Blogs from Malawi, Africa - page 27

Where to start? This will be difficult to put into meaningful words. Our stint at Mangochi Hospital really was an experience of a lifetime, on reflection a priviledge that I didn't fully appreciate at the time. For me the words to describe the experience include mind-blowing, interesting, sad (80%), happy (20%), frustrating, humbling, desperate, poor, unbelievable, smelly, chaotic, beuracratic, mechanical, unfair, ancient and welcoming. Hopefully my choice of words will be explanatory throughout this blog. Mangochi is the sixth largest town in Malawi, with a population currently estimated at 55,000. The hospital serves Mangochi town and the surrounding rural areas of thousands more people who a huge variety of health needs. The population is essentially very poor by Western standards, with people not thinking twice about walking miles to access healthcare which would be categoris... read more

Clare and I were joined in Malawi by 3 other volunteers who were there for the same time period as us. They were all newly-qualified doctors who had very recently completed medical school in Tooting. They were Dave (unfortunately for me a Man City season ticket holder), Marissa and Cassie, all lovely people and good housemates. For a couple of our weekends away we were joined by James, a friend of Dave's from university who was also volunteering in Malawi but in a different town. The charity had just employed a Volunteer Coordinator - Becca - whose job it was to support volunteers during their time in Malawi.... read more

May 25th already? Time has flown here in Africa. We are done teaching and we are now at a resort on lake Malawi. The lake is massive! It reminds me of the ocean. We have done too much stuff for me to type it all in one entry...I will have to let everyone know in person! Jenelle... read more

The journey 6th – 7th May 2012 Clare and I left home at 12ish on Sunday and had speedy trip down to Heathrow with Leader. Both of us were slightly worried that our bags would weigh too much at check-in despite me and Will weighing them at least 50 times at home. Needn’t have worried - got a nice check-in girl at Kenya Airways and everything was fine. All of the bags were just under the 23kg limit apart from one which was 27kg and was accepted without us having to de-cant and swap contents of the other bags around. Boarded the 8pm jumbo to Nairobi and settled down to what we thought would be a good night's sleep on the 8 hour flight. Not to be, thanks to a white Zimbabwean with one ... read more

It's been awhile since our last entry as we were without a camera for a good few months. Unfortunately we were unable to get pictures of our amazing time swimming with whale sharks in Mozambique as well as many other wonderful experiences. We spent 5 months living and working in Cape Town where we had a great time making friends and breaking hearts. With only a month left in Africa we dediced to spend it in Malawi with our African family.... read more