Despite having ample time to do so, I ended
up not writing yesterday. There’s really not much to tell. It was a chill day
where we just hung around the Oasis and worked on our assignments for the
course.
For breakfast, I had about 4 small pieces
of potato. For anyone who doesn’t know me that well, I don’t like most
breakfast foods. At home, I’ll often end up eating something that other people
would never eat for breakfast. So I’m looking forward to going home and having
access to more breakfast options. In particular, I’m excited to make myself
some French Toast. That’s the newest addition to a growing list of food that
I’m planning to eat when I get home. Carrots and hummus were added first,
followed by tortellini and chocolate cake (likely acquired from Elgin Street
Diner because they have the best chocolate cake I’ve found in Ottawa).
My highlight of the day yesterday was that
Marlo let me buy some minutes off her and I got to talk to my family since they
were all together for the long May weekend. I’m always sad to miss those sorts
of gatherings, so it was nice to check in.
This morning we had a lecture about ganyu,
which is a form of labour that’s pretty common in Malawi. It’s a short-term
form of labour that’s usually higher-class people employing lower-class people,
but the way it’s evolved historically has turned it into quite an exploitative
form of labour. We also discussed kachasu, which is distilled alcohol like that
which we saw in the informal settlement. Both ganyu and kachasu play pretty
compelling roles in the spread of HIV/AIDS, particularly during times of
economic hardship and famine. Ganyu, particularly in urban settings, is often
associated with transactional sex. Women will go out in search of ganyu, but
they will find a man who will offer them money for sex and work or just sex,
and they are often in need of the money. A particular challenge is that these
women are often not in a position to negotiate for safe sex, so they are vulnerable
to contracting HIV/AIDS. The exploitative nature of ganyu also keeps poor
people in poverty, which could mean that they may turn to transactional sex to
get by, and/or they will be unable to afford condoms. I feel like that’s an
oversimplification of ganyu and its link to HIV/AIDS, but it gives you a brief
idea of a very complex issue. Kachasu is extremely potent, accessible, and
cheap, so it is easy for people to get drunk. Based on its historical roots,
it’s mostly manufactured by women and sold to men. Places that sell kachasu
often also sell sex, where the proprietor acts as either a prostitute or a
pimp. This may be a bit of a simplification, but being drunk also doesn’t lead
to safe sexual practices, so HIV/AIDS is also spread through kachasu use.
After the lecture, the group split up in
town for lunch. Natalee and I went to get pizza, which was a great choice. My
pizza had chicken, mushrooms, green peppers, pineapple, and corn… a pizza that
I would never construct in Canada, but that ended up being delicious. Our group
had planned to go to “The Swahili Market,” where we had heard you could buy
fabric. Unfortunately, Natalee and I didn’t know where the market was, and we
didn’t know where people had gone for lunch. So we wandered to Shoprite and used
the Airtel wifi to message some people in our group who have data. As we were
standing there, a local who often tries to sell things to our group, named
Georgie Porgie (that’s how he introduced himself to us…), came over and started
talking to us. We explained that our group was at the Swahili market and that
we were trying to get there. He said that he was also going to that market and
that he’d walk with us. It ended up being closer than we’d thought, probably
only a 15 minute walk from Shoprite. On the way, Georgie told us that the
President of Malawi is coming to Mzuzu today to open a bank here and a hospital
in Nkhata Bay. Of course, when we got to the market, he wanted to sell us
things, so we bought a couple of small things from him and said goodbye. It
didn’t take us long to find some of our classmates, but they were planning to
leave not long after we arrived. Natalee and I are planning to go back and look
around some time because we ended up only being at the market for about 15
minutes. There’s a lot of beautiful fabric there, I’m just not sure if I’ll buy
any since I’m unsure that I’ll actually wear it. I don’t really wear patterns…
After a quick stop at Shoprite for wifi and
water, we headed home. The remainder of the day was spent at The Oasis, doing
school work and relaxing. Erin, Aileen, and Sally got home after dark, and we
were a bit concerned. But it turned out that they’d waited around to see the
President arrive in town! Apparently he’s giving a speech at Mzuzu University
tomorrow, and depending on what we’re doing tomorrow (if the weather’s nice, we
might go to the beach, if not, we’ll have class and a free afternoon), we’re
considering asking Paul if we can go.
I’ve gotten into the habit of buying crappy
snack food at Shoprite and eating it. I’m really looking forward to getting
home and back to eating normal food.
That’s all for now, folks!
-Jen
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