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a blogpost with the working title "The lost warm heart of Africa" - it was however never published and might or might not be published some time in the future.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

Two eventful days in Ethiopia

Last weekend I was in Ethiopia. I had two eventful days with my friends Ellen and Øystein who live there since two and a half years and have even had a kid during that time.

Ethiopia is a very interesting country and has a different mindset than most other countries I've been to. They are extremely proud of their country and their cultural heritage, to an extent that I have only seen in one other country I've visited so far - the other one is Peru. I got to see some of the Ethiopian culture and music in a show that was set up in the complex of Alliance Francaise - a fusion show with experimental jazz and punk mixed up in a jam session with traditional Ethiopian music and dance. The dutch band The Ex was the core of the event - really cool.

The second day we set out with a group of British people on a picnic and hike. We drove out of Addis Ababa, and after about one hour we reached the edge of a deep escarpment with a waterfall. A magnificent view. Some local Ethiopians were there, and followed us arround seeming to be interested in what these mzungus were up to in their village. We even saw the gelada baboons, the only monkey that live strictly from eating grass and live in groups of up to several hundred individuals. The local villagers were very interested and wanted to practice their english. I am used to this from Malawi, and went along with my friendly tone in a conversation with a couple of the youg girls. Walking back to the car, the girls started asking for money. I am also used to that, and of course I never give money to anyone in exchange for a conversation. When approaching the cars, the crowd accumulating around us were becoming bigger and bigger. I am used to this from Malawi also, but when we had sat down in the cars and wanted to drive out of there the situation became tense. The locals demanded money and started banging on the windows of the cars. Some of them picked up stones and rocks, threatening to throw them against the cars. We managed to get out of the chaos, but it was not a nice experience. My friends later told me that this is what Ethiopians do in the rural areas - they threaten you and throw stones after you. Not a very good strategy to attract tourism to a country which has so much to offer.

We stopped in a more quiet place for a picnic. Also this time a few locals spotted us and a club of young sheperds decided to take a break in their herding and stood and watched us while eating. These guys were more peaceful, and honestly interested in seeing what strange food these whites had brought to eat here among their cows and teff fields. It felt a bit weird eating with such a public, but no signs of throwing stones this time.

After the picnic a few of us went out for a bit of hiking. Rolling and lush hills and with the deep escarpment on the side - a beautiful landscape. Being just north of equator the rainy season has just ended in Ethiopia now in October, and the landscape is green and sprinkled with flowers of different colors. The dark and fertile soil is an excellent foundation for different crops. Ethiopia has a lot of endemic crops - species that were cultivated for agriculture there and due to the special climate some of them are still almost only found in Ethiopia. Fortunately one of them have caught on in many other places in the world, and every time we enjoy a cup of coffee we can thank Ethiopian farmers from thousands of years back for cultivating the bush that gives us this wonderful drink.

Italy as seen from the eyes of a turist from Malawi

I have taken a week off from work in Malawi to go and visit my wife in Florence, Italy.

Before going to Italy I was dreaming about how it would be: Wine, tons of tasty food, architecture, art... I have been here before, but sitting on the very basic countryside in Malawi imagining Italy became like a dream to me. How had they managed to build all those cathedrals? The cities, the roads, the railroads, the museums? From Nkhotakota it seemed amazing, like the result of a miracle. I thought I would do nothing more than stare with wide eyes and an open mouth for the ten days in Italy.

Now that I'm here I know that there was no shock in the end. I never caught myself with my mouth open and I quickly adapted my regular ignorant manner of strolling by amazing buildings and cathedrals without even lifting my eyebrows. But I anyway appreciate the perspective that my dreams of Italy seen from Malawi had given me.