Kwathu ndi ku Malawi

Leza. Chisumphi. Namalenga. Chauta. Chiuta. Mbona. Mphambe. Mangadzi. These were your names Before the time when you were prescribed Before something more common replaced you, Mulungu Ancient. Full of power and mystery These were the names for the times when we danced When your daughters, Makewana, offered prayers for the masses When the dust led us to you The rains were a response to you, evidence of you, the joy of you For you were not brought to us Not transported across the seas Not confounded to a single mind But have always been here Whispering in the wind We’ve seen your evidence in the skies Uta wa Leza For you’ve always shined We see your slow messengers Birimankhwe Carrying promises of hope for all kind The first prints of time found on mountains wide Dzalanyama Kaphirintiwa Where fire chased you from our side Now in the heavens where you reside Amayi Malawi, forever impacted by your hands of time You are the one we know,...

An alien. That’s what I felt like walking down the streets of LA. Someone who did not belong. Who was faking it. An imposter hidden behind sunglasses. Could everyone see right though? I felt heavy and dizzy surrounded by shining towers and noise. People pass quickly to my left and to my right constantly overtaking me. Have my own short, rapid steps and pace really relaxed that much? But there wasn’t time to analyze or break it down. I was there for business. Representing my organization and work here in Malawi. A kazembe of sorts. But the business tended to knock me over too. The conversations that lacked thorough introductions and greetings and went straight to the point. My brain couldn’t keep up. In the first minute of the meeting we were already discussing viral load testing uptake challenges. As I made it through the week towards the weekend, I kept a short list of all that struck me. That which use to be so normal that now surprised my soul. After all this time, can ...

Z anzibar . An island off the coast of mainland Tanzania only about a 30-minute plane ride or 2-hour ferry ride from Dar es Salaam (which is the largest city in eastern Africa). An island unlike any other place we’ve visited on the African continent before. It has a population of about 1.3 million people with Kiswahili the main language spoken. It's also semi-autonomous from the mainland. 

Kachirombo ka Edzi. The wee AIDS beast. The beast that came to Malawi as early as the late 1970s and started to take its toll and show its effects in the 1980s. An unknown beast popularly called “the slimming disease” or “kaliwondewonde” since those with it became noticeably very thin. A stigmatizing impact that persists in Malawian culture up to today- that thin means sick and overweight/obesity means healthy. A beast largely spread through heterosexual relationships opposite to many trends seen in the West. A beast that changed the fabric of societies and left many children without their biological parents.

W hat is Africa? W hat is Malawi?

I've never truly been comfortable with the diction of "gender equality." But in a world of catch phrase development terms, you tend to go with what you have. And it sounded reasonable enough. But recently I listened to a discussion on that reminded me of why I've never been 100% comfortable with the term. "Again I would argue feminism has nothing to do with what is between your legs. Feminism has everything to do with what is between your ears. It is a way of thinking, it is an ideology of intersectional gender justice. Not equality, justice. Equality has also a very slippery slope. What are we trying to be equal to? Men don't have such a great time in the world either right now. Sorry, but it's really true. Many men suffer under indignities that are extremely unfair. Patriarchy puts a huge burden on men in ways that I don't even think we have begun to unpack. So let's talk about it in a different way." This is an exert from a talk give...

In Malawi, Christmastime, December, normally means not snow nor cold but heat and sometimes humidity as the rainy season begins. But after 5 Christmases spent in Malawi, one starts to get use to it. So what did we do during this hot, humid rainy Christmas?

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things .” 1 Colossians 20 “Behold, I am making all things new.” Revelation 21:5 The past 2 months have been quite tumultuous for Mpha and I here in Malawi. Coming back from a wonderful holiday in the USA we were faced with the reality of our life here. Not every day is an Instagram post and our life most days is very down to earth. In two months we’ve faced theft and burglary (thankfully neither in our own home), harassment, job and transfer challenges which means we still live apart, sicknesses, car challenges and the everyday edge of living in a country where hot season/summer brings blackouts leading to broken ATMs where money cannot be accessed for days. Not to mention hospitals, supermarkets, neighbors with zero access to electricity for hours and days. Along with our own selfish struggles has come constant news of death. . . everywhere, all around us.   The past...

Sometimes when you live for so long and so far from those you love, you forget that your everyday life happenings, doings and activities are not always known. And while you think you might have adequately explained, there are still many questions. Maybe I haven’t done well explaining. Maybe I don’t know where to start sometimes so I end up not sharing- hence the lag in the blog update. But this is an attempt. First- “the village.” What does it mean when I talk about that? Well, a few things, but to me, “the village” with no qualifier always means I’m in the place where I spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). This is a place located in the Southern Region of Malawi in a district known as Balaka divided further into Traditional Authorities (TAs) and then into small, scattered little villages which range in size. The health centre I worked at, Nandumbo Health Centre, is a part of Nandumbo village and my house which was less than 1km from the health centre was in Tambala vill...

As an outsider who has not lived in the United States for over 3 years, the title waves that form on my Facebook feed from the popular story of the month, from the thousands that are out there to be chosen from, has been quite interesting to watch. What does it mean? Where do I fit into modern American events? How does it affect me as I sit literally another world away? A world in which people wonder daily if there will be an electricity blackout or water coming out of the sink or enough food on the table night after night. I’ve seen plenty of articles shared and floating around out there and I want to encourage everyone to remember that every single writer, including myself, has a bias and an opinion to try and get across and let us be aware that in emotionally charged times, emotionally charged articles fly around with misquotations, misrepresentations and pushes toward different ideas. Be careful what you read and take deep into your heart- both sides know the bias game well. ...