Thursday, July 22, 2010

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.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July! It is officially the fourth of July here in Malawi and all of us folk here representing the good old USA have had our fun and are more or less all tuckered out. We had quite the celebration on the third; there was an official gathering at the US ambassadors house, the Peace Corps volunteers commandeered the local youth hostels as our hangout spots, and we danced the night away at more than a few of the local watering holes. And now, your faithful narrator is awake in the wee hours of the morning compiling this monologue.
Life at site has been a roller coaster of highs and lows thus I certainly needed to blow off a little steam. Just being with my peers acting like, and I use the term loosely, a “normal-twenty-something-year-old” was quite a relief. We made dick and fart jokes, we ate hamburgers, we went out dancing, and perhaps most importantly we imbibed alcoholic beverages. Ah, what a pleasant release from all the constraints of site.
Locals considering me getting water for myself ridiculous, waiting long amounts of time for transport, and the treacherous, uneven, long road that leads me to my house all work against me. But I take it in stride and get through it. Things appear to be coming together, slowly but surely. I’m holding some meetings soon to start tree nurseries and a nature club with the children. Last week I taught how to make mud stoves and I’ve got more “seminars” scheduled for the coming weeks. The work will come slowly with patience. People here love to chat and thus make friends before doing work. Opposite of the way my mind is structured. But anyway.
I’ve been reading a lot; lots of travel books, Chinese, and various development related thing to be specific. A fellow volunteer passed a wealth of environment materials on to me and another gave me some business teaching materials. Learning is a key part of Peace Corps work. There is a man who wants to make a fishpond and I know nothing about aquaculture, but I’m learning. I suppose that is one of the good things that college does for you, is provides you with ample opportunity to practice independent learning. Seems to be serving me well, ha ha!
I just want to add this random story to the mix of mangled thought I’m throwing onto the internet: There was a piece of Kraft cheese in a singlet package languishing on a table at the ambassadors house when the party was over. The cleaners would certainly have just thrown it out, so I snatched up this valuable commodity and put it in my breast pocket. I had full intention to eat it later after digesting a couple things. But what actually went down was that I got drunk and went out dancing where it became a prop that was shaken around by many volunteers in place of many 100 dollar bills. We made it rain in the club . . . rain cheese. Love ya'll take care!