Is This Really Africa!?

When I stepped off the plane in Lilongwe, Malawi, I have to say that I was far from excited. The airport looked like a ghost town. No airport traffic. Baggage handlers moved slowly to get the luggage of some 10 passengers to the tiny baggage claim area. Inside the aiport there were no duty free shops where I could buy little trinkets as valuable reminders of when I stepped off the plane in Lilongwe. Customs agents moved slowly. There was no warm welcome to Malawi at the airport. We were met with blank stares, stark looks and confused faces as airport employees looked at the four of us, two black girls, a south Asian boy and a filipino boy speaking with a funny accent. The unhappy immigration officer stamped our passports and said, "I can give you 30 day visa. you have to go to the immigration office and get it extended." Just great, another expenditure I have to worry about.

While I was inside the airport I decided I should exchange my Canadian money into Malawin Kwacha. I mean usually at the airport you can exchange any currency. I was met with a shaking of the head. The man looked at me funny when I asked him if I could exchange Canadian Dollars. I don't even think he understood me. "Only American or Euro's," the foreign exchange man said. Sigh. Right there I thought to myself, I can't believe this is Africa. I knew from then money problems should be expected. One thing I have to admit is that it was my fault that I didn't change the Canadian money into American currency at the TD bank or even when we stopped in Amsterdam, I just didn't think it would matter that much. Boy was I wrong.

Myself and my three colleagues finally collected our luggage and threw it into the back of two taxi cabs. As we drove away from the airport there were few cars on the road, no high rise buildings, no bustling sidewalks, no trendy restaurants, fast food restaurants or pubs to stop in for a quick bite to eat. The air wasn't very refreshing and it was dirt and trees for miles. I wasn't impressed with Malawi at all. My colleague turned to me and said, "wow you don't look very excited, I would pay money to know what you were thinking right now?" I said to here, "you don't want to know." Well, at that moment in time what I was thinking was Is this what I've gotten myself into for the next seven months. Is this really Africa? I was ready to go home, right when we landed. Ready to go back to my nice house, my life, the high rise buildings, the malls, the fast food restaurants. The excess.


For the next two weeks I was subjected to ice cold showers everyday. At times I had no TV, experienced blackouts, the chilly Malawian winter nights that felt like a chilly autumn day in Canada--which felt much colder because for the first few days in Malawi I was sleeping in a hut located on the property of a backpackers inn. I was forced to wear layers and layers of clothing to bed and sleep under a mosquito net. I must admit, at that time, I really hated Malawi. In the showers and at night, I often repeated that in my head. Writing to my boyfriend I said it again. At that time I was truly homesick.

But upon finally getting the hot water working in my apartment (after a week of ice cold showers, which would cause me to skip a few showers as I just could not bring myself to go under the water) and getting a tour of some other parts of Malawi from my boss at the radio station, I started to think differently of Malawi. I won't say that I like it yet but what I will say is that I am starting to have more of an open mind. In order for me to have a good time here, I need to accept life as it is here and not always compare it to life in Canada. malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world so I can't expect to have easy access to the things that I do at home. And two despite the fact that there are many things I cannot get from Malawi, there are many things that Malawi has taught me. For one it's taught me not to take the life I have in Canada such as the privileges and the great friends and family that I have for granted. I look forward in the coming months to gain some more life lessons from "the warm heart of Africa"