October 9, 2015
To Salima: Hiya, hiya, hiya, hiya, hiya........ give me money!
The children's chorus returns today. "Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello," several children shout together. "Hiya, hiya, hiya, hiya, hiya, hiya," others shout in unison. The children always enthusiastically waving and we can hear the shouts long before we see the children and long after we pass.
In 1994, we would hear Muzungu, Muzungu, give me ten tambala. We thought this charming then, so much so we named our first cats Muzungu and Tambala. Now, the requests go to "give me money," "give me a pen," "give me your bike". The NGOs that are in Africa and traveller's who think they are helping by giving something to the children, have contributed to this problem. Muzungu's are seen as being rich.
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20120105-ethical-traveller-giving-money-to-street-kids
And we are, comparatively, rich with money. But when we see the kids playing and swimming in the lake, how fun their lives are at that moment. The western world has a billion dollar recreational industry for us to go camping and cooking in the outdoors when this is how they live. The power goes out and a candle lit, while at home, we turn the lights out and light a candle and call it "romantic". We are riding our bikes "for fun" where in most of Africa and especially in Malawi, the bicycle is still the workhorse. For transportation, there are very few motorbikes, fewer big buses, lots of matatus, we still see people in the back of trucks, but mainly it's walking or the bicycle. And this is the first African country we've seen women on bicycles!
"We need to ride around in a circle so the ride is 100kms" Patrick says. By the time we got on the outskirts of Salima, we'd done 100. While the road is never all flat, it was pretty close today...at least at the beginning, and we had a 20km stretch with a tailwind. While the shouts from the children have returned, the patience from having a respite of hearing these shouts has left us. We still wave back, and answer when the call is polite. Most of our interactions are when we have stopped for a break. The Malawian people are so friendly and helpful and have beautiful smiles.
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Today's ride: 100 km (62 miles)
Total: 7,770 km (4,825 miles)
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