Rediscovering the warm heart of Africa

A few weeks ago I was writing on a blogpost with the working title "The lost warm heart of Africa" - it was however never published and might or might not be published some time in the future.

This post is somehow related to the previous one about the bus ride, and think I have discovered that the best way of coping with a culture that is different than your own is to get as deeply into it as possible. Of course that takes some effort, goodwill and adventurousness, so it's not something you can manage in the lunchbreak between answering emails and setting up budgets. So I am happy to have had a bit of time the last two weekends to really get into it.

Today I woke up at 0600 all rested out (yeah, it's actually Sunday today), and decided it was time to get out into some villages. I chose to make my goal the Sani Hilltop in Nkhotakota, actually not a big hill, but the highest point within a reasonable distance, and I guessed there would be a nice view from there (yeah, I did not completely loose my Norwegian mindset yet).

I made it to Fish Eagle Bay, my chosen starting point and parking place. Immediately a local boy from the village beside volunteered to be my guide and we started off making our way through the villages, casava fields, pathways, burnt grass and rocks. Every hundred meters we met another person, of course with the usual ritual of "Muli bwandji. Ndili bwino kaya inu. Ndili bwino. Zikomo. Zikomo."* My guide, who was now already my friend by the way, was good in English and very interested in me, my country and not least my job with solar energy here in Nkhotakota. Making our way back down we had to stop several places in his village to discuss solar energy with his neighbors in Mbalame village, actually a place we are considering starting operations in with Kumudzi Kuwale. It seemed everyone knew about our company and I felt like a celebrity walking through the village. Everybody were super friendly and the only thing they asked me for except of solar energy was to take pictures of them. It's condidered an honour to be taken a picture of - and I'm sure they would be very proud if they knew that their pictures were to be published on the World Wide Web within a few hours.

When I was back in Fish Eagle Bay it was only 10:00AM, but I had already interacted and had conversations with probably close to a hundred people that morning. Where else is that possible?

Malawi - I guess after all your heart is still warm. I just have to get out of the mzungu lifestyle to discover it.

*Translation: "How are you? I am fine, and you? I am fine too. Thank you. Thank you." 

The time you need to take

Having a busy job, little free time and a car, I seldom get the chance to take in the real Malawi. Of course I live in it all the time, but a storm of thoughts and a wall of self reminders occupy my mind. I travel by car, and in weekends and holidays it takes me efficiently from one mzungu place to the next. I always thought that a car gives you the freedom to travel wherever you want and stop whenever you feel like it, but it might not be the best option always. Sometimes you'd better stop in the places you never even considered stopping.

This weekend I was coming home from my mzungu hangout in Nkhata Bay and for once I chose to take public transport. In spite of the slogan of the AXA bus service "punctual, reliable, friendly", the bus we were waiting for never came. So we ended up waiting four hours at the roadblock in Nkhata Bay, a place I would never have considered stopping if I were in my car. But so many others do, and it's a piece of Malawi I had never experienced. I liked it. And after four hours another bus came and we made it back to Nkhotakota safely.

The good and the bad

The most wise words about life in Malawi I think were pronounced by the young girl in this video which was recently made with youth from Nkhotakota: m.youtube.com/watch?v=ymXyWeDljEA

Life is so good, but sometimes it's so bad.

What I both hate and love about staying here is the emotional rollercoaster experience. You never know what to expect. A single day takes you up and down a million times.

Now, after a day of so many positive and negative experiences, I enjoy. I enjoy my beer, with my feet up, the warm stone heating my ancles and the moon rising over Lake Malawi.