Traveling through Malawi

My Family came to Malawi for a bit less than two weeks. DUring this time, I traveled with them around Malawi, seeing some of the attractions that tourists can enjoy in Malawi. Here is what we did:

  1. Lilongwe My parents arrived at in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. Lilongwe is not a city where you can do a lot. It is not very touristy. For me as an volunteer it is a good city to be in when I need to get materials or have some western food, but there is not a lot to do or see. However, one aspect I do recommend for people who want to come to Lilongwe and have some western food is to go to a Restaurant called Mamma Mia. It is a located close to the Sunbird Lilongwe and is an italian place with very good food. I invieted my Neighbour and her child to come down to Lilongwe to meet my parents and my sister. We spent the evening there having some good food and some good conversations where my neighbour was able to tell her story and get to know my parents life. 

2. Blantyre We headed off to Blantyre the next day. People have told me that Blantyre is more of a tourist capital in Malawi than Lilongwe. I can see why. When we arrived in Blantyre, what I noticed firstly was that the architecture in the centre was very westernised. A lot of shops with nice exteriors and a lot more highclass hotels. It was a nice experience, but I am happy I live on the countryside. As a family we went into the centre of town to see the market. The market was close to one of the minibus depots and stretched far. It was a nice experience seeing the market of a bigger city.   3. Majete National Park Next we were off to do a Safari. Planning, we were not sure which National Park we should do. Either Liwonde, which I had heard was the best national park here in Malawi due to its animal density, but while researching we found out that Majete has the big 5 animals. SO we decided on going to that park. We stayed at a lodge called Mkulumadzi, which was right at the heart of the park. We were allowed to do two safari trips per day, in the morning and the evening. The rooms themselves where right at the river, so it meant that we were able to see hippos and crocodiles right from the room and even have wild animals walking by our room. It was my first safari and I was a bit disappointed about the animals that we saw, but it was still lots of fun and really interesting seeing wild animals in their natural habitat, that we normally see in zoos in Europe. During our Safaris we saw Elephant, Kudu, Impalas, Buffalo, Hippos, Crocodile, Warthogs, Falcons, Zebras. The most memorable moment was when we drove through an area and an Elephant Bull was following us. When we then stopped to watch the Elephant, he passed our vehicle about 5 metres away from us. It was awesome t watch a wild elephant so closely.    4. Mt. Mulanje I really wanted to climb Mount Mulanje while I was here in Malawi. Mulanje is the second highest mountain in Africa. So we decided on doing so. We went the Porters race route, meaning going up from Likhubula village to the first hut which is chambe hut. We first stopped at a waterfall close to the village and went for a swim. The water there was ice cold. Really refreshing for a hot day walking. So then we continued going up. The path to be fair was very steep and demanded quite a bit from us. Scenic wise it was breathtaking. Once we reached the hut, we were met by rain. Happy to be in a hut where we could just get out of the rain, we stayed there for the night and would head out across the plateau to Lukenya Hut, which would be about a 4 hour walk. Walking on that path we saw a lot of trees called Zika trees. It seems like there is great deforestation of these trees on Mulanje mountain due to the good smell of it and also they are used for making wood carvings. In Lukenza hut we stayed the night. But before darkness we went to a view point, where we were able to look over the valley. Walking there was not that difficult. Once we reached, we had an awesome view and saw nature unfold itself, as 5 minutes after we reached the viewpoint, the clouds started coming from beneath us to take the view away from us. Awesome to be able to see something like this. Once we returned back to the hut, it started raining. By the time we reached the hut, we were drenched. That night, we witnessed three thunderstorms pass right over out hut. It was spectacular how bright the sky got once lightning struck. The next day we decended down to the valley again. This would be the longest and hardest walk yet as it had rained the day before and the path itself was a long path. The walking was nice but we really had to concentrate as it was slippery. Right at the beginning of the walk, we just saw a bank of clouds covering the valley and we were on top of these clouds. Then, once we decended we walked right into the clouds. Walking down, it had a mystic feeling to it. The vegetation at parts were like in a rainforest and the clouds were always around us, so we had not clear idea how far we had come up till that point. During the descend we had to cross three rivers, which was lots of fun. In all, we enjoyed the walk eventhough it was difficult. I really wanted to climb the highest peak, but in the end we were happy we did the route that we did because of how difficult parts were. To believe we did the path of the porters race in 3 days and the race participants being able to do it in 4 hours was just mindblowing. How they manage to do that this quickly I have no idea. We had a porter and a guide who both did the porters race. They were awesome to watch as for them this hike was like a normal walk to the shops. They would hardly break into any sweat, never slipped. Both were good company when hiking. If you want to go and climb Mount Mulanje, I suggest using the Guide called Lewis Gradison (+265881284852 his number is shared with his consent). He is professional and really helpful when hiking this mountain.   5. Zomba Plateau After leaving Mulanje we drove to Zomba Plateau all dirty and sweaty. I think when we check into the hotel up on the Plateau itself, they were shocked to see such dirty looking people coming to their Hotel. The hotel itself was really good, except for the food. That was not worth the fuss. The view itself was really nice as well. We looked down onto the valley. During the night you were able to see the lights from the city of Zomba beneath. I believe if we would have spent more time in Zomba, we could have gone for hikes which would for sure be nice hikes, but we were tired from Mulanje.   6. Cape Maclear The last stop that we had was Cape Maclear. I have heard so many good things from Cape Maclear through people that have been there and even locals themselves, saying that if you are in Malawi, you definitely should visit Cape Maclear. On the Journey to Cape Maclear we had to stop just outside of Liwonde Town because the president was just on his way from Cape Maclear to Zomba. So we were going the opposite ways. It meant havig to stop for 30 minutes till his convoy passed and we were allowed to continue our journey. Once we reached Cape Maclear, we stayed at a lodge calle Mgoza Lodge. We stayed on beach huts right at the lake. I have to say Cape Maclear scenic wise was nice, however, it was not as nice as people tell me it was. I have been to other parts on the lake here in Malawi and they were nicer. As well, the community is already very spoilt. Everywhere else along our journey, nearly noone asked for money. But in Cape Maclear it was straight away a lot more people asking for money and doing anything they could just to get some. As well, some of the tourist souvenirs were so much more expensive than in other places that I have seen. In a whle, Cape Maclear is fine, but not as good as everyone tells you it is.   So to Conclude, travelling through Malawi with my parents and sister was fun. I was able to see parts of Malawi I have never seen and experience new activities that I have to experienced before. Something that struck me with this trip and still amazes me is the fact that the countryside is still very much unspoilt from western influence. Yes there will be parts which are being modernised or westernised, but for me, it still very much has a charm to it as it is people using basic materials to create something special, something unique. I know I have lived in Malawi to this point 8 months, but this trip really emphasized this. As well, I have now seen more of the warm heart of Africa, which is portrayed through the people and their caring and warm hearted attitude. 

Getting eaten by a crocodile

Yes the title of this entry is scary, but sadly true. Last week, a boy of about 8 years was eaten by a crocodile. 

So let me tell you what exactly happened. I was sitting close to the beach on the Tuesday doing work for an university application when I suddenly heard shouts. I thought that it might be just some fun but the guard came running down to the beach from Floja Foundation saying “Oh No Crocodile”. It seemed like it happened just 50m from where I was sitting. Suddenly all the villagers came down to the beach. Fishermen, who had canoes would push their canoes out onto the lake and start padelling to where this happened. People were standing around the area where the the crocodile had caught the boy in the hope that the boy would reappear. After about 30 minutes of fisherman being out on water, banging on their boats to try and scare the crocodile, we saw the head of the crocodile come out about 100 - 200m from the beach. The fishermen saw that as well and straight away paddled towards where they saw the crocodile, but stopped half way as they were scared and were not correctly equipped to try and fight. After some time I decided I would go home as it went dark and noone was able to see anything.  Next the next thing that I write is something that I was told by a friend. During the night, there were a few fishermen who spent the night trying to find the body. It is malawian tradition that they have to find the body in order for them to burry someone. A different fisherman wanted to go out the lake during the early morning hours (about 5 am) when he saw a crocodile lying on the beach just where his boat was. Next to that crocodile was some sort of item he could not identify. He made so much noise and scared the crocodile awaz. He then found the body of the boy lying there, both legs missing, one arm missing. So the body was then taken to be identified by police before the funeral would commence.  On the next day, the day of the funeral, I wanted to go to the funeral, but then I saw friends of mine creating spears. THey were going to go out onto the lake and hunt for the crocodile, so that noone else could get hurt here. So at around lunch time they had their spears ready and a roup of about 100 men and boys went down to the lake, got their canoes and went out on the lake to search. Thez searched the whole day, but did not once find anything. Till this day, nearly a week later, they have not found the crocodile. This experience was somewhat emotionally draining as I knew the boy through the primary school. As well, I was close to where the crocodile attacked the boy a couple of hours beforehand. It seems like every year in Malawi, around 40 fishermen die due to crocodile attacks and sadly, I witnessed one of them. 

Cape Town!!!

Yes I went. It was my first travel experience here in Africa outside of Malawi since I first arrived here. I was really looking forward to getting to see a new place. Now you might ask yourself why Cape Town? I met some people who were talking highly of Cape Town and said it is a stunning place to go. So I decided that it might be the right time to go and visit a city that people have said is a plave to go. In this blog I want to explain exactly what happened on my trip down to Cape Town and what I saw.      Day 1: The Bomb scare

     

 

So off I went to Cape Town. I left Lilongwe early in the morning, well meaning I was at the airport by 6 o‘clock as my flight left at 8. So then we left Lilongwe via a stopover in Blantyre to Johannesburg, where I would have to transit to get the connecting flight to Cape Town. The flight was nothing special as it was just another flight, just with Malawis local airline: Malawi Airline. What I liked about flying there is that even for a two and a halve hour flight, they provide you with coffee, breakfast and another drink; more than if you would fly in Europe. So I finally landed in Johannesburg. In order to transit in Johannesburg, you have to go through customs. So what you do is get your bag at the arrivals hall, go through baggage screening with customs and then you have to go to the check-in area to check-in completly new. As I was passing the arrivals hall, where normally people would be waiting for arriving passengers, I noticed that it was closed off an people were directed a different way. I did not think much about it. As I was walking towards the check-in gates, I suddenly heard an explosion coming from behind me. I thought it might have been some baggage or some item that crashed to the floor and was calm, till suddenly the security guards started shouting for everyone to evacuate.  So people started running and screaming to find the exits. I saw people panic, cry as people really thought it might have been an attack. Once outside, which was just on the drop off area, meaning less than 10 metres away from the building, I suddenly saw that the people in the boarding zone, (meaning people who had passed security and were now waiting to board their flight) where coming out as well. So well, it seemed serious. I have to be honest, I was not so much worried about my life, more about how I would get my flight with this evacuation. A perculiar thing to think about if there was a situation which sounded like a bomb explosion. We waited for about 30 minutes, not knowing what is going on. I asked airport staff what I should be doing or where I should be going to and they just said `I have no idea ´. So anyway, after about 30 minutes, slowly people started to go back into the building, eventhough no one actually instructed anything explicitly. It was all chaotic and unorganised. I later found out talking with one of the employees that this explosion happened in the arrivals hall, exactly there where I had passed a few minutes before. How lucky I was.   

No one got hurt, which was the good thing. Looking at this bomb scare now, there were several different theories that the media protrayed. The Airport gave a statement saying that it was a routine training exercise from the police, but there was no explosion or any sound of an explosion. Then the police a day later said it was connected to an unaccompanied bag that was found there and an controlled explosion was performed. Then I heard from somewhere else it was an actual bomb, just very small and meant to send out a message as there was a big corruption scandle in South Africa, where president Zuma had to resign. In the end, I am not sure what happened but the first two theories sound not possible as I heard the bang 100% and if it was an controlled explosion, then why was noone informed that something like this would be carried out and the whole terminal was evacuated.  Anyway, how eventful this experience was (and it was my first experience in South Africa - good first impression), I managed to make my flight and then was off to Cape Town. The rest of my travels was uneventful (Thank God) and I managed to arrive in Cape Town on time. Just driving from the airport to the place I was staying, I noticed that the city had lots of traits like a western city. It looked nice but nothing like Africa. So anyway, I was really looking forward to exploring the city in the next few days.        Day 2: Exploring the City and Waterfront

First real day in Cape Town. I decided on my first day that I would go an explore the CBD and the V&A Waterfront, as these are areas which a lot of tourists go to. I started walking from the Hostel I was staying at, which was located in Greenpoint, about a 5 minutes walk from the stadium, towards the ocean front. Once there, I walked along the promenade towards the V&A Waterfront. After about an halve an hour I arrived there. It was nice as it located around a small harbour with many different boats and has museums, and shops there. So I explored this part of the city. Architecture wise this was a very nice area, with some old buildings connected with some newer ones. Then when looking towards inland, you saw Table Mountain in the background looking majestically. So for views there, it was awesome. After spending some time there, I decided that I wanted to see more of the city and so I walked on into the CBD. Just going around the CBD, it had a very western flair. A lot of high buildings (higher than any buildings in Malawi) with big and busy streets in the middle. I walked along there finding then the biggest shopping street in Cape Town, Longstreet. SO I just walked along this area till I reached a parc, where I saw local people spend their lunch time. It was all nicely cared for and made presentable for tourists to come and look at. After visiting this area, I then went back to the Waterfront and then slowly walked along the promenade to Seapoint, which is along the coast towards the famous beach of Camps Bay. In total I walked 30km that day to view the city and saw a lot in that day. I have to be fair, I liked seeing a different location. It was a really western city with western shops, food and a lot of tourists, but still in between the tourists, you saw a lot of locals.   

    Day 3: Climbing Table Mountain  

It was difficult deciding what I should be doing next. I actually wanted to visit Cape Point (thats where the two oceans meet and at the end of Cape town peninsula, but the bus had already left, so I decided that I would climb Table Mountain. I had a few reservations due to being insecure if it was safe for an individual to climb up alone. I had heard a lot of different stories about people being stabbed and mugged on the path of Table Mountain. So I just asked some of the hikers that I met and they all said it is completely safe. That was my decision then. I would walk up. I actually wanted to do the difficult route, but noone wanted to do this with me, so I decided to take the easier route up. The path is steady up hill, but nothing too dangerous or difficult. People said that it would take about 2-3 hours to get up, well not brag about it but I managed to get up to the top in one and a halve hours. Anyway, once at the top, the views were breathtaking. You were able to see all over the city and even further towards the peninsula. It was definetly worth hiking up. And if I had more time, I could have explored so much more.   

Day 4: Cape Point  

One area that my research pointed out before I came to Cape Town is that the drive to Cape Point and Cape Point is really good and very nice. So I decided I would use the big red Hop-on-Hop-off bus for the only time, as it was the only way to get there. The drive was nice and we got to see so much more of Cape Town than I expected and different areas as well. Once arrived at Cape Point, We had the chance to explore the area. SO I walked around seeing the two Lighthouses and the views from each of these. I really liked the view down along the coast together with the vegetation. Together with the group that we went to Cape Point, we then had a small hike. That hike was easy but we saw white beaches, Antellopes in the wild. From tue landscape, this was Africa at its finest, but not untouched africa sadly. Still really nice to see this area and definetly spending the money for the bus to get there. However, I really would suggest using your own transportation to get there as I saw some really cool hikes that you could have gone on around this area and I really wished that I could have had the chance to have done some of these. After Cape Point we drove off to Boulders Bay. This is where the Penguines are. I was warned by people that I talked to that this area is actually not as spectacular as people say it is. Anyway, I wanted to see for myself. Well they were true. It was just a Beach of Penguines. The only cool thing was how close you were able to get to the Penguines. But I did not see the advantage of seeing them as it not in nature itself but there are viewing platforms right in their area. Anyway it was interesting to see it. In general it was a good trip as I was able to see a different side of Cape Town and the Peninsula that by foot or public transport I would not have been able to see. But Cape Point is definitely an area to go to if every you are in Cape Town.  

  Day 5: Going on a Wine Tour  

So this was the most important trip for me. Just joking. As I am Austrian and I have a little bit of knowledge about wine, due to going to the wine region in austria, I decided I wanted to try and go on a wine tour. I booked it via my Hostel. The company that provided this is wine flies and they organise a whole day trip for a reasonable price. So In the morning I was picked up by the company in a small mini bus where 9 other people were sitting inside. I was the youngest of all of them by far. So the whole trip consisted of going to 5 different wine estates of different sizes and tasting 5 glasses of wine in each of them. Additionally, they provided lunch, and some snacks for us so that we would not be too drunk at the end. I was really lucky to have one of the best groups possible. We had people from different nationalities present, which included Swiss, Dutch, Chile, and Americans, well and me as Austrian. On that trip we were told about how the wine in the Stellenbosh region is made and the history of the wine. At the end of the day, yes the wine was speaking as well, but my whole group was having lots of fun, singing, talking with each other and just having fun. Now about the wines. Many might think ahhh they will not be that good, well wrong. I must say that I had the best red wine there that I have tasted so far and even some of their white wines were pretty good. There was one estate that made such a good red wine I really wanted to buy a bottle, but sadly, they did not have a spare bottle as it was limited edition. My verdict is that if you are in Cape Town and you are old enough and like drinking wine, this wine tour should be on your itinerary as it is definitely something special and very informative, but also you are able to taste some really good wine.   Day 6: Seeing Robben Island  

A must for everyone that comes to Cape Town and that is aware about the History in South Africa, especially Apartheid, is Robben Island. Robben Island is where Nelson Mandela was held in prison for 18 years. That is the reason I decided to do the tour of the island. I took a Catamaran over to Robben Island from the V&A Waterfront. Once we arrived, we were put onto buses with a tour guide and they drove us around the island. They showed us the location of the prison and where for example Hillary Clinton stayed on her visit, the special prisons they had built and the labour area for the prisoners. We then stopped at a spot with a breathtaking view of Cape Town from the island. I have to be fair that this location was by far my favourite area to look onto the Table Mountain. At that point I had wished that I would have a better quality camera as my phone camera did not quite do the view justice.   

After having the picture break, we embarked off onto the prison itself. We got a tour guide who was an ex prisoner of Robben Island to guide us through the prison. It was interesting to listen to the stories and the explanations about the various areas, but it was difficult to imagine people being held captive there. We then passed Mandelas cell. The only reason you can identify his cell is due to the red bucket that is present there. As a whole it was very interesting but at the same time, your expectation coming into this tour is higher, so I felt it was not as well done as it could have been. Sadly as well, the tour guide that I had did not speak english very well, so it was really difficult for me to understand what he was talking about and some of the stories went lost a little bit. But still nevertheless, it was definitely an experience to go and see.    Day 7: The Castle of Good Hope  

The last real day in Cape Town I decided to go and visit the Castle of Good Hope as by driving by on the day I arrived, I was interested in it. I also did not want to plan too much as I wanted to have time at the hostel to surf the internet, be able to download movies and music, as well as update my devices as I am not sure when I would get this good internet connection the next time in Malawi.  So the Castle of Good Hope was interesting and had a very interesting history. I went around with a guided tour to hear about the history and the specific areas of the castle, what they were used for. After the tour itself, I went aroundthe castle to the various exhibits to see them. If you very interested into History this area might be really interesting for you, but for me I did not find it as interesting. The views from the walls onto the city are nice. So for me it was interesting to go and visit this place but I have to be honest that it was not something I would go back and see again if ever I come back.   Day 8: Return Journey On my return journey, thankfully nothing scary happened like the bomb scare in Johannesburg. It was a long journey but it was fine.    My Verdict: SO my verdict onto Cape Town. I have to say I really liked the city. The city itself is so diverse and allows you to do so many activities. If you like being active and going hiking or mountain biking, there are a lot of areas and paths that allow you to do this with spectacular views. If you like more of a city life and walking inside the CBD, well then there are enough museums and areas that can be visited. If you are more of someone who likes to visit the beach, well then you can select to go to some beaches and lie there. I did not actually go to any beach as I did not have enough time to visit all the places that I wanted to see and I still did not see everything I had planned. People might say well its South Africa, its unsafe, well true, but Cape Town is really trying hard to ensure that you feel safe as a tourist. In the City centre they have employed security guards at every corner that are there to help you and make the city safer. Not once in the time that I have been in Cape Town did I feel unsafe and I was doing most of my activities alone. You should just be careful what you show to the public, like if you walk around with a big camera infront of you and your expensive sunglasses, well then you would be more prone to people trying to steal something from you.  Cape Town for me is a western city. It is the west in Africa. I would not actually count it being in Africa anymore if it was not for the geographics. People say that it is Europe in Africa and I can definitely see where they coming from as there are a lot of shops that are similar to shops in Europe. Even the infrastructure is as advance as Europe. For me, who has been in a typically African country like Malawi for 5 months with hardly any exposure to the western lifestyle, well it was quite nice being exposed to this, but at the same time I was really happy to go back to Malawi where people lived a totally different lifestyle. As well, you might have heard about the water crisis in Cape Town. While I was there, it was in full swings. We were only allowed to shore for 90 seconds and had to try and save as much was water as possible. The only aspect where I noticed the lack of water was in public places at toilets, where when you wanted to wash your hands, not water came out of the tap. Which they compensated with using hand sanitizer. Other than that, as a tourist we did not experience the water shortage too much.    Thanks for reading my Blog. I hope you enjoyed reading my experience and are inspired maybe to go to Cape Town or Malawi as well.

My trip to Lilongwe

 

Hi,    Well before I went off to Cape Town for my first real travel experience here in Africa, I spent one and a half days in the Capital experiencing life there and seeing the capital city, as I have never been there. Yes, I flew into Lilongwe when I first arrived into Malawi, however, we did not really go into the city but we travelled straight up north for the orientation training. So it was my first time to be in the city. 

Well anyway, I left Mzuzu really early in the morning on the Saturday to head down to Lilongwe by bus. The bus service was called Sososo coaches and I have to say it is one of the best bus services I have used so far in Malawi, as it gives you a better service. When I arrived in Lilongwe, I went off to the Lodge, where I would be staying for a couple of days. The Lodge was OK, only benefit that it was located in the centre of the city. So anyway, I then met a friend and for the Saturday afternoon and Sunday we spent time together. We went off to visit his house, so I was able to see the difference of livingstandard between where I live and the capital and we were cruising around the city. We visited the World War 1 Memorial and were able to climb up to the top. It was a pretty cool experience, just the views were nothing special. Lilongwe is an african city which does not have a lot of high rise buildings. It says a lot that the Memorial up to a few years ago, was the tallest building in Malawi. Anyway, During the second day we visited the Wildlife Sanctuary in Lilongwe, where I was able to see a few animals. It was interesting but nothing too spectactular. Anyway, Lilongwe in my eyes is more of a commercial hub for Malawi. You travel through Lilongwe if you want to go to a different country and most of the shops and businesses are located there. As a tourist there is not too much to see or do.  So this was my experience of Lilongwe. I went to Cape Town straight after this experience.  Thanks for reading and I hope that you will tune in for my Cape Town experience.    Tim

   

The Midway point

Its the halfway point in my placement here. I have been in Malawi Africa now for 5 months and I will only have five months remaining. Time flies so fast here. Just a month back I spent my first Christmas not in Europe, away at my new environment. In this post I want to explain my verdict of this experience so far.

   Do I enjoy my placement? I definetly enjoy living and working in Malawi. Malawi is such a nice country, the people are so friendly and so helpful. When I first researched about Malawi, a phrase always appeared: "The warm heart of Africa". When I saw it I was really unsure what it would mean about Malawi. My thought was that maybe there was a connotation to the weather or the people. Not till I have come here have I really noticed the real meaning of this phrase. People here are so open and so kind and generous and really want to get to know you. Just going from one place to another in a minibus, people will try to get to know you. I have never once felt unsafe or threatend here. For sure there are the odd people that will come up to you and demand money but that happens everywhere. But even in such cases, I have had locals stand up for me and help me if they see I needed help or even just defended me. Things like this show how caring the people here are.  Work wise, I have definetly enjoyed working here. It is a different attitude towards than back in Europe. They take everything a lot easier. As my health post is so small and does not have a great number of patients coming in, it allows me to work in a variety of areas. I have done a lot of field work here which has allowed me to first-handedly experience the problems that the community is facing or seeing areas which they are trying to improve. It also gives me a better insight into what problems are stopping development here in my area. I have also been able to start several projects in my area (health related) which aim on improving the local communities health education and sanitation. Such projects I have enjoyed doing as I have seen how some succeed with great community participation and some have not worked out as well. Overall, I have to say coming here to Malawi, I do not regret it one bit. (Till now)

  What have I struggled with? There have been three aspects I have struggled with since I have been here. The first aspect I struggled with was whe I first came here. Being away from home all on your own in a new country where the majority of people fo not speak your language or have difficulties understanding you, that is something I have struggled with at the beginning. It meant I started missing home and wishing I could leave straight away. Now this has changed totally. If I have to go back now, I do not know how I would react, as I have really become attached to my Village and the people here. The second aspect I have struggled with is the language. I have been in Malawi now for five months and people would expect me to be able to start talking the language that my village is speaking, Tumbuka. I know a few words and phrases. These are the ones I would use the most whenever I am working or greeting people but actually being to talk in sentences I am finding it really difficult. As well, I am able to understand conversations but its the responding which is difficult. I think this might be due to the fact that I am surrounded by friends here who are able to talk english and that is why I am not forcing myself to learn the language as quickly. I have noticed that women here in my village due want to talk to me but due them not speaking english and me not Tumbuka, we cannot communicate.  The third aspect I have struggled with it the slow life they have. Whenever I have tried to get projects started or wanted to work quicker, it has been really difficult and in the end this is not really possible. They go their pace and I have to adapt my pace to their pace. Here in the north they have a saying called "Pachoko Pachoko" which means as much as little by little or slowly slowly. Well that is their life and their pace they work with and so I am slowly adapting, however for simple things it does get frustrating as I believe if they would work a little bit faster, they would be able to accomplish so much more. In the end I have started to get them animated through setting deadlines and consequences with a couple of projects. 

  What has been my highlight so far? The highlight so far is really difficult to answer as I have been in my placement for most of my time here, so I cannot say anything about places I have visited. However, one are which has been the highlight here is the friendliness and warm hearts the people have here. I am always amazed to see how inviting they are. The amount of times people stop me to talk to me or help me is so nice and so kind and this gives me a totally different view onto life. I have noticed the difference between where I lived and being here as people here talk to everyone; are a more social country. While back home most people would just mind their own business and not want to do anything with other people. This might sound a bit exagerated but in the big picture this is what I have noticed. People do not have the techology that we have back at home, hence they having to be social to pass time. But it still does not account to the fact that they would talk to every stranger or even the people they do not like as much. Its like everyone is friends here, does not matter where they live. So I have to say up till now this has been my highlight. The social nature that the Malawians have shown towards each other and the warm reception they give towards me and anyone that comes to their country. They are proud to be malawians, even though on the financial side they might not be the richest country.

Whats next? So now looking at what is going to happen next. Well the past month I have been working again full time as I want to try and help my host achieve a better sanitation and health here in Ngara. But I will be taking a break in two weeks to go on my first trip which is further away. I have always been interested into Cape Town in South Africa and so I have decided that I have the time now to go on this trip. I will go down to Cape Town for a week to see its attractions and as well to experience their vineyards, as I have heard they are really nice and a good trip to take. After that I will be back at work preparing to get a field survey created which will look at the problems of sanitation here in Ngara. This field survey should be used for reference about why we have cholera here in Ngara and how we can try and improve the sanitation here as it will try and get the opinions of the people. End of March my parents will come to Malawi and we will travel through Malawi together (Lets hope they allow me to come along). After that I still want to climb the biggest mountatin in Malawi, Mt. Mulanje before my placement ends. This is as much as I have planned so far. 

 Thanks for reading and I will be trying to upload one more post before I head off to Cape Town.    Tim

Merry Christmas - all the. Way from Malawi

Merry Christmas to all. I hope everyone had a very nice christmas amongst their loved ones. This year I spent my first christmas away from the family, well my Muzungu family (means white person in Tumbuka). I spent my christmas together with friends and my mufipa family (means black person in Tumbuka). I want to share my experience of a malawian christmas with you, so bare with 

My Friend with the days biggest catch

So I start on the 24th, just because that is the day I celebrate christmas back at home. As there have been several cholera cases, I was working part time on the 24th, which was fun. Having a meeting about cholera with an NGO, I went on to the carpenter, who built 15 benches for the church. These benches should ensure that everyone is able to sit on benches and noone has to sit on the floor. I only organised the buildings of these benches, but the actual donation came from a family friend in Austria. So anyway, the benches were brought to the church as they should be ready for christmas service. As christmas is on a monday this year (I mean malawian christmas people celebrate on the 25th) the benches were already used for the sunday church service. I spent the rest of the day going around, talking to friends and just enjoying a sunday afternoon without having to do any work. A very good friend, who is a fisherman, called me at lunch time to come down and pick a fish for me to cook and eat. The fish he gave me was my christmas present from him, which was really nice. I cooked this fish in the evening so that I was able to have my own christmas meal.(See the picture below) In the evening I contacted my parents and grandparents in Austria just to wish them a Merry Christmas and to be able to see their celebrations. I gave my neighbour, which I see as my malawian Mum, a present for her and her family. The reaction I gained from them was so special as they had not expected it and they were so grateful for the kind gift. I just made me feel like I had made the correct decision of giving something back after their family has helped me settle in to malawi so well. Anyway, I hope that in the new year I will do a profil about my neighbour so that you can understand who my 'Malawian Mum' is. 

My Neighbour with her Son

 The next day, Christmas day itself, it started off with church. I went to church to keep my tradition going, however, sadly there had not been too many people attending the service with me. So then after church, I met my Host and was suddenly told that we had a meeting with MSF (Medicine Sans Frontiers) about Cholera. As Cholera does not have a break, I decided that I would not take a break either, well except for maybe a little bit for christmas. Anyway, after we hadf about a 1 hour 30 meeting about Cholera, I finally was able to go home. I helped my neighbour cook the food for lunch. Cooking together was something I have to say I really enjoyed. As well, to ensure that the people I live with and am friends with enjoy the day, I ordered two crates of soft drinks to distribute. SO I had a christmas meal together with my 'Malawian Family' eating rice with chicken, which here in the rural areas of malawi is a very very good meal. I thoroughly enjoyed just sitting at home eating and talking to each other, having fun. After lunch, they presented me an african cake, which they gave me a piece for desert, but me being so full from the meal, I was not able to eat anything. In the afternoon, I went to a patient that I heard of from a friend to check the status of him, as I wanted to make sure that he was helped as well. The rest of the afternoon I spent going around to my Host's family and friends, sitting together with them for a soft drink and just talking. To see the reaction on some of the faces when they got a few sweets was just so nice, as it gave me the impression that this gift made their day a lot better. 

Christmas Service at the Catholic Church

Lumbani (My neighbours son) and me (I look like I just got out of bed)  

I want to wish every reader here a Merry Christmas. I hope you enjoyed your day with you family and/or friends and you were able to spend this quality time the best way possible. I can say this in the name of all of the people in Ngara village:  

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!  

Another Country off my bucket list

So I can say I have been to Tanzania. 

From the 29th to the 30th of December I went to Tanzania. Not because of the fact that I went to visit anywhere but because my residential permit had run off, I had to go out of the country for a day and then enter Malawi again. Anyway, what happened was on the 29th of December I met my new assistant country manager in Karonga and we went togeteher to Songwe Border, which is the closes border to where I live. When we arrived there, we met an immigration officer, who was a friend of my assistant country managers, who was going to help us and guide us through the process. So what happened was that we first went to Malawian immigration and then did the paperwork to exit the country. After that we crossed the bridge and went to get a visa and at the Tanzanian side. We were helped throughout the whole process by a Malawian immigration officer. We spent the afternoon then in the lodge where we were going to stay at over night with immigration officers of both side, talking and drinking. I was pretty fun to see how much fun the officers were when they had a few beers to drink. We spent the whole afternoon, from 12pm to 8pm at the bar with the immigration officers talking and drinking. At the end of the day, I have to say I throroughly enjoyed the experience with the officers as it showed me how friendly and how nice they were. 

The next day we decided that before we went back over to Malawi again, we wanted to go and see the market in Kyela. My neighbour had told me that the market in Kyela was the best market in the north and you could get so many good things there. She wanted to take me at some point during my placement so that I would be able to see the Tansanian side. Going there, I was definetly able to see a difference in of how the whole market was set up. There was more products and better quality products there for a cheaper price. I would have bought something if I would have Tanzanian schilling. However, sadly, I was not aware that we would be going there so in the end I said at some point I would go back so that I could get the things I needed or wanted from there. 

SO to conclude, I have to say I definitely noticed a difference between the two countries, even just at the border. Tanzania has so much more product to sell at a cheaper place and looking at the houses there, people are better off. However, in terms of friendliness, Malawians are definitely friendlier. As well, the difference in the amount of english people know is definitely varied. In Malawi, nearly everyone is able to understand english and at least talk a little bit, but in Tanzania I noticed not too many people knew too much english, so to talk and communicate was a lot more difficult. In terms of feeling safe, I never felt threatend in Tanzania, but  at the same time I never felt safe either. So in the end, I was happy to get this experience about the difference in life there is between the two countries.