White Night for the ladies!

Wow...Lilongwe survived a night with the ladies dressed in white!  Last Friday, J. and I had organized a night out for a bunch of colleagues and friends on the town.  We had rented a bus, booked a restaurant and ended up having a ball.  The theme was "Dress in White" and many did go out, completely dressed in white.  We all looked great, and I'm not biaised there! 
This whole thing started by my purchase of white linen trousers at the second hand market.  I saw J. that day and said "we need to go out so I can wear my new purchase" and there was the White Night being launched. 
We started the night with a bus pickup in the parking lot at work, then went to the restaurant La Causerie, in Capital city.  We had thankfully contacted the owner and asked for a buffet.  That was a smart move as we ended up, all 27 of us, seated around a HUGE table. They had been warned that a bunch of ladies dressed in white were invading the place!  The buffet allowed us to pick and choose from the proposed dishes.  It also helped with settling the bill at the end of the meal.  We just had a grand time, visiting and chatting away from our regular work environment.  A lot of laughter about bits and nothings was taking place.
The second stop of the evening was at Harry's Bar, a popular haunt in the expat as well as local community.  It's mostly a wooden shak of sorts, with a long bar, serving all kinds of drink.  There is some loud music playing and loads of people standing.  I like to go to Harry's.  Some faces are familiar, some are waiting to be met, and you always bump into someone you know.  That probably would not happen in any other city where there are hundreds of bars..  One of the good points of living here!
The hours went by quickly and before we knew it, it was almost 2:00 am and most wanted to go home!  So, the bus did a few drop off, then on to the next stop, Diplomats in Old Town.  I'd never gone there and did not know what to expect.  It's another bar/disco that was just recently renovated, but I don't care for all the ladies of the night frequenting the place...  The good point of that is that you can dance and not be bothered by guys!  The leftover few of us, only 5, spent a couple of hours there before heading out to Zanzi, another bar/disco.  Unfortunately, when we got there on the now mostly empty bus, the place looked deserted, no cars on the street....  so we opted for an "early" return home... 
Next time, we will have breakfast at Kiboko, after we "paint the town red"!

Welcome President Joyce Banda

After hours of uncertainty about whether democracy and its constitution were going to prevail, the vice president Joyce Banda was sworn in yesterday late afternoon as the president of the Republic of Malawi.  The swearing in ceremony was televised live and I was able to see it in a "public" place, which really made it real and enabled me to feel the public vibe.
My son Alex and I had spent a couple of hours with some friends at the Golf Club Pool.  On our way out, we heard some cheering and clapping.  So we all started running toward that noice and ended up in the golf club bar where the swearing in ceremony was transmitted live.
The crowd in the bar was not big, but the entire group was focused on that little TV screen, attentively listening to the officials.  You could hear clapping at some point.
When Joyce Banda stood up, held the Bible up high and was sworn in you could have heard a needle drop. 

I felt like I was witnessing history.  Joyce Banda is the first woman President, only the 4th president since Malawi gained its independence from the UK and is stepping into the Seat under unusual circumstances.  President Bingu's death was sudden, and its annoucement was not immediate, therefore raising rumors and speculations.  Reports were made that some members of government did not support the Vice President and alternate names were thrown to take over as president.   President Banda is also stepping into a heavily turmoiled economic situation with Malawi having lost support from the UK governement and other NGOs. 

It is to hope that the transition will be smooth, that president Banda will be able to guide the country in its next steps and that the decisions she makes will help the country and its people.

MSNBC article

Death of a President

Yesterday morning, as I was checking my emails, facebook and online news, I came across a shocker, the news that President Bingu had died.  After reading that particular article, I started looking around and could not completly figure out if his death was confirmed or just an internet rumor. 
It took a full 24 hours for the Malawian authorities to come forward and announce that indeed, president Bingu had died, after suffering a massive heart attack. 

This morning I came across the following article, an obituary fo "Mutharika, Malawi's flawed "economist-in-chief"."  It is quite to the point and does raise some interesting points about the current political and economical situation in the country.  An Obituary 

As I am typing this, there are long fuel lines all around towns, with some cars in line already for several days, hoping for a petrol delivery.  I just received an email from a fellow teacher, warning me to avoid a particular area of town, as "Petrol queue was very nasty near Santa Plaza this morning, an accident plus soldiers and police. The road was completely blocked. "  My Tank has less than a quarter tank of diesel and it seems near impossible to get diesel without staying in line for days, which I am not doing.

The newest queues I've seen around town are for SUGAR, of all things.  I personally use sugar when baking and that's about it.  But for the people of Malawi, sugar is one of the most important staples of their diet.  A cup of tea is not complete without at least 5 heaping tablespoons of sugar, so you are basically drinking tea with your sugar.  My staff goes through sugar like there is no tomorrow.  Lately, I've been limiting their sugar intake by resolving to hide the sugar I have.  It has happened before that I was preparing to bake something and only found one cup of sugar left in the 5 kgs bag!!!  Kind of feel bad about having to hide sugar, but it's the only way I can assure that the sugar will be there when I need it. 

As for president Bingu's death, the next 10 days will be a period of national mourning.  What will happen during this time will be watched by all people living in Malawi and by loads of outside organizations and countries.  I do sincerely hope that the transition period is seamless and uneventful and that the new President of Malawi (who according to the constitution should be the current vice-president Joyce Banda) reinstates the diplomatic links with the UK.  Also that the foreign aid that had been withdrawn comes back. 

Only the future will tell.  Keep Malawi in your thoughts for the next few weeks...