In The Land of Milk & Honey

Beyond the Nyika Plateau, west of Karonga, through a treacherous dirt road, past the Chinese road builders, is the northern most region in Malawi. Chitipa “the land of milk and honey” as Peaches endearingly named it. Chitipa is far and the travel tiresome. The three hour matola from Karonga boma to Chitipa was the dirtiest and bumpiest ride I have been on in Malawi. It instilled a newfound awe of the Chitipa Wrecking Crew, the aptly named group of PCVs up there, here in referred to as CWC.

Every year, according to PC tradition, the CWC hosts an annual Halloween gathering. Volunteers from all over Malawi make the costumed pilgrimage north for adventure, candy, Carlsberg and pig roast. As my first venture to Chitipa and my first Chitipa Halloween, the event was worth the trek. The CWC put a lot of work into organizing and hosting the group of about 15 volunteers that attended. The site was beautiful, Chitipa still green and lush, while the rest of the country was mourning the dry season.

It was unfortunate that more people did not attend, especially those in my own group. The CWC consists of Peaches, Franklin, and Filipo from our group and this was the event they hosted for us. I’m saddened to say I belong to a group of people in the central and southern regions that felt Chitipa was “too far” to attend. Instead they opted to celebrate, as they always do, amongst their Chewa-selves at the astoundingly original Lake Shore.

It only bothers me because the CWC put a lot of work into this weekend. The costumes were great; CWC had one of the best costumes as the Captain Planet team. Yotem was Captain Planet in a blue/white ski suit. Filipo was Earth in really tight (very very very tight) women’s pants that left little, if anything, to the imagination. I dressed up as Wellesley, who took the effort to draw an amazing rendition of her tattoos on my arm. I wore a lovely dress from Banana Republic with leggings and two head bands.

In the backdrop of all the festivities was Chitipa. Friday night we spent at Franklin’s, she hosted all of us in her really well-decorated home surrounded by the beauty of the region. The boma itself was like a ghost town, not many shops or goods available but it was enough to live on. The entire time there you are aware of the remoteness of the locale, far removed from the happenings of Malawi. In fact, I never even noticed a Malawian flag there.

Chitipa is a major boma and a large district in the North with a large diversity of tribes and languages (over 25 are spoken in the region). Even now there is no tarmac in the district, dirt roads only. However, the Chinese government has begun construction of the road, already underway it’s a massive effort. There are Chinese workers and flags all along the road. Some were sleeping under bridges, others smoking and driving big trucks. The entire ride you wonder what it takes to move so far from home, spend years building a road in another country. Money, certainly, but what else?

On Saturday we spent the day in the boma, eating chips mayaye, playing volleyball against the Chitipa Police squad, and the costume party. Thanks to Malawisaurus and Red, who were both competitive volleyball players, we beat the police for the first time in the match’s history. However, due to cheating on the police’s part, they won due to “rule changes.” After a somber technical defeat, and Malawisaurus almost assaulting an officer, we returned to Yotem’s Handymans Paradise for Carlsberg and dancing the night away in our costumes.

Sunday morning we left Chitipa on the same transport that brought us there. All of us loaded in, tired, thirsty, we drove through the winding dirt roads, through the majestic green mountains, and past the Chinese road builders, back to what seemed another world. The sole bumper sticker on the matola read: “to work like a slave is to live like a king.” Words to live by Chitipa.