A Week at Karonga Hospital

 

  So I just want to start off this Blog with a sad note. My Grandad sadly passed away on the 7th of December after fighting cancer for more than two years. The past few months hes was in a lot of pain and was not able to enjoy life anymore. So on one hand I am happy he has been relieved from his suffering but on the otherhand it is sad that he was taken from our lives. He surppassed all the doctors predictions of how long he is going to live which just showed his determined and fighting personallity. Its difficult for me due to me being here in Africa and not with my family in this time, however my thoughts are with them. Mz Granddad was a reason why I started a blog about my experiences. Talking to him, he was always eagerly waiting for me to upload a new post entry that he could read and there were times where he would read the same blogpost repetively as he was eager to know what my experiences here in Africa are. He will alwazs stay in my heart and thoughts. 

Me getting ready to watch surgeries

  Now going on to the event of the past week. This week I spent most of the week in the town, no its not a city (only learnt about it this week), in Karonga. I wanted to first handedly experience a malawian hospital. I wanted to see how a hospital is run here and how patients are treated and diagnosis are determined.

Karonga

  I thoroughly enjoyed the four days I spent at the hospital. I spent Monday and Tuesday in the Pediatric Ward, following a clinical officer doing his duties. A clinical officer is a health professional here in Malawi which is between a Doctor and a nurse. They study for three years to be a health worker and are able to do minor surgeries. Wednesday, I spent my time in the male Ward following the clinical officers there and the Thursday I was able to experience surgeries. So in total, I was able to see a wide range of departments and treatments at the hospital. One aspect that straight away noticed which was a problem was the fact that there is a lack of medication and facilities for the health workers to do their job. I am used to the austrian and German health system where they have nearly every medication ready to use and have good equipment to assist the health workers, so for me it was a bit of a shock to see how the malawian hospital is run. An example was snake bites. Here in Malawi, there are a lot of dangerous snakes, which if zou get biten and the venom enters your body, can kill you. I know that the health centre would not have any antivenom present, but I thought that at least a District Hospital would have it. Sadly, seeing three patients who were biten by snakes, i was told that only the hospitals in the capital Lilongwe and in Blantyre would have anitvenom. Well it did not mean that the patients here die, but they are given a different mixture which seems to work. How exactly they do it, not very sure. In my days at the hospital, I was also able to see how understaffed they are. In a ward for example, there are around 30 patients which are cared for by two nurses. This means these nurses cannot really help everyone very well. If it was not for the nursing students there at the time, they would be all alone. This made it difficult for every nurse to give each patient as much time and consideration some of them might have needed. Instead guardians would take over the role, meaning cleaning, feeding, and if ever one of the patients was feeling worse, they would get the nurses. Another area which they lacked in is facilities. For example, I witnessed a patient who was unconcious for a whole week and sadly he passed away during my time there. Normally, if Karonga Hospital is not able to treat the patient because the sickeness or injury the patient had is to severe and complicated, they would transfer him to Mzuzu, because they are better equiped, however, this patient would have needed to have gone to Mzuzu, but because of the instable condition, they could not risk it as it would take nearly 4 hours to get there. So anyway, because he was unconcious and they did not have good scanning machines, only X-ray and Ultrasound, they were not able to identify what exactly was wrong with him. He could not be given help with breathing as they had no working machine in the ward present. It was very sad to see because the health workers were very determined to find out how to try and improve his condition. They just face the problem that their hard work cannot save as much lives as they do not have the correct facilities to determine the correct diagnosis.  One aspect that I found very interesting, talking to a health worker, he told me that he sees that there is a huge dependency on foreign aid in terms of materials and medication. He said that he does not want to see the day when this aid is going to be stopped as he thinks the whole health care system will fail. He told me that he sees a problem with the government as he said corruption is to big and lots of money is being "lost" meaning that there is not enough materials and medication at hospitals to help the people to the best way possible. I thought it was very interesting to hear his opinion as it showed how difficult the health workers are finding it to work well in the health care system without the necessary materials. Anyway, it was a great experience and I am hoping to some day come back and get more experiences as everyone in the hospital was lots of fun and were great to chat with.

2nd Sanitation Day

  Clean Ngara program

The community hard at work

  Now I just wanted to give you an update to the Clean Ngara project. Yesterday, we had our second Sanitation Day in Ngara, where we came together to clean the communitz areas. The turn up was very good as about 100 people came to clean up. The chief of the region came as well and looked at the dedication and work his community is doing. He was very much impressed. He also told me that the village close to us has also started implementing this program with him introducing it there. It was decided upon by the community that the amount of times we should have the Sanitation Day should be increased and so it was decided the on the 8th and on the 22nd of every month, we will be having Sanitation Day. For me as the initiator of this project i am pleased to see that the community is responding so well as they see the need for more days of cleaning and therefore have requested for a second date to be considered. As well, the community showed initiative as they said one area they want to clean at a different time so that the people working now can look at areas which need more work to make it clean. In general, this is very good development of the project and allows me to be happy about the progress.   Thanks for checking in and reading my Blog.   Tim                                                                         

My trip to Mzuzu Central Hospital

Yes I went to Mzuzu Central Hospital last weekend.   

Me with Benjamin infront of Mzuzu Central Hospital

But no worries it was not because I was sick or injured but because as I am a medical volunteer here in Malawi, I wanted to see the facilities of the biggest hospital in the north. I had the luck that the son of my host is a medical student in Mzuzu and at the time that I came, he was doing his practicals at Mzuzu Central. Anyway, so I went to Mzuzu Central to meet him and go around looking at the different areas and the different wards. I was definitely not impressed with the facilities. The hospital was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. It only has 4 beds in ICU and the wards were crammed with patients. Hygiene was not very good either with floors being dirty and the matrasses on beds being left with cuts in them. I would want to be treated for any sicknesses or injuries, just because it did not look that clean. A ward was split into male and female sections. In one room, there were about three rows with five beds in each row, so that meant there was little privacy for any patients.  

The private ward, where people who are there have to pay in order to be located there, they were a little bit better. There were two rows this time with about 5 beds in row. The beds actually were pretty modern and better equipped than in any other wards. As well, the patients had the benefit of having curtains that they can pull between their beds so that at least they had a little bit of privacy. However, this was still not te quality of care and facilities that I am used to in Germany and Austria.  My impression on this hospital was that the facilities do not allow correct treating of the patient. After seeing this hospital, I told myself I will try everything in my power to not get sick or injured because I would not be sure that I would be treated correctly and well in that hospital.   

Locals waiting for the president to come

Anyway, that was Mzuzu Central. On the same day, in the evening, I was heading back to the lodge I stayed at and there was a crowd gathered in the centre of the city dancing, cheering and having fun. I was not sure what was happening here. My friend told me that the president was coming to Mzuzu to be present at the rememberence day. So we decided we wanted to wait and see him as well. But well, even the president was going by african time because he came about an hour late. Anyway, just seeing the locals how happy they were to see the president and how much fun they had waiting for him to come was just so nice to see.   

 So this was my experience the past weekend. 

Till next time,  

Tim

My project 'Clean Ngara'

Hey Guys,

 I want to apologise for not posting something in the past weeks, but I have been really busy. I have started a program here in Ngara called 'Clean Ngara'. I am running it together with my Host, Mr. Chilanga in the hope that this project will be self sustainable for the future. This entry I want to explain what exactly this project is about. If you want to have more indepth knowledge about this program, the past two weeks I wrote a report on the whole idea behind this program. If you would like to have this program, please just leave a note in the comments and I would gladly send you this document.

The pollution found close to Ngara trading market

  I created the project based on going around Ngara and seeing the amount of dirt that is lying around. My first thought when I came to Ngara 2 1/2 months ago, yeah I know time flys by, I thought wow this is a nice village and then straightaway I noticed the trash lying on the floor and how polluted it was. As a part of the work that I do here in the clinic, I go around getting people to know about cholera and how to prevent it. One of the activities we did was go to the Market and see how prepared the market area is for the rainy season, when Ngara is prone to cholera. Actually seeing the amount of pollution ... I wanted to change this. So together with my host we called meeting with all the influential leaders to talk to them about this problem and we suggested creating a once a month event called Sanitation Day. On the 8th of each month the community will come together to clean up the Ngara area, to try and make sure that it is a lot safer to sell the fruit and vegetables. As well, in that meeting, I introduced the idea of building trash bins in the market area which can help making sure that the market area can stay clean. Anyway, with that idea sorted I started organising the whole thing. The plan however is not for me to run this program, eventhough I had most of the ideas, but to get the community to run this program. This should ensure that after I have gone back home, that this project will still run and make Ngara clean.

Cholera prevention meeting

So after the meeting on the 2nd of November, we had the first Sanitation Day on the 8th of November. Puhh, I spent a lot of hours trying to organise and trying to make sure we would be prepared. On the 8th, about 40 people came and cleaned the market area of Ngara. Anyway, everyone noticed how dirty it was and how needed this activity is. I am including a few pictures of the day itself. 

Getting ready to start cleaning the market area (picture taken by Floja Foundation)

Trash being taken to the refuse pit (Picture taken by Floja Foundation)

The community at work trying to improve the surrounding (picture taken by Floja Foundation)

The community helping together to clean the market area

With masks, gloves and aprons, the community members were able to protect themselves from the diseases and dust while picking up trash

  The aim for this program is to improve the sanitation by reducing the trash in important public areas. The hope is that this will trigger self improvement for the future and then lead to behavioral changes. Sanitation Day will hopefully fulfill this aim.  Anyway, this is a brief description of what I have been doing the past few weeks. The next step is to get the report to the District Health Officer, to get his support and to make him aware of what is going on in Ngara and then for the 8th of December, I am trying to organise media to come, so that we can show the rest of Malawi what is happening here in Ngara.

So this program is keeping me very busy, but I will definitely try to post something new very recently.

Tim

Some pictures showing my experience till now

Just a few photos showing the surrounding and the scenery here in Malawi. Please note I worked on all of these pictures using the App Enlight. 

My view flying over Africa

Coming into land in Malawi

The Fishing Beach in Ngara

Carved Canoes at Lake Malawi

Women go to the lake to wash their clothes or pots and pans

My Neighbour Charity with her little girl Violet

My Host and workmate Mr. Chilanga with his two newest addition in his family, his grandchildren Tim and Leah

My two neighbours

Watching the local team play football

Malawian Sunsets

The M1 heading from Mzuzu to Karonga

Malawian evenings

View onto the lake from Mayoka Lodge in Nkhata Bay

Kayaking on Lake Malawi

Exploring the shores around Nkhata Bay

 

So I hope you liked the pictures that you saw. These are only a few I have taken, however, it should give you some insight into the surrounding that I live in. Please excuse the quality of some pictures. All the pictures above were either taken through my phone or a GoPro.

Till next time, Tim

My First Trip!! Nkhata bay!

So well, I'm off for my first trip here in Malawi. Nkhata Bay!!  

SO on Thursday I set off to Karonga, the local town to go and meet my fellow volunteers to take the AXA bus to Mzuzu and from there I would go on to Nhkata bay. And yes the buses here are pretty good. For a price of 5000 Malawian Kwacha, which nearly is 6 euros, it would take us on a three hour journey with providing us a possibility of charging the phone.  SO anyway, we went to Nkhata bay for our first holiday and just spend some time at the beach and swimming while meeting people from all around the world, for example Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, etc.  We are staying here for a couple of days just relaxing. The first day, I spent going out snorkeling seeing different fish such as blue, white, yellow black, so many different colors. It's not the same like being in Egypt where you can see reefs, that is not possible here but I have to say it is still pretty nice to look at. After snorkeling I spent the day just around the bar, slowly getting a sunburn. Wooohooo!! I was hoping that at least I would be accustomed to the sun after one and a half months here, but no, still as prone to getting a sunburn as ever. Not good if you're in 35° C heat on a daily basis with the sun bearing down. Evenings we spend at the bar just talking to other volunteers or travelers, drinking and eating. 

The second day I decided, to cut down the cost of my stay there, to go into the local village of Nkhata bay and get mandazi, which is a local sweet dish made from mais flower and milk, yeast, sugar and water. The rest of the day I spent either going to into the lake for a swim or reading a book or even just going around looking at the town. I must say the surrounding and the landscape in Nkhata Bay was really nice. I enjoyed it. In the evening we went to Kaya Papaya, a local Thai restaurant which should be really good, and it definitely was. If ever you go to Nkhata bay, I would recommend going there.  On the last full day I spent just lounging and reading a book or listening to music. In the evening I went for a paddle with one of the kayaks to see the shoreline from the lake, but also to see some other areas. In the evening we had a pizza evening. I must say, eating a pizza after one and a halve months was so good. In the end, we went home on the Monday very early, well I mean home as in Ngara and back to work. I have to say I really enjoyed being in Nkhata bay as it was relaxing and just a new place to see and to meet new people.  That was it for today. I will add a a blogpost next week about a project that I am starting to Organise where village chiefs will attend a meeting I will hold ..... oh oh.  SO till next week.  

My First Month in Malawi

My Neighbours

SO Guys,

 One month gone and only nine more months to go. I want to talk to you about my first month, how I felt, what I do during the week and what is still going to expect me. Also, you might ask yourself, what food do I cook on my own. Well Ill tell you, you just have read my Blog.

 By the way, I would like to make a shout out for the Floja foundation here because they have been so kind to allow me to use their internet to upload my blog/ adding pictures while also being able to do my university application. An yes, I am working on it. Just a brief description of what the Floja foundation does. The Foundation was created by Floor and Jan, yes they only put the name together and there you have it: Floja, to create a Foundation, which gets some of its funds through having a campsite and a chalet. Then they sold it to a dutch couple, Mr. And Mrs. Andre. Floja foundation has a day care centre which gives orphans the chance to go to school before they go off to primary school. As well, the foundation is working on helping Ngara Primary School to help upgrade their facilities, with the latest project being of building new toilets. SO please go check out their website which is in the links section. If ever you come to the northern part of Malawi, stop by their lodge as the profits help the foundaition, but mainly to go talk to them and see their beautiful campsite or sleep integriert chalet.  

Check out their website at www.flojamalawi.nl

  So now lets get started with my Blog for today!

  How was my first month in Malawi?
Looking back I have to say it started off really well because I was excited to come here and then see parts of the world that I have never seen before. Seeing a new climate a new tradition and even a culture. But not just that, I was able to gain experience in a field that I was thinking of studying (medical field), while at the same time helping people who are at need. I have to say I was also glad to actually start the adventure that I worked so long towards, if getting materials I needed or getting information or having vaccinations. Well then it finally started. The orientation was good. Because we were at a lodge, we had nearly everything covered and life was easy for 5 days. But then you get left at a place of unknown. After 5 days I was left in a village I did not speak the language of because we only had a couple of language lessons, to start living on my own. I have to be greatful in some aspects because that is how you start to live here. You have to build your life and while you build it, you get to know the culture a lot better. What Lattitude tells you before you go to the placement is to start work straight away, and that is exactly what you should be doing as it takes your mind off everything. Everything you should not be thinking about like family, the luxury life you have back at home, friends. All those are nice thoughts but they just make life harder. Anyway, the second week I then was put into the thick of things, into the action. So well slowly you get used to the way of life here and the WEATHER. Boy is it hot here during the day and it just doesn't seem to get any cooler. Anyway, with time, living here becomes a lot easier. So that at the end of the first month I have to say I am glad to be here and no, I would not want to go back home now. Yes, there were times (most of the first 3 weeks) where I would have got on that plane on my way home. But no, I'm glad I am here.    

  What do I do?
 Well, I have to say I did say I had no expectations coming here, which might have not been 100% true, because the only expectation would be that I would be at a health centre where there are a lot of patients. Well I have to say there arent as many patients as I thought there would be as it is an outfield post run by one Health Surveillance assistant, who is also my host. So what the job incorporates here in the Health post is we treat children up to the age of five and giving family planning injections to women, while also having under five clinics. At under five clinics we weigh the children to determine if they are getting enough food. As well, we give the children vaccinations. We can treat the patients for symptoms of malaria, Diarrhoea, vomitting, coughing and red eye. I have started doing this now in the first month on my own with my host checking in to see if I am doing the work correctly. SO yes I am treating patients with the help of my host.

As well, an activity of this clinic is to go around the catchment area and talk about how to prevent diseases, such as cholera, so for the first two weeks me and my host went around the catchment area. He was explaining what exactly we were trying to prevent to the locals while I was taking notes if they have good sanitation facilities such as a good toilet, a kitchen and and and. These kind of tasks are essential as they try to help keep the outbreaks of certain diseases to a minimum. As I dont have the language yet, I was only able to take down notes.

  I have started a project of my own where I work on a patient with some exercises, very similar to a physio. I found this patient as I was walking to the lake and she called me over and showed me her injuries. She had a car crash in 2015 and was not able to walk properly due to her left leg being long than her right leg. She had suffered some serious injuries. I asked physiotherapists if they can help me find some exercises as I thought that such exercises would work out really well and could really help her, to at least be able to walk a bit better. So from last week I have started going to her every second day to work with her on building up strength on both of her feet by doing squats and many different exercises. This is going to be a long term project that I want to do throughout my 10 months here. Maybe I can help her in a way to start walking more again and having a bit less pain. That is my hope anyway.

What do I eat? Well, When I first came here, I started cooking with my neighbour. She showed me what people here in Malawi eat and how they cook the food. I have to say at the beginning it was only her and her one year old daughter, however after a week of me supplying the food and she would be cooking it, together with me, two boys where suddenly there and I discovered she has two sons as well. Well, at first I continued cooking and eating with her, but then I noticed that supplying food for 5 people is just too much of spending my own money so I decided to cook by myself. My neighbour didn't take that well at first, but now she is getting more and more used to it. So now I cook by myself. The food I cook is nsima, rice with a side dish. Occasionally I will have noodles as they are quick to cook if I need food quickly, but the side dishes can range from eggs to tomatoes to potatoes, onions, fish, and beans. I do like to have spices so I was so happy that I thought of them when I came here as the malawians do not cook a lot with spices. Recently I have become a little lazy with cooking and I always tried making the easiest food possible, which is not always the best, however, I want to go back and change this slowly. This food was mostly evenings. I now am trying to have a more healthy lunch with fruit. Yes there is fruit here and it is good. The bananas, the pineapples and the apples. I can't wait till the mango season starts as I heard the mangos here are really good. I was told I can get them in November. SO not too far till then.

 So Now you might be asking how do I cook. Well, there are two ways for me to cook. The first is with a coal cooker, which is how nearly everyone here in Ngara cooks, and the second is a hot plate. Yes I bought a hotplate as I sometimes do not want to wait so long for my coal to start. Its difficult getting it started at first, but now more and more I am learning all of the tricks that can be done to start it. But I have to say, I am slowly enjoying cooking under the sky every evening as it is just nice to see all the stars.

Whats next? Well soon I will doing my first trip. I will be going with my fellow volunteers for a long weekend to Nkhata bay, a really nice place. Nhkata bay is about a 6 hour trip from here with the bus and is a place at the lake where backpackers go. The scenery seems to be really nice and h But other than that, I will be working. On Monday I will meet the chief in the Karonga District Hospital, the chief is the guy who runs all the health centres in the district of Karonga, and I will go there to introduce myself, but also to talk about some ideas and issues I have. Other than that I can not really tell you what is going to happen as I am looking at it week by week so that I can find the time and the place to work on my ideas and projects. Now many will ask, well when is my next blog going to be. Well, I want to at least post once a month, and I will definetly post about every trip I am doing. So please check in from now and then and share this blog with your friends. Maybe I can inspire someone to do the same as I am doing and help people here in Africa. 

 So till next time,

Tim

•  

My first two weeks in Ngara

Hi guys,

 

So I'm finally in Malawi and already two weeks into my 10 month placement. In thud post I want to explain what has happened so far in my time being here and some of the difficulties I have found to be here. 

 

So after I arrived in Malawi we were picked up at the airport and went up to the north to start our orientation camp. After we had only arrived at around two o'clock in the morning, we were told that we would start the orientation on the Saturday after lunch time, so that we had some time to adapt. So it meant I was able to get a little bit of sleep, but was awake at 9 o'clock already again. I met some of the staff that worked at Maji Zuwa, the lodge where we had our orientation. SO after lunch we started talking about what we should expect being here and what some of the safety ideas are behind our stay in Malawi, for example not using the minibuses after dark, as the drivers can be drunk sometimes. I noticed there being the problem of people being drunk as the journey we had the day before from Lilongwe to Maji Zuwa, we had to stop at several police check points and quite a few of the police officers seemed to be drunk. So so much to actually having police checks present. On the Saturday evening, we had a party then as one of the memebers of the other Organisation that was present there, D2D, was leaving to go back home after being in Malawi for 2 years. It meant I had the chance of meeting some of the local boys that stayed there. I have to say every single one of them was so nice. It gave me a first insight into the attitude of the people here in Malawi, which is so open and friendly.

The next wo days we got some language lessons in Tombuka, the language the people speak up north. I thought the language was very difficult to comprehend, with there being a big different to English. I was hoping that I would get an area where people predominantly speak English, as speaking tombuka is quite difficult. We also had our first experience in the market, where we would walk around and see what for products there are and what the prices where. The market we went to was in a town called Ouliwa. So we had to go on our own on the Monday to the market and with the minibus and see if we wanted to get some things as on Tuesday all the Volunteers would be sent to their placements. I have to say, the market was at first a bit difficult to get a hang of as there is so much going on and so many different people. I was not very sure what I wanted t get as I was not sure what my house would look like and what there would be at the market in my village as I had two bags to carry which were already full and difficult to carry. 

 

So then Tuesday approached faster than I thought. I have to say, deep down I was a bit nervous as I was not sure what I was going to expect. We set off at aroun 10 o'clock towards our placement to put our bags there and then go on to Karonga, the biggest city in the north, to buy supplies we needed. The first time I saw my clinic or my health Centre, I was shocked as it was a small building. My host seemed really nice. I was then told that he was the only worker at that clinic and that I would assist him in the keeping the clinic running and actually making sure that if he is not in the clinic on some days, that I would be there and would be able to run the clinic, meaning I would be the person incharge sometimes. What I really liked about my village at first sight was the fact that it was at the lake, meaning that I could go for a swim whenever I wanted to. I was really happy about that as I knew the climate would be really hot here, in hindsight, I didn't expect it to be that hot. So after a day in Karonga and finally getting to my hut in the evening, I was more than tired and fell straight into bed. 

 

So now, what have I been doing the past two weeks? Well in the week I arrived, my host, Mr. Chilanga was facilitating at a small conference near Maji Zuwa, so I joined him on the Wednesday for this event. It was interesting to see what exactly they talked about as it was about sanitation of people and how to get the community to respect the nature the nature they live in. Anyway, after that day, my host said that Thursday and Friday I should not go as the conference was in Tombuka, but I should go and look at the surrounding, so I can familiarize myself with the town I will be staying at for my 10 month placement. So that is what I did. During that time it only came to me what I was doing. I was gone from my Family and friends for 10 months all by myself, no other volunteer in my town to talk to. I would have loved to just gone back home at this point because I really started to miss my family at that point and I did not have a lot of distraction to help me take away my thoughts about my family.

On the Saturday, I went back to Karonga to go get some supplies I needed, but also to meet the other volunteers to see what their experiences have been at their placement. I then was told by my host that I should go to a meeting with him in Nyungwe, the bigger town with the bigger health Centre. So that is was I did and raced back to Nyungwe, a 45 minute car journey or lets say minibus journey. This meeting was held to get the Health Officers from Ngara and Nyungwe to start at Cholera prevention project in September, as in the rainy season, cholera is a big issue in the north and the company PSI Malawi wanted to reduce this risk. SO anyway, I was included in this meeting as I would have to work very closely with my host in this campaign. 

 

So then my first work week started. I have to say, the clinic is in dreadful shape. There is only one room which actually works and is able to be used to treat patients, but then there is a storage room so messy and so dirty, that it just did not look like a good clinic to treat any patients. It also has a toilet, but because the solar panel is broken, it won't work, so yeah the facilities are dreadful. I was able to see what exactly my goal was for this health Centre. So in my first week at work, what have I done? Well, I have started to learn how to treat patients. These are either women that want to have a family planning injection or children which are sick. I have done Malaria testing, giving out medication for when a child is sick and then also we started the cholera campaign, which meant cycling into the catchment area, the area where the health officer is incharge of treating patients and making sure that the sanitation is correct, to talk about cholera prevention and see if these households actually have the correct facilities, such as a kitchen, handwashing facility, a good toilet facility and a bathroom or kitchen. I also have cleaned the storage space so that at least it can look a lot better and much more organized. As well, we had the under 5 clinic, which is two days in the month where parents come in with children and they are weighed and given vaccinations, to ensure that they stay safe. On Friday, the whole council of the clinic had a meeting so that I can introduce myself to the council and we can discuss the expectations that each one of us has. 

Throughout my two weeks here, I have to say I met so many chiefs and village headmen, as my host wants me to introduce myself to everyone so that they know who the new muzungu (white man) is in town. Each of those chiefs have been so nice and so helpful with one sending his grandchild to get me water on the first day I arrived in Ngara. SO a verdict on my first two weeks can be, I am happy I have come here and everyone is really friendly and nice, however, I am finding difficult as homesickness is slowly but surely catching up and the reality that I won't see my family for a year is slowly settling in. And no skyping is not yet an option as the internet connection in this part of Malawi is not very good.

 

So that was just a brief insight into my first two weeks here in Malawi.

 

Tim

Im off to Malawi

  Hi guys,  Well Im off to Malawi. I have all my things packed and I am ready to go to the airport for my 2pm flight to Amsterdam. Then from there I go on to Nairobi and then to Lilongwe, expecting a 24 hour journey to be in "the heart of Africa", Malawi. After a tearful goodbye at Dresden Airport, by the way the biggest airport that I know XD, I departed my journey. I did not have to many emotions come to me as I did not realise what actually was about to encounter me. When I arrived in Amsterdam, I knew there was a very long wait ahead of me. Around 6 hours at an airport, not a travellers best friend. I really wanted to go an see Amsterdam as I really like the city, however, it would just not make any sense as it would take me around 30 minutes to get into the city and then there were so big lines at the security checks that I would not have enjoyed it. That is why I stayed at the airport, which was fine for me as I was able to watch a movie, read and listen to music as well as get some last items for the flight. 

Then it was time. My flight to Africa, I headed off with a 787 Dreamliner to Nairobi first. Europe Im leaving you. I must say the service on board was really good. They tried giving you as much to drink as you wanted and gave you two meals. The only thing that was not good on this flight was the fact that my sound did not work for my screen, which meant I was only left with either watching a movie on the iPad or going to sleep. I also had a good chat with the two sitting next to me. Both are also volunteer workers. One was working for Doctors without Borders by building hospitals, and the other one was going to Malawi with me but she had her own organisation which was working on creating hospital beds. Listening to both their experiences and the places they have gone, I was relishing the fact to start getting to work in Malawi and to see the country. After 8 hours we finally landed in Nairobi, Kenya. There I had another 5 1/2 hours to wait before heading off to Lilongwe. As the terminal in Nairobi was so small and hardly had any seats, I decided to just pay $45 to go into the Turkish airlines lounge. My first time in a lounge and I have to say I expected more than it was, but at least I was able to have a shower and good Wifi, as well as free drinks and food. Just being in that lounge made my wait so much shorter and in the end worth paying the amount I paid.  I was finally able to board the flight and off I was to Malawi. We landed a bit late and the descend onto the airport was rough to say the least, but I was happy to finally be in the country I was working towards being. Now it meant going through customs and getting the bag and then towards the orientation camp we go. I must say it was pretty quick getting through immigration, with all the officers being really nice. Waiting for Ken to finally pick us up, I started to experience the Malawian way of life. All a lot slower and more comfortable. When he finally arrived, and meeting all the other volunteers, we departed in the direction of the north of Malawi, via a stop in Malawi to let some of Kens friends out. SO we were finally on the road in the direction of Maji Zuwa, a lodge where our Orientation was going to be. I must say, at first I was really scared of how Malawians drive because there was no system behind it. It was just speed and speed. People were walking on the side of the road and cycling as well. Anyway, that was my only mode of transportation to the north.  While going up to the north we encountered a car crash, where a lorry had hit a civilian. We stopped in the hope could help. I saw how unaware the civilians are as the men standing next to the little boy that was hit thought he was dead and just cried and cried for help. Ken was able to help and we took them to a hospital, which meant all 6 volunteers had to sit at the back of the small van crammed. This experience just gave me an insight into what I might see when I start working in Ngara.

Anyway, by 2 am we arrived at the lodge in Maji Zuwa, everyone dead on their feet as no-one had a lot of sleep the past 32 hours. Or for me it was 32 hours I was travelling. I got my room and fell into bed, but no worries, the bed had a mosquito net over it which meant I was fine to sleep.   So that was all about my journey to Malawi. Check in later to see what my orientation was all about and what my impressions of Malawi are.   Till then,     Tim

I'm A Volunteer

 

Just to let you know, I have never written a blog in my life, so this is all new, but bare with me, I will try my best. I will be hoping to post regularly about my experience and about the work I will be doing, while also showing the attractive nature of the country. Now, just to give you a quick insight into what this blog is about, im going to do a quick introduction about what this adventure is all about. 

Where? On the 31st of  August I depart to Lilongwe, Malawi, travelling a whole 24 hours. Now you might just ask where the heck is Malawi, well just to let you know, I had the same reaction when I first saw this placement. Well just to explain a little bit about Malawi. Malawi is in the southern part of Africa, bordering to Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique. The country lies on the lake called Lake Malawi, which makes up roughly 75% of the eastern border of Malawi. Researching more and more into Malawi, i have read what for a nice country it is, how different the landscape can be and it having a very diverse range of species there. This really intrigued me to see what this country is like and so I decided to apply to Volunteer.

How? So I found out about Malawi through researching around about doing a gap year as a volunteer. I stumbled across an organisation called Lattitude Global Volunteering. On researching about the country of Malawi, I decided to apply to their placement starting September 2017. And yes, I had to apply, as the organisation only wants to take volunteers with them which are dedicated and that can embody their mission of "providing opportunities to volunteer abroad and to make a positive difference to the lives of others through a distinctive, challenging, structured and supported overseas volunteering experience in a culture and community different from their own." So anyway I applied, had an interview with the project manager based in England and then with the country manager based in Malawi. After those interviews I was accepted onto their program and I was a step closer to heading to Malawi. If you are interested about the organisation, the link to their website is on the left. Go check it out and maybe volunteering interests you. (www.lattitude.org.uk) Anyway, with me being accepted, it meant I had to start planning my trip by buying insurances, flights and making sure I have all the equipment required.

So now that was it with the brief introduction. If you want to know more about why I decided to do volunteering, keep reading the blog as I will touch on that subject throughout different posts.

So now coming back to the present. Its only a few days left till I start my journey. Right now, it still feels like its a dream that I will be in Malawi, in Africa, in a new country in a few days. Till now I have been really happy about the chance to go to a totally different country and being able to live there and experience their culture. Thinking ahead to Christmas, that it will be my first Christmas away from my family for the first time makes me not know how I should feel. As well, thinking I will be celebrating Christmas for the first time away from my family, so it will be intriguing to see how this experience will be like.

At the start of August I received my placement information. I will be placed in Ngara, a small village in the Northern part of Malawi, only about 80km till the Tansanian Border. I will be situated there for 10 months, working at the local health centre helping the people in the community who have health problems or injuries, however, it will be the minor injuries as the health centre is not equipped like a big hospital in the city. So that will be my placement where I will stay the most of my 10 months. I will be working together with locals to help locals. So anyway, I don't want to talk to much about the place I am going yet as I haven't actually been there before. So I will give a better insight as soon as I actually live there. As well, I am hoping of travelling through Africa and see the culture and landscapes that the continent has to offer.

SO I know this post was not so interesting but bare with me, it will get better :)