The Last Post

As always after a long journey, I attempt to reflect back on what my time away has meant. Usually this just ends up as a series of unanswerable questions along the lines of “Have I changed as a person?”, “How have I grown?” and in this case “What have I contributed during my time here?”. It is always hard to see the change in oneself and it is only when I look back to August, when I first arrived in Malawi that I can see that I am a little more confident, a little more sure of what I want to do in life and a little more sure of myself.

What has been the biggest influencing factor on my time in Malawi? I would love to say it was the work I did, and although in retrospect I had a great time working at MUSCCO, I don’t feel like I made a huge contribution to Malawi. I was very office-based and although policies are important on order to “steer the ship in the right direction”, I wish I could have seem more of a one-on-one impact of my work on the ground. Maybe in time. Work was a great learning experience, and one that I am so thankful for. Most importantly, I think it has been step one, of a hopefully long, interesting and international career.

For me, my time in Malawi was shaped by friends. When you are overseas and far away from home, your friends become your family. When I look back to August, I remember being in tears because I was so scared that I would be all alone and never meet anyone. Just last night, when I came home from The Shack for the last time, I was in tears again – this time because I had to say good bye to all the amazing people I have met. To my Lilongwe family, if you are reading this, I say Thank-You. You’ve made my experience in Malawi what it was, and you made it home for these short 10 months. It’s a small world that we live in and we will meet again, on one corner of the earth or another.

I’m posting this as I’m sitting in the Nairobi airport - 5 hours into my 32 hour trip. Its been a long journey and a short journey all at once. I’ve been bursting with optimism at some points and frustrated and discouraged at others. I’ve seen that Malawi is more than just the poverty and rural mud huts that so many people think of when they think of Africa – it is fancy hotels, full grocery stores, and Mercedes Benzes, and yet I am still shocked sometimes when a child begs for my leftovers at an outdoor restaurant and wonder how there can be so much disparity between the Haves and the Have Nots. I don’t know all the information, and I don’t even know a fraction of the answers, but I do know that there is potential, motivation and optimism in the individuals of Malawi and that goes a long way.

So, this is it. As I sign off, I want to thank all of you who stuck it out with me and continued to read my blog this whole time. It’s been a great journey for me and I hope you have enjoyed it too.

Zikomo Kwambiri,

A

South Luangwa, Zambia - A Photo Essay

Phase 3 of my post-internship-pre-return Malawian travels has been completed. I spent 4 days last week on a safari to South Luangwa National Park in Zambia and pretty much saw every type of animals there was to see. I joined a tour from the Kiboko Hotel and was with 12 others - mostly Peace Corps and Medical Students, who were all wonderful. In all we had 16 hours of game driving over 2 days so we had plenty of time to see everything! Photos of safaris are more interesting than writing, so enjoy!


Entering South Luangwa National Park


Beautiful park scenery


A Baboon


Herds of Impala - whenever we thought we saw a lion, it was actually an Impala


Zebras


Kiboko Camp - its great camping in a tent you don't have to put up, and that has electricity!


Giraffes in front of us on the road


Four female Giraffes


Okay, so I really like Giraffes


An Elephant really close to the truck


Our group - great people!


Cheeky Vervet Monkeys at the camp


When not Safariing, Gin and Tonics are necessary. Me, my tent buddy Kirsty and Peace Corps Katie


Lions! No zoom... Sorry, Julian - no Ligers - I know they are pretty much your favourite animals.

Unfortunately my camera is less than amazing, so it didn't really work for the night drive. I don't have photo evidence, but we did see a Leopard very close up, which was amazing!

Just wrapping up things in Lilongwe, and then home on Thursday...stay tuned for a heart felt wrap up post...

Mount Mulanje

With sore legs, a blistered toe and a myriad of scratches on my legs to show for it, I can proudly say that I have successfully climbed the highest mountain in Central Africa. Last Monday morning, I set out with Arthur, Rob, Eoghan, Katherine, Maisie, Laura, our guide Jones, and 4 porters to climb Mt. Mulanje for three days. We began at Likabula Forest Office and on the first day, hiked three hours straight up to the top of the Chambe plateau. I have to admit, I found it a bit tough going straight up for three hours and somewhat was questioning my decision to come to Mulanje, but of course, as it is with all hiking (or so it seems to me) when you get to the top – of the ridge, the plateau or the mountain – you forget in an instant that you didn’t enjoy getting there!

We stayed the first night in France’s Cottage beside Chambe Peak. Some of our group attempted to climb Chambe in the afternoon, but it was starting to get cloudy and rainy and then had to turn back. If people die on Mulanje, it is usually in bad weather on Chambe Peak, so it was probably a wise decision. We spend the rest of the day and evening in the hut, drinking loads of tea and chatting around the fire. I had brought the book “Venture into the Interior” with me, written by Laurens Van der Post about his exploration of Mt Mulanje in the 1940’s. I always like to read books about where I am when I am there, but never have I been reading one that so directly correlates to what I’m doing. As I sat on the veranda at France’s Cottage, Van der Post described the first part of his ascent to Chambe Plateau and the evening he spent with Dicky and Val France in – you guessed it – France’s Cottage. Everything he described was exactly how I saw it. Quite an amazing feeling, and eerie a bit because I knew that Dicky France (named Vance in the book) died on Mulanje on the Van der Post expedition.

“When we got over the edge, it was half-past twelve with the invisible sun at its strongest, and the mist lifted to about a thousand feet above us. The peaks were still covered but the valley, the so-called Chambe plateau up which we had walked, became more and more open to view...It was utterly unlike the Africa we had left down below...At first I thought there were palm trees growing on the banks of the streams, but I soon realized that they were huge tree ferns, the last remnants of the great cedar forests that once covered the valley too. They looked in a odd way prehistoric; lovely, but long before human time...All round the edges their branches were festooned and heavily hung with long garlands and veils of lichen and moss.” – L.V.P

We woke up to clear skies the next morning and hiked 2 hours over the plateau to Chisepo Hut, at the base of Sapitwa – the highest peak in Central Africa. After a quick cup of tea, we started our ascent. It took us about three hours to get up; at first, an hour and a half straight up the rock-scrable to the ridge – I found this to be the hardest part, not least because I felt if I looked up or down without sure footing I would fall and end up in a broken heap about 100m down – and then another hour and a half along the ridge. Quite a lot of the ridge was in forest and we clambered up and down, over, under and in between huge boulders. We came to the back side of the peak, which was in shadow and absolutely freezing, and then round the corner up and over some more rocks and there it was!! The top of Sapitwa! At the risk of sounding horribly cheesy, it was quite a rewarding moment, to be standing up there, on top of the world, looking out over the clouds down on Malawi. My biggest mountaineering feat so far!

Going down took about 2 hours and was much harder on the knees. We made it back to the hut by 3 and rewarded ourselves with a cup-of-soup. That night, the stars were clearer than I have ever seen before. Without any trace of light pollution, it is astounding to see how many stars there actually are.

“The evening around the fire seemed a very warm, blessed, friendly evening. Things like fires and food, warmth and a roof over one’s head, recover their original force of meaning on those occasions. We all ate too much, drank pints of hot, sweet tea, told one another funny stories and laughed as if we did not have a care in the world. But the night was the coldest we had yet. ‘Its going to settle fine for a spell,’ Vance said as he saw me out. ‘Look at Orion! I have never seen the Old Hunter so clear’” – L.V.P

Our third and final day on Mulanje was spent making our way back down. We walk about 4 hours over the plateau, through forests, grassland and up and down valleys. The final descent from the plateau was over Elephant’s Head - a rather steep path, but with the most amazing views! We made it back to Otto’s Rest House by lunch time and were dirty, sore, bruised and blistered -and very happy.

Nkata Bay Days

The first leg of my post-internship travels is over. I’m back in Lilongwe after a week up north in Nkata Bay. I had planned to go up for the weekend and then stay and do a SCUBA diving course, but as I am a semi-solo traveler and no one else signed up for the course, they didn’t run it. Ah, well – there is always a next time. Perhaps I’ll just have to head back to Thailand or the Caribbean!

I went up to Nkata Bay with Amy and her roommate Daniel and his co-worker Benedict. As always, we had planned to leave about noon on Friday, which would have seen us arriving just before dark. We ended up leaving at 6pm, when it was already dark and only got there at midnight. Ugh. Too bad, because apparently it is a really beautiful drive up the Lakeshore road. I was however, greeted by the most beautiful view of the bay in the sunrise, when I opened my tent flap the next morning for my first glimpse of Nkata Bay. We stayed at Mayoka Village, which is a collection of little huts built into the hillside (unlike other areas of the Lake, Nkata Bay has no beach front). It is a big part of the local community and employs about 50 local staff; does community development projects and sells crafts made by women’s groups. I eat this cooperative stuff up. I bought three chitenje bags...

The guys that work at Mayoka are fun as well – quite good a schmoozing with the backpacker girls and enjoyably friendly if you don’t fall for it too much. Haha. They all seem to have interesting names – Special, Delicious and Respect - and apparently Happy Coconut and Cheese-on-Toast, although I never met those guys. My favourite was the Candy man – Kind of like a Malawian Willy Wonka. He’s this old man who sells Chocolate bars and candy at the bar every night, wearing an all purple outfit, complete with purple knee socks and hat. Amazing. Interesting too – apparently the senior Chief of the area and his father was one of the first doctors trained in Malawi. I think he probably sells candy at the bar every night so he can keep tabs on the Mayoka Boys.


the Candy Man

I stayed at Mayoka for about a week and after Amy and Daniel left, German Peter arrived for a couple days and then Christine and her friends Karen and Kathy from Blantyre came by on their trip around the North. Didn’t do much at all the whole time except go out on a boat trip one afternoon to feed the Fish Eagles and go snorkelling with Christine et al. We stopped at a village beach and Christine and Karen wanted to try their hand at paddling the dugout canoes that all the fishermen use here. Not as easy as it looks, but the girls did well considering they had quite an audience laughing at them - myself included



Got a ride back to Lilongwe with Christine, Karen and Kathy via Nkotakota where we stayed for the night. The lodge also is a pottery studio and shop, despite all better judgements we all picked up some things that hopefully will make the trip home!

If anyone has seen the BBC Planet Earth DVDs, you may remember a segment on the Lake Malawi Lake Flies. This is a crazy natural phenomenon when swarms of flies rise up over the Lake. Not sure whether they are mating or hatching or what, but it looks like smoke spiralling up over the water (potentially that creepy black fog from LOST...) and is actually a bazillion flies. The flies swarm inland and then the village women catch them in baskets and apparently make Lake Fly Cake. Cool.





Part 2 of post-internship travels is a trip to Mt. Mulanje. Leaving tomorrow and will hike the mountain Mon/Tues/Wed. It is supposed to be BEAUTIFUL, so I’m really excited. I’ve borrowed a warm coat, sleeping bag and hiking boots so I should be all good. Wish me luck!

Some Other Beginning's End

Hard to believe, but Tuesday was my last day of work at MUSCCO. When I look back 9 months to the beginning of August, I remember seeing this entire internship stretching before me - being completely overwhelmed with new surroundings, new people and not having much of a clue about what I was doing. Fast forward to April, and here I am – amazed the time has actually passed, finishing up work having actually accomplished something, and trying not to think of this as the end , but rather the beginning.

In August, I was tasked with developing HIV/AIDS and Gender policies for both MUSCCO and the SACCOs and helping to mainstream both of these issues within the organizations. As much as I complained about not feeling like I was doing a lot and being less than overworked, I still feel like I achieved the broad goals of policy development and capacity building. As for major changes in gender equality and the decreasing impacts of HIV/AIDS in MUSCCO and the SACCOs, it is difficult to say after such a short time whether much actual change has happened, but the groundwork has been laid, I feel and we have two policies to guide the organizations on the right track in the future.

It felt quite nice yesterday to wrap everything up – documents and a CD for the next intern - quite literally in a neat little package on Dickson’s desk. Hopefully this work will continue on as I have been assured that it will be. MUSCCO does seem quite committed to this whole process and that in and of itself is a motivating accomplishment.

MUSCCO held a Farewell Party for me last Friday evening after work. I was really touched by the fact that everyone came out, and that everyone had such nice things to say. Those who I talked to daily on g-chat and facebook may chuckle when I say that I was commended for my motivation and work ethic, but, lets just call it efficient multi-tasking  I was given a very sweet card signed my everyone, and a couple of little gifts to remind me of Malawi. The highlight of the evening for my MUSCCO coworkers was most likely when I attempted to give a thank-you speech in Chichewa. Triza helped me write out something and I pretty much just read off my paper but I think the effort was much appreciated, and if not, at least good for a laugh on all sides.

I now find my self unemployed, or as I like to say on “Extended Holiday”. I have another month in Malawi to travel around, and I’m sure will be posting more about my adventures in the coming weeks. Not major plan job-wise for my return but I’m optimistic, even if I am kidding myself that a job will fall into my lap. The exciting thing about not having a plan is that it means that anything can happen. The world is open to any number of possibilities. This is just the beginning.


Ndinali ndi nthawi yabwino ku MUSCCO ndi Malawi yonse. Ndikufuna kunena Zikomo podilandira.