Sleep and Some More

Here in Lilongwe the temperature lies between 24 and 30. During the rainy season it is a little more humid. It was difficult to fall asleep and remain asleep when we first arrived. Our bed was protected by a mosquito net that really felt claustrophobic. Hans would wake up during the night and feel the netting in his face and wonder what was crawling around. And it being a dark color everything just seemed so much hotter. Often we would wake in a big sweat.

So we ended up with a king size white net which took care of the claustrophobic feeling. Opening the window curtain during the night, allowed the night air and breezes to cool us down. Darkness falls shortly after 6:00 p.m. and that seems to tell us too we should be getting sleepy. It is not unusual to find us preparing for the night by 8:30. But that means that by 5;00 a.m. we are awake, if not earlier. At 4;00 a.m. we can hear the islam call to prayer. It is a rather musical tape that is not unpleasant (it is heard another 4 times) and then the chirping of the song birds begin as well. Slowly the day light appears.

The mornings are usually sunny, bright and have a comfortable temperature. As the day progresses the sun can get very hot and you just want to find the shade. Once we were stopped to speak with someone and as he spoke he pulled us under a tree. No one is as foolish as to stand in the sunshine. But the sunshine can change very suddenly into furious downpours. We have walked to the market on a beautiful sunny afternoon convinced we didn’t need umbrellas and then be caught not an hour later in a drenching downpour. Oh well, the rain is never cold. It is tricky to dry the wash however. As the song goes, “Rain, Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain”. It is life for so many especially the farmers whose soil is more sandy than what we see in our area. It is difficult sometimes to imagine that anything would, should or could grow in it. But alas, as we walk by the courthouse each day, an open aired building available for all to see and hear, we see a patch of corn growing, slowly at first only breaking the ground when we first arrived, but now, two feet tall, interspaced with pumpkin greens, the relish for the nsima the daily staple for many. Rain, sun. crops. The endless cycle with too much or too little of each results in a diet of catastrophe or celebration.