people

The doc has been having some staff issues this week. His registrar started work last week and yesterday asked for a rise and when the doc explained that there was limited funds she resigned and took a job in the district (government posts include a housing allowance which makes them more lucrative). It’s taken a year to get the reg appointed and now she has left! The same day he spotted one of our night guards working a full-time day job. When we discussed it he explained that he has always had a day job (as does one of our other guards) because he needs the two incomes to support the 8 people who depend on him. What would you do?

 

We know that the night guards often kip during their shift but by having two of them we hope that one will be awake; but I’m not sure that I can employ someone knowing that he’s not able to get a proper nights sleep. I also had a dilemma when my squash coach (who plays for the national team but earns a living coaching) asked for a loan so that he could pay this months rent. We pay for our lessons in advance so he already owes us quite a few lessons and I know that the situation will be the same next month, but how do I respond?

 

I have been deeply challenged by a book called “When Helping Hurts: How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor and yourself” it talks about poverty in terms of relationships as well as creation and material possessions and gives a good perspective on aid to majority countries. I am now trying to apply some of the principles to dealing with the guys who work for us; they’re not poor (they all have jobs) but financially life is hard for them and at the end of the month I am fairly sure that none of them has any money left. The book encourages us to look at the long term view and reminds us not to be paternalistic in our attitude or giving…. Hhmm

no nannys

Regular readers will remember that I once said that we would never have a dog or a nanny. The dog arrived months ago and as I write rampaging around my garden are 3 nannies, our housekeeper (Dorcas) and 6 children!! I am embracing the benefits of life here and letting the kids get on with it. It still feels odd and I do find myself making tea for all the nannies!

 

I am actually borrowing a friend’s nanny for a day next week as I have a meeting in a museum 3 hours drive away so we are having a team night away.

cute

This our youngest taking part in her nursery end of term play!! She was the youngest participant and looked this serious the whole way through. Notes to those threatening me with cruelty: I didn’t even know what role she had before we saw the play.

at the top

I have had a weekend off from kids and climbed Mulanje. This is the highest mountain in this part of Africa so am feeling quite chuffed and very stiff! It was an amazing experience, we did it in style, with porters carrying our kit (including a bottle of wine) and reached the mountain hut at about 4pm on Saturday and enjoyed a gentle stroll to admire the sunset and the full moon.

On Sunday we set off to meet what's known as the jungle route down. This was an incredibly steep descent with quite a bit of scrambling but it was using different muscles to the uphill of Sat! I read Samuel 22 v 31-37 yesterday and understood the last verse "you broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn over" many times on the way down the path suddenly narrowed and we were grateful to get to the bottom unscathed!

living today

Our eldest began the day by asking if we were going to England today. I think that she is still processing saying goodbye to her friend, it is especially hard because most of her friends have already left for the UK and we keep talking about when we go. I am going to make a conscious effort for us all to enjoy today and the next few weeks "before we go".

I expect that most of us live life planning what will happen next instead of living today. Malawians take this to the other extreme, we find that our staff don't like to plan for next month or next year, they're just trying to get through this week. Our cook regularly runs out of staple ingredients or I find that we've had no cleaning stuff for a few weeks because they don't tell me until after it has run out.

road trip

The photos were taken on our way to Nayla Park a lovely wildlife reserve only an hours drive away. However the story is about our road trip to Lilongwe: everyone says that it’s 3 hours drive (4 tops) from Blantyre to Lilongwe, we’ve never found this to be true. Our first experience was when we arrived in Malawi and the journey took all day because the driver didn’t have all his paperwork, got stopped for speeding as well as a regular stop by the police! This time the journey there was quick and uneventful, we met the friends who were leaving for the UK and after a night in Lilongwe set off home about 10.30am. We thought that we’d found a short-cut out of the city, which proved to be wrong and was a route that we’d used before and it’s really slow, we were driving two cars back so there wasn’t time for any nifty map reading. I had the easy drive listening to BBC world service whereas the doc had the air/con and the kids! Driving long distance in Malawi is quite tedious as the roads are reasonably good so you get a good speed up then you get stuck behind a slow lorry or reach another village and have to slow down and then there’s the speed traps. We both got caught at a speed trap one behind the other and pulled over. I was trying to impress the cop with my Chichewa and southern African driving licence in the hope that he might be lenient but he explained that we would both be paying the fine. I went to check the video footage (essential as it’s quite common to be accused and find that you weren’t caught) but there we were both speeding. I came back to the doc to find him deep in conversation with the policeman about his medical problems and a long conversation later our fine was reduced from 10,000 MK to 2. I’m still not sure what the doc agreed to but was relieved at the lower charge as we didn’t have enough cash to pay the fine and buy lunch!

uk

We are counting down the days until we fly to the UK (in Aug); the doc has 3 weeks work in Liverpool so we are able to come for 5 weeks. Preparations are underway: there is a long list of things to buy (a year’s worth of clothes & shoes), the docs samples are about to sent, I have been booking in with the relatives (fitting round busy schedules & trying not to do the 2,000 miles driving we did last time), organising staff and bills here as well as leaving things ready for some doctors who will be living in our house. The doc’s samples take a few weeks to get to the UK, they travel in luxurious dry ice via South Africa and London before arriving in the lab in Liverpool where the doc will do some fancy tests.

 

We’re looking forward to chocolate, catching up with friends and family, not sleeping under mosi nets and long evenings (playing croquet on the lawn). Living here is an amazing experience and there are some aspects of life that are great but if we could move back to the UK tomorrow I would.