"The South Will Rise Again!"

Finally, after almost a year in Malawi, I have ‘gone further south than I’ve ever been,’ crossing past the Dedza district.  I went as far south as Blantyre, the southern region capital, where their motto is “The South Will Rise Again!”

So first, I visited a couple friends in Domasi, which is just outside of Zomba.  Domasi is the site of the major teaching college in Malawi.  Zomba was the colonial capital of Malawi, and is an absolutely beautiful boma.  Both were great places to visit.  My friends that I visited, Shawn and Christina, are both based out of Domasi Teachers’ College and have a sweet house with electricity, running water, and an actual stove/oven.  (I know those things don’t sound that exciting to those of you living in the states, but to us, that’s super bwana).  Besides the awesomeness of hanging out with two of the coolest people in Peace Corps Malawi, it turns out that they are amazing cooks.  We ate great meals such as fried egg sandwiches with cheese, a beef roast, cauliflower curry, and really good soup.  To top it all off, they have a little projector so we watched movies projected on a giant wall (True Lies, Enemy at the Gates, and The Hunt for Red October).

After leaving their house, I went to Zomba, ate chocolate cake and drank coffee.  Then, I met up with Rita, another volunteer from the Ed12 group, and we had lunch in Zomba at a pizza place called Domino (no ‘s’).  Then, we hitched our way to Blantyre, where we met up with Pat, Ryan, (both PCVs) and Sara (an American friend of mine that lives in Malawi).  The super exciting part was the next day, when we went to Kamuzu Stadium to watch the Malawi Flames play Namibia in a FIFA World Cup Qualifier Match.  The Flames played really well, much better than Namibia, but sadly they didn’t win.  It was a 0-0 draw.

I was supposed to run back to the north the day after the game, but due to some logistical problems beyond our control, the workshop was canceled.  Due to this fact, I decided to stay in Blantyre for a few more days.  Sara was also able to negotiate with her boss to remain in the south through the weekend. 

What wonderful opportunities did this afford us?  I’m glad you asked.  We got to tour the Carlsburg Brewery, where what is Probably the Best Beer in the World is brewed.  It was actually the first international Carlsburg brewery in the world, and is the only commercial brewery in Malawi.  The best part was the tasting afterwards.

We also had time to go the KFC.  Nope, that doesn’t stand for something different here, but is in fact Kentucky Fried Chicken.  While other fast food chains shy away from opening branches in Malawi, the colonel marched into Blantyre and planted his flag.  Now, it is the only American fast food chain in the country.  No clowns here.

The first night we were there, I was happily sleeping without my mosquito net down, thinking “it is far too cold and there are screens on the windows, so I’ll be just ok.”  Well, around 2:00am, I heard some rustling in a plastic bag nearby.  Of course, I had forgotten to keep my flashlight next to me on this of all nights.  I looked at the crack between the door and the floor, and could see the hallway light pouring in, obstructed by a couple of small silhouettes, silhouettes of the fury variety, which had long naked tails.  Yup, our room was being overrun by rats, and not just any rats, but rats that were not afraid of the humans in this room.  I tried clapping my hands, hissing, and making other noises, sure that I would wake up my roommate in the process (surprisingly, this didn’t happen), but these rodents were not to be dissuaded.  They persisted.  I immediately lowered and tucked in my mosquito net, knowing that this was not a full proof plan as I have heard of the ability of rodents to enter even the best tucked nets (see: No More Saying Someday: The Jungle Pit), but hoped beyond hope that I would make it through the night without any cuddle-buddies.  In the morning, we found that they had consumed an entire apple, some cookies, but hadn’t touched the giant, open bag of puff snacks (think Cheetos with cheese, similar to packing peanuts).  The worst part was the discovery of rat poop in our beds, poop that was not there when we had gone to bed the previous night.  With the addition of a towel under the door and securing of all food, they only came in for a quick inspection the next night and no visits after that (largely due to our improved door sealing skills).

Other than that, my time in Blantyre was just a lot of chilling.  Overall, I don’t like the south better than the north, but it is pretty awesome.  Blantyre is much larger than Mzuzu, and much nicer than Lilongwe.  It was just nice to get to see some place new.  Now, onto Training of Trainers then welcoming our new Peace Corps Trainees.