Apologies that it’s been a while, it’s been a quiet few weeks
here in Lilongwe; getting into the rhythm of work out here and enjoying a
simple African lifestyle. I thought I’d take
the opportunity to share with you what constitutes an average day here in
Lilongwe and a couple of side projects I have on the boil at the moment.
If the wind is blowing in the right direction then my day
begins at 5 when I’m woken up by the call to prayer from the local mosque,
otherwise my alarm goes off at 6. I get up and put my immersion heater on; T-1
hour till hot water. While I’m waiting
for the hot water I rinse off some clothes that I’ve had soaking in a bucket
overnight and hang them outside on the line to dry. Then it’s time for some
fresh Mzuzu coffee, the previous volunteer who had my house left a stove top espresso
peculator which has quickly become one of my most prized possessions. I put it
on my standard VSO-issue two ring electric stove and fire it up. Breakfast is
either cornflakes or some homemade bread with honey from the Livingstonia orphanage.
Bread and baking in general is one of my side projects. VSO
don’t issue volunteers with an oven but I was able to buy a very small one that
resembles a microwave from a South African superstore for £80. The oven is very
slow and doesn't get terribly hot but when baking bread this is made up for by
the speed at which proofing happens; thanks to the African heat typically 40
mins compared to 2 hours in the UK
Breakfast done I make some sandwiches for the day. Shopping
for food in Malawi can be a little hit and miss, one week you’ll go and there’ll
be lots of chicken, the next week there might not be any chicken at all so you
have to improvise with what’s available at the time, recently my local supermarket
has had back bacon in (a pretty rare commodity out here) so I’ve been enjoying
bacon and tomato sandwiches for lunch of late.
Finally time for that shower! I’m actually really lucky to
have hot running water, even if I do have to wait a while for it. Many
volunteers aren't so fortunate and very few locals have such luxuries.
It’s now 7:30 and time to head to the office. There are two
local “bus” routes I can take to work, both of which involve about a 20min walk
and a 20min ride. The local buses are quite an experience; they are privately
owned mini-buses that should seat 10 but somehow manage to squeeze in 16. There
are typically two guys running them, one drives while his friend acts as a
conductor/marketing guy, both taking money from passengers and advertising the
service by shouting the buses destination out of the window at anyone they
pass.
All the mini-buses start off in old town which is really the
centre of Lilongwe and then go out along various routes, terminating in a particular
numbered area which is how Lilongwe is divided. The buses I can get are the 12 and the 18 known as such because they terminate in areas 12 and 18 respectively.
Most buses are 150KW (about 30p) for a single journey regardless of where you
get on or off, some will try and charge you more (especially if you’re white)
but they usually climb down when they realise you know what you’re talking
about.
On the bus itself it’s very cramped and smells pretty
horrendous. Local sellers use the buses to get to market and bring their goods
with them which can include fish or live poultry. Most Malawians also can’t
afford deodorant or even soap which doesn't help matters on the odour front.
Although I quoted 20mins before the journey can actually
take much longer if business is slow. If the conductor on the mini-bus doesn't feel he’s got enough passengers he’ll simply pull over and wait until some more
appear, if business is really slow
and another bus comes along you may even be ‘sold on’ to the other bus and have
to swap.
I normally get into the office for 8am. I’ll actually skip
the rest of my day at work as I’ve already blogged about the office but I promise to give you all an update on the project progress as a separate post soon.
I normally leave the office at around 4pm and make my perilous
return journey on the mini-bus back to area 6. I’ll often call at my local
supermarket Chipiku on my way home for supplies. As I mentioned before, shopping
for groceries can be fairly hit and miss at times but the Chipiku near me is
large and generally has a good variety of things in stock, not least of all
some very nice South African reds which I try and limit my consumption of to a
couple a week
Once home I’ll get the washing in off the line and iron everything
to kill any Tumbu fly eggs. I won’t go
into any detail about these guys here but for those of you who want to know
more the full horror can be read about here;
Next it’s housework time, I generally try to sweep everyday
and mop as often as I can. It’s a fairly futile task as the ever present red
dust of Lilongwe re-settles almost instantly as you finish but at least you can
feel clean for a little while.
Night falls at 6pm sharp pretty much year round and after
that it’s not really safe to be outside in Lilongwe unless you’re in a vehicle.
As such after dinner the evenings can drag a bit, if there is no social event
happening that I can get to then a movie on my laptop is usually the only entertainment
there is.
Unless I’m out then bedtime is normally around 9pm – unheard
of in the UK but you feel very fresh in the mornings :-)
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