driving

I am now a fully fledged Malawian driver. After two days spent queuing in Jan I got a paper SADAC (Southern African driving licence), fortunately I didn’t have to take a driving test, just show my British licence and fill in many forms; after 3 months and a few more queues I now have a plastic card complete with photo and fingerprint!

 

I think that I have honed my Malawian driving skills, I find myself slipping through red traffic lights, overtaking learner drivers, skilfully avoiding the pot-holes, thinking nothing of switching to 4WD when the going gets tough. However I do know how to use a roundabout, I don’t honk (except when we arrive at someone’s gate) and I am careful about overtaking. I haven’t been stopped for speeding (more common now as the police have a few more speed guns and it’s the end of the month) and I don’t consume lots of alcohol before getting behind the wheel. Pedestrians and cyclists are a big hazard as there is no space at the edge of the road for them and the roads are getting narrower as the edge wears away. The state of the roads is a whole nother blog itself …

 

 

ku'nyumba

.. meaning home. This amazing house, purchased by my sis, came in our container and the Easter hols seemed a good time to get it out. The girls have enjoyed decorating it and making it home.

hard life

It’s a hard life having a day off to see giraffe. It was very hot (over 30 degrees) whereas here in Blantyre temps have dropped to 17 degrees and we are all wearing trousers and jumpers.

noblog

Sorry to all you regulars, the lack of blog was due to a few things: buying a car took most of my time last week (we eventually got it on Tues at 5pm) then we had some exciting visitors arrive and we have now had no internet for 5 days. I am sat in the doc's office stealing his internet. Being able to communicate with the outside world is crucial to my sanity. Apparently the problem with the internet is due to a company putting up a radio tower that blocks our signal and we will need someone to come and wiggle our receiver.

We bought a Rav4, which my friend Kate, tells me are known as mistress cars because when Toyota first brought them to Malawi rich businessmen bought them for their mistresses! Appropriately it's black. I paid for it on Friday but only took possession of it on Tuesday and finally insured it on Wed, which is probably about normal

Our visitors had a few days in Jo'burg so they left the UK before the volcano erupted which meant that they arrived on time with a large supply of shoes and chocolate.

squash

The doc has been making the most of my sprained ankle and taking my squash lessons as well as his own, however that has come to an abrupt end. The teacher didn’t turn up for yesterday’s lesson and later in the day I discovered that he was in prison (for beating up someone who allegedly tried to rob him)! Life here is never dull or straightforward.

rollercoasting

Not sure what to call this one. Life here on the surface is easy, we have lots of help around the house, the doc’s work is good, we’ve made some great friends and the weather is warm and sunny but I find some aspects harder. I spent the weekend ill and found that everything became more difficult and it’s at times like this that I wonder how we will manage 3 years out here. And sometimes the contrasts make life too hard. Hearing of people who die far too young or horrific road accidents or our staff who don’t have enough money to get transport home to a funeral or when my friend drove a lady to hospital because there had been complications with a birth. And then we spend more than one of our guards earns in a year on a holiday ….

 

Our eldest and I have been admiring the beautiful displays of lush and colourful plants on the roundabouts but how can we justify money spent on these, just metres from the appalling conditions in the hospital? Life here is so up and down and we live an easy life alongside lives of hardship.

buying a car

It sounds so easy … trust me it’s not. We started a few weeks ago when we set off to meet a man about a car, we had to stop on the way to drop the kids with friends, get a puncture mended and then waited for an hour but the car didn’t show up. Our contact was very apologetic and we left it for a few days. Another lead was followed up last week and we arranged for a viewing I picked up the Doc from work and we set off. No car and no man, he turned up eventually and took us to see the car, which didn’t start! A mechanic friend knew all about this particular car and warned us not to buy it so we went to see another car today, it needs some work but the price allowed for that so we agreed to buy it. But we’ve found another car which is newer and needs less work so we’re going for that one. But hey we may still find another one!