Part 1: Into the bush

Village Life
Brittni lives in a small village called "Tomali" in the Chikwawa district of Malawi. It's about 7hours south of Lilongwe. The closest big city is Blantyre. Tomali is truly a rural village. There is no running water and no electricity in the area. This was a perfect place for me to get a taste of village life. I finally understood what Brittni meant by living in "the bush". From the main road (which runs through the length of the country and is 3/4 paved) we sat on the back of bicycle taxis for 40 minutes on a terrible dirt road. The area is full of sugar cane fields and cotton. The price of cotton (selling) has risen recently, and many villages grow cotton to supplement their income.
Chikwawa is referred to as the "dirty south", it is usually hot and humid, not much rain and not very fertile land. Luckily I was there during "winter". When I first arrived it was still in the 80's at night.

Although I didn't see any starving children, I learned that malnutrition is a huge problem in the area. When visiting the local daily market, only a few items can be found. Very small (pathetic looking) tomatoes, small onions, potatoes, and bananas. During the weekly "market day" there is some other variety, usually some "greens" (cabbage, kale, pumpkin leaves), beans, dried fish, papayas. Sadly, most of those items are too expensive for the average family to purchase. A constant food is called "nsima" (Shi-Ma). Nsima is made from maize flour mixed with water. It has no taste and practically no nutritional value. However it does it's job as a filler and makes you feel very full.



Chitenje
A "chitenje" is a 2meter piece of fabric that village women wear all the time. Females must wear skirts, never trousers. Most little girls wear skirts or dresses- that is very helpful in trying to figure out of a kid is a boy or girl! They all have really short hair, which makes it impossible to tell. I bought several chitenje, for about $4 a piece. They were so usefully in the village. When I was carrying water from the bore hole, I spilt all over the chitenje and my clothes under were dry. Whenever cooking or cleaning, it's convenient to wipe your hands. Also, women use the chitenje to carry their babies. I had a chance to learn how to do this- it's not easy! I would need some help, for sure. Most babies spend the first 2-3 years of their lives on the mom's backs.

Suzy Homemaker
Brittni has her own house in Tomali- 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, outdoor toilet, bafa (bath). She has a pretty good set up- aside from the fact that termites are eating all the wood items in the house. Like I said, there's no electricity or running water.
Cooking- Everything is cooked on a fire. Brittni is so good at starting a fire now (though it would make any environment lover cry). She cooks with wood, but to light the fire she burns a plastic bag, it works just like lighter fluid! In these areas, there is no trash collection. So most trash is burned. Waste not, want not! Almost everything is recycled around here. We cooked lots of beans, rice, and even "baked" a cake! The hardest part of not having electricity is not having a fridge. We had to eat everything quickly before it spoiled. I made a fire or two, but I still need more practice.
Water- There is a "bore hole" (covered well) very close to Brittni's house. I learned to carry a 20liter (5 gallon) bucket of water on my head. I became much more aware of how much water I use, once I had to collect water myself! Brittni has a water purification system in her kitchen- we used purified water for drinking, cooking, teeth brushing.
Laundry- Laundry took a lot of water and hard work! My back, arms, and hands were so tired after hand washing clothes.
Night time- Because it was winter, the sun set by 6pm. We used headlamps and candles at night. Most nights we were in bed around 8-9pm. Not much to do after dark, with no computer or internet! I read by headlamp most nights. I slept under a mosquito net because malaria is a big problem in the country (I'm taking an anti-malaria pill for 2 months. Brittni will be taking it for over 2 years!). It felt very romantic to do everything by candle light! We were up by 6am most mornings. The village was so noisy from animals and kids. Most families were up by 5am to get water and wash dishes from dinner the night before.



Going for the kill
1. For Britt's birthday we had dinner with her neighbor's family. They got a guinea foul for dinner. We didn't see it put to death, but saw it still alive and then while it was being plucked.
2. We bought a chicken to have with a different family. We wanted to be there for the entire process.  Brittni took a great video of me (not) killing the chicken. Once again, Brittni helped to pluck and then cut apart the chicken. It was a great anatomy lesson. They literally use every part of the chicken. We took stuff out of the kidneys, stomach, etc, in order to cook it. Then it was cooked with tomatoes and onions. In the end, they cook the chicken down so much that it doesn't really taste like anything. I also learned how to make nsima. It was not that easy! The stuff gets really thick and hard to stir. The smoke from the fire burns like crazy too.

Milking a cow
The morning after we killed the chicken for dinner, we went over again to milk a cow for morning tea. It wasn't nearly as easy to get the milk as I assumed. After we filled a cup, they boiled the milk and we mixed it with 'chombe' tea. It was delicious!



Water gun fight!
Brittni's mom mailed her some water guns. One afternoon we filled them and started shooting at the neighborhood kids. It was hilarious, they were so confused (having no idea what water guns were, and no idea how to respond. It was priceless.