A Week Without Internet

Patricia Kelly, advisor

Because of internet problems this entry covers from when we left Dulles on June 12 through today June 18, a week of adventures with Study Abroad. The trip was shorter to Addis Ababa because we did not refuel in Rome. We had one of the new fuel efficient planes and that saved at least an hour and a half in travel time. So we arrived in Addis Ababa in 13 hours. But the trip to Lilongwe took 6 hours because we stopped in the Congo for passengers to get off and get on. Finally in Lilongwe, almost 23 hours since Dulles, we arrived. Our bus and trailer for the luggage were waiting. The trailer is new this year so we can now take 27 people on Study Abroad. However, the Malawians told us the bus would hold 32 – Malawians pack a bus to the max, so I had subtracted five. Lo and behold as tightly as we could squeeze on one person is still standing or sitting in the door step. We might have to lower the number next year.

On Tuesday, we went to Tikwonde Freedom Gardens, started in 1982 by Dr. Chinkhuntha, an economist, and his wife, a teacher. Of course, the first thing upon arrival, we had to have tea and scones in the truly British way. I had lemon grass tea that was to die for. Then Daniel Chinkhuntha, Dr. Chinkhuntha’s son started the lecture. After years of working for others, his father had a dream of living an independent life off the land. A chief gave him land, a small plot that was arable and a whole lot of swamp land. Thus began almost 30 years of hard work to build a sustainable farming system. Everything is done organically: natural fertilizers, companion planting for insects as well as different plants they combine to make a natural insecticide. Daniel and his workers demonstrated dribbling the insecticide on with a tiny “mop” made from corn husks. Students practiced mashing the plants and putting on the insecticide. Farther along, they dug the field debris back into the soil with huge hoes. They saw the irrigation system based on gravity that Dr. Chinkhuntha devised. We walked the fields until 1 o’clock when we ate a Malawian meal cooked by village women that belong to a group Mrs. Chinkhuntha began to earn money to support their families. They run a kitchen in a grass hut and open fire; they bake things for sale as well. We departed full and happy.

That evening we traveled to Kumbali Village for a party that Peter Thompson, Annie Fletcher’s son who owns the Annie’s Lodges where we stay, had arranged for us. Kumbali Village is where Madonna goes when she comes to Malawi. Her house is somewhere near. But getting there was an adventure. Peter had said there was no way to tell anyone how to get there. He met our bus along the way and two cars led us through the bush , and at each fork the road got narrower. Some people were screaming, “Where are we going?” We hadn’t told them because it was a surprise. The party was in a large thatched building obviously set up for performances. In addition to us, Peter had invited select people, we were a party of 65 or so. After eating, two poets performed. Avery read lyrical, feminist poetry. Q. Malewezi, writes and performs hard hitting political and cultural “observations.” He is a rousing performance artist. These poets were followed on another stage by traditional dances mainly done by women. Most of the dances I had never seen before because many dances feature men with women as “backup.” But these women could DANCE! We got to dance with them, and then the band switched to dance music and the party began. We danced and danced. We departed at twelve because we had a long drive to Zomba the next day.

We loaded up on Wednesday morning and left only a half hour late – a record by Malawi standards. We traveled south to Dedza Pottery shop. What normally was at the most an hour in a car, and in the past years an hour and a half in the bus, was now a 2 ½ hour drive because we have 9 more people and more than 18 pieces of additional luggage. We figure 2,000 more pounds in weight and the largest mountains on the trip. Dedza Pottery was a little disappointing this year: the food was slow and expensive; credit cards were being rejected even those that had called their companies ahead of time (nobody wants to take a chance on Africa). We finally were on our way and in an hour got to Lizulu on the Mozambique border. Lizulu is a huge open air market stretching on both sides of M1, Malawi on one side and Mozambique on the other. We, of course, went shopping on the Mozambique side. A couple of us bargained for some ground nuts (peanuts), and we got a bag with about 15 pounds or more. I was carrying if over my shoulder, and Simeon Hendricks, one of the students from NCA&T and a big guy, took it to carry. We shopped and took in the colorful sights, sounds, smells, and general chaos of the market. We boarded the bus reluctantly because we knew had had approximately 7 more hours on the bus with no bathroom break, and the last 2 hours in the dark, something we try to avoid.
We arrived at Annie’s Lodge in Zomba at almost 8 o’clock. The scramble to get the bags off the bus and to the rooms in the dark – up the hills and steps – was fun because it was interesting to see them view their rooms, a step up from Annie’s Lodge Area 47 in Lilongwe. The grounds are lovely and the rooms large with a bathroom and two beds. The dogs from the surrounding area bark all night, of course. But they’ll get used to it.

We went to all three schools the next morning (Thursday, June 16) we visited all three schools – Malemia Village School, where Radford University places its students; Domasi Demonstration School, where NCA&T places its students; and Domasi Government School, where Virginia Tech places its students. It’s good for the students to see the differences in the schools. It’s also good that each university develops a deep, lasting relationship over the years with its school. Tech students like Domasi Government because it’s the largest, but also more needy than the Demonstration School but not as needy as Malemia. They chose the five teachers they’ll work with because they work in pairs. With as many as 100 in class and sometimes more, they need to work together. In the afternoon we went down to buy water for the next few days so the bus could bring us back up the hill.

On Friday they went to their individual classes with their selected teachers. They observed until noon and then we met in our classroom at Malawi Institute of Education (MIE). All three universities occasionally meet together to discuss general topics. The topic today was the influence of music in protest movements in Malawi – we have a reading for them on Lucius Banda. Of course, we tied it to the music of the Vietnam War that influence political action in the U.S. We are asking them to do this reading because Annie Fletcher has arranged for us to attend a concert where Lucius Banda will appear with others. Annie owns a concert hall. She arranges concerts and attendance is by invitation. So this will be another special party for the students.

Saturday was to be a slow day, go to pick out fabric downtown, shop around, and end up at Tasty Bites for an early dinner. However, Simeon convinced everyone to go horseback riding at KuChawe on the Zomba Plateau, which is at the end of the Great Rift in Africa.( Annie’s Lodge sits at the base of the Rift. We look out each day at the huge wall of rock and mountain that forms the Rift.) So we arrange the bus for the trip up the mountain. Eighteen of us ride through pine forests with ferns almost as high as the horse. KuChawe is so high it has an entirely different eco-system from the rest of Malawi. After the ride we look out across the valley and shop with the vendors on the mountain. We end up at Tasty Bites for dinner and walk back up the hill a mile to the Lodge by dark.

Malawi is experiencing several problems right now, especially in the Southern Region
where we are. There is a severe fuel shortage. Annie has been buying petrol on the black market in bits and pieces so we will have fuel. I’m not sure what we’ll have to pay, but we’re being taken care of. There are things we could normally get that are totally unavailable. The woman who runs the stable at KuChawe said that tourists just aren’t coming because of the fuel. We think we’ve noticed that the traffic isn’t as dense as usual on the Zomba road. The other thing that is troublesome is that a transformer blew out in Blantyre and they took the one from Zomba to replace it temporarily. That meant that Zomba had the capacity to only serve vital needs. Annie’s Lodge has a generator for the kitchen and the conference center only. The internet wasn’t working at all.

Today when we got back from downtown everything changed. The internet was back on and being rewired so that we can access the internet from our rooms. Formerly, we sat outside in spots we could find. They’ve also made arrangement for a huge generator that will serve all functions of the Lodge. As they said, it will be five years before this changes, so they have to make arrangements if they’re going to keep the clientele. So after a week, everything is looking up!