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

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