“Asungu” is the Chichewa word for “white person” or “foreigner”. In Blantyre, there are quite a lot of “asungu” people. Here, there are doctors who are saving lives at the hospitals, volunteers taking care of babies at orphanages, videographers documenting projects for donors in the States to see, NGO directors coordinating renewable energy projects, or lodge-owners that have created their own little haven in a hidden corner of the world. Every asungu here seems to have a fascinating reason as to how they ended up in Malawi. Meeting people from all walks of life and learning about their stories is one of the things that I love most about travelling. There is also quite a substantial population of Indian people here. They are mainly the business and restaurant owners here. There are so many Indian people that the only movie theater in town plays 2 American and 1 Hindi movie here at all times.
As an asungu in Malawi, people expect you to be rich. If you go to the market here, they will give you higher prices. In addition, the moment you step into the market people will try to offer all sorts of services to you. They’ll hold your bags, watch your bike, or even get groceries for you all with the expectation that you will pay them good money. And if you’re an asian, they will also yell “konichiwa!!” at you for the hopes that it will catch your attention. At first having dozens of people hollering at you to buy their products was a bit overwhelming, but by now I find the market and the game of bargaining quite enjoyable.
This past weekend, Sam and I met up with the St. Gabe’s interns to spend a weekend at the beautiful Lake Malawi. This lake seems more like an ocean and lines nearly the entire eastern border of Malawi. The lodge that we stayed at was hidden amongst the local villages of Senga Bay. Our first day there, we walked through the village to go to a local market. The way that the villagers behaved towards asungus was quite different than what we were used to in the city. As we walked through the villages, tons of children, excited to see a group of asungus would eagerly run up to us to say hello, which sounded more like “Ah – Lo!!!” They would also give us the thumbs up as we walked by and a few even came up to fist-bump us. I’m sure some previous volunteers had taught them that. And once we were a the market, everytime I turned around I could see an entourage of kids trailing about 10 feet behind us. It was quite adorable how intrigued they were by us.
Overall, I think that the Malawians like asungus. Or at least I hope so. When I have explained to Malawians what we are doing here, many respond to us with gratitude. For example, when we first arrived to Malawi, the lady at customs was questioning our twelve suitcases. Sam showed her a letter from Rice saying that these suitcases were filled with donated medical equipment. She said “Thank you so much for helping our country” and let us through with no further questions.
Time for bed now. Tomorrow is the first day of training for the bCPAP!