A few short episodes
Football
I went to a local football match last Sunday afternoon. It was the Rumphi Medics (our local hospital staff) against another local team. We turned up at half time and it was nil-nil. I’m still not sure how the players don’t do themselves any damage running and tackling on the pitch which is full of holes, dirt and on a slope – actually sounds quite like Easter Road!!!
Anyway, Malawians are known for being friendly and peaceful, but not on the pitch. There was fighting, red cards, pitch invasions, and no goals at all – also sounds like a Hearts vs Hibs derby game!!! The spectators were many and several had had too many already. Much to the amusement of the local crowd the drunk ones caused entertainment – but it was really not funny!
Falling
Last Monday I’d been faffing about and didn’t get round to cooking so decided to head to the local restaurant for tea. It was dark so I had my torch but I only use it when there are no lights at all as the light attracts interest from the local dogs and points out that a ‘Mzungu’ (White) is about as bizarrely most Africans can see well in the dark! So the torch was off and it had been raining a little bit but not too much, I slipped in some mud (or what I though was mud) and landed on my knee. Thankfully another volunteer caught me before I went totally flying. However, I do now have a lovely bruise and a few cuts on my poor knee. But it actually turns out that I slipped on a banana skin! Yes how comic book like but I tell you they are dangerous when its dark and they are upside down!!
Education Day
It was National Education Day is Malawi last Thursday and I was an invited guest to the local celebrations at the Secondary School. The invite said it would start at 8.00. We turned up at about 9 and surprise surprise it wasn’t nearly ready to begin. Came back at half ten and they were about to start. There was lots of dancing, singing, poems and dramas all presented by the learners from the local schools. Thankfully we were under a home made tent thing so at least it provided us with shade. It is getting hotter during the day again and beginning to get windy and dusty! At about half 12 I started to need the toilet. By quarter past 1 I was desperate. I sneaked away, or so I thought and headed quickly for home. 2 minutes later this man is running after me shouting ‘Madam where are you going? The food is ready.’ So much for a subtle escape. I explained that I needed to go home and would return back in 10 minutes. I headed back just in time to hear the closing remarks (well not understand them they were in the local language but still,) and go for lunch. I was seated next to the guest of honour.
As most of you are aware eating funny foods is not really my strong point. Today was rice (can be deadly as there are lots of stones in it), beef chunks, cabbage and sauce. Considering my taste it was quite ok. In Malawi they don’t use cutlery and you can only eat with your right hand. Scooping up rice is quite tricky and at one point I was literally sitting on my left hand to stop it helping the right!! After that there were the usual speeches and introductions, all in Chitimbuka except mine!! The whole day itself was good to watch. It was nice to see all the children enjoying themselves.
Printer troubles
Getting printers to work in Malawi is often a problem. Mainly because of poor electricity supply, the extremely high cost of ink and lack of knowledge about the dam things! Our TDC has 2 printer but has had no ink for a while. We have our own computer at the office but it only prints out in black and white. The last time we were in Lilongwe we got some new ink for the colour printer at the TDC. I went to install it and help them with some printing. I opened the lid and noticed all this ink stained cotton wool lying about. I asked the Assistant Coordinator of the TDC. He was puzzled but after further investigation it became clear that a family of mice had moved in and where chomping away and nesting in the cotton wool at the base of the computer. After tipping it up a few random peanuts popped out and the paper was covered in their urine! How nice. Eventually though we had cleared up the mess and were hopping that it would be ok. Alas no, the printer is now ruined. Back to black and white for a while. Photos just don’t look the same without colour!
Blocked up
My sink became blocked up the other day. It was clear that the cooking oil had been the problem as it had gone hard and bits were lying everywhere! I tried to poor fairy liquid down to unblock it but failed miserably. The next day at the office I was going to arrange a plumber when Sue mentioned the cure. We headed back to mine and boiled a few kettles of water and she used her palm of the hand as a plunger. Surprisingly, (well not that surprising if you actually think about the science behind it) it worked! We kept filling kettles to be sure and the blacked sink was no more. We went back to work. I came home for lunch and boiled the kettle. It was leaking and broken never to be used again! You win some and you lose some!!
That’s all for now!!
Caz xx
