August 18, 2009
On Sunday, Jamira was good on her promise to take me to a female initiation ceremony celebration in her village. She had said that we would leave around two so at eleven, I went into town to get more phone credit as well as check my email and hopefully update my blog etc. At the Zain store, I decided to get a new phone since people have been saying that the connection is bad and always sounds windy. The new phone is much improved (and it was cheap as well!). While I was there, I received a phone call from Jamira saying that we had to go NOW! They picked me up there and took me (laptop and all …oops) to the village. On the way, we stopped for water and I even found coke light! One can costs 190 kwacha ($1.30), which is expensive by any standards. Regardless, I was so happy to see my favorite habit that I bought quite a few cans.
When we got to the village, we first went to Jamira’s mother’s house. We found her daughters there and said hi before going to meet and greet many more people. We walked around the village for a while, stopping and chatting with Jamira’s old friends. Most of the conversations were in Yao so I didn’t understand a lot. Then we went to see the
girls, who were getting ready for the ceremony. We found them sitting by the lake eating nsima (like fufu in West Africa or pap in South Africa) and chicken stew. Since they weren’t ready, we went back to the main area of the village. Jamira’s friend fed up rice with chicken stew as well. I didn’t take any of the chicken, but the sauce was delicious. After a while, we went elsewhere and saw other girls (and boys too!) awaiting the celebration. The girls’ heads were covered in sap and they had on sunglasses. They covered their mouths with various things (including money) and avoided eye contact. From my understanding, they were practicing discipline and couldn’t talk to anyone unless someone paid money and spoke to them. The boys were on the other side and had their heads covered and also looked at the floor and avoided eye contact.
I asked Jamira at this point what was involved in female initiation. She indicated again that it was the village teaching the girls how to properly behave. She said that sexual debut was not involved and that this initiation was only practiced in Nsanje. There, she explained, they have three initiations. First, they have the initiation of young girls (8-10) such as this one. When the girls have their first menses, they have a second initiation and this one may include sexual initiation. The third initiation is during first pregnancy and prepares a woman for motherhood. She indicated that for her own girls, she would rather teach them herself and avoid this ceremony. But she also said that many people that live in cities bring their children back for this. When I get back to reliable internet, I want to check this out and see what researchers say about these initiations.
Soon, it was time to celebrate! A group of drummers drummed and sang and a crowd gathered around them. This crowd danced and danced and at a certain point, the drummers moved to another part of the village and the crowd followed, dancing. There were two groups of initiates (led by different elders) so there were two sets of drummers and dancers. In a central location, the girls and elders sat silently. At a certain point, it was time to give money and dance. I had gone to the Zain store and split my large bills into small ones so I was able to give a big stack of bills that were each worth about 14 cents. As you gave
the bills, you danced and soon Jamira and I were getting low and shaking our booties. I was SUCH a spectacle. It is hard to describe the number of people who did a double take when seeing me at this event. Others wanted to dance close to me. Jamira’s oldest daughter Vanessa (age 11) took on the task of chasing away men who got too close.
As we tired and headed back, one of Jamira’s friends approached me and asked how long I had been in Malawi. She wanted to know also if we had these kinds of ceremonies at home. I said that no, we did not and she said that I danced like a true Malawian and that she liked my shape. She even said that I danced better than her. I am sure that she was just flattering me but it was nice to feel accepted in this way.
After the ceremony, we walked back to Jamira’s mother’s house. The
girls (initiates) were there eating rice and drinking Fanta and looked much happier and relieved. We said goodbye and headed back to Mangochi. This was hands down the best day of my trip so far. I got to see something that I doubt many muzungus get to participate in. Sometimes I get tired and frustrated here, but that day made everything feel alright and worthwhile.
After this ceremony, Jamira went to Blantyre to see a specialist about her condition. She was convinced that she was not suffering from malaria and wanted to get checked for many other things. This is important for her but it also puts the project on hold. In the interim, I decided to meet with another of the translators and check his progress on his transcripts. We had an appointment for this morning at 8:00 am but at 8:30, Jean (our supervisor while we are here) came in and said that he had to attend his niece’s funeral and wouldn’t be coming in. So today, I am sitting in our new place, watching TV and drinking tea and trying to get caught up on my blog posts (even though I don’t know when I will have a chance to upload them!) It is a little frustrating to never know what your schedule is going to be and to feel a lack of control over the situation and feel like you’re wasting your time. But, we have plenty of time to complete the study here so I just try to keep that perspective. I should be back in early December so that is also something to look forward to and remember.
On Sunday, Jamira was good on her promise to take me to a female initiation ceremony celebration in her village. She had said that we would leave around two so at eleven, I went into town to get more phone credit as well as check my email and hopefully update my blog etc. At the Zain store, I decided to get a new phone since people have been saying that the connection is bad and always sounds windy. The new phone is much improved (and it was cheap as well!). While I was there, I received a phone call from Jamira saying that we had to go NOW! They picked me up there and took me (laptop and all …oops) to the village. On the way, we stopped for water and I even found coke light! One can costs 190 kwacha ($1.30), which is expensive by any standards. Regardless, I was so happy to see my favorite habit that I bought quite a few cans.
When we got to the village, we first went to Jamira’s mother’s house. We found her daughters there and said hi before going to meet and greet many more people. We walked around the village for a while, stopping and chatting with Jamira’s old friends. Most of the conversations were in Yao so I didn’t understand a lot. Then we went to see the
girls, who were getting ready for the ceremony. We found them sitting by the lake eating nsima (like fufu in West Africa or pap in South Africa) and chicken stew. Since they weren’t ready, we went back to the main area of the village. Jamira’s friend fed up rice with chicken stew as well. I didn’t take any of the chicken, but the sauce was delicious. After a while, we went elsewhere and saw other girls (and boys too!) awaiting the celebration. The girls’ heads were covered in sap and they had on sunglasses. They covered their mouths with various things (including money) and avoided eye contact. From my understanding, they were practicing discipline and couldn’t talk to anyone unless someone paid money and spoke to them. The boys were on the other side and had their heads covered and also looked at the floor and avoided eye contact.
I asked Jamira at this point what was involved in female initiation. She indicated again that it was the village teaching the girls how to properly behave. She said that sexual debut was not involved and that this initiation was only practiced in Nsanje. There, she explained, they have three initiations. First, they have the initiation of young girls (8-10) such as this one. When the girls have their first menses, they have a second initiation and this one may include sexual initiation. The third initiation is during first pregnancy and prepares a woman for motherhood. She indicated that for her own girls, she would rather teach them herself and avoid this ceremony. But she also said that many people that live in cities bring their children back for this. When I get back to reliable internet, I want to check this out and see what researchers say about these initiations.
Soon, it was time to celebrate! A group of drummers drummed and sang and a crowd gathered around them. This crowd danced and danced and at a certain point, the drummers moved to another part of the village and the crowd followed, dancing. There were two groups of initiates (led by different elders) so there were two sets of drummers and dancers. In a central location, the girls and elders sat silently. At a certain point, it was time to give money and dance. I had gone to the Zain store and split my large bills into small ones so I was able to give a big stack of bills that were each worth about 14 cents. As you gave
the bills, you danced and soon Jamira and I were getting low and shaking our booties. I was SUCH a spectacle. It is hard to describe the number of people who did a double take when seeing me at this event. Others wanted to dance close to me. Jamira’s oldest daughter Vanessa (age 11) took on the task of chasing away men who got too close.As we tired and headed back, one of Jamira’s friends approached me and asked how long I had been in Malawi. She wanted to know also if we had these kinds of ceremonies at home. I said that no, we did not and she said that I danced like a true Malawian and that she liked my shape. She even said that I danced better than her. I am sure that she was just flattering me but it was nice to feel accepted in this way.
After the ceremony, we walked back to Jamira’s mother’s house. The
girls (initiates) were there eating rice and drinking Fanta and looked much happier and relieved. We said goodbye and headed back to Mangochi. This was hands down the best day of my trip so far. I got to see something that I doubt many muzungus get to participate in. Sometimes I get tired and frustrated here, but that day made everything feel alright and worthwhile.After this ceremony, Jamira went to Blantyre to see a specialist about her condition. She was convinced that she was not suffering from malaria and wanted to get checked for many other things. This is important for her but it also puts the project on hold. In the interim, I decided to meet with another of the translators and check his progress on his transcripts. We had an appointment for this morning at 8:00 am but at 8:30, Jean (our supervisor while we are here) came in and said that he had to attend his niece’s funeral and wouldn’t be coming in. So today, I am sitting in our new place, watching TV and drinking tea and trying to get caught up on my blog posts (even though I don’t know when I will have a chance to upload them!) It is a little frustrating to never know what your schedule is going to be and to feel a lack of control over the situation and feel like you’re wasting your time. But, we have plenty of time to complete the study here so I just try to keep that perspective. I should be back in early December so that is also something to look forward to and remember.
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