Flashing is a very annoying habit

A picture of the cell phone credit tables all set up next to each other on just one corner in Blantyre, there will be more just round the corner.

The first time someone said that they would flash me, I was rather taken aback and no this is not what you might be thinking due to the title of this particular missive. Flashing is the very annoying habit of ringing your mobile or cell as they are called out here and then disconnecting before you can answer. The idea being that you call back and use your credit to talk to the person that has flashed you. They even kindly inform you that they will flash you. Cheers. Most people have mobile phones out here, or more often than not two phones. There are two main cell phone providers out here in Malawi, and one of them seems determined to paint the country cerise, the lime green of the other company is not quite so obvious. Depending on whereabouts in the country you are determines who your main provider is, but as with all things, incase one network isn't working to well, you have the other one for back-up. As with all networks it is cheaper to text and call someone who is on the same network as you. I have taken the executive decision though that I am carrying around enough stuff everywhere without having to carry two phones as well.

You can buy phone credit just about anywhere. There are sales tables and chairs everywhere. The strange thing is that you ask for credit in dollars, but pay in kwacha, so you can buy from between 50 cents and 5 dollars worth of credit, and anything in between. You can top up using your bank card as well. (Somethings don't change wherever you are)

So the future is bright, the future is cerise!

The Daily Routine

Our trusty water filter

Am sorted out into a daily routine.

5 am – get up and get ready for work

6.15 – leave home and walk to work, this involves carrying a backpack with laptop, lunch, water, books and change of clothes, and importantly my trusty umbrella.

7.15 – arrive at work and change into clinical uniform once I have cooled off and dried off

7.30 – start work

12 – Lunch

13.00 – continue working

17.00 – home time

18.00 – arrive home

Next couple of hours are taken up with cooking an evening meal, preparing lunch for next day, having a bath if the water is on, and preparing drinking water. This involves boiling numerous kettle loads of water and then transferring the water into the bowl to cool down ready to go into the water filter. Need to filter about 5 – 6 litres a day. This is supposing that there is no interruption of either electric or water supply. If there is then it is just waiting and hoping that it comes back on again. So far this week we have had no water for 2 mornings, and it is only Wednesday. As am out all day at work don't know how long it is being turned off for. We always make sure that we have spare buckets full of water for some essentials though.

20.00 – relax by either reading, computer games, watching a DVD on laptop

21.00 – usually ready for bed by then and go to sleep to the howling/barking dog chorus as a backdrop.

Mini ba loose anyone

Travelling around Blantyre (and most other places in Malawi to be exact) is usually done via the minibus. The above photo shows the main minibus terminus by Blantyre Market. When you first arrive it is quite bewildering trying to work out which minibus to get on, not helped by the fact that my pronunciation of where I live is somewhat different to the way Malawians pronounce it. As you approach the minibuses all you can hear is something something minibaloose eg Limbe minibaloose (Limbe minibus just in case you hadn't worked it out) so all the minibus conductors are shouting out their destinations whilst at the same time the mini bus drivers are beeping their horns. The cacophony of sound is quite deafening. There are however conductors whose sole job it is to make sure that the minibuses get filled up and they get on their way, and they always help you get on to the right minibus once you have correctly pronounced where you are going. The system works and I always get where I want to be or as near as damnit.

So in the early days my minibus conversations would go along the lines of

Conductor : Sister, where do you want to go

Me: Nyambadwe

Conductor: where

Me: Nyambadwe

Conductor: Stares blankly

Helpful other: where are you going sister?

Me: Nyambadwe

Helpful other: translates to bus conductor and I get on minibus

Or alternatively it would go

Conductor: sister, where do you want to go

Me: Nyambadwe

Conductor: Where

Me: Nyambadwe

Conductor: Stares blankly

Me: Nearrandy ( Ndirande - when pronounced it sounds to me like near randy)

Gets on minibus and has to get off further down the road than wanted as didn't really want Ndirande as the turn off is too soon for my road.

Now the conversation goes much more smoothly

Bus Conductor: Sister, where do you want to go

Me: Machinjiri (as I have now found out that this is the minibaloose that stops at the bottom of my road- yeah) – it is only a mile then to my house.

Bus conductor then directs to me to the correct minibus

I get on minibus, and when it is full it goes. As this is the main form of transport there are often people with suitcases, regularly live chickens hanging by their legs from various peoples bags, big plastic bowls, huge bags of charcoal. If it is raining you have no hope of getting on, it is a mass free for all then. There are usually 12 seats but 16-17 passengers. Sometimes the windscreens are intact but more often not, and usually have big cracks in them. To save petrol which is very expensive here, the engine will be turned off whilst going down hill, sitting at traffic lights, waiting to turn out of the road or generally not moving for whatever reason. If you are unlucky the minibus will run out of petrol before you reach the petrol station, and then the conductor has to get out and push. They haven't made us push it yet, and regularly you will need to pull into the nearest petrol station, where upon you all have to get off whilst they get some fuel.

And now when I want to get off, instead of trying to grab the bus conductors attention or get someone else on the bus to translate that I want to get off I just calmly say

Kutsika, and as if by magic the minibus pulls over.

I then try and make a dignified exit whilst trying not to trample over everyone as I am usually at the back, and it is not the done thing to get out of the way, and also to not bump my head on the door as I exit, all at the same time saying pepani (sorry) for stepping on peoples feet, and zikomo (thank you).

Minibaloose anyone!

Internet bliss

Oh what joy, potentially regular internet access at last. One of the things that I miss is being able to log on to the internet whenever you want and it is something that I am seriously looking into, but now that I have started work at the college I am getting regular internet action, all be it on the extremely slow side. Pure bliss, I don't have to walk for an hour to get to an internet cafe from my house, which I can only realistically do at the weekend. Ok technically I am still walking an hour to get onto the internet, but that is the hour it takes me to walk to work, it is not an extra hour on top of that! For the sheer joy of having internet connection I may do an update on a daily basis or not as the case may be. Don't worry I won't keep churning out blog updates, you all need to do some work as well.

I stand corrected

In my previous post I said that Lake Malawi was the 3^rd largest lake in the world, actually it isn't – sorry Lake Malawi. It is actually the 3^rd largest lake in Africa (I knew 3^rd came into it somewhere) and the 10^th largest lake in the world according to Wikipedia.

A little bit of play as well as work - honest

So this last weekend Friday 12th March saw a vast array of VSO'ers gathering at Kande Beach on Lake Malawi. We left at 5am for the 8 hour drive up to Kande. We travelled via the M1 and M5 - sounds very grand, these are just basically main roads, nothing like the M1 and 5 at home, and fortunately nothing like the traffic jams of said home motorways. We had a very good journey up there with two of us sharing the driving. The M1 leads out of Blantyre and then the M5 is the lake shore road. This often becomes single lane as you go over numerous bridges or are trying to avoid suicidal chickens, who would just wander in to the road and then not get out of the way, much to the amusement of local villagers. Beeping your horn would be a big mistake as it just freaks them out and then they are all over the place. We also encountered many curious cattle herds, giddy goats and dangerous dogs - OK the dogs aren't really dangerous but I couldn't think of anything to go at the front of dogs. I have reached my ETC (end of thinking capacity) a useful phrase I learnt at the weekend. The goats were usually tethered but on hearing the car would try and run out in front of it, and you could never be really sure their tethers would hold out in their excitement at seeing a car, and you were never entirely convinced the cows wouldn't just wander across in front of you either. However despite the distance and the obstacles we made really good time and got to Kande in time for lunch and more importantly a swim. We had luckily missed the torrential downpour which formed the mornings entertainment for those who had arrived the day before. The meeting then kicked off in a relaxed fashion at 4pm ish.













How could you not resist a dip in this!

Saturday was a mixture of talks and opportunities to dip in the lake (I keep calling it a sea by mistake as it does seem like that, the lake is absolutely vast, and if I remember my guidebooks correctly the third largest fresh water lake in the world - I stand to be corrected though)

A view down a the beach - water was just glorious - slightly different from Southampton water front!

This is the sunset over Kande Beach on Lake Malawi

As the sun went down we headed for the bar for a post conference get together and some vital bonding over bottles of green. For the uninitiated - bottles of green are bottles of carlsberg with a green label on them! Carlsberg have a massive brewery here in Malawi and it is based in Blantyre. There are opportunities to go on tours around it but they need to be prebooked and you really shouldn't drive there. That wouldn't be a problem as I don't have a car. I thought though that I might save this particular treat for when I have visitors.

Kande Beach is a lovely place to stay and lots of the overland tours stop by there as well, I think they were slightly bemused to see so many people there this time. There are different options for staying, you can rent on of the chalets, stay in the dorm or camp. Fortunately I had a bed as when camping I am like the princess and the pea, and can feel every lump and bump in the ground even when sleeping on 5 mats. Kande would be even better if they could move it a bit closer to Blantyre and then it might be an option for a relaxing weekend. However I am reliably informed there are some equally lovely places on the southern edge of the lake, I am looking forward to finding out and will keep you posted.

Sunday saw us driving back down to Blantyre again, not forsaking a quick early morning dip. We did a slight detour to look further up the coast but missed our turning I think as ended up on the edge of the lake in a road that pettered out but was full of fish. This was probably because it was a fishing port and fish market - no flies on me, there were though on the fish, and the smell factor was quite high, I don't think glade would have cut it.

We eventually made it back home at about 7.45, I think my passengers survived my driving although am not entirely sure as haven't seen them since, but have had text messages, and it is nothing a good massage wouldn't fix.

Anyway it was a great weekend even if we didn't win the quiz night, we came an honorable third though, and yes there were more than 3 teams. It was really good as well to catch up with some of the volunteers and partners in crime that I arrived here with and see how it was all going with them. Sharing housing and settling in stories.

Currently am on my last week of orientation at the hospital and then start working at the college on Monday. It has been really useful working in the hospital and seeing what happens and what kinds of illnesses patients present with here. Some are much the same as in the UK but some are very different, illnesses that is.

Well that's it for today, will up date again soon. x

Martyrs Day

So Wednesday 3rd was a public holiday to celebrate Martyrs Day. The local newspapers all had big supplements discussing Martyrs day and what was important about it. In essence it is celebrating the role of the people involved in uprisings in 1915 and 1957 or as quoted from the Daily Times "Martyrs Day honours the fallen heroes who lost their lives in the struggle for political and economic freedom of Malawi in 1915 and 1957. A lot of firms and individuals had placed notices in the paper which read on the lines of

Martyrs Day

The Chairman,

Board Members,

Management,

and Staff of

(Company name)

Join his Excellency, The State President

Ngwazi Dr Bingu wa Mutharika

and Malawians the world over in

commemorating the works of brave men

and women who carved our history

and secured our rights.

 

 

As volunteers we helped celebrate with a little cocktail party in the pouring rain on Tuesday night. It started raining just as we all left work and didn't stop until it was time to go home. This didn't deter us from enjoying ourselves though and being truly British we sat out on the veranda in the rain. Even those that weren't British joined us mad ones on the veranda, it was covered after all. Someone even brought pizzas!

I celebrated not working this day by buying myself a new umbrella, as the one that I brought out here is ridiculously small and does very little to keep any part of me dry when it is raining. It is a very fine umbrella to, and is very versatile as has a walking stick type handle.

When it rains it is not just any rain but Malawian rain, extremely heavy, and even with an umbrella you are better off taking cover as parts of you will still get soaked. The roads become rivers and often it is so intense that you can't even see to drive.

I also discovered the joys of one of the Hotels out here and spent a very pleasant 3 hours in their lounge using the internet and drinking coffee. The internet connection there was fairly quick and I even managed to eventually upload photo's, without entirely losing the will to live.

The rest of the week was spent working, yes I do do some work out here. This week was medical orientation. Apparently it was a quiet week on the ward, and only had between 68-76 patients. When it is busy they can have 90-100 patients on the ward. I spent the week looking after the patients in the HDU (high dependency unit) and treatment room. There were 6 patients in HDU and 5 in the treatment room.

Pictures

This is the road leading down to our house. Whats missing - yep you guessed it pavements and street lamps. There are very few pavements or street lamps, even on the major roads. This is one of the reasons why we are advised not to be out after dark


This is the view half way down our road, not bad is it, and yes I know there is a street lamp in the picture but be assured it doesn't work. It doesn't have a name, but then nor do most of the roads in Malawi, just the major ones.
It looks very rural but we are actually on the edge of Blantyre city. I live on one side of the city and the hospital is on the otherside. Blantyre is surrounded by the hills you can see in the distance.

And here is our house, this is the side view obviously.

This is the front of the house, to the right is the kitchen and main entrance and to the left is the sitting/dining room.

So this is our new abode, just a small garden to keep under control. This is only the front bit, the back bit is not quite so big but contains the vegetable patch which has maize growing in it at the moment, there are also 2 avacado trees, guava and mango trees.

So we are staying here for another couple of months but then probably moving again. Movers are us.