Restoring,, refuelling and refreshing

Refreshing, refuelling and restocking

Blog post 1/10/17

 We were rapidly running out of food, both for ourselves and for the animals, we needed to get more petrol, the nearest fuel station being over 2 hours away and we needed a change and a break after a rather disheartening week where we had a further neonatal death. Finally, we had had a phone call from the synod office to tell us that our supposed 90day visas were only valid for 30 days and we were about to run out so had to go and see them in the office in Mzuzu, so all in all a trip to the big smoke of Mzuzu was needed!

 We set off, giving our neighbour a lift who was going on leave. Having chatted to her the previous day as she dried her maize meal and sieved it so that she could bring it with her as a gift to her family in Lilongwe she offered to roast peanuts for us for the journey. She also allowed she would be bringing dried fish for her family too and on a three-hour car journey in the heat, this didn’t sound so good! Not only did Nellie contribute the snacks for the trip but she was able to keep us right on the route and filled us in on lots of local information pointing out all the places on the way that the hospital has outreach clinics as Nellie heads up the Primary Health Department at the hospital.

 I had been assigned to work there this past week but due to various meetings and outreach clinics taking place I only managed to see one antenatal clinic followed by family planning and spent a morning at the Good Hope Centre which is the voluntary testing centre for HIV/AIDS. It is hard to believe how thanks to the free drugs supplied by the Gates Foundation the outlook for people with HIV has changed so much, however the issues now are compliance with treatment and co existing infections like TB. The Government has rolled out the Aids treatment programme and also the TB testing and treatment, it is closely monitored and controlled and certainly there is a big improvement in morbidity and mortality from the two conditions. Little babies with HIV positive mothers are now all tested and given treatment prophylactically which seems to reduce the chance of transmission from Mother to child during birth or breast feeding. Now they are able to encourage the mothers to breastfeed exclusively for 6 months knowing that the risk is very small with prophylactic treatment. The children get their final status at 2 years old, but are monitored regularly until then. It was sad to see at the clinic the number of older children with positive status who were less fortunate, and have had the infection transmitted from their mothers before the prophylactic treatment and screening were available. The monthly tablets for one family were staggering at times and one wonders how families manage to store the drugs safely and avoid getting the various drug regimens muddled.

We bid farewell to Nellie in Mzuzu, at the synod office where we had to hand in our passports, which felt very concerning, however the Synod said they would sort out immigration and visas for us and we should come back on Monday to collect them. After that is was shop till you drop!! For groceries, airtime, cash, petrol, bottled gas and all the essentials. We spent the night in Mzuzu in the Lake Side Ridge Resort, owned by and English man  who was developing the resort to provide quality accommodation, with a beautifully laid out terraced garden, lots of fantastic flowers and various other activities, such as a volley ball court and an embryonic golf course and woodland walks, the woodlands look fairly similar to our own, except that many of the tress are not indigenous, with a lot of eucalyptus trees and Scots pines, then of course there were also monkeys running about!. We awoke the next day to heavy rain, on our tin roof! A sound we haven’t heard since we have been here, it was heavy and lasted about half an hour, however the proprietor described it as a small shower and not really rain!

We met up with our friends David and Sarah, from London who have been involved in building schools in Malawi for over 5 years, to date they have built 10 schools for the Malawian Government. It is a simple approach, where they meet the community leaders and get an agreement that the parents will make the bricks, and do the building and they will provide the tin for the roof, the cement, the timber and the desks for the children and blackboards, we were keen to show them the schools being built on the plateau, as part of the community outreach here in Livingstonia and get their ideas. when we arrived back on the plateau there was a band of men waiting for us as Saturday was pay day! Johnny Dowds has a team of men employed in many ways on community projects and we had to dole out all the wages. There were no complaints so hopefully we managed to get it all right, On Sunday, we visited the Manchere waterfalls which currently are a beautiful stream of water falling form a great height over the escarpment. We employed a local guide to take us and then show us the caves behind the waterfall where the locals used to hide when the slavers came by capturing so many of their kinsfolk. Unfortunately, as we walked through the woods and over the rocks we gathered a band of boys who then all felt that they were our guides and were very disappointed when we didn’t feel like paying them all too! We lunched overlooking the valley in the most spectacular situation for an eco lodge with a restaurant. We met James a Local who is involved in school building and he took us off to see some of the local schools that are being built. It was quite a trip, requiring 4 by 4 driving. On the way, we passed a field which James said was his, and when we asked how he managed to work it he said, he just walked the hour and a half to get there, then worked on the land and then walked back home! the schools were so remote but in spectacular mountain settings with amazing views, but still had a lot to do to get them water tight before the rains come.

The following day we set off to drive back to Mzuzu, however with no local guide we managed to miss the turning and continued, until we became aware that we were heading into the mountains, and the road was getting worse and worse. It is hard to find reliable markings as each little hamlet looks fairly like another. We did eventually work out what we had done and did find our way back to a main road, however it had added an extra hour to our journey! Luckily, we had enough petrol to cope.

Sarah and David’s car had broken down the previous week so we left them at the bus station to get public transport to their next destination, the place was chaotic and we felt they were very brave heading off! Our visa business didn’t go smoothly in that although safely legal again, we have been told we can only remain in the country for 90 days and then will have to leave the country and purchase a further visa to re-enter to complete our visit! This has left us with abit to ponder and advice to seek, many people just go over the border to Zambia and then come back but we will have to see. We had meant to leave a lot earlier for our drive back, however with all the immigration business taking longer than we planned, we were late to leave. It gets dark by 6.00pmand especially at dusk it is very difficult to avoid the many pedestrians and cyclists, let alone the pot holes etc.    It meant we were driving along the mud roads in the dark for the last hour, and were so relieved and exhausted by the time we got safely back.

We returned to work in the hospital on Tuesday feeling refreshed, restocked  and ready for the next challenges that await us.