Nsanje Boma, Village and the Children

         
          Nsanje Boma is a very small town center with two tarmac roads running through it and some secondary dirt roads.  Love and Peace Supermarket is their biggest market but almost all the products are displayed on shelves behind bars. One can only view them for afar and point to the products that one wishes to purchase.  There are a few bars and restaurants, Folly Brothers Shop, True Man Executive Barber, Praise God Shop, Chikondi Restaurant, Miss Call Bar... In front of the Nsanje market are women selling beans and rice.  In the market one can find tomatoes, onions, potatoes, pumpkin leaves, peppers, lemons, limes, bananas, sweet apples, green beans, eggplants, fish (dried and fresh), meat, eggs, hardware stores, textiles from Malawi and Tanzania.

 

Nsanje Boma Market

African Doctor

          Near the entrance is a store of an African doctor, Peter.  He sells all sorts of roots, bark, and porcupine and snake skins.  One can either have him brew a concoction right on the spot after the recounting of one’s symptoms or take home some herbs, roots, etc. with instructions on how to prepare a brew. 

Nsanje Boma

 

Along the dirt road vendors sell second-hand clothes, shoes, Chinese made plastic products: buckets, basins, clogs and flip flops.  Wednesday is their market day and the dirt road is completely filled with vendors. We could not wander around in the market without a following of children asking for money.

Within minutes one would have gone through the whole town but we are happy that we could find enough variety of food to sustain us.

This morning I packed some four-day-old rice in a tupperware to feed it to the chickens during my run before Peter, our housekeeper, threw it away.   As I saw chickens rummaging in the dirt and leaves for food, I sprinkled some grains of rice, that quickly attracted a few dogs.  Unbeknownst to me soon my action was observed by several children who chased after me.  I ran faster than them and soon they were left behind.  I hid the rest of my rice in a bush to retrieve it on my way back.  When I returned the children were waiting for me and the oldest of them all said, ”Rice” as he looked at my tupperware.  Then I realized that he wanted my rice.  When I gave him the container he quickly wrapped it against his body with his shirt, there was obvious delight in his eyes.  These were a bunch of very hungry children, I was being insensitive in sprinkling rice at the chickens.  I let the children listen to my ipod and there was amazement in their eyes.

I ran home and packed the rest of the left-over rice in a bag and ran back, left it near an embankment in a village as I waved to the children who would probably find it.  A few days ago I saw a plastic bag of bread rolls in the garbage pail in the kitchen, I was tempted to retrieve them to give to the dogs or birds. Often food is being thrown away unnecessarily in Shire House. Living in a walled-in compound we often forget that outside our artificial world live many people who are perpetually hungry.  Children walk to school probably with hungry stomachs, a few lucky ones suck on a mango when mangoes are in season.  

As I ran with the children, some yelling from the village ”Mzungu” , I started to teach them to chant ”Akuda”(Chichewa for Black People).  The grown-ups sitting outside their huts just laughed and waved.