winter in Africa

It’s now officially winter here in Malawi. The Rains are over although we still get the odd shower, it’s very much cooler although every so often we get a hot day and at night we need a duvet (bliss!).

 

I am sure that the doc told me that we’d get less germs here as we have outdoors lifestyle, however we all have heavy colds and I spent the weekend feeling rubbish. It gets dark very quickly and is pitch black by 5.30pm which feels a tad early especially as power cuts follow darkness; most of our cuts are due to “power shedding” so they happen at peak times, like when you want to cook dinner and put the lights on!

ants

The first photo shows the family looking closely at the many ants crawling across the path …..

 

.. the next picture shows my dad removing ants from his socks. Word of advice, don’t stop to look as they swarm up your legs and get everywhere – yes we did have ants in our pants!

bugs

Not for the squeamish amongst you. we first spotted a beautiful green, red and blue wing from this splendid creature and then we found the rest of him. Our eldest thought he might be tasty!

visitors

There are lots of goodbyes living in a community like this, and we also have to keep saying goodbye to friends and family when we visit home or they come here. We have just said goodbye after our longest visit (yet) they had become part of everyday life here, part of the children’s daily routine. We had time to take a road trip and travel north exploring the country as we went and because we have lots of help in the house we had time to linger over coffee and meals. During the many power cuts and journeys we had time to talk as there’s not much else to do. It’s been great seeing the children make their own relationships with their grandparents and I hope that these will pick up where they left off when we next visit home.

home from hols

We were home a few days after our big trip and then off on safari just for 1 night. It was a fantastic trip and we saw lots of animals, the girls know the place well so feel comfortable and we all know what to expect. Sipping G&T as the sun set over the river I was reminded that this is a beautiful country.

 

We came home to news that a friend’s baby was very ill in hospital, the doc went off to see our housekeeper’s sister who had suspected malaria and we had no power until 8pm and then no water, very frustrating when all I wanted was to wash the nappies and have a bath! I think it’s these contrasts that make life here challenging, we go from luxurious safari to the very real problems of those we know and work with.

 

And then there’s the little frustrations that take up so much time – mice in the chicken feed, ill dog, no spare light bulbs, all the milk in the freezer during a power cut, no lights for the evening (it gets dark about 5.30pm).

rain ...

… rainforest and rain! I’m not sure where to begin (the beginning would be logical but less interesting) we have just returned from an 11 day trip travelling a long way north and exploring lots of Malawi. We had a fantastic time and stayed in some beautiful places, having grandparents with us was a bonus! These pictures were taken in Ntchisi Rainforest, this was probably our favourite spot: the lodge was lovely, food was really good and it was cool and we didn’t have to sleep under nets – bliss! Our journey north was defined by the lake, you always know where it is although you don’t often see it from the road, so on arriving at our destination we would follow windy dirt tracks until we came out on the lakeshore.  

 

We didn’t have any rain on holiday but returned to Blantyre to find it wet and misty. So this week has been back to nursery, work, my new exhibition project and the joys of household management.

hospitals

After a lovely weekend away (girls only) our youngest was obviously not feeling very well and had a terrible nights sleep so I took her temp and realised that we would have to go for a malaria test. Although we take weekly anti-malarials we always go for a test if anyone has a fever. The one yesterday was the fifth since Christmas so I should be used to them but usually the doc takes responsibility for taking the kids for the test and I go along to dole out raisins and cuddles. The doc was on his way back from (a boys) weekend climbing big mountains so I was on my own. The queue seemed unusually long and all the children waiting looked really ill, the cries of them and the children on the wards are heartbreaking and I found I wanted to cry, there were just so many of them and so few staff. We all pay for the test, an amount that for us is small but I imagine that if  we earned less we might not have the tests done so quickly or often which means that the children are often very ill when they arrive at the hospital. Malaria is a big problem in children, most adults living in a malarial area have some immunity to the disease as they have probably contracted it and survived.

 

Our youngest is fine, the test was negative and she is bouncing around this morning.