Arrival and orientation

Sorry about the long gap in posts – the internet is not over reliable here.

I met my team at the airport and flew into Nairobe and then after a connecting flight to Zambia that no one at Progressio London, Progressio Malawi or us had been told about we arrived in Lilongwe; the capital city of Malawi.

After clearing immigration (which was staffed by some of the nicest people ever, they were more interested in the few words of Chichewa (the national language) we spoke than checking our passports) we met Godwin Progressio’s logistics officer and went to Msimba Catholic Centre, a lodge just outside of the city centre where we’re staying. (We had two cars- the one I wasn’t in broke down on the way so we were a bit delayed.)

Over the past week and a half we’ve been studying Chichewa, the national language of Malawi. Chewa are one of the tribes (each tribe has its own language, e.g - Chiyao, Chitumbuka; ‘chi’ means language.) Chichewa was made the national language under President Banda but English is widely used, especially in offices and government institutions.

It was David Livingston’s expedition which first exposed Malawi to Westerners, so the word ‘azungu’ (literally – white people) is applied meaning British. I have spoke with some of our teachers (Francis – our culture teacher) told me that the English and the experience of Empire that Malawi had is viewed as positive; their constitution, political systems, law, even plug sockets are all based on the UK. This comes from comparing it to Mozambique under the Portuguese where things were much worse, and many people immigrated as labour and chose to stay.

The role of women is very complicated and I’ll write more about that when i get chance, but men and women perform different tasks traditionally, even some people living in town keep these roles; neither Francis or Godwin have ever cooked, this job belongs to their wife.

The weather is mostly hot – but we have had one day where there was heavy rain and yesterday was overcast – people are commenting that the rains will be coming early this year. (Normally it would be hot and clear now with the rains in November or December.)

Hope everyone in the UK is well and will message again soon.