In my comparing Mozambique-to-Malawi , I ask myself just what is it about these former British colonies like Malawi that bring a seeming absence of decent street food?Why does Mozambique, a Portuguese colony until the 1970s, seem to have plenty of backyard bakeries that actually make decent bread while just a few miles away across the border there is none? The bakery we visited on our way back had beautiful pastries, amazing fresh bread that could be eaten alone, proper coffee and chocolate biscuits and cakes!
All in all, it was an awesome weekend, we struggled with the language, althogh luckily some of us had some spanish which went a long way. the journey back was completed in one day and the border crossing went smoothly with the officers only asking us what the score of the match was and why we didnt have music on the bus - why so concerned on the way/?!?!
Next on list of many african countries to visit -
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
moz parta 2
Mozambique
before coming to Malawi i was delighted to find out there was a womans football club here that we could join! so twice a week since arrival we have been training, well kicking a ball and having a laugh. leon is our dedicated coach, and puts up with our banter! During the summer a mozambiquan team had come to play us and whipped us 6-0, and so a grudge match was organised.
We hired a minibus, got some shirts made, rounded up some good supporters and head off to the portugese speaking country! The journey was going to take us 7 hours, and we would be there by friday evening and have the whole of saturday to play and swim in the Lake, before coming back Sunday morning. However in true african style, the journey took us over a day and we arrived half an hour before sunset on saturday! This was due to the border closing before our arrival, and hence another night spent in Malawi, a 4 hour border crossing the next day due to confusions with our visa ( we did get it free thanks to some good connections), and ignoring the usual rule of doubling any estimated time travelling on african roads.
Once in Mozambique we drove on a dirt road for 4 hours, passing through small african villages - just like you would imagine with mud huts and thatched roofs, lots of children, chickens and goats running around, water wells and woman carrying gallons on their heads and men sitting chatting under tree's. the towns we passed through had a distinct mediterranean feel to them, different to malawi, and it was strange hearing these africans talking in beautiful portugese!
By lunchtime-ish on saturday we were in Lichinga, the provincial capital of nyassa. The organiser of the game - Sarah a big round bubbly mozambiquan met us here and took us to her restaurant where we were treated to a feast of rice, fish, chicken, salad, fresh fruit and the biggest creamiest looking cake i have seen since in Africa. We think it was maybe a ploy to fill us to the extent where we cannot run! After 24 hours on a bus we definetely appreciated it though! After a lot of hanging around, it is africa, we eventually headed to the lake - lake malawi but mozambique side, and drove in convoy behind sarah.
As we reached the town of Metungula - we drove down the steepest roads with hairpin bends and the views of the lake were awesome, sarah started to honk her horn, and this carried on all the way to the park - where we were greeted with hundreds of people, a tv crew, singing and live music! it was quite overwhelming and as we were hurried off to change into our gear, the nerves started building - i thought this was going to be a fun friendly! By this time the sun was nearly down and there was clearly not going to be enough light after dark so we barely had a chance to warm up and off we went. I was in goals, and there was a crowd behind me - all speaking in portugese and commenting whenever i moved which was off putting to say the least! Whenever someone made a small mistake or slipped on the ground the whole crowd erupted into laughter! There was commentary, which was in portugese - probably to our advantage! the first half went well and somehow i managed to keep the ball out of my net (wooden posts actually). the air was a lot more humid than back home, and although a cool day - normally they reach 40 C, we all found it quite tough, so at half time when they just swapped sides it was clear we were going to have to keep going without a break! I took defence second half and battled with fit girls, aged about 16 who were by this time running circles around us. A few minutes later and they put in their first goal, and the disappointment surprised me! However after realising that the girls were all doing kartwheels/back flips and the crowd had erupted, it seemed not so bad! they managed to get another one in, and the match ended with the crowd running onto the pitch all singing, we were all hugging and the atmosphere was awesome! the score was improved from last time and we had just travelled for two days on a bus - not bad!
the evening, started with a ceremony where we thanked them for having us and their mayor thanks us for coming...with each one of us not understanding the other! we then presented all the girls with one of our shirts and once again the place erupted into song, it was beautiful. At this stage it struck us that these people were so much more livlier and joyful than malawians - maybe relative to the economic status, or i think more likely - their portugese influence. They dressed in more stlysih ways, the children had more adventurous hair cuts and everything was more colourful. It certainly gave me a taste for going back to see more of the country and people one day!
We hired a minibus, got some shirts made, rounded up some good supporters and head off to the portugese speaking country! The journey was going to take us 7 hours, and we would be there by friday evening and have the whole of saturday to play and swim in the Lake, before coming back Sunday morning. However in true african style, the journey took us over a day and we arrived half an hour before sunset on saturday! This was due to the border closing before our arrival, and hence another night spent in Malawi, a 4 hour border crossing the next day due to confusions with our visa ( we did get it free thanks to some good connections), and ignoring the usual rule of doubling any estimated time travelling on african roads.
Once in Mozambique we drove on a dirt road for 4 hours, passing through small african villages - just like you would imagine with mud huts and thatched roofs, lots of children, chickens and goats running around, water wells and woman carrying gallons on their heads and men sitting chatting under tree's. the towns we passed through had a distinct mediterranean feel to them, different to malawi, and it was strange hearing these africans talking in beautiful portugese!
By lunchtime-ish on saturday we were in Lichinga, the provincial capital of nyassa. The organiser of the game - Sarah a big round bubbly mozambiquan met us here and took us to her restaurant where we were treated to a feast of rice, fish, chicken, salad, fresh fruit and the biggest creamiest looking cake i have seen since in Africa. We think it was maybe a ploy to fill us to the extent where we cannot run! After 24 hours on a bus we definetely appreciated it though! After a lot of hanging around, it is africa, we eventually headed to the lake - lake malawi but mozambique side, and drove in convoy behind sarah.
As we reached the town of Metungula - we drove down the steepest roads with hairpin bends and the views of the lake were awesome, sarah started to honk her horn, and this carried on all the way to the park - where we were greeted with hundreds of people, a tv crew, singing and live music! it was quite overwhelming and as we were hurried off to change into our gear, the nerves started building - i thought this was going to be a fun friendly! By this time the sun was nearly down and there was clearly not going to be enough light after dark so we barely had a chance to warm up and off we went. I was in goals, and there was a crowd behind me - all speaking in portugese and commenting whenever i moved which was off putting to say the least! Whenever someone made a small mistake or slipped on the ground the whole crowd erupted into laughter! There was commentary, which was in portugese - probably to our advantage! the first half went well and somehow i managed to keep the ball out of my net (wooden posts actually). the air was a lot more humid than back home, and although a cool day - normally they reach 40 C, we all found it quite tough, so at half time when they just swapped sides it was clear we were going to have to keep going without a break! I took defence second half and battled with fit girls, aged about 16 who were by this time running circles around us. A few minutes later and they put in their first goal, and the disappointment surprised me! However after realising that the girls were all doing kartwheels/back flips and the crowd had erupted, it seemed not so bad! they managed to get another one in, and the match ended with the crowd running onto the pitch all singing, we were all hugging and the atmosphere was awesome! the score was improved from last time and we had just travelled for two days on a bus - not bad!
the evening, started with a ceremony where we thanked them for having us and their mayor thanks us for coming...with each one of us not understanding the other! we then presented all the girls with one of our shirts and once again the place erupted into song, it was beautiful. At this stage it struck us that these people were so much more livlier and joyful than malawians - maybe relative to the economic status, or i think more likely - their portugese influence. They dressed in more stlysih ways, the children had more adventurous hair cuts and everything was more colourful. It certainly gave me a taste for going back to see more of the country and people one day!
In my comparing Mozambique-to-Malawi , I ask myself just what is it about these former British colonies like Malawi that bring a seeming absence of decent street food?Why does Mozambique, a Portuguese colony until the 1970s, seem to have plenty of backyard bakeries that actually make decent bread while just a few miles away across the border there is none? The bakery we visited on our way back had beautiful pastries, amazing fresh bread that could be eaten alone, proper coffee and chocolate biscuits and cakes!
All in all, it was an awesome weekend, we struggled with the language, althogh luckily some of us had some spanish which went a long way. the journey back was completed in one day and the border crossing went smoothly with the officers only asking us what the score of the match was and why we didnt have music on the bus - why so concerned on the way/?!?!
Next on list of many african countries to visit - Mozambique here i come!
becky
All in all, it was an awesome weekend, we struggled with the language, althogh luckily some of us had some spanish which went a long way. the journey back was completed in one day and the border crossing went smoothly with the officers only asking us what the score of the match was and why we didnt have music on the bus - why so concerned on the way/?!?!
Next on list of many african countries to visit - Mozambique here i come!
becky
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
babies, babies, babies
So for the last couple of months in Malawi i have been based on the medical ward - which i may describe later if time allows. this consisted of a lot of malaria, lots of meningitis, lots of HIV related illness etc. Katy - one of the MIMP girls, had come back from Zambia, and the pair of us are both interested in doing obstetrics - pregnancy and labour- so we decided to have a wee shot at it out here. We have been there for a week now and are having an awesome time.
The labour ward is small with only 12 beds for a huge area - the capital and beyond. Between beds, there are poor excuses for curtains, with woman being left completely exposed to the world! Outside the ward, there is a queue of very heavily pregnant woman who are in labour - you would never think by looking at them all waitng patiently for a bed, sitting still on a bench. when their turn comes around, they come in and make their own bed with a plastic sheet and chitenje - cloths. they are not allowed a birthing partner - the ward doesnt have enough space, so they lie there on their own, until a staff member becomes free to help them. They make very little noise - and in fact if you here a woman making a noise it probably means that baby is coming now! on my second day, i went to a woman who was obviously in a bit of distress and before i knew it i had delivered a baby! It was amazing, and she was fine with luckily no damage done to perineum - i am obviously not skilled enough to do manouevres which avoid tearing!
Many of the girls who come in are very young, (50% of malawian girls are married by 18) and we delivered 15 and 16 year olds last week. Can you imagine being a 16 year old girl in labour by yourself in a very strange setting - ie - the hospital setting, the poor girls are frightened and just holding their hand goes a long way. They are absolute troopers. once baby is born they lie with them for half an hour and put them to the breast before getting up to shower and wash all their sheets, pack their things and head for postnatal ward. all done themselves, alone. It is unbelievable.
Of course its not all happy smiling babies. I think every day there has been at least one case of intrauterine death - often coming from home or far away health centres, where the history often suggests that it could have been prevented. Many of the mothers are HIV seropositive, and we therefore give them prophylactic medications at the onset of labour and the babies prophylaxis immediately after delivery.
today we had several emergency cases which was exciting and i felt a bit more useful as was needed to insert IV lines, take blood, collect transfusions etc etc . The woman were all coming from distant health centres/home where complications are not able to be dealt with.
i have a lot more to write on this topic, so will do asap but this post is getting too long!
xxxxxxxxx
Monday, 10 November 2008
mount mulanje part 2
After six hours and an expensive lunch we arrive in the small town of Mulanje, just before sun down. It is at the base of the mountain, and during the last hour of the drive the mountain towered above us..making us query our decision to climb it! Of interest we also passed many tea plantations and saw the ladies with baskets on their backs collecting it...was a really scenic drive! We met the 'man in the know' richard and discussed our options for the climb and accomodation etc before he found us a guide. We went to the local market and stocked up on tomatoes, onions, bread, rice - as little as possibly as it all had to be carried! The first night was spent in a small forest hut which was very sweet but due to a technical fault there was no electricity so we were in bed pretty early to get up at dawn the next day.
The walk started of gently, through a tall forest, with some kind of monkey/baboons above us. Within an hour we had made it to a beautiful waterfall (see pictures on facebook), which was so tempting to swim in but the thought of walking in wet clothes dissuaded us. By this time we were told we were 10% of the way - and we were all quite pleased - and thought it was going to be a nice walk up a hill! And then it started....the next 5 hours were straight up - one step back from rock climbing! The sun was beating down, we were sweating furiosly and my heart felt like it was going to explode! The only good thing were the absolutely gorgeus views..and i used taking pictures as an excuse to get my breath back every ten minutes or so! How we made it to the next hut i do not know, but one of the porters - paul, who was carrying all my things poor man, took it upon himself to make sure i reached the top. I remember reaching the top of this peak, looking down the hill and having the biggest smile on my face as i saw the hut! Paul and I ran all the way down the hill to the hut, where Mike and Amanda - two americans that were my walking companions were cheering me on!
The hut was at about 2200m, so it was very cold up there, and there was no electricity or running water. The place was being run by an elderly man called Benson - who had a huge toothless grin and spoke no english. It was his job to light fires and collect water..from a stream a good walk away. on his return we realised he was carrying the water in an over the shoulder fertiliser container!! Hopefully it had been sued enough times to be safe! We cooked on an open fire and slept under two huge woolly blankets, and it was just awesome! We had candles and played cards, and chatted with two other travellers up there.
the next day, the other two went to the top of the nearest peak, and i stayed at camp. there were two malawian girls hired by the forestry commission to run a cedar tree nursery - and cook for benson and the guides and porters who passed through. They took great pleasure in showing me the baby cedars - see photos, and then we cooked nsima together - they were surprised i knew how to do it. This involves mixing maize flower with boiling water and stirring/pounding it until it is thick. I am used to doing in a small pot on the cooker - this was a huge cauldron and they had to help me as i am not strong enough! I was actually able to speak more chichewa than they were english but we managed to have such a laugh together it was great.
Next a church group arrived which consisted of about 20 young malawians, boys and girls who had come in a variety of footwear - including black leather shoes! The girls were exhausted too which made me feel better! They had carried hundreds of potoatoes and a couple of chickens up and proceeded to cook chicken and chips whilst singing their church songs..was quite surreal!In the afternoon we went for a short walk to a nearby pool - which was close to the edge of the mountain, a big cliff face. Of course even in the cold temperature i was in like a shot and it made my day! the evening was spent in a similar fashion to the one before, and we rose early to set of down the hill once again. Mike, who had made the walk up the way dead easy, did not enjoy the way down, our knees were shaking and we were slipping and ripping on the huge rocks we were clambering down. I however found it a doddle compared to the upward journey!
the journey back, apart from a few near misses with dogs and goats, was uneventful and we all needed our beauty sleep! my muscles were aching for days reminding me what i put them through! It was one of the hardest physical things i have done, but i must say for those views and the hut experience..i think it was well worth it!.
xxx
The walk started of gently, through a tall forest, with some kind of monkey/baboons above us. Within an hour we had made it to a beautiful waterfall (see pictures on facebook), which was so tempting to swim in but the thought of walking in wet clothes dissuaded us. By this time we were told we were 10% of the way - and we were all quite pleased - and thought it was going to be a nice walk up a hill! And then it started....the next 5 hours were straight up - one step back from rock climbing! The sun was beating down, we were sweating furiosly and my heart felt like it was going to explode! The only good thing were the absolutely gorgeus views..and i used taking pictures as an excuse to get my breath back every ten minutes or so! How we made it to the next hut i do not know, but one of the porters - paul, who was carrying all my things poor man, took it upon himself to make sure i reached the top. I remember reaching the top of this peak, looking down the hill and having the biggest smile on my face as i saw the hut! Paul and I ran all the way down the hill to the hut, where Mike and Amanda - two americans that were my walking companions were cheering me on!
The hut was at about 2200m, so it was very cold up there, and there was no electricity or running water. The place was being run by an elderly man called Benson - who had a huge toothless grin and spoke no english. It was his job to light fires and collect water..from a stream a good walk away. on his return we realised he was carrying the water in an over the shoulder fertiliser container!! Hopefully it had been sued enough times to be safe! We cooked on an open fire and slept under two huge woolly blankets, and it was just awesome! We had candles and played cards, and chatted with two other travellers up there.
the next day, the other two went to the top of the nearest peak, and i stayed at camp. there were two malawian girls hired by the forestry commission to run a cedar tree nursery - and cook for benson and the guides and porters who passed through. They took great pleasure in showing me the baby cedars - see photos, and then we cooked nsima together - they were surprised i knew how to do it. This involves mixing maize flower with boiling water and stirring/pounding it until it is thick. I am used to doing in a small pot on the cooker - this was a huge cauldron and they had to help me as i am not strong enough! I was actually able to speak more chichewa than they were english but we managed to have such a laugh together it was great.
Next a church group arrived which consisted of about 20 young malawians, boys and girls who had come in a variety of footwear - including black leather shoes! The girls were exhausted too which made me feel better! They had carried hundreds of potoatoes and a couple of chickens up and proceeded to cook chicken and chips whilst singing their church songs..was quite surreal!In the afternoon we went for a short walk to a nearby pool - which was close to the edge of the mountain, a big cliff face. Of course even in the cold temperature i was in like a shot and it made my day! the evening was spent in a similar fashion to the one before, and we rose early to set of down the hill once again. Mike, who had made the walk up the way dead easy, did not enjoy the way down, our knees were shaking and we were slipping and ripping on the huge rocks we were clambering down. I however found it a doddle compared to the upward journey!
the journey back, apart from a few near misses with dogs and goats, was uneventful and we all needed our beauty sleep! my muscles were aching for days reminding me what i put them through! It was one of the hardest physical things i have done, but i must say for those views and the hut experience..i think it was well worth it!.
xxx
Friday, 31 October 2008
mount mulanje part 1
Here is a link to pictures from last weekend on mount mulanje - malawi and central africa's second highest peak..we didn't go to the top. will write corresponding text once i have finished coursework and job application from this week!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10600&l=d070c&id=289400653
enjoy!
becky
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10600&l=d070c&id=289400653
enjoy!
becky
Monday, 20 October 2008
Evictions, departures and all other things stressful!
Ok so i haven't written here for a while, apologies! the last couple of weeks have been interesting... we were asked to leave our accomodation with 2 weeks - so mad dash to find somewhere new, and unfortunately my travel mate Alev has had to leave and go back to Scotland. So most of the last couple of weeks have been spent trying to find somewhere to live - we have a nice 2 bedroom flat, find a car - as new accom far away - we have a tiny wee toyota starlet, and so i don't have that much of interest to report!
Lilongwe is a strange city - it is very spread out, with forests and nature reserves inside the city. Every are is named by the number in which is was built which makes it hard to memorise where places are as area 1 is not next to area 2! It is not safe to walk around at night, and as it gets dark about 5.30 -6 without a car it can be very restricting. This little car should help a lot.
We spent a weekend at the lake for a festival called the Lake of Stars, which raises money for a microloan organisation. It was really good, we were camping, and rolled out of bed each morning onto the beach where we played frisbee, swam in the sea and danced to awesome music from all over the world.
I have joined a football team which train twice a week - really good fun and is a good distresser after a hard days work! WE have our coach - Leon, a malawian dude, and about 10 girls each week. there are plans to play against a team in Mozambique in November which i hope to get to but unfortunately money is very low so we will see.
Sorry this post isn't more cheery and exciting, i just thought i would update you a bit. Hopefully now in new house will settle down a bit, but next job is to get internet installed as i have lots of coursework and my job application to do in next couple of weeks and no internet! Hope everyone is well, i bet it is really cold at home, its starting to get really hot here - must be in 30's now and although not that tanned(i am good with my factor 30!) my hair is slowly turning blonde again!!
love to all, becky xxxx
Lilongwe is a strange city - it is very spread out, with forests and nature reserves inside the city. Every are is named by the number in which is was built which makes it hard to memorise where places are as area 1 is not next to area 2! It is not safe to walk around at night, and as it gets dark about 5.30 -6 without a car it can be very restricting. This little car should help a lot.
We spent a weekend at the lake for a festival called the Lake of Stars, which raises money for a microloan organisation. It was really good, we were camping, and rolled out of bed each morning onto the beach where we played frisbee, swam in the sea and danced to awesome music from all over the world.
I have joined a football team which train twice a week - really good fun and is a good distresser after a hard days work! WE have our coach - Leon, a malawian dude, and about 10 girls each week. there are plans to play against a team in Mozambique in November which i hope to get to but unfortunately money is very low so we will see.
Sorry this post isn't more cheery and exciting, i just thought i would update you a bit. Hopefully now in new house will settle down a bit, but next job is to get internet installed as i have lots of coursework and my job application to do in next couple of weeks and no internet! Hope everyone is well, i bet it is really cold at home, its starting to get really hot here - must be in 30's now and although not that tanned(i am good with my factor 30!) my hair is slowly turning blonde again!!
love to all, becky xxxx
Sunday, 5 October 2008
Cape Maclear
This post is in retrospect from last weekend - i am now feeling up to writing! We decided to head for a place called Cape Maclear at the Southern end of the lake, without doing much research into how to get there other than asking a few malawians - 'its only 4 hours away'. 24 hours and at least three different buses/pickups later we arrived! In some circumstances, this could have been frustrating to say the least, but as we are still very excited to be in africa and it was our first time outside lilongwe - we had an awesome time. We met some really friendly people, saw malawis stunning countryside (and i might have slipped the fact that i think Malawi is a lot more beautiful than Ghana!) and got into some really funny situations.
the second last part of the journey, took a while to get going as we were the first to join the 'matola' - pickup, or lorry really. The matola leaves when it is full, and believe me, you would never guess how many people constitutes a full matola! We were lucky enough to get the front seats, (the back is the most uncomfortable journey you can imangine - ghanas public transport beats malawi hands down), but just as we were about to leave a lady turned up with a tiny baby, which was immediatly handed to me, i must have 'broody' written all over my forehead. It turned out she wanted to front seat - fair enough, i wouldnt be putting a tiny baby in the back o Louise kindly gave up her seat for them, and i had baby the whole journey - photos on facebook! Louise's journey was different, and full of experiences, for example, the laptop bag which kept being shoved in her face in the business kept making noises..and she couldnt work out how come, - it turned out there was a couple of chickens inside!!
anyway i could write about the journey for days... Lake Malawi was stunning and definetely worth the journey! It is very hard to believe it is a lake, as you cannot see the other side and there are waves. We were met there by Jon and the others, who were a bit more clever with their journey, and almost immediately put straight into double kayaks, which we used to paddle to a small island about 20 minutes away. It was great fun, and kind of paradise! At the island we snorkelled and observed some of Malawi's unique fresh water fish...most of which were a stunning bright blue colour. It has definetely given me the drive to go for a proper diving weekend. Apart from that, the weekend was spent lazying around, swimming, and eating gorgeus food! absolute luxury. One of the highlghts was the kids there, they were obviously very used to tourists and some of them just asked for money, bu most of them just wanted to know your name, and then called it whenever they saw you the whole weekend. Some of them had grouped together and come up with a very entreperenial(sorry spelling?) idea. They made a drum kit and other instruments out of rubbish they had found, including a very fancy base drum, and had composed some songs - including 'how are you? im fine' and 'we are the children' They played outside our guesthouse each night, hoping to get some donations. They were soo talented!
Anyway that has given us a good tasted for the lake and we will be back often, in fact next weekend for a huge festival - lakeofstars, but we might not venture as far in future unless we have extra days!
Love becky, xxx
ps - i sometimes wonder whether peple want to read this, but i personally find it useful as a way of keeping a diary, as i seem to find it hard to write one myself. Just read as u please. :)
the second last part of the journey, took a while to get going as we were the first to join the 'matola' - pickup, or lorry really. The matola leaves when it is full, and believe me, you would never guess how many people constitutes a full matola! We were lucky enough to get the front seats, (the back is the most uncomfortable journey you can imangine - ghanas public transport beats malawi hands down), but just as we were about to leave a lady turned up with a tiny baby, which was immediatly handed to me, i must have 'broody' written all over my forehead. It turned out she wanted to front seat - fair enough, i wouldnt be putting a tiny baby in the back o Louise kindly gave up her seat for them, and i had baby the whole journey - photos on facebook! Louise's journey was different, and full of experiences, for example, the laptop bag which kept being shoved in her face in the business kept making noises..and she couldnt work out how come, - it turned out there was a couple of chickens inside!!
anyway i could write about the journey for days... Lake Malawi was stunning and definetely worth the journey! It is very hard to believe it is a lake, as you cannot see the other side and there are waves. We were met there by Jon and the others, who were a bit more clever with their journey, and almost immediately put straight into double kayaks, which we used to paddle to a small island about 20 minutes away. It was great fun, and kind of paradise! At the island we snorkelled and observed some of Malawi's unique fresh water fish...most of which were a stunning bright blue colour. It has definetely given me the drive to go for a proper diving weekend. Apart from that, the weekend was spent lazying around, swimming, and eating gorgeus food! absolute luxury. One of the highlghts was the kids there, they were obviously very used to tourists and some of them just asked for money, bu most of them just wanted to know your name, and then called it whenever they saw you the whole weekend. Some of them had grouped together and come up with a very entreperenial(sorry spelling?) idea. They made a drum kit and other instruments out of rubbish they had found, including a very fancy base drum, and had composed some songs - including 'how are you? im fine' and 'we are the children' They played outside our guesthouse each night, hoping to get some donations. They were soo talented!
Anyway that has given us a good tasted for the lake and we will be back often, in fact next weekend for a huge festival - lakeofstars, but we might not venture as far in future unless we have extra days!
Love becky, xxx
ps - i sometimes wonder whether peple want to read this, but i personally find it useful as a way of keeping a diary, as i seem to find it hard to write one myself. Just read as u please. :)
week2
Hey so i have had the runs for 4 days and missed a bit of hospital this week, hence the reason for non-communication also. Think i am on the mend now and hope to be fighting fit for the coming week in hospital! So what should i tell you about this week?
Our supervisor and founder of the MIMP program, Jon Dowell, has been here in malawi for the past couple of weeks to ensure things are going to plan etc. His visit has proven very successful and maybe this is a good time to explain why i am here and what i am doing.
Jon became aware that every year thousands upon thousands of medical students descend on developing country rural poor hospitals for 6 weeks of the year, learn a lot, see a lot, and have a great time. He began to question the ethics behind this. Clinical time is taken from patients as doctors often spend time teaching these students. Most students head to these places with little knowledge of infectious/tropical diseases, and his question is what does the hospital get in return for this service. So this program aims to have students in one hospital for (ideally the whole year, but exams get in the way) 9 months of the year, under supervision from a clinician who is hired directly for that job - hence not taking away someone else clinical time, and in
addition - in return for having us we were required to bring a sum of money to spend on the ward.
That was the plan... and it is going quite well, we were at first meant to be based in paediatrics but unfortunately the department is so disorganised there was no place for us, and the first group felt they did not learn anything there. So we are now based on the medical wards, under a Dr Namarika - who is so wise! We are trying to find a place for us where we can be of some use, and Jon's presence has helped that. We are all allocated a specific bay and are 'responsible' for those patients - ie we should know the patients well, ensure investigation and management is carried out, or do it ourselves, and do odd jobs around the ward. As there is a significant language barrier, we have come up with a way around this by buddying up with clinical officer students - which works 2 ways - they help us communicate and we teach by example - clerking patients and doing procedures as well as teaching them in specific tutorials - to come hopefully.
We are also carrying out an audit for the ward, which will help them in many ways and we are currently in discussions regarding what we will be spending out money on. Suggestions so far are really just basic things that every ward should have - glucometers and strips, BP machines, Oxygen concentrators, a trolley - the current trolley is used for 2 wards and is used for carrying patients, food at lunchtime and dead bodies to mortuary....you can imagine the infection control issues!!
So that is kind of where we are just now, we have to keep the momentum up while everyone involed is keen, and hopefully we will have a place in this hospital for years to come.
anyway hope that has explained it a little bit.
becks
Our supervisor and founder of the MIMP program, Jon Dowell, has been here in malawi for the past couple of weeks to ensure things are going to plan etc. His visit has proven very successful and maybe this is a good time to explain why i am here and what i am doing.
Jon became aware that every year thousands upon thousands of medical students descend on developing country rural poor hospitals for 6 weeks of the year, learn a lot, see a lot, and have a great time. He began to question the ethics behind this. Clinical time is taken from patients as doctors often spend time teaching these students. Most students head to these places with little knowledge of infectious/tropical diseases, and his question is what does the hospital get in return for this service. So this program aims to have students in one hospital for (ideally the whole year, but exams get in the way) 9 months of the year, under supervision from a clinician who is hired directly for that job - hence not taking away someone else clinical time, and in
addition - in return for having us we were required to bring a sum of money to spend on the ward.
That was the plan... and it is going quite well, we were at first meant to be based in paediatrics but unfortunately the department is so disorganised there was no place for us, and the first group felt they did not learn anything there. So we are now based on the medical wards, under a Dr Namarika - who is so wise! We are trying to find a place for us where we can be of some use, and Jon's presence has helped that. We are all allocated a specific bay and are 'responsible' for those patients - ie we should know the patients well, ensure investigation and management is carried out, or do it ourselves, and do odd jobs around the ward. As there is a significant language barrier, we have come up with a way around this by buddying up with clinical officer students - which works 2 ways - they help us communicate and we teach by example - clerking patients and doing procedures as well as teaching them in specific tutorials - to come hopefully.
We are also carrying out an audit for the ward, which will help them in many ways and we are currently in discussions regarding what we will be spending out money on. Suggestions so far are really just basic things that every ward should have - glucometers and strips, BP machines, Oxygen concentrators, a trolley - the current trolley is used for 2 wards and is used for carrying patients, food at lunchtime and dead bodies to mortuary....you can imagine the infection control issues!!
So that is kind of where we are just now, we have to keep the momentum up while everyone involed is keen, and hopefully we will have a place in this hospital for years to come.
anyway hope that has explained it a little bit.
becks
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
photos
For those of you not using facebook you should be able to view my photos on there by clicking the link below...hopefully!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10200&l=03b79&id=289400653
Enjoy!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10200&l=03b79&id=289400653
Enjoy!
Thursday, 25 September 2008
hospital week 1
The week has gone so fast! We started placement on monday - but spent most of the day introducing ourselves to various doctors, administrators and other members of the clinical team. We are based on the medical wards just now, one male and one female. If i had not experienced wards in Ghana, it would have been a huge shock walking in there - seeing the difference between ninewells and here. the difference now is that i have a bit more knowledge to understand just now sick these patients are when they come in - most of them coming in with a decreased concious level.
The ward is very basic, and investigations a bit scarce, but there does seem to be a relatively high level of staff around - from nursing students, through to clinical officers(about level of our junior doctors but they stay at this level.) to a variety of doctors from malawi and around the world. we are still finding our feet, so will go into more detail about the state of the ward etc later.
We are undertaking quite a large audit of patients taking antiretroviral drugs and their complications, which is really interesting and is giving us an actual job to do. we also do wards and are beginning to help with procedures. Communication with patients is a bit tricky as the majority do not speak any english..we are hoping to involve some keen nursing students to be our translators.
We have been asked to organise a clinical meeting/presentation next friday to introduce ourselves and explain our reasons for being here and what our role will be, as well as have discussions about what we are going to spend our money on. Its quite a daunting task - need to provide lunch for eeryone too.
This morning we attended an albino awareness day - which turned out to be really interesting, there is huge stigma and weird beliefs regarding albinism here, and recently in tanzania there was a spout of killings in this group. They have severe problems here in the sun and today they were teaching parents to cover up kids, use sunscreen and hats etc as well as attending clinic. there are only 7 clinical officers who specialise in dermatology for the qhole country and currently there is one dermatologist here from america but she is not here forever.
on top of all that we have been out nearly every night this week - so tired so heading to the beach for weekend. Last night the caretaker, took us all out as a thankyou for me bringing him a kilt from scotland - photos to follow!
hope everyone is well, my number is 002659060654, feel free to text/call. becky xxxx
The ward is very basic, and investigations a bit scarce, but there does seem to be a relatively high level of staff around - from nursing students, through to clinical officers(about level of our junior doctors but they stay at this level.) to a variety of doctors from malawi and around the world. we are still finding our feet, so will go into more detail about the state of the ward etc later.
We are undertaking quite a large audit of patients taking antiretroviral drugs and their complications, which is really interesting and is giving us an actual job to do. we also do wards and are beginning to help with procedures. Communication with patients is a bit tricky as the majority do not speak any english..we are hoping to involve some keen nursing students to be our translators.
We have been asked to organise a clinical meeting/presentation next friday to introduce ourselves and explain our reasons for being here and what our role will be, as well as have discussions about what we are going to spend our money on. Its quite a daunting task - need to provide lunch for eeryone too.
This morning we attended an albino awareness day - which turned out to be really interesting, there is huge stigma and weird beliefs regarding albinism here, and recently in tanzania there was a spout of killings in this group. They have severe problems here in the sun and today they were teaching parents to cover up kids, use sunscreen and hats etc as well as attending clinic. there are only 7 clinical officers who specialise in dermatology for the qhole country and currently there is one dermatologist here from america but she is not here forever.
on top of all that we have been out nearly every night this week - so tired so heading to the beach for weekend. Last night the caretaker, took us all out as a thankyou for me bringing him a kilt from scotland - photos to follow!
hope everyone is well, my number is 002659060654, feel free to text/call. becky xxxx
Sunday, 21 September 2008
our first weekend
we arrived on friday after a mammoth journey, 24 hours long and we were both exhausted! we had a stop over in ethiopia and this country looked amazing from the air - really hilly and so lusciously green. luckily we had no problems the whole way and charles, the UNC driver was there to pick us up. we arrived out the UNC guesthouse which is luxury! it was quite a shock! normal western toilet, lovely hot shower, kitchen, TV - with digital...!! we are sharing a flat with the 2 other dundee girls and 2 guys - arthur and irish infectious diseases registrar and Isaac, a zambian dude is here working on a programme which is aiming to increase awareness and prevention of HIV through soccer. Next door there are several americans who are all doing some kind of research projects here - still to get to know them better. The first night, we went out to the nursing school bar followed by a local club which was so much fun, and the guys are awesome, and soo funny! we alsohad shiraz, one of the malawian interns and mike an american pre-med who is hear working with isaac just now on the hiv programme.
yesterday we sampled the local delicacy - nsima, which i liked! it is like a ball of sticky white stuff made of maize and it doesnt have a lot of flavour but is lovely with a good stew! last night we were at an expat birthday party which was great fun.
we dont really feel like we have had a total african experience yet, but i am sure that is to come! in general, everything is very similar to ghana apart from the landscape which is a lot drier and dusty. it is very weird being in africa without my boronts! he is excited to join me soon. we might have a game of volleyball today, and start in the hospital tomorrow..
anyway thats an intro as to where i am, so far really good! xxxxxxx
yesterday we sampled the local delicacy - nsima, which i liked! it is like a ball of sticky white stuff made of maize and it doesnt have a lot of flavour but is lovely with a good stew! last night we were at an expat birthday party which was great fun.
we dont really feel like we have had a total african experience yet, but i am sure that is to come! in general, everything is very similar to ghana apart from the landscape which is a lot drier and dusty. it is very weird being in africa without my boronts! he is excited to join me soon. we might have a game of volleyball today, and start in the hospital tomorrow..
anyway thats an intro as to where i am, so far really good! xxxxxxx
Thursday, 18 September 2008
departure
so we are in terminal 3 , heathrow. got a few more hours and are both disapointed by the severe lack of shops!! terminal 5 was very impressive though :) . somehow i have managed to take double Alev's luggage, whoops. anyway we both getting quite excited now, and cant wait to land in africa!! bye bye scotland xxxxxxx
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