4. The jealousy of the Malawians in their society. My village is more or less all extended family. But they are very jealous of each other and covet many material possessions of the other villagers. It causes them to be very cruel to each other. A very common occurrence is for villagers that plant trees, especially fruit trees, to have them uprooted. Or another more anecdotal example was when a pastor told me how higher leaders of his church wouldn’t help facilitate the creation of a pen pal system for Malawians and members of the church abroad. He said they didn’t want other people to learn to speak English well. These things don’t make sense to me. Why not steal the fruit of your uncle’s trees? Why hold down poor children who just want to learn? It appears to work as follows; in a society where everyone is living in abject poverty even the smallest bit of property or knowledge can be used to make an individual feel superior. The result is that no advancement in their world is ever made. They have a very strange culture of jealousy, whose ugly head is only starting to be reared.
Hmm, that all does seem a little bit negative. Let’s see if I can think of something happy to write about.
Oh here is just something that I have been musing about that makes me laugh. I’ve been walking around meeting the locals and whenever I go about they always give me peanuts. So, I’ve always got peanuts to eat and that is a good source of protein. I’m really thankful for the food type things I’ve got going on for me here.
I get so excited now whenever I go into town and just drink a Coca Cola or have a bag of salt and vinegar chips. I never knew how awesome processed foods were until I started a diet that involves pretty much zero processed foods. The guilt factor of shoving handfuls of lays potato chips in my mouth is gone! And I found this macadamia nut honey that is amazing! And there is this farm, Mchenga, they produce real milk that is so rich I can’t help but buy at least a liter each time I go to town and chug it on the spot. I never knew the luxury of having such a varied nutritious diet. Nor did I ever really appreciate eating three sumptuous meals a day. Many people eat just one meal a day in my community and it consists of just corn mush. Very, very sad.
Anyway, I’m Ok. Things are moving. I’ll report in later. Love ya’ll!