Far over the Misty Mountains cold...

 19/5/13

Right, it’s been a month. Soz.                                        

So about a month ago, I went on holiday with Louise and her visiting family. One of the things on my list of Things to Do in Malawi was to climb Mount Mulanje (biggest mountain in Malawi) and so Mary (Louise’s sister), Peter (Louise’s sister’s boyfriend), Louise and I set off for Mulanje. 2 minibuses and 3 hours later we arrived in Mulanje and, after organising our guide and porters and having a quick pizza, we boarded the most cramped minibus Louise and I have ever been on. It was beyond imagination. Here’s how the minibuses are designed to be used:

Here’s how the bus to Likhubula was filled.

And I was the person who had the conductor practically sitting on their lap.

So we finally got to the foot of the mountain, to find our porters and guide waiting for us. We were to stay on the mountain for 2 nights and so each of us had a back pack and hiking rucksack holding our sleeping bags, clothes, cooking equipment and food. The porters took our big rucksacks up and down the mountain for us and thank goodness they did, as we would never have managed it ourselves. So began our first day of climbing. I am not going to lie, it was effing hard. 5ish hours of uphill in the heat, then cold as it got dark. Louise obviously managed absolutely fine because she’s some kind of superhuman, but Peter, Mary and I struggled. The first day was definitely worst. I found I was too busy trying to get my breath back to really enjoy the views or the hike. However, we eventually got to the hut after what felt like forever. The Chambe hut was quaint and cosy, but freezing cold. We cooked dinner over a fire, which took a considerable amount of time, and then crawled into our sleeping bags for the night. As we had arrived at the hut in the dark, the view the next morning was breath-taking.

After an early breakfast, and the experience of using a long drop, we set off for the second hut. This time we had a better idea of what we were in for, but as we were getting higher it started to get wet as we hit the mist. This added the hazard of slipping and cracking your head open on the rock. It is said that J. R. R. Tolkien got his inspiration for the Misty Mountains from the Hobbit when he was in Southern Malawi having scaled Mount Mulanje. It was easy to see why. We couldn’t see any further than 6 feet in front of us in the worst of it; we could have been the only people on earth. We got to Likhubula hut while it was still light, and we endeavoured to explore the surrounding area as our guide had advised us. However, it was so cold and wet (it was raining heavily by this point) that we ended up just spending the afternoon playing Hearts while huddled around the fire. We had another cold night, sleeping in front of the fire this time, before making our descent the next morning. It was even wetter, if possible, and we all had a few falls (except Peter) but we could feel it getting warmer and drier the lower we got. When we got to the main road that afternoon, our guide assured us that there were frequent minibuses that would take us back to Mulanje. However, we needed to get back to Blantyre the same day and, after waiting about an hour for a non-existent minibus, we were getting desperate. In the end, we had to take bicycle taxis back to the town. It was one of the most terrifying things I have ever done. I found that if I tensed all of my muscles and closed my eyes, it made it slightly more bearable. It was exhilarating though, another thing to add to my list of crazy things I’ve done. And we managed to get back to Blantyre that day.

Did I enjoy climbing Mount Mulanje? Not really. But I had a great time with Louise, Mary and Peter and did something I’ve been meaning to do since I got here.

But the adventure didn’t stop there! We were also going to Lake Malawi to spend a night at Cape Maclear and then a night on the picturesque Domwe Island. However, this meant we had to get to Limbe in order to get a bus to Monkey Bay, then another one to Cape Maclear. As we were walking up Blantyre’s highway with all our bags to get our first minibus, a Malawian guy started to tell us that the Polytechnic College students were demonstrating, that they were ‘grabbing things’ and that we should move out the way. It was just then that we to the huge angry mob of students come barrelling up the highway. As soon as they saw us, all of them started chanting AZUNGU at the top of their lungs. A chant that sounds harmless coming out of the village kids’ mouths became absolutely terrifying as we were forced to run up the hill to find refuge from the demonstrators before they grabbed our bags. Many of them were brandishing road signs and bits of bus stands that they had knicked. The guys who had warned us helped us get to a car park and out of sight as the mob passed. There are times that I have felt pretty unsafe in Malawi, but this was one of the worst. Ah well, another experience for me.

We got to Monkey Bay that night (a whole day of travelling) and paid an arm and a leg to get them to take us to Cape Maclear. We were staying at Gecko’s Lounge for only one night, but we’ve vowed that we must go back. It was beautiful, right at the water’s edge; with hammocks and kayaking and boat rides… it’s just such a chilled place.

The next morning we left for Domwe Island. It was amazing. We stayed in tents on little platforms looking out onto the Lake, with hammocks to relax in and a beach for swimming and kayaking. We went up to this rock that is perfect to see the sunset – it was incredible.

We got the boat back to the mainland the next morning, then set off for Lilongwe for Lou, Mary and Peter to head off to Zambia and for me to get a big bus back to Blantyre. I don’t want to go into how we got back to Lilongwe – we basically got ripped off and they refused to give us our money back. It makes me realise how lucky we are in Blantyre to have minibuses everywhere; by the Lake you rely on matolas (pick-up trucks with people in the back) and you never know whether one is going to come along. Anyway, hopefully I’ll never have to rely on them again.

So then I got back to Blantyre and had a week and a half by myself as Louise was on safari. It was actually kind of nice to have the house to myself for a bit. Also I was seeing my other friends a lot as I was at rehearsals most days.

What was that? Rehearsals? What is this? Well, I can finally disclose that for the past month I have been rehearsing for the Lion King. Yes! Fellow PT volunteer Matilda and her roommate Julian work at Nanzikambe Arts and are directing a Chichewan take on the Disney film. I am playing Zazu and Timon and Louise is playing Sarabi. The performance is in 2 weeks so we’re pretty much rehearsing non-stop, but it’s really good fun and I’ve met some really awesome people because of it.

Lots of other stuff has been happening too, but this is already way too long so I’m going to sign off here.

I am past my 8 month mark with about 3 months to go. It’s all seeming really soon, but I am looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Stay well! 

TTFN

Rain, rain... please go away.

24/2/13

Okay, on the 17^th of February I wrote this:

“I have decided to try to continue doing a weekly blog. I have stopped writing my diary, so if I don’t do a blog post there won’t be any written record of this last week in Malawi. And I know, one day, I’ll regret that.”

Trust me to fall at the very first hurdle.

So, what happened that week? It rained.

It’s like no rain we have ever experienced before. Holes in the roof we didn’t even know existed opened up to spice up our lives. We had to spend most of a morning frantically running around the house with buckets – conveniently there is a leak right above my pillow, so there’s an upside. That day we were rained in yet again – the ground around our house turned to whirlpools as the rain came down in unrelenting sheets leaving us soaked in seconds. I wore my sandals more that week than the past 5 months combined, as it become nearly impossible to walk while sliding around trying to keep my feet in flip flops. My umbrella couldn’t deal with the stress so broke in protest, but fortunately I still had my sister’s old Berghaus jacket with a tiny hood. This has caused me to discover why jacket cuffs are equipped with velcro straps – to stop the rain from going down your sleeves as you hold your hood to your head. Unfortunately, they are not entirely effective.

We also had a couple of weeks of feeling perpetually cold. Our house seems to be unable to cope with any temperature or weather – when hot the metal roof heats us up like a green house, when windy the gaps around the windows and doors cause drafts, when cold the single glazing window panes do nothing to keep out the chill and when rainy – see the above rant. Our poor little house. It tries so hard.

So, other than the rain, it’s been business as usual here in Baluti. Oh, I forgot to mention that fellow volunteer Georgia turned 23 two weeks ago, and invited us to help throw a joint birthday party for her and two of the children she works with. There was cake, party hats, games and dancing – the children seemed to have a really good time… and so did we! Thank you to Georgia for sharing your birthday with the lovely Richmond House children – everyone had a really great day.

I am over half way through my year, so I’ve shot another video of the house. It’s changed a lot since we moved in 5 months ago. I intend to upload it… before April.

I really will try to update this more regularly – I am very disappointed in myself.

I hope everyone is well. TTFN

Notable Events

When going into town at the weekends, Lou and I walk up to the filling station to get a minibus. There are usually quite a few, each with a conductor standing outside shouting where they going. We got on one that was headed to Blantyre only to have it turn around 5 minutes into the journey and start to head in the opposite direction. We were told it was going to Chikwawa instead, so everyone got off and started back to the filling station to get another bus. This is Malawi.

This week we had carpenters and painters in to fix the roof and doors and other broken things around the house. It has basically been a week of waiting – African time means that someone will swear that there will be there ‘soon’ or ‘in the morning’ or even ‘at 9am’, only to turn up at 3pm, often with absolutely no apology. Again, this is Malawi.

Due to the excessive rain, the maize is struggling. Fortunately, the rice crops have been very successful, so prices are low. However, over the past 4 months I have become addicted to phala (morning porridge made from maize) and maize flour is now scarce and expensive. Phala has literally become my life. I used to have it 2/3 times a day before I rationed myself. I might have to go cold turkey – wish me luck.

It was very good cake.

WE CAN COOK AGAIN!

End of Week 10 and we have electricity again!

We’re nearing the end of November and I truly can’t believe it. Project Trust have often told us that the first two months are the hardest (obviously) and after that, time flies. This has definitely been true for us – we keep turning to each other and going ‘How is it nearly December??’

The past two weeks have been eventful to say the least. We were invited by Mary (our unofficial host who manages the nursery) to her house to see how the local doughnuts are made and to sample them with tea. We even got to watch MBC (Malawian Broadcasting Corporation) and catch up on local and international news.

Louise and I both had bouts of illness, so much so that we actually took her to a local hospital. It was confirmed that she most likely had a stomach bug and she got antibiotics. It was a bit of a scare, however, as Malaria is really common here and it shares symptoms with so many other illnesses. Luckily, she was given the all clear and we were able to continue work as usual. When she was feeling really lousy, I went into work by myself for the first time. This was both weird and strangely exciting.  I learnt, then taught, long division, had really lovely chats with the kids and did an ICT lesson by myself. I’m really starting to get to know the children, which I love. It’s great when I remember their names, or chat to them in my very limited Chichewa.

The rain has been interesting as the Malawians seem oddly defeated by it. People don’t walk in it, choosing to huddle under stalls and around buildings, so we get some really odd looks if it comes on when we’re walking home.

Louise when the power came back.

While the water has been on and off as usual, we heard a bang when the power went off two weeks ago. The next day I stayed home to look after Louise, hoping it would just come back on as usual, but it turned out there was a problem with the transformer in Baluti so the entire village had no power for 10 days. Other than our own personal inconvenience, there was no electricity to power the maize mills that are perpetually humming around the village, the shop keepers couldn’t use their fridges, the barbers couldn’t use clippers or charge phones (most barbers offer charging your phone while you get your hair cut) – there was not a lot of income coming into the village. The provider of electricity in Malawi, ESCOM, has an awful reputation as the country is plagued by black outs and they certainly proved their inadequacy, in our eyes. However, the power is back – the maize mills are humming, music sounds all over Baluti again. And now we can cook!

We went with some friends to a quiz at St Andrews’ International School – or SAIntS for short, I thought this was the cleverest acronym in existence. Was such a laugh, had a fantastic curry and came fourth (the winning three teams comprising mostly of teachers). Also went to an ex-pat Christmas craft fair the next day and had a cream soda snow cone! Cream soda is one of my new found loves, including phala and Fanta Passion.

Louise and I finally got to meet the other Project Trust volunteers who live down South, as they came up to Blantyre to renew their visas. It made us realise how lucky we are to have Matilda and Steph so close, they’re only a 30 minute walk away! Plus, they have kittens!

Got a video of a rain storm that I hope to get up soon and I finally have a picture of Louise and I dressed as Mario and Luigi. Hooray!

TTFN

Quotes and Anecdotes

Catriona: Sukulu? (School?)

David: No.

Catriona: Chifukwa? (Why? Or literally For what reason?)

David: Palibe fukwa! (There is no reason!)

I noticed that Malawians often ask when we ‘knock off’ when asking when we finish work. While I’ve heard this at home, I didn’t really understand why it’s such a common phrase here. Then I found verb in the Chichewa book, kuweruka – literally meaning ‘to knock off.’ I find this really interesting, it may just be me.

The kids here often use bottle caps to count with in Masamu (Maths), but if they don’t have any they just use their fingers, like at home. But if they need to count above ten, they continue counting with their toes. Vito once actually stopped to take off his sandals in order to finish his sums.

The kids all wear donated clothes that come from all over the world. Distinctive t-shirts that I’ve seen:

-          I recognised the logo on one that was a supermarket chain in The Netherlands

• A Twilight t-shirt
• Football shirts – mostly Celtic for some reason. I can’t decide whether this means they’re the most popular or whether the fact these t-shirts are being donated means the team is losing popularity. Also England, Arsenal, some Spanish team, Edinburgh and Aberdeen!
• Scotland Rugby shirts
•  A yellow one that reads Gordon Schools Volley Ball Team, Huntly. That was surreal.

There are some words in Chichewa that are borrowed from English, but spelt like Chichewa. It’s hilarious. Pronunciation is really different here – the vowels are more like French and pha is just ‘pa’, tha is ‘ta’ but cha isn’t ‘ca’ and sha isn’t ‘sa’. I get very confused. Also, keep in mind that R and L are pronounced the same.

tiyi – tea 

buledi – bread

anyezi – onion 

shuga – sugar

petulo – petrol 

sopo – soap

buku – book 

windo – window

diresi – dress 

kompyuta – computer

benki – bank

ofesi – office

sukulu – school

chenje – change

Immanuel

On my walk home from TST the day Louise stayed home sick, I was greeted by a young guy called Immanuel. He was 22, but still at school (age isn’t really a big thing here when it comes to placing kids in school). The guy’s English was really good, so I just got chatting to him.

Immanuel: So are you married? (We often get guys ‘proposing’ to us, so this wasn’t a surprise. My story is that I am, have been for a year (but no kids yet), and my husband lives in Scotland. This is literally the only way to get them off your back.)

Catriona: Yes, I am.

Immanuel: Oh. Well, I want to marry a white woman.

Catriona: I see, why is that, exactly?

Immanuel: I just love white women!

Catriona: That’s interesting, Immanuel, because I know many people who want to marry white people because they think they have money.

Immanuel: Money? What?? No! Of course not! I just love white women. I really love white women.

Catriona: I think you should marry someone because you like their personality, not just because they are white.

Immanuel: Ah, but you see, black women… they’re just so chatty! They don’t stop talking! But white women… ah, they wear skirts and they have legs…

Catriona: Immanuel, you know, where I come from, you have to be careful saying things like that because it’s quite racist… (etc etc etc)

He then asked me if I lived alone and I said no, I live with my friend Louise.

Immanuel: Is your friend married? (Louise doesn’t like lying about the marriage thing, so we always say she wants to be a nun.)

Catriona: No, but she’s going to be a nun.

Immanuel: Why?

Catriona: Well, she just loves God.

Immanuel: Yes, well I love God, you love God, we all love God!

Catriona: Yeh, but she REALLY loves God.

---

Later, we’re coming up the the market.

Immanuel: So, why don’t you have babies?

Catriona: Well, Immanuel, in Scotland you wait until you’re, like, 30 before you have children.

Immanuel: Is it your husband? Can he not, uh,  ‘produce’?

Catriona: Uhhh, yeh, he can…

Immanuel: How do you know if you don’t have babies?? Do you want me to speak to him? Tell how it’s done?

(At this point the conversation kind of ended as I couldn’t stop laughing.)

The rain is here!

End of Week 8, it has officially been two months!

We’ve be so busy this week, but I feel like I have absolutely nothing to say!

Nama Simba wasn’t very eventful this week. I did feed a child phala for the first time. Most of the children are old enough to feed themselves, but this was one of the younger ones and she kept missing her mouth. I also discovered that the children that I thought were called Loofa are most likely called Ruth. It gives you some indication of how people speak here; even when they speak English it is often a challenge to understand.

This week we spent a lot of time doing Maths lessons, helping to assess the abilities of 4 new children that have joined TST. I actually had to teach Louise how to do long multiplication – she’d been taught a ridiculously complicated method and therefore had no idea what the kids were doing. I also got to teach algebra! I love maths so much, it’s insane. We also taught ICT again. Precious, who didn’t know how to use a keyboard when we started, was typing his name by the end of the day. It’s amazing how fast these kids learn, it makes us so proud.

On the 31^st of October we had rain. And I mean real rain, torrential thunder storms that leave you soaked in minutes. As there had been no sign of it when we left the house that morning, we walked home in the wettest conditions in months with no coats or umbrellas. Two men saw us going in our gate, soaked to the skin, and applauded our efforts. The mornings have started to feel very cold since the rain has arrived and while on a hot day a cold shower is very welcome, this morning I was rather glad I could use the fact that we had no water as an excuse not to wash.

This Friday we went to a friend’s Hallowe’en party as Mario and Luigi. We were very proud of the costumes we made on such a low budget. I even had to stitch Louise’s hat by candle light one night when the power went off. I am extremely dedicated to fancy dress.

Mairi will be happy to hear that the Quotes and Anecdotes section is back this week. I may leave it a bit longer before writing another blog post, so I have more to say next time.

I will try to find some pictures of our Mario and Luigi costumes on Facebook – TTFN

Quotes and Anecdotes

We thought we were going to be teaching a lesson on conjunctions, so we started writing out example sentences using and, but and because. All I could think of was really depressing ones about the kids, like: I want to go to school, but I can’t afford an exercise book, My parents have passed away and now I live on the streets, I have attachment issues because I was sexually abused when I was young. We decided these were not quite suitable.

This week I fell over spectacularly, and skinned my hands, while trying to show the kids the lotus position to prove that I was Buddhist.

Louise: I was going to mark Mary’s work, but her head’s in the way and I don’t want to wake her up.

A turkey (nkhuku tembo) wandered into our classroom this week. While the kids just ignored it, I attempted to chase it out whilst doing my amazing turkey impression. There were two Malawian volunteers just outside the door, who gave me extremely weird looks.

There was a window sticker in one of the minibuses that read: STOP GOSSIPING OTHER PEOPLE MIGHT BE RELATIVES INSIDE.

During our ICT lesson, it started raining. I ran to the window to see, only to hear Louise tell some of the children: ‘Come on, sit down. I’m sure you’ve seen rain before.’

We met 7 year old Chippy on our walk to work, so we took him back to TST with us. He was slow and kept stopping because he wanted me to carry him. People kept asking him if he was okay, because it really looked like we were doing a Madonna and kidnapping him.

We were passing a market and the stall owners kept trying to get our attention when one man shouted: ‘Madam! Orange!’ I took it really offensively, thinking it was a ginger dig, but he was just selling oranges.

"Hey Louise, it's snowing at home! And I'm sunburnt."

End of Week 7, still no rain.

It’s really getting ridiculous. They had rain on the 5^th of October last year! Darn climate change.

This week hasn’t felt as hot, but that could just be a bit of acclimation on our part or because we’ve decided to avoid walking home during peak times if we can help it. It has been over 40°C this week.

Back to Nama Simba on Monday, a lot of kids were absent because it was a holiday for some of the local schools and they were staying at home with their older siblings. This made our attempts at teaching much easier, plus our Chichewa is definitely improving, so we were able to say ‘Where is A?’ (A ali kuti?) and they could attempt to point to it on the poster. Few were successful, but they gave it a good go. Also, the feeding centre has just gotten a bit of extra funding and the screams of delight that come from these kids when presented with a plastic spoon was absolutely adorable. They also got a bucket with a little tap attached, so Lou and I no longer have to pour cups of water over the kids’ hands in order to get them washed. Now we have both hands free to make sure no one budges the line or to stop Katherine beating everyone up.

More teaching at TST this week – I really think Lou and I should get medals for improvisation. We literally get told what we’re going to be teaching while the children are sitting in their seats waiting for us to begin. Sometimes we get given a book that has a chapter on the subject, other times we just wing it. This week included articles, as in A, An and The. Louise looked them up in her Chichewa to English book, so we could explain using some Chichewa examples, only to find the sentence “it’s important to mention that there are no articles in Chichewa like the English ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’.” Very helpful. Even though this was a lesson for the older kids, most had severe trouble understanding that an is only used before vowels. By the end, we had one guy who understood and I just said to him, ‘okay, now explain it to everyone else!’ It’s fairly demoralising.

My best improvised lesson was probably when we were asked to teach latitudes and longitudes. I found this extremely entertaining, as I literally don’t ever remember learning this and I kept getting the two confused. Edwin told us not to go into as much detail as in the chapter – he gave us a book, thank goodness – but just to explain the difference between the two, and to go over the Equator, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn and their functions. As he walked away, I turned to Louise and said ‘The tropics have functions?’ It was not in book and I swear their only function is to confuse all students who learn about them. Anyway, I still don’t know. I did do some pretty amazing pictures of the globe on the board, earning my first compliment concerning my artist abilities since my mother once told me that my crayon drawing of an elephant was ‘quite good’ (in an extremely surprised tone). Mum, you may not remember this, but I certainly do.

We also did the alphabet with Standard 1 – 4. This had to be the most fun I’ve had teaching since I got here. We decided this would be an oral and aural lesson – as none of the children had a pen or paper. Still, we made it exciting. Like when we couldn’t think of a simple English word beginning with G (being put on the spot for every letter is HARD) and we got one of the girls up to the front called Gertrud. Who needs visual aids?

We also did a fair bit of weighing. Millie is able to get Pranziquantil for all the children, as practically everyone has Bilharzia, but we need to prescribe according to weight. Again, the children’s fascination with a set of scales was extremely endearing. They also loved finding out another thing about themselves. Chimwemwe (15) was proudly telling anyone who would listen that she is 51kg. Also, we were able to say that no one was underweight. I wasn’t sure about Precious Meki, but then he is always on the top of the pyramid in the acrobatics, so I suppose he needs to be light. I still kept telling him ‘kudya nsima kwambiri’ until he was sick of hearing it.

We went to the cinema on Friday, had pizza and went to Doogles again. It was really good fun, met up with some friends and we met some new people – a guy called Harry who has Aberdonian roots! He’s moving back there and was asking what I thought of Robert Gordons and whether Highers were difficult! Bless. The next morning we went to a local pool and I had one of the best hot showers of my life.

We’re still meant to be going to do community work around Baluti with Mary, so that’ll hopefully happen this week. It’s nearly November! I can’t quite believe it. I heard about Scotland having its first snow while rubbing cream onto my new acquired sun burn – while I’m feeling more and more comfortable here, the contrasts with home are becoming more prominent and we’re both starting to worry about how difficult it’s going to be deal with going back home.

I’ve noticed that every week I seem to have a new complaint – cockroaches, then the heat – well, this week the new problem has been water. We’ve had more problems with people taking water from our outside tap (it’s not public, Mary pays for it) which not only stops any water reaching our house, but they often drain us dry. This means no water for the kids at the nursery, either. Also, often there’s no water in the whole of Baluti and while we always have water saved for emergencies, we don’t know when we’ll have water again so I don’t like to waste it on a bucket shower or washing my clothes. This week, the water ran out in between washing my clothes and rinsing them. So I had soapy clothes. Woe is me.

So that’s life with me. I have no quotes this week as I haven’t been writing in my diary and I’ve forgotten everything funny that’s happened. I’ll cover the witchcraft issue next week, watch this space.

TTFN, see you in November.

More pictures from the coffee morning from Steph's camera. The bottom one is Ruth photo-bombing. XD

Why is it this hot? What have we done to deserve this?!

End of Week 6, the hottest week so far.

I really brought it on myself. When walking to work with Louise last week I actually said to her ‘You know, I was really worried about how I would cope with the heat here, but it hasn’t been too bad!’ The sun must have heard me and took it as a challenge because, apparently, this has been one of the hottest Octobers for a long time.

Last Sunday, Louise and I went to an English service at our local Catholic church. I had never been to a mass before, but Louise is actually Roman Catholic, so it was very different experience for her than me. The church itself was fairly opulent, quite a contrast with the fairly poor area that surrounds it. Louise told me the mass was almost exactly like the one she attends back home, if a bit less lively! I really want to go to a proper Chichewa service sometime this year, as its all singing and dancing and shouting ‘Hallelujah!’ 

You can't tell, but it was chucking it down.

We were then invited to a coffee morning at a nearby village by some other PT volunteers, which was great fun. There was cake, tea and coffee, and our first glimpse of Malawian rain! While the locals looked on in amusement, the azungus ran outside to exclaim over the first rain of the season. It was awesome.

The next day was Mothers’ Day – a national holiday. It gave us a chance to catch up on housework and washing that we’d usually do on a Sunday. Louise met some school boys, when she went out to buy bananas, who told her that on Mothers’ Day in Malawi the children cook the meals and clean the house while the mother sleeps! Sounds like a much better deal than a poxy card and flowers bought from Tesco.

We’ve been doing more teaching this week, as well as being taught more Chichewa by the kids. I also repaired a pair of jeans for a boy called Christopher to make him go to school. This boy is one of the smartest kids at TST, has near flawless English and goes to a private school – he’s only about 12 years old. He just wasn’t going to school and we just couldn’t understand it. We finally managed to get out of him that the other kids give him stick for wearing shorts and his jeans had recently torn right down the middle seam. We spoke to Edwin who told us that many of the children get bullied because they’re behind in class, or because they don’t have many clothes or any of the luxuries that the other kids have. It was really heart breaking to hear – I quite naively assumed that the kids love school, because it’s such a privilege here, and didn’t even think about how the other students treat them. It seems grossly unfair that these kids, who have been through so much, should be subjected to that. But that’s children for you.

The TST kids still treat us respectfully, but I’ve had to break up quite a few fights this week. Some of them will just flip out over the tiniest things and take forever to calm down – Millie says the heat is a major contributing factor. I’ve learnt that reasoning in Chichewa or English has no effect; I just hold on the one of them and attempt to wrestle the rocks out of their hands. They would never hit me, so I make an effective human shield.

We went out to Blantyre on Friday night with some other PT volunteers to Doogles, a bar and backpackers’ lodge that we stayed at when we first arrived in Malawi. It was such a laugh and I met some really nice people – we even went out for an Indian! We stayed over at Doogles that night and left around lunch the next day. Unfortunately this meant walking home at around 1.30pm, the absolute hottest time of day. It was insane.

I had severe trouble sleeping last night due to the heat and now I’m feeling rather ill and I have a killer headache. Luckily, I can just stay inside and veg today. I keep reminding myself that it could rain any day now and that the hottest time of year is drawing to a close. November promises to be much cooler and wetter – I cannot wait.

Not as many cockroaches this week – we decided to invest in Raid Max – Cockroach Specialist Killer. ‘Kills Cockroaches and the Eggs they Carry’ It’s fricking amazing. It really does kill them, rather than stunning them, and when we spray it around the places we see them coming from we find loads of dead cockroaches on the floor the next morning! We still use Doom on the ants though, it seems to work fine on smaller, less resilient, insects.

Aaaah, ma tête est mal. I’m going to extend my closing section to ‘Quotes and Anecdotes’ because some cute little things happened this week that don’t really fit easily into the above spiel.

TTFN, please send some of your abundant rain my way, ta.

Please ignore my face.

Quotes and Anecdotes

Madulitso (he must be about 15) sat down with us and taught us a load of useful Chichewa words, while we taught him the spelling of the English words that he only knew aurally. When he was teaching us things like face (mkhope) and eyes (maso, eye is diso), we were getting him to teach us the Chichewa for all the body parts in Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. When we got to toes, he couldn’t remember and went to ask Edwin who explained to us that there is no word for toes in Chichewa; they just say Fingers of the Feet. I thought this was the coolest thing ever.

In contrast to last week, when I made a child cry, this week there was a young child standing by the road, crying, as we walked home. She saw us and gave a timid wave. When I waved back, her face transformed into a face-spiltting grin.

Catriona: Are you going to school today?

Boy at TST who I’ve forgotten the name of: Yes.

Catriona: When does it start?

Boy at TST who I’ve forgotten the name of: Ten o’ clock.

Catriona: (checking phone) Look! It’s 10.09!

Boy at TST who I’ve forgotten the name of: Oh… NDAPITA! (Used like bye, literal meaning - I’m going)

Madulitso has an Arsenal bag to keep his school books in. I asked him if he supported Arsenal and he told me that actually supported Chelsea. He then tried to tell me something that sounded like ‘actuleeco’, which he wrote down first as ‘acileco’, then ‘athileco’. He was trying to say ‘Ashley Cole’.

I also totally forgot to mention – Zoe Salmon has been in my house! Blue Peter came to Malawi in 2006 for a Shoebiz Appeal and they came to visit Nama Simba! Not only do they have her signature in the visitor’s book, but this was back before the current nursery building was built and they used the building Louise and I now live in. ZOE SALMON WAS IN MY FRONT ROOM. Ah, my life is now complete.