We Made It!

Okay, hopefully you have some time because this is going to be a long one.
After leaving our house at 7:00am on Tuesday morning, we arrived safely in Malawi on Thursday at 10:30am Malawian time (4:30am Michigan time).
We were picked up at the airport by Justin Majawa, the SOM director who we have been in communication with over these past few months, and Matthew, another SOM employee. We must say that we don't know how world travelers make these long trips repeatedly because our bodies were rejecting us by the time we arrived in Malawi. We both felt like we could doze off at any second, and our stomaches were not doing so well.
However, we were so thankful to have made it safely and to be done with the plane rides (and smelly airports).
My hope through these communications is to give you a glimpse of the people and culture of Malawi, so I will begin with simply describing the scenery so far. When we arrived in Malawi, our first image of the terrain was that it was fairly treeless (though this isn't really accurate since they have a different type of wood that covers the
countryside) and not very green (which makes sense since it is winter and the dry season here). However, it was still in the 70s, and there were still flowers covering the ground (a little different than Michigan winters as Justin was quick to point out).
As you drive (European style), there are so many people walking or riding bikes. They walk right at the edge of the road, and one almost thinks that cars are going to hit them. The bike riders are very interesting to me because they often carry passengers on the bike. One man pedals and the other sits on the seat. I am used to seeing this amongst kids, but here the stamina of these people is just incredible as they carry these people for many kilometers. Oh, and the women carrying things on their heads...well I've seen pictures, but in real life it is much more incredible. You get the real picture of how immense the loads are that they carry - bundles of firewood, baskets of peanuts, etc.
Lilongwe is not like a city in the US. There are few tall buildings, no skyscrapers, but there are two million people living here. Justin took us immediately to his office, which was in what we would think of as a typical office building with multiple businesses inside. When we arrived, there was a line of roughly 50 - 75 young people (teenagers) standing outside of the building. Justin said that these teens were waiting for job interviews with a company that was hiring about 20 cleaners. He said that the line would be there all day - maybe 300 or more applicants for these 20 jobs. Puts the unemployment rate in Michigan into perspective a little.
Matthew took us on an expedition to exchange money and see what foods are offered in the grocery store. As we walked there, we began to realize that there were people every where. There were people waiting to get on one of the over-cramped buses, people cooking food as street vendors, people walking to work... We first went to the grocery store, which was not exactly a place where either Nate or I wanted to be as the overwhelming smells only made our stomachs feel more queasy. There were some familiar foods in the store like cereal ($6 a box), rice, canned vegetables, bread, and meats. I think I still have to get my courage up a little, though, to try some of the stuff. Next we went to exchange our money. This was fairly simple with the exchange rate being one US dollar for every 162 kwacha, but we did get our first experience of military police carrying machine guns. One was guarding the door of the exchange place. Justin says that they are just there to keep order - like our policemen.
On another note, we have been a little daring in our eating. Justin took us out to eat twice yesterday. The first place I tried ordering a cheese pita, but there was no cheese just chicken, lettuce, and tomato.
Seeing how our stomachs were not really feeling great, this didn't really strike me as something I wanted to try, but I ate a few bites and Nate (who was by this time feeling much worse than I) ate a bite. The second place we went to eat was Korean Gardens (a retreat oasis for foreigners within "Old Town"). I thought I was feeling better by this time (6:00pm), so I ordered sesame chicken. But after eating half of it, I was done. Nate had ordered a noodle dish, but he couldn't eat any of it as he was really feeling sick.
We are staying outside of "Old Town" Lilongwe in a Catholic Mission (St.
Johns). The room is small but adequate with a toilet and shower, so we feel fairly comfortable here. The mosquitoes aren't too bad, but we did sleep under a net. Connected with the mission is a private secondary school for boys. We have already met quite a few people in the complex (probably because we are fairly obvious), including Patrick who is the gardener (beautiful gardens!) and some young school children who were anxious for us to take their picture.
We are very thankful for Justin as he has been able to share with us a lot of the culture and history behind Lilongwe and Malawi culture.
Justin was quick to point out to us the ways that he feels the government is not standing up for the Malawian people. Amongst the poor education system and really a lack of a healthcare system are some economic issues that Justin feels very strongly about. We went shopping for a pillow and sheets, and the stores that line the streets are all Indian shops. As Justin explains, the Indian shop owners charge outrageous prices because they can. They have a monopoly on the supplies and goods, and the Malawian people cannot compete because they do not have the connections that the Indians do. He says that saying amongst the Indians is "this is /your/ country but /our /money." Justin also explained another problem that was happening in the countryside.
He said that the Chinese had exchanged the government locomotives (that don't work by the way) for access to a special type of wood that looks like mahogany. He said that they are clearing the countryside of this
valuable wood. We are enjoying hearing Justin's perspective on many
things.
We are, in case you were concerned, feeling better today. We fell asleep last night around 8:00pm and woke up first around 2:00am, then at 7:00am, and again at 9:00am. We are still feeling a little out of sorts and very much like the outsiders/foreigners, but we are not feeling like we are going to throw up any more. We will eat lunch here at the mission, meet up with Justin, find a way to send this email, and then we may head off to Songa. Once in Songa we will not have internet, but we will have the phone. For those of you who want to text message us or call, our phone number is 0112659424139.
We love you all and miss you already. Homesickness has hit me a little, but we are excited for the journeys ahead. Blessings and prayers for you all!
~ Nate and Bekah