Day 70
Amazing travel day! An immediate,
free ride from some awesome Kenyan truck drivers all the way to Luso la Manja
where I spent over an hour picking up more bags to sell. When we went back to the road, we got another
almost immediate ride from another awesome couple of Kenyan truck drivers all
the way to Dwambazi. Free rides and good
company! I think visiting Kenya is in my
future.
When we hopped out of the truck, I heard Ama Chimbutu’s voice yelling my
name. But I must be mistaken – she told
me on Christmas Eve when I called that she was transferring and the truck was
leaving that day. I turned and saw her
running toward the road hollaring my name in her distinctive, raspy voice. “AMA!”
I yelled as I bolted across the road, dropping my bag in the ditch and jumping
in for a hug. Oh my joy was overfilling,
as I spent a lot of Christmas Eve sulking and crying at the thought of not
saying good-bye to my good friend. She
told me she couldn’t leave because they have a field of rice so her family left
for the new hospital and she would join them in June. I couldn’t believe my luck.
After I dropped my things off at my house, I visited Mrs. Nkhosi who had a
baby Christmas Eve (Christmas Eve was quite busy in Dwambazi). She told me before she had the baby that she
wanted me to name it, but we never talked about it again. When I met her baby, a lovely girl with a mop
of hair on her head, I learned her name was Sylvia and Mrs. Nkhosi was very
upset I didn’t name the baby myself. I
explained that it was bad form to name a baby over the phone, I had to see the
babe in person to come up with a quality name.
Still distraught, Mrs. Nkhosi pouted for a few minutes. I told her I would give the baby a middle
name: Ann, after my Grandma Nate. Sylvia
Ann Nkhosi. Mrs. Nkhosi jumped up and
down and now darling, one-week old Sylvia currently goes by the name Ann.
Day 71
Jembe has been diligently working on our pit latrines and today I got a
sneak peak at our first chimbudzi. I stood
over the deep hole, with a perfectly crafted cement slab and thought, ‘this is
it’. This is what I’ve been working on
for months and finally it is working out!
Although not without flaws and delays, the project does seem to be going
smoothly, largely due to Jembe’s hard work.
He told me this project is one-of-a-kind and the district hospital in
Nkhotakota is using our village as a model for other villages. They are making a huge effort to promote
hygeine in neighboring villages and they will come out when we finish for our
turning-over ceremony with the media to address the issue. This is huge and Jembe is beaming with
pride. He has been fantastic and
deserves all the accolades.
Day 72
Ama Chimbutu now lives with agogo Ruth.
Ruth is 4 feet nothin’ and 100 pounds soaking wet, but as sassy as
Ama. The two of them bicker and laugh
and gossip like no one else. I spent the
afternoon with Ruth as I waited for Ama to come back from the fields and she
showed me her large, empty house. She
drew pictures of a light switch and electricity plugs on the wall. Wishful thinking? She is sweet as pie and sharp, even though
she must be pushing 70 and in Malawi that is something to be proud of. When Ama showed up, we went to the market and
raised our usual havoc. She laughed at
me as I yelled at a drunk man for grabbing my arm. She likes when I get saucy in Chitonga, but
it’s only when necessary. When we
returned to Ruth’s, we sat on the porch as the sun set and talked about how
much we would miss each other when I leave.
I hate to think about it.
Day 73
Super-cleaning my house! This
translates to actual cleaning – dusting, mopping, organizing, all of it – as
opposed to the spot cleaning which is what I typically do – toss things in the
corner, under my bed, fast mop around anything on the floor. This will end up taking me three days to
complete, but it feels so therapeutic and the organizing results in me getting
rid of so much junk that will make it easier for packing and leaving Dwambazi.
Ugh, I hate to think about it.
Day 74
I lunched with Ama Chimbutu and agogo Ruth. There’s nothing as intimate as sharing a plate
of nsima and stewed goat. I gave Ama her
gift (just in case she tries to leave again without saying good-bye) which was
a teal colored chitenje – one that I have as well, so we can always remember
each other. She loved it. I also gave her some soap from America. She was ecstatic over that. She said it was nice soap that she would only
use when she saw her husband.
Day 75
Rain, rain, rain all day long makes doing laundry impossible! More cleaning today, but the best feeling was
when I caught up with my correspondence.
I have been bad at writing people back but now I have a bunch of letters
to send out. Let’s see how long it takes
me to buy stamps.
No comments:
Post a Comment