I apologize for not posting earlier this weekend, but connections here have been spotty and getting on to the internet has been a challenge.
Friday evening there was a huge storm that passed through town and knocked down all kind of trees and power lines. Maura had a friend spend the night and Michelle worked so... Saturday we swam and spent the afternoon laying around poolside. Sunday was pretty much the same thing.. Exciting stuff eh?
On Sunday afternoon I had made a plan with Cosmas to take photos of him and his girlfriend Tifinesse. We met her at her "aunties" house, which is at the police headquarters.. All police have a compound (sort of like military) where the families stay . Her aunt and uncle are also tailors and from what I could see in her home, they were mending uniforms for the police. The guard at the front entrance did not like me.. I said to her "Maswera Bwangi ?" and she looked me straight in the eye and said "Hi!" with a stare that could kill. I turned to Cosmas who was driving in the truck with me and said.. "she doesn't like me very much" and his reply was.. "no she does not."
By the way, Cosmas got dolled up for this event. He worked in the morning at our home , but brought a change of clothes, which was in fact, a pin striped suit that he had put together... He told me we had given him the pants, but was able to find a somewhat matching jacket to make a pretty good looking suit. Before we left our home, he asked if he could clean out the inside of the truck.. I guess we are too dirty for his liking, and wanted to keep his suit clean as we drove around town.
We had our first photo shoot with Tifinesse , then headed to Cosmas' home... Cosmas lives in the same village as Joseph, which is about a ten minute drive outside of the city.. It is a lively place that is occupied by the blue collar workers of Lilongwe. It is bustling and busy and people meeting and playing and just hanging out... Very different from a Sunday evening in Fort Thomas. I, of course, stood out like a sore thumb. I had to weave our truck with purple rims through very small tight streets that winded back to the area where Cosmas lived.. As we got out of the truck, he said, "I should warn you, i have told alot of people you were coming.. and I have no fence around my house. " which means
that anyone who sees us, will be curious and want to come up.. probably asking for a photo..
This was very true..we were bombarded by curious kids who yelled out the equivalent of "crazy white person" in Chichewa, but were eager to have a photo taken. I promised them I'd bring them a copy next week.
It's a small community.. All these kids and families live together, play together , help each other out and very much like a compressed, tight knit neighborhood.. The kids make their own toys, draw pictures in the dirt and seemed pretty happy. It was good to see where Cosmas lived..
Photos below..
we have a busy week, and are off school for a public holiday tomorrow. On Friday we head about 5 hours south to Blantyre for the National swim meet. As I think I've mentioned before, if our kids do well enough, they could qualify for the all Africa swim meet that is held in Angola this year..
The problem is is that due to so many power outages for the past week, the ABC pool is a wreck and looks like a green lake.. So, practice has been cancelled, changed, moved to a smaller pool, etc.. We'll see how this goes. Happy Monday everyone..
 |
| Cosmas and Tinfinesse |
 |
| Playing pool |
 |
| Twins!!! |
 |
| Prepping for photo shoot |
