Poaching Poachers

In the game reserve, towards the afternoon when a few of us were gathered in the kitchen area, we saw a boat pull up to the bank. Out filed four men. We were curious, something didn't seem right, why a boat? Why here? Why now? As we watch I notice the smallest of the group is handcuffed.

“Poacher” someone says

“Wow, he's just a kid,” someone else says.

Looking no older than 15, the poacher, who was caught in his canoe, fishing in the river, walks past with his head hang-dog. The rangers make him walk out of the way, on the other side of a chalet, to get to the scout camp. It was then we discovered what happens, at least part of what happens, to poachers. First the poacher is captured and taken in. His nets are confiscated. The front of his canoe is sawed off and kept so his boat is useless.

Later I walked through the scout camp. There was the poacher, sitting on the ground looking defeated and a bit repentant (probably from getting caught and the unknown repercussions to be had.) Definitely down on his luck. Looking closer I noticed he was older, more like in his late twenties, he was just a small man.

We volunteers debated for a while what would happen to him. Most of the scenarios we came up with involved bribes on the part of the family and the release of the poacher. Bribes are how it is done in Malawi. Also, money has a different value, its not something to be saved, its something to be craved and then squandered. Everyone knows the word 'capital' but no one knows how to calculate profit. Some volunteers thought it a bit unfair that it was illegal for people to fish the river. On the surface you might agree thinking it would be unfair for villagers not to fish their natural resource. But if you know Malawi you know what would happen if that were to happen. The people would over fish and kill many species off. This would kill off other species. People would poach the crocs and the hippos and they would starve from lack of food. Poachers would find easier access into the park and increase their poaching. There is a 'me' mentality here and also and 'now' mentality. Liwonde and the river would just become another animal-less, desert village.

The day we left I saw the poacher, still in handcuffs, fate still undecided. I can only wish they all get caught, I can only hope someone will care enough to protect what is almost completely gone from Malawi. Nature, natural wildlife, and natural habitat.

Traditional Healer Remedies 2

A traditional birth attendant agreed to speak to us in some of her practices. Many of them seemed solid, with a healthy relationship with the health centers in hr area. But some things she said were obviously seeped deep in traditional practices.

There is a very high child mortality rate in Malawi, natural this causes women to go to clinics, healers, birth attendants and the like, in desperate attempts to make sure their babies will be born safe and healthy.

To make a birth easier, to ensure the safe birth of a healthy child, a woman approached the traditional birth attendant. For a request like this, it is more of a spiritual remedy, an act f faith. The birth attendant could look like any Malawian woman in chitenge and head-wrap walking towards the mountains of her home, Dedza. It could look like any normal day, cool and foggy in the morning,perhaps even a light drizzle. But this woman's eyes are open, keen for a sign. In the foothills of the mountains she strains her eyes to see a wild hare, becoming rarer and rarer with the killing off of all Malawian wildlife that is going on. If she sees one and it runs away, the traditional birth attendant goes to the spot the animal was standing when she saw it flee. Then she crouches down and digs into the earth. If she finds a root where she has dug, she cuts it from the earth and brings it back tot he village. This she gives to the woman and tells her it will bring her a safe and healthy child.

Myths and Legends 3

In Malawi many people have chickens. There is one type of chicken however, that I thought had some sort of genetic disease which caused it to have to feathers on its head or neck. Apparently it is just a type of chicken. According t natives, these hideous looking freak chickens lay more eggs than any other type of chicken. Also, they taste better than any other chickens. Personally I think they taste the same and are just really, really ugly.

Lessons in Witchcraft 3

Along the shores of Lake Malawi there are many people that depend of fishing for a living. Most men carve out their canoes from huge trees they have chopped down and spend days whittling out the center. There canoes are often very unstable and leak. Every night these men gather their mended and re mended nets, some use mosquito nets and set out a few kilometers from shore. Their paraffin lanterns bob in a ragged line as far as the eyes can see. They cast their nets, lean back, and wait for morning. Sometimes these fishermen pull up more that fish in the mornings. In Nkhata Bay, a group of men hoisted up their nets and found a naked man demanding to be taken to shore. The men asked the man how he had come to be so far from shore, naked, in the early hours of the morning. The man said,
“I am a witch, I was flying as I do most nights, but a more powerful witch cursed me and I fell from the sky.”
The fisherman brought the man to shore and called the authorities. The police arrived and questioned the man, and people gathered around to hear his story of witchcraft. The police took him to jail for witchcraft.
The lesson:
There is always a more powerful wizard around than you. So when your flying around naked in the middle of the night, bring a parachute.

Toilet Interpretations

I'm not sure if I already told you this story but I recently returned to Liwonde Game Reserve and it reminded me of this incident. Last year at Liwonde, I participated in the Game count, walking through the park in grid patterns and counting animals. It is a lot of fun. Part of the excitement is that we camp inside the literal park. The only downside with this arrangement is that we have to use the pool showers and toilets inside the resort. This is only inconvenient because it is not right next to us, the facilities are nice and clean.

One day I entered the bathroom and was immediately assailed with the site of a Malawian woman standing inside of a open bathroom stall. I paused and stared because I was so shocked. This woman was holding up her young daughter so she could stand on the toilet seat and squat, as if this nice porcelain, flush-able toilet was a common pit latrine. I was also shocked that she just turned her head and gave me a small smile, totally unconcerned about my witnessing her and her daughter using the bathroom. I felt amused yet disappointed and a bit angered that this woman and her child were incapable or refused to use the toilet as it was meant to be used. My anger probably came from the fact that I was so happy to be using such nice facilities and was shocked that a woman, in a clearly bwana (upscale) place, would still stick to those traditional actions.

Then I remembered staying at another rest-house and seeing a sign in all the bathrooms,
PLEASE DO NOT STAND ON TOILETS in both English and Chichewa with a lovely picture of a stick figure squatting on the toilets and a few well placed dashes between the figure and the toilet bowl.

Ah Malawi