Day's Diary

January 17, 2007 ~ The Same But Different

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There is a theme here. There are many of the same things here in Malawi as in the US, but they are significantly different at the same time. For instance, there is electricity in Malawi, but it is different, not just the current and the plugs, but the way you pay. It is prepaid. You go to the electric office with a number from the power box on the house and pay for so many units of electricity. You are given a receipt and on it is a code that you enter into the power box on the side of the house, and you have that many units to use. Each electrical outlet in the house has an on-off switch, and you switch that outlet on when you want to use it, just as you would a light switch in the US. This saves the units and uses them only as you need them. South Africa has the most modern electrical appliances, but they come with plugs fitted for South Africa, which don’t match Malawi’s outlets so you must either have an adapter or change the plug. My good friend Silas Ncozana has changed three plugs for me. Praise God for Silas, because I couldn’t find adapters to match. I now have a toaster, an electric tea pot and a power strip that converts my cell phone charger. Of course, the power can go out at any time and can be out for any length of time, so candles are still essentials.

The same is true for the telephone system – land line or cell phone. It is all pre-pay, so you buy units to use the phone. If you forget, there is no phone service. This, I’m told has all come about from people not paying their bills, so most utilities have gone to this pre-pay system. The phones all have prefixes to the number and those let you know who the provided is. So, 01 is a land line, 08 is Telecom an 09 is Celtel. It is very simple, once you understand the system. There are vendors on many corners and along the road to sell recharge units for cell phones. They are even available in the seemingly most remote villages, at little stands set up for that very purpose.

The same but different applies to other things too, like worship. It is the same God we worship, obviously, and the same reformed theology, but it takes a quite different expression. At points, in liturgy it is far more formal. There are congregational responses to scripture reading and to the sermon, but there is an informality as well, as people walk in and out of a worship service at will, bring messages to the chancel area to be read (but always bowing slightly to the pastor, both coming and going). All come forward with delight to bring their offering. Then there is the music. There may be three to seven choirs to sing, but one right after the other, not spread out during the service, as we might. Many of the hymns have the same words as we sing, but the tempo and the rhythm are different, and the words emphasized are different, giving a different sound all together. Some hymns I’ve only recognized by the words. It took me three stanza of Chichewa to recognize “Nearer My God to Thee.” Today when it was sung in English, I understood why. The rhythm was different – the same, but different.

And then there is the driving. Beyond the obvious of left side of the road, right side of the car, are the roadways themselves. Cars are the minority in Malawi, and Silas and I have jokingly speculated that since this country is a democracy and since there are more pedestrians than cars, they believe that majority rules, so the pedestrians control the roads. Walkers and those on bikes take the road and the cars must adjust. This is especially true when it rains. The pedestrians don’t want to be in the mud puddles, so they move out even more onto the roadway and are much less likely to move off for a car. The car must adjust. This is relatively easy, until there is an oncoming car, and then it becomes a test of who will move first. I tend to yield, since I am not inclined to take out a pedestrian or another car. Silas prefers his horn to warn and then go. I may get to that point, but I am not there yet. The roads in Malawi have some similarities to those in Pittsburgh at this time of year – pot holes. The difference is the size and extent of the potholes. On the tarmac roads, they are more like Pittsburgh, although the Malawian government is much quicker to fill them, so as you drive, you must be attentive to work crews in the middle of the road, cutting and filling. This is all done by hand, though. Now the dirt roads are a different story. As the rains come, the roads wash and there are places where there have been small rivers formed. As you drive, you need to make instant decisions about the advisability of proceeding. On one trip to Likabula House with Silas, we made some interesting choices. At one point, we were on a detour of a detour, since several roads had been closed. Silas turned down a dirt road only to discover about a mile down the road a river of water had created a gully more than three feet deep and five feet wide. He chose to back up, since there was no place to turn around because of standing water on either side of the road. He backed up the full mile, much to the delight of the children who were playing soccer in a field near by. They came to the side of the road and waved to us. We made a few more turns and came to another road that seemed fine for a while, and then we came on another river. This one was down the center of the road. Off to the right was a truck stuck up over its wheels in mud, and several men trying to push it or lift it out. Another group of men stood on the left side of the river and motioned for us to pass through. Silas was reluctant. He instructed the young boys who were standing and watching to wade into the water so we would know how deep it was, which they promptly did, and waded about calf deep in the water ahead of the truck as we slowly moved through the river. When we pulled up out of the water onto the road, all who were watching let out a cheer and we went on our way. The road is closed now, Silas reported yesterday, when he was back that same way. They will wait for the rains to pass and then decided to fill the breach in the road. The same, but very different.