After our 1st night in Lilongwe, we went to Stesi's village for a few days. It was really great. Nice and relaxing and just us...no host family or keeping up appearances (like having to wear a skirt in public). It was a great start to an awesome visit!
Here's Stesi rockin' the ubiquitous Malawian chitenje!
Chitenje's are great, and like a bucket, quite multifunctional! They're most popularly used as a wrap skirt by almost all women, as Stesi is demonstrating above. But they're also used as a towel, table cloth, lid, light blanket, curtain, etc.
This is looking into Stesi's house from the front door...as you can see, there are chitenje's covering her windows :o]. And look at all the glorious buckets! That's a true PCV's house right there!
Still looking in from the front door to the right, there is her table (with toilet paper on the edge to be taken with you as you leave the house to go use the chim) with a chitenje for a table cloth.
You can also see hanging on the wall a world map - another item that probably all PCVs have hanging in their room/house somewhere!
The door to the left of the map goes to Stesi's bedroom.
Here is another view of her kitchen/work table. You can see her hardcore water filtration system (the large metal container) - apparently Malawian PCVs get REAL water filtration systems...Moldovan PCVs get a Brita.
And looking through the doorway is Miss Stesi standing in her hallway/kitchen cupboard.
A better view of the hallway/kitchen cupboard...and yes, another bucket ;o].
This is the 1st room to the right of the hallway. It's basically her storage room.
Here's another view of it - an extra mosquito net, 3 extra mattresses, a clothing rack, a clothing line, etc.
Here is the kitchen, which is the last room on the right down the hallway/kitchen cupboard. Stesi's making dinner out of a PCV-made cookbook/misc "how-to" book. Again, some more buckets (blue and orange)...it's her homemade sink!
Stesi's bedroom...not a great photo cuz my mattress and mosquito net are in the way. I actually brought the mosquito net with me from Moldova cuz PC gave me one when they knew i was going to Africa. It could probably fit a family of 6 in it comfortably. I left it for Stesi :o].
Another view into her room. You can see her mosquito net behind mine. Also, notice the chitenje curtain over the window!
Stesi's chim (squatty-potty) in the corner, with what else, but a chitenje as the door. On the ground you can see her compost pile (in the foreground on the left) and her burn pile (in the background on the right). Also, from the floods earlier in the year, part of her wall was destroyed, so her landlords built a makeshift fence until they "get around" to repairig it...the reality is, that probably won't happen.
And here's me rockin' my very own chitenje! :o]
No comments:
Post a Comment