Turn left when you get to the guys with guns

It is a simple enough set of directions. We were heading for Kumbali, a lodge (see pic above)not far from where we live. It is in fact cheek by jowl with the Presidential Compound. Hence the guys with guns.

We left Buchanan’s which is a part of the Four Season’s nursery complex after having coffee and cake and I just kept driving. There were police strung out along the road so it was clear the President was heading out shortly. But of course I missed the turn which is just before the compound and had to use the turning circle in front of the presidential compound gates.

 Busy with gears it took me a minute to register that four men with machine guns were set to surround the car and wanted me to stop; as did Greg who was muttering at me to stop. 

 Rampaging through gears I did just that. I didn’t think for a minute there was any danger. The guns weren’t cocked or aimed at us... the guards looked as confused as I am sure I did. Crazy muzungu!

Guns lowered I completed the circle and took the first turn to the right. It didn’t take long to reach the real Africa. A little village strung out either side of a bumpy, red-dirt road, with thatched rooves and solid huts built of the local red bricks.

They are quite attractive these bricks and most of the high walls around homes and businesses in Lilongwe are made of them. They also surround the presidential palace.

LEFT: Kumbali village

Africa is a place of high fences and brick walls. No doubt they derive from the ‘boma’ the grass and branch enclosure behind which one slept at night, safe from wild animals. Africa’s ‘wild animals’ these days tend to be human and while there is less need for high fences in Malawi than in many other parts of the continent, no doubt there is some need.

We bumped our way to Kumbali Lodge ... it must be a hell of a drive in the Wet Season ... and arrived about ten minutes after leaving the pristine bitumen road which led to the President’s Palace.

LEFT: Local bricks

This Lodge is where Madonna stays when she is in town. It is quite pleasant although nowhere near the best of such things in Africa ... but clearly as good as it gets in Lilongwe which is why, I am guessing, that Madonna stays here when she is in town.

We had a look around the main lodge where dinner is served at night and open to non-guests... unless Madonna is in residence in which case it is open to no-one except the lady herself and her entourage.

We had a look at a couple of the rooms and it seemed very pleasant. Simple but spacious were the words which came to mind. Madonna gets one of the two ‘best’ rooms, (see pic above) as one would imagine, and while nicely done, it is nothing special; upmarket motel really and simple and reasonably roomy as opposed to elaborate and enormous. Greg asked if he could ‘jump up and down on Madonna’s bed’ and the guy who was showing us around laughed. He didn’t of course but I am sure he was tempted.

The guest rooms have patios which look out over a large lawned area. The Main Lodge has a huge roofed deck with chunky sofas and coffee tables in the ‘safari style.’ Leaning back, gin and tonic in hand, wasn’t hard to imagine.

But, it was a brief visit and we were soon on our way to buy some tomatoes from the roadside ‘stalls’ near home.

LEFT: Great tomatoes in Malawi

They aren’t stalls really, just artistically arranged piles of produce set up by half a dozen vendors outside the shopping complex where Blue Ginger is and the Standard Bank, which we prefer, because there are no queues and it spurts out clean notes when we do cash withdrawals as opposed to grubby ones.

The tomatoes are fantastic here and I know I have said that before. But we are ruined and will just have to grow our own once back in Oz. My plan this week is to make tomato chutney and I have been saving jars as and where I can find them.

Limited came back on Friday and was effusive with his thanks for help in getting him home for his brother’s funeral. The sweetest note, and most unexpected, was when he brought in two ‘vases’ – actually glasses – of flowers; one for my desk and one for Greg’s. They really were beautifully arranged with flowers and leaves found in the garden and it is clear he has an artistic eye.

He is coughing today and said he got sick on the journey home from the funeral. I am not surprised. He is grieving and the lungs are symbolic of grief.

ABOVE: Malawi's Parliament House. You can't take photos of the Presidential Compound but the country's Parliament House, built by the Chinese is not only impressive it is very attractive.

And here we are, two weeks on and Peggy has finally collected the fabric for the curtains. Purchase orders did not arrive because printers had broken down and holidays, lunchbreaks, non-functional telephones and all the contributing factors of life in Africa means that it is all happening weeks later than expected.

Not that it matters. To date there is no progress on air conditioners or generators or extra power points although I am hopeful this week will see something eventuate. More importantly we have no idea where our container is and I have written a severe note to Grace Brothers to that effect.

We were told it had been cleared in Beira and that it had left but it seems the ‘powers that be’ or rather, the individuals to whom we talk when we can make contact, which is not often, and who are actually powerless, are not sure the container has left Beira or where in fact it might be. Not to mention now having no idea when it might arrive.

It is not surprising and I have spent so long in Africa it is not even disappointing but it is time-consuming in terms of ‘tracking’ and not knowing when, or if, we will be able to set up the house before it is time to leave.  We have four weeks. Fingers crossed. It seems to work better than anything else around here.

I am sending positive thoughts into the cosmos for a container arriving on the doorstep by the end of the week. With that and finger crossing who knows? Since I know nothing anyway it probably doesn’t matter.

I could take the Indian approach where, ‘it is enough to wish that something is true to say that it is.’ We call it lying but I suspect it is resigned pragmatism. That and some ‘puja’ (prayer) might do the trick.

On a more mundane level the Visa machine was operating at Foodworths on the past two visits so I have had less of a Kwacha load. We found a whole beef fillet which turned out to be tender instead of the usual tough so we look forward to a beef fillet future.

And we got together with the our Thai and Danish neighbours to discuss how best to organise supplementary payments for the guards and Fred, the gardener. First of all we have to find out exactly how much they are paid so the hierarchical nature of things here is not upset. We’re not sure if guards are lowest in the pecking order or if it is the gardener but clearly house staff are at the top and since we control what they earn in a way we cannot with guards and gardeners we have to ensure that whatever we give the others does not come too close to what they are paid.

The basic wage is 5,000K a month; about $A1 a day. This is probably what the guards and the gardener get. But it might be more.  The house staff get four times that amount but also have their accommodation, water and electricity supplied. We pay for it as part of the rent. But they do work hard and have far more responsibility than trimming shrubs and sweeping leaves or sitting by the gate, letting cars in and out.

It is about finding a balance between what they earn; what is a reasonable wage in Malawi and helping out if one can – without throwing the system into chaos. We leave and they stay and whatever system operates here will have to be something which fits with their ‘culture’ not ours. There is a hierarchy and that must be respected.

Otherwise, things do improve even if it is slow. The telephones and internet have been working for most of the past week and I am now a two-mobile phone person as one needs to be in Africa. My Malawi mobile is up and running which gives me double the chance of someone actually getting in touch with me should they wish to. And it is cheaper than having local calls go from Malawi to Australia and back again!

I have a couple of manuscripts coming up to edit which will keep me busy and keep my mind off missing containers and the power has not gone off today at all which is rather spooky I have to say.  I am however planning to cook dinner so Murphy’s Law says I know what to expect.

Then again, why send negativity out into the cosmos? There is enough of it around at the best of times. Here’s to a first: 24 hours without a power cut!

N.B. The next day started with bad news and possibly good news. Greg had a call to say that one of the Malawians he deals with died overnight. He was 31 and only got married four months ago. Although it may have been a second marriage or a second wife. They said he died of malaria but a lot of Malawians die of ‘malaria’ when really it is HIV/Aids or their systems are weakened by HIV, or for that matter weakened by malaria when they were children. Whatever it is he is just as dead and it is very sad. The funeral is tomorrow and Greg will drive to his village to attend.

And it seems the guards get 9,500K after tax which is actually not bad in local terms so if we top them up by 2,000K each they will be getting 15,500K which is actually pretty good and will not nudge the top of the hierarchy too much.

And, on a potentially positive front, my severe note to the removalists in Australia brought an email response from them and then an email from their agents in Malawi so progress of sorts. It is not that the agents here know where our container is but one presumes with head office jumping up and down we might find out sooner, not later and we might actually even see it arrive sooner not later.

I have uncrossed the fingers. It is what it is. Things happen when they should. All is exactly as it is meant to be.