Variety is the spice of life?

Apparently variety is the spice of life! This I am coming to realize is indeed very true! I have been here for a year now (how scarily quickly time flies!) and am starting to get bored with the same old food and the same old routine.

Before coming to Malawi I really didn’t like onions or tomatoes that much come to think, but now they are really all I eat and no meal is complete without them in some shape or form! I have also discovered that I do actually like avocados and French beans are great, especially chopped up in pasta, rice etc. Thankfully my garden is helping to add to the spice of life in the kitchen and for some weird reason my peppers are still growing – George planted them way back in September and they just keep on coming – another little bush thing of them has just sprouted. To think that I didn’t really like peppers either! At least I can say that I am probably eating healthier than at home and all organic (I think!) One other bonus in the kitchen is herbs and spices. There is a good Indian run shop in Mzuzu that has all sorts of herbs and spices. My average meals consist of: potatoes (Irish, or baked potatoes as a rare treat when they have them), pasta, rice (but I can’t really be bothered with all the winnowing palaver that happens before cooking it to remove all the stones and weevils), mince, fajitas and pizza. All homemade from scratch! Thank goodness for my oven! I really don’t know how Malawians can eat the same meal 3 times a day every day of their lives! I struggle with the 5 or 6 meals I have and that doesn’t include treats to the local restaurant or the new pizza place in Mzuzu which is fully equipped with a stone oven!

As for the routine here in Rumphi – it really is mundane but actually probably quite similar to my weekly routine at home but at least at home I can get out and do something at the weekend. Monday to Friday I go to work and generally faf about. Cooking and tidying up after takes a couple of hours in the evening, then its watching a DVD (substitute for a TV) and sleep. I get a real treat on Mondays when I have a pile of ironing to do instead of the DVD. Cam sent me ‘Lost – the third season’ for Christmas and Jonathan and I only have 5 more episodes left to watch. Think we will be ‘lost’ without it! Thankfully you can get plenty of cheap DVDs from Japan to watch – of varying quality of course! Weeks are actually ok, especially if we are busy at work. Weekends in Rumphi are quiet to say the least! There really isn’t much to do so I either read a book, sleep or waste the day pottering about – no shopping, no football and certainly no big nights out on the town! It is really nice to get out of Rumphi during the weekend to do something and meet up with other folk. We are going to the capital next weekend and then to the lake as well. Mind you al least when I stay in Rumphi I don’t spend that much money!

Having been really quiet at work for a while we are suddenly rally busy and are spending a lot of time in the toy car that VSO gave us. We have expanded and are now working in 3 districts, with the boundary for the furthest away one half way down to Lilongwe at least. The touring is really tiring, for example last Wednesday we had a meeting in Mzimba. We left at 6.00 and travelled for 3 hours, had a 2 hour meeting and then travelled back 3 hours! The roads are really awful at the moment with the rains and the car we have literally has no suspension or they forgot to put in the shock absorbers! We go flying over the bumps (well it is more of a crawling along as the car has no power either!) and any poor passengers in the back end up with bruises on their heads. It really is like being at Alton Towers but the ride lasts longer – no wonder my neck and shoulders are killing me these days! The joys of African roads! It is really good to be working with new people who all appear to be enthusiastic – it is also interesting to note all the teething problems! More on that another time!

Anyway must dash for tonight’s entertainment – what variety will it be tonight I wonder……….

What are basic human needs?

I know that there is that pyramid thing of needs and the further up to the top the better your life should be. I think that the essentials are shelter, food and water and I would think that some for of human contact is also pretty useful especially for child.

Shelter
Ok so where I am most people have some kind of basic shelter to live in with god only knows how many other people. However, as it is the rainy season many of these houses leak, especially as many of the roofs are only made from plastic sheets and grass. This can make people have very difficult lives and I can tell you that when it rains here it really does rain! Even my house leaks in places. Mainly right down the middle of the house where the 2 sheets of iron meet. If you want to take a shower then in a really bad storm all you’d need to do is stand anywhere under the join and hey presto! It’s not actually that bad and does dry up quickly as my house is still really hot inside!!

Food
In Malawi this is the start of the ‘hungry’ season mainly because last years crops (maize) is running low and the new crops won’t be ready to harvest for a while so in the coming months malnutrition will become a problem, especially in children. People have also spent their money on buying maize seeds and fertiliser to ensure a good crop for the next season.

Water
Ok so it is the rainy season and there should be plenty of water coming from the gods. And yes there is but is comes so fast and in bursts that the drainage system can’t cope so the pipes block with really muddy, dirty water. This dirty water often makes its way to the local water supply where it comes out of the taps and is drunk. This can lead to disease. Recently in a village on the outskirts of Blantyre (One of the main towns in Malawi but at the other end of the country from me) there was a big break out of cholera because of the poor water supply.

I have had no running water in my house for 3 days apparently because someone ran over the main pipe and broke it and the water board are taking their time to fix it. It is now the weekend so looks like it will be a few more days. I have to get my poor night watchman to fetch buckets from a local borehole and really have to minimise how much I am using. This has really shown me how much water I use and how much I waste as well. We really do take it for granted that we turn on a tap and there the water is. Most of the people in the area a live have running water but even 1 mile away from the town, people (well lets be honest here – the women) have to collect all their water from the local borehole and carry it back to their houses.


So the next time you turn on your tap and leave it unnecessarily think of the poor women who walk for miles to collect their water and please turn it off promptly!!

Caroline

Some Photos!

Hopefully this link will take you to a few photos from Zambia! Very impressed with the speed that I caould upload these today! The gods were obviously on my side!

Enjoy

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37593&l=31c16&id=521356310

Christmas and New Year!

Christmas and New Year

Happy New Year everyone – hope is was a good one for you all! I had a great time away from it all and back to basics. Here is my story. I set off for the long journey south on the Sunday before Christmas – thankfully I got a lift to the outskirts of Lilongwe and then I had to navigate myself to the main bus station with all my bags (2 rucksacks, one hand bag and a few carrier bags). Almost got pick pocketed on the way but caught the guy red handed. He didn’t even bat an eyelid and actually looked more annoyed that I had caught him and that I had actually ruined his work! Happens often at the bus station where it is so crowded and mad. People hound you as you get off one bus and try to find the other – certainly didn’t help that I could hard balance!

Anyway made it to a little village called Nkhoma which is really nice and not very African at all! There are lots of missionaries living in the area and hence lots of the houses are really nice with all mod-cons. First time I have actually seen a washing machine in Malawi! We were staying with another volunteer. There was 6 of us in total – 5 females of differing ages all from Europe and one Ugandan called Henry who is quite religions and prim and proper – we think he was in shock with the crazy antics of all these white girls and their silly traditions! I’m sure it was a learning experience he didn’t think he would get!! We spent Christmas Eve wandering about the village and in the local craft shop which is just next door to Jane’s house. There is even a little coffee and cake shop on the premises!

Christmas itself was also really nice. We went to the local Church service which was all in Chichewa but we could at least sing along to Hark the Herald angels in English. We didn’t stay there for too long and headed back to Jane’s to start preparing lunch – we had a full roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings, party hats and homemade crackers too! I opened a few little parcels from mother – I’m still waiting on at least a couple of parcels and hope is now fading that they have been lost or stolen on the way! We played a few games and watched several DVDs before heading to bed. It was a nice way to spend the day.

We then headed back to Lilongwe for our 9 day adventure. We set of on the 27^th to Zambia and one of the best National Parks in Southern Africa. We were camping in permanent tents with proper beds for the first few days which were better than we expected but of course it is the rainy season in this part of Africa so we did get a lot of rain and I had to relocate to a different tent after practically swimming to breakfast! We went on 4 drives that each lasted 4 hours! We were up at 5 every morning! You can imagine my bladder - there were several occasions where I needed to stop and goodness only knows what I was peeing beside – probably better not to know!!

We saw loads of animals and got quite close to several – there were plenty of giraffes (I think my favourite of the animals); zebras, impalas, buffalos, hyenas, elephants, birds and we also saw a lion, 2 lionesses and their cubs! It is amazing how peaceful these animals can appear, especially as they had recently killed and feasted upon a zebra, yet they are really dangerous. I can imagine how some of these stupid people in the UK would get our of their cars to try and pat one of the big cats!! Thankfully the weather for the drives was good but a little cold!

Then we spent Hogmanay driving from the park all they way to Victoria Falls at the other end of the country. We stopped off at Lusaka for a bit of shopping. Lusaka is huge and much more westernised than Lilongwe.

We finally arrived at dusk and in the pissing rain. We then had to put up our tents. Unfortunately, everyone else had already arrived and nicked all the best spots! We ended up camping in a marsh that just kept getting muddier and muddier as the days passed! It quite reminded me of Guide Camp and why I now take Brownies to indoor holidays!!

We went to a New Years Eve party which was really so awful that it was funny. There were lots of people about dancing to really old dance tunes and quite a lot of young people from the overland vehicles. I did make it to the bells but retired to my swamp shortly after that.

On New Years day we selected our activities for the 2 days that we were about the falls. I chickened out of the white water rafting and decided to do a bungee jump instead! More about that later!!

We spend the morning at Vic Falls which really are spectacular even though they are no where near full yet! In the evening we went on a boat cruise up the Zambezi River with the hippos and crocs all around. It was a really nice way to spend the evening, especially as all drinks were included in the price – although I was very good partly as I didn’t want to do the jump with a hangover and partly because the thought of getting in and out of the tent several times really didn’t appeal!

The next day we were up bright and early for the BIG jump. Debbie and I were the only ones doing it and we had opted for a combi – if I had known that this entailed I would never have agreed! Firstly we went of a flying fox type thing which was easy and tame! Next we did this Gorge Swing off the bridge. This actually entailed holding on to a rope, running and jumping of the bridge and falling 111 meters before the rope kicks in and you begin swinging! Oh my God it was awful! I really thought I might die and on impact I really jarred my neck. I hated every minute of it. Straight after that experience I had to do the bungee jump. I was now wetting myself! Of course I managed to go through with it and it was ok. The free fall was great and totally different to the first swing experience as you can actually feel the ropes around your feet and know that they will kick in. There is also something better falling head first rather than feet first! The worst part – which I had anticipated – is the bouncing up and down a million times upside down before you are rescued! Finally back on the bridge I did feel quite faint and survived the experience – I tell you not one that I will be repeating in the near future!

We then travelled back to Lilongwe and spent the night in a dorm – 5 of us girls and one male Malawian and his drunk friend who was trying to fight with him in the middle of the night – not a nice experience when you wake up to all this kafuffle at 3am! And of course he was on the bunk above me!

Met up with Jonathan before travelling back to Rumphi. He was lucky that he was flying in from Uganda via Nairobi as most of the African volunteers are stranded in either Kenya or Uganda as all the borders are closed! We did also get stranded in Lilongwe for an extra day as all the buses were full – the schools started back on the Monday and all the children who board were also heading back to school! Thankfully I made it back and everything is fine in Rumphi. Jambo was very excited to see us both!! The only challenge for the new year is that there is a fuel crisis in Malawi so we have no petrol for the bike or diesel for the car to do our work!!!

Hope you all also had a great Christmas and all the best for 2008!

Caroline