Demographics

Bakhita is an All-girls school so as you might guess all of the students are girls.  The girls starting in Form 1 are as young as 12 and old as 17 so there really isn't a set age.  Most of them are around 13 or 14 so they are a little younger than freshman.  The girls from the college are also a wide range of ages.  Those that came right after secondary school are 17 or 18, but we have some starting a little older.  There is one 27 year old woman from Balaka who came back to school to get a better job to support her kids.  The is really nice, but shy and has some trouble in Business Math.  Having boarding allows us to have students from all over Malawi.  I think it is currently about half students from the Balaka area and half from other areas.  While we have poor students many of them coming from out of town are very well off.  Some of their parents came to pick them up for break in Cars that I would have been impressed to see in the states.  We have a scholarship program to help those who are unable to pay school fees.  It would be nice to help the poorest of the poor in the area which we are trying to do, but we need to find a way to actually get them to school which is difficult since many of them live out in the Bush with no phones or electricity.  It is a Catholic school but we have several students of other denominations and some Muslims as well.

The Volunteers: Gaby

Gaby is one of the elders of the volunteer community not because she is the oldest, but since she has been here for over a year already.  She welcomed us when we arrived, showed around the school, and taught us the ins and outs of manuvering the town of Balaka.  She is pretty good at bargaining with local street vendors and traveling art salesmen.  So much so that sometimes I feel sorry for them, but she taught us the typical prices so we don't get overcharged.  Her job at the school is working the office on the secondary side so she registers students, collects school fees, and manages the textbooks.  We also get several students knocking on our door each night looking for "Miss Gaby".  She is originally from Poland so English is her second language.  It can be trick figuring out what she is trying to say sometimes since it is choppy, and she'll throw in a word or two of Chichewa from time to time.  She still manages to be surprised when sometimes we can't figure out what the hell she is actually saying.  I'm getting used to her personal language and should be good at translating broken English when this whole thing is over.  Back in Poland, she was very involved in the Church when she became interested in missionary work.  She found the VOICA program because they have a group in Poland of volunteers and supporters that meet occasionally to discuss ways of helping the mission.  Her dream is to be a missionary in South America which she still wants to do after her term of serviced here even though she'd have to learn another language and it might be with a different program.  She will leave in November and is looking forward to going home.  She is making a list in her head of all the things she wants her mom to cook when she gets back.

The Tri -Fecta

The most common foods we eat here are beans, rice, and cabbage.  There are other choices, but these are the most frequent by far.  When all three are included in a single meal, we call it The Tri-Fecta.  The most repeated foods combined together creating a force of monotony.  Fortunately, we haven't worn out on the meal...yet.  Other frequent meal combinations include beans, cabbage, and nsima (pasty cornmeal) and beans, cabbage, and chipati (fried dough).  These are known as the Lesser Fectas.  Potatoes, Meat, and other vegetables get thrown in the mix.  Plus, we usually have fresh fruit like avocados, bananas, mangos, and papayas when they are in season so the meals are really pretty good. 

Rocks in the Rice

This one is pretty self explanitory.  It made the first month of eating interesting.  Every once in awhile, we would hear a loud crunch followed by a cry of pain.  We've gotten used to eating with a little more caution and developed a technique of not biting all the way down when eating rice.

The Outstations

The priests of St. Louis Parish and other communities here in Balaka are also in charge of celebrating mass at churches in the surrounding area which they call outstations.  They are a total of 21 outstations and they go do different outstations each week.  We have been invited to join them whenever we are free, so this week Gaby, Ewa, and I went with Fr. Cezary.  It was about 20 Km from Balaka a lot of which was dirt roads.  We were riding on the back of the truck so we had a good view of the houses and people as we went by.  We slowed down for a few people walking to church and they jumped on for a ride.  Before mass, they counted those receiving communion by drawing a circle in the the dirt and if you wanted to receive you put a small stick in the circle.  The church itself was very small and everyone sat on the floor.  After mass, they cook food for the priest and any guests so we were invited to eat.  We were brought to a small room with a few covered bowls beans, cornmeal, and  boiled eggs.  We took what we want and ate with our hands.  After finishing the meal, we thanked everyone and headed back home.  Father Cezary only speaks Italian and Chichewa so Ewa who speaks Polish, Italian, French, English, and Latin translated for us.  Gaby's goal is to go to all of the outstations before leaving in November.

Ngumbi

One of the local snacks in this area, and in other countries as well, is ngumbi.  These are the African termites that build the massive termite mounds.  We have several smaller mounds in the complex, but they are all over the surrounding area and some of them are easily taller than I am.  Some of the ngumbi have wings and begin flying around at the beginning of the rainy season.  They get pretty thick at night and you can see wings all over the side of the road in the mornings.  You just collect them as they fly around the exterior lights, seperate the wings, and fry'em up.  There really isn't much flavor to them, but with a little salt they make a good snack.

Collecting for the Tsunami

The students fundraiser went very well.  On a Saturday morning they went out in groups to the villages surrounding Balaka.  The villages are like suburbs of Balaka and since few people have cars they are within walking distance.  It felt strange for me to be walking through the villages collecting money from those who already had so little, but the students did a really good job.  They were very polite, explained the situation, and what they were doing to help.  Some of people were reluctant to give which we understood, but I was surprised by how many were willing and did not even hesistate to donate money.  Even while we were walking down the road, some people asked what we were doing; and after explaining it to them, they offered to make a donation.  The student government then gathered the money and organized a prayer service in support of the victims and there families.

Quote #3

"I dropped my bug on the ground so now I can't eat it." - This one was me, but I ended up eating it anyways.

Beware of Minibus

While there isn't much traffic here in Balaka since few people actually have cars, the main road can still be dangerous.  There are minibuses (small vans) that run between Balaka and other towns everyday.  I don't know if there is a speed limit but if there is they are probably breaking it.  If you are close to the road, you need to be aware if they are coming because if someone is in their way they would much rather use the horn and only slow down if its absolutely necesary.