Troubling times in the warm heart of Africa

There is so much beauty in Africa in general and Malawi is no exception, but there are also trials and tribulations which make life difficult for those who live here and Malawi sadly, is no exception.

At this point in its history with shortages of food, fuel, foreign exchange and all the limitations that imposes of empty shelves, petrol queues, grounded airplanes and transport, the people seem to be facing another set of challenges which will impact both their present and their future. Perhaps most crucial is that a 50kg bag of maize flour, the staple food here, has risen from 3,400K to 4,200K!

One can only wish it were other and that those in power will find a way to resolve this situation as peacefully and effectively as possible.

Already there have been arrests and protests in response and murmurings of fear that the awful violence of a year ago when nineteen people died will be repeated. One hopes not but the 'old part of town' is not the best place to be at present and keeping a low profile in general seems wise.

We fly out to Australia in less than a week and have no idea what we will find on return. It seems to be the way of Africa that governments begin well and then deteriorate and that the best of intentions and the most noble of plans seem to founder in the swamps of reality by the second term. It would be easy to think, looking around, that there is something about Africa which makes it doomed to repeat, in varying form, the same dangerous chaos.

Zimbabwe may well stand as the best known example of such imploding chaos but South Africa is showing signs of heading in the same direction. Why? What is it about leaders on this continent which leads them to become, well, Kings? As one Malawian friend said the tradition of Kingship is a strong one and so is the tradition of 'old men' being seen as beyond words - between the two there comes a separation from the people and the power.

There is no doubt that African chiefs wield a great deal of power and there is also no doubt that this power is not always in the interests of the society as a whole. There is nothing about this system that cannot be found in the histories of all races and nations - it is just that the most developed have left such systems behind. Where they remain they remain as symbols and not as actual forces or powers at work in the society.

But those changes were wrought elsewhere by the people and the other thing which holds people back in Africa is the powerful belief in witchcraft and the sense of reverence for ancestors who will return to haunt, punish or even kill you if you challenge the traditions of old.

Just as India's caste system keeps that nation trapped and crippled in so many ways, so too does the African system of tribes and chiefs and kings keep these nations trapped and crippled. How do you throw off the shackles of the past in such a way that you keep the things of value and shed the rest? It probably cannot be done and so the more people hold to their traditional ways the more the traditional ways hold them.

Within the system of kingship, even if that 'kingship' be symbolic and not literal,  there is a veneration of the king which limits communication at frank, open and honest levels and within the tribal system of venerating old age you get the same effect and Africa's tragedy is that those who lead inevitably take on the mantle of 'kingship' even if metaphorically and not necessarily because they demand it or take it for themselves - the society at large confers and maintains this 'mantle.'

So too with the reverence for old age where the mere fact of the years means that someone will be seen as 'beyond' criticism, advice or often words and so the gap between the people and those who lead them grows.

It is not even about 'bad leadership' or necessarily any 'fault' of those who lead, it is just what the African system produces and will continue to produce until, like the Western world, such traditional practices are discarded and there is absolute separation of 'royalty' and the State and all leaders are held accountable not to the tribe but to the democratic system.

But at the end of the day the change must come from the people themselves and sitting here, watching from the sidelines, one can only wish they do so in co-operation with their government, their leaders and their constitution.

 People, protests, plans... and fears fuelled by the Pentecostals!

It hardly seems possible but queues around petrol stations have doubled if not more and they wind, in patient snaking around corners I did not know existed.

The word was that fuel supplies had improved. Perhaps not. Or perhaps people are preparing for protests next week which are said to be in the planning. There were a few empty shelves in the canned food section at the supermarket which may also indicate people are planning for possible protest outcomes.

But cream is back, which is a plus, and yogurt although this week there are no onions to be had for love or money except the salad onions the women sell on the side of the street. Onions in this case are onions! And there is a sugar shortage to add insult to injury. There has been little or no white sugar in the shops for weeks - brown sugar and yellow sugar - but not white and the story is that the supplies will be back to normal by next month, according at least to Illovo, Malawi's sugar company. Not that many people believe much that they are told.

On a brighter note the power has not gone off for two days which, given Eskom's history is somewhat odd. Well, it feels odd. We are such creatures of habit that we become accustomed to things, even the negatives, and then miss them when they disappear. Although we also have three full jerrycans of diesel for the generator so I am wondering if the Malawi spirits which like to 'mess with our heads' are just playing with us. The 'gods do play sport' and no-where more so than in Africa!

But apart from massive thunderstorms, bucketing rain, thunderous lightning and the attendant glory of the Wet, things are pretty quiet in Lilongwe. Quiet before the storm, or quiet with the storms, who can say.  We had a visitor this week who would have preferred more quiet and less storm, flying into Lilongwe on a very stormy day indeed and riding its torments to the landing strip, only to have the pilot thrust it airborne at the last minute because two other planes were also trying to land.

As fatalistic as one may be it is also comforting to know that the South African pilots are pretty skilled at making their way around and through the storms which litter the African sub-continent at this time of year.

Our white-faced friend had however, found it a scary ride. But then he lives in Johannesburg which is one of the most scary cities on the planet - in terms of crime - so all things are relative and you would not be in Africa if you were easily scared.

There are so many things to fear in a place like Africa it is a wiser course to choose to live life as it comes and to leave no place for fear in that equation.  More to the point, Africans themselves live in such fear that one has no right to add to it. In this world of witches and death there is too much fear already.

Photo: Crowd at a witchunt in Malawi.


It is one reason why I think it is a great pity that the Christian do-gooders who flock to this continent are of the evangelical kind. You could not pick a more fearful version of Christianity than those who approach it as Fundamentalists, and the Pentecostals are the most extreme of all.  It doesn't seem fair, that, given the fears which are part and parcel of life in Africa, the people should have another load dumped on their heads.In fact the Pentecostal version of Christianity is fuelling witchcraft excesses more than anyone else:

In their present form, beliefs in witchcraft are not "traditional" – changes since earlier times are obvious. Modern beliefs see the power of witchcraft as emanating from evil spirits that possess the witch and endow him or her with the power to harm.

This belief in possession by evil spirits has been promulgated in Africa by western missionaries of fundamentalist, particularly Pentecostal, Christian beliefs. It has enabled Africans to retain a modified version of their former beliefs in witchcraft, obtaining the approval and support of Satan-hunting Christians whose life is dedicated to the pursuit of evil. New churches, started by Africans with a self-proclaimed "divine mission", have sprung up everywhere.

These churches do not "control" witchcraft beliefs, although they encourage and profit from them. Nor is it true to say that it is only as witchcraft escapes from the control of the church that it becomes evil; witchcraft is evil from the beginning. Some people may feel protective of Christianity, but Christianity is at fault here.

The pastors of independent African churches may identify children as witches (for a fee) and are prepared to "cure" them (for a further fee) by exorcising the evil spirits. Such exorcisms are often violent; beating and the use of cold water to cleanse and purify the possessed being is common .......

http://explorer9360.xanga.com/759491248/fundamentalist-christianity-is-spreading-through-africa-making-things-worse/

There is no denying that witchcraft is a cruel and often murderous reality in Malawi but seeking to replace it with an equally cruel theological dogma seems to make things worse, not better. People take the vengeful and punitive nature of fundamentalist christianity and simply add it to the beliefs they have so that people now don't just have witches and demons to fear, they have God to fear and evangelical preachers who threaten them not just with suffering in this world but everlasting hell in the next!

I happen to think given the trials of life in Africa the people deserved something gentler, kinder, more compassionate than the raging rants of evangelists who train up the locals in their own image so that Africa too, has, like the United States, television programmes which preach terror and damnation to all who do not believe as they are told they must.

But preaching fear and retribution is perhaps what appeals to Africans; a foil to the fear and retribution inherent in their own ancient beliefs. And those who preach fear must also live with terrible fear and so how better to face it than to leave the safety of the First World and throw yourself into the fears of the Third, adding your fears to the boiling pot which is African belief.

The Catholics are here and the Anglicans, and I know they do some fear - all religions do - but nothing like the Evangelicals  or Pentecostals, whose very breath blows fear into Africa's dim and dusty corners. Poor Africa. Those who come to help actually do more harm than good and those who would claim to 'set Africans free' actually imprison them in another fear-fuelled religious mindset which just marries and mixes with more ancient, and equally unforgiving dogma.

Pondering the prevalance of fear in Africa makes things like protests, petrol and mere human plans pale into insignificance.

Millipedes, Muzungus and Mice.
 
We have had kitchen visitors of late, both harmless which is good and a change from the gigantic cockroaches which 'come out to play' when the lights go out.

A giant millipede made its way graciously and determinedly across the kitchen floor the other night, heading for the back door, which we opened to allow it exit. The perfect synchronisation of its numerous legs was truly something to behold.  I mean, 'who thought that up?'

The materialist scientists would say it was just random, it simply happened, and because it worked it was retained. But the perfection of it belies such simplistic explanations - watching those hundreds of legs in perfect motion was for me yet more evidence that this amazing world is not just intelligent it is designed.

Although there is plenty of chaos in Africa still! Clearly, at some level, chaos also works. I am not sure that people sitting in their cars for hours in petrol queues would agree with that. As Muzungus we have an edge because the company is allowed a certain amount of fuel and we can access enough to fill the car and keep our generator running from the depot. With three full jerrycans in the shed it is a nice feeling.

The other visitor was a mouse which has necessitated moving onions and potatoes up from the pantry floor onto a shelf. Chewed ends may make a meal for a mouse but I prefer my vegetables intact. I spotted our visitor dashing across the lounge room floor the other day and I am thinking we might be able to share space as long as he or she cannot reach the pantry shelves. No doubt there are enough crumbs to keep a small mouse going although Limited is pretty rigorous with the broom and mop.

Things have been fairly quiet in Lilongwe although there is word of demonstrations next week. Things have a way of simmering in such places and erupting unexpectedly. Then again, the people have plenty of issues to keep heat under the simmer spots.

As my mother would so often say, 'wishing doesn't change things' and I am sure, if it did, then Africa would be very different to what it is. The people themselves have wished for better things for millenia and everyone who comes, well, probably everyone who comes, can only wish for a better life for Africa.

Or perhaps such 'wishes' are countered by the power of witchcraft and the 'thoughts' or beliefs or wishes inherent in that complicated, convoluted and often cruel system. The power of belief in Africa is more than enough I am sure to counter the best of intentions and the most powerful of wishes.

But life goes on and the avocadoes on our huge tree grow equally huge and shine in full-bellied abundance with each new dressing of rain. The limes are also ripe and this year have not suffered from the fungus which destroyed much of last year's crop. Nothing has changed except this year the Wet season has been wetter so perhaps the more rain the less fungus although logic suggests quite the opposite.

The rains have been so abundant that it looks like a good maize crop will come in and the countryside is so green and lush it spreads like a flowing ocean in waves of grass and trees. Even the stumps of trees are now languidly shaking fresh fronds - resourceful life surging from the cruel cut and thrust of life on the African continent. But the branches and fronds will not last very long if the fuel crisis continues.

People must eat and that means people must cook and if there is no fuel to be purchased they will make their own by cutting down trees and shrubs to make charcoal.Survival will always be the prime motivator and just as it fuelled the rotating legs of our millipede visitor, so it fuels the life of Africa, no matter how or what anyone else may wish.

It is only when people have security that they will be supported in their bid to survive that they can take the time to indulge in other thoughts. Aesthetics and ethics are privileges of a more certain world.

Birds, batteries and beliefs.

There are some large birds in Malawi and in the Wet Season, not surprisingly, even more of them - a brigade in fact clumping across my roof in recent weeks.

The echo of not so little feet has become something of a constant and has been, it seems, the source of our DSTV or cable problems. We have had erratic service since returning which Laurence, the technician blamed on storms, rain, overcast skies etc., despite my suggesting that he get up on the roof to have a look because I had heard the sound of something falling one day.

After four visits and assurances that no, we had a signal, when clearly we still had a problem, he finally went up on to the roof this morning to discover that my noisy visitors had not only been tap-dancing on the roof but had been balancing on the cable dish and had loosened it. Finally, a problem solved, at least for the moment.

The inverter has also been collapsing, again, still but it seems, said the nice young man of Indian ancestry, that batteries are once more available and we can replace what we have and hopefully have something approximating consistency with our back-up power. The constant surges and power cuts play havoc not just with battery life but with electrical equipment - just another burden for Malawians to bear.

There is more diesel and petrol available but when I went shopping on Saturday the streets were pretty empty. Perhaps people don't trust supplies and are being cautious or maybe the recent riots in the market area has frightened them away. Needless to say the supermarket shelves are not as well stocked as they once were but not as bare as they might be.

We have decided to purchase a freezer so we can ensure supplies of necessaries like flour, milk, butter and the like. For the locals it is not so easy but then it never was. It seems to be the way of it in Africa.

I was talking to a man from Sierra Leone the other day and he repeated a remark I have heard and read before from Africans - that for some reason Africans don't have a sense of community consciousness or responsibility as we do in the West. He works in the United States and has done for more than twenty years but he was also at a loss to explain why within African culture the emphasis is on benefiting Self and not benefiting Society.

In other words, look after yourself and the rest can look after themselves. I saw similar things in India although Hinduism does teach that caring for others is important and you get spiritual brownie points for doing so. My experience was that such 'caring' was limited to family and members of the same caste community and those outside of the caste were, in the main, pretty much ignored. It seems to be a similar thing here where divisions are tribal as opposed to a religious caste system but the end result is the same.

He did not think that poverty was the cause but no doubt poverty exacerbates a cultural attitude of Self first and last. It explains why those in power in Africa endlessly fill their own pockets and those of family and followers, with scant regard for the plight of the people.

I did say that if you read Western history you would find similar attitudes in centuries past. 'We are backward then,' he replied. And perhaps that is the answer. Those cultures which do not have a concern for the society and community as a whole are simply less developed. It's a politically incorrect statement but one which may be true all the same.

For whatever reason, the Western world, which is in essence the modern world, has developed a community consciousness where, despite exceptions, most people recognise the importance of working for the community and the society as a whole - of recognising the needs and rights of others.

When you look at the developed nations which offer the best quality of life to their citizens it is those which have the greatest sense of community responsibility. The Scandinavians stand out because they have put more effort than anyone into caring for the needs of the citizens as a whole and the United States stands out to the opposite degree because it is the developed nation which has put most effort into the rights and needs of the individual.

The societies which focus on the needs of everyone are those which are the most harmonious and which offer the most to their average citizens. While those which focus on the needs of the individual are the least harmonious and offer the least to their average citizens.

The US is a classic example of this and is mentioned as an example because it is the richest of the developed nations and should therefore offer its people the best, not the worst. It has the poorest welfare safety net of any developed nation and despite being the richest, it has the largest numbers of poor and working poor of any modern nation. It also has the most crime and the highest numbers in prison. And it has the highest rates of semi-literacy in the developed world. Even worse, it is the one developed nation where millions are bankrupted through medical costs. A society which prizes 'the individual' above all supports a lucky few and cripples the rest.

It is interesting to look at societies which have a more highly developed community consciousness and those which do not. In truth, the former is more natural to us because the ability to survive is enhanced when we work together and studies show that human beings are healthier when they are connected to others - when they help others - when they are a part of a community.

The African attitude is simply the most extreme result of a Self before Society attitude. But given that this is where everyone was in the past, there is every indication that progress will in time be made here and more enlightened attitudes will prevail. The power of the people rests in the ability of the people to work together as a whole. The most successful societies are the most cohesive.

I know there is a commonly held view that the West is more individualistic, which it is, and therefore has less of a sense of family and society than other cultures, including Africa, but this is simply not true. What has been confused with the 'sense of society,' in places like Africa and India which I know, is the power which family, caste, tribe and religion hold over people. And yes, this limits their ability to function as individuals in ways which we take for granted in the West, but it doesn't mean they have a greater concern for society - in fact it is just the opposite.

And perhaps it is the opposite for this very reason. The less freedom one has to act as an individual then the less responsibility one has and the greater the need to take power where one can - which is what it is about - by serving one's own ends, feathering one's own nest, and bettering one's own self, regardless of the needs of others.

It is the irony that in the societies which have allowed people to develop and assert their individuality there is a greater sense of responsibility and accountability to the society at large. I remember thinking about this when I lived in India and observed the power that the father wielded over the family. His rule was law!

It seemed to me that in this situation, which was of course the situation in all societies, including what we now call Western, until recent centuries, that the emotional and psychological development of the family members was limited. In other words it is the same as a society which is run by a dictator- no matter how benevolent that dictator might be - the people are prevented from maturing as individuals and becoming responsible and accountable as individuals. This also breeds a level of emotional immaturity and a fear in fact of taking responsibility.

So in an Indian (or African or any patriarchal) family there was one individual amongst say, thirty, and responsibility, accountability and power rested with him. While in a Western family of thirty there were thirty individuals, give or take, where accountability, responsibility and power were shared. The latter seems to allow greater maturity, greater flexibility and greater power both to the family and the society as a whole.

I know some might argue that colonisation has had an impact in Africa and of course it has. But it also needs to be remembered that the Africans were themselves actively colonising (invading, occupying and enslaving) long before the Europeans arrived. And anyway, at some point you have to put a 'bad childhood' behind you, forgive your 'parents' and move on.

The case for confidence in Africa's ability to move on is not strong. There are few successful African states and those which were once successful, like South Africa, are in serious decline. If South Africa does not end up following Zimbabwe down the perilous path to ruin in years to come it will be more through good fortune than good management.

Already the signs are there. A week spent in Cape Town recently revealed those signs. Power cuts are increasing dramatically; crime is increasing substantially (and it was bad enough to begin with) - the hotel in which we stayed now has a large safe into which you must put your laptop when you leave the room! The latest crime craze is blowing up ATM's and the latest insanity is the ANC government talking about privatizing mining! The former is an inconvenience but the latter would lead to the destruction of the South African economy.

But the African attitude is hard at work in South Africa, just as it is across the continent. The ANC is looking to serve its own ends and the ends of those in power and the needs of the society as a whole are ignored.

Perhaps, as so often happens in life, a nation has to reach the bottom before it can pull itself back up. Much of Africa languishes but Africans are no less intelligent or capable than anyone else - they just have to start thinking about the needs of the society as a whole if they are to have a good future.

It is what we believe, the beliefs that we inherit and hold, which will create the world in which we live. There are certain beliefs in Africa which must be discarded if the people are to take their rightful place as part of a functioning, enlightened, cohesive world.

Fury, food, fuel and forex!

We have been away for six weeks and while all looks as we left it in the house, things have been less than quiet in Malawi and problems have intensified because people are angry.

The word is that diesel supplies will begin to improve from next week following Government action but in the meantime the queues around the petrol stations are longer than ever. Limited tells me that maize flour is in short supply and for Malawians, this is dramatic indeed. The flour is used to make their staple dish, Nsima (pronounced en-seema, a thick porridge which sustains even if it does not thoroughly nourish.)

I saw some flour in the local supermarket yesterday so it is available but not where it is needed, in the cheaper markets and shops which most Malawians can afford. However, we will buy some bags for everyone here and hand them out next week. It isn't much but it all helps. We gave them rice and sugar at Christmas so perhaps that can be a gift for next time.

Things have settled down but reading the local press there is no doubt that the recent riots were nasty. As is so often the way, it was the women who bore the brunt of it, or rather, the women wearing trousers who did. It seems the rioting vendors decided that it was not appropriate for women to wear trousers and so they set upon them, women of all ages, and stripped them naked! For a Malawian woman this would be a terrible shame. Needless to say the act itself appears purely vengeful and perhaps self-serving with dozens of cowering, naked women for the mean to leer at - and all for the crime of wearing trousers.

Photo: Nsima tastes like it looks but Malawians love it and would no doubt find Vegemite as appealing as we find Nsima.


But, as is the way of it, there is always a reason for why things happen and I learned later that the previous government had a rule about women wearing trousers so this attack appears to be more about politics than modesty. It is hardly surprising, the people are angry. Prices have risen more than 30% in the past year and fuel is in short supply. It should not be this way. The story is that maize is in short supply because the government has sold the crop to the Zimbabweans - to raise much-needed foreign exchange - to purchase, no doubt, supplies of diesel and petrol. It is a vicious cycle and one where the average Malawian suffers most of all. The Third World has ever been thus.

But beyond attacking trouser-wearing women and girls it seems there were running battles with police and barricades of burning tyres, baskets and wood while the angry vendors from the market pelted the police with stones and the police responded with teargas.

As a local paper reported:


'Lilongwe main Market shop owners were not happy with the number of people entering the market. One of the shop owners told the crowd in vernacular that they had to move out.
"Apa tikutseka geti chifukwa ambiri a inu mulibe ma shopu muno. Ndiye mutionongeletsa katundu apolisi akakuonani (Most of you don't own shops in here, and your presence will attract the police, something which might lead to damage of our property. So I am closing the main gate)," the shop owner said.
The only gate that was open was the one leading to Devil Street which the shop owners forced the 'encroachers' to use in getting out.'


My problems by comparison seem minor and are minor. Beyond the power cuts, inadequate inverter, telephone not working, internet not working and grappling with Malawi's version of buttermilk, Chambiko, things for us are pretty good. Yes, the supermarket shelves are looking troublingly bare which is why I came to pick up the Chambiko in the first place - thinking it was milk, because there was no milk.

We went to both Foodworths and Spar when we flew back in on Monday, through literal Wet Season stormclouds which were echoed in the social 'stormclouds' on the ground. Fresh produce was very limited in the former and the shelves were pretty much bare in the latter. It is always worse in the Wet Season because local crops are not growing well and storage in moist humidity is ineffective beyond a day or two.

But, I did find some reasonable onions, potatoes, apples, nectarines and lemons. We had carried in some garlic which was good because what was available was small and soft. We also brought in six packets of great organic Oz tea, a pot of vanilla bean paste which is readily available in Australian supermarkets but not in South African ones, a goodly supply of Haighs chocolates, two bottles of excellent South Australian chardonnay and two of excellent South African which we picked up at the airport - essentials really.

There was no cream to be found until we got to the little shop run by the British expats (who have been here for 30 years) where I found one jar of local cream which I could use to make my half and half mixture for coffee.

Spar had no white sugar, only brown but Sana, around the corner was awash with white sugar so we will do a stock-up. I am thinking that with ongoing problems with Forex, fuel and food, we need to make sure we have our diesel supplies up to scratch and a well-stocked pantry of basics.

Photo: An average queue for petrol in Lilongwe.

 It might be a good idea to get a small chest freezer so we can have butter, milk, flour (safely stored away from weevils), frozen veg and meat on hand for even tougher times. And tins of powdered milk will be a good way to go if milk supplies are limited increasingly.

Not that they should be. It has been a good start to the Wet and the grasses are waist-high with a waving lushness which augurs fertile fields. The chopped and stunted stubs of trees have also burst forth in branch and leaf with that raging vitality which comes from wet, warm weather. This season is the salvation of places like Africa. But sadly, not enough of a salvation to prevent shortages and even famines. Malawi has suffered through some terrible famines and I am sure when things begin to get tough it brings back frightening memories.

Then again, no matter how tough it gets for us it will be nothing like what Malawians have to put up with. Our bottom line is that we go to Joburg on the company plane on a Friday with a few empty suitcases and bring them back full of food on the Monday.  I suspect my left-overs are going to be appreciated even more by Limited and Andrew.

But back to the local buttermilk which isn't buttermilk. I decided to use it in a bread and butter pudding which was probably a first and a last. It was okay but Chambiko is not really buttermilk, nor quite like yogurt or sour cream to which it is likened but a mix of all of them with a cottage cheese sort of taste. I am draining the remaining packet to make a soft 'cheese' which I can use in a dip. I don't think I would buy it again but usually we can get buttermilk anyway which comes in from South Africa.

It's been a busy week in that African way with things not working in that African way. The internet was down for the first two days but luckily one dongle worked; the inverter could not cope with a seven hour power cut and it took two days to chase down the technicians who were meant to come and re-charge batteries when we left in December and to do some other work but didn't; the small repair to the genset which was meant to be done has not been done and my email inquiring about this has been languishing for three days; the phone cradle seems not to be charging so I have to switch the phones around and charge on the one that is working and then there is the saga of the DSTV cable box which had some channels but not all.

Laurence our technician came promptly and said it had been hit by lightning which had fused the connections, some of them, actually most of them and we needed a new box for the princely sum of K125,000 - six months salary for Limited or Andrew! So he brought one the next day but when I went to turn it on I found it did not work so he came back and took it away and then returned this morning with a new box.

I blame myself totally because I did not pay enough attention when he showed me it was working - it was working, it had a picture and sound, but when I turned it on later I could see it was fuzzy! And then I saw that the box was not as big as the one we had before and looked awfully like an older version, which no doubt it was. So another phone call to Laurence - luckily we had not paid him the mountains of kwacha yet - and he said yes, yes, a new shipment was coming in tomorrow and he would come back and change it.

The interesting thing of course is that when he left after installing this box he said nothing about new shipments etc., and the assumption was that it had all been fixed. Kick self twice for forgetting that in Africa you always, always, always check thoroughly every single repair job. Still, at least we have a box which works overnight, albeit with a slightly fuzzy image.

But they are small things in the scheme of life here. On the good news front I have found that the generator will charge the batteries in about three hours but it won't run anything else other than the fridge. Still, the fridge is pretty important.

And on another plus side we hauled back an electric wok from Oz which will work off the inverter, although no doubt with discretion in terms of how hot and how long, but which means that when we lose power I can cook something other than a stew without using up our precious diesel.

All in all we are back in African harness and with only a six hour time-difference between here and Perth, no problems with waking in the night because of jetlag. It has been a case of down the wormhole again and into the Malawi dimension. So here I am for ten days before we head to Indaba, a mining conference, in Cape Town. Five days there and back for a longer and more settled stay.

Photo: The White Starred Robin may be the source of the frequent and unusual birdsong in my garden.

Birds, blogs and bequests.

 There is a bird I often hear in the garden with the most unusual song - first a raucous kind of cry and then a long, sweet, piping sound.

I wondered if it was two birds but when I asked Limited he assured me it was only one. I am guessing the first is a warning call and the second a connection call. Limited said it was yellow with a blue face and long tail so I am thinking, having searched both image and sound without absolute evidence, that it might be the White Starred Robin which is so common here. 


The squark sound is so raw and distinctive and the pipe - long, high and mellifluous. I have heard it often, through the year and only now have I taken the time to try to identify the source. The sound of birdsong is a constant here - a sign at least that even if many of them did get eaten during the last famine some years ago, that they have returned in number.
In less than a week we shall be on Christmas leave  and I am making plans to give Andrew and Limited and the gardener Fred, and guards Charles, Duncan and Stephen, their Christmas bonuses.

Because this year has seen costs in Malawi virtually treble, we are also giving them some gifts of food. I have bought them each a five kilo bag of maize flour, they call it Cream of Maize here and they use it for their favourite dish - nsima, pronounced 'enseema.' The flour is boiled with water to make a porridge and them steamed into cakes. It is relatively tasteless but they love it here - perhaps because as a staple it has saved more than one family from starvation during terrible famines.

Malawi is actually too dependent on maize as a crop. It was not always so. In times past the crops were more varied but famines and pressure from international seed suppliers, fertilizer suppliers and aid agencies has pushed maize to the top of the list. The only problem with that, as the Irish found out with the potato, if your survival depends pretty much on one crop and that crop fails you face famine.

But, emotionally and psychologically nsima is a must in Malawi and so we have come up with a gift which will be both appreciated and enjoyed. We have also bought three kilo bags of locally grown rice for each of them; two bags of sugar and a bag of lollies (sweets or candy).

We will also double the bonus this year for the gardener and the guards who get much less in terms of salary and support during the year. It isn't much but it is better than nothing and it will help. Limited and Andrew are better off because they have a large and thriving vegetable garden at the quarters. I bought them each some packets of seed the other day - okra, cabbage, butternut pumpkin, onions and carrots - none of which they had growing. They can grow to eat and grow to sell which will supplement diet and income.

The fuel supply problem has still not been resolved. The biggest issue is that Malawi does not have the foreign exchange funds to buy fuel and so it comes in dribs and drabs and given the uncertainty when it is here everyone fills up and then it is gone. It is the same in the supermarkets; when something appears on the shelves everyone stocks up and then it is gone and days or weeks or months pass before it re-appears. The cycle of supply and fear-driven demand creates an even more erratic and unreliable environment, which in turn, exacerbates the fear.

But, as expats, while the problems facing Malawi impact on our lives, they do so as minor inconveniences and not as the major traumas which the locals face or fear. It should not be this way and one wishes it was not this way but, beyond large bonuses and Christmas gifts, there is not much we can do.

Photo: Bushfire, my latest painting.

 Between power cuts and telephone cuts and diesel shortages, life muddles on. I have been busy painting and writing and cooking (when I can) and the days pass quickly.  I am 250 pages into my my mother's biography, Princess of the Waters, still writing poetry pretty much on a daily basis, keeping up with my journal and editing manuscripts.

Life would be so much harder without both work and pastimes. Our Thai neighbours have left and the new tenant, a woman from Kenya, has yet to move in. At least I think so. I have seen and heard nothing.

On the plus side, given that every cloud has a silver lining, Pawadee kindly gave me some of her window screens before leaving so now we have 'air flow' in the kitchen, the sitting room and when I get it to fit - the bathroom window. We have done well with two out of three fitting given that in the Third World things are rarely 'made to measure' but instead 'made to the moment,' despite careful planning and design by architects and engineers alike.

Our Indian tenant who took up the house where our Danish neighbours lived has never appeared although from time to time someone seems to clean. My bet is that come the end of his lease it will be re-let without him ever having taken up residence.

And so it is a quiet sort of place. A bit lonely when I am alone but quiet - with little more than the serenade of birdsong. I am alone again for another three days - just me and the birds. The avocado tree is beginning to sag from the fruits of its labours and once again we shall have a good crop in the new year.

In the meantime Australia beckons - great wine, great food and family. Not in that order. I have been here for three months and for most of that time have been in the house. Not that I mind. It is a lovely house with a great sense of space opening onto the garden and I am good at keeping myself occupied and good at being alone.

Life is never dull and the days pass quickly. There is always something to do although I plan to bring back my embroidery and knitting when I return in the New Year. There is a limit to how much time I want to spend writing or reading and Eskom dictates how much time I get for cooking so something which does not require power, or, as in the case of painting, equipment like oils and canvases, is what I need. Knitting and embroidery fit the bill on all counts.

But between times there will probably not be much happening on the Blantyre Street Blog - not that much happens anyway.

 Photo: Puff-adders are lazy and are often stepped on. They give a nasty bite. 

When times get tough people keep on keeping on.

There is an endurance to the African spirit. I suppose there must be. This continent, perhaps more than any other, has faced extreme challenges and still does.

Of course there is the third world factor but South America and India have never had to face the danger levels of disease and wild animals which Africa has. South America comes close but Africa, with its deadly diseases and deadly animals, insects and reptiles, has been a place of death and danger since humanity first walked its dusty plains and damp jungles.

Apart from which, when times get tough, for most, there is simply nowhere to go. They endure or they die. Malawi has known famine in the past and there is talk of it again. One hopes it does not come to pass but even with aid available there is a diesel shortage which prevents distribution.

The staple food here is maize and the price of that has nearly doubled. For people living on the edge of their money, any increase is worrying but one so large is terrifying. Andrew told me the other week that his wife had gone to their village to plant the maize. He looked happy. We had just had some rains. Sadly though, it is not the beginning of the Wet as we all thought and hoped because the rains have been intermittent and that means the maize crops may wither and die. It is yet another 'fear' to be added to a long and growing list.

The president has been away, perhaps unwell, perhaps holidaying, no-one really knows but everyone is waiting for his return. Any sort of change, particularly unexpected change, is worrying in Africa - it can mean far more than appears at first sight. And people know that times are hard and want their leader here. Tempers are short. Last week the police tried to clear hawkers from one of the roads into Lilongwe and a brawl was the result. It seems an unwise time to be doing such a thing. People are doing all they can to survive.

Photo: Long queues for diesel and petrol.

Meanwhile, problems here are no more than minor inconveniences. The power cuts are worse than ever - daily and for longer; the diesel shortage means we have almost a full tank for the genset but no back-up although we do have hopes it may be rectified this week; the days are hotter and power cuts mean we have to be careful using the inverter so no air conditioning or fans most of the time and the landline seems to be out of order most days for most of the day. Luckily the internet dongle works and so does the mobile phone.


The sense of gloom is palpable but that is because people here have seen the worst, have seen the days of eating grass and dying by the roadsides and it was not so long ago. The fear strikes as fresh as the smell of wet earth after the rains.

There is talk of better diesel and petrol supplies but the queues still snake around streets and lanes wherever there is a petrol station to be found. Our meagre supplies of diesel are inconsequential compared to what this lack means for most people here.


We have decided to give a bit more in our Christmas bonuses for Andrew, Limited, Fred the gardener, with his seven children, and Stephen, Charles and Duncan the guards. We also thought a bag of maize flour and some sugar might make their Christmas a little more cheerful. Everyone wonders what the new year will bring.

It is the season for puff-adders, lazy snakes which won't get out of your way and so often get stepped on, thus delivering a nasty bite, and black mambas, nasty snakes which will attack. We take more care walking in and out of the house than we did.  Although neither of us thought of it the other night when we took guests to Kumbali for dinner and had to walk along the unlit path. The owner kindly turned on lights when we left after reminding us about snakes. It was something he should have thought of in the first place but after a life lived in Africa he probably takes most things casually.

Photo: Freshly planted maize field.

Probably the biggest impact on me has been the combined power cut/diesel shortage situation which means I have done less cooking. I miss my cooking times. It's a great way to take care of a slab of the day and there is no doubt that preparing 'double dinners' again is tedious. But all as nothing really compared to people who not only cannot get diesel but cannot get food.

Poor Africa. After so many years here I only wish I could see signs of progress. But I cannot. There seem to be brief shudderings of 'good news' banked up on either side by bleak if not highly destructive events. The cellular memory of Africans must be replete with suffering and patience. And with fear. The foundation of Africa is a belief in witchcraft and almost a sense that 'bad' things are meant to happen, that they are a part of the process. The same attitudes prevailed in Europe centuries ago - there is nothing particular about any of it except that such beliefs have endured in Africa far longer. There are elements of it still to be found in India and South America and Asia but nowhere does a belief in witchcraft appear quite as entrenched as it does in Africa.

There is an 'extreme' quality to belief here which also explains why Africans appear drawn to 'extreme religion' like that produced by the evangelicals. Perhaps such extremes balance each other out in a way because there is no doubt that as evangelical belief grows stronger, so too does the ancient belief in witchcraft. Africa is not a place of moderation on any count.

But, on a closing note, as I write I hear that the national airline has stopped flying because lack of funds has led to its planes being grounded, and the president has returned. It is odd to be in a country where a president can disappear for more than a month with no explanation. There is no doubt that it seems to be a part of the African condition to tolerate - but perhaps that is why they reach a point where they will tolerate no longer.

Few countries in this day and age would allow such things to happen because in the modern age, elected representatives are always accountable. Perhaps the fact that it does happen in so many African countries is why it is so hard to bring about positive change.

Birthdays, bouquets and diesel.

 It is hot at this time of year. Well, it is as hot as Malawi gets the climate being generally mild with temperatures rarely rising about 32C. There's a touch of humidity to the air - the wet season having hiccuped the other week and then choked on itself - so we wait for the rains to arrive in abundance.

The roses are in glorious bloom and Limited has plenty of floral material with which to work. He really is very clever as photos of his bouquets, above and below, reveal. in any other world he would be a florist.

I am going to bring him some seeds back from Australia so he can grow some flowers at the quarters and perhaps his wife can sell the bouquets to bring in some extra money. Limited, who is not a gardener can grow and sell his produce in the way that Fred, who is a gardener, cannot because his employer won't allow it.

Fred seems to be staying out of such trouble but I have no doubts that with seven children he would be working in some way to augment his income. I am wondering if some of it involved my mulch. Before I left last time I bought some mulch from the nursery and we did all of my pots.... some six or so with a nice mix of soil and mulch. Looking at my pots today and feeling the concrete nature of their 'face' I don't have a sense there is much mulch left in any of them. I suspect when I was away the mulch was removed and garden soil replaced it... but what do I do? Fred has been in enough trouble as it is and it is not worth bothering about. My herbs seem to be doing reasonably well once they have struggled forth from the strangling clay!

The most exciting thing to happen this week was getting a jerrycan of diesel for the generator. The power cuts are increasing and in that stimulating way of life in the Third World, utterly random.


It would be easier if they were regular and one could plan but life is not like that most of the time and definitely not like that in Africa. It would be too easy after all if you knew when power shedding, for that is what it is, was about to take place. Or for that matter when someone was going to cut the telecommunication lines in Mozambique to collect the copper wiring.

I woke up two mornings to find no power, and no landline either but that's a separate issue, and then had to wait between four to six hours for it to be restored. With diesel low there was no cooking until I had the power back and then a frenzy because while the preferred 'power-shedding' moment seems to be six at night just when everyone wants to cook dinner, it is neither predictable nor regular.

There can be a cut at three or four for an hour or two; then another at six for an hour or four... thank God for the slow-cooker which has been an absolute life-saver. With the battery inverter we have toaster and kettle operational and other equipment but the slow-cooker is the only piece of cooking equipment I have which will run this way. I am thinking investing in an electric wok might be a good idea. I did have one once, in another life.

But the complication this week was that there were no supplies of diesel, and the generator was very, very low and the diesel it contained had to be kept for my coffee machine... some things are more important than food. We did manage to get the car filled and had high hopes of syphoning off enough (because they refused to fill jerrycans) to put in the generator. But again, in the way of Africa, of course the car has been fitted with anti-syphon devices to prevent theft. Of course. But luck would have it and the company had an allocation which allowed us to get one jerrycan filled.... as of last night our yellow plastic container is full... so life is almost normal although my repertoire of hot dinners which can be prepared without a stove has risen exponentially.

And there are leftovers. The freezer is rapidly emptying as I discover quiche, beef soy noodles, soup, oxtail stew, curry and other such ready-made delights which can often be re-heated in the slow-cooker or which require little time or diesel to be made edible.  At this time diesel or petrol are like gold... if you have them then conserve them. Hence the inclination to work with available power supplies as opposed to cooking at whim and using precious diesel.



I have also mastered the art of pre-preparing so that food can be cooked and then quickly reheated when the window of opportunity is open. That and eating dinner early.... just before six is a good bet because the only other alternative is after nine which is a bit late. Well, it is for me anyway.

It is also a reminder of what creatures of habit we are. When the power has not gone out by ten I find myself feeling unnerved, waiting for something to happen. It only impacts the oven but that is pretty major here for me because I do cook a lot and working in around diesel shortages and power cuts is something of a contortionist feat.

Beyond the normal issues of functionality, life muddles along in Malawi, clearly easier for me than for most. Andrew turned forty the other week which is something of a milestone in a country with a worryingly low longevity rate.

We gave him the same as we had given Limited a few months ago - a block of chocolate, a packet of good steak and K10,000 which is more than enough to make for a celebration of any event, with some left over. I did hear the next day that Andrew had been dancing at his birthday party so it sounds as if celebration was the order of the night. As it should be.

Life expectancy for men in Malawi is forty-four years and for women fifty-one. On those odds it is no wonder that Andrew celebrates although I suspect the most energetic dancing will be done at his fiftieth. Malaria and Aids are the big killers here and while it is only perception, both Andrew and Limited seem to be very responsible and happily married which should lengthen their odds accordingly.

So the highlights have been Andrew celebrating turning forty and me celebrating a jerrycan of diesel. Says it all really!

Although I would add, while not a highlight, more of a resolution, we also got our dryer back this week from Johannesburg. Some $A530 later we now have an electronics board which will enable the dryer to function with Malawi's erratic and low power rate. We can dry things if we need to and actually have fluffy towels. Funnily enough I think I have gotten used to the 'sandpaper' version of towels dried into boards on the line and then ironed by the guys ... sort of a loofah drying process.

It is nearly a year since we moved into the house and unpacked all of our goods and the dryer repair was the last on a long list of 'to-do's'.... something of an achievement really and while the highlights and progress of the past two weeks may seem trivial to most, the reality is that living in Africa one realises how important supposedly trivial things can be.

Familiarity may not necessarily breed contempt but I do know for a fact that deprivation breeds appreciation.

Brian's Brilliant Bread otherwise known as Idiot-proof breadmaking!

The most exciting thing to happen this week was producing a loaf of bread which actually looks and tastes as bread should.

Bread making was one of the things I wanted to practise here in Malawi but I had been steeling myself for the test because I had had so many failures in the past. Yes, I know the science of it, tried countless recipes, bread-maker, hand-maker .... and none of it really worked. Heavy, yeasty tasting lumps of cooked dough were the result.

But not any more. A friend introduced me to what he calls his fool-proof bread last week and despite a first failure of mis-measuring the flour and then a second failure because the power went out and we had no diesel to run the generator, today I accomplished what had seemed impossible. A good loaf of bread. I would add that the two failures came out as foccaccia and I turned them into croustades.... thin slices baked with olive oil, rosemary and salt. Delicious.

This bread has a lovely dense texture and a wonderful crunchy, caramel crust ... very like excellent French bread.

So, here is the recipe. If I can do it anyone can do it!

QUICK MIX BREAD

600grams of flour. 
One teaspoon of salt.
One teaspoon of dried yeast.
500ml water.


I have been using White bread flour since it is all I can get but Brian used 80% whole wheatmeal and 20% triticale flour but I gather, from what he says, that the recipe is so foolproof you can experiment to your hearts content.


The yeast I have is Lowan's dried yeast which I bought in Perth and had shipped here but which I have kept in the freezer for the past year and which remains in the freezer to preserve it.

The water came out of the tap so room temperature. 

Tip the flour into a large bowl and add yeast and salt and mix with a spoon. Make a well in the middle and tip in the water. Stir until incorporated, about 20-30 seconds.  Cover bowl and leave for 18 hours. 

Most of the rise happens in the first 10-12 hours but it develops better crumb and flavour if left longer. Not too long or it will break down to goop so put it in the fridge if longer than 18 hours at 20C room temperature.

I covered mine with some gladwrap and put a plate on top. I left it in the kitchen for 2-3 hours and then put it in the fridge overnight...probably 20 hours or more. I took it out of the fridge and left it at room temperature for one or two hours to 'warm' a little.

Tip bowl out on a floured surface. Sprinkle flour on top and gently pat out then fold in thirds lengthways and again widthways. Turn over and keep tucking under edges while you mop up the flour on the board. About a minute.

The mixture is sticky so use a rubber spatula to ease it out of the bowl. I actually missed the patting out bit, only registering it now, but mine was fine anyway. As I said: idiot-proof. I actually tipped out my dough and with floured fingers flopped it over width and length three time and then dropped it back into a bowl with a little flour on the bottom. 

Then leave for an hour or so (it could take up to five in cold weather) until dough recovers if gently pressed. It will still be sticky.

I put a tea-towel over the top and left for 2-3 hours by which time it had risen to the top of the bowl. 

Put your pot for cooking the bread into the oven. Brian used a Le Creuset saucepan and I only had a shallow Creuset so tried that for my two failures until remembering I had a pyrex casserole dish with a glass lid which would do the trick. You need a pot with a lid which will take really hot temperatures.

I put my pot in the oven before turning it on and let it heat up gradually. It would not matter if you put a heave cast-iron pot in a very hot oven but I would not want to test pyrex. Preheat oven to hot. Mine was at 230C. I have heating elements at the top and bottom of the oven and just put on the bottom. The rack should not be too close to the heating element so if yours is on the bottom then put it just above centre and if it is on the top then just below centre.

Take pot out and sprinkle oats, bran or cornmeal into the pot and  tip in dough. You can also sprinkle any of these on the bread before baking.

I simply used flour and because there had been flour in the bottom of the bowl in which the dough proved, when I tipped it upside down into the baking pot there was flour on the top.  I am actually thinking in future I might put a bit of oil in the bottom of the baking pot because I am not sure I like the cooked on flour which results otherwise.

Bake for 45 minutes with the lid on and then 10-15 minutes uncovered. Let rest at least twenty minutes after baking before cutting. 

You can freeze the dough before the second rise and of course you can freeze the bread as a baked loaf, sliced or unsliced.

THUNDER, THWARTING AND THREADBARE

The sky is grey and the thunder has begun. Perhaps the wet season will come early. I hope it does if only to wash the thick layer of dust off the leaves and restore some brightness to the world.

There is an immanent feeling to the season, as if everything is waiting for the rains, which, I suppose in a way is right. At ever level there is an expectation that change will come; that a cleansing and renewal will begin.

I like the symbolism of that both personally and collectively. The past few months have been challenging on a variety of fronts for both of us. Work challenges for Greg which of course involve me and personal challenges for both of us. If ever we thought our lesson was not to practise remembering that 'certainty is an illusion,' we are being reminded now.

I wonder sometimes if it is easier to process challenges if one stays in one place and has a support network of friends and family on hand. I suspect it is. But then does one learn as much? I have to say that because I have to find something positive in my experience of being so often, so alone, and having to work through difficult things - material and immaterial.

On the plus side, I think living in the Third World is a constant reminder that one has inconveniences, not problems. And no issue with anyone, no matter how painful, is beyond resolution. Perhaps also distance makes things harder as well as easier. If you are separated from a situation which is difficult it is easier to ground one's self and to find a place of balance, but it is also more difficult to work on the issues because of the separation of time and distance.

It is funny really, although funny is probably the wrong word, but in truth, the most painful place is where the greatest work is done and yet most of us do everything we can to remove ourselves from it. To distance ourselves from what hurts. Perhaps like all things the lesson is moderation. A bit of distance but not too much; a bit of exposure but not too much.

As if life could be organised in such a way. Which takes me back to the other illusion, that we control our life. That we plan our life. It is of course life which plans us and the only control we have, and that is varying in everyone, is what we do with what happens to us. Some people have the capacity to learn more than others; some to learn faster and all of us learn different things in different ways.

I wonder too if we feel greater sadness as we grow older. Possibly because feelings are always more than skin deep and are sourced in every experience we have had so the older one is, the more layers of experience to plumb. or perhaps as one gets older the greater is the need to heal what remains unresolved and so when life pushes on a place of pain it hurts more.

For now I wait for the rains to fall both literally and metaphorically; washing away the layer of dust which chokes and hides. I think that is what I like about the seasons - that ability for things to change in an instant - for something new to be created from the old.

In essence it is about honouring each part of the process as a moment of Now - perfect in itself. I wish I believed that. So many things are easy to say and hard to live. Cleansing rain and cleansing tears surely serve the same purpose.

Talk about thwarting which was in the title of my latest blog post... it was fine until I went back to do some corrections and then turned it all into a format mess.

Google Blogger has a glitch at present. When I use Bold, Italic or try to upload images it turns the copy to format. Until I get it sorted it will be plain type with no images.

COCKROACHES, COOKERS AND CAKES

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.

The Solar Plexus Chakra often deals with raw emotions, like anger, frustration, and intuition or gut feelings. Being extremely sensitive, particularly to the emotions of others any blockages here can easily create uncontrolled emotions, tenseness, hostility, rage and severe stomach problems.

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.

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.