Homeless in Lilongwe

For those of you who have mentioned that you have been looking for updates and have yet to find any, my apologies. I actually made a conscious decision to put off posting when I’m in a less than optimistic mood and wanted to wait until I had fun and exciting things to report. Unfortunately nothing too exciting has happened yet, but there have been some good things.

The 2 weeks since I arrived have been a rollercoaster. I’m temporarily staying in a guest house while I look for somewhere to live. The guest house is nice enough and I like that there are people around a lot of the time. All WUSC volunteers are housed here for their first 2 weeks (my stay has been extended by a week because I don’t have anywhere else to go yet), so Janna, Jules and Regan are in the building next to me. There are also 2 other WUSC volunteers who arrived on the same day as me, but are only here for 2-3 weeks. We have gotten into the habit of preparing communal dinners that we eat on the covered patio of either of the houses while we decompress about our days, which I really enjoy.

I’ve technically been at work for a week and a half, but can honestly say I have done absolutely nothing work related yet. We are supposed to be paired with a counterpart, someone who we will work closely with, but unfortunately mine – Issac - has been away since I arrived and won’t be returning until next week, so I will have another 5 days of trying not to rip my eye balls out due to boredom, as it seems no one else has the time to bother with me. Currently I am sharing what will become my personal office with a woman named Patricia, who is a regional coordinator and was supposed to have moved her things to the regional office this week, and Cole, another Canadian student who is also here with WUSC but only staying for 4 months, who will also be working at the regional office (I will be working from the secretariat, aka head office). I am hoping they will be able to put in all the necessary security measures at the regional office early in the week so they can move and I can start to settle into my space (it’s a bit squishy with all of us in there). I will have a computer with internet (it seems to work ok most of the time) and have a great view, so I’m happy about both those things.

It will take some getting used to the culture in the office though. Everyone closes their doors and I don’t like that. I hope I will be busy enough not to care soon, but it’s not the warm and welcoming feeling I had hoped for. Most of the people are nice though and I’ve already been invited to an afternoon party next weekend, been taken out for lunch, and been offered help when I need to start shopping for things like furniture and cars. My office is in the middle of the city centre, in the tallest building in Malawi – a whopping 9 floors. My organization – Malawi Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (MANET+) - shares the floor with the National Assembly and there are some big names in the building including the World Food Programme, UNHCR, the African Union, IMF and the South African High Commission. Maybe I’ll be able to make some useful contacts in the elevator. There are about 18 people in the office. Mostly they are administrative staff or drivers, but there are 4 program officers and I hope to be able to get involved with their work.

For lunch I’ve been going to a place just beside our building. It’s an outdoor café style place where you can get bbq chicken or beef with rice, fries or nsima (the local equivalent of sadza for anyone who remembers my complaints about the staple food from Zim), for about $3. Once I get settled more I should probably take my lunch sometimes, but for now it is easy.

Looking for a house has been a nightmare. Jules, Janna, Regan (JJR from now on cause it’s too much to type out!) and I are trying to find a place together because I don’t want to live on my own and it will also help with costs. We have seen quite a few places but it is very difficult because prices are high and most of them are too far to walk from public transport, which is important for getting around and also if people want to visit us. We have finally narrowed it down to 2, and hopefully can be in touch with the owners soon. It is hard because nothing is perfect and the house we will likely get would mean my room is really tiny, and I had really hoped to have a bit more of a “sanctuary” since I’ll be living with a family. They left the decision up to me and I hate the pressure because it’s not like we really have a better option at the moment. At this point though, I just want to move in somewhere, unpack and get on with it. We will also have to figure out how we are going to furnish the place. Nothing is cheap here, and houses don’t even come with fridges or stoves, plus there is no Goodwill store to go buy an old fridge and mattress for $10 so I’m not really sure how we can be expected to manage on the money we get but somehow we will. We keep asking what people do with things when they don’t want them anymore and no one seems to know. I think what happens is that people use things until they are really dead with no hope for recovery. There are second hand items available, but the culture here seems to be that you can expect to sell something for about what you paid for it. This gives us hope that we may actually recover some of the major costs we will incur now, once it is time for us to leave.

My biggest disappointment so far has been that I won’t be given a vehicle to use. MANET+ will pick me up and drop me off for work purposes most of the time, but I am very upset that I was mislead. Lilongwe is a very spread out city, with 2 central areas rather than one. I am currently staying in Old Town, and work in City Centre, which is about a 15 minute drive. Overall it is a pretty place to drive around because it has a very park-like feel, but the distances between things are far making getting around a challenge (who puts a nature reserve in the middle of a city??!). Public transportation by mini bus isn’t exactly the safest and taxis are relatively expensive, so there aren’t many options. I feel strongly that I will need to buy a car to use evenings and weekends to get around more easily and not feel trapped. It seems that most people buy used Japanese vehicles and have them shipped to Durban, South Africa, and then driven to Malawi. I have duty free status my first 6 months so that would help keep the costs down. I’ve done some searching and I should be able to get something decent for under $5000, but I’m not going to rush into anything until I get a little more settled. I also need to decide if I should spend $3000 to get something cheap but with low clearance or a bit more to have 4 wheel drive and higher clearance so I don’t bottom out on all the pot holes (I am personally fond of the Toyota Rav 4 lite at the moment, but they are at the highest end of what I would be willing to pay). I’ve been told that I should be able to sell it for what I pay, sometimes people can even get more. So we’ll see.
A few days ago an American girl named Lindsay moved into the guest house. She is here for 3 more months volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. She also has a friend named Andrea who is working about a 20 minute walk from the guest house. I have enjoyed having other “non-family” people around, and am currently at Andreas place using the wireless (her organization’s office is in a house, and she stays in one of the rooms). I have also met a few other Canadians who work for WUSC or are here on CIDA internships. Most people are only here for a few more months though, so I hope I will meet some people soon who are in it for the long run like I am.

Food has been ok so far. Except for at the local market, prices in the grocery stores are fairly comparable to home, which I wasn’t expecting. Cooking communally has helped with costs, and I think I will continue to shared meals with JJR once we are in a house. Regan is vegetarian so our dinners have all been without meat, which so far is fine by me because all the stuff Janna has made has been really tasty. My meal duty last week was making pasta with tomato sauce for everyone and I think it turned out pretty well. Tonight I will make a stir fry with veggies I bought yesterday at the market and some rice noodles.

For fun, I’m pleased to have survived 2 weeks without diving into my movie collection, thereby saving them for exclusive viewing during the 76 remaining weeks I will be here (which is currently feeling like approximately an eternity). Last weekend I went to a bar with some of the other Canadians I met, and went back with JJR, Lindsay and Andrea this past Friday. It’s a nice place. I was happy to get out and feel like there can be things to do. I’ve been told there are a few nice bars/clubs to go to, so I hope to check them out in the coming weeks. JJR went to check out the lake this weekend but I opted to stay back to just relax and decompress. I also wanted to be here to say goodbye to Noushine, a volunteer who was only here for 2 weeks and left today, but who was a really good support system for me. There will be plenty of time to go to the lake. 76 weeks worth of opportunities.

I know that mom, dad, Elaine and kids, and possibly my grandparents have made it through this long and mediocre “setting the stage” first blog. Anyone else who has done the same, I am impressed by your dedication and hope to have more interesting things to relay soon so don’t give up on me yet!

Love
Heather

PS. I have a cell phone, and text messages from home should work +265.904.6648. Once I get a house and a land line I’ll send that info out because it should be cheaper than calling my cell. Unfortunately phone calls in Malawi are ridiculously expensive so I won’t be able to do much calling.