Stewarts in Malawi: December 2006

Janohah at site for Christmas dinner. We honkered down in one of the circle for nsima and goat. Great tasting stuff.

Goat, tomatoes, onion, water, salt and oil. Dishing it out the the eating circles.

Christmas dinner at the site. Everyone breaks out into group circles around the nsima. You reach in (right hand only!) take half a hand full, then mold it into a ball - like making a one-handed snowball. Then you take the nsima and dip it in the communal goat bowl, move the nsima to the crutch of your thumb and forefinger and pick a piece of meat with your thumb and forefinger. (This is hard to put in words)

My construction team.

Skinning out the goats. Malawian waste nothing. The only parts not eaten are the stomach contents (stomach is eaten), the spleen, bladder, head, sex organs and hooves.

2 Goats for Christmas dinner at the work site. I bought these off the back of a bicycle. When I brought these to the site the workers cheered and jumped up and down. Meat is very expensive and Malawian might eat it once a year/

Jael, and Janohah with their best friend Leila. Leila is from Burundi.

Reporter Jael, reporting live on location; the birth of Christ.

Irish representing his country. Note the six-gun and holster.

Janohah representing her country at the Christmas play. Note the very Canadian hat!

This is a picture of Jael during one of our play practices. Yes. That is a dog with her. Yes. It's in the church. I guess this dog belongs to one of the pastors studying at the Bible school, and she makes herself at home!!

Irish picking up chicks

A couple of cute chicks

A couple more cute chicks

This is Maxwell, one of our guards. He works every second night and then he works at the post office during the day selling curios that he carves. We've become regular customers.

This is the street we live on. All the houses are behind big walls because one of the missionaries here (on our compound) got shot. Before that, everyone had hedges. The guy with the bucket on his head is a vendor. Vendors come to the gate daily with vegetables, fruit, kittens, goats, carvings, meat, mops, etc. We buy from vendors alot because shopping here requires many trips to many stores and open-air markets.

We've found that some things are very hard to get, like lemons. the lemons here are a sad warty looking cross between a lemon and a lime. The small ones are yellow and the big ones are green, and they're all very mild in flavor. Our gardener and house-keeper had a big laugh when I bought out the lemon vendor. "Ha, Ha, this azoongu loves lemons, ha ha...." (they think I don't understand them.) then I made them Aunt Mona's Lemon Curd! My house-keeper said "even I will no longer laugh at you!" Thanks Mona!

Here are some workers going home from work. They will pack the back of this truck until people are lined in columns all across the truck bed. Notice that the guy on the left is drinking out of an oil container. (engine oil container)

This is a great Malawian scene. the guy in the red and black shirt is a casava vendor carrying casava root in the basket on his head. Casava is a staple food in Malawi. It can be eaten raw, boiled, fried like chips or dried and ground into powder.

the guy on the bike is a chicken vendor. For only 500mk you can take home your very own live chicken to decapitate, pluck and fry!!

The green van is a mini bus, the local mass-transport. You can take a mini bus anywhere in the city, and all around Malawi; if you don't mind sharing the 18 seater with 30 other people.

The white vehicle is the typical Malawian car. Some sort of huge, get-you-through-the-mud type vehicle.

The woman with the big suitcase is unusual because she is carrying it in her hands, and not on her head. Many people have these big bags, but we're not sure why.

The complex on the left is unusual in our area. it's a mini-mall. there's a small convenience store, a "fast" food restaurant, a few clothing stores, a carpet store, and a pharmacy. None like those at home.