blooming

We got wet and cold on Saturday and it was great! We have had quite a lot of rain and things are definitely cooler, friends assure us that this a more normal temperature for January compared to the heat we have been having. We have all slept really well and are less grumpy, the garden is blooming and looks beautiful. I feel full of energy – until it heats up again!

Our weekend began with a Burn’s night dinner, this was a black tie event so the doc dusted down his kilt, borrowed some football socks and we danced the night away. It was a good start to the weekend although a late night and I think some may have been regretting the tequila shots especially as we were up early on Sat to visit a tobacco farm – photos to follow.

Church on Sunday was good and I think that we have come to the end of church hopping and will settle at the “City Pentecostal Church” which is lively, with a good Sunday school and sound teaching. It’s a big church in a small building so it is going to take time to get to know people and after a 1 ½ - 2 hour service the kids are ready to head home so not much chance for chit chat!

Anyway, busy week ahead on the entertaining front – a mammoth bake for baby group and a small dinner party on Fri, just hope the power cuts are not at crucial times!

water, water

We were supervising the kids in the shower and planning a relaxing evening writing a (very overdue) newsletter when we realised that there was a water running noise that was not the shower! Water was flooding through the ceiling in the study! The doc’s diagnosis was a problem with the valve into the hot water geyser which has been proved correct. Meanwhile our youngest had pooed in the shower!

 

However there is so much to be thankful for: a kind landlord who sent the plumber round immediately; tiled floors; nothing damaged and spare water in the reserve tank. We’re quite used to the water being turned off and we do seem to have a lot of buckets for day-to-day life!

tiresome heat

The heat is making everyone tired, none of us is sleeping very well and we’re all a bit cranky. Although, the Malawians find the heat just as tiring; a doctor friend was telling me about a nurse who nodded off while talking to another doctor, one of the G4 accountants was asleep at her desk this morning and one of our guards was asleep at 9pm last night! The doc dealt with the latter in his usual non-confrontational style by telling the other guard to go and wake him up!

more safari

Just because it’s a great picture taken my sister in law who has come to the end of her holiday in Malawi. I think she’s had a good time although being burgled at home, dropping her camera and breaking her toe ensure that it was an eventful trip!

on Domwe

As promised more about Domwe: it’s an uninhabited island in the middle of Lake Malawi. As we approached by boat (we could have kyacked out but were put off by the rough water) we couldn’t see any signs of human habitation; our accommodation was in tents on wooden platforms all carefully hidden in the undergrowth. The dining area was another platform and there was a kitchen and some toilets and an outdoor shower tucked away amongst the trees. There was one other family and another couple as well as two members of staff who carried our bags, washed up and generally helped us out. The beach was beautiful and we spent two happy days on the sand in the lake and watching the fish (through our snorkels).

 

too hot

It is too hot. This is the only way to keep cool, although we are hoping for more rain. All the locals say we have not had enough rain yet and the crops will not do well unless we get more. The kids are coping well with the heat, although bedtime today was difficult but they slept quite late this morning because I think the heat just tires them out. The only thing to do is to get into the car (with the a/c on) and head for the pool or jump in what our eldest calls the “paddle in pool”. Another of my sister in law’s photos.

1 big safari

That’s the problem when you have visitors you have to take them on safari and show them the sights! We have the doc’s sister staying so we have been to Nyala Park for the day to see the giraffes and then me and the kids took her to Mvuu for a few days and then we all went to the lake and camped on an uninhabited island (more of that later).

 

Mvuu was great, we were told not to expect to see any elephants as they move away from the main camp area but we saw a herd of 30 and then had one walk past our vehicle while sipping our G&T at sundown! The weather wasn’t too bad, quite hot with some torrential rain and amazing lightening storms. The kids were great although it’s hard work controlling a feisty one year old in the back of a jeep while taking wildlife photos. She was a bit better in the boat and even had a snooze while we pottered up the Shire River.

real life

And back to real life: another intruder who is so hungry he wants to steal our taps; not enough rain for the maize to grow and one of our nursery teachers died of malaria last week.

 

from Nov

Just found this blog from Nov, which didn’t get posted ….

 

It has been interesting to see peoples’ responses to the fuel crisis. Some of us can manage day to day life without fuel, we can walk or cycle to work and socialise. Evenings are a bit more difficult as it’s really not safe out in the evening unless you’re in a car. We have been able to get some fuel this week because there was some diesel but very little petrol. We also realised that it would be easier with a jerry can because the petrol station was so busy cars couldn’t get anywhere near the pumps. So far there have been no riots, the police are often present to ensure it stays peaceful. However the chaos is unbelievable, it is not clear which queue is for diesel and which for petrol and there are people with jerry cans as well as cars, yesterday one of the main roads was closed because of the queues.

 

I was reminded of the parable about the man who kept building bigger barns to hold his ever increasing crops only to die before he filled the barn. It’s easy to feel smug as we have some fuel, we can manage in power cuts – during last night’s we got takeaway and we have a tank to provide back up water when there is a water cut but life here for most people is hard and while I think it’s OK to be prepared how far is it right to go?

cultural exchange

After almost 4 weeks in the UK it feels very strange to be back. The country is much greener than when we left but there has not been enough rain for the crops and the last week has been very hot. Our eldest is delighted to be back, she was ill for a week while we were in the UK and the heat doesn’t seem to bother her. Our youngest put on weight in the UK, wasn’t ill and slept really well, however back in Malawi she is sleeping badly and is not feeling well this morning! I enjoyed the cold and certainly had more energy and as we hadn’t been away very long everything felt familiar. The whole Christmas thing took me a bit by surprise as there was no hype here and I’d forgotten what a busy time of year it is.

 

Anyway after a month of living out of bags I think that we were ready to come back. The house was immaculate when we returned and a roast dinner waiting for us as well as baking and fresh bread!

 

travels

Well it would have been unlikely to be an uneventful journey. On the way to the UK we got stuck in Nairobi airport for 13 hours on the way back it was the lack of time at the airports that was the problem. Our flight was late leaving Glasgow because of snow and like most of the passengers we had very little time before our connection to Nairobi. We were meeting my sister in law at Amsterdam to travel the rest of the journey together so we were keen not t miss the flight. The stewardess thought that we would make the flight but only if we ran, Amsterdam airport is very long and the distance between the gates should take 20 mins to walk. We got off the plane grabbed the pushchair, with two bags each and a car seat ran across the airport. We made it, in fact we got there before some of other fellow passengers! The next flight was just long and although the kids slept they didn’t do it at the same time and we all arrived very tired. At Nairobi we had very little time before we were boarded again for a short flight with an hour stopover in Lusaka before making it to Lilongwe.

 

Not being able to face a long drive back to Blantyre we stopped the night and enjoyed a luxurious stay (with a/c) and a swim.

welcome home

No electricity, no water and no sleep! We are back to normal life. We arrived back in Blantyre on Wed after most of the day on the road from Lilongwe, the kids travelled much better in the car this time and the only excitement was the doc being stopped for speeding! He was only doing a few miles over the limit, and we had been warned that the Malawi police have invested in some more speed cameras.

 

We travelled back with the doc’s sister who is staying with us a for a few weeks and her first day here was good introduction to life here. The night got off to a bad start with our youngest very unhappy and too hot. We were then woken at 3.30am by lots of noise to find that two of our outside taps had been stolen. The security company turned up and checked that all was secure and we spent a while working out how to turn off the water that was flowing out of the pipes! One of the guards came to find us at 4.30am to tell us that the thief had been caught trying to steal our neighbour’s  taps, good news although we would have preferred to hear that later in the morning! We started the next morning with no water while we bought some new taps (total cost £12). We then had a real water cut during the day and a couple of power cuts too.

 

Despite all this is it is lovely to be home. The staff were genuinely pleased to see us back (although I think they enjoyed an easy few weeks) and we are looking forward to catching up with our friends.