The weekend
has been just great! I´ve been out a lot to see Mzuzu, getting to know new people
and I´ve really enjoyed it. People are friendly and happy, they smile a lot and
smile is always good for you. I think we should smile much more at home, we
often let little things bother us too much. Nightlife is all about dancing and
I must say it´s a very good exercise to do.
Today I
read the news from Tohmajärvi, Finland where a cowhouse was on fire and 40 cows
died. It´s terrible, no one should have to face such tragedy. It also brought
my thoughts to a farmer whom I went to see on Friday. She had one cow, her
livelihood is pretty much depending on that one cow. The cow was a nice jersey
cow, she had well kept “khola” (the “cowhouse”, will get you pictures later).
Everything seemed to be in good order. Unfortunately the cow had been sick for
a month now and on Friday morning it had died. It had been treated 3 times
during the sickness but there is continues shortage on animal drugs. There´s
also a lack of veterinary experts. The road to reach this farm is very bad and
it takes up to 30 minutes with a car (not forgetting the neverending fuel
shortage..). On a rainy day it is impossible to access. I´ve seen dead cows in
my life but I have never felt so bad for the owner than I did this time. She
lost her livelihood, I am sure that life was harder on her and her family before
that cow. It had given them a better quality of life and more food on the table.
Then it´s gone and they have to start all over again. She use to have insurance
for the cow which we highly recommend for all of them to have. Most of them
still don´t have it. And her insurance was not valid anymore. But I am sure she
will be fine, here there is no other choice than to move on and focus on other
things to do to secure any income. And probably that cow is going to end up on
the table of those people in the village, you don´t waste any food here.
So life is
good and bad here. Sometimes real struggle. But most people value life and they
want to live that life to the fullest. And that´s one of the things that I
admire of them everyday. I laughed two months ago for the Malawian time, “It´s
not the time, it´s the venue” but now I realize that that´s the way it should
be. The time will move on anyway but to share good moments with other people,
to spread some smiles and give time to each other, that´s the way we should let
the days go by, one at a time.
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