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| Breakfast |
Well I woke up this morning so happy I could let my wind go
freely!
It’s only blog 2 and I’m already late but I have a
reasonable excuse, I don’t think Africa likes me.
The week before last I wasn’t feeling to great, weak, dizzy,
wobbly, I had to look at my feet to make sure they were doing what my brain
said. Eventually I went to the clinic and was diagnosed with Malaria, a mild
case apparently because I am taking malaria prophylaxis. So I stay home
(mostly), take the pills and by the end of the week I’m good to go.
Two days feeling good and then something’s not right with
the digestion. I ignore it as you do, it’ll pass, but then after 24 hours going
from bed to bathroom with crippling cramps I felt ridiculously weak, so heavy I
thought I would go through the mattress and find myself in a pool on the floor,
unable to rise like Mrs Twit with the dreaded shrinks.
Back to the clinic. Blood pressure very low, 80/52 (means
nothing to me but apparently not good) the doctor puts me on an IV drip to
rehydrate. Blood tests reveal an intestinal bacterial infection so antibiotics
now go through the drip too.
About an hour blood pressure has risen to a satisfactory
level and I’m allowed to go home with a bag full of pills.
That was Sunday, it’s now Tuesday, it’s mid day and I
haven’t been to the bathroom since about 7.00 a.m., I’ve been awake all
morning, pottering about and writing my blog! This is a happy day J
Just before I finish sharing the unfortunate state of my
health I would like to say that the medical treatment I have received from the
Malawian doctors and nurses has been marvellous (apart from perhaps the
mosquitos on the ward) and the support from my VSO colleagues in people driving
me, arranging taxis and checking I’m ok has also been great. I’m being very
well looked after.
In between sicknesses I have managed to do a bit of this and
that on the work and social front.
I went to support Sean, my neighbour and fellow VSO volunteer, deliver training for teachers at one of his schools.
Teachers get to grips with the ipads in the learning centre.
This is the school in an idyllic rural setting about 40km outside the main city. Most people live off the land here and ox and cart is a common sight.
I thought it might be interesting to take some shots along the way to give an idea of general Malawi life.
The men at the front of this picture are waiting for customers with their bicycle taxis. It's a common form of transport but I can't quite bring myself to have someone cycling me up and down the Lilongwe hills.
There is not a lot of street food here but a popular delicacy is inside the plastic tub the person on the right of this picture is carrying. I forget what they are called but they're just like our doughnuts without the jam and sugar. They sell for around 100 Kwacha which is about 11p
I love the
signposts and the school bell on this tree.
Grade 8 exams taken at the end of primary school are national exams and as many children do not go any further with their education, if indeed they get this far, they are taken very seriously. You wouldn’t want to be caught cheating!
I already posted this photo on Facebook but I think it
deserves a second airing. This is a year 1 class of 240 children at Nkukulu
primary school where we will be opening a learning centre next week. In the
classroom they have absolutely nothing except a chalkboard and the displays,
nearly all learning is done by rote. The teacher is incredible, she stands in
front of the class and speaks and all sets of eyes follow her, the chorus
response from the children appears to be unanimous. I have no idea what they
are saying of course - I am trying to learn Chichewa but it’s a slow process.
This experience gives me faith in the project. Even if the
only thing that comes out of it is that children get an individual learning
experience for half an hour a week then I think it’s worth it. Obviously I want
to think that greater outcomes will be achieved but as of yet I don’t know, I
need more time (and better health) to decide what I think.
If you’d like to know more about the project as a whole
follow the link;
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| Dancing chiefs |
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| Not the best photo but it does have Yesani in it! (In the African type shirt) |
Lastly for now I had the opportunity to experience a bit of
Malawian tradition. Yesani, the project manager whom I’m working with, invited
us to his cousin’s engagement party. It was quite an event about 200 people in
the gardens of the house belonging to an ex Miss Malawi who was one of the
relatives on the woman’s side. There was a marquee with seats for guests and
then a smaller marquee in front for the couple and what I assume to be the
equivalent of a best man and woman kind of thing.
Loud music and a master of ceremonies invited people to come
up to the smaller marquee dancing and throwing money into the air which was
then collected in dustbin lids. When they had thrown all their money people sat
down again and a different group of people would advance. This continued to
happen intermittently throughout the afternoon interspersed with other
traditions such as swapping live chickens from one family to the other and the
breaking in half and distributing of a cooked chicken.
People then paraded gifts and laid them in front of the
couple, these included various items that would be needed to set up home, cups,
plates, axe, mat, bucket etc.
The highlight of the proceedings was the man giving the
woman the engagement ring.
Apparently it is common for people to get
engaged and live together for many years before getting married. After such a
grand reception I couldn’t help but thinking what if they change their minds!
Well that’s all for now, let’s see what the next fortnight
brings
Zikomo
Papa Kate
