Random Events

      It recently dawned on me that my days in Malawi are limited, and there are still places I wish to visit before I leave for good in August.  Megan Behl, the new Sister-in-Charge who arrived in April, loves hiking, so we have made a list of all the hills/ mountains we want to conquer before I leave.

     

Random Event Number One- On Top of the World

     The first of these mountains was Dedza Mountain, about 50 miles south of Lilongwe.  Usually, when we travel to Dedza, we spend time at the famous Dedza Pottery and Restaurant.  However, the location is fantastic for hiking as well.  There are rocky outcroppings all over, reminding me of some of the geography of Norway (minus the fiords).  On this particular day, we decided to not park at the pottery and continue to follow the tarmac road, which led us closer to Dedza Mountain (2200m).   Somehow, we found a Golf Club, where we parked.  The trail up the mountain also happened to start there.  It went straight up for a few hundred meters.  Then we followed a winding road/ trail.  Dedza Mt. has two peaks.  The first one has communication towers at the top.  We were actually disappointed when we got up there because the towers and cables and utility buildings really ruined the sight. 

     We took a break on one of the boulders at the top and decided we really needed to hike to the other peak.  On the way, we met several women who had been collecting wood and were now walking back down the mountain with the three-meter long bundles balanced on their heads.   I think the women were barefoot, too.  The trail took us through jungle-like forest and savannah grasslands- a very interesting ecosystem. 

  At the sort of top of the mountain, there were several very large boulders we decided to climb to get an even better look of the scenery.  It was incredible!  We could see to Lake Malawi in the North East.  I am not sure how far it actually was, but we were at least as far from the lake as we were from Lilongwe (as the crow flies).  The second boulder was a bit more challenging to climb.  We pushed through some brush to find a rock wall we could climb.  Going up was fine, but we decided we needed to find a different way back down.  Since we whittled away a fair amount of time climbing around the boulders, we decided to head back down the mountain.  There are many paths on that mountain, and they all led down.  Even though we did not follow the same path back, we eventually made it back to where we had parked.  I am not a fan of soft drinks, but the cold cokes we drank at the Golf Club sure hit the spot!

                                    Random Event Number Two- A Song and a Dance

     The beginning of May, the youth choir from the Crown of Life congregation where we worship sponsored a choir festival in order to raise money to buy new choir uniforms.  We were interested in this festival because we wanted to hear all the choirs sing.  There were about ten choirs from various congregations around Lilongwe (youth choirs, women’s choirs, and mixed choirs).  We had been warned that there was a good possibility we would be asked to dance, sing, or “direct” the choirs, but we thought we would go anyway.  At the beginning, a representative from each choir was asked to go to the front of the church.  While a choir was singing, various members of the audience went/ danced up to the front of the church and put money in the hands of the person representing the choir that he/she wanted to hear.  The choir with the most money was asked to sing first.  The choir that was singing didn’t get very far into the song before being interrupted by the Master of Ceremonies, who announced that a certain amount of money had been given to hear a certain choir or to see a certain person dance.   This happened throughout the festival.  At one point, we heard the dreaded word “sisters” and knew that someone had paid to see us dance.  Fortunately, we could redeem ourselves by paying some money in order to get out of dancing.   I think the entire event would have been even more enjoyable, if we were able to understand more of what was being said.    The event raised about 80,000 kwacha which is just over $200. 

            Random Event Number Three- Going to the Mountain (to Pray?)

     Bunda Rock is a huge, granite rock near Lilongwe.  People talk about climbing Bunda Rock, so we thought we would try it.  The day before we went, I had asked one of our nurses if she had ever climbed it.  She had tried but did not make it.  However, she assured us that children could climb it.  I am not sure that  was actually an assurance. After driving out to Bunda, we found a place to park and hired a “guide,” not that we really needed a guide.  This particular 10 year old was quite persistent, and we thought that we could afford the sixty cents we agreed to pay him.  The route took us straight up the rock/hill/mountain.  I am not sure what title fits.  It certainly was one of 

the tougher climbs I have ever done because it 

was quite vertical.  As we were climbing, we met some people coming down and deduced that Bunda Rock is a place where people go to pray.  When we got to the top, we saw many people doing just that.  Some were in groups, holding hands.  Some were lying on the ground weeping and wailing.  There were also some rock shelters built at the top.  One man we talked to said that he had been staying in one shelter for the past week!  The way back down was much easier going.  Because Paul was such a good “guide,” we gave him a 150% pay increase when we arrived at the bottom.  He sure was happy about that. 

                                            Random Event Number Four- Bushwhacking

    Part of what we do at Lutheran Mobile Clinic is to provide a ground- maize and soya mixture for children who are malnourished.  Every couple of months, we have to purchase the maize and soya and take it to a local mill to have it ground.  The most cost-effective way to do this is if we buy the grain from farmers or local vendors, rather than buy it processed from the larger corporations.  Through February, March, and April, the price of maize was steadily increasing because the previous year’s supply was running out, and the harvest was not quite ready.  The price for 50kg of maize in March was 10,000 kwacha, up from the K4300 we paid when we bought a larger supply in November.  Fortunately, we never had to buy maize at the inflated rate.  As of May, the price was still fluctuating, but we heard that it was about K1000 cheaper per 50kg if we were able to buy it in the village.  Some friends had some maize for a good price out in a village.  So, on a Monday morning, Kari and I headed out of Lilongwe.  Washin (a guy who worked with these friends- accent on the second syllable of his name) road along to show us the way and to help us load up.  We headed west by southwest out of Lilongwe, making many turns before we arrived at the village of Dixon.  Though all our clinics are out in the villages, this was certainly the remotest village I had been to.  I thought that we would soon arrive in Mozambique, if we kept heading west. 

      In Dixon, we stopped at a small building, which housed the maize.  Washin hired two men to help us weigh and load the maize into the vehicle.  Then, when we were about leave, Washin informed us that he would not be returning to Lilongwe with us.  Kari and I both wondered how we would find our way back to the main road, since we had taken so many turns on the way out to Dixon.  Fortunately, there was a different way back.  We just needed to follow one road.  This road, however, headed south for a long time, and we needed to go north.  There were mountains on the right hand side of the vehicle.  Eventually, the road curved east.  When we got back to familiar territory, the vehicle was pointed north, and those same mountains were to our left.  We are thankful we didn’t have a flat tyre or any other vehicle breakdowns.