Silverfish, sabotage or spells?

We keep finding holes in our clothes - so far two of my linen shirts and a pair of linen trousers, luckily everyday standard and nothing good and half a dozen of Greg's business shirts which are more of an expensive problem.

At first I thought silverfish although the holes are large but I reasoned small holes not attended to would become large through washing. Perhaps something tearing things in the washing machine although given it is a Miele front-loader that is a bit of a stretch. I checked it out, as did Limited, and nothing to catch or tear there.

Hmmm, some of the holes look awfully like they have been cut with scissors... but who would do that? Only two opportunities and I don't want to go there but decided as of today, with the trousers, that I would pull out the sewing kit and repair them as opposed to throwing them away to possible future lives. I am also washing Greg's business shirts, or rather, having them washed in the machine at the guesthouse to isolate our washer as the culprit.

I know it sounds a bit crazy but this is Africa and witchcraft is a reality here and yes, I do believe in its power to some degree, so spells also have to be considered. Is there a use to which a small piece of fabric from our clothes can be put? Probably. Spells are spells and all is energy and our personal energy is in everything we wear and particularly in those things we wear or use frequently.

 I must have been in this frame of mind, at least unconsciously, on Saturday when Greg asked me to cut his hair with the beard trimmer ... our hair trimmer being in Australia and neither of us yet having been prepared to try a local hairdresser... and I made sure I scooped every last hair out of the bath and flushed it down the toilet. Hair is particularly powerful when used in spells.

And no, I don't really believe this but it is Africa and I do believe in trusting instinct and in being careful. And there were all those missing bits of cloth to consider... I might have to up the ante with my spells and call my guardian angels in for some help. Not that I really do spells, more prayer and supplication but I did bring my Jesus icon back from Oz with me figuring that it doesn't hurt to have some serious 'backup' in a place like this.

I have my shamanistic bone and feather goddess picture in the dressing room ... maybe that's why pieces of cloth have disappeared... to counter her power? All conjecture of course and not something I can raise with either Limited or Andrew, not at this point anyway.

As another 'safety' measure I have packed up all my good clothes, which I don't wear here anyway, and put them in a suitcase for safe-keeping .... well away from silverfish, spells or sabotage.

Beyond the esoteric it has been more banal with time spent organising and overseeing repairs. Does it ever end? Probably not but at least we are making progress. We bought some screws at Game to repair the handle fittings on our bedroom door which were loose. They screwed in beautifully but of course the heads are slightly too large so we cannot screw back the covers. They were the only screws we could find in the right size although they are not really the right size but as good as we could get. We now either need to buy a file... probably in Joburg... and file the heads down or find the right sized screw.

We have also organised for our Miele dryer to go down to Joburg to be either repaired or assessed. We are sending it down on the company plane on Friday which makes it an economical option given that when we put in our claim to the insurance company for replacement they complained that it was more than six months since we made the move and they would need an official document saying it had been damaged in transit!!! Clearly they don't understand Africa.

Why are so many insurance companies such 'shits.' They make enormous amounts of money on 'maybe's' and are singularly unreasonable and unpleasant as often as not when asked to pay something back. Captive market is no doubt the answer.

We sent them emails showing that our first contact with Miele South Africa and Miele Australia had taken place in November 2010, a week after our goods arrived and had been unpacked, it had then taken us six months to find a local technician, with the help of advice from MSA and MA to try and fix it... which he couldn't... and to write a note saying so which accompanied our claim, but they insisted they needed an official document saying it had been damaged in transit which clearly only a Miele technician, if anyone, could provide and SA is the nearest place we can find one.

I have had lengthy email conversations with the Miele technician in Joburg, who is originally from Romania it seems and is a trained fighter pilot, or so he said when I mentioned the company plane. Anyway, he was invaluable yesterday when the shipping agents came to pack the dryer, in helping us figure out.... me and Limited and Andrew and three guys from the shipping agency... how to get the dryer off the stacker. And yes, I did get the manual as my adored father-in-law Roy would have said to do, but nothing in there about stackers and removing said dryer from!

I am not technically minded and neither it seems were the five Malawians although they may just have been scared of damaging it. So I rang Mihai in Joburg, twice, and he talked us through first of all finding the screws at the front which needed to be removed and then removing the metal plates which would allow the dryer to slide off the stacker. I am sure anyone who thinks laterally would have worked it out in an instant but, like the guys, I was also worried about damaging the damn thing.

The first problem was discovering we did not have the correct screwdriver for the task, because in fact we needed alum keys, which we do not have and then experimenting with various screwdrivers to get the screws out. 

It all takes time. There were six of us crammed around the dryer in a relatively small laundry... well, not so small, just full of stuff including two ironing boards .... Limited and Andrew like to iron together... a bank of 24 batteries which is our inverter and various tubs and buckets.

It took nearly an hour but finally it was done and the dryer will go down on Friday and either be repaired, which would be the fastest and easiest and cheapest option, or not, in which case we can continue with our insurance claim for replacement. I have also taken photographs of the dryer  so we have some proof of its existence and its condition ... this being Africa.

The other thing I did  this week was go with Limited and Andrew to have a look at their houses to see if there was room in the kitchen for a cooker. We are bringing another new, spare cooker down from site for the guesthouse and that means that each of them can have one of the old cookers for their kitchen. They said there was room but I have learned to never assume and thought it was time I went to have a look at their accommodation anyway.

The complex is next door to ours and has been built in a square with a large, iron gate at the entrance.  I did not know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised to see it was clean and the 'road' in the middle was lined with vegetable gardens. Mostly Limited and Andrew's work, they said, and much of it from seeds I had given them. The garden was abundant and lush: pumpkins, tomatoes, beans, spinach, capsicums, eggplant and lots of other veg I did not have time to identify.... one of the healthiest vegie gardens I have ever seen. 

Limited's little girl, Hannah, who is three and who has only met me once but who has probably seen the muzungu more than I have known, came running up to give me a 'knee hug.' So sweet. Kids are divine and I adore all of them. Andrew also has a little boy who is four, who also gave me a knee hug, and the son of Mathew, who works for our Thai neighbours also came running up. He is about three.

There was a gaggle of gorgeous children and I asked Limited how many families lived in the complex and he said twelve. I know he and Andrew both have three, the older ones being teenagers and I could only wonder if the little ones had become possible because they had gotten the jobs at Mala Flats, which is what the locals call our complex. I wondered how many children there were in all and Limited said quite a few families have four or five children so that means probably fifty children in all. That's a lot of children but the complex is actually quite large, and, vegetable gardens aside, has a lot of  well swept, red earth as playing space.

The houses were also much bigger than I expected with large kitchens ... plenty of room for a cooker although I will have to get the electrician in to put another socket on the wall and connect it up. The kitchens have a concrete bench at one end, about six foot long, with a power socket on the wall. It is the only socket from what I could see and the only counter space but, compared to a mud hut it is a palace. They cook on a portable double hotplate.  It was all very clean and tidy with 'cupboard space' provided in the form of stacked wire baskets. Their wives looked shy but welcomed me in between cooking lunch.

Limited and Andrew both took me to have a look at their living rooms. They were well furnished with odds and ends of chairs and coffee tables but all very tidy and comfortable. No television sets of course but I would not be surprised if the power sockets in the kitchen are the only ones in the house. There were three other doors so I am guessing two bedrooms and a bathroom.

We recently organised for their homes to be painted (and the guardhouse at the complex) so the walls were brightly white. They had both been delighted when we said we would get the houses re-painted. It was even more satisfying, having done it, when I could see what pride they took in their homes.

All of which makes me think about how hard it is for them when employers leave and they lose their jobs, as happened when the Danes left and Mfundu lost her job because the new tenant did not want to take her on, and as will be a possibility when we leave.  It's another reason why we are glad to be able to help them build homes in their villages so at least if the job ends they have a decent roof over their heads.   Although I doubt it would ever be as good as they have now. The Mala Flats were built in the 1970's and was actually a project done by the then president, Banda, and full credit to them for the quality of the project and the enlightened approach to the construction of staff quarters.


And, as it happens, it looks like our Thai neighbours will be on the move within months instead of years. I feel so sad about it even though after years as an expat I should be used to it. The expat life means frequently saying goodbye to people you like and whom you may never see again because they live across the world and your paths are unlikely to cross. There is no doubt that at times enduring friendships are made, but even then distance makes it difficult to see much of each other. I suspect after so many years as an expat I know this and hold back from getting too close to people.

But, on a positive note my mutilated shrubs are beginning to sprout new life and leaves and hopefully they will survive to 'fight' another day. 

It is a reminder that the only constant in life is change and that certainty is an illusion. I have also decided to sort through the toys we brought over, hoping to have grand-children come to stay sooner not later, and give both Limited and Andrew some for their children. Ours will have grown out of most of them by the time they get to visit Malawi anyway and I am sure they will bring far more delight to the little ones next door.

Kids are great and seeing the children next door just makes me miss the little people in my life even more. Perhaps it is a form of compensation that I decided to make creamed rice today. I am doing it in the slow cooker, which, if it works, looks like being the easiest way to do it.... none of that constant watching and stirring ...and if the power goes out the slow cooker keeps on cooking because the inverter can run it quite happily whereas the stove needs the Genset to be operational.

Talking about generators, the power supply has been fairly reasonable of late but we have had a diesel shortage and there are protests tomorrow so who knows what will happen for the rest of the week. Greg is closing the office tomorrow, just in case, and we shall hunker down. Hopefully all will be peaceful and Lilongwe will return to normal on Thursday.

My joblist is actually getting shorter although today I have been chasing up an electrician because the security lights on the fence on one side of the compound are not working because a circuit breaker in the guardhouse is broken. At least I think this is the cause. Andrew also pointed out to me that a length of wire from the electric 'fence' is hanging down outside the guesthouse and is dangerous for the children so hopefully he will fix that as well.  Hopefully.

In that one door closes and another opens way of life in Malawi I am sure that as one job is done another one or two or three will appear.