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Published: September 1st 2008
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Me and Terry
(or Telly - r's and l's are completely interchangeable in Chichewa). The poor kid went 9 days without a name. I told my mum and dad I had a little surprise coming for them and all would be revealed with this entry. Well, I know I did introductions last time but I have to do some more. Could we please give a warm welcome to Terry and Heather Simon (or Telly and Heathero as they are known to the locals). Yes mum and dad (Heather and Terry for those of you who don't know them) you now also have Malawian counterparts. They’re cousins actually, born within a week of each other.
I met Heather in the hospital the day she was born. Her mum's brother-in-law (a schoolkid who likes to stop by and visit and hang around outside our house) asked me to name her. I spent at least half an hour asking him if he was sure that the mother wanted me to do that, seen as I'd never met her before in my life, and he said yes. I went to the post-natal ward to visit her and it turned out she did.
A few days later I was asked to name another newborn in the family so today I went to the village where the family
Regina and Heather Simon!
(Born 5 a.m. Sunday 24th August) live to meet (and officially name) Terry. Note to self, never agree to walk to a ‘nearby’ village in Malawi at 12 noon. You will see from my photos what the ‘roads’ around here look like. The scenery is nice, and it’s for sure nice and quiet (!), but when I started seeing that same scenery go on and on ahead of me as I walked in the roasting sun, being followed by about 10 school kids, I was suddenly wondering what on earth I was doing! It was fun though. The family was all really nice and welcoming and even gave me some onions before they sent me on my way.
Maybe I will use them to make some tasty relish when I cook up nsima for my friends. I can probably stop calling it flour and water now - you get the idea. I thought I'd make food a bit of a theme for this week's photos as I have been asked if I have stopped taking pictures of all things edible. Yes - strange but true - I have several years of my life documented with photos of the food I ate in various locations and
Some of Terry and Heather's relatives
Their grandfather had 8 children. No wonder I got confused as to who was who. at various events. Everyone has their quirks.
Back to work and my daily routine. My day has been starting at 5.30am thanks to a wonderful rooster that has parked itself right outside my bedroom window. I have been told that the rooster tells us ‘day is beginning’. Why should it tell us that before it’s even light, and not even just that, but all day long, and why does it need to tell us that by making a noise that sounds like it is screaming blue mercy? The word for a rooster in Chichewa is ‘Tambala’. It also happens to mean ‘money’. What can I say, I’ll pay someone lots and lots of Tambala to shoot that thing. Ok, weekly rant over!
The one nice thing about the 5.30 wake up call is that it has been giving me some time to go for the occasional morning walk, have a nice big breakfast and check my emails and catch up on everything that happened at PointCare's headquarters in Boston while I was sleeping. I have been going to the lab around 7.30 each day and getting started on the instrument validation. Unfortunately it's taking us a bit longer
The village where Terry and Heather live
Don't ask me the name. I tried to pronounce it earlier today and noone had a clue where I was talking about. than expected. We're getting there though. It's quite interesting being in the lab as I am learning some new things. Whenever my colleagues get test results that clearly show certain diseases they let me take a look, and explain things to me. Today I saw what a bad case of Malaria looks like under a microscope. Yesterday it was Bilharzia. Last week it was fertility testing. Now that led to a bit of an interesting conversation! If a man doesn't get good results from fertility testing he will be severely shamed here. Actually, it doesn't even matter if it's the woman that has a problem, it's always assumed that it's the male. It is joked that they 'fell from a Papaya tree' or were 'stung by bees that sucked out all their juices'. A couple will often try going to a traditional healer to fix the problem (or use a 'hyena') but if they remain childless the woman will divorce her husband (as prompted by her parents).
When I've been out of the lab (and missing out on such conversations) I have been spending time with Aubrey as he works on the validation of our patient database. I did
Ngolo (Ox-cart)
I have been told this is the most popular form of transport in this part of Malawi (central). A lot of patients arrive at the hospital in these. this a few months ago but it is being re-validated as a few changes have been made, some due to Aubrey's experience with clinical evaluations of HIV patients.
The latest on our vehicle? It is on it's way up here from South Africa! Apparently, not surprisingly, it was held up a little at the Zimbabwean border. I'm waiting for an update.
I have to go now as I'm having a few friends over for dinner. I have been eating beans until they come out of my ears (and loving them) but tonight I've given them a bit of 'azungu' treatment and made vegetarian chilli! We'll see what they think! Friday night I'm spending the night in Lilongwe to go to a Lucius Banda concert. I wonder if he'll remember me from when myself and my friend Katherine were on stage with him in December! I think I know most of his songs by heart now as some of my colleagues at the hospital have been using his songs to help me with my Chichewa. They pause after every couple of lines.
Hopefully next time I'll be able to show you our truck!
Take care and talk
Scenery around the hospital....
It's busy busy busy and hot hot hot these days!!! This photo was taken at around 6.30 a.m. on Sunday when I went for a walk with a friend. Yep - the rooster doesn't rest on Sundays. soon,
Joanna x
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