My day began when I woke up at
8:16. I jumped out of bed quickly,
because I was going to go change money this morning with Nyssa and Ellen at
8:15. I quickly got up and we were
out the door. We had to get our
money changed because we were going to a huge market to buy fabric for the
girls. The bank took forever. We went in and were not sure what
exactly we needed to do when we went in, so we just kind of sat there. We finally were told that we have to go
to a specific window for exchanges, but it still took them a long time to come
and help us.
Once we got back, we left
immediately to go to the market.
When we got to the market, all I could think of was the bazaars that are
in Central Asia that I have been to.
The market was exactly like the ones in Central Asia. We walked to the fabric section of the
market and began browsing. There
were so many different vendors and they all had a ton of different fabrics that
they were trying to sell. It was
really awesome, because it showed all of the different patterns that most of
the Malawian women wear everywhere.
The dresses that the women wear are called chitenjes and they are just
like a wrap around of fabric. I
was overwhelmed by all of the choices.
I couldn’t even decide on what I wanted to buy for my sister, mom and
girlfriend. I wanted to buy some
of the traditional fabric for them as a present. I ended up purchasing four different designs and hopefully
they like them.
When we got back, we left to go to
new town. New town is where
parliament and other new government buildings are located. We quickly stopped and learned about
the first president and other things about the history of Malawi. It was really hot and at each place
that we went, we were told about more and more history. I quickly became tired, because I
couldn’t really understand anything that they were saying and we were all
standing in the direct sunlight at noon.
 |
| The group at the new parliament building. |
 |
| The team at a statue of Banda and the clock tower. Photo by Marie Freeman |
After lunch, we went to visit a
family who does permaculture. I
didn’t know what permaculture was before today, but now, I want to learn
more. Permaculture stands for
permanent agriculture. They showed
us around the house and gave us a lesson on the resources of Malawi and how
they could be more sustainable. I
found this very interesting, because they were telling us about how to live
more self sufficiently while eating healthier. My parents are very interested in things like that, so the
entire time, I thinking about how I can pass on a lot of the information that I
was learning. Also, it was really
inspiring how much they have been able to accomplish and how much more sense it
made in comparison to what the Malawians typically do.
 |
| Kristof talked to us all about permaculture and cultural stigmas associated with it. Photo by Marie Freeman |
After visiting Neverending Food, how does what you learned
connect to the previous readings about sustainability?
Based on what you heard today, what would you like to change
about your lifestyle?
When
I go home, I do not plan on changing anything about the way that I live my
life. I loved everything that we
learned today, however, at this place in my life, I do not have the desire to
change anything drastic about the way that I live my life and how it pertains
to sustainable practices. I do
hope to share what I have learned with my parents and that will affect me while
I am home. I do have an interest
in living a more sustainable life, however, the many things that Christof talked
to us about today would not be something easy to change in my life right now as
a college student.
No comments:
Post a Comment