Second Time Around

Mount Mulanje

     I have been here for about a month, so I figure it is about time I blogged.  On the evening of October 14, I was all set to depart from Chicago to London, when the announcement came that a part was missing on the engine, and there would be a delay until the engineer was able to locate the part and repair the engine.  Later, we were told that the part could not be located in the airport, so they were calling around the country.  A flight attendant said that the worst-case scenario would be if they had to fly the part in from London.  Well, the worst-case happened.  The airline provided hotel and food vouchers for everyone and sent us on our ways, informing us that we could call the airline in the morning to reschedule connecting flights.  It was after midnight by the time I got to the hotel.

      When I called the airline the next day, I was told that my connecting flight from Johannesburg did not fly the day I needed it (Oct. 17), so I would be spending one more day in Chicago.  When I finally got on planes on October 16, 17, and 18, everything went smoothly.  I arrived in Lilongwe shortly after noon on October 18, or 18 October, as they say here.  My friend Kari Belter, with whom I will be working, met me after I got through immigration without any trouble at all.

     It is kind of a strange feeling, being back here.  In many ways, it seems like I never left.  However, since it is now the dry season, things are much dryer and browner.  The jacaranda trees were still in purple bloom when I arrived, and the flame trees were just beginning to flower with their orange-red blossoms.  Unbelievably, it has rained/poured a few times in the first two weeks I was here.  That is not supposed to happen until the end of November.

     Farmers are preparing their fields for planting.  When the rains start in earnest, they will plant their crops (mostly maize).  Right now the season is called the “hungry” season because most people do not have anything planted and are still living off the harvest from April/May, though the food stores are getting depleted.  We are praying the rain starts soon, because it has been quite hot of late.  It is nothing like July 4th, 2012 in MN, though, because it is not at all humid, and I am not unloading wagons of bales.