Meeting Bingu

A very funny thing happened yesterday, I attended a party held by His Excellency Professor Bingu wa Mutharika President of the Republic of Malawi and First Lady, Madame Callista Mutharika at their estate. The function was a luncheon held to recognize the work of the Peace Corps in Malawi. I would have to say that it was perhaps one of the most surreal experiences of my life.
The whole of Peace Corps Malawi assembled at the office in the morning (minus a few silly people who were absent). We milled about and marveled at how we can actually look presentable and not like degenerate Americans in Africa. The busses arrived a while later and we were loaded up to embark on our voyage another universe.
The gates of the grounds were the first thing I found to be silly; a stately metal fence with large brick pillars for cars to pass through and then a chain link fence that was over grown with weeds. That was the beginning of the ridiculousness, but far from the end. It turned out that it was only a superficial barrier, there was a much more substantial fence inside that one. When we hit that point we got off the bus and were patted down before being directed to a large tent, with a billion air conditioners. It was then that I was positive I had arrived at the circus.
Inside was the parallel dimension I had been searching for: tables were set up with state china dishes and silver wear, the scaffolding was covered in red, black, and green fabric, chandeliers hung from the ceiling, video cameras were everywhere, the marching bands instruments were in one corner, a stage for the jam band was erected, and the obligatory pedestal and throne for the big man completed the mirage. The whole time it was quite difficult to remember I was in one of the poorest nations on the planet. Makes you think about how donor money is being spent across the world and the disparity between the haves and the have-nots.
The event was monotonous except for the surprise ending. We stood when Bingu entered, listened to the national anthem, ate a great meal, and drank a variety of alcoholic beverages. There was a spokes woman for the volunteers who gave an amazing speech in Chichewa, the country director for the Peace Corps spoke, and so did El Presidente. The kicker though was that at the end of the function Bingu demanded that we all dance and he danced with us. I shook his hand and we took the mandatory group photo.
All in all, it was a blast cause we got to eat and drink and dance and party and had the strange experience of meeting the leader of a country, an obscure African nation no less. As a side note, they televised a lot of the event on the evening news. I was sitting near one of the cameras and thus was frequently shown. In fact there was a solid 15-20 second close up of just my face as I sat and starred in awe. Good times.
In other news I had a divine revelation and now feel much better about being a Peace Corps volunteer. I came with the expectation to change people and their lives. The fact is though that I cannot change people or their lives but I can help them do it themselves if they want to. Therefore I have given up with the idea of trying and I am just going to give the people what they want, and that is to chat with them. They just want to talk to me and get to know me. I came cause I wanted to work, but they aren’t necessarily interested in working. But they do want to chat. And that is that.