Emotions are running high as my two week mark has hit me.
Two weeks remain to finish up my Data Base, Final Report and present it to both offices. Two weeks remain to say good bye to all my friendships I have made and accept their uncertain future – will I ever see you again? I cried. I miss home, but I know I will see YOU again. I’m going to confess – I’m crying now just typing about leaving. The friendships that I have started here – they are not ready to end…
One challenge I’m having: how do I show my friends how much I care about them and how much they mean to me when I don’t speak Chichewa and they don’t speak English – how do I “stay in touch”? If I return, will I ever find them again? Read my blog called Asake Faith – she’s who I’m talking about.
We had a Farewell Party for the Mzungu (me) last Friday. It was a little early but amazing, all my co-workers and friends from other organizations (my Malawian doctor~), all the dancing, all the laughing… It was held at the Ntchisi Lodge – the nice bar of the area, way more than what I was expecting. There was a power failure all day and into the early evening, making the start a little slow, but once the power returned, some drinks came out and Luciano started busting out the Malawian tunes – the crazyness began. Oh the dancing – never seen men dance quite like that – don’t worry I got it all on film~ There were only 4 women, compared to about 20 men. Reason – (1) working force is dominated by men (of the 4 women, one was me and one was my co-worker – the others were wives of men) and (2) everyone had to pay to enter (many of a women friends don’t have money to spend like that). Learned something funny – if someone says they do not drink alcohol, it probably means they don’t drink beer or hard alcohol, but they still drink wine because wine is not alcohol. Hehe I don’t know if this was just people making excuses to me or if this is standard… The co-workers who told me that they don’t drink – they had wine mixed with coco cola (yes, wine mixed with coco cola).
Second Challenge: Many people understand that I am leaving shortly and are getting excited about all my things – pots, plates, mattress, stove – they want them. Which is causing some frustration as I am bad at saying no and already have ideas of who/where I want my things to go. Another dilemma: I don’t want to just give it all away and feed their western stereotype but at the same time that 200 MK is a coffee for me but three meals for them…
I’m going to miss a lot of people – but there are two people who have touched in special ways, Jossum and Asake Faith. I’m finding it hard to use words to describe a friend ship that uses no words (Asake Faith), but I have written a blog about each to try to express why I’m so sad to leave Ntchisi, Malawi.
Two weeks remain to finish up my Data Base, Final Report and present it to both offices. Two weeks remain to say good bye to all my friendships I have made and accept their uncertain future – will I ever see you again? I cried. I miss home, but I know I will see YOU again. I’m going to confess – I’m crying now just typing about leaving. The friendships that I have started here – they are not ready to end…
One challenge I’m having: how do I show my friends how much I care about them and how much they mean to me when I don’t speak Chichewa and they don’t speak English – how do I “stay in touch”? If I return, will I ever find them again? Read my blog called Asake Faith – she’s who I’m talking about.
We had a Farewell Party for the Mzungu (me) last Friday. It was a little early but amazing, all my co-workers and friends from other organizations (my Malawian doctor~), all the dancing, all the laughing… It was held at the Ntchisi Lodge – the nice bar of the area, way more than what I was expecting. There was a power failure all day and into the early evening, making the start a little slow, but once the power returned, some drinks came out and Luciano started busting out the Malawian tunes – the crazyness began. Oh the dancing – never seen men dance quite like that – don’t worry I got it all on film~ There were only 4 women, compared to about 20 men. Reason – (1) working force is dominated by men (of the 4 women, one was me and one was my co-worker – the others were wives of men) and (2) everyone had to pay to enter (many of a women friends don’t have money to spend like that). Learned something funny – if someone says they do not drink alcohol, it probably means they don’t drink beer or hard alcohol, but they still drink wine because wine is not alcohol. Hehe I don’t know if this was just people making excuses to me or if this is standard… The co-workers who told me that they don’t drink – they had wine mixed with coco cola (yes, wine mixed with coco cola).
Second Challenge: Many people understand that I am leaving shortly and are getting excited about all my things – pots, plates, mattress, stove – they want them. Which is causing some frustration as I am bad at saying no and already have ideas of who/where I want my things to go. Another dilemma: I don’t want to just give it all away and feed their western stereotype but at the same time that 200 MK is a coffee for me but three meals for them…
I’m going to miss a lot of people – but there are two people who have touched in special ways, Jossum and Asake Faith. I’m finding it hard to use words to describe a friend ship that uses no words (Asake Faith), but I have written a blog about each to try to express why I’m so sad to leave Ntchisi, Malawi.
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