Africa for Beginners

Hello and Welcome to Hannah's Traveling Blog.

Some of you have already tuned in for Sagas 1 and 2 (Hannah Tries to Avoid Eating Tomatoes in Spain and Hannah Eats Sheep Fat and Vomits A lot in Mongolia, respectively), but for those of you who are new here's the scoop: Each and every one of you has been hand selected to be regaled with tales of my adventures. Congratulations on making it this far. If you cease to be entertained and wish to opt out of enlightenment just simply send an email back requesting to be removed from the list. Or for those of you using Gmail there is always the option to "register as spam." But see if I ever offer you 50% off of anything ever again. Responding to requests about forwarding the emails to others: Go ahead. By all means spread the gospel.

Ahem. "With a lake nearly the size of the country itself drawing backpackers from all nations and the friendly, warm smiles of the people, Malawi is an excellent starting point. Africa for beginners, if you will." - Lonely Planet (more or less).

Along with his schoolbooks, one of my students carries his intestines to school in a plastic bag. If this is Africa for Beginners, I am not interested in becoming an expert.

I live in a small village in the south of Malawi called Nanthomba which is a 3 hour drive from anywhere. The town of Ulongwe (a trading post of sorts) where we go on Saturdays to buy produce for the week is a one hour bicycle ride away. Not bad right? Wrong. Any time you hear one hour here you should multiply by five to get the "feels like" time - taking into account relentless heat, verbal harassment by villagers, and the fact that the roads (and bicycles) are so bad its like trying to hug a jackhammer.

The thing you should know about Africa is that all the stereotypes are true. People are hungry and tired and unfailingly kind and generous. Everyone greets everyone and the children (bellies big from malnutrition and all) swarm around pulling on clothes and grabbing fingers saying "mazungu mazungu" (white person). Many times - especially in Ulongwe - "mazungu" is phrased more as a question and I wonder if they are asking for something or simply waiting for me to confirm that I am, indeed, a white person. Or, actually, a red person because I have 7 cabbages in my backpack and your country is like living in a furnace.

But I don't want you all to think that its no fun and games over here. I live with two other white people (one American girl and one Austrian) and on some afternoons for a special treat we close all the doors, windows, and curtains in our house and *gasp* put on shorts!

Here's hoping all is well in the western world. Enjoy your Malaria free world you spoiled brats.