The cat has a death wish

Just after recovering from his snake bit or whatever, Jambo appeared on morning with a really nasty dog bite on his hip. It was really gross as you could see the bone underneath! Jonathan went straight to the vet (again!) who prescribed this purple antibiotic spray thing. It has to be sprayed on the wound twice a day. Jambo being a cat ends up licking it all away, having a purple mouth and purple from the other end too! He is not really improving and now I think he is getting ill from licking the spray so often! It is not Thursday and we are leaving on Sunday. Jambo is perhaps staying alone in the house for a week until he goes to his new home but now I don’t know what to do with the poor cat! Hopefully he will make a remarkable recovery and be fine to live alone! Watch this space!


Is this the right incentive?

The government has just started a new scheme for all of its employees who are HIV positive. They are to be given an extra K5000 per month in their salaries. Bearing in mind that the average teacher earns K12,000 a month and a cleaner probably only gets K4000 this is a huge increase for some. So is the government working along the right lines?

I’m in two minds about it. Firstly it does mean that more people will go and get tested which is good as they will know their status and can adapt their behaviours so suit (hopefully) and they can get proper treatment so they will live longer. We know many people who are positive and the extra money will really help them live better lives. BUT the scheme already has many problems – corruption being the main one. People are actually pretending that they are positive just to get the money. Also does it make is cool to have HIV? I’m not sure. On a plus it may reduce the stigma attatched to HIV. Government statistics for teachers still do not recognise that people are dying from AIDS, instead for cause of death of a teacher they list many illnesses and have a box for other!

HIV/AIDS still remains a HUGE problem for Malawi even with all of the projects and programmes in place. More of that later!

Other news:

Moving house tomorrow and then heading to Uganda on Sunday so probably no more entries until I come back in 3 weeks.

Enjoy

Caroline

cat tales

What an eventful week it has been regarding my cat Jambo. Firstly he was limping and he had cut his left paw which then got infected and was full of puss. As a result big rocks of mud were stuck in between his claws. J and I spent ages wrestling with him trying to get the mud rocks off. Eventually we won and were able to bathe the paw in salty water – much to Jambo’s disgust! He was put under house arrest for the day which he really hated!

A few days later he was on the bed cuddling in to me, giving his usual affection. All was well until I noticed a bug on my arm, nothing uncommon here as the house is full of them. I tried to brush it away but it remained stuck to my arm. It was one of Jambo’s resident ticks! Its head was well and truly stuck in my arm and its little legs were kicking away in delight! I am used to removing them from the cat with tweezers but it is a bit of a different matter when it is your own arm. Thankfully it was buried into the left arm so I could use the right arm to manuvour the bloody thing out!

Lastly just the yesterday Jambo can in through the window in the bedroom in the middle of the night (only because the window doesn’t close as the lock is broken) as he usually does. In the morning he was really limping and there was a problem with his right paw this time! (It was quite funny seeing him hobble about!!) His paw was twice the size that is normally is and had a little blood on the side. We reckon he bit off more than he could chew with either a snake or one of my monitor lizards that live in the garden! We had to go on a wild goose chase around Rumphi to try and locate the ‘vet’. After failing we gave up and went to Mzuzu for a few errands. Luckily upon return Jambo was still alive and hobbling (again he was put under house arrest!) and we managed to locate the vet, who came and gave Jambo a shot of antibiotics.

All seems to be well with the cat now but he is still a little off colour! It was amazing to see the difference in the swollen paw after the injection. It had reduced within 20 minutes.

I am sure that Jambo is playing up as he can sense that something is happening in the house! I am in the middle of packing up and moving into Jonathan’s house (or maybe Lucie’s house if the builders and plumbers and electricians and painters etc are not through with J’s house!!) There are new volunteers coming in one week and they move into my house so I have to relocate, which means that Jambo also has to relocate. J has a dog so his house is no good. Jambo is moving to the big city for a new life in Mzuzu……….

A few snaps

Well actually only 4. The wireless network is back at the place we use the internet in Rumphi so here goes! The little boy with the sunglasses on was my new best friend for the day and only wanted to sit on me and eat biscuits. I was a bit worried as he didn't have a nappy or anything equivelent on. Luckily it was all ok!

Here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51891&l=3edac&id=521356310

Enjoy xx

It’s a Small World

Today I have been at a school exchange visit in one of the zones where we work. I organised the event with the Primary Education Advisor for the zone and she selected the schools that we should visit as she knows them well. Basically one school is selected to be the host (one of the best schools in the zone out of about 15) and then other teachers or headteachers (usually ones who are not so good!) are asked to come and visit the school.

We basically help with the organising, provide the transport and cover any small costs such as drinks and biscuits. We turn up on the day and join in. I think these are one of the best ways to get the teachers to improve as they actually see someone doing their job well.

Anyway the school we were at today turns out to have a link with a school in Scotland. The link seems to be pretty strong as it has loads of library books for children (not actually being used!) which is really uncommon and a few teachers are coming out to visit from Scotland in July. Previously I had an email from one of the girls that I was at uni with telling me that she is coming to Malawi in July as part of an exchange programme thing. I hadn’t heard of the name of the school and she told me she is learning a few phrases in Chichewa which is the national language but not the first language in the north which is Timbuka (I really did try to learn some of it and I know a few basic greetings and phrases but apart from that I am crap!) so I assumed she would be nowhere near me. Inevitably it turns out that this is the actual school that she is linked with and is coming to visit.

The world still gets smaller…… Upon this knowledge the Headteacher produces this big red folder of information about the school in the UK. There is also information that has been sent by other teachers in the UK who have visited the school on similar things organised by the Scottish Executive. As I am flicking through I find information about Dean Park Primary School which is in Balerno and I did my first ever teaching practise there! I knew that one of their teachers had visited but how spooky!

Even smaller….. Most of the information is from the school that is visiting in the summer but there were a few letters from the children at Dean Park Primary with photos attached (literally only 5 letters) and, yes you may have guessed I recognise on of the children who wrote a letter. It is a girl called Louise who was one of my Brownies!

So here I am sitting reading a letter sent by one of my Brownies in Balerno, Edinburgh, Scotland and I am in the middle of Malawi! How BIZARRE!

And to quote one of mother’s favourite songs: ‘It’s a small world after all’!!!!