Blogs from Malawi, Africa - page 74

url='/Videos/3450.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3450.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'Mwezi marking Greg's laptop Thursday I spent another day meeting with Mike all day, since it would probably be our last office day before his departure (Friday is a camp day). In the afternoon we had a birthday party for the outgoing country director, who is moving on to work with refugees on the U.S.-Mexican border. One of the Malawian teachers at the camp, Isaiah, brought music he had composed, and the Malawian women on staff demonstrated some traditional Malawian dancing. Us mzungu women ended up being pressured into trying it out, which was a disaster. As someone pointed out, you need to have African hardware (for lack of a better euphemism) to dance like that! Every Thursday Matt hosts a movie night at our house which usually attracts 25-30 expats (he actually lug ... read more

Sunday20th I walked to Kaya Mawa which is the really expensive resort on the island to see what all the fuss is about. I can see it would be a really nice honeymoon location (suppose to be a top 10) but I think I would get bored! I then walked to Mango drift and finally had one of their Pizza that I’d been told so much about but always arrived to late to order one. I talked to 2 people who are working in an Eco-lodge on Mozambique. Then walked back to Cecelia’s with a French Canadian who was walking into town for dinner. I used one of my precious tins of vegetables and had it with pasta- what a treat! I couldn’t stay here they only have tomatoes and onions and the fruit is ... read more

By Tuesday I was starting to feel pretty isolated from real life here. I had only been driven around in SUVs, eaten at places most Malawians could never afford, and been in supermarkets with brands like Heinz and Ceres (= all imports). So I decided to venture out to the Old Town in the morning. Our housekeeper, Mary, walked me to the place where I would catch the minibus to work from then on, and told the money collector where I was going (since I really didn’t know myself!). The minibuses are something else—if I ever feel like the group I’m riding with will let me get away with it, I will take a photo. They are the most unbelievably rickety old things, many of them second-hand imports from places like China and the United ... read more

Tuesday 15th After my 4 day weekend this was the day to start getting things sorted. Cecelia and I went to the Teachers Development Centre, which is attached to St Peters school and waited for Mr Ngwale. He was late and I got frustrated so started to go through things with Cecelia. St Peters gave us a list of the resources they are short of and we went through seeing which ones need money and which can be made at the workshop. Mr Ngwali finally came and the Head teacher was also there. I looked in the teachers book to see what the next science lesson they would be teaching next week and thus what lesson they would observe me teaching- it was heating liquids Thursday 17th Over Wednesday and Thursday Cecelia and I got ... read more

I’m in love…. again. Yes, I know I’m prone to this affliction, at least as regards the places I visit, but it was love at first sight with Malawi. Even the mayhem at Blantyre airport when I arrived didn’t bother me: the warmth of the people waving and smiling from the balcony above the immigration/baggage collection area (I’d hesitate to call it the “arrivals hall”) at arriving friends and relations countered any possible frustration at the ad hoc immigration and baggage retrieval procedures. There was a long queue, reaching back nearly to the foot of the steps from the ‘plane, for the “immigration counter”, a couple of desks set up on an apparently temporary basis in a dark corridor to deal with arriving foreigners (Blantyre clearly does not get many international flights each day), a ... read more