whatnot

Hello all
It has been like a train station here with all the comings and goings of guests and staff alike!
Buji and Lyoness went to Lilongwe to see the doctor (all is well) and got back last night and now Jurie and Dominique and Liinu have gone off on a recce of Zambia (just for 3 days) so that Dominique can get her passport stamped for another 3 months and Juire can see whether the gay cyclists would like that route for their next fund-raising adventure and Liinu went just for the ride.
Our islands are both full and have been for ages and it is lovely that so many people have come and gone, all happy and delighted with the experience. I am always rendered speechless when one person out of a hundred has a bit of "constructive advice" for us! (Once it was that we should paint our boat blue and white not green and white! What?) I am not so good at looking thrilled at such nonsense. We had one night on Domwe with the kids and Lyoness and Zoda - which was really lovely and peaceful, even though we had to be back early the next morning.
So all in all, the days are busy with a million small tasks interspersed with endless requests to draw sabre-toothed tigers or speed boats or tintin or nankappa or whatever is obsessing the minds of the six-year-olds and their three-year-old acolytes at the moment. And of course the boat bringing guests from the island and taking them to it and people wafting in with questions and wanting to rent kayaks and whatnot. (A couple came in for a look at what we do - they live in Blantyre - and I said that Mumbo offered a more African experience than many of the lodges on the beach, and they said, "Oh no! That doesn't sound our sort of thing at all!" I was astonished! They have chosen to live in Africa, what sort of thing is their thing???? Pretending they're in England I suppose, though Africa is pretty insistent so I am not sure how they manage to ignore all its horrors and beauties...)
As I write, two huge trucks are starting up outside - overloaded utterly and completely with hundreds of women off to the centenary of the CCAP church in a village quite a way from here. Jurie lends them his truck and driver as a favour to the village. The ladies came to sing for him and Buj and Java last month to thank him (and brought gifts of a huge bowl of freshly picked rice and nsima). They sang beautifully and swayed in time to the song (I am always useless at that sort of thing and get tearful and have to hide!).
In the same vein, we donate money to an informal orphanage in the village, run by a man appropriately called Vision. He runs a vegetable garden on the outskirts and the orphans help him with it and he feeds and clothes 150 of them out of the goodness of his heart. He can't register his orphanage as the chief then siphons off all the money, so he does it all on our donation and one from Liinu every month. He has been wanting me and Pam to see the project for ages and so last week we went. We were a bit late and when we got to the garden a shout and screams of joy went up - we felt like Madonna! There were all the children - aged from around 2 to 9, each with an old pot or bucket they use to water the veges and dressed in these little faded floral frocks (made from a previous donation) or rags and tatters. They sang a song and we looked around the garden (we buy lettuce and tomatoes and brinjals and peppers from them for the islands) and then we went to see where they have supper in Visions back yard - cooked by his wife and her sisters. All so organised - again I got weepy. The children all live with their extended families, but are fed by Vision once a day. Quite amazing. I'll attach a pic.
And we had a filmmaker and her photographer husband come to take pics of Mumbo for Tatler magazine, which, if you aren't a Paperweight bookshop fan like myself you might not know, is a very upper crust British mag. The journos came last month and distinguished themselves by not asking a single question! Not my idea of how a journo should behave, really! Anyway, the photographers were much nicer and loved everything about it and were the sort pf people one would like as friends. Oh and he is taking a series of photos of redheads as he says they are a dying breed. So I offered him Bush, who was very disconcerted. But though he stared long and hard at my dear husband, (Oh they are naked photos too!), he ended up not having enough time and photographed the ancient fig tree instead. I was rather sad - would have loved to see a really beautiful pic of Bush in the nick! I looked the photographer up on the internet and his work is truly beautiful. And his wife has just made a film starring Keira Knightly. Perhaps we will have the rich and famous descending on us soon. Buy the Tatler in December.
Off now to have one square of my beloved black chocolate, which I eak (how do you spell that??) out like the elixir of life itself, and extract Eddie from Lyoness's house (Ben is practicing smiles whilst hanging on my lap!) so I can read them Green Eggs and Ham.
Toodle Pip dears!

another shopping trip to the Tanzanian ladies

Hello all
Sorry so long since the last letter (or is it? You might be well bored with these missives anyway, but they help me to get it all off my chest and also to remember the good things.)
My office is as neat as a pin - Dan stopped work here yesterday and I am on my own here. A bit apprehensive about it, but he was sometimes more of a hindrance anyway as he'd lost his zest for the job. But now Clive and Jurie and I are holding the base camp fort until Joseph the driver can become an extra office person and we can get a new manager in - probably only the end of August. So things are going to be a bit hectic here - glad we had our moment in the tea fields! (Which my dad corrected me about - they are not fields, but plantations, apparently. One must get one's agricultural terms correct!)
We are happily ensconced in our little reed house, which has grown since we stayed last year and is perfectly sized now for our family. Ben and Eddie sleep with their beds together under a huge net and are very happy with that brotherly togetherness. They still watch Tintin every evening and of course now that consumes me with guilt as I think I should be reading to them! So I have now begun an after-lunch reading session to assuage the guilt - I am so determined that they should grow up to be readers. I think Ben will as he had a lot of input in the early years (his first words every morning used to be "Light! Book!"), but Eddie has had such a different time and maybe I need to put more reading time in with him. Mutter, mutter, motherly musings are boring I am sure. Apologies.
I feel very old in Malawi. I am the only mzungu mother and most other mzungus are single and on the party circuit, as one is in one's twenties after all. With my grey locks, demanding offspring and inability to booze, I am a real pooper and outsider. Thank goodness for Pam, our island host, as she is a gal after my own heart - more sensible and not so eager for the mindless drinking binge as others - but she is on the island most of the time.
She and I (and Liinu who is back from Finland) had another great chitenje mission to Lilongwe on Tues and Wed. Those trips are hectic! Four hours in a dusty car and then Shoprite and the wholesale shops for acres of oil and loo roll and other such interesting stuff. Then overnight in a dodgy backpacker joint (thank god for earplugs!) In the morning, it's off to the Tanzanian ladies in the market maze (always struggle to find them in those alleyways jammed with tiny shops selling everything you could need in this country: maize sacks, string, bicycle parts, nail polish, bath sponges, cockroach poison - if one had to make a list of what you can buy there it would be hundreds of pages long!) Then more last minute shopping (the list gets phoned in) and then on to Dedza another two hours drive away to the vegetable market (which turned out to be only an early morning possibility - so no lettuce for the guests' salad!) and to order more plates from the famous pottery there. That is an amazing place - not very creative pottery, but a huge concern and gorgeous old brick buildings and a great restaurant which made us tea and cheesecake - an unheard of luxury here! We got back at 8pm that night - dusty, sticky and absolutely finished! (Have loved my iPod here - just plugged myself in and lay back - had to block my ears to hear anything on the really rutted bits of road, but could still hear the strains..)
Got fabulous chitenjes though - so worth it all, and you won't believe how exciting it is to wander around Shoprite after months of no shops but Monkey Bay (which I haven't managed to get to for a month and am suffering withdrawals from the lack.)
Must trundle off now to feed kids (fish gujons and chips tonight - I never what a gujon was until I got here and still would never be able to cook one myself!)

tea estates, family holidays and birthday parties

Well the diesel arrived and off we set in Jurie's luxury mobile - it was a gorgeous time away. The tea estate was lush and lime green with new shoots and the tea fields stretched up the mountains all around as far as you could see. It was cold and misty and we wore our only pairs of jeans and jackets for three days in a row. Went for long walks on the roads through the tea fields and pockets of indigenous forests and ate like kings (again there were cooks on hand!) and had tea brought through to the sitting room on a trolley as we lounged about in front of a huge fire and read while the kids coloured in (still a favourite pastime) and played lego (essential travel companion - they even played it in the car). It was a real break and felt like another world.
(It is another world - the workers all but salute you as you pass and wear absolute rags and tatters while the owners live in gorgeous mansions and drive about in flash 4x4s and play golf at the country club. They have a glossy printed leaflet in the house telling you they do such a lot for their workers - like provide protective clothing in the factory(!) and a clinic, but really one wants to say "Oh put a sock in it and just pay your workers a bit more! Their houses don't even have doors and it's freezing there! - Felt very socialist, but still loved our time there - amazing how one can suspend one's morals!!)
Then went on a meandering route homeward via the magnificent Mulanje mountain and Polombe to Zomba Forest Lodge where we again ate the most magnificent fillet and veg and had roaring fires and hot water bottles in the bed. You can buy strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, mulberries and grenadillas on the mountain road up Zomba - we got terribly excited. Have frozen them and intend to make delicious smoothies for breakfasts!
Today was Ben's birthday and party. Had all the local kids over and provided biscuits, orange chips and sweeties and a chocolate cake and they ate themselves silly and had a great time. Got James the carver to make Tintin and Captain Haddock and Snowy for Ben and I painted and varnished them yesterday - they look splendid and Ben has played with them all day. Shall affix a pic.
All exhausted now - Bush and Eddie have passed out but Ben and Buj are still jorling about with Tintin...
Toodle pip

biharzia pills and the aquisition of things

Hello all
Not much excitement here in the tropics at the moment - camps are all 100% full which is busy for us and so not much else can go on.
Our most adrenalin-pumping moment came when we had to dose all the children (and ourselves) for Bilharzia. I have no idea why it has never occurred to the pharmaceutical companies that children might need treatment (even more than adults as they spend more time swimming in the shallows) and that a huge, extremely bitter pill is completely impossible to force down their throats - surely a syrup could have been concocted?
Ben was a star and got it down when bribed with a chocolate (he has a rabid sweet tooth and finally even has some fat on him after all the treats and white bread kids get in these parts!), but Eddie was made of sterner stuff and clenched his teeth and screamed fit to explode and reduced me to tears (again - same last year!). Tried crushing it with honey, but he vomited it all over me in disgust.
Eventually I had wait a day, crush the tab and carefully put it into 3 emptied vitamin capsules, which I rolled in condensed milk and we forced him to swallow - better, but still a horror. But his pride when he got them down was palpable - he rushed about telling everyone in his glee.

Oh well it is now three days later and life got very very very busy (guests, guests guests!) - can only be good for the coffers! Every single kayak we own is rented out and on the water today (and yesterday) as it is a long weekend here in Malawi (today is Independence Day! - bye bye brits (though there are many still around!)

Gosh, well that was 5 days ago, so time has flown this week. We had two lovely families from Noordhoek on Domwe, which was fab as we went out there for lunch one day, took them to Monkey Bay market the next and to Mumbo for lunch the day after that. It was splendid to have such good company and so many things to do. Plus we have old family friends staying on Mumbo so have done lunch there twice in a row - feel very sociable!
Also, the truck finally arrived from CT bearing gifts from home - what a joy! I felt like it was my birthday and Christmas twice over. My stocks of dark chocolate are looking like a squirrels hoard as it settles in for the winter months - and my endorphins are now replenished. Feelin' good!

I have attached pics of our "mall" and the wares available for purchase so you will understand my joy at the arrival of the truck from home. But also how nice it is to shop in such a quaint place where the vendors are all friendly and life is simple. Also a pic of our ladies walking group - we go some afternoons at 4ish - hell, do those gals stride! I have to jiggle away behind them most of the time - and compare our walking shoes!!

Then I discovered a horrible old box under the stairs in Jurie's office and when I opened it it was full of gorgeous beauty industry samples: little vials of unguents and potions to rejuvenate the tired old mortal coil - what a thrill! He said they had been there more than a year and no-on knew how or why they had ever ended up with us - so needless to say, I have found them a home. I now have stocks of fab potions (albeit in 2ml tubes!) to last me the year - I shall be glowing when next you set an eye on me!

Now, this weekend we were supposed to go off on our long-awaited family hol, but events conspire against us in these things and so today there is no diesel left in Malawi. #$$*$!!*(&: - if you know what I mean.)
Am just hanging on to my last shred of optimism that it will arrive tonight as we sleep soundly to the strains of the only cd next door. I have actually forked out good money to buy my own copy of the thing so that I can always evoke this year. When we return I shall have a Malawi night at home where you can all come to dinner (I'll have to hire someone to cook in true Malawian colonial fashion - we don't go there) and I shall put the cd on repeat at volume 20 and you can all get a feel of things.

Ok you are probably sick of me by now so cheerio.

this and that on life in the tropics...

On life in Malawi
A dugout painted white with Arsenal written large on it (correct font and all) paddling past in the morning.
HIV+ night watchman coughing outside in the night. (On ARV's so looking good - has 4 small kids and is only about 25...)
The cheeriness of Malawians - Ashun and Mabvuto, our gardeners/cleaners, forgotten by Vincent the boatman on early morning run to Domwe to poop scoop - uproarious laughter from everyone. Such lightness. Returning later that day having scooped poop out of the dry composter loos after 16 people had been on the island for 6 days! "Lots of poopoo!!" and lots of laughter again.
Walking along the dusty, bumpy village road which meanders around baobabs of at least 300 years old.
Electricity outages in the evening - all you hear is children laughing and playing all over the village. Families sit out on their stoeps or in the road, sharing the nsima and relish (lelish). Relish is a stew made from beans or fish or meat (usually goat).
The fabric of village life is still intact here - families are still together and old traditions still bind them. Land is passed down through the female line her, interestingly, so men must move onto their wife's family land. Maybe that's why it all still works so well!
Girls building tepee-like shelters on the beach - sticks covered with green branches and the odd old cloth. They build and then make fires for cooking nsima - hard to get to the bottom of it , but seems to be a rite of passage about becoming a woman (but the girls are all of 8 years old! Got to get working young here.)
Movie houses are reed shelters booming out B grade hollywood schlock (cheap chinese versions with 20 movies on one dvd - usually horrible kung-fu ones). Kids peering through the slats all around the little shack.
Everything is recycled out of necessity here - the best use of recycling I have seen is the way in which car tyres are shaved down into their component strips of rubber and strong nylon string. These are sold in different thicknesses and are used for everything from building (tying the reed and bamboo together) and thatching to necklaces made from the single strands. It is known as linya. Someone here once said that the whole of Malawi is bound together by linya and it is true.
(Saw a duck tethered by its back leg with linya this morning - being led along with its ducklings following it - duck are a popular relish here. Eddie caught Lyoness dealing with the preparations for duck relish once and it was too sad to see his horrified fascination with the poor dead, headless creature upended in a bucket - he couldn't pull himself away but had the dry heaves and was retching at the sight. I had to gently lead him away, much to his relief. He said, "I am not going to eat that duck, mum," in a faint voice and was reassured to find that he could stick to his macaroni instead!)

Eddie's 3rd Birthday

It was Eddie's third birthday on the 14th. Much excitement from the older boys for days beforehand and many instructions from Eddie about what he needed (a fire engine and a truck and a chocolate cake). Luckily he had mentioned the fire engine long enough ago for me to order one from his adoring granny who sent it up with Buji and Java's adoring granny and it was ready and wrapped on time - don't know where I'd have found one in Malawi! (Well, probably in Lilongwe or Blantyre but that's an two days and one night mission and not always possible as the car only goes when there are guests to fetch or it's a terrible waste of fuel and time.)
But the greatest gift I have ever given was the scale model of the beloved boat, Nankappa - Eddie's face was such a picture of awe and delight when he unwrapped it that I wanted to weep! He has not let that boat out of his sight ever since and slept with it on his bed that first night. At last I got the gift right - so often one buys something and by the time the child gets it, he's already moved onto a new obsession - but for Ed, his love of that old boat is steadfast!
Sadly I couldn't spend the day with my dear children as I had to work and there were streams of guests coming and going so I hardly saw the darling and felt terrible about it! But we managed to squeeze in a celebratory boat cruise around Thumbi in the hour between when some guests came off the island and others were due to go on! Hectic - we raced around, but the kids loved it - there were mattresses left on the boat from a huge party of Spaniards who'd just left - so they jumped about on those and scoffed many bright orange chips and lots of sticky sweets - yuk, but it was such a treat for them to have free reign over a feast of junk food, as they usually never see it, let alone are allowed to eat it!
They sang happy birthday and nursery rhymes and barrelled about happily and were very happy with the whole venture - they don't ask a lot, do they? Actually they do, but it's usually for such simple stuff, the darlings.
Anyway, I insisted on the next day off and we had a lovely lazy day drifting about doing nothing in particular - a treat for me, though that's what they do every day. Later on we broke open one of the cheap toys I keep in store for a rainy (not til December really, but you know what I mean) day, a beading set, and we all made ourselves bead necklaces - even Zoda (who is still wearing his) and Vanessa (who works in Liinu's house). It was all very peaceful.
Have to admit, though, I am champing at the bit to get out of the village now. Need to see something else!

Wooden boats, family outings and wobbly hands

I'm bored. There are guests arriving, but only at 6pm and I have to be at the desk all day in case of people wanting to rent kayaks. Bush and Jurie are heads down doing the books and the kids are frootling about under the watchful eye of Zoda, swimming and colouring in (new best thing for Ben) and getting into spats which I have to sort out every hour. Just loaded them all into the rattletrap to do errands in the village - which is bustling as it's Saturday morning. Got us some dvds to watch tonight - very civilised here - and now have a fresh pot of Chombe tea at my elbow and time to spare.
Had another great afternoon at Monkey Bay last week with Jurie's sister Juleta. She found a pile of down ski jackets - got one for myself to brave next winter if we are in CT (haven't been for the last 3 winters so it might be tough!) and two more to sell. Gorgeous stylish puffy things. Mine is green - a lovely limeish/apple.
Previous week the specials were fleece blankets (which we are actually using every now and then.)
(Just spotted Ben and Buj racing naked along the beach - despite strict instructions that there is to be NO naked swimming. Gone feral!)
Now it's almost a week later - things suddenly got busy. Jurie's mum arrived and Dan left on leave, Jurie got Malaria, so we were short staffed (again!) - all a bit hectic. But did a stint on Mumbo as hostess for escape (it's called work, but really isn't!) - with 5 paediatricians. (Malawi bristles with aid workers - especially doctors! Read Paul Theroux on the subject in Dark Star Safari - an account of his trip through Africa. No rose coloured sunnies on that one!)
Was a great night though and all the guests were lovely and insisted on putting their tables together for meals, so had good conversation again- always such a joy for me. I realise here that I am a bit of a social animal - can take isolation (well always with attendant husband and offspring, the darlings) for just so long then need a good chat! Also need to shop - missed Monkey Bay last week and it's now imperative to go on Tuesday. I know I will never be able to shop in a normal shop again - can't bear not to treasure hunt and find bargains.There - I have revealed myself as an empty-headed twit who lives to shop and talk - may as well live in Sandton, except that it would kill me...
What news of life on the lake? Not much. Zoda found a real carpenter ( a lovely beaming, chubby (rare in Malawi) chap) to make a proper boat for Eddie's birthday - this one is about 40cm long, floats, is painted properly and has every feature of Nankappa in exact, proportional detail - amazing. Cost about R250, which is expensive here, but worth it for such a magnificent piece of work. Think we'll do a picnic on the real boat for the party - cruise around Thumbi island with a boat full of sugar-hyped kids! (Don't worry, Mum, they'll have life jackets!)
Now I aim to find half an hour in the day for myself - I paddled my own canoe (an apt idiom, except it was a kayak) for the first time yesterday and it was a breeze. Bush and I had a rare afternoon off together and took the boys paddling down the lake edge on an adventure. We went to Cape Mac Lodge for a swim in the pool - huge treat, then to the Gecko Lounge for tea (and beer and icecreams - king cones so Ben and Ed in heaven!) and to get dvds for the night, and then to Gaia for the most delicious carbonara! Gaia had two missionary families staying - one forgets there are still people trying to convert the dark hordes in Africa - really extraordinary after all these years - isn't everyone who wanted to be converted already?! The 7 year old, Maisie, asked me in a loud piping tone whether I was a Christian. "Gosh, I don't really know anymore, Maisie," I said and she stared at me in astonishment. I changed the subject hastily.
Anyway - that was the first afternoon we have spent together as a nuclear family since we got here so it was a lovely day. Buj and Java are on Mumbo at the moment so Ben and Eddie are having to play together and are doing so amazingly harmoniously. Plus they have no teacher or Zoda or me to look after them, but they are just getting on with it. They are playing a complicated game involving three sticks of bamboo (a mum, dad and a baby) and it's keeping them terribly busy. It also involves climbing every tree in the garden - no physio needed here in the tropics. I wish I could send Ben's colouring-in to Aunty Brenda with a little note telling her that if you just leave children alone a little, and let them grow at their own pace, even the wobbliest little hand learns to stay in the lines eventually - which is, after all, one of life's greatest and most valuable skills! When I remember her showing Bush and a very tearful me, all the class's efforts and then flinging Ben's wild scribbles on the top of the pile with a triumphant " and this is Ben's attempt!", I am filled with uncharitable and violent impulses! Schools can be such life-affectingly horrible places sometimes - so glad we opted for the Waldorf route.
Time for lunch (bangers and chips and salad - very healthy!), naturally not cooked by me - the joy!
PS Belated pics are of Buj's pirate party in May - complete with treasure hunts (x5!) and walking the plank...