Safari!

I finally made it on a safari and then finally made it back to my blog!   This past Monday was a national holiday in Malawi, so I took the opportunity to go with some friends to the southern part of the country.  We stayed at a lodge/safari place in Liwonde National Park.  Malawi is not known for its animals (which is why, I would imagine, my "safari weekend" only cost about $150), but we did have an amazing experience.  I went on a canoe safari along the Shire River and got mighty close to some swimming hippos.  Did you know they are responsible for the most animal-related deaths in Africa?  Apparently they cannot see very well, so when the get spooked, they just charge.  After the canoe ride, we went on a sunset drive through the park, hoping to catch a glimpse of some elephants.  No such luck, although we did run across some elephant dung, along with water buck, warthog, and antelope-like creatures.  I took a lot of pictures and will try to post a few.  I also have some pictures of an 800 year old baobab tree. 

I've been trying to log in my head all of the things I enjoy or find interesting about Malawi that I did not expect.  One thing is the praying...there's a lot of praying going on here, even in secular settings, like work.  I thought this might bother me a bit, since I do not often pray, but I actually really enjoy all of the praying!  We pray before the support groups start, before JRS meetings start, sometimes before my individual meetings with clients.  I find the praying a very inspiring and intimate way to connect to my coworkers and clients.  It is a nice break from the usual.  Plus, most of the time everyone prays in their first language, and I don't understand what is being said at all.  This seems to make the experience all the more meaningful for me. Perhaps part of the reason I enjoy it so much is that no one ever asks me to pray along with them!

Another random fact about Malawi is that all the dogs look the same!  They are all medium-sized, tan, with a sharpish snout and pointy ears.  They are all mutts but I don't know how they all ended up looking the same.  Must be that famous Malawian Tan Dog.

Today was the first meeting of the children's trauma support group that I helped to initiate in the camp.  I asked the children to draw their families and then talk about what they drew, as a way to get to know each other.  It was the first time here that I have experienced serious frustration around the fact that we do not speak the same language.  I wanted to ask them what they were drawing and why they drew each thing the way they did and what they think about their family members.  But I had to speak through the interpreter and while I still felt we connected, it was not in the way that I hoped.  

The rainy season seems to have abated a bit, and the weather here has been quite nice; temperate and sunny.  It is nearing the time of the maize harvest and all of the corn is getting very tall.  There was one place along my run each morning that I used to have a beautiful view down into the valley and across into the mountains.  But now my view is totally obstructed by maize.  The other major crop that is about to be harvested is tobacco.  Along the drive to the camp we are able to see many houses that have their tobacco leaves hung and drying in the sun. Soon the entire country will go to auction the tobacco harvest for this year, and it will all be sold within a few days.  Major international tobacco companies will buy from this auction.  It is interesting that tobacco is such a big crop here, considering how few Malawians smoke.