KWACHA Gonna DO?

The currency here in Malawi is called 'Kwacha', and the largest bill is a 500MK note which is the equivalent of approximately $3US. We had a thought while still living in MI that a duckbill money clip might be an essential item for when we had to carry 'large' amounts of Malawian Kwacha on our person. I think the money clip holds Kwacha in the amount of $80US, hence we found humor in thinking of just how many duckbill money clips we might need to accommodate the purchase of our vehicle. To give you an idea of just how much Kwacha it took to secure the vehicle you should know that Ryan switched our Kwacha stash from the Hawaii flower zippered BAG (which he thought just screamed, “cash in me!”) to his manly backpack to “look less conspicuous” while carrying the Kwacha around town.

Anyone who has traveled outside their own country can relate to the feelings I have had about switching our life over from Dollars to Kwacha. It has taken me a while to get a handle on how much I am really spending and also what to expect to pay for goods and services in this new land. Perhaps this is why there was an influx of vendors selling carved wooden elephants, grass cars, paintings and fresh produce seemingly within minutes of our arrival! It helps to understand what a good wage is for an unskilled laborer when trying to haggle with vendors.

(Benson pre hair cut)

The going rate for a worker at a home is between 3,000 – 5,000MK per month. We pay at the top end of this scale, which equates to around $30US per month per worker.

At the local market I can buy 10 carrots for around $1.10US, 3kg of irish potatoes for $2.50US, 10 tomatoes for $1US, 20 mangoes for $1.10, 1 pineapple for $0.50US, 8 zucchini for $1.10US, 8 eggplant for $1.10US, 30 eggs for $4US, 4 spanish onion for $0.50US, 4 bell peppers for $0.50, bunch of spinach for $0.50US, one head of broccoli/cauliflower for $0.50.

The import stores like Shop Rite and Saver's Choice have a wide selection of goods for purchase. You can buy a pack of Tim Tams for $7.50US, or Sweet Chilli Sauce for $3US, 6pk Danone yoghurt is $2.50US, Dove Deodorant is $6US while Pantene Shampoo and Conditioner is around $25US per bottle.

(Yes, Bready and 'Mommy' have bonded)

I can “shop the piles” on Fridays at Makwasa market. These are literally heaped up piles of used clothing, shoes, bags, sheets and towels from the US, Australia, Europe etc. Each pile is manned by a person who calls out a price, “50 Kwacha” pile, and I have learned to listen for the announcement before heading to a pile in an effort to avoid 'Mzungu pricing' (Mzungu is a term for white person). It's really something to see the familiar brands for sale on a tarp in Africa. There is BabyGap, Gymboree, Portmans, Sportsgirl, Levis, Talbots, DKNY, Carters, Nike, Vera Moda, and occasionally I have found high end names like Dolce and Gabbana (a woman's shirt I would have purchased if it didn't read on the front, “My body belongs to me, but I like to share!”), and today I bought a Burberry London polo shirt for Hudson for 50MK.

(The Lutz, Brown and Hayton kids decorating Christmas cookies)

(Huddy enjoyed tasting the icing during the cookie decorating process)

We purchased a 1995 Toyota Landcruiser Prado from Japan back in October which arrived in Blantyre last week. We were hit with a 175% import tax on the cost of the vehicle plus the shipping to the Malawi border and port charges. Ryan argued that they could not charge us 25% for having a 'luxury vehicle' and also 80% for having an 'old vehicle', they should make up their mind, “is it a luxury vehicle or an old one?” While it has been a slightly painful process we are delighted to have our own wheels and the ability to be mobile at our discretion. Buying a car site unseen is very strange, and we enjoyed looking it over last night after the boys were in bed. The tinting on the windows is SO dark that you cannot see inside even when you press your eyes to the glass. There is a sturdy ladder on the rear door which you can climb to absolutely no where, no roof rack, just a ladder. There is a plastic screwed on “LANDCRUISER” sign on the front bumper in case anyone should mistake our “landcruiser” for a Pajero. There is a CD player which has a button to adjust the angle of the face, so you can select an angle that is comfortable for your viewing. A big surprise was the inclusion of a dual screen DVD/GPS unit with a screen mounted on the dash and one on the passenger seat with a swivel arm to place the screen in the middle of the Prado. I can see this coming in handy on many long road trips. After spending an hour to figure out how to open it, we have now successfully confused it by placing a non-pal DVD inside, and now it is just spinning, “disk invalid”. So once we can remove it, we need to request lots of kids DVD's from all our Aussie family and friends!

The week before Christmas Samson invited us to visit him, his wife Ruth, and their children at his village. I had some weird gastro bug and so we decided to borrow a vehicle to drive. (Thank God we didn't end up walking) We turned left just before Makwasa and wound around through the tea fields until we finally reached his village. After about 5 minutes of driving I began to think of how he walks to work every morning and walks home every night. It was a LONG way from our home to his. His village was set on a hill and we drove in past the chief's house and through a spattering of homes that varied in appearance. Some were well maintained with painted exteriors and tin roofs, some were well kept up dirt floored home with well thatched roofs, others were crumbling structures with visible holes in the thatching or just pieces here and there of tin on the top of the dwelling. Samson's home had good 'curb appeal' with a trained vine growing over the entrance, potted plants lining the porch, and well maintained brick structure. He was so happy that we had come to visit his home. He was eager to show us his modest living room with wood seats and a small cabinet, his wife's room which was only slightly bigger than my pantry and slept her and the 1yr old baby, and his room which had a double bed and room for storage. The home also had a room that could be used as a store front one day, and through the back door we were lead to a back yard with an additional shelter housing a laundry room and African bathroom. We were pleased to see that he kept goats and chickens and homing pigeons, which will all be able to earn money for him and his family.

I thought back to when I first arrived at my new home at Malamulo and I constantly pointed out the “disgusting couches”, “inadequate kitchen”, “grimy concrete floors/tiles” and the overall “ruins this house is in!” and then I stood there in Samson's modest home, only 2 rooms with concrete bases, buckets for water, an LED battery light strung to the tin roof, poor ventilation, a bamboo shelf for a kitchen, an outhouse, and not even enough room to house all their children. I was immediately humbled. My house seems like a mansion, with plush seating and durable floors, running water and electricity!

Samson and I talk about many things during our days working at the house. He asks me things like, “Is it true that in America they don't eat Nsima, and that everyone has a car?”, and I ask him things like, “Do you carry your baby and give your wife a break? “ and after visiting his village (and seeing him hold his baby!) “why don't you give your wife and the baby the double bed, and take the single one for yourself?” He often shakes his head and laughs at me, and says, “this is Malawi Madam.” He often tells me how much he likes his job and that people are very jealous of him because he has this job and most of his village is unemployed.

I am struck by the strength of the African women. So, while Samson comes to work here all day, his wife Ruth is tending to the children, and also taking care of the home and cooking, and also working in the fields, planting Maize and fertilizing the soil. It is common to see women carrying Kwambilli (a lot) on their heads, and a baby also strapped to their back.

(Samson, Ruth, Martha, and their two young boys)

(Samson and Benson by the goat pen, and a picture of Samson's 'kitchen' and back yard)

We welcomed December by celebrating my 30^th birthday with a quiet day at home and opening presents by Candlelight when the power had failed. I found the sweet voice of Benson singing “Happy birthday” to be a great joy, along with a striped mug my husband had found in town (which has greatly increased my hot beverage time) and the many wonderful and much needed wardrobe replenishment's sent from Mom and Amy Hayton. I dolled myself up with a new outfit and even donned eyeliner and mascara for the day.

We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary and Ryan turned 34 a week ago and we had just returned from a Christmas trip to Lake Malawi with the Woods family, so we spent a quiet day at home and I made a banana cake to celebrate.

(The missionaries celebrated my birthday at potluck with a delicious chocolate cake made by Susan Woods.)

(opening presents by candlelight)

(Skyping with Andy, Amy and the kids for Christmas)

(Boys at Lake Malawi for Christmas weekend)

Ryan's OR (operating room) staff all came to our house for a Christmas party and they enjoyed the 'strange' food I had prepared. There was pesto pasta salad, potato salad, fruit salad, egg salad sandwiches and Nsima with beans and greens. Many of them commented on how long it had been since they were in an Mzungu's home – some had never been into one. We sang some Christmas carols, ate together and enjoyed fellowship. Perhaps the strangest part of the evening was these 2 boys who showed up with no parents and said their father was new at the hospital OR. They came and ate and then were playing in the sand pile with Benson and two matchbox cars. Benson came running inside and informed us that his new friends had just left and he felt sad. When I went outside, the matchbox cars were gone, and no-one knew who these kids were! I told Benson that I thought the kids had stolen his cars, and he offered an explanation, “Mommy they took them because they have no cars”. What insight! Stranger still was the next day when I was visiting Nicole Brown, the boys came inside and said, “two village boys gave us these cars and said they were yours”, Nicole looked at them said, “not mine”, and then I saw them and recognized they were the very ones stolen from the sand pile! Someone had made those boys return the cars. Too funny.

(Ryan's OR team at our house for a Christmas party)

Hudson is a climber boy! He stands up on the coffee table and smiles so big and stomps his feet proud as can be, then climbs up on the dining room chairs and throws his hands in the air and squeals with delight! He says “Dada” for most things he likes a lot and has learned to communicate more effectively mixing his signs with the occasional “Dis” or “Dat” and “Down” when pointing to get down from his high chair. He is a tough kid and it takes a lot for him to complain about anything.

(Huddy sporting a 100MK purchase from Makwasa)

I got my first bout of what we assume was Malaria, and I woke up one morning and said, “I feel like a truck has hit me”, then the rest of the day Benson kept inquiring, “Did you get run over by a truck Momma?”

Benson has taken to saying “snuggle me up Mommy” at night time and as we lay under his mosquito net, he will state “I want to talk about ALOT of things!”, then he begins by asking me “Did anyone hurt your feelings today Mommy?” (we had started asking him this after he turned 2 in an effort to help him verbalize his feelings and recognize behaviors) and then, “Who made you happy today Mommy”. My heart was warm when on one occasion he replied when I asked him “ You did Mommy” and I said “how did I make you happy today” Benson: “When you played baseball with me Mommy”.

(Benson (and Huddy) got Mini, Goofy, Donald and Daisy (B already had Mickey and H had Pluto) for Christmas from Nai Nai, Benson decided he would now sleep with Mickey, Mini and Goofy, but that Huddy could have Donald and Daisy)

When Ryan and I were in the middle of an argument one day Benson piped up, “Did anybody hurt your feelings today Mommy”, in the heat of the moment I commented, “Yes, Daddy!” Ryan tells me that later Benson approached him and said, “I didn't hurt Mommy's feelings today – YOU did!”

One night we were talking about ALOT of things and I was commenting that he was “such a good helper and that he was getting bigger and bigger and one day he would be as big as Daddy.” He said, “will I BE a Daddy someday?” and I responded, “Yes” then he quickly replied “But I don't want to be a Daddy, I just want to be a kid”.

Ryan told Benson one morning, “Daddy only has to round at the hospital this morning, then I will be home with YOU the rest of the day!”, before getting too excited he asked, “But will you get stuck there Daddy?”

We appreciate our improved internet and the ability to skype with our family and friends. God is taking care of us and Malamulo and we are so grateful for all your prayers and communication with us.