Just Dance!

August 4th, 2013
Let the good times roll! I finished up my PACA meetings in the beginning of the month. Now what? I helped the women make food for the men making dairy kholas. I like to think of us as cheerleaders, as we danced and sang songs as well, songs about heifers. There were 6 dairy kholas constructed in the area recently, and a dairy facility will be constructed in a near by village within the next few months. I hope there are more dairy kholas to be put up...1. Because who doesn't like milk (although you can't beat Wisconsin milk) and 2. There is always meat served at these functions ( I still refuse to eat meat from the market which is covered in flies...although if someone cooks it for me I will, I just tell myself they purchased this meat somewhere which meets the USDA regulations). Once the dairy is up and running, I may teach them how to make cheese and yogurt. I have ensure that the people stay motivated with this project as some dairy cows in other villages were taken away because they were near starvation.

This month I also attended one of my villages chieftainships. Crowning of a chief. There were hundreds of people, food, and Ngoni dancers. The ceremony was sweet. The chief and his wife kneeled before the Group Village Headman in minimal clothes and was then dressed in his official outfit which looked like cheetah skin. I had taken a bunch of pictures, but realized after that the camera was flipped around, 36 pictures of my forehead. I helped prepare food for the Traditional Authority (TA) for this event. The hierarchy is as follows: Village headman, Group Village Headman, SG Village Headman, Traditional Authority and then King. Each village has its headman/chief, our area GVH looks over 6 villages and I'm not entirely sure how many villages the TA is over. The king is the king of the Chewas, hence the language Chichewa. He is located somewhere in Zambia. This was definitely an exciting event and I am happy that I had the opportunity to take part in , minus the one drunk Ngoni dancer who followed me all the way home as he was telling everyone I was his madam. Bodza (liar)!

Yesterday, I also attended my first Malawian wedding. It almost makes up for all the weddings I will miss...not even close. I didn't attend the ceremony, as I was preparing food for the bridal party. The menu included: Nsima, rice, chicken, beef and cabbage. I'm getting better at eating with my hands, but eating rice with your hands is much harder than eating nsima with your hands. After that we headed to the resort where they were having the reception. The bridal party sat on the stage while hundreds of people were seated watching them. The ceremony included: The Pelican...pretty sure
thats what they call it. This is where the bride and groom stand with a bucket and people dance and throw money at them. That lasted a few  hours. They had to have received at least 1 million Kwacha. I should have left as it was getting dark, but I wanted a piece of cake! Finally, the cake cutting ceremony. They cut it and then auctioned off pieces of cake about the size of a quarter. I got a piece for 500 kwacha. She tossed her boquet to her bridal party and that concluded the wedding. It was great to see a Malawian wedding, but for me I will stick with the dream wedding any American girl plans since the age of 6...and that dream includes BBQ ribs. ha

So I have come to the conclusion, that dancing is just a part of everyday life here. Oh and don't worry I'm sure I didn't embarrass myself with my dance skills. I just embarrassed everyone in America because they probably think my dance skills are the same as every other American.

More random points:
**I hired someone to wash my laundry. Lazy? No, I see it as stimulating the local economy. I know she must get the clothes cleaner than I did as I could make a bar of soap last a month, she goes through 2 each time she washes my clothes.

** I started taking Chichewa tutoring lessons this past month. New favorite saying: Ndili Khwakhwakhwa. (I don't have any money)

**I've gotten several marriage proposals, they think its awful that I'm 23 and not married. Not going to lie, there are some good looking Malawians here, especially the postal worker...I probably check to see if I have mail more than I need to.

** Thirsty Thursday must be universal as I think my entire village was drunk this past Thursday before noon.

**I've eaten over 7kg of peanut butter since arriving at site in May. That's kind of gross, but I need to get some protein. I don't think I will ever get sick of PB and J.

**I'll be heading to Lilongwe for In-service training next week!! So excited!