On to Better Things, Japanese sTyLe.

So living in Zomba is great but I sometimes feel that living out here with all the socializing is taking me away from the reasons I came to Malawi in the first place. Which was really to learn about the country, learn about aquaculture and to help the people in some way. So instead of spending soo much time worrying about the weekend’s events I thought I would start thinking about the issues.

This weekend I’ve decided to ditch my partying friends and join Isa, the Japanese volunteer, in her school event. Saturday morning I left early in the morning to meet Isa and a bus full of Japanese volunteers. These volunteers were on average positioned for 2 years, doing everything from helping revise school curriculum’s and capacity build to teach tailoring or mechanics to people with disabilities.
The ride in the morning was as interesting as it was entertaining. Along with 10 Japanese volunteers, I met a few important Malawian dignitaries, such as the minister of education and the MP for the region. Point of interest: the minister of education was a female!

Anyways merrily we went along, to a remote village location where a secondary school was preparing for the festivities. The Japanese, headed by Isa and another volunteer named Muki, had organized a morning of science and math competitions that was designed to help the kids think through problems and solve them creatively. Hase-san one of the volunteers, showed the kids how to create a hot-air balloon and it was absolutely fantastic. I have never seen someone put more emotion into demonstration, except maybe Bill Nye the Science guy. The students ate everything up and even the on looking younger kids got into the science behind the demonstrations. I even saw one, perhaps 8 year old kid, draw in the dirt the mechanics behind constructing a hot air balloon.

The afternoon was lead by Isa, and it was full of fun sports. The activities that were geared to show the kids that many things can be done without any equipment. I assisted in the demonstrations and had fun showing them everything from limbo to arm linked tug of war.

In the end the day was a success on many levels. African schools are often plagued by students that wait for direction and lack enthusiasm. In class they are often taught down to. So they are very yes sir, no sir and try not to participate unless they are sure they a) have to and b) that they are right. But this informal education/ fun activity really had them problem solving and some stepped out of thier shell and tried (usually with some wrongish methods) but they tried!

Whats more is that they had fun without balls and courts (a usual malawian kid misconception).
Isa is planning a race at the local Domasi elementary school soon and I will help with that aswell!

Ramses the Great

So Its been a day since I have moved into my house and somehow I already have a pet! For those of you that know me, I'm usually not a cat person. But this little guy, big ears and all won me over. I was acutally saving him from being eaten by lions, as the girl in the peace core, who presented me the kitten, lived in a national park. AND a national park is no place for kittens she said, could be eaten, mauled or worse. So yeah....I know that there aren't any lions or major predators in Liwonde National park....but I'm a sucker for a sob story and here he is:

Introducing Ramses the great...the newest addition to the Bala family.

Turn Left at the Banana Trees

So somewhere between Cape Mc Clear and Zomba plateau I was convinced to move to Zomba. It was becoming rather obvious now since all my social activity was in Zomba which left me sleeping around on anyones couch/ bed that would allow me. I even snuck into lodges (paid hotels) and bunked with friends there. Ít was getting rather cumbersome and I thought that living in the town would decrease my environmental impact by allowing me to decrease my need for rides into town. (Ok, maybe this is faulty reasoning as I would still need rides in everyday, in order to get to and from work). But anyways I found a little white house on a hill, and it was only slightly more expensive than the place I was currently staying at AND I would have my own house, living room, dining room, kitchen (with fridge) and 2 bedrooms. How very grown up!


The house is nestled in the mountains, with trees surrounding it and a vegetable garden. There are even mango, lime and guava trees! Its perfect really. My friend Rachel, who was really my doorway to the younger crowd was staying at the house and was moving in a few weeks time. So she offered me the house and I haven’t looked back since.

When it Rains it Pours

So yes, Malawi is in a drought, as was my social life, but now with one simple phone call my life has changed. I was introduced to a very kind missionary family who invited me to their welcome/ introductions party in Zomba, where people meted, greeted and feeded. It was great reminded me of a slightly scaled down version of a high tea. This gathering was intense as suddenly I felt as if I was in Canada again. There were at least 50 people there and all of them were Muzungos…some were Canadian some were, American and others were German. It was incredible there were little white blonde hair, blue eyed children neatly dressed in white dresses or trousers running about with biscuits in their hands, people milling around the dining room filling their small plates with baked goods and other treats and at the center of it all was a table with soft drinks, real juices and freshly Brewed coffee! I was beside myself the whole day….what was going on? Where did all these people hide? How did I miss such a large population of Muzungos? Well it turned out that all of them lived in Zomba, and some of them even talked about how I should move there aswell.
That event led to another where I stayed over at a nice Canadian women’s almost mansion of a house and had drinks with a slightly younger more single crowd. That event led to me somehow being invited to Cape Mc Clear, a brillant part of Lake Malawi, which inletted into a nice secluded beach side area. Which finally led me to a camping weekend at Zomba plateau, where we climbed and scurried up a mountain and enjoyed gorgeous views of Zomba. So since that day my life has been very busy, over used text messaging, minibus rides here and there, dinner parties, drinks and socializing!














Here we are after our killer hike of Zomba Plateau; Then the trip to Cape Mc Clear where we canoed Malawi style! Most of these people are forigned aid workers, some are researchers.

Doubting Thomas

My Coworker (Mrs. Kananji) has been telling me that I will meet others…I on the other hand didn’t see how this was possible as the only “Muzungos” (white/ foreigners) I’d seen were in Lilongwe, the capital city, and were more than 4 hours away. We went on like this for nearly a week and then finally she introduced me to some Japanese (JICA) volunteers that are working with Malawi Institute of Education in the area. Their names are Isa and Nita and they have turned out to be my saving grace from boredom. Most nights I run over to Isa’s house and we cook dinner or go to play volley ball with the local children, or do aerobics with the local women. Isa is great! She has been here for over a year and she has really emerged herself into the community. There is a group of kids that come by her house everyday and borrow soccer balls, or watch cirque de sole on Isa’s laptop or borrow some other game she may have for them. And the local women seem really eager to get fit and often ask Isa to run an aerobics class. The best times, in aerobics, is when the kids come in to join and run about doing over exaggerating moves trying to out do eachother, and then they tucker out and start messing about. I don’t think I can ever go back to normal aerobics now.

I really admire Isa’s work here with the community, and find that she is able to be friendly and integrate without losing her personal space or privacy. She really has it figured out. Nita is great as well. He’s been here for only a few months but seems to be doing well. He does video stuff for the education institute and always seems to be playing with some sort of gadget or peering at me confusedly thru his 3 inch stylish glasses. His English is not as good as Isa’s and he just seems a little more apprehensive to try and communicate without knowing the exact translation.But we’re starting to get used to each other and he’s loosening up a little.

There is no Fish too small for a Malawian to eat

As a conservationist I am compelled to feel a little twist of pain every time I see a small fish being cooked or sold or even caught. Here in Malawi that pain turned into an ache and now has subsided into numbness. I guess its the level of poverty, or maybe its the lack of education. But there is literally " NO FISH TOO SMALL FOR A MALAWIAN TO EAT." The saddest part is that the conservationists here (and I use that term loosely) laugh about this statement. Its something they have just accepted. I was out at the ponds today and some kids came by to collect small "wild" fish that we normally try and get rid of, so that they don’t contaminate our ponds, and eat our pond species’ eggs up. These fish are usually tiny and are no fatter than your thumb.

We were harvesting a pond that had a large amount of green algae in it...so we had to scoop out all of the algae and throw it aside to see if we caught any fish. Immersed in the algae were these little wild fish and the kids just all ran towards our algae piles. Hunched over the green goop the kids preceded to hurriedly scavenge for these little fish. At the end each left with a handful or so. They had big mischievous smiles and I would have thought that some had won the lottery the way they grinned.

Not a normal reaction at all, by Canadian kid standards. Normal 4-5 year olds are too busy chasing their tail to scavenge for their families’ next meal. Maybe if chocolate or better yet the latest DVD game was immersed in that algae would they even have made a slight move towards it.