chitenjes, a thief and mua mission

Have just been on an epic chitenje shopping trip to the metropolis of Lilongwe. In the Old Town is a rabbit warren of a market place (one of many I think) and there, along the back wall, under a baking sheet of corrugated iron roof, are the ladies of Zambia. They all wear and sell and fit wigs of curly hair and, more importantly for Pam and I, have tables and tables groaning under the weight of fabulous, stupendous, gorgeous chitenjes from Tanzania in the main, but also from Gambia and Ivory Coast. We spent rather a lot of time and money in that sweltering place. I nearly fainted at one point (whether from the heat or the splendour of the patterns is debatable). One has to buy from almost every woman otherwise you are in for it (a VERY bad look is about all, actually) and so one has to extensively chat and negotiate. But the fabric made it all worthwhile. I think I will wear only chitenje clothes from now on. It is real love!
Getting to Lilongwe was an adventure on many fronts. Firstly we had to go and fetch one of our employees from the local police station where he had been locked up for stealing kikois. Didn't want to have to do it as he is such a nice chap, but Jurie was in no mood for girlish squeamishness and gave us short shrift. So we had to drop him and his fellow prisoner (handcuffed together in the back seat)off at the Monkey Bay police station (a pit). Of course he said how sorry he was on the way and reduced me to tears (had to stare out the window for a long while). Such a silly crime and because he sold them to ladies in the village, he was bound to be caught. Now he has lost his job with us.
This sad detour made us late for our stopover at Mua Mission. What a joy that place is! It was started 100 years ago by Catholic brothers, and has been run by an artistic Father since 1976. It has a cultural centre of magnificence - every building is painted in concrete frescos and one can stay in the guest centre which has little rondavels beautifully decorated with carved everything - loo roll holders, curtain rails, doors, pillars, masks at the door and goodness knows what else. It was truly splendid - especially as the drive there was horribly dusty and sweaty as they are working on the roads. It was over a delicious dinner that Davey, our driver, told us that the intentions of the police at Monkey Bay were to beat our thief the next day to extract any missing information. So into a spin we went again and sent a flurry of messages and phonecalls to Bush and Jurie insisting they intervene. Well, they did and dropped charges and he is now free, but lacking a job. The whole debacle did rather take the shine off our adventure, though.
But the next day we had another visual feast when we saw the carvings they do there - so intricate and gorgeous. Bought a lot for our shop. Such gorgeous almost circular bowls with lids, carved all over with intertwined leaves. Beautiful.
Treats in store for anyone who visits!