Greetings from Malawi’s Northern Highlands,
There is an expression in chitumbuka (a main language in northern Malawi) that you often hear in northern Malawi, “pachoko pachoko.” Pachoko pachoko means little by little at it is an essential attitude to adopt here in Misuku. Everything seems to progress little by little, and when you look back it is amazing to see how far things have come. Work, transportation, and adapting to a new culture all seem to happen little by little, but it all adds up.
The coffee is beginning to ripen here in the highlands and people here in Misuku are becoming busy with harvest. Most of the coffee will be ripe in August and September, and that is busiest time of year here, however, coffee does not ripen uniformly so the coffee picking begins in early June and continues throughout September. Picking coffee is definitely not easy work. Care must be taken when picking to make sure that only ripe cherries unaffected by insects and disease are harvested. Farmers are paid much less for overripe or unripe coffee berries (unripe coffee is a called a berry, ripe coffee is referred to as coffee cherry) and insect damaged or diseased coffee than for ripe cherries. After picking the ripe coffee cherries a farmer may then have a long walk to the nearest pulpery, depending on how close they happen to live to the nearest pulpery. Once the coffee cherries arrive at the pulpery it must then be sorted to remove any unripe or overripe cherries, as well as any insect damaged or diseased cherries before it can be processed.
No matter how busy people are here, they usually find time on Wednesday to head to Misuku Center, which is the main townsite here in Misuku Hills. Wednesday in Misuku is market day, and Misuku Center looks much different on market day. On any other day of the week you will see only a handful of people selling produce in the market, but on market day you will find dozens of people selling various types of produce and other products. After going to the market most people will then stay for the football (soccer) matches. There are usually two matches and football here is always a big event. After every goal fans of the scoring team will rush out onto the pitch (field) in celebration as the teams line up to resume play. There is one problem with football here in Misuku, there is nowhere flat enough for a proper pitch. Even the main football pitch in the center of town is on the road, and when the ball goes out of bounds it usually ends up rolling down a fairly steep slope. Of course people here have a solution, keep two balls at all times, so as someone runs to fetch the ball that has rolled who knows how far play can continue. The league finals took place the other day, and it was quite the event. It was the most people in the main Misuku town center yet. On most days you only see a few dozen people in town, but there were hundreds watching this game. Good times were had by all.
The beans are beginning to ripen here, and Misuku beans are particularly tasty because of the cold mountain nights. I am looking forward to the promise of many delicious meals to come.
Pachoko pachoko,
Preston
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