Whoops it’s been a while now

Haven't written anything on here for ages now, it is not because I haven't been doing anything but rather I have probably been more busy with work and from starting off with not very much to do I now seem to have too much to do, isn't that always the way. Work wise things have certainly been getting busier; the students have all been doing their end of year exams. This meant that we had to put together exam papers for each subject for each year as well writing the supplementary exams at the same time for those that might end up not passing. These papers all then had to be vetted, at the same time there were students on the ward to be supervised. The students have now all done their exams so we are busy marking and second marking them. It wasn't only the student nurses doing exams but also the trainee clinical officers had their midterm exams and as I had been teaching them as well needed to do exam questions for them and mark those papers as well. So having marked 350 exam papers and second marked a further 300 I feel quite worn out by it all – poor me.

Some of the students have also just started their district placements so we have had to go and supervise them in the district hospitals. Once students qualify they can be sent to work at the health centres, the district hospitals or the central hospitals. The system of employment post qualification works very differently here to what I am used to, as the nurses will get assigned to these different places and don't actually apply for jobs specifically as such. The good thing though is that as part of their training they do get to work in all the different types of places they might get sent to.

So last week saw me and a colleague travelling to Chikhwawa, which is quite some distance from Blantyre. I would meet my colleague at the Catholic Institute which is the staging post for the minibuses going in that direction. This was about a 15-20 minute walk from the house. We would then get the minibus to Chikhwawa, the journey involves one of the most scenic roads I have been on so far in Malawi but also sometimes a bit of a scary journey, and is about 45-60 minutes long. Chikhwawa is at a much lower altitude than Blantyre and getting down the side of the mountain is via a long steep windy road with not much leeway on the cliff side of the road. Often there are very big trucks / lorries that need to be overtaken on a blind bend. I chose to be in the back of the minibus as didn't want to witness overtaking on a blind bend at first hand. As you went over the top of the mountain each day the valley below was always below the cloud line. Each time we went we were fortunate enough that we only had to wait for about 20 minutes at the longest for the minibus to fill up. Next time I go on that route I will have to get some photo's – it always makes me think of Top Gear and how they like to go on steep curvy roads very fast and am sure they would enjoy this road. Getting to Chikhwawa involves going through at least 4 police check points, we were stopped each time and the vehicle inspected, on one occasion we all had to get off so they could see properly inside. This is quite a palaver as there are lots of people crammed on along with all their possessions. On one occasion the driver got fined much to the hilarity of the passengers, he had too many passengers having picked up someone just outside the town, so to make 50 kwacha he had to pay a fine of 1500 kwacha. There was much discussion about this for a long time and teasing of the driver.

On arrival in Chikhwawa the difference in temperature was quite noticeable, at present it is still fairly wintery in Blantyre, so I would arrive there warmly wrapped up in my fleece only to end up needing to discard it within a few minutes of arrival. The district hospital is still a couple of miles from the main boma of Chikhwawa and no minibuses go along that route, so the only way to get there besides walking is to get a bicycle taxi. These are literally bicycles with a cushioned seat at the back which the passenger sits on. The bicycle riders have a hard job lugging everyone up and down the road to the hospital; they can make the same journey up to 20 times a day. I wouldn't fancy cycling myself up there let alone doing it with some great big passenger on the back. I have to my hat off to them, the ride was very stable and I felt very secure, they were very careful of dodging the myriad of potholes in the road and even off road were very smooth. Being more a rural area I of course was the object of attention and all along the route would hear the children shouting out Mzungu and waving at me. You often hear people calling out Mzungu in Blantyre but not to the same degree, as we are not such a rare sight here.

This is me and my bicycle taxi just outside the hospital on the way back to get the minibus. The taxi driver is called Money.

On the way home again we never had to wait too long for the minibus to be full – I did however only realise that I had had a chicken sleeping on my foot for the whole of the journey back to Blantyre just as the journey ended. The minibus was rather full of chickens that day but I had thought they were all behind me.

It was a really interesting experience going out there and seeing how the district hospitals work, and learning all about it myself whilst at the same time supervising the students.

I have also now started working on the adult oncology unit at the local hospital, this is the first proper adult oncology unit in Malawi and it is great to be working alongside the team there. There has been a paediatric oncology unit for many years, but the consultant for the adult unit is the first trained oncologist to be employed. They have been really welcoming to me, and I spend roughly one day a week there, teaching as much as I can about oncology and chemotherapy administration, writing policies and procedures for them.

We have also been handed our teaching programmes for next year, and I am the programme co-ordinator for two of the modules and also teaching on a third module as well – so currently have about 30 – 40 lessons to prepare ready for the new academic year.

I will definitely been in need of a holiday again soon – am fortunately have one planned for the beginning of September.

I have found the perfect bar

Following on from my visit to Lilongwe market - see previous post, Perhaps not the best selling technique, I have now found the perfect bar to go to, unfortunately it is down in Mwanza, which is a good 90 minute drive away.

Just in case you can't read the sign "Fat Friends Bar"
We spent the weekend in Mwanza celebrating Diana's birthday, another VSO friend, who came out at the same time as myself. In true British style we had a bbq in the rain, well it was a very light drizzle, but it didn't dampen our spirits (I made sure I kept my vodka and diet coke well covered :0)sorry! In the evening we went and watched the football, I must admit to watching far too much world cup football whilst out here. This is for two reasons, one it is very exciting seeing something on a big screen, and two it is what everyone is doing out here, and unless I want to be billy no mates, I need to join in. I do however try and refrain from making comments like who is the guy in the yellow shirt, it appears that generally this is the referee. But have been known to ask who is playing in which colour, just so that I can keep up you understand. One of the sounds that I will now forever associate with Malawi, is the sound of the horns being blown all the time.

Is this the best excuse ever for being late for work?

Thursday 8^th July 2010

This morning I got up as usual, went to unlock the front door ready to go to work, and lo and behold couldn't unlock the door. After calling out to the night guard to see if he could open it from the other side, we realise that I am well and truly locked in, the lock had completely seized up. However bearing in mind the VSO moto, flexibility and adaptability, I got the trusty screw driver out, took the lock to pieces, used a bit of blue band margarine to oil the mechanism and ta da, the lock was soon working gain. In the meantime as this did take a while, I had sent a text to work to let them know that I would be late as couldn't get out of the house!

My fire lighting skills are coming on a treat

No I haven't become a pyromaniac, but it is so chilly in the evenings out here, we are now having to light a fire each evening to keep warm. My fire lighting skills are improving which each night, and tonight managed to get a really good blaze going, without having to resort to a plastic bag ( a well known Malawian technique for getting the fire going). It is amazing that it can get so cold out here, you always imagine that you will be hot in Africa. Today saw me in a T-shirt, jumper with a cardigan on for good measure, and the electric fire on in the office. Who would have thought it. It is currently winter in Malawi, and though it doesn't get to below freezing in Blantyre, if you are in the more mountainous parts of Malawi, it is not unheard of to have a frost in the mornings.

The only downside to having the fire in the house is that you do rather smell of firewood all the time, and every so often have to open the door to let some of the smoke out, this despite having the chimney. I wonder if there are chimney sweeps here, I think we could use one.

A zebra crossing in Malawi

 

Tuesday 6^th July 2010 was a bank holiday in Malawi, celebrating Independence day. Took the opportunity to go on a little day trip to Nyala Park, which is about a 90 minute drive from Blantyre. It still amazes me that I can do this sort of thing as a day trip and see nature at it's best.

Hence the title of the blog (sorry couldn't resist it, it had to be done)?

What you looking at?

Who lives in a nest like this?

Perhaps he does?

And a few other images from a most excellent day out, the sun was shining, the weather was warm.

 

Not necessarily the best selling technique

On Saturday we travelled up from Cape McLear to Lilongwe and after finding the bus station and then the VSO guest house I got settled in. On Sunday I decided to investigate the market in Lilongwe, and after successfully negotiating my way there via public transport (minibuses) wandered round the market to have a good look at the second hand clothes section. This is absolutely huge and sells a very wide range. One of the local traders was trying to interest me in purchasing some dresses, but really rather lost a sale after telling me that this particular dress would be OK as it was made for fat people and would therefore fit me. I wouldn't mind quite so much but having lost over 10kg since arriving here I wouldn't have necessarily classed myself as fat, maybe a touch over weight, but really, fat was pushing it! I said that I would think about it and come back to him. He then hunted me down at some of the other stalls and in the end I had to say no to his very kind offer, despite assuring me that he would give me a very good price.

Zomba Plateau

After leaving Mvuu we headed on back down the road to Zomba where we were staying 2 nights on the plateau. We arrived in Zomba and decided to try our luck in finding this cake shop which we had both heard about and had come highly recommended to us from separate sources. Our sources were correct and had a lovely lunch there and a delicious pudding of meringue with strawberries and ice cream and fruit coulee. We then headed on up the plateau after picking up Peter and his wife (they look after the cottage we were staying at) it was a rather tight squeeze in the back for them as they had to share just one seat as the other was taken up with all our paraphernalia. It was a steep drive up a very winding road but well worth it, and just very grateful that we had the car and didn't have to walk up it. The views from the front of the cottage were breathtakingly beautiful, you can see for miles and could even see Mount Mulanje in the distance, and it is easier to see in person than via the photo I admit.

It was extremely chilly being up that high and we were very grateful for the fire that Peter lit for us (it seems to becoming a theme having fires lit for us, although employing a plastic bag technique I had managed to get the breakfast fire going at Mvuu prior to the camp staff coming to help). We did manage to end up reeking of bar-b-que afterwards though as the wind kept blowing smoke into the house, so we would have to keep opening the door to let the smoke out, rather negating any warmth from the fire. Our fire the following night was much more successful though. We were also treated to a power cut on both nights for a couple of hours which is why it all looks rather glowing in the candle light.

On the Wednesday morning we headed off on a walk around the plateau, having procured a map from the nearby hotel, and deciding that we therefore wouldn't need a guide, off we trotted. What should have been an hour's walk to the Williams falls became a 2 hour walk. Obviously the map when it said go straight on really meant turn right, but this finer point of Malawian map reading was lost on us. A short detour through the woods, across dale and river and we ended up back where we had started none the worse for our slight diversion. We did make it to Williams falls though, possibly not quite as spectacular as had been anticipating but still a really lovely view and a lovely walk.
We then walked around to the dam and then down the mountain via a very steep path, how this poor man managed to carry this wood all the way down was beyond me, I was having enough trouble not going down on my backside as it was.

This is the view from the top down to the bottom larger dam.

We left on Thursday morning ready for sun and relaxation at the lake side. There was extremely low cloud though on the way down from the plateau which made for an interesting driving experience, and when we arrived at the lake clearly someone had forgotten to put the sun out as it was cloudy and overcast all the time we were there, so we just had to make do with relaxation. Managed to watch the football match at Hiccups bar although why we bothered I am not sure as the result was pretty dismal. The world cup is being shown everywhere, so if you want to try and pretend it is not happening there is no chance. Wimbledon doesn't seem to be getting a look in, can't think why!

After plenty of relaxation it was off to Lilongwe were I was going to be spending the next week on a training course. All in all a really lovely week off.