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
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