Hi everyone, Well the last few weeks have been busy, so much to tell I don’t know where to begin. First of all, two of the volunteers who had been here for 8 months were leaving so a party was in order. A goat and two pigs were the guests of honour and were they welcomed! They arrived already slaughtered (thank goodness) in a wheel barrow and the butcher had a very interesting technique. I think he was going for the tenderising method. Using his axe he just cut it into a million pieces. There was music intermittently (solar power doesn’t [View Full Entry]

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Hello there. We are now officially back in touch with the world after Marc bought himself a shiny new (Chinese) radio from Mzuzu and we can get the BBC World Service 24 hours a day. Marc is hanging onto every word said at the moment as the Ryder Cup is on. He is slightly disappointed that there has been no rugby or cricket news, so Rich keep the email updates coming! Our trip to Mzuzu was an exciting affair as it was a trip to the ‘Big Smoke’! They have banks and supermarkets and shops in Mzuzu. Very exciting! We filled [View Full Entry]

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Mon 15th Sept, Hi again to everyone wherever you are. Especially hi to Rachael and Dave who are getting married this week! We’ll toast a beer to you from here in Malawi. All’s still going well. Work is still challenging, especially as I now seem to be running the Out-Patients Dept with just an interpreter most of the time. Because I am the only Dr within 100kms of here I am also getting a lot of the locals come down to the camp to see me for medical advice. Not least, the manager of Ripple Africa went down with quite severe [View Full Entry]

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So it’s now 2nd Sept and all is still well here in Malawi. We’re settling into a bit of a routine now and have found ourselves very much part of the community. My work has been going really well, but it is often very difficult at times. The vast majority of the patients coming in have a fever and the Malawian DOH recommends that everyone with a fever be treated for Malaria as there are no facilities to test for it here. A large proportion of these are children less than 5 years old and often there are really sick. We [View Full Entry]

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Well, we arrived in Malawi safe and sound and have been living in our camp by the lake for over a week now which is absolute paradise. The volunteers, staff and locals have made us feel very welcome and I can honestly say Malawians are some of the friendliest people I have ever met. You greet everyone you go past with ‘Hello, how are you? I’m fine. Where are you going? OK, bye.’ I thought at first this was just because we were the new volunteers, but it seems as though it’s the norm. It can sometimes add 20 minutes to [View Full Entry]

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Its nearly time for us the leave the shores of England and head to Malawi. Our flight is tomorrow night. We still have to pack and do various things before we leave but we are nearly done. We can honestly say the last few weeks have been as exhausting and as emotionally challenging as they could ever be. Our worldly goods are on a boat to Australia, we are both unemployed and we are at Marc's parents place living out of a suitcase. But we are so happy. Happy to be following our dream, and happy that we can support such [View Full Entry]

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By now we were really weary and wondering whether our legs would actually get us up Snowdon at all. It hurt to walk, it hurt to sit and we actually thought our legs would seize up all together at one point. Here we met with Sara and Austin who grew up in North Wales and are dedicated climbers with lots of local knowledge and expertise. Also Marc's great friend Steve who had previously managed the 3 Peaks in 24 hours! With three sets of fresh legs to spur us on off we went. We went up the Miners track and came [View Full Entry]

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After an early start from the Brook House Inn we met up with Nigel, Oli (and the 2 dogs) and decided that we drive around the otherside and climb Scarfell Pike from the North. After a few wrong turns (very scenic ones!) we found ourselves at Seathwaite Farm and we set off. Our legs were really feeling it after the burn from Ben Nevis the day before but none the less we carried on. Then the rain started. Then it closed in. Then the high winds came. Hmmm. Not great conditions. Rach was struggling to stay upright and thought she was [View Full Entry]

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Well we got off to an early start the morning before with a mamoth drive to Scotland from Brighton. But armed with a trusty Sat Nav we got to see the delights of the Scottish Highland including Loch Lomond which was absolutely gorgeous. Pod and Shanthi had made a little detour from Edinburgh to join us in Fort William which sits at the base of Ben Nevis. After a wholesome curry in our bellies and a good night sleep we made an early start the next day. Marc took over map reading after Rachael (armed with her geography degree!) couldn't work [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone, Well we are doing our best to prepare for our upcoming challenge of walking up Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in Wales in 3 consecutive days. Many of you have said we are crazy, but its all for a good cause! We will be raising money for Ripple Africa before we go out to Malawi to volunteer for this wonderful organisation. Hopefully Pod and Shanthi will join us for Ben Nevis and anyone for Snowdon? Many of you have been very generous and we thank you very much for your support. If anyone is [View Full Entry]

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