Day 18 – A Very Malawian Day

Today was a much needed, take my mind off of lots of things day. I had a wonderful time with Luisa, Tracey, and Amy. We first went to a store called DAPP and did some crazy shopping there. They had just received a new shipment of clothing and other items, so there were lots and lots of people inside the store. Think boxing day shopping. 

Let the chaos ensue. This is only half the store...

There were clothes everywhere; clothes on the racks, piles of clothes on the ground. While we were looking through the clothes, we saw these 2 ladies in a very heated argument over some clothes. It was an experience for sure. I was debating on this top, and so Luisa offered to use her phone as a mirror so I can see what it looks like. She then proceeded to put her phone in the front pocket of her bag. Minutes later, she discovered that her phone was missing. We did not know if she had dropped it or someone took it, so we looked everywhere in the area that we last saw it, but nothing. So we think someone probably picked it up and took it. It was quite sad and a little frustrating, but Luisa seemed to take it well. Then Brenda came to meet us for a few minutes as she was in the area and had never been to DAPP either. When we were telling her the story, she said that as she was walking in, she saw a lady arguing with someone about a phone. So they quickly went to the security guard to check and see if the phone had been found. They waited around for a while as they did have a phone, but it was put into the back of the store. So one of the workers went to retrieve it and see if it was Luisa’s. Thank God! Praise the Lord! They came back with an iPhone, although the case was missing. Luisa punched in her passcode to prove that the phone was hers. TADA! The phone was back to its rightful owner. Apparently the security noticed the woman holding the iPhone, and she did not look like she owned an iPhone. iPhones are very, very expensive in Malawi, and not many people have one. So when the guard saw this as suspicious, he took the phone from her. We were so happy that this guard was really looking out and diligently doing his job! Thank God for the security guard! Then we went to pay for our stuff. We lined up in the queue for over 20 minutes and lots of people would just jam into the line in front of us as if nothing happened. Even when I looked at them, shook my head, and spoke about lining up. I had had enough and I saw this person squeezing through, I told the man that there’s a line here after he had paid for the stuff. He apologized, however, there were 2 other ladies who did the same thing and just pretended I didn’t exist. One lady cut in front of Luisa and she kindly told her about the queue, but the lady looked back at her, smiled, and continued to do nothing. Gosh was I frustrated with this. It really, really bothered me; just drove me up the wall.

Girls' day! Shopping! Chips!

Around lunch, we went to the market for some ‘chips’, which were essentially deep fried potato wedges and coleslaw like salad on top. It was greasily delicious. Then Tracey needed to buy some fruits and veggies, so we walked through the market. As we began to walk through, we quickly got all the attention from all the men at the market. Many of them would ask if we were married. I had so many people say “I love you” to me. I had about 3 men proposing to me, asking me to marry them. Afterwards, I thought about it and I should have asked what they were willing to offer. One of my friends was offered 8 cows a couple years ago. Would have been interesting to see what offers I would get. I’m in that situation again, I’ll definitely ask and see. Tracey was buying cabbage from this one guy, and the guy next to him started talking to us, asking us our names, which isn’t a big deal, then asked us where we’re from. As we were leaving the stall to another one behind us, he would keep calling out my name to try to get me to turn around. Then as we were turning away, I saw that he had his phone and was trying to take a picture of me. There were also a group of about 4 men surrounding us and was asking about Amy. I kept saying “No, she’s too young for you”, but they would continue asking her, which I knew made her very uncomfortable.

You have to pay to cross this bridge! 

Rockstar pineapple. Mohawk

In the afternoon, we went to Village of Hope as they were having a birthday party there. There was a lot of singing and dancing. The kids at VOH were so adorable. Some of them would copy everything that you would do, a few of them would not let go of your hand and wanted you to dance with them. The older ones, especially the girls, were so responsible, taking care of the very little ones that were there. There was also this one boy that really stood out for me. He looked like he was around 10-12 years old. Generally, cleaning is the job of a female, but this one boy saw the big puddle of spilled juice, without anyone asking him, he went and got a mop to mop up the juice. He was also very helpful with moving chairs and the plastic table around, as well as taking care of some of the younger ones. I just want to take him home with me!