We Rested
Today was probably the hardest day for the team. As you can see from the photos, It was absolute torture. Team members spent the day lounging by the pool, shopping at the local market and (for some of us), getting a massage.
In truth, it was a much needed day of rest, but even as we rested and relaxed, I remind myself that my life of privilege is what allows me to be here. Well, that and all the generous donors who contributed to the Malawi fundraiser I had— THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!
In other positive news, there is a non-profit group staying at the hotel known as CYECE (Centre for Youth Empowerment and Civic Education). (Website: www.cyecemw.org)
Their mission is to promote Children’s Rights, Youth Sexual Reproductive Health Rights and Youth Empowerment.
One of their areas of focus it to teach young women (especially those who come from a history of violence and sexual assault) about Reproductive rights (i.e. that they should not be pressured into having sex, and that they can choose IF and WHEN to have children).
They also focus on encouraging proper boundaries, as well as in teaching both the Young men and young women to support a woman’s right right to say “no.”
We watched them on the beach this afternoon, and they played a game that involved all the boys and girls standing intermixed in a big circle holding hands. As part of the game, a boy would be chasing the girl. And everybody in the circle was supposed to protect the girl by keeping the boy out of the circle (if she was inside of it) or keeping the boy inside getting out of the circle (if she was on the outside of the circle). I especially liked how they all cheered once when he was not able to break through the scircel (from without or fromqoutside it. The game was a way to demonstrate the power of positive peer pressure and how we should all stand up for th rights of girls.women to be safe, unharnessed and free from sexually predatory behavior.
Other news:
Apparently, I need to work on my interpersonal skills since I had an argument with the locals who were selling their goods. 🤷🏽♀️
Here, at least when it comes to the trinkets, bowls, carvings and such, the price is all about negotiation. They start high and you have to negotiate them down to a price that’s fair and reasonable for each of you (usually about 1/2 of what they initially offered). I did not know this when I first saw them setting up their wares on the beach at the hotel. I’ve been asking them to put various requested items to the side (if they were still available) and yesterday afternoon, I started trying to negotiate the prices from the original (seriously overpriced) amounts, telling them that I’m trying to buy a LOT of items for a lot of people with limited $$. They refused to come down on the price for a lot of things, and I was starting to lose my patience. The only reason I didn’t want to walk away completely is because we already had an ATM run and one hour at the street market earlier this week.
(The street market was a whole lot of other vendors, and it was a cluster of tents all along a roadway. We were give one hour to do all our shopping, told to negotiate prices (their first price is always highway robbery), and that many vendors had very similar items. I was able to pick up a few items at that time, but not enough to meet everyone’s requests, and the beautiful artwork I had shared was from this particular group of beach salesmen, who set up outside on the beach by the hotel.
In any case, words were exchanged, I refused to be bullied into outrageous prices (especial after finding the market was so much more competititve in pricing). In then end, some additional items were purchased, but we all got so fed up with each other that I had to take the few items I procured and walk away. Some of you may be disappointed and I am sorry for that. I had known there would be so much interest in their wares, I would have gotten more $$ from the ATM and brought more US dollars!
The good news is that Evangelia did some buying on my behalf, and I repaid her via Venmo, and I am hoping to get some more items before we leave early Friday morning (at which time we will be heading to our Safari!)
