May 16: Sick Day

As you may have guessed by the title, I’m sick today. My digestive system is pretty displeased with me, and around midafternoon I felt really fatigued. Luckily, I dozed on and off for about three hours this afternoon/ evening, and I’m feeling a bit better. That being said, I had only a banana for dinner. I’m really hoping that I feel better tomorrow because we’re going to the beach! It’s also Natalee’s birthday, and I’d like to contribute to making it awesome. That’d be significantly more challenging if I have to be in bed all day. One downside to going to the beach (we’re leaving right after class) is that it means another day without internet…I really want to be in contact with my friends and family. We’re getting to the point where I’m seriously considering buying a cheap phone here as long as it has data capabilities so I can send emails and Facebook messages. It wouldn’t help with posting blog posts (I doubt any cheap phone has hotspot capabilities), but at least I’d get to hear from my people. It would have been nice to be able to hear from one of them today when I was feeling so crappy.

Despite my inability to fully appreciate it, today was really interesting! We had a 2-hour lecture from a guy at Mzuni about the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in Malawi. It was a very comprehensive and interesting overview; we covered everything from diagnostic techniques to government supports put into place to help those infected. I personally wanted to ask about the first signs and symptoms of the illness, since our lecturer has a nursing background, but I figured that’s something I can research on my own time once I have internet. I thought it might not have been interesting to my classmates. Most of them are interested in the social side of the disease; I think I’m the only one who’s interested in the illness itself and its implications for health care.

After the lecture, we grabbed lunch from Shoprite (I had a microwave mac-and-cheese dinner, which I think was a mistake considering my upset stomach…I didn't want food, so I picked something that was enticing), and at 2PM, we had a tour of the Mzuzu Coffee plant here. When we got off the bus, I felt fine, but as the tour went on, I felt increasingly nauseous and overwhelmingly tired. I did my best to pay attention, though, because listening was a good distraction. We were led around by the marketing director, which was very interesting; as a man in advertising, our guide was very good at putting a positive spin (to the point of almost lying) on things around the plant. He took us through the entire process, after explaining the different levels of organization that connect farmers, groups, areas, and eventually the whole enterprise. We started off in a seed nursery, which had a bunch of baby coffee plants. From there, we went to a full-grown bush. Full disclosure, before today, I had no idea what coffee looked like; I always pictured it as similar to a cocoa bean. Turns out, it looks like a berry on the tree. They’re picked when they’re red, and the outer layer is removed to produce a white-ish bean. There’s a whole bunch of processing that I can’t really remember at this moment, but it involved a lot of elevators. By the end of that process, the beans are green and sorted by size. The biggest beans are the highest quality, and the smallest ones are used for instant coffee. These beans are taken to a large warehouse-looking room, where up to 300 women sort through them to pick out the bad beans. Finally, the beans are roasted and ground, then measured out by women working in the factory. Our guide was extremely patriarchal, talking about how only women are hired to do certain jobs (he failed to mention the fact that it’s because they work for cheap). In particular, when he was talking about taste-testing, he said that women were usually hired for that job because they have better senses of smell because “they work in the kitchen.” We all cringed a little at that comment. The taste-testing lab was very interesting, but I think all the coffee aroma was making my stomach worse, so I was feeling really crappy. I ended up sitting outside while the man explained some of the taste-testing process (Sorry Heather, I know I failed you). I can vaguely explain most of it: the beans are ground, and the first step is sniffing the grinds. Then you add water and allow it to brew for 4 minutes. Next, you “break the cup,” where you drag a spoon along the coffee grinds that have collected at the top and smell the coffee. After that, I think you take a small sip and spit it out. The whole process is accompanied by a scoring sheet, and they always have at least 3 taste-testers for reliability.

The plant also makes tea and honey. The guide took us into the honey production room, and I’d never seen so much honey in my life! It was in giant buckets as well as so many small containers. Something that was particularly interesting was that the women working there were using black markers to scratch something out on the label. I later figured out that it was the “Free Trade” symbol. Apparently some, but not all, of their honey is free trade, so the symbol is blotted out on those bottles that aren’t free trade. That seems pretty sketchy to me; I’d assume that they should only be allowed to put the symbol on the jar if ALL their honey is Free Trade.

Another particularly interesting moment was when Bissy spotted a poster talking about not letting HIV/AIDS reduce workplace productivity. When she asked the man about it, he told her they had a non-discrimination policy, and that workers who came forward as HIV-positive would be placed in a job that was less stressful. However, later Paul told us that’s complete bull****. Once again, an interesting effect of being led around by a marketing expert.

My stomach is feeling pretty crappy again so I’m going to sign off for the evening! Hopefully I can get lots of sleep and feel better tomorrow.

-Jen