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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Pictures

I'm uploading this just to show pictures that were totally unrelated to the last post so here they are:
A little background- gwaza village about 5k from my site put on a performance for me, it was lovely! They were talking and dancing about preventing aids!!

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger- or something like that.

Welcome to my second week in Kasinje! It started off a little rocky with the most frightening trip back from the city one could have. As you may or may not know, the transportation here is slightly below par (insert laughter here) due to the wretched economy and the fact that this country has no foreign exchange, thus, have no currency to buy fuel. Well anyway, to get back from the city I must take two busses, it's about two or three hours on each bus. Banking on the possibility that it may only take 4 hours, my pcv friend and I left at 2 (mind you it gets dark here at 6 and there isn't such a thing as street lights). All was going well until about thirty minutes into the trip I found myself with unbearable stomach pains and started breaking into a deep sweat. Thankfully the women sitting next to me noticed I was about to shit my pants and made the bus pull over. A little background info here: mini busses are suppose to hold about 12 people, but on average are holding more like 18-20. Of course I was sitting way in the back and hand no chance of getting out of the car on time, so like James bond or some other action star would do... I jumped out the window. On a straight run to the nearest village, I was then awkwardly trying to speak Chichewa to find the nearest chimbudzi (yea basically a hole in the ground surrounded by sticks for some privacy). I then had my first encounter with a full chim, I could see about a million and a half maggots having the time of their lives in a pit full of waste. Although I felt like a new women it became even more awkward when I had to climb back into the bus with everyone knowing what had just happened. The rest of that bus trip when smoothly but it was getting late and I was worried we weren't going to make it back before dark. The second mini bus was going smoothly and it did get dark, this wouldn't have been an issue if the bus didn't break down right outside of a forest fire (as the Malawians calmly say-'oh they are just burning brush'). So now it's dark- we have no bus, a fire, no street lights, an hardly any language skills. Not scary at all. Well much to our 'luck' a matola pulls up (picture a semi without the walls on the bed= a flat bed semi) and offers to take us back. At this point i start whipping out my Kwacha in attempts to ride in the front of this thing and not on the flat bed. That was quickly turned down. In day light I would refuse this ride, so adding total darkness plus a backpack full of stuff I was absolutely not getting on it...until I did. The ride wasn't totally frightening I was hanging on by a rope that was holding corn down and thinking about the wine I bought in the city and how it would be empty five minutes after I got off the truck, and a baby was drop kicking me every five seconds. but we made it, Eventually, in one way or another and here I am, still alive- week two. Sorry mom.

Listen to Kristi goes to africa


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