The Simple Life

How rural is my life in Malawi?

I think this question might help paint a picture of my everyday village life here, so let me explore it for a bit.

• The obvious: No running water and electricity. People say electricity is coming; transformers are being installed at the next town to the north. But as for running water, the most common source of this (other than spotty city infrastructure in town) is at and around mission hospitals - and at ours, I think the pump is broken. What that means is that nighttime entertainment for most people is being with the family on the front stoop and going to bed by 9. It also means that women spend hours fetching water on their heads, an exhausting task - especially when culture rules out efficient use of water. People will wash their clothes with two buckets, toss them onto the compacted dirt, then walk back to the river or borehole to water the winter garden. Me, I use 10 litres to bathe then pour all the greywater on the plants!
• When I come home with a big hiking pack full of stuff and get off at the (one) bus stop, the most preferable way to send my stuff up to the hill is by one of the bike taxi men standing by under a grass shelter. This particula occupation was obviously the opportunistic result of some lazy Malawian who needed to reach his house off on a mountain or in the middle of a few hectares of cornfields. Lacking other affordable options, the bicycle becomes the favored transportation mode of the people, whether in the seat or riding on back.. or as an ad hoc luggage rack.
• Other than riding a bike, which is primarily a man's occupation, and only for those who have some money, walking is the way people get around. Mostly, that's all they need - come into the market on Tuesdays when there are a good variety of vegetables, hardware, clothes, radios - and stay around the house the rest of the time.
• The only real towns are the centralized regional capitals, which happen to be hundreds of kilometers away, a minimum 4-hour trip. These are the only places I can access American money, check my e-mail and work on funded projects, eat a pizza for lunch, or buy real shampoo.
• On Sundays, the reason it seems unnaturally quiet is that almost everyone is gathered at the one regulation size soccer pitch out by Admarc, the agricultural wholesaler.
• There is a railroad track and a station behind the market, but it no longer stops at our SharpeValle platform. The station has since been turned into a preschool, which is incredibly overcrowded: 70 plus children convene there.
• I know one resident with a car. He is also a former politician who has solar power at his house and owns at least half of the really important resources for the town. A few others have motorbikes; a Catholic priest (who comes to visit sometimes) owns a truck that he uses to ferry around the nuns.
• People have so many children because the work is so labor-intensive, no woman could do it by herself (nor would she want to). That means many of the kids, girls especially, stay home from school to tend animals, do washing, take care of younger kids, etcetera.
• The default occupation for most people is 'just farming.' It's a lot of work! But "real jobs" are few and far between. There are some grocers and shop owners, but to have the capital is a significant hurdle for most. Competition is also pretty fierce.