Celebrity Fever in the Veld

Teenagers are the same everywhere, six hours of TV a day or not.

After I spent several days in the city, it was time for me to venture into Malawi's rural areas. I was invited to stay at my friend's site, a mission in the valley below the Zomba plateau. The mission reminded me of a tiny town. It consisted of a main house, a primary school, a secondary school, a maize mill, a youth center, a small vegetable market, a church, and scattered housing for the mission staff.

The schools were the heart of the mission. Seven villages within a 50 mile radius fed into them, so plenty of youth were always running about, doing mission chores, grinding their maize into uffa, or flour, playing soccer, and hanging out waiting for the American visitor to show.

There were two boys in particular who were very curious about what America was like. The tall one, Alex, walked around with a cane although I noticed no limp. I believe it was for style, as he liked to read fashion magazines that mission guests left behind. The second boy said he had three names but mostly went by Arnold because he liked Terminator 2. They asked me lots of questions, most of them about American celebrities.

"Madame from America, do you know Arnold Schwarzenegger? We hear he is a political leader now."

"Yes, he was just elected to be California's governor. And no, I don't know him."

The boys exchanged an incredulous glance. They tried again.

"Well, then, Madame, do you know Jennifer Lopez?"

"No."

They looked at each other again, dismayed.

"Well, then, Madame from America, who do you know?"

I explained that there were lots of other people in America that I knew, like family and friends. They nodded politely, chatted with me some more, and eventually wandered off to find their friends, probably disappointed that I wasn't more socially connected.