Pepani, Pepani

"Sorry, sorry" for not managing to write for a while! I have been very busy with my motorbike training and incountry stuff provided by VSO.

I'm currently in the capital ,Lilongwe. I had to get a bus down which was very stressful! Dehydration started the day before in preperatio for the journey and the lack of toilet facilities! We arrived at the bus station at 6.00am hoping to get the posh bus but it never turned up! Quite common apparently. We boarded a red bus that looked quite good. Now in Malawi a bus does not leave anywhere until it is full. Ours was no different. We boarded the bus at hlaf 6 and were still waiting at 8. Finally I thought we were ready to go but no, there were another 20 isle seats that folded down. 1 hour later and 6 trips to the tolitet and we were away!! The trip itself wasn't too bad and made a few scheduled stops. Mind you by this time I was about to pass out with dehydration. But I still managed to go at every stop!!

Made it to Lilongwe and checked into a good hotel - hot showers and all. Had a week of entertaining motorbike training with 16 other folk. 2 of whom had never even been on a push bike. I didn't fall off and was taking the bumpy roads at 50 kpm to try and stay with the cockey Kenyan boys!!

I am currently on my in cournty stuff which is boring but great to be with all the folk I arrived with. The hightlights so far are a trip to a traditional healer who was all dressed up and chenting this random nonsence about witches and spirits. How these people believe it all is beside me. Just back from the lake which was great - managed to snorkel around a little island - dad you'd be jealous! Got up to watch the sun rise at 4.20 but gave up an hour later and went back to bed. It eventually came up at 6.00!!

Have now taken to drinking beer as it is the only cheap thing that you can get. Also Malawi's own gin is drinkable as well. One of the best things about being in the capital is the ex-pat community so it is ok for a group of you to go out and get drunk!! Mind you I wouldn't want to be doing it all the time!! The other good thing is the food - you can buy just about anything! I'll be stalking up for the journery home!

Hope all is well! Caz xx

Our Field Visits!

What an entertaining week it has been for many reasons! Our aim was to visit all 11 TDCs (Teacher Development Centres) is Rumphi. Rumphi is quite a large area so we would be taking Sue’s car and staying over for a couple of nights.

It is the rainy season over here at the moment but up until now the rains haven’t been that bad. Until we actually want to drive along dirt roads to get to the TDCs! We totally failed to visit 3 of the TDCs on the Tuesday as the rain was too bad and the roads were awful. We didn’t fancy a 4 hour drive in the mud. We postponed the visits until next week. But on a bonus point we managed to visit one TDC early as it is on the main M1 road!

Wednesday was still rainy but we decided to go for it as the road to the first TDC is quite new. We managed to get along fairly easily until we reached that part of the road that wasn’t actually built yet!!! We got stuck in the mud but reckoned we only had about 2kms to go. We stared walking. The mud was so thick that my shoes kept falling off and getting stuck. Very funny, especially as we ended up with a trail of 10 children behind us! We were able to get there and back and later even managed the afternoon visit as well. Things were looking up!

Thursday. More rain. We decided to set off. We were planning to stay overnight as the next 4 TDCs were quite far away but relatively near each other. We made it up the main M1 with no problems, up and over the escarpment and admired the views. Then we took the road up to Livingstonia. Oh my gosh!!!! The road was in good condition for the weather but…. 20 hairpin bends, a single track road and one false more and you are for it! It was a very steep climb and we had to do a few 3 point turns just to get up the bends. I was hanging on for dear life! Thankfully Sue is a good driver and her car is 4 wheel drive. We made it to the top and were in high spirits as we had passed the difficulty challenge. Wrong! More mud, more getting stuck and add in the engine over heating for good measure. We were told that it was only another 2kms so again we decided to walk it. However, we met and ambulance (more like a people transporter than an actual ambulance) who was stuck. The driver managed to get unstuck and offered us a lift. Apparently it was actually 7kms away. We declined as we didn’t fancy the walk back in the mud and rain. 2 hours later and another trip down past the 20 bends. Basically the whole day gone and nothing to show for it!

We made it to our resthouse and were looking forward to the boat trip the next day. We ordered dinner from the ‘manager’ but after several hours and the cooks eating their own dinner, nothing. The manager hadn’t told the cooks that we needed anything so he ordered them to cook for us. By the time it was ready I was past hunger and ready for my bed! But no, this HUGE plate of rice and egg and sauce arrived. What to do? The women had cooked it especially for us and I couldn’t even eat a quarter of it. So the whole lot was shoved into a plastic bag, tied and placed in my cap. A quick dash to the car, past the cooks and it was dumped in the boot! We got away with it!!!



The Boat Trip

Up nice and early for the 2 hour boat journey to the TDC. Everything went to plan for the first hour. We collected the advisor of the TDC, then nothing! The engine was playing up. We sat on the beach in the sun while it was fixed. After another hour we were off again (some problem with the plug??!). Again it stopped so we rowed for a while until it started. After 4 hours we made it to the TDC. It was so hot and my arms were now turning pink!

After a good 2 hour trip we were ready to set off. The men had apparently fixed the problem plug and we were off! Again after 1 hour the thing cut out again so more rowing and fixing. Luckily the owner had brought a spare plug with him so he kept changing them around. We dropped off the Advisor and we continued. All was going splendidly for half and hour when clunk!! The look on the owner’s face said it all! The propeller had fallen off and sunk to the depths of the lake! This poor man just sat on the bottom of the boat and began to scoop out the water! By the way, the plug was fine!! We rowed ashore and ended up walking the rest of the way back!

In summary a 4 hour round trip took 4 hours on the way and 5 on the way back! Only in Malawi!

The rest of the trip was great and we had to work on Saturday to reach our last TDC. We had managed to cover a grand total of 5 TDCs!! Oh well there is always next week!

On the way back home we stopped at a ‘tourist’ spot. A locally made basket bridge and a small museum (hut). Our ‘tour guide’ took his job very seriously and even dressed up in a traditional costume thing and made us dance around some pole things. The tears were streaming down my face and I had to go out side and pretend to sneeze just to compose myself! It was one of the funniest things I have participated in for a long time!!

Other news

I now have a house that just needs a lick of paint so fingers crossed I will be able move in after my second training in Lilongwe!

Watch this space