Return from the north

I had a great professional visit to Mzuzu, albeit with ice cream stops. It was enlightening to see how things can be done in Malawi. We are definitely the poor relations in the south of the country. The facilities in the mental hospital are better than in some units in the UK. It is funded and run by St John of Gods in Dublin. They fund everything from drugs to masters degrees for their staff. No sign of lice and it even smelled OK. The central hospital was also amazing. It was built and run by the Taiwanese but they have recently been asked to leave Malawi since the Malawians have become chummy with the Chinese. They took some of the equipment and their bonus scheme with them and I believe it is going down hill already. The university was interesting although I believe their degrees are at a much lower level than degrees in the west.

I visited Livingstonia which sits at the top of a spectacular road with fantastic views. The downside was having to camp at a very rustic campsite. There was an eletrical storm, not the best time to discover that your tent leaks, I was woken up by a warthog grunting and sniffing round my tent, the composting loo was not composting and the bushes were preferable to the flies escaping from the loo. Like most things here I put it down to experience. The following day we went to the beach, this was my first introduction to sand snakes, 3 foot long and almost pretty. The snake that came from the engine of the car and slithered over the windscreen before attempting to come in the driver's wiondow was not pretty. It was an immature black mamba, about 6 feet long and very dangerous. Not a scream emerged from my lips, a few sweary words and jings, crivens and help ma bob were the only sounds uttered. Thank God for therapy. I think it must have got into the engine at the campsite and eventually tried to escape. I'm glad it didn't try to escape via the foot pedels.

I also visited a rose quartz mine and bought some lovely quartz. I think it may be too heavy to get home. My final weekend was spent at Kandy Beach where we had a VSO meeting. It was a really beautiful setting on the lake and had an excellent resturant. It was another snake experience. I think I'm attracting the wildlife. I've seen two rats in this internet shop this afternoon, there were baboons in the college this morning and I have a new species of insect in my house, I think it may be a type of scorpion. I have this irrational belief that my mosquito net will protect me from everything so I don't worry about the creepy, crawley, slitheries at night. In reality it has not even done a decent job in protecting me from malaria so why I think it will protect me from everything else I don't know.

I returned to letters and cards and lovely packages from Jo, Jean and Judith. I've scoffed the chocolate, drunk the tea, read the articles, and enjoyed all the lovel pressents. I have been very spoiled by friends and family while I have been here.

The student intake that had been postponed until September has now been changed to next week. This is quite surprising since things usuallly take longer here and don't get brought forward. We have 96 students starting on Monday. I'm doing the psychology lectures which I hope to make a lot of fun as opposed to the dry facts that they have been fed before. It is the subject that most students fail but I hope to change that by making it a lot more practical so that they know how to apply it in their work.

One of my cockerels made an escape attempt this week. They must know that they are destined for the pot. I've asked a local to try to get me some layers and hope that it works out better this time. The garden is still producing, I have more corn coming up, the gem squash is looking good, the root veg is developing and I'm still harvesting the cape gooseberries. The herbs smell and taste superb. Harry has been overtly sexually active in the garden again. I've told her to keep away from the Tom next door but she continues to idolise him and his worms.

Its only 2 weeks until Kathy and Ali visit then its off to Zambia on a luxury safari and a trip to Victoria falls. I'm really excited about having my first visitors from home. I can taste the sundowners already. 6 weeks after their return my nephews are visiting, another Zambian trip and more time at the lake. 6 weeks after that Jane and Mary Jess are visiting when I hope to see more of Malawi. Until then its work but it should be fun with 96 new students.

Thanks for keeping in touch. Keep the comments coming.

Visiting The North

Our third year students have just graduated and the intake for the new first years has been delayed for 6 months so I'm using the time to do a professional exchange visit. I'm visiting the University in Mzuzu, the central hospital and the mental hospital and catching up with VSO friends. The university is the only place where they train students to degree level, a bit different from degree level in the UK, and where they train registered nurses. The drive up to the north was fabulous, the road goes through the Viphaya mountains and forests. It got much cooler the higher up I drove which was a pleasant change. The smell of the forest was superb.

The college graduation ceremony and dinner had to be endured. It was one of the most dull evenings that I've spent in Malawi. However some other people took advantage of the fact that most staff were at the function and took the opportunity to empty the hospital safe, steal the wages and break into a house and steal the TV and DVD. The phone lines that were stolen 4 months ago have still not been replaced but we hope to have the satellite Internet link up and running soon.

Last weekend we had a regional meeting at Mulangie in the very south of the country. It was a beautiful setting at the bottom of the highest mountain in Malawi. It had the added bonus of an ice cream shop on the way. This weekend I'm staying in the north and going to Livingstonia for the weekend. At the end of next week we have a peer group meeting on the Lake. I hope to do a bit more exploring at the beginning of the week.

The garden continues to flourish, I've more sweet corn, beetroot, carrots, tomatoes, cape gooseberries, onions and peppers coming up. The herbs are great and I'm also allowing a local lad to grow veg in the garden for his family. I keep threatening to eat my cockerels, especially at 5 in the morning, but I can't bring myself to do it. Harry is doing fine. I thought that she was pregnant but I think she must have aborted again, thankfully not on the door step this time. We have a VSO vet from Canada who is going to bring his kit to the house and operate on her. I've not had any more floods in the house. We are back to having lengthy power cuts most evening and I'm perfecting cooking on charcoal. I'm getting really excited about my first visitors arriving and our trip to Zambia.

I hope everyone at home is well. Keep the comments and letters coming.