cannibalism! sort of....

Last time I wrote I was heading to the lake for Independence Day celebrations (both American and Malawian). And celebrations we did have, I should thank my fellow expats for throwing an authentic 4th of July celebration, complete with cheap beer (Chibuku, like drinking fermented sand soaked in sour milk...), camping, BBQs and FIREWORKS! I never imagined celebrating the independence of my homeland with a rainbow of countries who (some dressed in American flag shorts purchased at the used clothing market in Lilongwe) made the weekend a truly fantastic one. After a loooonng Friday night at Senga Bay, Carla, myself, Carla's roomate Jessie, and the two Norwegian vacationers that we talked into coming, headed up to the Chinteche Strip of Lake Malawi, the furthest north I have been as of yet.

Now the beach at Chinteche is absolutely beautiful and the sand much finer than Senga Bay (and therefore more prone to sticking to stuff). There I met up with some fellow interns from UNHCR at a place called Kande Beach and we made good use of our long weekend snorkelling, swimming, and riding horses. Our two hour horse ride through the forest had great potential to make a very relaxing Sunday morning, but Glenn had other ideas. I still believe we could have been great friends had it not been for his constant need to kick at the horse behind us or bite the rump of those in front, and when not trying to pick a fight he was diving into the grass to eat. Whew, as a very amateur equestrian I definitely came away from that weekend extremely sore in my own rump area. Now I must mention a significant point of interest here, horses swim. Like paddle around like dogs swim. This is a fact that I was not aware of until I rode Glenn into the lake, I expected a bit of splashing in the shallow part and then a graceful exit still perched high on his bare back (very epic-movie-esque like) But horses literally swim! So we get out to deeper water, and I am submerged up to my shoulders as Glenn paddles around making a funny groaning sound. Had he not been a huge ex-racehorse I would have thought I was riding a dog.

After the long weekend I return to Lilongwe and the very busy weeks ahead. My supervisor Mayke is on vacation and so I kept busy with a list of tasks that included attending a child protection workshop, generating a presentation and poster for the 2008 International Aids Conference, tirelessly trying to organize the SCT Secretariat at the Ministry of Women (I must constantly remind myself to be happy with baby steps), preparing for my second long trip into the field and then subsequently going on my said long trip into the field...

So, I have just returned from a week in Liwonde, facilitating the establishment of linkages in Machinga District. As the only unicef rep present, I was looked to as the expert (I did my absolute best to not let on the fact that I am merely the cheap grunt labor). So we held a meeting with the District Executive Committee (all the government big shots on District level) and then went out into one of the district areas (called a Traditional Authority) to train Govt. Extension Workers and Community Social Protection Committees on linking existing social services to beneficiaries of the scheme. The training was a huge success, with a lot of people and great participation.
Now the short and skinny of linkages: cash is great but not necessarily the end-all-be-all to social protection, the beneficiaries have a new found access to services that they were unable to receive prior to cash, but many do now know this fact. so the point of linkages is to bring the beneficiaries the appropriate information and contacts to access existing services that could better their lives (for example fertilizer subsidies, health care, cropping techniques, bank accounts, etc.). As much as I enjoy my time in the office, I find myself much more content with work when I'm actually out seeing it happen. Overall the trip was a great success and I'm anxious to return and see how our program took hold.

Now to fun non-work things from Machinga!
1) one of the community development extension workers introduced me to a womens group that has recently begun a new income generating activity (IGA), and it just so happens to be DELICIOUS! banana wine, a wonderful idea that combines bananas and alcohol, mmmmmm... and the best part is that i get to help support local women!

2) mzungu dancing is entertaining to most malawians and they're usually trying to pair me up with a woman that can show me how to properly move my hips (somehow they miraculously move so that the top half of their body stays still while the lower half goes to town), i tend to disagree on the necessity of such dance lessons and think my mzungu dancing is quite nice! (though i wouldn't mind being able to move like that)

and now for an explanation of the title...

3) now many of you may know that a few years back i made a promise to myself that i would try everything and anything that is offered to me. kind of a commitment to experience life without the ability to make excuses and say no. it was this promise that had me eating termites in kenya and it is also this promise that turned me into a cannibal (but not really, but sort of, depending on your beliefs about the origin of man...) yes folks, i tried monkey meat for the first and (most likely) only time in my life. one of my new friends in machinga invited me over to his house for lunch on saturday. his wife made a lovely meal of chambo and nsima and i was fully satisfied with i was out back helping the children to do the dishes... then i come in to find a plate of mysterious meat sitting in the middle of the table. monkey. now it's not common at all to eat monkey here (it's actually sort of illegal) and my friends in lilongwe were appalled and surprised as many native malawians have never even tried it themselves. but i did. it tastes kind of like a cross between beef and antelope but is really chewy and kind of tough at the same time, in the end pretty good, (perhaps bush meat is making a comeback?) i will admit though i felt like i had just taken a bite out of my great-great-great -great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. so there, sorry ancestors, but you're just so tasty (i justify it as revenge for prior physical attacks as mentioned in a previous entry)

until next time!