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
