The warm heart of Africa

I feel like I have so much to say that it will be tough to get it all down. Sorry but this may be a long one. :-> What a beautiful country! Before I came, many people told me that Malawi was beautiful and had friendly people, but it has surpassed my expectations. The first thing I noticed as we flew in was how green it was. And it has an intense green. Not dark green, like Oregon, but bright green. After spending our first night in Lilongwe, we headed out to Mwaya Beach. We were supposed to arrive at 3pm, but as is often the case in Africa, the bus was running a little off schedule so we didn't arrive until 8pm meaning it was dark. This made the 2.5km walk down to the beach a little more difficult. I am very glad May was with me. I think I would have stayed on the bus back to the airport otherwise. I had my directions from Ripple Africa out and my headtorch ready and we departed the bus at the police roadblock at Matete. All of the Malawians on the bus knew where we were going because for many stops we had been asking if it was the Matete police roadblock. So, when we arrived, they all stood up and said now we are there and laughed. We got off the bus and were quickly greeted by porters who wanted to help us get our bags down to the beach, but we were a bit nervous to just go off with anyone so were quickly relieved when a few men with headtorches came up to us knowing our names. They quickly grabbed our bags and we set off on the small dirt path throught the tall grass. Halfway to the beach, we saw a few more headtorches in the distance and were joined by two of the guys volunteering here who had come to help us. After a bit of puddle avoiding we arrived to Ripple Africa. Unfortunately because of the dark, we couldn't see the lake or much of anything since it is pitch black, but they had saved us some dinner and we sat around the table with lanterns meeting the other volunteers. There are 7 other volunteers and they are all Brittish. Two married couples, one woman, and two other guys. Really great people who I am really enjoying getting to know. All of them are working in the schools here and there is one nurse. (By the way for any of you older women who have always dreamed of coming to Africa, but are scared, both May and Bev are in their 50's and here, so you can do it!). There is no electricity here so when it is dark, it is very dark so we go to bed early around 7:30-8pm. It kinda feels like you are camping at a good campground because you have to brush your teeth with your headtorch. I have to admit, I don't love the dark, but I am sure I will get used to it. My main concern is snakes, but only a few have been seen (one in the kitchen cupboard!). Otherwise, I am trying to not look around much while getting ready for bed as my first night, I saw 3 fairly large spiders in the bathroom in a matter of minutes.

We woke up the next day to a somewhat rainy morning, but the view was incredible. We basically have our own private beach with just a few fishermen out in the water. The disappointing part is that because it is the rainy season, we can't really swim because the crocodiles have been flushed into the lake. Apparently, one was seen in the water near here recently, but none have been seen on the beach. We were told that if we really wanted to swim, we can between the hours of 10am and 3pm because they aren't active then or if other people are swimming, but to always have someone keeping a watch out for you for crocs. SO, don't think I will be swimming! I'm not quite sure what the look out person could do if you got taken by a crocodile so we are staying out of the water. I haven't heard of any of the other volunteers swimming. But, apparently during the dry season we can swim. Most of the locals stay out of the water unless they are fishing because they are unable to swim. It is beautiful here and the people are incredibly friendly. It is quite a change from Joburg where I felt I couldn't really trust anyone I didn't know. Here, it is safe to wander anywhere and everyone stops to ask your name and where you are from. It can take awhile to get anywhere because you have to greet everyone you encounter on the trail. There are mahy footpaths and I feel so blessed to be able to have this experience where I am living among the locals. Everyone knows that you are volunteering at Ripple and many of them are employed by Ripple. So they are extremely thankful and kind.
Now, for the depressing statistics and difficult part of being here. Malawi is among the top 10 poorest countries in the world. Average monthly income is around $6.00 per month! Infant mortality is around 68% meaning that 68% of children under the age of 5 years old die! It is incredibly hard to understand in a world where we have such incredible medical abilities and wealth that this is happening. It is mostly due to malaria. If people had mosquito nets, it would greatly decrease these numbers. The average lifespan is 38 years old. Many women have their first babies at age 14-16 years and the average number of children is 5-6. Imagine, that pretty much every woman has lost a child here. Employment is pretty much subsistance farming and fishing. There are no doctors at the clinics. I don't even know where the nearest doctor is. Very few medications. Laypeople are trained to dispense the few medicines they have and have very little training. My first experience with the clinic was yesterday. I had tried to prepare myself for it, but I think it is something you can not prepare for. There is no running water or electricity. Women are having babies there with no running water! They are not sterilizing equipment. They have almost no equipment to do wound care and no way to sterilize unless they bring water from somewhere else and boil it and there is no one being paid to do this so it doesn't happen. From what we could tell, no examinations are done on patients. They are only asked what the problem is and then given a medication if it is available. Yesterday afternoon, we went to a sick child clinic which was held outside in the dirt. No chairs for the patients and no table. Poor May had to kneel on the ground while trying to examine kids. We had only 3 medicines with us-Paracetamol (tylenol), cotrimoxazole (antibiotic) and oral rehydration salts. That's it! Unfortunately, time isn't really important here so the women didn't arrive until 4pm and so we could only see about 10 of the 40 kids before we had to leave. We are going to try again on Monday. We had to get going because it was a 5km walk home and it was very hot and we needed to get home before dark! It was an overwhelming experience and we came back and debriefed with the other nurse about how in the world we can make any difference. How can you work when you have no medication and don't know the language? So, I am trying to just relax and know that I can't change the world and that I just need to try to focus on small ways I can maybe help and be thinking about those things.

Ripple Africa is doing incredible work here. They are employing tons of people. The entire organization is ran by locals except for the directors and a volunteer coordinator who live in the UK and come out a few times a year. Otherwise, it is ran by the locals who are doing, a wonderful job. Ripple has built a secondary school, library, employed teachers, etc. etc. I am so glad I chose this organization because I feel it is a good use of my time and money. You get the peace corps experience with some of the comforts of home. We have a cook to cook our dinner meal. We mostly have vegetables and rice with the occasional fresh fish when a fisherman brings us a catch. We have a couple of women doing our laundry. And we have running water and toilets. So, it is a different life, but very comfortable. And I think I will be kept very busy. Besides working at the clinic, I can also help at the schools with a health promotion club and lifeskills training. There are community English classes and after school tutoring. The manager here even offered me to help teach chemistry, which I had to explain to him isn't really my strength! Right now, it is all a bit overwhelming in that you feel like where to start? There is so much you could do, but maybe it was already done by another volunteer or it won't work. so, I am trying to just relax and wait and just observe for a bit.

I will hopefully get to internet every 1-2 weeks. It is only a 30 minute matola (minibus taxi) ride away. I feel very safe here so no need for anyone to worry! Hope everyone at home is well.

Conducting a sick child visit outside

May with a woman we bought papaya from


Our cook, Harry preparing our catfish dinner. You can't get much fresher. It was still breathing!

The wound room at the clinic. Sorry I can't figure out how to turn the picture so you have to turn your head. :=> Not the most sterile of environments.

Giving the medicine to the clinic.