back (b)logged: May 31- Chichewa

Hello from my blissfully introverted Friday evening here in Lilongwe.  My housemates have gone to hike Mt Mulanje, the highest mountain in Malawi and I am enjoying the solitude (they're an easy group of people to live with, I am just enjoying the quiet... literally, listening to the crickets chirping outside my window).  It's a long weekend in celebration of Malawi's independence day (July 6th), with 2013 being the 49th anniversary. There are signs at every major round about in town painted in the black, red and green of the Malawian flag.  If I pass one when I'm not the driver, I'll snap a photo and post it.  
Anyway, here's another bit I wrote shortly after arriving in late May. 

There are many languages spoken in Malawi, but the most common two are Chichewa and English.  Hearing Chichewa reminds me of being in Kenya & Tanzania when I was first learning Swahili.  This time around, the rhythm of the words, verbal non-word interjections & expressions, and the physical aspects of communication are already familiar.  It’s a bit discomforting to recognize these trends with the similar visual cues (such as the fresh produce market scene) but not being able to catch the content of the conversations I hear.   I can pick out a handful of words that are similar to Swahili, but largely I feel as though I've reverted back to being a child who has sub-par vocabulary.  A very seriously sub-par vocabulary.
I’ve been told that English is more widely spoken in Malawi than in Tanzania (although this can be dependent on the person’s education level), but I have already noticed the “super omniscience” that comes when I overhear a conversation in English amidst the softer rumblings of Chichewa: the fact that I can understand every English word when I’m not participating in the conversation makes me feel privileged, almost like I shouldn’t be listening.  Maybe I should tune out, but there's a fair amount of Chichenglish spoken by Malawians, so listening for English words is helpful for those conversations too. 

When in the hospital on ward rounds, my lack of facility with the Chichewa language means that my observations about intonation, tone, eye contact, and accompanying physical gestures are the basis of what I can understand from the verbal exchanges between the staff and the patients.  I eventually get a summary version from the physician or clinical officer about what is being discussed, but in a way, it's refreshing to take the first few minutes at a patient's bedside just watching him or her.  I sometimes count the patient's respiratory rate if it looks like the person is having any trouble breathing.  From starting to review patient charts from April & May for my research project, I think respiratory rate wins the prize as the most often neglected vital sign, at least in terms of what is recorded in the chart.
Patients tend to remain quiet when the staff are reviewing their files, not interjecting unless asked a question directly.  Almost always, each patient has a guardian there.  This person is in charge of bringing any food the patient needs outside of the meal the hospital provides, changing the patient's bedding & clothes, going to the pharmacy to buy needed medicines that the ward doesn't have, answering questions to complement the history the patient can provide (which sometimes is minimal if the person is really sick), and hopefully is someone who understands the treatment plan and can help the patient with it.  The guardians can also be a helpful source of information by their mere presence or absence, offering some insight into the patient's social support system.
My interpretation of my observations is slowly becoming more appropriate for how people interact here in Malawi rather than considering them in an American framework.  Overall, people here are incredibly polite.  Sometimes this seems to manifest as patients refraining from asking questions so as not to come across as challenging the doctor's words.  I'm learning that direct eye contact doesn't necessarily signify confidence as it generally can in the US, but can actually show disrespect in some cases.  I anticipate that throughout my time here, I'll come to understand other cues in their local contexts, and will hopefully be able to add those to my bedside observations (and respiratory rate counts).

Will keep on trying to get these posts uploaded, along with some pictures.