So January was not a very good month; February has not been either and to top it off, I had the worst experience thus far in Malawi.
To start off the month, all the volunteers in the South were on “standfast” which means no traveling or leaving your site. There were election activities and rallies in Blantyre and Peace Corps was afraid of riots and violence. We’ve been locked down for 2 weeks, basically prisoners in our villages. I guess we should all be prepared for stuff like this to happen this year since it is election year in Malawi (May 19th).
Then Monday (February 9night, I woke up to chills. Mind you, I live in one of the HOTTEST districts in Malawi. I was shivering and ended up with a sweater and 2 blankets (I haven’t used a blanket since I moved to my house!). On top of that, my body ached badly. With the combination of chills, sweat, and body aches, I did not sleep very well but was too weak to get out of bed. Somehow I managed to fall asleep for a few hours and woke up the next morning feeling worse. I took my temperature and it was at 101.9. I took Tylenol like Jason told me to and started to feel a little better. In Malawi, if you have a fever, you have Malaria. I refuse to believe that I had Malaria since I take my anti-malaria prophylaxis diligently daily, and am in my mosquito net bed before the sun goes down every night. Also, signs of malaria are also signs of a common cold in America. So unless someone took a blood slide from me and checked it under a microscope, I will believe that it was just a cold. It is really sad and depressing to be sick here. Not only are you really are alone but you actually FEEL alone. It worked out well though since Kristen was coming to my house that day (though she’s not allowed to travel). It’s been really nice having her here.
So Wednesday, February 11, 2009 will go into my history book as being the Worst Day in Malawi (so far) ever. Wednesdays and Sundays are market days in my community. Since I haven’t been to Blantyre in about a month, I was running out of food. First thing Wednesday morning, Kristen and I walked to the market. On the way to the market, we took the “shortcut” through the villages and stopped at the chief’s house to say hi. She said to come back to chat with her but I told her I wasn’t feeling well so she said she’d come in the afternoon. We went to the market and bought some fruits and vegetables. Then we walked along the dirt road back instead of going through the villages. We were about 1000 feet from my health center when we saw a woman and 2 young guys (probably between 16-20 years old, a short one and a taller one) in front of us on the road. We continued to chat and walk but slowly catching up to them (Malawians walk slow). All of a sudden, they both started hitting the woman. What the h*ll is going on? I thought. Then they pushed her into the ditch on the side of the road and started to kick her everywhere. They brutally kicked, punched, and stomped on her as she laid there crying. I began screaming and yelling at them, urging them to stop. “Stop! Stop it! It’s not okay! Stop it!” I screamed repeatedly. There were a dozen people around but NO ONE did ANYTHING! I had one thought in my head- Stop these guys from beating this woman. The way they were beating her, she would have died if we ignored it. This poor woman was getting beat and was not defending herself at all. After awhile of screaming with no success, I did what I thought was the only way to stop them. I pushed them. First I pushed the smaller of the 2 off her and he stopped. But the taller one continued to beat her as if we weren’t there. I was so angry and upset that I was shaking. So I pushed him. He got angry and was yelling at us and tried to punch me. Luckily, he missed. The whole time Kristen was trying to stop them also. He also yelled at us, telling us to leave. “Go! You Go! She not your mother!” The woman finally got up since there was a pause in the beating. When she got up, that was when you can see her injuries. Her eyes were bruised and badly swollen. She was bleeding from everywhere- mouth, arms, feet, face. Then she walked across the road crying. They followed her and continued beating her. By then there were about a hundred people that gathered to watch and even more along the road. We followed the woman and continued to stop them from beating her. Kristen pulled the taller guy off the woman and I grabbed her and walked away, towards my health center. I brought her into the clinic so she could get treatment. But the nurse said no. She said that they couldn’t treat the woman unless she had a police report. So they sent her to go to the police without treating her. Oh my god! Are you serious?!
I'm so sad about my community... it's disappointing to know that they would just let someone die while they watched. I talked to my neighbors and the nurse at my health center, asking why people didn't do anything. She told me that i shouldn't have gotten involved. Then i said... what? you would just let her die in the ditch? And the nurse said "if she died in the ditch, it's not your problem." WTF is that about?! I don't care that they think i'm wrong for intervening.. i just couldn't let someone get beat like that and just walk away. I like to think that i was raised better than that. It would be contradictory of me to volunteer my time in Africa to help people if i just walked away from that. I dunno... i'm having a really hard time getting out of bed and facing my community with this newfound knowledge. Hopefully things will get better... or i move.
Update: the woman did come back with a police report and got treatment. i also heard that they went to court and stuff. Apparently the woman is a 2nd wife and those guys beating her were sons of the 1st wife. I really don't care what the reasons are... IT'S NEVER OKAY.
