TDC on a boat!
Cast your mind back almost one year ago and you might remember the adventure of the trip to the Teacher Development Centre that required a boat to get to, and it was just a disaster from beginning to end. Well the time came again for my annual trip to visit the TDC.
This time we were also going to take 2 of our Malawian colleagues (PEAs) for an exchange visit. It was arranged ages ago and surprisingly the day arrived for the adventure and all was still well!
This time the trip was much more successful but still had some entertaining moments. We were firstly sent on a few errands to various other TDCs on the way to drop of information from the office. Upon arrival at the first one, people suddenly appeared from everywhere, out of bushes or huts and started forming a queue at one of the doors. There was hustling and bustling, pushing and shoving. Apparenlty they thought we were from Mzuzu and were here to sell them maize flour. It was an awful feeling as already these people had been waiting since the early hours and they were disappointed when they found out that we were not here for the maize. The crowd dispersed a little and the wait continued for them. These are the lucky ones as they can actually afford to buy the maize, plenty other people have ran out of last years crop and are now struggling and going hungry.
Anyway we arrived near our destination and had promised the 2 PEAs to take the to lunch in a ‘mzungu’ place. We arrived at a lovely place on the lake where we often stop for lunch. This is truly a white backpackers place and is usually full of over-land trucks. Today was quite quiet but the PEAs where amazed at the whole set up. Bearing in mind that these are 2 educated Malawians they have rarely experienced the white tourists. They took ages looking over the menu and I had to explain what all of the dishes were. There was one Malawian type dish of rice and bean stew which they kept falling back to. Eventually, after much discussion they decided on tuna salad and garlic bread. I’m not sure quite what they were expecting but they ate it all and said that it was good. They did look longingly over at the workers who were eating the traditional nsima and relish.
We set of for another TDC to drop in some information and then headed to the place where we get the boat. There we were staying at the local guest house for 2 nights and thankfully, because we had the PEAs with us there were no problems in ordering food! Upon arrival we went to find the man we had hired the boat from and of course there was the usual cock-up. The host PEA had booked us onto the boat for the next morning and all was arranged, but the owner of the boat had been given a better offer from the District Commissioner’s office (of course they are also more important that us!) and he was waiting to take them. We would be stranded. Several phone calls later from the PEAs to the DC office it transpired that their programme had been cancelled and we were free to use the boat as planned!!
This is a different boat to last years one, thank god!, (especially as that one capsized over Christmas, 4 children drowned and the owner has ran away to South Africa!). The boat was great, much bigger and safer then the last one and even had a canopy over the top to protect from the sun and rains. This was also the first time that the 2 PEAs had ever been on a boat in their lives. They were very excited and laughing throughout the journey. The boat stopped at several places along the lakeshore to collect teachers for our trainings. At each place we were greeted by hoards of children who ran along the shore to chase the boat as we left!
We arrived safely and could begin our trainigs. These were to be about 4 hours long but were shorted to 2 and a half hours as we needed to get the boat back at 2ish. The visit went really well and the host PEA had made a big effort in organising the exchange visit. Our training were nice and soon enough it was time to head back to the guesthouse.
Back at the guesthouse we taught the PEAs a card game which they were loving and highly entertained especially when they won and we lost! The guesthouse id pretty basic and the layout is that the walls don’t reach the ceiling so there is a large gap the whole way along the top, between each room. Lucie reported that the place (which was empty apart from us) is obviously the local brothel as the room next to her was continuously opened and she could hear different men’s voices. Because of the open air layout she could even hear the occasional ripping of the condom packets – which is a good sign, and after each visit she heard the prostitute bathing, again a good sign?! This was of course taking place on Feb 14th – Happy valentines day Lucie!! Thankfully I was on the other side of the corridor and had ear plugs, plus the music coming from the local bottle shop dimmed out anything I might have heard!
The trip back to Rumphi was pretty uneventful except we did drop in at the local museum (still as funny as last year and no improvements made) which the PEAs loved and also found quite amusing. They were even taking the piss out of the tour guide!
This was a much more successful trip and achieved much more than last year!
Here is the photo link to see the beautiful Lake Malawi:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41919&l=cb02b&id=521356310
This time we were also going to take 2 of our Malawian colleagues (PEAs) for an exchange visit. It was arranged ages ago and surprisingly the day arrived for the adventure and all was still well!
This time the trip was much more successful but still had some entertaining moments. We were firstly sent on a few errands to various other TDCs on the way to drop of information from the office. Upon arrival at the first one, people suddenly appeared from everywhere, out of bushes or huts and started forming a queue at one of the doors. There was hustling and bustling, pushing and shoving. Apparenlty they thought we were from Mzuzu and were here to sell them maize flour. It was an awful feeling as already these people had been waiting since the early hours and they were disappointed when they found out that we were not here for the maize. The crowd dispersed a little and the wait continued for them. These are the lucky ones as they can actually afford to buy the maize, plenty other people have ran out of last years crop and are now struggling and going hungry.
Anyway we arrived near our destination and had promised the 2 PEAs to take the to lunch in a ‘mzungu’ place. We arrived at a lovely place on the lake where we often stop for lunch. This is truly a white backpackers place and is usually full of over-land trucks. Today was quite quiet but the PEAs where amazed at the whole set up. Bearing in mind that these are 2 educated Malawians they have rarely experienced the white tourists. They took ages looking over the menu and I had to explain what all of the dishes were. There was one Malawian type dish of rice and bean stew which they kept falling back to. Eventually, after much discussion they decided on tuna salad and garlic bread. I’m not sure quite what they were expecting but they ate it all and said that it was good. They did look longingly over at the workers who were eating the traditional nsima and relish.
We set of for another TDC to drop in some information and then headed to the place where we get the boat. There we were staying at the local guest house for 2 nights and thankfully, because we had the PEAs with us there were no problems in ordering food! Upon arrival we went to find the man we had hired the boat from and of course there was the usual cock-up. The host PEA had booked us onto the boat for the next morning and all was arranged, but the owner of the boat had been given a better offer from the District Commissioner’s office (of course they are also more important that us!) and he was waiting to take them. We would be stranded. Several phone calls later from the PEAs to the DC office it transpired that their programme had been cancelled and we were free to use the boat as planned!!
This is a different boat to last years one, thank god!, (especially as that one capsized over Christmas, 4 children drowned and the owner has ran away to South Africa!). The boat was great, much bigger and safer then the last one and even had a canopy over the top to protect from the sun and rains. This was also the first time that the 2 PEAs had ever been on a boat in their lives. They were very excited and laughing throughout the journey. The boat stopped at several places along the lakeshore to collect teachers for our trainings. At each place we were greeted by hoards of children who ran along the shore to chase the boat as we left!
We arrived safely and could begin our trainigs. These were to be about 4 hours long but were shorted to 2 and a half hours as we needed to get the boat back at 2ish. The visit went really well and the host PEA had made a big effort in organising the exchange visit. Our training were nice and soon enough it was time to head back to the guesthouse.
Back at the guesthouse we taught the PEAs a card game which they were loving and highly entertained especially when they won and we lost! The guesthouse id pretty basic and the layout is that the walls don’t reach the ceiling so there is a large gap the whole way along the top, between each room. Lucie reported that the place (which was empty apart from us) is obviously the local brothel as the room next to her was continuously opened and she could hear different men’s voices. Because of the open air layout she could even hear the occasional ripping of the condom packets – which is a good sign, and after each visit she heard the prostitute bathing, again a good sign?! This was of course taking place on Feb 14th – Happy valentines day Lucie!! Thankfully I was on the other side of the corridor and had ear plugs, plus the music coming from the local bottle shop dimmed out anything I might have heard!
The trip back to Rumphi was pretty uneventful except we did drop in at the local museum (still as funny as last year and no improvements made) which the PEAs loved and also found quite amusing. They were even taking the piss out of the tour guide!
This was a much more successful trip and achieved much more than last year!
Here is the photo link to see the beautiful Lake Malawi:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41919&l=cb02b&id=521356310
posted by Caroline Pitcairn at
5:09 pm
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