On March 16 at 5:30 AM we received our first phone call from Jake. After scratching myself a little I answered and heard,"Daaaaaaaaad-call me right back,the number is 0112659297708." I did this right away, and to make a long story short did it for 4 more days getting nothing but%^%$$^%$$ and then either a busy signal or "mailbox unavailable"......
I decided to share this joy with Jake's adoring sisters and after 3 days heard back from them that they were giving up. Even Tony Paul got into the act and tried to get through. What a guy !
Finally on March 20 at 6:00AM EST I got through, and of course the first words out of Jake's mouth were" Daaaad-- why didn't you call me back?"Jake then explained that receiving calls is very iffy over there, like if he moves from one end of the bed to another etc. He sounds great ! 20-30 kids follow him all day long as he plays the harmonica since he is really the first white man they've ever seen and I guess they like him. Just hope the pied piper of Dedza doesn't lead the children of the village to the river full of crocodiles. He also told me that his host family is great. The mom gets up and boils water for Jake's bath every morning. Just imagine the fire and the amount of water she has to manage. Jake says though that the wood is free since the father is a lumber jack. He makes $1.20/month doing this. And I suppose we're importing the wood here and exporting the same kind back to them so we can dump it and force our import prices down. What a world ! He says the food is pretty good; being very natural etc., but there isn't much variety nor much quantity.He also told me the Malawian people are not only friendly, but all seem to have an ingrained sense of humor like holding up a banner that read, "Welcome to Mali " when they arrived at their training location. They also get a big laugh out of all the trainees running to the bathroom all day long. Jake says he'll be located between the 2 national parks in the North near Rumpi and with nearest city being Mzuzu. The director told him it's a choice assignment and has hooked him up near a couple of schools so he may be able to teach some. His mom got into one of those traditional Ghiselli conversations, which she most likely won't share, but all in all Jake's doing great.I'm looking into gorillamobile. com as a phone service. If anyone checks it out or knows something please bring that info. forward. Bye from Hunterdon County. Califon Dad
WHERE WERE YOU SCRATCHING YOURSELF?
Posted by: sarah at March 23, 2004 03:23 AMI hope he is doing well in that interesting country :)
Posted by: Aidas at March 23, 2004 03:43 PMSo good to hear all is well in settling in-look forward to hearing more and will write more when I settle in up here in Humboldt County. Right now taking a break from an 80 mile "March To The Mattole" with the tree sitting-tree hugging Earth Firsters to call attention to Maxxam's unsustainable logging practice. actually an interesting contrast and juxtaposition to your experience with wood and timber harvest in Malawi. I'm sure that much that is being done here is very much applicable to overthere. Basically it is a matter of sustainable timber harvesting versus unsustainable and accompanying destruction of watersheds and other ecosystems. It's hard to stop it here and I imagine even harder to stop it there as companies seek to maximize their profits at everyone elses expense.
I've moved in with Avram here in Arcata and will be dividing my time between Muir Beach and here pretty much. Humboldt County is very reminiscent of the bay area in the 60's. Lots of activism and progressive ideas-the other night over a 1000 people showed up at a city council meeting to protest siting a natural gas terminal at humboldt Bay harbor and the next day the company withdrew their application.
Not that all is entirely well here as logging companies and loggers are easily upset about any threats to employment where jobs are in short supply. I will go on another time but now I have to get back to the last few days of the march. The other night as we camped for the night a local rancher threatened to bull doze us in our tent if we didn't get out of there-marching through some of these small towns reminds me of the civil rights stuff in the south.
Still thinking of visiting you early fall so stay well and keep up the good work!
All the best,
Gerald