Arriving in Malawi

---

Arriving in Malawi was the scariest thing of my life. And I mean terrifying. The cab driver kept stopping on the side of the road next to groups of 20-something men. I finally told him that my colleague was waiting for me at the hotel and if I wasn't there in 5 minutes, he'd call the police. And then I took out my totally useless cell phone because I didn't have a Malawi SIM card yet and put it on my lap like I was poised to call the police. Not that I had a clue what the number was anyway… But that's beside the point. I get to the hotel and they tell me it's too dangerous to go out. It's 3pm in the afternoon at this point. I'm like, what the heck have I gotten into… But then I regroup and call my local partner, Africare. We agree to meet up in the morning so I'm feeling better. I head to the restaurant for a little dinner. The power goes out and I'm sitting in the dark. In a way it's kind of peaceful. I mean, there isn't internet anyway, so I'm not missing out on anything.

My Africare buddies pick me up the next morning and we're off to the Ministry of Health. Now I am on my soapbox. Malawi is one of the 10 poorest countries on earth. We drive by the river and I see people using it for washing and relieving themselves, it is called the Public Toilet. I also see little huts that have signs that say "private bathroom" on them. We get to the ministry and I can't even describe it. I don't know how to even start. We then head over to the Lilongwe District Health clinic. I will try and describe this, but it will be hard. I don't know what's going on, because everyone speaks Chichewa and that's the preferred method of communication. I figure out we haven't actually planned anything, we're just dropping by these places. We enter a small concrete building. There are boxes and boxes of UNFPA commodities lining the floor. The woman has a small desk, no computer. She takes out a ledger book and tells me how many patients have been to the family planning clinic over the last week. We chat awhile and then head to the actual clinic. I see a sign that says UNC out front, it is run by UNC, so I'm proud of an NC connection, albeit a small one. On the patio area of the clinic are at least 100 women and babies sitting on long benches. There is a lone hook, like a produce scale, that they hang the babies on in their traditional wrapping to weigh. We walk in to meet with the head of the clinic, the head nurse. There are more women and children lined up on benches. A nurse is giving shots out in the hallway.

I wish I could explain this better. I mean I wanted to see Africa and see public health at work, and this is it. People live in huts or shacks without water and the average life expectancy is 40 years. They use Pit latrines and boreholes, all things I've learned about, but to see them actually up close is something else all together. Many young children die of hunger and other preventable diseases and many mothers die while giving birth.

When I was in the hotel, I kept bumping my head on things. In the shower, I thought, David could never fit under this shower head and I laughed. Then later on I realized that most people are really short here, and that is because of under nutrition at early stages in life, it is called stunting in public health terms. Stunting also is more than physical; it also slows mental development in children.

---