Welcome to the second month of 2012. Who would have guessed it huh? This time last year I was on the verge of going nuts because the plane left in 27 days and as far as I could tell I was about as prepared for Africa as Hannibal was crossing the Alps. But unlike Hannibal, I have succeeded and haven’t had to deal with dead elephants, only live ones, which I promise are more interesting to watch.
Lately though things have been a little slow in the village. The school project keeps going, pang’ono pang’ono, little by little. The biggest obstacle we have hit is the lack of cement . We need 26 bags to finish, the porch, waterways (they channel the rain water away), and plaster on the top of the exterior walls. But you’re thinking, “So what, it’s just a little cement. It’s like what, three bucks a bag?” Well, no. The currency here, the Malawian kwacha, is pretty much worthless. Currently, the bank’s exchange rate is 1 USD=174 MK and one bag of cement is roughly 4100 MK, so you do the math. 4100/174= 23.56, yup, that’s how many dollars one bag of cement here is. Whoopie. And at 26 bags of cement that comes out to a little over $600 just for cement. So I have been working on a SPA (Small Projects Assistance) grant, not fun, lots of paper work. Hopefully I’ll have it done at the end of the month and can turn it in then.
If it wasn’t for the lack of foreign currency and the fuel shortage, Malawi would be fantastic. And don’t get me wrong, I love Malawi, the people are nice, the weather isn’t bad, the lake is fantastic and there is a bunch of cool stuff to see but living is getting too expensive. When I first got to country it cost me about 800MK to get from Nkhotakota to Lilongwe, and the same to go back. Now, only one year later, I will pay over 1000MK. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot but consider this; we don’t get paid in USD, we get paid in MK and prices for everything else keep going up too. Bread, eggs, everything. We got a 10% increase a few months ago but right afterwards the devalued the kwacha and priced jumped again. Hopefully we are getting another raise soon but they are talking about devaluing the kwacha again. Yay.
It’s just a vicious loop. We can’t buy fuel because no one wants the Kwacha, we have to buy it with foreign currency, but there is no for-ex to buy fuel because no one wants to invest in a country with a fuel problem.
It’s a real problem for us PCVs, prices shoot up way faster than our living allowance surveys can get our 10% raise. I know very few volunteers who haven’t had to dip into money back in the states. It kinda sucks, trying to eat, knowing you have to get to Lilongwe or somewhere else and pay for all kinds of things, before the end of the month. And if you are trying to get somewhere then good luck. Hitching out of my site to Nkhotakota boma has gone from rough to pretty much impossible. From there you might get a ride going south but there is very little that goes north along the lake shore. Mini buses still run but they’ll really give you a bad price now. But we do it, what else can you do.
A lot of people have talked about how transport really takes it out of you now. We like being in Lilongwe (or where ever) and we like being at site but that in between bit is rough. There is a lot of mental preparation that goes into a transport day. It has always been like that but lately I think it is worse.
If there are any trainees from the new group coming in March who are reading this, don’t freak out! I’m not trying to scare you, I know this post would not have helped me feel better but you’ll be ok. You need to realize something coming into this. It’s still just life, life in a new place and you will have a lot to learn but you’ll get the hang of it, I promise! Look forward to seeing you all next month! Now stop reading every blog you can find and go get some sleep.
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