lazy sun afternoon

After church (hot and lively) we enjoyed full Sunday roast lunch on the veranda for 8 with Yorkshire puds followed by ice cream and millionaire’s shortbread. Our youngest was demonstrating her independence by going to the toilet alone, as she can (at last) with the aid of a step reach the taps, and we didn’t realise that she had left a tap running so came inside to find floods from one bathroom all the way down to our bedroom (shows just how much the floor slopes!). At weekends our staff are all off so we had to get the mops out as well as clearing up the lunch. This was followed by another ant infestation! The doc is becoming a little bit obsessed by the war on ants and spends time tracing the entry points and exterminating them with copious amounts of chemicals.

at school

All back to school after a couple of days of nasty colds. It was lovely dropping the kids off, a bit late as they had a good long sleep last night, the school was very peaceful place this morning. I heard today that one of the reception teachers had died this week, not sure what from, but it reminds us that this is a country where mortality is high even amongst the younger population.

 

My work is very cyclical at the moment, some weeks are quite busy and others are quieter. The exhibition project is ticking along and we are about to produce some prototype hands on activities which will be trialled in the community it will be interesting to see what people make of the proposed giant mosquito! I have some more editing work which easily fits around the kids, the reports themselves are quite interesting although they make my punctuation & grammar look amazing! My students all seem to be settling down but I think even after a month and a half aspects of life here take them by surprise. They are living in quite basic accommodation with 10,000 MK (about £40) per month for everything except their accommodation, although they were shocked when we realised that the ladies who work on the tills at Shoprite earn about 5 – 7,000 MK (£20-28) and they will be paying rent and some school fees from that. Costs are all going up and there’s still problems over fuel which means that they may go up more.

camping with elephants

Just had very relaxing weekend camping at one of the national parks. This particular campsite is well known for the elephants that wander through, so I was a little nervous. However it’s green season so all wildlife was well away from the camp and the roads that we drove along. In fact we only saw 1 elephant the whole weekend.

 

We went with two other families with kids similar ages so it was very relaxing. We had sundowners watching the hippos and admired the stars and full moon on the way back. The kids were too excited to get much sleep and the light woke them very early! Our eldest is off school this morning, with a combination of heavy cold and exhaustion!

home

Generally life in Malawi muddles along much like life anywhere else. We have started planning our visit back to the UK and I am now feeling homesick and very much missing friends and family. It was ok until we started to think about when to come back and for how long and looking at events that we might be around for, I’m also bracing myself for my first solo spot out here, when the doc returns to the UK for 2 weeks at the end of March.

Here are the three girls (I have been 1 of 3 girls for a long time)

breaking news

Malawi has made international news for something other than farting & gay rights. There were demonstrations planned in Lilongwe today but they have been broken up by police, who arrested protesters and have fired shots. Please pray.

http://www.nyasatimes.com/national/malawi-demo-to-go-ahead-despite-police-refusal.html

I’m sure that my mum is relieved that we’re not in Lilongwe but it’s a tricky one, if we were would I be there? I believe that we should support the people who live here but by doing so we could jeopardise the reason that we’re here. I always thought that if I had lived in the early 1900s I would have been campaigning with the suffragettes for the right to vote. Here the issue is about the use of forex (foreign currency) and transparency.

drifting

We often feel like we’re drifting, not really sure where home is. For the kids life is here in Malawi and the doc’s work is here but for me I couldn’t say. We’re discussing our annual visit back to the UK due July & Aug but which could include all of June too (for me and the kids). It feels like I have to choose, but on what basis? What’s best for me or the kids or the family or financially? Too many choices and like most decisions we’ll muddle through.

 

I am particularly tired this week after a busy time working with a colleague from the UK on a small exhibition project, which is very exciting and been great fun but I will be looking forward to a quiet week where I can do some editing and lots of household stuff and cutting/sticking with the kids.

stork

This is a Malibu Stork, he was very splendid and one of favourite spots on this safari trip, he’s also known as the Undertaker Bird and I can understand why. Our eldest remembers that his legs are not really white, but they go that colour because he poos on his legs, we can’t remember why he does this and google cannot give us the answer! Any suggestions on the comments box, thanks.

obstruction

On our way to Liwonde National Park for a bit of safari (we’ve not been for a few weeks!) with our current visitor I managed to acquire an unusual fine. We had pulled off the main road onto a side road for a bit of a leg stretch and a ginger biscuit, when we were approached by a police lady who explained that although this was a wide one way road I was causing an obstruction and would have to pay a fine. I did try to persuade her otherwise but she was adamant. Not only was there a fine but we had to go to the police station to sort out the paperwork, I’m not sure what would have happened if I had just driven off. The proximity of the police station explains why I was cautioned for an offence I see flouted all the time, it was just around the corner! Once we got to the office she agreed to reduce the fine but explained that as it was Sun there was no cash office at the station so I would have to go back to the road block that we had passed sometime before. I offered to go the next day as we would be returning but that would mean that the receipt had the wrong date so we had to make a detour and then continue our journey. Those who have driven with me in Malawi will feel sorry for my passenger who put up with my frustration!

bring & buy

Tomorrow is my baby & children sale – goods & clothes, no live specimens! I advertised it through the ex-pat network and have had the most bizarre requests and a lot of interest – just shows how little there is to do here in Blantyre!

 

My staff all seem to be falling sick, so it could be an interesting afternoon with the household running below capacity. It will be quite chaotic as there are about 10 of us selling stuff – equipment, clothes & tat with a wide range of prices and refreshments and we have been warned (by those experienced at this sort of thing that security is very important). I will report back ...

remembering

I find that I can go along for a few weeks at a time tied up in my nice ex-pat life, worrying about the kids and not taking much notice of what’s going on around me. Then I have a week like last week, nothing big but some small reminders that this a poor country with some major problems.

 

I went to a talk about the current political situation, which was very interesting and I have also been editing some reports about local government and the state of water and sanitation in particular districts. One statistic that I had forgotten: Malawi has the 3^rd worst record of child mortality in the world, the two countries that are worse are both war-torn. So many good things are happening, that make a difference but there seems to be an enormous effort to get them to happen. Local government is a bit of a mess but elections are due to take place next month, let’s pray that they actually go ahead.

 

I have begun to realise the role the English language plays here. Pupils do not learn English at school until the latter years of primary education, by which point many children have dropped out of school. Many are reluctant to speak English, understandably as it is not their language but it is the official language of the country and all government documents, newspapers, information from the banks and most signs are in English. I found out recently that all job interviews for government employees are in English so without this language people are at a huge disadvantage.