Yes, this Kindle staff member’s phone still works even though all but one of the number keys has fallen off!
Almost everyone in Malawi has a cell phone, but many are falling apart like this one.
There is no monthly service bill. Instead, you buy “air time” cards, putting anything from 12¢ to $2.50 worth of credit on your phone. Then you can send texts for 5¢ each or make calls for about 15¢ per minute.
I woke up late this morning, almost 6:00, to hear one of my neighbors calling “Odi” outside of my house. That’s how you call attention to the fact that you’ve arrived. No doorbells. And knocking would be rude, used only as a last resort. You stand in the yard outside the house calling “Odi…..Odi-odi…..Odi!…..ODI!” until somebody answers. Continue reading “A Day in the Life”
I met with Chief Kabudula and several other village headmen on Thursday, and Chief Kabudula asked me to take his picture, but not on that day. We made an appointment for the next day, because he “hadn’t washed well” on Thursday. Everyone in Kabudula washes his body twice per day, morning and night. Except in seasons when they are working especially hard in the fields. At those times they often shower in the afternoon as well.
This young lady and her sister, my neighbors in the village, did laundry on Saturday morning. They started around 6:30 (probably after cleaning up breakfast dishes), and they didn’t finish until 2 or 3 in the afternoon! Hard work.
Mr. Lungu, the single man whose house I stayed in, gets up every morning at 4:00 to start cleaning the house. Between 4:00 and 7:00 AM, he fetches water from a nearby well; starts a fire; mops the floors; heats water and takes a “bucket bath;” and makes, eats, and cleans up after a simple breakfast. Then at 7:00 he is off to the primary school where he teaches.
I, on the other hand, felt like a lazy bum the whole time I was there. Continue reading “Chores”
Kids went crazy every time I had my camera out. They would run at me yelling “Jambuleni! Jambuleni!” (Take my picture! Take my picture!)
“Karate” was their favorite pose.
I just got back from a four-day-long village stay in Kabudula, about 40 miles into the bush from our home in Lilongwe. Four days of visiting people in their homes, being stuffed with foods I’ve never tried before, and speaking Chichewa. Rather than just try to describe everything with words, I thought I’d try with pictures, one per day until I run out of good ones.
Over the Christmas break we stayed at a cabin that belongs to some friends of ours on Lake Malawi, away from the touristy areas. While it was good to spend a couple of days away from home, our time at the beach wasn’t what you would probably think of as a normal vacation experience.
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