last days..

this is my last week in Malawi! and despite the awful events I am really sad to go. Everyday I say bye to somebody, and I almost cracked today when I reminded Mary that friday is her last day at work. I could stay here as long as I wanted, but I think I have done my part, and is time to put some order in my life. I believe that now is time for the malawians to continue what I started and I know they can do it.

Is funny to think that I came here to lecture but in fact is me who has received many lessons that I don't understand yet and they will remain very long in my head. I am flying to the UK on monday, and then to Spain for the wedding of my sister and to catch up with family and friends. I am doing a presentation of photos in my town in a youth center. I hope you will come if you are around! It will at the 'Centro de Recursos Juveniles LA GOTA DE LECHE'  the 4th of may in Logroño, but I know that plenty of you are far away fro there that day...

This time it was my turn

Many times I wondered if one day it would happen to me. I'd heard many cases during my time here but I thought that my house was secure... Well, two weeks ago the managed to break into my compound. The thieves made a hole in the wall that separates our compound from the reality, and they broke first into my neibour's house, the closest to the wall. When I heard the scream of my neighbour I knew something was happening. I tried to phone the police but they didn't reply, and I was wondering what to do when they started to break my front door, and I had just enough time to escape to through the back door and raise the alarm. The security team took around 10 minutes to arrive, and this was enough time for them to take most of my things and rape my neighbour..

The hours after the burglary were horrible. I went to the hospital with my neighbor so that she could receive post exposure profilaxis (to avoid HIV infection), and then to the police to make statement and ask them why they didn't pick up the phone when I rang them at night.. Then I tried to get to work on foot, because they took m bike and didn't even have cash to get a minibus. I was so upset that I was trying to walk without looking to the people that I was crossing on my way. Trying to deny their smiles and greetings until finally I had to smile to somebody and I realised that I cannot stop loving this people and this country for a bunch of bastards.

This type of crime is common in South Africa and is increasingly frequent in other nearby countries like Malawi. I can understand robberies. Many times I thought that if I was a Malawian living in extreme poverty and I would see the houses of the rich people next door to my township I could contemplate assaulting them but... why the violence? I was lucky that I could run away and didn't confront those guys, but I cannot remove from my mind what they did to my neighbour and wonder why.

The final countdown..

I am really sorry for the lack of entries in my blog. After Xmas, we
were starting the academic year, and since then, everything has been
frantic.

Many things have happened since our holiday in Likoma Island. At the
begining of the year, I organised a theater show to talk to the
students about their sexual relatioships and the risk of contracting
HIV during their time here at the college. It sounds weird, but it was
a total sucess, the plays that talked about a couple that went for VCT
(HIV test ) or a whole family that contracts HIV because the sons and
the father were sleeping with the cleaner.. I had funding to do the
show so it was free for students and members of staff, and we had a
great time. There are some pictures in my flickr site..

That was only the beginning. The day before starting the classes we
were told that the number of students in Premed (the course before
starting medicine) was going to be even larger because the lab
technician students would also join the course. 105 students while
last year they were 60. No extra labs or classrooms yet. We are doing
the labs in two turns without time to have lunch or a break. Madness!!

And then in the middle of all this my friends from Spain arrived! it
was great, I had to push my lectures to get a couple of long week ends
free, and we went to all the nice places of the south: The lake,
Mulanje y Liwonde. They ony just left, and I was dead by the end, but
totally worth it..

If all this madness was not enough, I have started a blog in Spanish,
in the local newspaper of my town in Spain. The address is http://blogs.larioja.com/antuan-en-malawi/posts
. Is a different blog, not really to tell the things that happen to
me, but to talk about Malawi, my work here, raise awareness.. I hope
that my friends and family there will read it and won't ask me too
many questions when I come back. I haven't been to Spain in almost 2
years and I'll come back straight for the wedding of my sister, so
i'll see all my family again at the same time.. A bit too much for me.
So the date is set, I should be in Spain the 2nd of May.. The final
countdown is almost starting. Don't ask me what is next, I am looking
for jobs but nothing has come out yet..

Xmas at Likoma island

Lake Malawi extends from north to south, and one side belongs to Malawi, while the opposite is Mozambique. if you look on the map, you will see what I mean. If you seat on the beach along the Malawi lakeshore, you can usually see the mozambique mountains on the other side, so far away that if you don't swim to discover that the water is fresh you will think for sure that you are looking at the sea. Then, scattered along the lake there are several islands. Some of them are habited by people, some are just home for huge monitor lizards and fish eagles, and some are refuge of backpackers and travelers looking for the ultimate paradise location..

So, that is what we decided to do for Xmas, visit the (I think) largest island of the lake, Likoma island! Likoma lays on the northern part of the lake, close to the mozambique shore, but it belongs to Malawi. And the only way to get there if you don't have money to pay a charter flight is by the Ilala, a boat from the forties that moves north to south of the lake every week non-stop. Don't think this is a tourist boat, is a real way of transport for the Malawians and some Mozambicans living along the lakeshore and the islands. If you walk around the lower deck, you will find people transporting any kind of stuff, from goats to tomatoes or clothes, people sleeping on the floor and no room even to breath.. so we decided to go for the 'first class' which is just the top deck, but there is a bar.. We got our greens on hand (carlsberg bottles) and we were ready.

The boat is old, but well maintained. And we all hope it will last, because if not, many people will loose a very precious way of transport along the lake. The trip goes smooth and soon is fascinating to cross the line of fishermen in their dugouts. When you see them at night from the beach, you can only guess the lights of their paraffin lamps. When you pass close to them you see the solitude of their fragile boats, long hours ahead of them, trying to capture chambo, kampango, usipa... all those species of fish that only exist here. I promised to myself that I will not bargain again for the price of fish.

The boat goes fast, we left at 8 pm when the endless procession of boxes and people stopped coming into the Ilala. And by 2am we were in Chizumulu, the island next to Likoma.. Two hours later we were still there, more little boats coming close to the Ilala to unload crates of beer, baskets with food and people. there is no jetty in Chizumulu, so everything has to be unloaded using boats.. we set off again, and then it was daylight. without warning, one second the sky is pink, and the following second is day, the sun warming us without mercy.. and there it was Likoma!

The next 5 days we just basked on the sun, snorkeled around the beach, and visited the church, waiting for the Ilala to come back from on its way down to pick us up.. There are no beachboys

there (local youngsters that chase tourist to take them partying, sell marihuana, organise barbeques..) just lake, babobab trees, children, relaxed people and the church. a huge cathedral  that the anglican missioners built there 100 years ago.. Probably they had nothing better to do?

Christmas dinner was lovely, the table set by the lake, paraffin lamps to guess what we were eating and south african wine.. My xmas present was a hammack, and my routine in the following two days was to hang it from my favorite trees and read on it til dark. Despite the little things to do, the time went fast and the day we were taking the Ilala back to the lakeshore we were sad to leave paradise!!

We had to get to Blantyre for new years eve! nothing special, party at my place, gin punch with pineapple and mango fruit, loads of people and laughs until dawn.. I wish you all the best for the new year!! 

From malawi to Ethiopia

I always wondered how would Malawi be if it had never be colonised by the British. And just now, coming back from Ethiopia I come back to that question, because Ethiopia is the only country in Africa that never got colonised by Europeans. Yes, despite the efforts of the Italians to form the 'Africa italiana orientale' during the second world war, they only left behind expresso machines and spaghetti, that are found almost everywhere in Ethiopia.

Probably that is why everything is different in Ethiopia. Their calendar, time, christian orthodox church, food, music... Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world, and is full of fascinating legends that explain the origin of their culture and country. To start with, they claim that their line of emperors started with Menelik, who was son of king Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and lasted until Haile Selassie, that governed until the revolution of 1974 and as you may know is the messiah of the rastafarians. 

one of the things that most strike any visitor in Ethiopia  is the amount of historical sites,  that are totally unusual in sub-Saharan africa. The archeological sites of Axum tell us of an empire that was controlling the trade of the red sea and the Nile, and yet, we know so little about it. Walking around the town of Axum, you have the impression that everywhere you dig, you will find another tomb, stele or palace. And they explain why Ethiopia looks like a crossroads between the middle east, the Mediterranean and sub-saharan africa.

We spent only two weeks, which is just enough to see the north of the country, or what is also called the 'historical circuit'. We started in Addis Ababa, from there to Axum by plane, and then we went by bus to the Simean mountains (where we trekked 4 days) Gonder and Lalibella, from where we took another internal flight to Addis.

In general is very easy to travel in Ethiopia, there is a very good network of regional airports that allow you to save time, dust and fleas in the buses, and the internal flights are fairly cheap for a tourist. Travelling by bus was a really nice experience, apart from the early departure time (6 in the morning!) and the fleas mentioned above that would jump from the shepherd's robes into our clothes and would accompany us for a few days. The buses broke down sometimes, but we never got stuck anywhere. Our most difficult journey was between Gonder and Lalibella, but the only problems were big trucks that got stuck on the mud and we had to wait an hour or so until they got through it.. 

I cannot really decide what part did I like more, I totally loved the simean mountains, with their stunning landscapes from 3000mt high into the lowlands, and the small villages that we crossed hiking. Gonder was also special, the palaces of european and indian influences that are now used only by pigeons and the church of Debre Birham Selassie, with the roof full of painted angels. In Lalibela you can walk around monolithic churches that were dug on the rock with (according to the legend) the help of angels. And after seeing the 11 churches, you will really believe there must have been angels around during the works. We cannot wait to come back!

Pictures of Ethiopia!

I arrived last nite from Addis Ababa and I could not wait to see my
pictures in the computer! I have put some already in Flickr, please
click on the link on the right. They are in order (from last to
beginning) so you can follow our itinerary in the north of Ethiopia. I
will write more about the trip soon, but for the pictures you will see
that it was amazing!!

wedding in Mwanza

Last week end I was invited to a wedding with my friends in Mwanza. I
had never been to a wedding in Malawi, not even to a mass! I had heard
all the stories about it, so I knew more or less what to expect, but
still, the experience is worth an entry of my blog.

You probably know that is not easy to find me in a church, but I must
say that going to church in Africa can be an unforgettable experience.
The singing and dancing is really beautiful and touching, including
the ululating cries of the women. And at the end everybody end up
dancing to the music. Just great fun!

One of the things everybody tell you if you are coming to a wedding
is: bring a lot of 20 kwatcha banknotes. 20 kwatchas are the smallest
banknotes that you can find, and the reason is that during the party
you are supposed to dance throwing banknotes into a basket (or to the
air!) for the just married. So, if you don't have small banknotes, you
will end up throwing lots of money!

But probably the funniest part is to see the faces of Malawians when
they see a muzungu dancing. They just cannot believe it! We had a
farewell party the day after the wedding and at the end we started to
dance. Yo had to see the smile on their faces, and at the end a lot of
women decided to join us and learn our steps, and teach us their
moves... soooo sweet!!!

As usual, I have put a few pictures on flickr, just to give you an
idea...