Walking into the bathroom the other night I saw the most enormous cockroach sitting on my toothbrush. After years living in India (where it really was truly filthy) and in Africa (where it is moderately filthy) and in Perth (which seems to be cockroach central and I don't know why, but I remember in 1980 coming into the kitchen of the old house we were renting, to get a drink of water and the floor was literally a mass of movement) I don't bother too much about these creatures.... but, the toothbrush was pushing the limits of my tolerance.
I gave it a thorough scrub in hot water and then put it away in a drawer. However, it did dawn on me the next day that cockroaches get everywhere so they were probably sitting and shitting on it in the drawer. Let me just say that I believe challenges to one's immune system are good for you so the cockroach on the toothbrush is more an aesthetic issue for me than one of hygiene. I don't think you can survive four years in India without becoming somewhat resilient about such things.
Anyway, a solution was found when I pulled out a spare airline toothbrush... we have so much spare airline stuff it is not funny .... complete with its own neat little box to cover the brush. Snap, and no more cockroach feet on my toothbrush. One problem solved anyway.
Given that I always ponder the symbolism of things I don't know why I did not wonder why, after more than a year in Malawi, suddenly I had a cockroach of mammoth proportions appear in my life.... but I didn't. Hence the necessity for the next lesson I am sure.
A few nights later I woke because something which felt awfully like a cockroach was scurrying across my midriff. I sat up, brushing furiously and we turned on the torch which we use to track mozzies… and that’s another story…. but later. Anyway, an equally enormous cockroach was burrowing away beneath the sheets. We pulled back the mozzie net, recently replaced because all else had failed, and pulled off the sheets only to watch it disappear beneath the mattress. They are amazing creatures. How on earth do they get into and out of such small places without being squashed?
Not that I really cared at 2.55a.m…. yes I looked at the clock. Greg jiggled the mattress and out it fled. Captured finally beneath a china dish, paper slid underneath to capture it, and tossed out of the window.
What was it about being awake at 3a.m? We had had a few restless nights being dive-bombed by mosquitoes around about that time. It’s the time of night when work is done on liver and lungs… symbolic of passion, anger and grief and yes, all of these things had been at work in my life so perhaps the inconvenient creatures were just performing their required task.
Anyway, flyspray and swatting did not work so we tried the fan. It was awfully noisy so we put the air con on… they don’t like being cold. But, in the new world of Malawi power we keep getting surges which shut the air con down and then turn it on again… beep, click, lights on and off…. Aaaaahhhh. Which set us finally hunting for the mosquito net we had used when we first arrived.
I don’t know why we did not think of it before because it definitely works. I did hear buzzing one night but when I turned on the light the mosquito was clearly outside the net in a fury. Back to sleep. I can put up with buzz if I don’t get bitten. Mosquito nets however do not keep out cockroaches although I suspect this one was something of an emissary given the number of places I have lived where they are in huge supply and never yet have I had one in the bed. Well, not that I know of.
But back to the cockroach. So what did it mean? The midriff is the Solar Plexus Chakra and so the combination of the two must have symbolic meaning. Everything has symbolic meaning.
The cockroach is all about survival and reminds you that no matter what life throws at you, you have all the tools necessary already at hand to survive even the worst that life can throw at you. The cockroach shows you that you have the ability to know when it’s time to scurry out of the way of danger and also how to survive in all circumstances and environments. I had been doing a bit of scurrying of late that's for sure.
Cockroaches are symbolic of tenacity and longevity and could symbolize the need for renewal, rejuvenation and self-cleansing of your psychological, emotional, or spiritual being. Let’s just say this is a time of renewal and there has certainly been some cleansing going on.
The Solar Plexus Chakra (Manipura) is known as the Power Chakra, driving for control, competence and success to fortify the ego. And yes, issues of ego and power have definitely been at work.
The Manipura Chakra, which means the diamond, is the energy center of personal feelings, power and sensitivity. When in balance, this energy center creates a person who is outgoing, cheerful, open and expressive, intelligent, self confident, flexible, and has a keen sense of respect for themselves and others. This person is also very decisive and has strong nerves. And I have needed strong nerves.
This person may also show qualities of being out going, cheerful, spontaneous, relaxed. This chakra can give clarity of thought and an increased awareness. It stimulates interest and curiosity.
Located between the sternum bone and the belly, it governs the will, the mind, emotions, stomach, and upper digestive tract, assimilation of nutrients, psychic experiences, rational left brain) thoughts, ego, vital energies, control, accomplishments, and the freedom to be yourself.
Organization is important to this chakra that likes everything orderly and disciplined. ah yes, that desire for order which I am sure manifests as wanting to have some control over my life. Fool that I am. Actually I have spent most of my life practising going with the flow. There is no control over anything or anyone but Self. And even that is limited.
It is the centre of self- esteem, power, directed will and it radiates expansiveness, warmth & joy. It quickly takes issue when feeling threatened and this can cause an even greater bridge to have to span when treating problems.
I am always struck by how perfectly things fit when seen symbolically because all of these issues relate to what has been happening in my life. Or rather, the stage I am at and the lessons I need to learn.
But beyond the spiritual and metaphysical it has been more mundane. We moved the fan from the bedroom to the lounge room, or rather got Steve the electrician to come back and move it, down to the lounge room which it is absolutely silent no doubt because it is fitted to a concrete ceiling as opposed to a plasterboard one. It also looks better and gets used much more.
Steve is also fitting the old cooker to Limited’s kitchen so Limited was looking very happy this week. They have a two-hotplate portable on which to cook currently so four hotplates and an oven is quite an improvement. We are bringing another new oven for the guesthouse and will then fit that old cooker into Andrew’s kitchen.
I have told Limited I will show him how to make some simple cakes. I gave him a basic cookbook and a cake tin. My cake baking was a bit disappointing this week when I made another avocado cake, using a greater quantity of avocado from the freezer and it was quiuQ.I3H#am a bit disappointed with Malawian avocadoes although I am now beginning to wonder if it is our tree more than anything. They are all a bit tasteless and watery but the fruit from our tree also has a bitter edge.
The trunk is covered in slashes which Andrew told me were made to make it produce more. I told him that was cruel and the tree would feel pain and he was not to do it again. I am wondering now if the tree was so traumatised it is producing bitter fruit. Anyway, I am throwing out the rest of the frozen avocado. I hate throwing things away in Africa but so far, soups, cakes and dips have not worked very well because of the bitterness.
I did however have great success with an apple spice cake and an apple pudding cake the other week. The other thing I have been doing is making syrups from the white wine I have bought to try but which is so awful…. not bad… but just too, too mediocre to drink …I cannot drink it. So far I have made chocolate, lemon and vanilla syrups. Waste not, want not.
Talking of household equipment ... we get excited about the little things around here... we also finally got the Miele dryer down to Joburg to be assessed and have been told there is nothing wrong with it. Sigh. The only problem is that it is set to not function if power is below a certain level and of course, in Malawi, where power is almost always below certain levels and forever a moveable feast, it does not work. The solution it seems is to order a new board from Germany … $700… which can be set to function at a lower level and which should restore our dryer as a functioning and useful piece of equipment.
Other than that it has been a week of work, writing, painting, cooking and reading. I am currently reading a book about the use of music by healers in Malawi. It has yet more fascinating information on the prevalence and destructive impact of witchcraft in this country.
Written by an American anthropologist who was here in the 80’s I doubt much has changed. Beliefs in witchcraft underpin African society to a profound level. It makes life so much harder and so much more terrifying.
It is good to remember though that there is nothing here which could not be found in Europe centuries ago. This struck home again last night when I was watching a programme about syphilis in England in the 19th century.
Apparently men believed that having sex with a virgin would cure syphilis. And here, again, in India and Africa and no doubt other parts of the Third World, men believe that having sex with a virgin will cure AIDS.
What is it about men and what is it about such beliefs? We have more in common than we think.
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