Mzuzu

Eventually I felt I ought to continue my journey South through Malawi and so set off to the town of Mzuzu. Mike and I decided to travel together for a bit and on the morning we left his mum made us the hugest and tastiest farewell breakfast of sweet potatoes, rice and a tomato and onion sauce, and fruits. For most meals with Mike's family we'd eaten nsima and I'd mastered the art of eating it with my fingers. Now though I was presented with the challenge of eating rice with my fingers. By the end of the meal I considered myself to actually be pretty good at it but that certainly wasn't the case at the start which caused a lot of laughter from everyone watching.

In Mzuzu we stayed with Mike's Aunt and her family in a little suburb. Here I further developed the skills needed to be a good African lady. It's very much the case that if you're a lady here then you have to do pretty much all the hard work, in fact pretty much all the work around the house. You have to cook, clean, look after any children, collect water and firewood, and do anything else that might need doing. Meanwhile your husband's main job is to keep you safe and leave you to your chores, which for them often seems to involve sitting around playing boa game in the bars. Unless that is you have a job which some people are lucky enough to have.

So I set about learning to do the things that most woman here need to do... I was lent a pretty orange and black cloth to use as a sarong type thing so I would be dressed a little bit more like the local ladies. I learnt how to cook different foods. I got some more experience with cooking nsima, which is such a tiring thing to cook. When it's almost ready it's incredibly hard to stir. It's kind of like an exceptionally thick porridge which when cooked you can turn the pot of it upside down and it wont fall out. The ladies here can stir it using one arm but it's a challenge for me to stir it using both! I made rice porridge which was delicious and I was told it would keep me full for four hours. Nothing keeps me full for four hours so I openly refused to believe it, but to my amazement I was wrong and sure enough four hours after eating it I was still full. I also experienced cooking the very tasty meal of sweet potatoes and ground nuts.



My next challenge was to master the art of carrying water on my head. The ladies here are so skilled at this and lots of them can do so without even holding onto the bucket or bowl they're carrying. To be able to do this is my aim but I think it's highly unlikely that I will succeed. I was able to carry first a smallish bowl of water and then progress onto a huge bowl of water whilst keeping both my hands firmly holding it on my head. I needed help to both lift the bowl up onto my head and get it back down again but was very pleased and also quite surprised that very little of my water spilt as I negotiated my way over the rough and uneven ground and across ditches from the local tap to Mike's Aunt's home. Again I provided a lot of amusement and caused much laughter for all the surrounding children and anyone else who happened to be passing.



One of the jobs men here do to make a living is ride bicycle taxis. They are the most pimped up bikes I've ever seen, all brightly coloured with numerous horns and bells and mirrors. They make Candice (my bike at home) look very deprived. I shall have to do something about this when I get home.

I've put up a picture of one of the wire toys that children here make and play with. They are so imaginative and cleaver with what they can make out of wire, or old shoes or bits of someone else's rubbish. They could teach a lot to children back at home!

I really enjoyed my time in Mzuzu. It's a way of life that is very appealing, so simple, relaxed and happy. I think it would mostly suit me very well, if women and men were commonly thought of as equal that is, and perhaps if I could have a western style bathroom as although I don't mind going to the toilet in a pit and having bucket washes, it would be nice to have a powerful shower and be able to sit down when it was time to go every now and then.