Malawi

Since Ron went back to Malawi, I haven’t gotten as much exercise. Ron used to split his time between teaching at Loma Linda University and serving as a physician in his home country of Malawi. With our current remote options, he can do both at the same time. But this means he is no longer leading our hiking group through the hills south of Loma Linda. I miss his contributions to conversations on history, culture, philosophy, healthcare, language, gardening, nutrition, travel, and relationships in times of rapid change. You can meet my friend and get a glimpse of Ron’s thoughtfulness on this video posted by the Loma Linda University School of Public Health: https://player.vimeo.com/video/306296188

Because I know Ron, I was determined to find excellent works of literature from Malawi. The first one was easy enough. The dramatization of the true story The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is on Netflix and the book by William Kamkwamba can be found through several local libraries as an ebook and eaudiobook. I found three other books I wanted to read, but they were blocked from interlibrary loan, so on Tuesday I phoned into my 4:00 p.m. meeting from the car and arrived about 6:00 p.m. at the Black Resource Center at the A. C. Bilbrew branch of the Los Angeles County Library. (Was that Thanksgiving traffic already or is Los Angeles traffic back to pre-pandemic levels?)

It looks like the Black Resource Center contains at least one fourth of the holdings at this branch, which is quite a lot. I love the masks on the wall and the quiet room decorated with more African art. While I was there, I was able to review:

· The Jive Talker by Samson Kambalu. This book has such an engaging voice! Since I couldn’t finish it before the library closed at 8 p.m., the librarian kindly told me about another copy at the Los Angeles Public Library - yes, an entirely different system and yes, it is one of the eight library cards in my wallet. If you aren’t quite as obsessed as I am about using libraries, you can order it online and also see Samson Kambalu’s TED Talk on “The culture of gift-giving in Malawi - and my art” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oJROgtozIM

· Napolo and the Python: selected poetry by Steve Chimombo. I enjoyed seeing the mythology of Malawi in poetic form.

· Livingstone’s Lake by Oliver Ransford. This one is dated and overly romanticized, but it reminds me of the impact the Scottish physician, explorer, and missionary David Livingstone had in this part of Africa. To this day, there is a Scotland-Malawi Partnership which produces videos and podcasts: https://www.scotland-malawipartnership.org/

On my way home from the library, I stopped at The Eldo in Long Beach for Peri Peri chicken and a milk tart: https://afrogistmedia.com/how-to-bake-a-lip-smacking-south-african-milk-tart-melktert-recipe. Yes, I know that The Eldo is a South African restaurant, but Ron confirms my research that there are no Malawian restaurants in the Los Angeles area. South Africa was as close as I could get on Tuesday.

To get closer to the real Malawian food, last night I drove to San Diego so Vonnett, Kevin, and I could make chicken curry with nsima: https://food52.com/recipes/82918-malawian-chicken-curry-recipe. I found the finely ground white corn meal at We Yone African Market in Rialto (more on that market when we get to Sierra Leone). We also made the ndiwo from this site https://honestcooking.com/six-traditional-malawian-dishes/ and banana fritters for dessert: https://www.food.com/recipe/zitumbuwa-banana-fritters-139871

For breakfast this morning, we made mbatata: http://globaltableadventure.com/recipe/sunrise-biscuits-mbatata/ and I’m thinking of making mtedza for an upcoming cookie exchange: http://globaltableadventure.com/recipe/recipe-malawi-peanut-balls-mtedza/

To see more of Malawi, this webpage has several videos, the first one with beautiful film from the lake, the second on a traditional society, and the others on popular musicians: http://uncovermalawi.com/pages/culture.html

Because I enjoy the melodic music from Malawi, I found a few more options including a full concert:

· Malia sings “Malawi Blues:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65wGvcGZZqY

· Lawi sings “The Whistling Song:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eip7lYhxAOs

· A Giddes Chalamanda concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwyxOZM_r4w

I also found more poetry and some TV episodes:

· Jack Mapanje reads several of his poems for The Poetry Archive: https://poetryarchive.org/poet/jack-mapanje/

· David Rubadiri poems published on All Poetry: https://allpoetry.com/David-Rubadiri

· Kanopy has two episodes on Malawi in the Exploring the World series

· Hulu has season 19 of The Amazing Race, which visits Malawi in episodes 6 and 7.

Many people, including my friend Ron, are working to improve the health and education of the people of Malawi. One of them is Theresa Kachindamoto, the paramount chief of the Dedza District. Here is a short video introducing her and the work she is doing to protect and educate girls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPxJc9uWgZg

The Crazy Tourist shows some great places to explore in Malawi https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-malawi/. One of these days Allan and I hope to visit Ron and his wife there! I look forward to that time when we can travel broadly again. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Malawi and throughout the world.

Photo credit: Nik Borrow https://www.flickr.com/photos/nikborrow/35590957531/