Work

February, and March, and April were busy months at work. While I spend a good portion of my time at my desk in front of a computer, I've also been lucky enough to travel around Malawi attending meetings and presentations. Its a great way to see more of the country!

In March I traveled with my colleague Kellen to introduce a new database to district health officers. It was a really fun and interesting road trip.Most work related destinations (ex: Blantyre, the main commercial city in the country) are between 2 and 6 hours away by car. This leaves plenty of time for viewing the beautiful countryside!

Kellen did a great job sharing some of our work:

Conference and meeting centers are general quite nice. One was located next to a large shallow lake, reportedly full of hippos (although we weren't able to see any that day)

I was particularly impressed with the meeting facilities in Mzuzu, a town located in a more hilly northern area. And I found myself distracted by the beautiful view out the window!

A long overdue posting

After a solid initial effort, my blog posting fell to the bottom of my to-do list, and unfortunately it just hasn't been getting done! Sorry!

My new plan is to post pictures, at the very least. So here are some animals from a trip to South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, March 2nd-4th!

Croc Valley Camp included luxurious tents and a hippo-friendly pool (seriously). The camp is located just outside the border of the South Luangwa National Park making hippo and giraffe sightings a common occurrence! And once inside the park we were treated to an amazing variety of animals!

Living in Lilongwe

Malawi has two main cities; Lilongwe and Blantyre. While Blantyre is the financial and commercial center, the capital Lilongwe is home to parliament and many government bodies. Consequently, it is also the home of charities, international government embassies and NGOs like CHAI.

Despite having a population of around 900 000, Lilongwe has a small-town feel. Or perhaps more precisely, a suburban-sprawl feel. It is difficult to define a central downtown area, but the city can be roughly divided into Old Town and New Town. My house and workplace are both located in New Town, along with Parliament and Capital Hill.

CHAI House #3 (My house)

Our house is in a newer suburb about a five minute drive away from work. Ten minutes away from home is the city center with a number of shopping centers, offices and low rise commercial buildings. It looks roughly like this:

We head to city center for groceries, bank machines and shopping at some of the larger stores such as Game (a South African Wal-Mart) and Mr. Price (a poor-quality clothing store). There are a number of options for grocery shopping, and if you choose the right shop on the right day, you might luck out and find treats like cream cheese and un-melted ice cream. Commercial transportation is not Malawi's strength, especially when you add refrigeration in to the mix. Not surprisingly, we buy boxed milk that comes shelf-stable in 1L tetra packs. While the grocery stores are great for dry staples like pasta and cereal, the main vegetable market is also located near city center and it is the best source for fruits and vegetables in terms price, quality and variety! Yumm!

Veggies at the outdoor market. 

Lake Trip #3: Weekend at Mumbo Island

Hello all!


I apologize for the lack of blog posts. This past week has been very busy at work and unfortunately, 14 hour work days leave little time for blogging!

But here are a couple of photos to enjoy until I can get another proper post up!


Date: Feb 1st-3rd
Location: The spectacular Mumbo Island on Lake Malawi (3.5 hrs from Lilongwe)
Details: I joined a group of ~25 expats for a weekend on Lake Malawi. This included 1 night on Mumbo Island; a spectacular eco-resort on a beautiful island on the lake.

Mumbo Island

Mumbo Island is collection of open-air buildings and covered tents scattered throughout the forest on an island. Mike, a local tour operator and friend, organized the trip as a quick getaway for those of us working in Lilongwe. One of Mike's drivers drove us out to Cape Maclear after work on Friday. After a social night in Cape Maclear, we boarded a boat and headed across the water to the island!





As one of the last to sign up for the trip, I stayed in a tent on the beach instead of one of the official villas. However, this meant that I had my very own beachfront accommodation complete with a comfortable mattress, clean sheets, and an amazing view!!

We spent the day swimming and snorkeling and as evening came closer we started to get in costume for a Murder Mystery Party! My character was a gold-digging waitress named Candy Cotton who was dating an older millionaire Thurston Howard III. I wasn't sure how well I would be able to pull off the gold-digging waitress character, but apparently I did well, because I won a top prize for my acting/dumb-blond abilities! Hummmm.....

Candy Cotton and Thurston Howard III (aka Patrick, our main contact at the Ministry of Health here in Lilongwe)

Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi (or Lake Nyasa as it is called by other countries with different ideas regarding lake ownership) is the third largest lake in Africa and the ninth largest lake in the world. After being in the country for just a few weeks, I have already visited the lake three times!

'The Lake' is a popular weekend trip for those looking to escape the city for the weekend. Driving from Lilongwe to Selima, one of the nearest spots on the lake, takes around 1.5 hrs. However, for the past two weekends I have gone to Cape Maclear--a very beautiful area around 3.5 hrs from Lilongwe.

Fuel in Malawi is extremely expensive and not always available. Outside of the main cities, cars and trucks are few and far between. Consequently, most of the road to Cape Maclear is paved, scenic and almost car-free.

Rush hour on the Lilongwe-Cape Maclear road. 

Cape Maclear (or Chembe) is a sleepy lakeside village with a small local community and a number of cottages. Backpacker lodges share the waterfront with locals doing their laundry and catching fish to dry in the sun.

Lakeside laundry

Ten minutes by boat and you are away from the daily village activities and surrounded by beautiful tropical paradise. The lake is known for its amazing diversity of fish and we spent the day swimming, snorkeling and attempting to catch a few. I guess our lack of fishing expertise was obvious and a group of local boys quickly paddled their dug-out canoe to sell us their fish.

After a full day on the water, you can't get too much better than a beautiful sunset over the lake!

29°C with a 30% chance of showers

The climate in Malawi can be divided into three seasons: Coolish and dry from May-August, hot and humid from September-November, and rainy and warm from December-April. While precipitation varies throughout the year, temperature remains consistently not-too-hot and not-too-cold.

If you look up "When to Visit Malawi" you'll find that most travelers avoid visiting at this time of the year due to the rainy season. However, I'm quite happy to have arrived in the wet months for two reasons:


#1: I can more easily conserve my limited supply of SPF 60

#2: The whole country is lush and green (and incredibly beautiful)!

Every available inch of land is sprouting with an incredible variety of different plants and the countryside is painted in shades of green. While driving back to Lilongwe last weekend we decided to take a detour through the scenic Dedza Pass just before sunset. (We spent the weekend at Lake Malawi, which I guarantee I'll write a post on later.)

I'm still trying to decide whether or not I've seen any place more beautiful.

First Post!

Please enjoy updates from my four month trip to Malawi where I will be living and working as a Health Financing Analyst. Here I go!

On my way to the airport: 5am, no sleep, excited to be on my way!

Malawi is one of the least developed countries in Africa. Actually, it is one of the least developed countries in the world. Malawi ranks 171st out of 187 countries in the Human Development Index, placing it just one spot above Afghanistan. 

Average life expectancy at birth is around 51-53 years, prevalence of HIV is 11%, and 26% of adults are illiterate. 

While these indicators suggest serious poverty, Malawi is also affectionately known as the Warm Heart of Africa--a well deserved nickname. Malawians are welcoming, peaceful and quick to smile. The majority of people live a simple agricultural life, and from what I have seen so far, the low human development numbers are most apparent in the lack of 'extras' that much of the world takes for granted.  These 'extras' include, for example,

-reliable electricity, water and fuel (power outages happen daily)
-a railway system
-conveniences like postal codes, road names, home addresses

Outside of the major towns, there are few paved roads, few cars and few commercial vehicles. Gasoline is expensive (over 2$ per litre) and the lack of transportation means that consumer goods are limited. It is not uncommon for grocery stores to be out of basic goods like eggs, milk or sugar. And it is not always clear when these items will be restocked, turning grocery shopping in to a treasure hunt. Discovering a supply of feta cheese in one of the grocery stores?--endless happiness! Who really needs power or water anyway!?

Flying in to Addis Ababa - My first view of Africa!