Saturday June 6, Providence, Mulanje (afternoon)

Took off on my own today. Caught a mini-bus in front of the school into the Boma (town). The country is beautiful out here. It is a place where Africa seems on the verge of working. There are lush green gardens and farms, brick and metal houses with flowers and potted plants. It suggests the tropics with large palm fronds, big green banana leaves, aloe plants, and flowering trees. The desperation is diminished here. Here it appears that Malawi has caught a breath. There thoughts arise out of ignorance. The truth of this area may be here or elsewhere, I apologise if my first impressions are false. I walked up a long road to the foot of Mt. Mulanje, a beautiful shaded walk past smiling women carrying large loads of wood on their heads. Some of the children here asked me for money, "Hello! Give me money!", which seemed odd given the relative quality of life here, but perhaps not enough is a more precarious place than nothing. A truckload of young men passed me on the road. One of them was wearing a Ramones t-shirt which I gestured emphatically at. This set them into an eruption of cheering and laughter. They passed me again on the main road an hour later, still excited and shouting. I walked back to Providence from the Boma which was long and hot (about 6k). No one bothered me. I exchanged many "Muni bwanji"s. I cooled myself with a bucket shower back at the school, and didn't make it very far in writing before being descended upon by a pack of school girls. They sat and asked me questions for a long time. Their English was exceptional, most of them coming from some relative money in Blantyre. They laughed at me and told me it was bad to be an only child. Most of them were from families of four or larger. They were shocked and somewhat bothered by the fact that I was not a Christian, but I didn't feel like arguing theology with a bunch of 15-years-olds, so I changed the subject. They asked if I believed in aliens, if I thought humans could be cloned, and if they could learn ballet. I asked them if they thought machines could think, if we would get humans to Mars, and about Malawi. I encouraged them to teach themselves Ballet if they were so interested in it. I told them that if they want to learn something, they shouldn't let anything stand in their way. I said that I was interested in history, and one girl said, "oh yeah? Who's Adolph Hitler?" Another girl said she thought this was the last generation, which I though was strange, so I questioned her about it. She doesn't seem to think she's the last generation anymore. I had them teach me some "Deep Chichewa, but I'm afraid I've forgotten it already.

PICASA PHOTOS