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Farewell to the Warm Heart of Africa

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Fond Farewells to The Warm Heart of Africa Our last few days on the plateau were busy but enriched by having Rebecca staying with us and having a reminder of how amazing the place is seen through new eyes, how quickly we had really adapted to the sights, sounds and smells of Africa, so that we no longer were even aware of the pesky roosters that crow from before 4 am every morning. Rebecca entered life “on the hill” fully and managed to pack in a lot of action, including a guided walk arranged through the Mushroom Farm, the renowned backpacker haunt on the edge of the plateau. She climbed the Chombe Plateau, learnt about the merits of housebuilding with local bricks, with and without cement, and ended up sheltering in Robert Laws original house, when they were caught in a tropical deluge. Charlie’s last two days as a working Doctor, found him dealing with a woman with a haemoglobin of 1.7 gm/dl, who was still able to walk about! a girl with a very badly fractured humerous and a yo...
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Wise Advice

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Wise Advice Before we left we were given some wise advice and now as our time here is coming to an end we are very glad to use it. Tomorrow starts our last full week of work in the hospital. Originally, we had planned to stay here until the 8 th of December however the Malawian Government in their wisdom insists that we most leave the country after 90 days as they are unable to extend our visas but are happy to issue us with new ones if we return to the country again. Technically we could do this by driving up to the border with Tanzania, which is about 200 kms away, and spending the day crossing the border and then crossing back again, it apparently can incur the additional cost of a present to border officials to move up the queue. Instead we have decided to leave on the 29 th of November, when Rebecca is here with us and travel down to Lilongwe where we will pick up a brief safari trip to Zambia which will enable us to exit the country a day before our visas expire and return...
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Living Trees We have had another very busy week on the hill. There is no doubt that it takes time to get the hang of the hospital, to begin to get to know people and be able to be more useful on the wards, people are starting to get used to us and us to them. One of my biggest difficulties is remembering who all the staff are and getting their names right, especially the women as just when I think I have got it a they dramatically change their hair do and I am at sea again. They are understandably quite hurt if you don’t recognise them.   We were both working on the children’s ward at the start of this week and had the satisfaction of seeing two very ill children make good recoveries, however another child died during the night who we had not been so concerned about and we have no idea why. Charlie does suspect that it was over enthusiastic use of intravenous fluids, to rehydrate the child as there is a reluctance to use nasogastric feeding, which is much safer especially...
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photos to go with Wheels are everything

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photos This ambulance isn't going far! building a new bridge on back road Bridge on the back road driving up the back road from Mzuzu Patricia, American friend taking photos of earth works and signs on back road Tarmac!!! Ambulance has new wheels
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Transport is everything

Yesterday we left the hill, summoned to Mzuzu to have our car re-registered, Transport Yesterday we left the hill, summoned to Mzuzu to have our car re-registered, an official process that must be done officially! We left the hospital on the hill and started on the 3-hour journey to town. During our time on the plateau the bone shaking two-hour ride known locally as the “back road” which joins Livingstonia to the paved MI, the main north south artery in Malawi has been undergoing transformation. Thanks to MotoEngel, a huge Portuguese engineering company the road is being improved. It is our only alternative route to the infamous Girodi which I wrote about previously. It too boasts hair pin bends, several very shaky bridges and some dust bowls, it provides a more gently ascent to the mountains, before the final climb up the escarpment. It is much longer, 42 kms, but preferred to the giddying steepness of the Girodi. The only problem is that in the rainy season it is impassable...
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There is no such thing as a free lunch!

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No such thing as a free lunch! I am sitting writing this by a pool, overlooking a golf course in Dwangwe, which is a lot further south from our present home and down the lake shore!! The town is built on a big swamp, where many rivers feed into the Lake. It feels incredibly decadent, given the poverty that we have passed through on route, few tin roofed houses and just tiny little thatched huts, where people live off the land and fishing. The Tsasa Estate is a big sugar refinery for the surrounding areas which grow sugar cane, it is a subsidiary of Illovo a South African Sugar producer and which is also connected to   Tate and Lyle.     Johnny our host, had decided we needed to enter a golf competition here, and if Charlie and I both entered we would get free accommodation for the weekend as visitors! But this meant that I had to play ball, literally and metaphorically!! Those of you that know me well will appreciate that this was a big ask! My attitude to golf ...
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The longest 17 kms

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The longest 17 kms On Saturday, after a nerve steadying bowl of porridge ,we felt brave and we decided to attempt the Gorody road. We have looked down at the tantalising lake and beach below us for so long and still haven’t experienced it. So we set off, drove down, but essentially I kept my foot on the brake for most of the journey and let the car gently roll down, the main task was trying to avoid the worst of the rocks on the track, the most damaging potholes and of course with the sheer drops on one side not get too close to the edge! We prayed hard we wouldn’t meet anyone, even the road up to Slieve League in Donegal and meeting a Winnebago wouldn’t compare to how little wriggle room you had if you met someone on a bad place. We only met one vehicle and it was at a good place where we were able to pass, other than that we managed to negotiate the 20 hair pin bends without incident. We had given a local a lift and he allowed it took him just over an hour to walk down usin...
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