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A Baby!

Our New favourite breakfast food, Ouma's Rusks So I haven't posted in a while. I've had a lot of new beginnings over the past year. I've embarked on a new research topic - again something to do with Malawi obvs. I've also officially started learning the Dutch language and culture.Honestly, after more than four years here, it'd be hypocritical of me not to immerse myself when I constantly harp on about how expats (I hate that word by the way, how comes I'm not an expat here in Europe?) don't immerse themselves in our African cultures. A new beginning that has most changed my life and that of F is the birth of our daughter a couple months ago. She has more than one name, in honour of the paths our lives have walked on but for this blog I think the name Khanyisile best encapsulates the joy I feel writing about her arrival. From the little Zulu I know, Khanyisile means "shine the light".  I try, through this blog to shine the light on the mu
Recent posts

Living in a European Village

If you follow this blog, you might have realised that I really try hard to write about Malawi but through a series of events, I have been away from home for a while now. I have returned there for several months at a time but I haven't been a permanent resident at home for about 7 years, wow! It's been that long. Time flies whether or not we're having fun right? Two things quickly, first with Malawi. Fellow citizens, we have WAY too many facebook groups, lol! I belong to several, I must confess. I like to think they are all practical but judging by the amount of time I spend on them....I think practicality has gone to the dogs. These are just social-networking tools which happen to have handy ideas on how members can improve their lives whether it be in the kitchen, how to invest, how to look and and how to be, in general, particularly in light of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In between the handy ideas, a lot of intereeeeeeesting life stories. Yes, you are right, I ne

Been a While

It has been a while, perhaps almost a year, since I blogged last. I usually felt like there was so much to write about and nothing to write about. The truth is, a lot has happened since last spring. For the first time in my life, I live in a village. It's a Dutch village and so it is very different from villages I know from Malawi. Nevertheless, there are some similarities:- although in this village all roads are paved, the internet is super speedy, there is a supermarket...even a car dealership. Houses are spacious, there are good schools, a wee harbour that is awesome, excellent infrastructure in general etc.: there is ALSO more stuff growing: orchards, vegetables and a lot of space for back gardens. The graveyard is visible (the only graveyards I remember from my most recent cities were near a church or in a church On the people side, I do notice that there are more older people I am likely to meet and get to know than in the cities I've lived in. On a personal level, I

Obstacle or Opportunity: the case of the online writings of missionaries and aid workers in Lilongwe

The Back Story There is a "why AID/charity?" question that is attached more frequently than ever to aid and charity directed at Africa and Africans nowadays.  1 Trillion US Dollars have been spent in direct, bilateral and multilateral aid (grants, donations, soft loans etc.) over the years and more is in the works (see link under the second bullet point in the section below).  Yet poverty and life-threatening challenges persist.  Writers like Easterly critique the prevalent aid models in use today...and so do others including Zambian-born Havard graduate Dambisa Moyo in her book Dead Aid. The "why AID/charity?" question resonates with me and has done so since I went to a College in Lilongwe that promoted charity-based approaches to anything from tuition fee support, college trips, village interventions etc. Perhaps I am among the priviledged in Malawi because it was the first time for me to see a structure so comprehensively interwoven with donations.  I wa

I'm not part of an African Elite

I've never been one to quote a comedian but I so agree with Trevor Noah: "when you look into some people's eyes, you just know that no matter what you see there is no hope".  This past week I had flu and had to spend a lot of time indoors.  I did do a lot of work for my thesis but I did spend a considerable amount of time online as well.  Most of that time was spent following the Madonna story in my home country of Malawi and another part of that was spent catching up with the regular internet sinkholes: youtube, facebook, etc. Reading on the Madonna stories made me realise there is a subsection of society whose purpose in life is to bash anything alive in Africa (and Malawi)...except for the "gawjus" wildlife.  It was sad really, reading the comments that crystallise my home as : a "cess pool", "over breeding", "corrupt"...you get my drift.  True, I have never been a fan of Madonna and if the saying "you

What I'll miss most about Malawi- the sun

My half year period here is coming to an end. I've been through all the emotions as I've been here but I must say one of the things that I have enjoyed the most is the being home. In all my travels I've noticed that feeling at home has to be worked really hard on when one is in a foreign country. Language, food, perspectives and weather ... At least I didn't have to work on all those and besides, it is good to be here in the summer.  The sun is just simply a natural cure for the blues whenever they threaten to take over. I'll miss that the most - the sun and it's products i.e. fruits, warm lake water, the need for light clothing and sandals. I know, I paint too bright a picture but with the sun's brightness today, I can't help but do that. Today I moved out of my little house in the ''bundu".  I loved the little thing, it was my first successful attempt ever at living on my own and ''calling the shots" - as it were. Even

On Being Back in Malawi...

Five years ago I started this blog for one reason and one reason only: to offer a Malawian blog, written by a Malawian who is just a regular world citizen. Not an exotic, strange, different individual...just 'one-of-us'.  Glad to have found many other Malawi blogs by Malawians or Malawiphiles. Glad also that when googling 'Malawi' nowadays it's not just the awful stuff that comes up. But increasingly diverse options.  I should be careful to note that there are plenty of awful things that should be told...but there are also plenty of pretty neat things to tell about Malawi. Speaking very generally, that's what makes us regular world citizens, isn't it?  Knowing that our immediate world isn't all good... and it isn't all bad.  I left Malawi about a couple of years after I started the blog. I didn't want to leave because I had wanted to make my so-called MARK on my country as a twenty-something. Alas, scholarships come once in a life-time and off