Happy New Year

Happy New Year

Well I hope everybody is well , had a Good Christmas and New Year , made lots of new year resolutions to furfill.

Today Wed 2nd of Jan I am sitting in an empty office , typically Milawan style official communications are poor.

Friday before Christmas there were rumours that they were closing the Ministry office until Monday 7th.

When I left that day still nothing official or if the days come out of your holiday allowance.

So I have come into the office except for 3 or 4 people it's empty and still no official notice or e-mail!

It's something you begin to learn to live with.

Well since my last blog in early December my Job is still very quite. I think the only good point was that myself and Herman were invited to introduce ourselves at his weekly Ministers meeting to his other ministers and executives, that lasted no more that 5 mins. Don't know who the 20 people were and still no organisation chart. ps we do ask all the time, it will come!!!!

Over the last 3 weeks been traveling quite a bit.

One weekend went with Elkie to explore Senga bay as she hadn't been there and was about to finish her project before going back to Amsterdan. 

For Christmas a group of us Fiona,Marian,David, Aurden and Sam went to Cape Maclear.

First I drove to 2 hours to a town to pick up David and Aurden from Aurden's parents farm. Aurden is a local about 20 who David lodges with him another town. The night before David had slaughtered a Goat, Aurden mother cooked it and served it up for Sunday lunch. What must be typical custom I was led to a room  Mud hut and sat down on a mat on the floor with all the food set out with just David and Aurden, no family.  Once we had finished his parents did come in. Nsima being cooked by Aurden's mum

 His farther spoke some of the best English I have heard. Basically most of the people farm their land for their own existence and sell on any surplus. The main crop everybody lives off is maize. As the rainy season began 2 weeks ago every bit of land in Malawi is planted with it and spurting up most are a foot high now. 

Everywhere is green. When they harvest the maize they keep the cob in special cool huts made of bamboo or reed. The maize is pounded into a floor and added to water that forms a very thick porridge and made into a bun and is called Nsima. They eat it with their hands with every meal. No real taste to it but typically a meal will be a meat or chicken tomato stew  so the Nsima will soak up the juice. The goat was delicious by far the best I've had.

Cap Maclear is set at the end of a peninsular surrounded by sharp hills unto 300m that are part of a National park.

The Cape is about a 1 kilometre beach and has about 20 lodges, small single storey buildings that accommodate 10-30 people mostly set on the beach some have camping.

Set just behind is a long village, so the beach is very much a working beach, lots of fishing and people washing themselves and their clothes in the lake.

We stayed at Migoza Lodge, this had a main building made out of bamboo and one of the only with an upstairs and this is where we slipped in a 6 x 2 bedded bunked dorm, fortunately the 6 of us had it to ourselves. This was really nice the cool breeze off the lake would flow though the bamboo which meant sleeping at night was comfortable. As besides being cool the breeze kept insects (mosses) away even though we had nets.

We were lucky that this lodge had some of the best food in the bay at a good price.

Marian and Sam having Breakfast

The weather was kind and was sunny the 5 days we were there with the odd downpour.

Although the sun was too strong to sit out in for long periods there was plenty to do.

There are three islands off the bay, we took a fishing boat to one and did some snorkelling there are loads of small very colourful fish. Another day we took a kaiak to the end of the bay and found a small cove. The next we attempted to walk to one off the islands ( swim across small canal).  However there were no tracks and boulders too big at the sea level but found a boy who would lead us there. Basically this ended up with a big scramble up the side of a steep hill, up/over /around big stones that were baking hot to touch, lots of trees and shubs so not too exposed to direct sun. We then saw the bay we had been too the day before so we scrambled down to cool off on the sea. Absolutly delightfull.  Within minutes out of nowhere a group of boys with their dug out canoes ( hollowed tree trunks) turned up. All very keen to join us diving off the rocks and showing us their skills.

Half of us carry on with our jungle/mountain adventure to get to the island while the other half had lifts with the boys on the very unstable logs. It was a tough climb due to the heat and terrain but we made it to the point.

The idea was to swim across and climb up to the ridge 250m and walk to the end one mile  but it had been so quite touruous so far we just stayed for a swim and got lifts back on the canoe logs.

The next day I swan the 3/4mile  45mins to one of the island,  and back, yes I was quite tired after that.

On Christmas eve one of the other lodges has a music  bar so went there until 2 dancing ,bumping into other people from Lilongwe.

There was a very jovial Malawan lady dancing with everybody, everybody dances with everybody. She suddenly says to me your Robin, where's Herman!!! It turned out she is the Country  Program manager for Malaria and was one of the people at the Ministers meeting Herman and I introduced ourselves in. So now I know one of the people there other that the Minister himself.

For Christmas Lunch we went to a local ( I mean local) hostelry and had Chicken, rice and beans. for a grand price of £1. We all survived.

On Friday we left, as all the accommodation had already been booked for New Year, not an empty bed in the whole place unless you wanted to spent over £70 a night.  Our dorm bed had cost £3 a night. Most accommodation is in twin/double chalets costing between £20-£50 a night.

It was a very enjoyable 5 days.  And really good to meet Sam who had been invited by Marian who works with him. He is an Intern Doctor from Columbia studying medicine in Argentina. So we were all learning about South American living and their passion for Sala. 

So Fiona, Marian  and myself headed off South for Blantyre which is basically the commercial centre of Malawi. Pat another volunteer let us borrow her house  while she was back in the UK. This town is very different to Lilongwe and it is very hilly.

We got out for some good walks including one where we came nearly face to face with human size stand up monkeys ( might have a different name). I don't know who was more scared us or them but they moved off.

We then got caught in one of there sudden downpours so absolutely soaked. All the tracks turned into rivers.

I was worried about how to get home as we had to drive down 3miles of very uneven track and boulders,  4x4  territory not a little wheeled car.  When we got to the car we waited a while for the water to drain away and the had a slippery ( like on ice ) drive  back, but the little car made it without too much crunching of the underside. 

For New Years eve we ended up meeting another volunteer Alice and going to club. This place was heaving with people. They obviously have no restrictions on number of people they can get in. just manic inside.

Then yesterday have a quiet 4hr drive back to Lilongwe,  in a couple of downpours where you have to stop as you just cannot see.

Well it now appears I have a few more days holiday until works starts again. so now need to work out what to do.

Hope you all have good plans for 2013. All the very best.

Robin

No Petrol

Tuesday 4th December.

I thought I would start off with how my work is going or not.

Well the begining of last week Herman and I finally have somebody (Gillian) who we sort of report into and is trying to help fit us in.

Basically the role were supposed to do has a project start date of March, yes were here to early.

So Gillian has asked to do Database preparatory work, which is still difficult as they have no organisational reporting charts.

Were still waiting to be introduced to the Ministries Board and management team.

Whare we work is a little surreal to Malawi. We work in an area called Capitol Hill, which it is literally.

A hill with about 8 identical building blocks, each one housing a Ministry plenty of gardens. Next door is a big building for there Parliament with an adjoining masive conference centre both just recently build by the Chinese.

This is all out of character with the rest of Lilongwe and Malawi.

Pictures below show some of the buildings and one of my office which I share with two locals MacFarland and Loyce, me eating in our canteen. 

Pictures below show some of the buildings and one of my office which I share with two locals MacFarland and Loyce, me eating in our canteen. 

Pictures below show some of the buildings and one of my office which I share with two locals MacFarland and Loyce, me eating in our canteen. 

Pictures below show some of the buildings and one of my office which I share with two locals MacFarland and Loyce, me eating in our canteen. 

The weekend before last Herman and I drove off to Zomba about 170 miles south to meet up with David, Fiona and Mirian whom we had flown out from Heathrow together. So was really good to see them and catch up with their stories. We were staying in a backpackers lodge at the bottom of some very steep mountains. So on Saturday we went trekking.  The first part was climbing 600m of very steep track in mostly trees which gave some shade from the sun, which is blistering hot when in it. Temperature around 32c so we were all soaked with sweat. We then got to a massive plateau with more peaks all around going upto about 2200m, in away a lost world.  As seem all over Malawi there are always loads of colourful birds.

We were told there were some waterfalls another 200m up, so we made it there and had a dip in the water. The falls and pools did not have much water, so no swimming but the laying in the pools to cool down was very welcome.

The view from the top will have to wait another time they were another 700m up, time was running out and I think some of the party had run out of steam. David has said he will take me up another week as the views should be spectacular.

On leaving Lilongwe to get to Zomba are little black car only had half a tank of petrol. No where in Lilongwe had any. We had expected to fill up on the journey but everywhere was empty. This is about currency exchange and the government releasing exchange for the petrol companies to bring it in. It's a different economic situation here. The government has no money.  If Greece was not in the Euro and had the drachma. Greece could be in the same situation that nobody will trade with you. A different world.

Anyhow David is lodging with a local lad called Ordin (spelling may be wrong) he is in the pics, as he acted as our guide. He new somebody who new somebody who had some black market petrol from Mozambique so we were able to buy 20ltr but at twice the price. Petrol/Diesel is about the same price as in the UK. That's very expensive for the locals on their earning.

So we made it back but as with going we kept to a max of 50mph to preserve fuel.

There are pics of the country side on the trip. Were on the main highway which is tarmac. very few other roads/track are.

Basically it all very open bush, but hopefully you can see in the background the sudden sharp volcanic mountains.

Most of the inhabitants build their huts with local furnaced bricks and then put a tin roof on if they can afford it otherwise it's a sheet of plastic with straw on the top. Not certain how it copes with the heavy rain.

Well next door Dens and Regie have brought a Christmas tree ( small artificial one) and the supermarkets have decorations for sale.

However I have to say being in 32c it does not remotely feel like christmas.

Next update probably after Christmas so a happy Christmas to you all.

Village on the Beach

Sunday 18th

At the moment sitting in a Beach Lodge "Cool Running' overlooking Lake Malawi at Senga Bay but no it's not a  nice sunset. We in the middle of a electrical storm absolutely tipping , deafening  on the tin roof with lightening  all around. We were lucky as we had just finished our meal. There are six of us here from VSO for a conference tomorrow. The staff have bolted everything down and disappeared, were also having a power cut, the only other people are the campers in their vans locked away. And what worst they have closed the bar it's yet 8.

The last few day days has been bad for power cuts. On Saturday we only had power between 14:00 and 15:00 before returning at 20:00. Most days there is a scheduled 5 hour period when you will not have power ( different timing each day). This is because the Electricity Company cannot generate enough power, so every area has to have blackouts.

So you always have to charge your phone/laptop/torches when you can as for cooking as everything is electric the idea is that you buy a charcoal bbq which is fine for the meat but then you ned to cook rice/pasta on it as well so takes an art.

We also get water cuts not many so you also have to be prepared and have enough water available for sinks and to cook.

For shopping in the city there are plenty of supermarkets selling most things but not the range as in the UK.

Plenty of Beef , Chicken and Goat, very rare you find Lamb or Pork. Fish you can find in certain places but not a choice.

Vegetables you can get Tomatoes, Potatoes, Cabbage, Beans, Carrots and thats about it.  Plenty of fruit Bananas, mango, paw paw, oranges and apples. So for eating we can cook most things.

When eating out there is plenty of bbq chicken and meat or stewed meat served with rice/chips or a mash of maize which is very popular. Price ranges for the main meal from £1 to £5.  Tonight as were on the lake for the first time I had a 'butter fish' it's a large fish about the size of a salon but white it was good. that was with chips and cabbage for about £4. Most places don't do starters or deserts!  There are always sellers selling samosas and donuts. 

Senga bay is a long beach with several lodges but is a working living stretch, lots of fishing but the locals all go to the beach to wash themselves and their clothes. back from the beach is a mass of huts most have some animals then there is a maze of narrow streets  not wide enough for cars, the locals don't have cars anyway. They walk everyware or catch the mini buses or ride a cycle.

Below a selection of photos this week.

The kids are football mad. On the Sunday they told me the Liverpool score from saturdays game and the scorers!

The last one was a trip to an island with a local fishing boat where they cooked for us some Butter Fish on a made up fire on the rocks.

A Little Car

Sunday 11th Nov.

Work this week has been very frustrating, promised meetings keep disappearing there is a very laid back approach to work here there is no initiate or sense, it's not that their unintelligent quite the opposite, just things get done in their own time and pace. Seems no structure to anything.  We had been warned that this would be the case.

Only key recognition at work late last week was  that in the morning a man comes around and now gives me a cup of hot water so I can make a coffee. That is progress believe it or not.

The Phillipinos in Lilongwe seen to keep expanding. Last night went to a birthday with next door. We all had to take food. But the couple having the party are religious so no alcohol allowed. However the Phillipinos love karaoke  they have a full projector and a program that literally had at least a thousand songs to choose from to sing too. They were singing all the time totally mad on it.

On Saturday I picked up my little car well I say little it still fits 5. So had my insurance, mot, registration and tax but not the number plates, too long a story to ask why not, but told not a problem to drive as the official supplier had our request.

So on Sunday we decieded to drive the 70 miles to the Lake. Good start we got lost, there are no road signs and maps are quite literally wrong. But then we got stopped by the police and fined £6 for not having correct number plates but at least they then put us on a connecting road to get us back in the direction we needed, however it was one of there c-class roads i.e. mud track so have a very slow bumpy ride for 20 mins. So finally got to Isaac's ( Ugandan) place who lives close to the lake, an hour late. He has been given a large 3 bedroomed bungalow to himself but unfortunatley no other volunteers live close by so is very much by himself and finding that hard.

This was for Herman and I our first trip out of Lilongwe so it was really nice to start seeing the open countryside and all the roadside villages. Lots of straw roofed shacks/houses. The land is undulating dried out brush but cultivated in many pockets where there is water and having to cross mountain ranges, today only upto about 1800m.

The lake is special as it is fresh water and massive, The local use it heaverly, not just for fishing but all along the beaches the women were washing their clothes at the same time as messing about, swimming, playing football, activity everywhere. However it was hot may have only been say 32c but the sun was very stong, even for me we had to sit in the shade. The Lake was very warm about 28c so nice to get a swim.

Now back home and planning where to go next weekend before the rains start for 3 months.

A new Cooker

Saturday 3rd Nov

Now been in our house one week and lots of things need doing to it. It was like a run down student accommodation.

The kitchen had been neglected by previous volunteers a simple bit of diy has transformed it plus the big thing yesterday we acquired a real cooker out of the VSO wearhouse. Like all other volunteers we had been given a standard worktop two hot plates.

The cooker was full of dust and grime it has cleaned up really well. This is a real luxury and it works..

Also stripped off the sealant around the sink and worktop which was black with grime and mould and re sealed. What a difference.

Next was the curtains, which were all dangling down, all that was needed was to rehang them. Reggie came in and said core new curtains. Just simple things make a difference.

Most of the electrics are in a real state so off to buy some new fitting and replace the dangerous ones and some pans so we can cook.

The last two evenings we have been invited next door to Reggie and Dens house for a meal. Arthur is down from the north and Mike a new volunteer are staying with them, both Phillippino's. Their cooking is incredible. Egg fried rice, Soups, Beef in rice noodles, Pork stewed in soy sauce. Then they also produce puddings, apple crumble, rice pudding with fruit, strawberry something. Then this morning we were given some bread with pawpaw fruit in it. ( we have our own supply in the garden and banana's). Herman is loving this he has a huge appetite especially when it's oriental.

The city of Lilongwe is mostly modern but unmaintained with travel by the mini buses packed to the brim..

Our house is close to the New city centre where most of the commerce is i.e. Banks, Insurance are based not many shops here and very dead once the offices close. We then have the old town which is about 3 miles away though a nature sanctuary. Not very nice to travel at night so you need a car or taxi. Taxi's are expensive unless you get 4 or 5 to share.

I have found a car a Mitsubishi Colt 2005 for £3k it's a japanese import, now just waiting for money to be transferred from my UK bank account takes 12 days! Had fancied a Rav4 but very expensive for £4k you get an 18 year old with around 200k kils on it. whilst good for the tracks which there will be many of, at that age and milage they break down a lot.

Work is what I expected it to be. Basically zero, nobody knows what your supposed to do and very cold to us.

Everybody say it takes 2-3 weeks for the locals to accept you before they start opening up and telling you what they want.

I am based in the old town but on day one they had no idea why I was there. So we got transferred to the head office 15 mins from where we live. This is called Capital hill and is where all the government offices are, set of new building, build by the Chinese.

Everybody is cramped into small offices, so we have a chair to sit on but no desks. Well we don't need one as we have no work to do.

Worst is that nobody appears to drink tea or coffee and no where to get one!.

At 12 everybody has an hours lunch, there is a lunch hall 10 mins walk away. Selling Chicken or Beef with Rice or nsima for £1.50 , but no coffee. Most days we have finished in the office and gone to the VSO office in the centre where there are some basic shops.

On Wednesday night went to a place called 'The Shack'  it is  literally and the in place ( only) in the week to go. It has two Beach volleyball courts and a well organised league which VSO have a team. The place is full of volunteers from the many difference organisations around the world based here. People say the atmosphere is just like being on a beach in Thailand but without the sea.

Well that's it for this week, hopefully next weekend we will get out of Lilongwe and visit elsewhere.

Arrived in Lilongwe

Wed 23rd Oct

Arrived in Lilongwe after a flight from Heathrow via Nairobi and Lusaka. Flew with 5 other volunteers so had plenty of time to get to know them. Picked up at the airport by VSO and taken to a hotel where we will stay for a week having an induction course.

We meet up with 5 other volunteers so there are 11 new people starting together.

It a real mixed multinational team.  English, English/Indian,Scottish. Irish/Hong Kong, Dutch, Indonesian, Ugandan and Kenyan.

Only 4 of us will stay in Lilongwe. I will be sharing a flat with Herman our Irish/Hong Kong guy 32.  He is really from Hong Kong but was sent to boarding school in N.Ireland. We have not seen the flat yet but has warned me that he eats lots of Chinese food. 

Only been into the old town centre for 45min to allow us to buy a sim card, not very attractive so will have to do plenty of exploring once we have moved to the centre. Meanwhile were having extensive education from loads of speakers, ranging from Chief of Police to Professor of Human resources from the uni.

So far in the hotel the food served has been Curries or Chinese or Chicken & Chips with the odd green beans.

Off to bed now.

Robin

Work Permit Approved

At long last my work permit has been approved just in time so I can catch a flight with 4 other volunteers on Sat 20th and complete the 1 week induction VSO have set up.
Now it's panic time to sort the cottage out for rental, sell the TT and change all the addresses.