As some of you may know, three weeks ago I returned back to the United States for the first time since moving to Malawi in February. It was really nice to be back and see a bunch of family and friends while attending my sister's wedding as well as making a quick trip to San Francisco the second weekend to attend a friend's wedding.
I most definitely made sure to eat as much good food as I could and certainly put on some extra pounds, but it was well worth it. Unfortunately, the two weeks flew by so quick before I had to return to Malawi. Whether I'll return to the states again before I complete my fellowship next August is to be determined, but very unlikely given how expensive the flights are.
The morning of my flight back on Ethiopian Airlines, my dad took his cool time per usual getting ready and we ended up making it to the airport an hour before my flight. In fact, I was the last person to check in my bag before they closed the check-in counter. It just so happened to be that the same lady who asked me to bring "pregnancy vitamins" the first time I flew there was working at the desk and recognized me and said she would check me in. I was expecting her to hand me another bottle of pills to be brought over, and this time I would have definitely requested an upgrade to business class. Surprisingly though, she did not ask for any favors and sat me once again in the emergency row for more leg room. When I got to my seat this time, there was a baby in the middle section and that was not good news for a 13.5 hour flight. Somehow that baby did not make a single sound the whole entire flight, except a few giggles, which I was more than happy to hear. Kuddos to the mother for working her magic to somehow make that happen. However, after sitting down in the aisle seat, a big guy sat down in the middle seat next to me. Let's just say he was a very big guy whose body partially carried over into my space and covered the entire arm rest. Not only that, he kept leaning against me whenever he fell asleep and I was just so squished for space. On top of that, he then asked to borrow my phone before the flight to call his family, which is fine, but then managed to drop the phone. Luckily no damage was done. Being so crammed made it quite difficult to sleep, but even worse was the fact that my audio for the monitor didn't work, so I could only watch movies, but couldn't hear anything (the only subtitles available were in Mandarin).
I finally arrived in Lilongwe after about 22 hours of travel time. I was ready to just get back to my apartment and relax for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, things got worse when I never received my check-in bag that had most of my clothes and all the gifts, snacks, and valuables that I brought back. About 12-15 other passengers on my flight were also missing luggage, so we all had to file a report. It isn't uncommon to have baggage misplaced with Ethiopian Airlines sadly, but I learned a good lesson about making sure to arrive early for an international flight. It was very frustrating, but at least I had my work laptop, chargers, and a few clothes all with me in my backpack and carry-on.
My friend who borrowed my car while I was gone came to pick me up from the airport. We noticed that there was a large presence of people and police at the airport, but weren't really sure what for. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, a police officer started running towards us and waved us down. I figured he was trying to tell us to take a different exit, but instead he asked if we could give him a ride. Very confused and not wanting to potentially get in trouble, I said sure and he just hopped in the backseat. We continued driving down the road and made some small talk not knowing exactly where he wanted to be dropped off. He mentioned that the Malawian president was arriving in 30 minutes from Germany, hence why there was a big gathering to welcome him home. As we were driving down the road, the officer then immediately directed me to flash my lights and wave down the car that was coming our way on the opposite side of the road. I waved the driver down and he barely noticed my arm at the last second before proceeding to pull over 10 meters down the road. I then turned the car around and pulled up behind the vehicle. The officer then got out of the backseat without saying anything and went over to talk to the driver in the other car for a few minutes before coming back to ask me to pull out my phone. He simply said to go to WhatsApp and enter in a number and the name "Adam" and to text "hi" to it. I did as he said, and then he said thanks and jumped into the backseat of the other car and they drove off. Not sure if I had the green light to leave or if he was expecting me to wait for him, my friend just said to leave, and so we turned the car around and continued on our way. It turns out the number was his, and he responded "hi" back later that evening to conclude our conversation.
As we were heading back, we also saw some guy holding a kitten on the side of the road looking for a buyer. This is a pretty common sight, but it is not recommended to purchase them since they haven't been checked by a vet and likely have behavioral issues and/or are harboring diseases. You can also spot them holding puppies, rabbits, and chickens like this as well.
Later that evening after arriving home from the grocery store, I put the groceries away and sat down on the couch only to hear a purring sound come from the bedroom. I was completely startled and jumped on top of the couch. From the darkness of the room appeared a cat walking into the living room. I immediately recognized the cat as the one that stays on the compound grounds, but had no idea how or when it got into the apartment. Luckily, it left with no complaint when I opened the door.
Two days later on Tuesday afternoon I received a call saying that my bag had arrived at the airport and was ready for me to pick up. Because their hours were only from 8:00-3:30 and it was already 1:30, I figured I'd go first thing the next morning. However, after mentioning that my bag had arrived to my colleague, he said not to wait and to leave immediately to go pick up the bag that day itself. There are limited flights that come in and out of Malawi and after 3:30 when they close the baggage station, it isn't unheard of for the workers to try breaking into your bag and steal items. I had a lock thankfully, but even then you never know what tools they might have to try and pry it open. When I finally got my bag from the airport, I did a double check of everything inside before heading back to work. Fortunately this time, everything was still intact.
It was also quite the welcome back when I learned that days before I arrived, the government of Malawi announced a 25% devaluation of it's national currency, the kwacha, in a bid to shore up dwindling foreign exchange reserves and curb inflation. This is the biggest devaluation in over 10 years. For six months, Malawi has seen its foreign currency reserves shrink sharply due to a drop in export revenues due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a rise in the cost of imports, particularly raw materials, due to the war in Ukraine. The country was also hit by two devastating cyclones in 2022. It is expected that the price of consumer goods will rise quite a bit as a result in the coming weeks.
Additionally, I also learned that a pending wire transfer I made to my landlord's leasing company back in March that I am still in the midst of trying to reclaim may be partially due to something I noticed in the local newspaper as I was leaving the office this past week. The owner of the leasing company my landlord belongs to happens to be currently under criminal investigation in the UK for money laundering and bribery related to three public contracts with the Malawian government. Most of the Malawian government cabinet was involved in the corruption, including the vice president. The alleged involved cabinet members have been replaced, but corruption still remains (you can read more about the case here: https://on.ft.com/3wZyKqY). What happens next is to be determined, but I am still holding hope that I will be able to get my money back eventually.
With all the ups and downs that life brings, one thing I've learned is that I will never appreciate the ups unless I have some downs. On the bright side, I finally saw Lion King for the first time on the plane ride going back to the states.
