Mzuzu

English below

Streszczenie: Mzuzu to trzecie największe miasto w Malawi. Ma ponad 200 tys. mieszkańców, czyli mniej więcej jak Radom. Wagę miasta podkreśla fakt, że jest tam uniwersytet - jeden z dwóch w Malawi. W Mzuzu są też dwa lub trzy skrzyżowania ze światłami. Byłam zaskoczona, że samochody i ludzie zazwyczaj zatrzymują się na czerwonym.

Mzuzu is the third largest city in Malawi. It has over 200 000 inhabitants - just like Radom. It's importance highlights the fact that there is a university (one of two universities in Malawi). Mzuzu has also two or three crossroads with traffic lights (called "robots" in Malawian English). Surprisingly, cars and passants often stop at red light.

There is no public transportation in Malawi in the form we know from Europe. If you need to get to some place where you don't want to walk to (for example, because it's too far or it's night), you can take a matola (shared taxi; a close cousin of Russian and Ukrainian marshrutkas), a bike taxi or a regular taxi (ten times more expensive than other means of transportation but the only available in the night).

The house I stayed at was far from city center (over an hour of walk). I was driven to and from work and often could get a lift when someone from the house went to the center, but at other times, I had to use the remaining means of transport.

I walk from the house to a place where matolas and bike taxis can be caught.

Everywhere in Mzuzu and around you saw cut trees and devastated forests.

At the sheds in the background you can buy basic supplies: vegetables and air time (scratch cards used to top up pre-paid phones)

 

Bike taxi - very popular in Mzuzu

 

Mzuzu residential area Chimaliro seen from the bike taxi

Chimaliro. The best viewing point was ahead but I did't dare to make pictures there - the driver rode so fast that I had to use my both hands to hold.

The best viewing point captured another time - from a car. There is a single mountain rising from the line of the horison (just above the road).

A line to a fuel station. There is fuel crisis in Malawi, especially in the Northern Region (which is far from the political center of the country). Sometimes there is no fuel at fuel stations at all for several days. A black market for fuel has developed.

The line of cars was a kilometer long or so

The main market

Mzuzu - the main market is behind this wall

Suahili market

Suahili market. There are no mirrors at shops. Whenever I wanted to check whether the colors suit me, I asked my companions to make me a picture.

Suahili market - a stand with hair extensions and wigs. I was shocked to learn that the Africans cannot grow their hair long. I was explained, their hair is either so curly that it becomes impossible to comb when it's longer, or (if treaten with chemicals that streighten the hair) it falls off before it becomes long. The poor keep their hair short. The the wealthier treat their hair with chemicals and buy wigs or extensions. Extensions are plot to the natural (straightened) hair at hair saloons. You can buy hair of different style (straight, curls etc.) and color (from black to blonde, sometimes with highlights). As contrast, Malawian men wear just one hairstyle: short. Men are not used to have longer hair because until recently (when another president ruled) it was against the law for man to have long hair.

 Bao. Very often played by vendors during quiet times (ie. for most of the day). I met only one Westerner who said he managed to understand the rules (but he had already forgotten them).

Mzuzu - city center

Mzuzu - city center

Mzuzu - city center

Mzuzu - city center. What the lady carries on her back is not a backpack but a baby.

Mzuzu - city center

Small market near my office

An entrance to the hardware market. You see vendors selling scratch cards to top up pre-paid mobile phones - the most common type of mobile phones. You also see a public payphone. Malawi has surprisingly well developed telecom infrastructure (better than neighbouring countries, as my guidebook says).

A painting on a pre-school building

An inscription on a pre-school building. Malawians, like all Africans, are religious. Religion is strongly present in their language (they seem to be more thankful to and have more trust in God than most Europeans), habits (many times I witnessed a prayer before a meal or before a workshop etc.). A common question when you meet new people is "what church do you go to?". Malawians accept other confessions than their own, even if many of them find funny the idea that one can believe in more than one god or in animistic religions (despite the fact that there are Malawians of animistic religions). Yet my guidebook says they would find it hard to accept someone who does not believe in god at all.

Pieces of broken glass on the top of a fence - a popular Malawian anty-theft solution