Too Hot To Handle

We are anxiously waiting for the rains. We've had a few showers but not the real rains. Local people have planted their maize and unless the rains come soon their seeds will rot. Erin, our peace corps volunteer, records the temperature in her house, she recorded 370 C (98F) before bed in her bedroom and 480C in the afternoon. We are all exhausted with the heat. Hopefully the rains will come soon.

I've finished at the mental hospital. One of the last activities I did with the students was to show them "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". When I tried to get them to identify some of the issues they thought the biggest problem was that the staff had made the mistake of not orientating the patient to the ward! Here was me thinking I had helped them to understand mental illness. Clearly I over estimated my ability.

The mental hospital has the same problems this year as last year. The patients all have hair and body lice, the clothing and bedding are full of lice, the meat disappears between the kitchen and the wards, patients are over sedated as a control measure and ECT is still done without anaesthesia. However, its still my favorite place where I have made the most impact, even if the patients think the most important thing is to orientate the patients to the ward.

I'm now back in college and planning a diabetes project. Diabetes UK West Fife have raised £500 to improve the lives of people with diabetes in Malawi. I met with all the local village chiefs to discuss diabetes awareness raising in the community and got resounding approval for the project. It is a very special piece of work being funded by patients at home.

The eggs that I doubted would hatch did hatch and I got 9 new chicks. 2 new chicks were pecked to death by their mother for misbehaving. 2 of my bigger chicks died from the pox (chicken pox I presume not the clap). 1 chick has disappeared. probably stolen. It had been so dry that the veg in the garden has not been doing to well. I've had bananas from the tree and the mangoes are ripening nicely, my sweetcorn is ripening and should be ready soon and I have fresh eggs every day.

Harry the cat is doing well and catching most of the big spiders but she missed the scorpion that I found in the kitchen. Erin has tarantulas in her house but I've not seen any here. The mail has been very slow. It took 4.5 months for an airmail parcel sent in June to reach here. I've had very few letters and my weekly newspaper is more often missing than not. I had malaria again a couple of weeks ago, the treatment is as bad as the symptoms. We had a VSO meeting at the lake at the end of last week. I stayed on for the weekend and spent hours in the water. I went snorkeling round Lizard Island the swam back to the shore. We went swimming in the morning around 6 and at 5 in the afternoon till dusk. We have to get out of the water at dusk incase hippos and crocks visit the waters edge.

The college have decided to close a week early to allow the students to get into the Christmas spirit, I think we should adopt some of their customs at home. I've booked myself a trip to Cape Town the week before I come home. I'm spending 1 night in Johannesburg and hope to visit Soweto then I'm going to travel to Cape Town by bus so that I can see some of the country. I've booked a trip to Cape Point, a visit to the penguins on Boulder Beach, a helicopter flight over Cape town, a boat trip to Robben Island and a seat at the "Ultimate Talent Show". I plan to go up Table Mountain, visit 2 museums and hit the shops. Not much chill out time but I've a long flight home to relax on.

Next week I'm doing the Children in the Wilderness camp again. I'll just have to suffer another week of safari and enjoy watching the crocks, hippos and elephants from my chalet. Hopefully we won't have ant pythons in the bedrooms like we did last year. So life in Malawi continues to fly past. I'm still making the most of it but really looking forward to being home for Christmas and then home for good in 6 months. I hope everyone at home is doing well. I'm looking forward to catching up over Christmas. Keep in touch.