Malawi - Ups & Downs.

This morning was a bit of a low.

Finally - today I got some money from an ATM. Goodness knows why, but my card has been blocked all week & I can't change sterling in a bank without having an account, which I don't want. I was just about down to my last Kwatcha & I owe money. Then I was able to buy some airtime on my phone from Airtel. So now I can phone & text at last.

The last 24 hours have been one thing after another, but that's only to be expected. 

It's deeply frustrating to have so many, such long, power cuts & no water pressure for a shower, (I'm not sure when I last had one!). I lost almost a whole document I had written for the Training Manual I'm creating because of a power cut. (I thought the computer had been set up with autosave). There are cultural differences with the way people work here & this project has to be completed by the time I go in 8 working days. Too complicated to go into, but its all a bit much.

The food situation last night was dire. Our pasta was cooking on a barbecue because of the outage & the glass dish exploded. The food & glass pieces fell into the charcoal so we couldn't eat it. It was already late, but fortunately, for the first time we had a car at the lodge, so we went to a local hotel for a meal. We thought we would try goat - it was inedible, really tough. So we just ate the chips & coleslaw. A big group from Thames Water were there to do some water project - They obviously get their expenses paid in better accommodation!

Very late to bed. Didn't sleep well, kitchen girls start at 5.00 every day. 

I'm going to have a day out or possibly two at the weekend - either going to Kasungu National Park or to Lilongwe. It depends on driver availablilty. 

But I've got a Geko in my room I call George!

Malawi - Accommodation

I have lived in Lodges while I am here - 4 different ones so far - one in the capital Lilongwe, which is run by Marists, one in Kasungu which is privately run by a family, one in Nkhotakota right on Lake Malawi, &  finally one in Nkhata Bay, again on Lake Malawi. The first two are basically bungalows. The tourist ones are purpose built.

As an aged  "Mzunga" Volunteer I am being put in "good" accommodation, not even approaching 4 - 5* obviously. The first two are basic. The two on Lake Malawi are aimed at tourists, although both were almost empty. Just a French couple in the first one. The location is lovely.

There are things which are beyond control. The words " no pressure" & " go with the flow" have entirely different meanings in Malawi. Getting a hot shower is a daily issue. The water in Kasungu was off for over a week because of the electricity company. So once the water was used up in a tank, if you have one, there is none. Fortunately I was at Lake Malawi when that happened.

The electricity goes off for hours daily. So if you have solar you can have some light, but it isn't enough to run the pumps. So again showers are not an option. Cooking has to be done over fires.

But, and it's a big but, I am well cared for by nice people. I am fed at least twice a day. I have a clean room & ensuite facilities, a comfortable bed. I meet lots of people who are really interesting to talk to. I am much better informed about Africa in general & Malawi in particular.

The contrast between me & the vast majority of people living here simply could not be greater. If you haven't travelled for ages over dreadful dirt roads to remote villages in an old 4WD you have no idea. Seeing it on TV is not the same, this is the reality. These people literally have nothing. They can survive if they can eat something & they don't get sick. If the crops fail, which they do, they have nothing to eat & nothing to sell. Families are big, there are a lot of children to support. It is subsistence living at a really basic level & surviving is a daily round of hard work in the heat.

So, I'm not in any position to complain. I am extremely lucky. I have everything I need here. Back in the UK I am extremely privileged.  When I get back to the UK I hope I will remember that & appreciate it properly.

Malawi - Journey

I saw the most amazing sight at some ungodly time of the morning flying into Johannesburg. I watched the sun rise as the world wakes.The sky was a deep indigo blue with a line of golden pink on the horizon.  We were flying South & I was one the left side of the cabin looking due East. Everything changed as I watched. First a lake of pink, I thought it was Flamingos. Then the sun came up over the horizon as a bright flaming ball of red & gold too bright to look at. The sky changed to every shade from blue to translucent jade.  It happens every day- how amazing is that?

Looking down there were necklaces of rivers & lakes, some huge, some very small. Then came long escarpments, mostly seemingly quite shallow, all very straight.They were beautiful shades of greys & blues, shrouded in mist. They looked like wavelets or rippled sand on the beach.

Johannesburg is a vast megalopolis regimented over the plain. There are large delta like areas with houses built on the flood plain. In the distance is the city centre of skyscrapers rising out of the surrounding habitations. It is just like something in a Marvel comic. As we come into land there are huge malls & industrial areas.

Africa awaits.

Oxford Bubbles

Oxford is many things, but "average" it isn't. The discrepancy between the "haves" & the "have nots" is all too obvious here. It isn't just a question of "town & gown". It's far more complex than that.

The two extremes would be North Oxford where the academics & middle classes live in houses costing millions & the estates where the working & unemployed, who are trying to survive, live. As I have previously mentioned there are many more homeless & Big Issue sellers too, who are even more disadvantaged.

Then you have the tiers of students. At the top of the pile are the ones who actually attend the university. Then come all of the Language students. The population variation in term time & holiday time must be huge, but I haven't been able to find any stats. As a resident you can certainly tell the difference because of the numbers of cycles on the roads & parked. Also the number using the buses.

Then there are the children attending State & Independent schools. The former are here year round. Many of the latter are bussed in at the beginning of terms, often in huge, black 4x4s driven by burly"chauffeurs" or doting mothers. Everyone living here dreads the beginning of term when the road traffic becomes even worse than normal, & that is pretty bad, because of non boarding children being driven to & from Independent schools. Parking rules simply don't seem to apply to these drivers.

On top of all this is the seemingly endless coachloads of tourists who clog our streets & literally make it almost impossible to walk from one place to another in a straight line. Hurrying to get somewhere is almost impossible.The groups are ridiculously large for our streets & are like starling murmurations, swirling at will without regard for anyone else.

Oxford is a small university city, dating back to 912 AD, with narrow streets & pavements & beautiful architecture. It is the oldest surviving university in the English speaking world. It was founded in 1096. Oxford also has the worlds first university museum, the Ashmolean, founded in 1683. All of this makes it a really interesting place to visit.

The income all of this generates for the city & local businesses is important. But Oxford is rapidly becoming a place to avoid if you actually live here. It is in danger of becoming polluted by human beings. How sad is that.

Terrorism & War - Places I have been.

I have been on mini breaks with my daughter to Barcelona, Paris, Berlin & London. I have also been to Madrid & Brussels myself. My daughter did her degree in Manchester.

I have travelled to Istanbul twice. I have been to Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Israel & Palestine in the Middle East. Also to Morocco, Libya, Egypt & Tunisia in North Africa.

I've travelled extensively in America. I have to say that the USA is a country at war with itself & they have the "right to bear arms", which makes them dangerous.They are also a target for many disaffected people in the world because of their disastrous & ignorant foreign policy.

All of these places have been hit hard by terrorism or war. So much has been destroyed. So many lives have been lost & families split apart by unbelievable suffering. Sensible people would think twice before travelling to so much of the world now. You do have to wonder whether some places are going to become "No go areas" for years to come.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_terrorism_in_Europe_(2014%E2%80%93present)

The destruction wreaked by man is incalculable, both on innocent civilians, property & historic sites. We are dealing, fairly inadequately, with the mass migration of populations. People who are forced to live for years in refugee camps, having lost almost everything. Just take a minute or two to really try to imagine what that must be like from the comfort of your own home, surrounded by all your posessions.

We are allowing generations of children to grow up with total uncertainty, when we know that the one thing children need is security. Goodness knows how many have lost parents, siblings & relatives, when we know that a loving family sets children on the path to healthy adulthood.

Shame on the perpetrators of this mess & shame on us for not doing more to deal with it effectively.

Shame on the so called holy men who peddle a doctrine of hate to susceptible, disaffected, young people, which bears no relationship to the religions they purport to espouse. I'm not just referring to Islam - To my mind any fundamentalist belief has no place in a rational & caring world.

Is it surprising that we have a generation of angry, disposessed, jobless, rootless, young men looking for something & finding it in a disfunctional brotherhood? Anarchy rules - powerless people think this is their opportunity for power & martyrdom.

 

Where is God - Any God - in all of this?

Malawi - Getting Closer

I've got cash - $ & Sterling. I think I've got all the techie gizmos I need, including a new keyboard for my iPad. I've got all my paperwork together, just need to check in online 24 hrs before I go. Got all my meds & Mozzie stuff.

I've also now got masses of info from the CEO of MicroLoan Malawi - (thank you C - what a lot of preparation work has gone into my visit). 3 sides of A4 on arrival & the first 2 nights in Lilongwe, (which I wasn't expecting). Plus 3 sides of A4 on my first week familiarisation programme. This is also a surprise because I will be going to Nkhotakota & Nkhata Bay on Lake Malawi & Mzuzu. I think I am actually beginning to get excited - well just a bit.

I'm glad I do know, because I will need to take a small rucksack or case for a few nights away.

It's not the clothes that's the problem - it's all the other stuff! Clothes can be washed or new ones bought. It's always a lot easier to pack for a hot climate that you can rely on. Rain isn't a possibility until about December.

I'm reasonably organised at home & my other Volunteer jobs are sorted. Not bad really.

I am looking forward to meeting all the local team in Malawi.

Relationships

I've just had a couple of days staying with good friends. We have known eachother, on & off, for about 14 years, but only became really close after my husband died in 2009. They are wonderful to be with, easy to talk to about any subject you could mention - we don't necessarily agree politically though. It's always a two way conversation - we listen to eachother as well as being able to tell eachother really intimate details about our lives. There is huge trust that confidences won't be abused. We are very supportive of eachother.

On the other hand I currently have a "working" relationship in a voluntary role which has been nothing but trouble since it started a couple of months ago. I find the person concerned extremely difficult to deal with. I have actually lost my temper with her - I simply cannot remember the last time I lost my temper with anyone - but it must be years. I have really tried hard to be patient & understand her point of view, but the fact is I don't.

Now I can feel the tension physically when I have to deal with her. I have woken in the middle of the night, or not been able to go to sleep, thinking about situations with her. I have reached the point where I am ensuring there is a paper trail of emails / texts etc because she has actually been at least unpleasant, at worst abusive.

My point is what makes relationships work or not work? Is there such a thing as a clash of personalities? Is it because there is some complete misunderstanding which makes people get mired in entrenched positions? Can an off day when something is said completely ruin the possibility of compatibility? I just don't know.

Yesterday I had a conversation with another friend who said that she has reached the stage where if she finds a relationship isn't working & isn't reciprocal in a good way, she just stops being the person who keeps it going. Because it isn't worth the emotional pain it causes. Then it's up to the other party to build fences.

I feel she's right. Life is too short to waste time on toxic relationships which drain your energy. I don't have any to spare. It isn't easy to do though.