Living room set made of Cane (Rattan)

We finally got a living room set. These kind of cane furniture are very popular in this country. We bought this 3 pieces from a street vendor.

They just piled up the chairs, sofas, tables by the side of a road. I am sure they are covered with dust. Jim says they stay there for a couple of days for sale and move to the next spot. They sleep with those pile of furniture on the road. It is not easy......

We paid 31,000 KM ($220) for 3 pieces with dust! We need to put some burnishing on. We just carried them from the street.

They are generally stable and hard. I am excited to make some cushion for them!

Now I will be able to invite my friends to our flat.

Blackout is a part of African life

Blackout! We are not be surprised. It's a part of African life. It happens 2~4 times a week, normally in the evening around 5:40 pm or early morning sometimes. It takes 2~5 hours to recover.

We had 2 huge generators when we were in Chad because blackouts happened everyday. We had to get used to the generator's roar like subways. We appreciated the generator for our computers, printers, and fans. (Our office did not have AC and the room temperature was 39C plus. ) Sometimes the blackout lasted 24 hours and a week. We had to stop running the generator for avoiding the overheat. We had sweltering dinner in the dark and long hot nights. That was the life in Chad.

Here in Malawi, we don't have a generator in this flat. We have to live in this situation. My husband, Jim created simple movable lights with a long cable．These lights can be operated on electricity stored in a battery which he bought. When I cook dinner I bring it in the kitchen. When we eat dinner, we bring it in the dining room. Such a handy tool! When the power is out, candle lights blink on up and down in the neighbors' rooms but our light is the quickest and brightest! I am very proud of Jim.

Our cooking stove requires electricity. The first month we arrived in this town, we just ate salad for dinner because I could not cook. Now we got a propane tank for blackout cooking. It is just like an indoor BBQ.

I stat preparing dinner around 4 PM because of the unlucky 5:40 pm. I learned some tips. Cook when I can cook and defrost when I can defrost! This is the life in Africa!

My mac and me

I am still struggling with my sore throat which started the end of April. I can't believe it but it comes back again and again. I had been feeling good last 3 days then went to the local market yesterday. My sore throat came back the afternoon now I am really sick again.

Another bad news is that my Macbook is sick too. I am updating this page with my Mac actually but sooner later will stop working. I re-installed the system last week because my Mac could not start up. I tried everything I could do then I re-formatted. BUT! Now my disk utility says "a fatal hardware error....."

It means I can't fix it any more. I have to replace the hard drive. I am shocked.

Good news is that I found a repair shop which my husband brought in his laptop today because of a virus problem. I did not expect but just in case I asked if they work for Mac. "Yes!"

I am going to bring in my Macbook to replace the HD.

I don't know how long does it take because they have to order it for me.

Me sick, and my Mac sick. I will not be able to update my blog for a while..............pray for me guys.

Too bad......

By the way, I will be able to check my e-mail from Jim's laptop. I can even read Japanese !

Finally finally my sore throat has gone!     I feel like lost a lot of my muscle because I almost did not go out for a month.  Now I have plenty of energy to go out.

Now what?   My MacBook got sick.   It stopped working since I had tried to open a PDF file from Japan.   I don't know why but it happened.   I was thinking to take my data back up a couple days ago but I DID NOT.   I have not made it since last October.   Outch!

Fortunately Jim has 2 laptops right now, I borrowed one of them and I did reserch to solve the problem.   I could see the desktop for  5 seconds then the screen went back to the sign in page.    I panicked. 

Day 2, I tried everything I could do following to the Apple web page.   Try this, this, this, then this.   I did a safe boot then I could reach the desk top.    THANK YOU!   I was just flustered to make back up as much as possible.  

Now I need to solve the problem but the problem seemed getting worse and worse.   

I had decided to make re-install the system.   I did it!    

Oh, my god, it stooped at the 2nd disc.   It could not go forward nor go back.   I could not do any thing.  I was at a loss.  

Day 3,  I was just stressed too much and woke up 5 am.  I was at a panic stage.  I forgot to eat breakfast but I started to work on my mac.   I was just afraid I could not use my laptop until December?   I resrched a closest Apple store.  Hmmm, I was pretty sure there was no Apple store in this country.   Kenia? or South Africa?    Did I have to bring in my mac?

I almost gave up to try the troubleshooting actions but I inserted the first disc one more time.   WOW!   It went through!!!!

I could see the choice for the re-installation.   I immediately chose the erase and install option so that I could get plenty of space on my hard drive.    I did same thing hundred times before but  it did not allow me but now I made it!   I did not know why.

Thank you thank you thank you!   I succesfully re- install the system.   I know I probably lost some files photos, musics but 

Reversible Aprons

I bought local pattern fabric and made aprons. These are reversible! I can find very interesting fabric at market. 2 m = 400 Kwacha ($2.8) I am thinking to make more!

A Frog

I found this guy at our balcony.   

Tomo  : "Hey, how did you get here?   You look so white, actually yellow!"

Frog    : "You, too!"

Hamburger or Hamburger Steak?

I have been sick for a month.   I got this sore throat since the end of April.   I went to a clinic 2 times but  anti-biotic medication did not work for my throat.   Desperate Tomo........

My house keeper was drafted by my husband for his work.   I totally agree to his idea because she is very smart!    She is deserved to have a promotion.   Congratulations!

Now, I can see the pile of laundry.   I had tried a couple of times but I got a strained back (gikkuri goshi in Japanese) and made my cough worse.   Because we don't have a washing machine!   We don't have a bathtub either.   We have to do it in the shower room with 2 plastic  washtubs.   This activity makes my body cold and drenched.   I miss American washing machines and dryers.   

My husband took good care of me.  I was too sick to prepare meals sometimes.  

He cooked for me.   Here are the weekend lunch and dinner he made for us.

 "A hamburger for dinner?"  I don't blame you for being surprised if you are a Japanese.  

I thought exactly same feeling when I got married.   I mean 8 years ago.   Japanese people eat hamburger steak (hamburg!)  with steam rice for dinner.  They like to eat  hamburgers (with bun) for lunch, not dinner.   NEVER!  

There is really not much difference between hamburger steak and hamburger.  Only one thing I found that Japanese hamburgers contain onion but American hamburgers are 100% beef almost always!

Me?   I cook hamburger steak for dinner (with steam rice) and I enjoy Jim's burger for lunch or dinner!   "Give me another one, darling!"   Feel like that.

Even I had a bad sore throat, I did not lose my appetite at all.     

I enjoyed Jim's burger and thinking about this topic on the bed.

 I think I am getting better!

The day I lost my voice

I had been struggling to make 6 tapestries for Jim’s new office.  When I finished 4 of them, I got sick. I completely lost my voice.  It was the worst sore throat ever.   I had to stop my project because of fever.
I drove our Land Rover by myself to see a doctor.    It was a first experience to go to a clinic in this country.    Dr. John Jones, I was referred to see him by one of our American friends.

What puzzled me most was that I did not have voice at all.  I barely communicated with the receptionist.  She understood that I wanted to see Dr. Jones.

I was told to wait in the waiting room near the reception.  I was a good patient! Sitting QUIETLY there for a long time. Patients were c

alled one by one in order and disappeared to the next room.

Something wrong? I waited for 90 minutes then the person who came after me called.  ???????? 

Was I skipped?

Ended up I went to the reception but I had no voice.  How could I explain my frustration.I just used my body language and desperately complained that persons after me were called but me, I was waiting too long!  I realized that my intention was so clear to me but people listening to me could hear just air sound from my mouth.

Crazy asian women was complaining badly (m

e!).  She frowned at me but she started checking something.

She found my file!  It was sent t

o the next room without me.  She said that I should have waited in the second waiting room.  Thank you!  My desperate action made little progress.

Finally a doctor called me!  She was obviously not Dr. John Jones but I did not mind.  She looked very nice and understood that I did not have voice and that was why I was there.
She looked at my file and immediately said, “ Hmmm, you have high blood pressure!”    “????????”    I lost my voice.   NO! I had already lost my voice.  HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE?

I looked into my file on her desk. It was my name on it and .......I found that 88KG wight and 180/120 blood pressure on my file.  ????????????
I was upset but I could not explain.   I tried to tell her 

that this was not my records and nobody checked my wight and blood pressure that day.  She double checked with me that it was my file but not my data.

She checked my wight and blood pressure by herself.  Well, my wight was ??Kg and 100/70 blood pressure. Now I got happy face! ; >

But she was wondering who was the 180 high blood pressure woman?  The doctor called all her assistants who were checking pe

rsonal data but nobody knew who was treated under Tomo Campbell’s name.

Well, it was frustrating experience and I learned how hard to communicate without my voice.  I don’t understand my husband English time to time but at least I can say something.

I was quiet for a while. Now I need to catch up.
Are you ready to hear my complaining again, darling? ( just joking. I am always quiet! )  Actually I miss what was my sexy voice though.

Here are the last 2 tapestries I've just finished. 

Feed the Children Inc. Opening Ceremony!

We had a "Feed the Children Inc." official office opening ceremony on May 11.

It took us 4.5 months to start a new NGO from scratch.

 The Feed the Children Vice President for International Program joined us from Oklahoma.   

This office locates 10 minutes from our home and in a 3 stories building containing other NGO offices.   Jim bought a lots of second hand desks and tables for this office and fixed them.   The room looks little dark and depressing.    Jim asked me to make 6 tapestries and curtains which were enough to make me keep busy last 2 weeks.     

More than 10 guests joined us.   They work for ministry or other NGOs.  They are very nice people and we will work together.    

Jim and his boss cut the ribbon.   One of my friends KAORU san, she is a nutritionist and helping Jim's project as a volunteiar  and her busband who works for JAICA joined us, too.  

The beautiful bouquet they brought for us added an extra touch to the ceremony !   

 Jim starts working in this office officially as a country director.  Several people have already stopped by for applying positions.   

Now he needs good staff to work with and make a good team.  

I pray that  "Team Campbell" is getting off the ground and expand in this country!

Me?   I just devote myself as Jim's Cheer Leader and a graphic designer!

Acrylic Paint

Jim and I went to Blantyre again.  

I bought an Acrylic  paint from a street vendor.   The price negotiation started from 5,000 MK ($35.7) and went down to the half ($17.8).

This is a big size paint on a canvas, 124cm x 64 cm size.

This black flame is an image which I made it with my illustrator.  I want to make a tapestry like this since I bought a sewing machine!!!!!!

I want to hung it in my living room.

Business Card B

This is another design of my business card!

He is the model, Mr. Came!

My business Card

I designed my business card today!   I call myself a Graphic Designer.  

This motif came from a Gecko which lives in my house.    I took his photo with my digital camera and made a silhouette with Illustrator.   That's because I am not good at drawing pictures.

This guy is going to debut in the public!

Vita Meal distribution days

 
Jim and I went to Ntcheu which is a medium size town, 10,000 people live, 2.5 hours drive from our place for Vita Meal distributions. We drove a rental pickup truck loaded with 1000 kg Vita Meal. (Vita Meal is porridge powder made of soy beans, corn, vitamins and minerals.)
During this 2 nights 3 days trip I had an opportunity to look at Malawians’ real village life closely. That’s because we got a strong supporter, named Naomi (Malawian) who had worked for Save Orphan Ministries cooperated with us for local development projects. She was coordinated our distributions with 7 community based child centers this time. Also she is the only woman who is running a parliament election coming next month. She has a strong belief to help local children and village people because she knows the real problems they are facing. Her sister and her husband past away and their 3 children are survived. Orphans, food shortage, water, school, clinic, all these are not the problems of opposite shore but everyday’ challenge for people in Ntcheu. 　Naomi, she stands up and devotes herself to make changes for poeple.Naomi invited us to her house for meals because there was no place to eat in the town. We had nsima and fish for dinner. That was a typical Malawian meal. Village people don’t eat much meat or eggs because they are not afford to buy them. They eat nsima (made of corn), potatoes, tomatoes, beans, carrot, and pumpkin.
My husband little worried about our accommodation situation in Ntcheu because my standard is little bit higher than his. Naomi booked 2 nights for us. I assume that place was the best in the town. It costed us $7/night though. A good news was there was a flush toilet and a shower in the room. That was great but there was not a toilet seat. It was the only problem for 2 nights stay for me but I know this kind of problem which I had undergone many times at Paris. We just need strong abdominal muscles! Poor Jim, he drove all day on unpaved roads and the end of the day told me that he had been sick. He had fever.

Next morning, we were back to Naomi’s house for breakfast. She prepared some bread, french fries, and tea for us. I enjoyed them but Jim told me that he flicked a big cockroach sitting in the bread saucer. Thank you for telling me after I ate the bread.
I used her toilet at her house. There was no toilet paper but several pieces of newspaper on the floor. She does not spent her own money for toilet paper but pipes for village well. I asked myself if I could do that. Unfortunately nope... I could give up soy source desperately but I would cling to toilet papers badly.
7 places distribution during 2 days was not easy for me. We were totally worn out but their warm-hearted welcome hospitality we got at each center encouraged us a lot.
Now their songs I've heard come back to my brain over and over when I see this video.I do respect Naomi’s dedication, passion and want to thank her for her big supports.

I love this MAN

I love this Man.   I can't live without him........  I love you so much!

Here are 2 different Soy Sauces.   The first one is a Chinese brand soy sauce which I don't even know how to read the name and the other one is  "KIKKOMAN."   

I tried not to buy the Kikkoman because it is so expensive.  

(I bought it in Chad!)

I can tell that 592 ml unknown Chinese soy sauce is exactly same price as 150 ml of Kikkoman.  It costs me about $3.0.

I was cooking without my favorite Kikkoman for 3 months in this country but 

finally I gave up! 

I bought a pocket size KIKKOMAN (150ml) and tasted it.   Oh, my god!   It's so good!  This is the soy sauce and this is the taste of home!    I love it so much!

Now I decided to buy a big size bottle of KIKKOMAN no matter how much it costs me.   

I do need it, darling!

I am a loyal customer of KIKKOMAN!!!!!!!   LOVE YA!

A tall palm tree we can see every morning when we take a walk.

It looks beautiful.   It's almost too beautiful and too perfect.

I believed it's a well grown palm tree but it wasn't.

It is a cell phone tower made of a fake palm tree.   Well done Malawi!

Morning Dew

This is the dew which gave me the idea of my blog title.  

"ASATSUYU" in Japanese.

   

EDAMAME

Do you know “EDAMAME”? Did you know that Edamame is young Soybean? In other words Edamame is immature soy bean. To my surprise, not many countries eat soy bean as Edamame. If you live in America, you probably tried it at Sushi restaurant. They serve Edamame as one of the appetisers. Some people just buy Edamame to go at sushi bar or you can buy frozen one at store.
Edamame is a very popular food in Japan. We, Japanese love to eat Edamame with beer. That is the best combination for hot summer. I remember that my mom bought back a Edamame branch from a store and I helped to pick the pods when I was a small girl. She just boiled them quickly and put some salt on them. The picture of Edamame in a colander with steam makes me feel nostalgic.
Now I am in Malawi, my scientist husband who loves Edamame has a passionate idea to introduce Edamame to Malawi. Good new is Malawi grow soy bean already and we can buy dried soy beans at stores.
Have you ever concerned how much energy you need to cook your dinner tonight? To cook Thanksgiving turkey, probably need 5 hours oven energy. NO! NO! NO! In this country people use wood or charcoal for cooking and cooking time is very serious. I can see women carrying a enormous tree root which is just digged out from the ground put it on the head and bring it home. If I do that, I would not cook a turkey but a ear of corn.
Edamame could be a good food for Malawi people especially kids because lots of nutrition, quick cooking, everybody loves. Elementary school kids bring farming tools to school because the school has a garden and students grow veggies. Preschools (Child Centers) have gardens too. They grow corn, tomatoes, peanuts but time to time they are short of food. Jim’s idea is Edamame could be a supplementary food for schools and families.
I went to a sewing class yesterday and my teach (Japanese) asked us, “Anybody want to buy Edamame?” It made me surprised. She has already tried to grow them at her garden. Wow! They grow well! She says that they can pick them in 4 months and could be 4 times crops a year. That is a good news. She already proved it. She taught her house keeper how to grow Edamame and helps him to make extra money. It is a wonderful idea!
Some people are skeptical about Jim’s idea. But when corn was introduced into this country from America, who expected that this vegetable would be a main food for Malawian in the decades later.
Someone needs to try a new thing!

Peanuts Seller

We saw a guy selling peanuts on the street. It was around 7 am. I was pretty sure his spot was a good place for his business because near a mini bus station ( a station but there was nothing). Many people were getting in and out of the buses. This was a typical African rush hour. Jim and I were taking a morning walk at Blantyre that morning and pushed our way through the crowd.

I was staring at his table made of a stone unconsciously because of the simplicity. There were 6 bags neatly piled up 3 bags each. I could guess probably there were 20~30 peanuts in each bag.
When we returned, we decided to buy his peanuts. It was 10 kwacha per bag. That equals to $0.07/ bag. There were 6 bags on his table. I was thinking how many bags he could sell. Maybe he hid 100 more bags somewhere we could not see or he just had 6 bags only (I hope not). This is life in Malawi.

Chameleons!

I don’t like reptiles. But! I pet Chameleons.
We can find them easily in this country. I can say that I almost like Chameleon now!
Look! He is on my hand!

Child Care Centers

I am back! We kept using internet at home and we used up all credit. It just likes phone cards.

We visited a local NGO named “Save Orphans Ministries" last week. Their office is located in a suburbs of Ncheu 2.5 hours drive form our place. We left home at 7 am. This NGO is taking care of local child care centers. The staff took us to 3 local feeding centers that day. We visited several centers before but most of the time the kids went home. The early bird was fully rewarded to see the children this time.
The centers are taking care of pre-school age children include orphans and kids HIV positive. My husband askes this question every visit, “How many orphans come in this center?” It made me surprised that the leader repeated that question directly to the kids in a local language. I didn’t know how he asked the kids but one boy stood up among the 60 kids. I understood he is the orphan. It was too pitiful for me to see. The leader told us there were more orphans in the group but I think they hesitated to tell us or they did not understand the question or they call their foster parent a (biological) parent. A good thing is orphans are taking care of locally. It means if the both parent past away, normally someone in the relative takes care of the child. The children come to the child center every day and eat, play, and learn. Even the family can not feed the kids enough, at least they can eat food at the center.
It was a feeding time! We observed how they eat food. The volunteer people prepared porridge on plates which has 2 spoons. The plates were served on the floor directly. Which is pretty normal and the kids came into the room and sat down. Now I understood why one plate had 2 spoons because 2 kids share one plate. I asked if the porridge contains some sugar. Yes, it does. The child slowly moved spoon to the mouth.
This day’s visits reminded me of my brother’s school. My brother and his wife run a preschool in Japan. The kids are exactly same ages. Here Malawi, the volunteer teachers, one center we visited just have 2 teachers take care of 80 kids and they showed me the teaching materials. I know both countries kids doing same things; learning numbers and alphabets. Nothing wrong with both places but they are the exact opposite. I saw a puzzle made of old card board cut in 3 peaces. All other materials were made of recycled staffs such as plastic bottles, potato sacks, rocks. etc. Wow! all staffs they use normally I throw away.........

“Life is not fair,” of course! But this was not my conclusion of that day.
Seeing children in a opposite situation aroused mixed feelings in me.

We can use internet at home but of course it is not free.   We need to buy credit just like a telephone cards.    If we use it too much, our credit is over.

We were supposed use this credit for  a couple of months but we used up already.  

Now we are in a hotel lobby near our place.   We logged in

Bare foot kids I met

Jim and I visited a community based child care center with a guy works for Women and Child development ministry.   It locates only 20 k from Lilongwe downtown but we drove on the bumpy condition roads.   The both sides of the road were maize (corn) field which almost have harvest time.

We saw an article that Lilongwe city forbids sales of green maize (corn).   This rule is to prevent people stealing maize.

As recently as yesterday, people could pick young corns from the field easily and sold them on the road but we don't see them any more.   I mean we can see them but no more maize sales. 

The center is operated by mostly volunteer people and take care of small village children.  They had a special meeting that day which local centers' leaders got together.  They welcomed us nicely and took us a tour.    They have chickens for eggs, cows for milk and they have new shower rooms which just finishing construction.  The one of the leaders said, " These toilets are probably the best toilets in this area.  People don't have a toilet but they use a pit toilet or go to bush."   These flush toilets are innovative things for them.   

We had a meeting with the leaders and the kids all together.   First we asked the leaders about the current problems they are facing at their each center.   They told us a bunch of problems.   They don't have transportation when someone need to urgent medical care, they don't have enough food and blanketsfor children, people who taking care of orphans are too poor to feed them, there are discrimination against HIV positive kids, etc.

Next we asked the kids about their own problems.   They are about 1~10 years old and little shy but one by one raised their hands and hesitated a little but I felt that they wanted to tell us something.   One boy said, "Sometimes we don't have food."  The other boy said, "We don't have shoes, that's why bare foot."    Scarcely they finished their words, the others bursted into a laugh.   You know, their laugh saved my heart.  The admirable children siting bare foot in front of me, they were telling us their critical problems with big laugh.   

We told them that we could not promise to make changes by tomorrow but we would work on and come back here.  We donated some vita-meals for them.   The leader told us that it was a perfect timing because they just run out the food.  

I can't forget these bare foot kids with big smiles.   The kids, they probably could not help laughing because of their circumstances.   

What can I  do for them?  

That is a big question for me.   

I wanted to write down my feeling today..........

We bought a Jackfruit -the largest tree born fruit in the world

From Wikipedia:

The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is a species of tree of the mulberry family (Moracease) native to parts of South and Southeast Asia.  It is well suited to tropical lowlands.  Its fruit is the largest tree borne fruit in the world,  seldom less than about 25 cm (10 in) in diameter.  Even a relatively thin tree, around 10 cm (4 in) diameter, can bear large fruit.  The fruit can reach 36 kg (80 lbs) in weigh and up to 90 cm (36 in) long and 50 cm (20 in) in diameter.

The jackfruit is something of an acquired taste, but it is very popular in many parts of the world.  The sweet yellow sheaths around the seeds are about 3-5 mm thick and have a taste similar to that of pineapple, but milder and less juicy.

Jim and I went to Blantyre this week and we found this fruit on the road.  We paid 300 MK (about$2) for one.   It tastes very sweet.  The texture is different.   Feel like eating custard but smells different.   It is very gooey and like latex which does not come off even we wash. 

A Hamburger Monster

Wow!   Tomo made a monster hamburger!   

And it created a monster.

I will accept your comments.........here.

tomo