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.