The political unrest has definitely eased, and while there is a lot of 'talk' of further problems, all seems to have returned to normal here, even the fuel situation seems to have eased a bit (although the electricity situation is worse, the last 2 nights we have had blackouts for at least 2 hours, and this morning I had no power, and so NO COFFEE, and I can’t tell you how bleak that situation is!
I seem to have found my place at work. The rest of the staff have warmed to my presence (what choice did they really have?), I have cleared the Finance Director's laptop of a virus, and am now helping everyone else with their presentations and preparation for the Investors Visit at the end of August. I get picked up every morning at my front door by a driver, who carries my backpack to the vehicle, drives me to work where another guy comes and opens the door and carries my backpack up the 2 flights of stairs and gives it back to me, and the whole process repeats itself at night. Tonight I asked to be dropped off about 3kms from home so I could actually get some exercise for the first time in weeks. The driver had a hard time with this concept; he thought I would get lost. When he agreed to let me walk, he said he would drive the vehicle behind me, which would have been absolutely hilarious. He was really scared that he might have to report to the boss that something happened to the Australian!. It was only after I showed him I had a compass on my iPhone that he agreed to let me go by myself!! We are, by the way, talking about him dropping me in the main street of Blantyre and walking home, about 20 mins up one hill!!!!
The exciting news is that the President himself (yes, the man who is apparently the cause of many of our woes), has agreed to inaugurate our new Epicentre during the Investors visit. This has just complicated the tour significantly, as you can imagine. The tour is seven days in total where we will have about 12 investors (significant donors) from Australia and around the world, and about 4 people from HQ in New York, including the global CEO, who is making her first trip to Malawi. Because of the President's involvement, we now have to deal with the Press and significant security people/issues. There will be one big bus to transport the guests, Rowlands and me and the Press to the Epicentre. The President will arrive by helicopter. The rest of our staff will be at the Epicentre early in the morning, and we will then have much celebration, traditional dancing and ceremonies etc etc. I am so excited to be a part of it (and seem to have inherited a significant portion of the organising!). We are also using a photographer to capture the week’s events, and make a DVD for each of the participants, and I am also apparently in charge of the photographer. Not sure what I did to earn this privilege, suspect is it because I own an SLR camera, and must therefore be an expert!!! I feel very privileged to be trusted at such an early stage of my visit.
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| Village house |
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| This little boy was very unsure about my camera! |
Yesterday I visited my first Epicenter (we have 8 here in Malawi), specifically the new one which will soon be inaugurated. It was an unbelievable experience. It was over 200kms from the office, and the roads are pretty dodgy, so we arrived hot and bothered (for some reason even though we had aircon in the vehicle they don't turn it on!). I was so hot I was peeling my clothes off as I was getting out of the truck! I spent most of my time there photographing everything, including walking out to the closest village, 'introducing myself' in my very few words of Chichewa (the local language), and taking photos of everyone and everything. Naturally it went well, people are generally surprised and excited to see a white woman (mzungo) wandering around alone in the bush and even though I am sure they had no idea who I was or what i was doing, they seemed happy to invite me into their houses and photograph them and their lives. I took loads of photos of the kids, and plan to print them and take them back to give them their photos next time I visit. Aside from the building of the epicentre, they were also drilling a borehole and installing a water tank. It is so amazing to think that these 30,000 people will have access to fresh drinking water and health and education services within max 10kms of where they live for the first time in their lives!! And when the CD told them that the President was coming in less than 4 weeks to open the centre, they all stood up and clapped and were so excited! It was a great day, even though we naturally didn't have lunch, or anything to drink till we got home around 5:30pm :(
On the personal side I have made many friends now at the 'Lodge'. Most of the residents are Med students who are doing electives at the local Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and are around 25ish years old. The significance of that fact is that they don’t stay up all night partying on, and they can all hold very grown up conversations (as opposed to your avg 18yr old gap year student!). This weekend I am going with 3 British, 1 Dutch and a Canadian students (all doing the Gyno elective!) to Liwonde National Park, which is one of the local game reserves. We will travel the 3 hours in a minibus (with as many locals and their chickens as they can jam in), and stay overnight at the Park in dorms (@ $15/night, so not expecting luxury!!). This includes dinner and breakfast, so stay tuned for that report! Naturally no 'Big 5', but apparently many elephants, hippos, crocs and the odd zebra sighting, so I can’t wait.
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