I thought it would be really easy to write this last piece but having spent a few weeks adjusting to the old routine of work and home I am still struggling to come to a conclusion about my time in Malawi. The most frustrating thing for me, looking back at the few entries I did get to write during my time away, is the sheer volume of things omitted and the brevity of things I did mention, simply because I was always in such a rush.
I barely scratched the surface of the problems in Malawi. Volunteers will come and go every month and project coordinators will struggle to give the people of Malawi some kind of continuity. Nothing I did there was life changing for the people, the problems remain the same and someone else will have taken my place yesterday evening as the new arrivals settle into Namakoma. I may have brought some happiness to a few children for a few hours and cleaned up a few wounds but the extent of the problems is just never-ending.
If I could do it again, I’d go for longer, I’d spend less time thinking about home and I would be more forceful when I thought there was more I/we could do. I wouldn't have just said there was a problem with a boy in Chilombo who never smiled, I would have taken someone from the project to his door, someone who could translate. I wouldn't have left confused about his situation, who he lived with, what family he did have, what happened to the family he didn't have – I would have made sure I found out and fully understood. I would have taken one of the qualified volunteers to check him over and only then left knowing I had done everything within my power to help him.
I can forgive myself a little, knowing it was my first time doing anything like this. I was nervous and in the very beginning I was out of my depth, I didn't know how to push what I could have done to help. It is so easy to say this now, with hindsight. But at least now I know when, not if, I go back, I will make better and quicker decisions and I will be of more help to the Calvin’s and Grace’s of Malawi.
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Final days...
So my final night in Malawi is upon us and it has been a really lovely if not painfully hot couple of days. We had four new arrivals yesterday and said our goodbyes to Anna and Josh.
Yesterday I was at Chilombo orphanage on my own as Gill caught the virus I have been harbouring, I would not wish it upon my worst enemy. Esnart spent most of the morning dissapearing so the teaching was a bit hit and miss and the kids ran riot as always. We carried on with learning the time and the usual songs and rhymes that they know. We have adapted ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ to ‘The Wheels on the Matola’ and they seem to enjoy that, they join in when they can and mostly just like anything with actions. In the afternoon I was at the wound clinic which was a bit of a non-event, no patients, sweltering heat but I did get to say my goodbyes to Dr Mkanda and had a photo with him which is brilliant.
Today I was at Chilombo again and me and Therese threw a very good party if I might say so. It was her idea to make each of them friendship bracelet out of the wool we had kicking about in the resources room. We made maybe just fewer than 50 and luckily we had maybe 45 children turn up so we estimated just right. We took crisps and biscuits for party food and they absolutely loved that. It must have been a real treat for them after their porridge.
John took me to Kevin’s house who in actual fact is called Calvin....! I only found out when I asked Esnart to write down his address for him, which is pretty silly, now everyone at MVO and everyone at home knows this little boy as Kevin! So, CALVIN was off sick again today so I went to his house and was introduced to his grandmother which is even more confusing as I was told he lived alone with an old man. Felicity said this is a common occurrence to get a few different stories because they call different people and relatives different things. Anyhow it still doesn't make his situation ideal and I may never know exactly what his situation is...but I gave him his toy truck and his grandmother told him I was going back to England which he seemed very sad about. He barely uttered a word even today after meeting with him so many times, I wonder if he ever actually speaks. He followed me and John back to orphanage and the other kids were very interested in his new toy especially Esnart’s son, Vinnie is the queen bee if ever I saw one, he was most unimpressed this new toy did not belong to him.
Eventually it was time to say goodbye and I did head back there in the afternoon to say a final goodbye after Esnart’s english lesson but everyone in the village had been called to a meeting with the chief, something about fertiliser I don’t know, so the lesson was also a non-starter. I trudged off back up to the road and it really was the hottest I've ever felt it today. On the way I bumped into Esnart’s 17 year old nephew, Andrew and he took me on a tour of Chilombo, he walked me along the beach and there are some incredible looking holiday homes hidden along there, it was pretty surreal.
Andrew is very sweet, he is very smart and has a lot going for him but as the story always seems to go, the odds are stacked against him. He has lost both of his parents but seems to have a large extended family in the village. I met his great grandmother but when I asked her name, Andrew explained he did not know because he had always called her grandma! He is very creative and makes brilliant things out of bottle lids. He turned up today with a bag he has made for me out of a pair of jeans and it is amazing. I will treasure it forever, it is a real work of art considering his lack of resources. He also showed me a photo book a previous volunteer must have had made and sent to him. He had taken all the photos and some of them were stunning I was so impressed.
So this evening I am having a drink, listening to a meeting about dressing wounds and everything is packed and ready to go. Tomorrow I will leave MVO house at 5:30 am and head to Blantyre with Francis. He is taking me to a place called Game where I can buy some toys for Chilombo with my donations. I have also committed myself to providing the much needed shelter for them during the rainy season. As I've probably mentioned before this orphanage is just held in Esnart’s back garden with no shelter and very little shade. The shelter will be up by November in time for the rains and will give Esnart a real place to teach and will be a real boost for the community.
I will take away so much from this place. Knowing that my donations actually physically provided something urgently needed is a fantastic way to finish here.
So here is to the end.
I will remember my first day at Monkey Bay orphanage with Wyson. My first night watching The Lion King and drinking Special Brew and wondering if I would ever find myself in a more surreal situation than this again. I will remember when I realised the answer to that question was hell yes when I found myself watching the villagers of Mtakaka head banging to house music. I will remember the dehydrated babies and their empty drips...the hoards of pregnant women and young girls. I will remember 24 hours of vomiting and nearly being eaten by a hippo. I will remember Gibson’s laugh and just Joseph, just for being Joseph. I will remember the bicycles of death with no peddles or seats. I will remember the first time I went to Namakoma and how the singing was so good I had to hold back tears. I will remember the confusion with Esnart over who was teaching who on my first day. I will remember rounds and fantas and greens and nsima and BBQ goat and shake shake and eating chips from a carrier bag for fifty kwacha. I will remember frisbee in the lake and baking hot walks to wound clinic. I will remember Dr Mkandas laugh and the stories of the premature babies and the children he had lost...I will remember Mazungu Mazunge Jambule Jambule! I will remember drinking Eclipse from a plastic bottle and the hangover that followed. I will remember elephants and hippos and the lone buffalo at Liwonde. I will remember our Hansel and Gretel lodgings on safari and I will remember Benji and Simba, the house dogs and their reactions to the mating ducks. I will remember David arriving with his brilliant laugh and somehow remembering how to play chess after all these years. I will remember pink and blue jobs and sunset cruises. The children I will remember, all those faces but especially Grace, Buddha, Chisomo and Ibu the big boss at Monkey Bay. Irene and Edwin at Namakoma and all my favourites at Chilombo, my second home: Gertrude, the twins, Tait and Bertha, Eunice and her amazing smile, Fanny and Esther – girls with attitude, Vinnie, the other big boss and of course Kevin/Calvin/whatever his name is!
Most of all I will remember that little face and the fact there there are so so so many Calvins in Malawi...
Yesterday I was at Chilombo orphanage on my own as Gill caught the virus I have been harbouring, I would not wish it upon my worst enemy. Esnart spent most of the morning dissapearing so the teaching was a bit hit and miss and the kids ran riot as always. We carried on with learning the time and the usual songs and rhymes that they know. We have adapted ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ to ‘The Wheels on the Matola’ and they seem to enjoy that, they join in when they can and mostly just like anything with actions. In the afternoon I was at the wound clinic which was a bit of a non-event, no patients, sweltering heat but I did get to say my goodbyes to Dr Mkanda and had a photo with him which is brilliant.
Today I was at Chilombo again and me and Therese threw a very good party if I might say so. It was her idea to make each of them friendship bracelet out of the wool we had kicking about in the resources room. We made maybe just fewer than 50 and luckily we had maybe 45 children turn up so we estimated just right. We took crisps and biscuits for party food and they absolutely loved that. It must have been a real treat for them after their porridge.
John took me to Kevin’s house who in actual fact is called Calvin....! I only found out when I asked Esnart to write down his address for him, which is pretty silly, now everyone at MVO and everyone at home knows this little boy as Kevin! So, CALVIN was off sick again today so I went to his house and was introduced to his grandmother which is even more confusing as I was told he lived alone with an old man. Felicity said this is a common occurrence to get a few different stories because they call different people and relatives different things. Anyhow it still doesn't make his situation ideal and I may never know exactly what his situation is...but I gave him his toy truck and his grandmother told him I was going back to England which he seemed very sad about. He barely uttered a word even today after meeting with him so many times, I wonder if he ever actually speaks. He followed me and John back to orphanage and the other kids were very interested in his new toy especially Esnart’s son, Vinnie is the queen bee if ever I saw one, he was most unimpressed this new toy did not belong to him.
Eventually it was time to say goodbye and I did head back there in the afternoon to say a final goodbye after Esnart’s english lesson but everyone in the village had been called to a meeting with the chief, something about fertiliser I don’t know, so the lesson was also a non-starter. I trudged off back up to the road and it really was the hottest I've ever felt it today. On the way I bumped into Esnart’s 17 year old nephew, Andrew and he took me on a tour of Chilombo, he walked me along the beach and there are some incredible looking holiday homes hidden along there, it was pretty surreal.
Andrew is very sweet, he is very smart and has a lot going for him but as the story always seems to go, the odds are stacked against him. He has lost both of his parents but seems to have a large extended family in the village. I met his great grandmother but when I asked her name, Andrew explained he did not know because he had always called her grandma! He is very creative and makes brilliant things out of bottle lids. He turned up today with a bag he has made for me out of a pair of jeans and it is amazing. I will treasure it forever, it is a real work of art considering his lack of resources. He also showed me a photo book a previous volunteer must have had made and sent to him. He had taken all the photos and some of them were stunning I was so impressed.
So this evening I am having a drink, listening to a meeting about dressing wounds and everything is packed and ready to go. Tomorrow I will leave MVO house at 5:30 am and head to Blantyre with Francis. He is taking me to a place called Game where I can buy some toys for Chilombo with my donations. I have also committed myself to providing the much needed shelter for them during the rainy season. As I've probably mentioned before this orphanage is just held in Esnart’s back garden with no shelter and very little shade. The shelter will be up by November in time for the rains and will give Esnart a real place to teach and will be a real boost for the community.
I will take away so much from this place. Knowing that my donations actually physically provided something urgently needed is a fantastic way to finish here.
So here is to the end.
I will remember my first day at Monkey Bay orphanage with Wyson. My first night watching The Lion King and drinking Special Brew and wondering if I would ever find myself in a more surreal situation than this again. I will remember when I realised the answer to that question was hell yes when I found myself watching the villagers of Mtakaka head banging to house music. I will remember the dehydrated babies and their empty drips...the hoards of pregnant women and young girls. I will remember 24 hours of vomiting and nearly being eaten by a hippo. I will remember Gibson’s laugh and just Joseph, just for being Joseph. I will remember the bicycles of death with no peddles or seats. I will remember the first time I went to Namakoma and how the singing was so good I had to hold back tears. I will remember the confusion with Esnart over who was teaching who on my first day. I will remember rounds and fantas and greens and nsima and BBQ goat and shake shake and eating chips from a carrier bag for fifty kwacha. I will remember frisbee in the lake and baking hot walks to wound clinic. I will remember Dr Mkandas laugh and the stories of the premature babies and the children he had lost...I will remember Mazungu Mazunge Jambule Jambule! I will remember drinking Eclipse from a plastic bottle and the hangover that followed. I will remember elephants and hippos and the lone buffalo at Liwonde. I will remember our Hansel and Gretel lodgings on safari and I will remember Benji and Simba, the house dogs and their reactions to the mating ducks. I will remember David arriving with his brilliant laugh and somehow remembering how to play chess after all these years. I will remember pink and blue jobs and sunset cruises. The children I will remember, all those faces but especially Grace, Buddha, Chisomo and Ibu the big boss at Monkey Bay. Irene and Edwin at Namakoma and all my favourites at Chilombo, my second home: Gertrude, the twins, Tait and Bertha, Eunice and her amazing smile, Fanny and Esther – girls with attitude, Vinnie, the other big boss and of course Kevin/Calvin/whatever his name is!
Most of all I will remember that little face and the fact there there are so so so many Calvins in Malawi...
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Three days left...
Yesterday I said my goodbyes to Namakoma orphanage with a sports day hosted by myself and Anna. I say sports day but we use the term pretty loosely...chaos may be more suitable. We had a bottle lid and spoon race, an egg hunt, a sack race and a three legged race that never quite made it off the ground....
All in all the children liked it and I've only been there three times since I arrived so yesterday wasn't so sad when we left. There is one little girl called Irene who has lost both parents and she definitely has some kind of learning disability or something - she doesn't really communicate is very aggressive and is well behind her peers in terms of her behaviour. She's the size of a regular three year old but seems very much like a young baby still. I don't think mental impairment has much understanding out here so she is in for a tough ride. The other kids bully her at the moment but Mark (one of the coordinators here) said the kids do have a tendancy to protect others like her as they get older. It is hard to determine what is wrong with the kids here. You notice somethings not quite right but it could be anything, learning disability, brain damage from a high fever, trauma...
I will miss the kids more than anything else. I have given Grace a bracelet to keep and I have hundreds and hundreds of photos to put up when I get back to England.
Last night we had a cultural night which basically consists of inviting the village into the grounds, having a goat roast and trying out nsima and lots and lots of dancing. The traditional dancing in Malawi is done by the men alongside a lot of drumming, the dancers are terrifying....
Just tomorrow left to collect my belongings from around the house and then my final goodbyes on Monday and Tuesday of which most of my time will be spent at Chilombo village. My hunt for Kevin begins. I will be so sad to leave this place. Four weeks is the point where you really begin to get to know individuals and start forming a relationship, if I were to come back, without a doubt I'd be here for two or three months. I will always wonder what I could have learnt about the kids I've just started to form a bond with if I had more time and what more I could have done for them...
Tionana...
All in all the children liked it and I've only been there three times since I arrived so yesterday wasn't so sad when we left. There is one little girl called Irene who has lost both parents and she definitely has some kind of learning disability or something - she doesn't really communicate is very aggressive and is well behind her peers in terms of her behaviour. She's the size of a regular three year old but seems very much like a young baby still. I don't think mental impairment has much understanding out here so she is in for a tough ride. The other kids bully her at the moment but Mark (one of the coordinators here) said the kids do have a tendancy to protect others like her as they get older. It is hard to determine what is wrong with the kids here. You notice somethings not quite right but it could be anything, learning disability, brain damage from a high fever, trauma...
I will miss the kids more than anything else. I have given Grace a bracelet to keep and I have hundreds and hundreds of photos to put up when I get back to England.
Last night we had a cultural night which basically consists of inviting the village into the grounds, having a goat roast and trying out nsima and lots and lots of dancing. The traditional dancing in Malawi is done by the men alongside a lot of drumming, the dancers are terrifying....
Just tomorrow left to collect my belongings from around the house and then my final goodbyes on Monday and Tuesday of which most of my time will be spent at Chilombo village. My hunt for Kevin begins. I will be so sad to leave this place. Four weeks is the point where you really begin to get to know individuals and start forming a relationship, if I were to come back, without a doubt I'd be here for two or three months. I will always wonder what I could have learnt about the kids I've just started to form a bond with if I had more time and what more I could have done for them...
Tionana...
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Monkey Bay Hospital.
Today I was working at Monkey Bay Hospital, we are limited by what we can do whether we are qualified or not. So basically it means doing blood pressures with broken stethescopes, weighing people on broken scales and taking temperatures with faulty thermometers...
The wards were not actually as busy as normal today and I spent my time in maternity and paediatrics...it is incredible what the women here do and I don't know how the patients that survive actually do so. Put it this way, I wont be moaning about the NHS ever again.
The women come in to give birth in huge numbers, they give birth in a small room....together, there are two beds so if more than two are in labour they are on the floor. They give birth without drugs, usually without supervision and without making a sound. It is the most undignified thing I have ever seen but they never ever complain.
The kids don't complain in the childrens ward, they just sleep and lie there very still no matter how bad they feel. There were babies admitted with severe dehydration yet weren't attached to any fluids. Those lucky enough to be on drips were empty anyway.
There is a new maternity wing being built so they are hoping to encourage the fathers to be with their wives during labour and birth. This is not common currently and I did not see a single pregnant woman with a man and trust me there were hundreds, most of them as young as fifteen and certainly not on their first child. It is a million miles from what we know. But I don't think there is any way of changing it. The staff at the hospital weren't horrible, I don't think it is possible for a Malawian to BE horrible but they didn't seem to happy about us being there. Maybe it is a bit patronising of the Mazungus to think we know better than them when they have leaved and breathed this this life for so long.
Luckily I survived the morning without a death, they had lost a baby shortly before we began I think, it is harder for the volunteers with vast medical knowledge because they are watching people die who could be treated very easily in the West. More upsetting to see is that there are people there quite literally just waiting to die...there is nothing more that can be done with them, not here in Malawi anyway.
On the other hand at least there are people here trying, a poorly equipped hospital is better than no hospital at all...
This afternoon I was teaching a HBC class in Namakoma village, this is what we call Home Based Care. People are selected from each village to come to classes and they learn basic first aid and biology etc and they can then learn about illness and disease and how they can treat it. So few people can actually reach a hospital that by giving someone within the village some medical knowledge, the villagers stand a much better chance of surviving whatever they come down with.
Yesterday I managed to see Grace, she was back at school and although a little subdued she was feeling better. I'm not sure if she had malaria as they tend to just label any illness as malaria over here but none the less I am relieved she returned. I am dreading the day a child does not come back...Kevin has been absent from Chilombo orphanage for two days now...
Tionana...
The wards were not actually as busy as normal today and I spent my time in maternity and paediatrics...it is incredible what the women here do and I don't know how the patients that survive actually do so. Put it this way, I wont be moaning about the NHS ever again.
The women come in to give birth in huge numbers, they give birth in a small room....together, there are two beds so if more than two are in labour they are on the floor. They give birth without drugs, usually without supervision and without making a sound. It is the most undignified thing I have ever seen but they never ever complain.
The kids don't complain in the childrens ward, they just sleep and lie there very still no matter how bad they feel. There were babies admitted with severe dehydration yet weren't attached to any fluids. Those lucky enough to be on drips were empty anyway.
There is a new maternity wing being built so they are hoping to encourage the fathers to be with their wives during labour and birth. This is not common currently and I did not see a single pregnant woman with a man and trust me there were hundreds, most of them as young as fifteen and certainly not on their first child. It is a million miles from what we know. But I don't think there is any way of changing it. The staff at the hospital weren't horrible, I don't think it is possible for a Malawian to BE horrible but they didn't seem to happy about us being there. Maybe it is a bit patronising of the Mazungus to think we know better than them when they have leaved and breathed this this life for so long.
Luckily I survived the morning without a death, they had lost a baby shortly before we began I think, it is harder for the volunteers with vast medical knowledge because they are watching people die who could be treated very easily in the West. More upsetting to see is that there are people there quite literally just waiting to die...there is nothing more that can be done with them, not here in Malawi anyway.
On the other hand at least there are people here trying, a poorly equipped hospital is better than no hospital at all...
This afternoon I was teaching a HBC class in Namakoma village, this is what we call Home Based Care. People are selected from each village to come to classes and they learn basic first aid and biology etc and they can then learn about illness and disease and how they can treat it. So few people can actually reach a hospital that by giving someone within the village some medical knowledge, the villagers stand a much better chance of surviving whatever they come down with.
Yesterday I managed to see Grace, she was back at school and although a little subdued she was feeling better. I'm not sure if she had malaria as they tend to just label any illness as malaria over here but none the less I am relieved she returned. I am dreading the day a child does not come back...Kevin has been absent from Chilombo orphanage for two days now...
Tionana...
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Hardest day...
Today has definitely been my hardest so far. This morning I was back at Monkey Bay orphanage and happily awaiting the arrival of the children when Wyson mentioned that Grace had been taken to hospital with malaria. He was so blase about it I thought he was just messing around but he did pop over to her house and came back saying she was feeling better and may be back at school tomorrow. I am going there again tomorrow for sports day with Anna so if she doesn't show I will go round and see her aunt and see if she really is ok.
Yesterday I was back at Chilombo orphanage and I noticed a toddler called Kevin sitting very quietly and looking very sad. I'm sure he has been there the other times I've taught there but I've not paid him any attention before because some of the smaller ones are genuinely a bit scared of us. I couldn't help but notice that there was a different degree of sadness to this one so I sat close to him and held his hand for a while. Gradually his grip got tighter and tighter and very slowly he started leaning into me and was eventually just draped across my lap. He didn't make any noise at all and I don't think he ever has done apart from to cry. His eyes are permanently fixed on the ground...
I asked the teacher, Esnart why he was so sad and she said because he had no parents and lived with an old man, she also said he is sick - his belly is very swollen so clearly very malnourished. All the children are malnourished, some more than others but this one looks particularly bad and the other bad cases are certainly not as subdued. He looks completely traumatised and I suppose if he has lost both his parents he may well be. Over here, living with an old man is not good for young children, he is clearly desperately starved of affection and it was heartbreaking when I had to leave, he was hysterical, tried to follow me and it took two people to pull him away from me.
So today I was back with Esnart giving her my usual Tuesday afternoon English lesson and I tend to try and have just a general conversation with her at first because it gives me a better idea of how her spoken English is. I asked about Kevin and she told me a bit about him but said that his mum had died, his dad was away or had been arrested and that he actually had malaria as well. Two in one day.
She then took me to his house. She checked the old man was not there first and I'm not entirely sure why which worries me because I am overcome with a need to go back and find out more about this little boy. There were young adults milling around the house and I think, but am not sure, that the girls look after Kevin during the day while the old man is out farming. More and more people came to have a nose at the visiting Mazungu and they were all laughing because it is well known that Kevin is very sad, they said he has NEVER smiled...
Inevitably I had to leave and he cried and cried and cried, no one even picked him up when I left - this isn't really a comforting culture and the older kids, even the five year olds are unbelievably tough.
I told Felicity, one of the coordinators here about him and she is hopefully going to get me back there to find out more about him. I asked if he'd ever been to hospital or had medicine and I got a lot of head shaking in return. So I hope to see him at least twice before I come back home and see what can be done, his situation needs drastic improvement but sadly, so does the situation of most people here...I literally cannot describe how sad he looks, normally we can coax a smile out of the young ones who are just scared but this one - nothing, I wish I'd realised he wasn't just scared and actually very sick sooner so I could have done something. I feel awful even when I do see him because I just add to the trauma he seems to be going through when it is time to leave. I did not think it physically possible for a child to look so sad...
Tomorrow I will check up on Grace and in the afternoon try and get cover for the wound clinic so I can head back to Chilombo, ideally with a translator in tow so something can be done for Kevin. My heart will actually break when I leave him.
One week left in Malawi.
Tionana.....
Yesterday I was back at Chilombo orphanage and I noticed a toddler called Kevin sitting very quietly and looking very sad. I'm sure he has been there the other times I've taught there but I've not paid him any attention before because some of the smaller ones are genuinely a bit scared of us. I couldn't help but notice that there was a different degree of sadness to this one so I sat close to him and held his hand for a while. Gradually his grip got tighter and tighter and very slowly he started leaning into me and was eventually just draped across my lap. He didn't make any noise at all and I don't think he ever has done apart from to cry. His eyes are permanently fixed on the ground...
I asked the teacher, Esnart why he was so sad and she said because he had no parents and lived with an old man, she also said he is sick - his belly is very swollen so clearly very malnourished. All the children are malnourished, some more than others but this one looks particularly bad and the other bad cases are certainly not as subdued. He looks completely traumatised and I suppose if he has lost both his parents he may well be. Over here, living with an old man is not good for young children, he is clearly desperately starved of affection and it was heartbreaking when I had to leave, he was hysterical, tried to follow me and it took two people to pull him away from me.
So today I was back with Esnart giving her my usual Tuesday afternoon English lesson and I tend to try and have just a general conversation with her at first because it gives me a better idea of how her spoken English is. I asked about Kevin and she told me a bit about him but said that his mum had died, his dad was away or had been arrested and that he actually had malaria as well. Two in one day.
She then took me to his house. She checked the old man was not there first and I'm not entirely sure why which worries me because I am overcome with a need to go back and find out more about this little boy. There were young adults milling around the house and I think, but am not sure, that the girls look after Kevin during the day while the old man is out farming. More and more people came to have a nose at the visiting Mazungu and they were all laughing because it is well known that Kevin is very sad, they said he has NEVER smiled...
Inevitably I had to leave and he cried and cried and cried, no one even picked him up when I left - this isn't really a comforting culture and the older kids, even the five year olds are unbelievably tough.
I told Felicity, one of the coordinators here about him and she is hopefully going to get me back there to find out more about him. I asked if he'd ever been to hospital or had medicine and I got a lot of head shaking in return. So I hope to see him at least twice before I come back home and see what can be done, his situation needs drastic improvement but sadly, so does the situation of most people here...I literally cannot describe how sad he looks, normally we can coax a smile out of the young ones who are just scared but this one - nothing, I wish I'd realised he wasn't just scared and actually very sick sooner so I could have done something. I feel awful even when I do see him because I just add to the trauma he seems to be going through when it is time to leave. I did not think it physically possible for a child to look so sad...
Tomorrow I will check up on Grace and in the afternoon try and get cover for the wound clinic so I can head back to Chilombo, ideally with a translator in tow so something can be done for Kevin. My heart will actually break when I leave him.
One week left in Malawi.
Tionana.....
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Third week down...
I have done so much since I last wrote that I'm not sure where to begin and pretty sure I will forget a lot of things. I'll start with today and work back, that's the only plan I have!
So today I was on the malaria project again and we were handing out nets in Namakoma village which means walking round the houses and treating their nets and waiting for them to dry before they can be hung up in the houses. It was absolutely exhausting but worthwhile all the same.
This afternoon I was going to my first Home-based care project but it was cancelled and they were concentrating on the beginning of a new HIV group in Namgoma which was basically lots of singing and dancing and some drama and being swarmed by kids which was great fun. The HIV groups gives somewhere for victims to learn about their condition and feel safe about being open about it - that is a pretty brave thing to be able to do over here and I think we rarely get men attending as they do not want to be known as carriers.
Yesterday I had another sports day at Monkey Bay Orphanage which again consisted of getting all the orphans fed and then well...throwing them in the lake, it's their favourite! It was yesterday that I noticed one of my favourite little girls, Grace, had not turned up and I mentioned this to Wyson, their teacher. He said she lived next door so he took me there and I met her aunt, she was running late because Grace was having a bath - I learnt then that as I feared she had lost both parents.
It was a real blow to have it confirmed but I should have been prepared for it really. This week has been the toughest emotionally because I am getting to know people better. I do not want to know if Taiti, another favourite at Chilombo Orphanage has lost one or two parents but I expect I will be told either way eventually.
I found today's HIV group really overwhelming as well, it was the first time I properly had to compose myself to stop from crying but I'm not really sure what started it. I had so many children around me and one looked very sad that we were leaving and then I had to just take myself away fairly quickly.
I am hoping to buy some toys when I leave for Chilombo orphanage as they really have nothing there and some of the kids are just toddlers and do not always understand fully the english we are teaching the older ones, I think they would like to play with toys, they get easily distracted when we try and do a 45 minute lesson with them.
We have two new people, as of Monday, David who is a paramedic and is great fun and Laura who is on her gap year and wanting to study medicine. There wont be any more new people until the Monday before I leave so I will only meet them briefly and I am very sad to have to say goodbye to Maxi this Monday.
I am so excited to be coming home in just over a week but I am starting to become very attached to certain things and people so it will also be a sad occasion. The mice next to me are running riot in the office and I am starting to think they will go for my toes if I don't go inside soon.
I miss and love you all, I have so much more I could write again...but where to start, this has been an all together much more heartbreaking and HARDER experience than I could ever have imagined...tionana...x
So today I was on the malaria project again and we were handing out nets in Namakoma village which means walking round the houses and treating their nets and waiting for them to dry before they can be hung up in the houses. It was absolutely exhausting but worthwhile all the same.
This afternoon I was going to my first Home-based care project but it was cancelled and they were concentrating on the beginning of a new HIV group in Namgoma which was basically lots of singing and dancing and some drama and being swarmed by kids which was great fun. The HIV groups gives somewhere for victims to learn about their condition and feel safe about being open about it - that is a pretty brave thing to be able to do over here and I think we rarely get men attending as they do not want to be known as carriers.
Yesterday I had another sports day at Monkey Bay Orphanage which again consisted of getting all the orphans fed and then well...throwing them in the lake, it's their favourite! It was yesterday that I noticed one of my favourite little girls, Grace, had not turned up and I mentioned this to Wyson, their teacher. He said she lived next door so he took me there and I met her aunt, she was running late because Grace was having a bath - I learnt then that as I feared she had lost both parents.
It was a real blow to have it confirmed but I should have been prepared for it really. This week has been the toughest emotionally because I am getting to know people better. I do not want to know if Taiti, another favourite at Chilombo Orphanage has lost one or two parents but I expect I will be told either way eventually.
I found today's HIV group really overwhelming as well, it was the first time I properly had to compose myself to stop from crying but I'm not really sure what started it. I had so many children around me and one looked very sad that we were leaving and then I had to just take myself away fairly quickly.
I am hoping to buy some toys when I leave for Chilombo orphanage as they really have nothing there and some of the kids are just toddlers and do not always understand fully the english we are teaching the older ones, I think they would like to play with toys, they get easily distracted when we try and do a 45 minute lesson with them.
We have two new people, as of Monday, David who is a paramedic and is great fun and Laura who is on her gap year and wanting to study medicine. There wont be any more new people until the Monday before I leave so I will only meet them briefly and I am very sad to have to say goodbye to Maxi this Monday.
I am so excited to be coming home in just over a week but I am starting to become very attached to certain things and people so it will also be a sad occasion. The mice next to me are running riot in the office and I am starting to think they will go for my toes if I don't go inside soon.
I miss and love you all, I have so much more I could write again...but where to start, this has been an all together much more heartbreaking and HARDER experience than I could ever have imagined...tionana...x
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Almost half way...
I have spent the entire weekend at the house and am now feeling very lethargic, need Monday to come around quicker so I can re-energise!
Tomorrow I am spraying more houses for the malaria project and also at the wound clinic again in the afternoon. It is Izzy's 19th birthday tomorrow so we will be finishing up at 4pm and heading out for a second sunset cruise before the two new arrivals get here.
I have been doing some one-on-one english lessons with the teacher at Chilombo orphanage, her name is Esnart and she understands more than she is able to let on - I think! I have been to this orphanage more than the others and now know a handful of children by name and face, there is so many of them, this is a lot harder than it sounds. My favourite at this place is a 3 year old called Tait, pronounced Tai-ee-ti. I daren't ask if she has lost just one or both parents.
The children turn up wearing the same dirty ripped clothes most days, they bring some food if they have it - this is usually a small bag of nuts or the more well off kids have a packet of crisps. Not what we would consider a filling or nutrional lunch but it's better than nothing. Some kids do turn up with nothing but the others will share with them. Malawi is definitely the sharing culture that was explained to us when we arrived.
We had a poker night on Friday which ended a hard morning nicely. A couple of us decided to have a dip in the lake...lesson learnt, it doesn't matter that hippos have never been seen near this shore - DO NOT go in the lake after dark!
I am looking forward to starting the weeks work again, mainly because there is so little to do other than lesson planning or reading at the weekends. Next weekend we will be heading to Cape Maclear on Friday afternoon, a four hour boat trip with snorkeling and dorm accommodation at Fat Monkeys - a guide book favourite.
I want to write more about the state of living here but someone needs the extension from the office to power the water pump! Ah Africa!
I will try and write more in a few days - I am really really homesick at the moment and maybe I will paint to much of a depressing picture of life here if I write whilst feeling this way!
Tionana xx
Tomorrow I am spraying more houses for the malaria project and also at the wound clinic again in the afternoon. It is Izzy's 19th birthday tomorrow so we will be finishing up at 4pm and heading out for a second sunset cruise before the two new arrivals get here.
I have been doing some one-on-one english lessons with the teacher at Chilombo orphanage, her name is Esnart and she understands more than she is able to let on - I think! I have been to this orphanage more than the others and now know a handful of children by name and face, there is so many of them, this is a lot harder than it sounds. My favourite at this place is a 3 year old called Tait, pronounced Tai-ee-ti. I daren't ask if she has lost just one or both parents.
The children turn up wearing the same dirty ripped clothes most days, they bring some food if they have it - this is usually a small bag of nuts or the more well off kids have a packet of crisps. Not what we would consider a filling or nutrional lunch but it's better than nothing. Some kids do turn up with nothing but the others will share with them. Malawi is definitely the sharing culture that was explained to us when we arrived.
We had a poker night on Friday which ended a hard morning nicely. A couple of us decided to have a dip in the lake...lesson learnt, it doesn't matter that hippos have never been seen near this shore - DO NOT go in the lake after dark!
I am looking forward to starting the weeks work again, mainly because there is so little to do other than lesson planning or reading at the weekends. Next weekend we will be heading to Cape Maclear on Friday afternoon, a four hour boat trip with snorkeling and dorm accommodation at Fat Monkeys - a guide book favourite.
I want to write more about the state of living here but someone needs the extension from the office to power the water pump! Ah Africa!
I will try and write more in a few days - I am really really homesick at the moment and maybe I will paint to much of a depressing picture of life here if I write whilst feeling this way!
Tionana xx
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
WAWA
Hello from Malawi!
My flight here was pretty uneventful, I made it so that was my first achievement! 11 hours to South Africa, 2 and a half to Malawi and then a four hour drive.
There is nothing here except hut after hut after hut after hut and the sheer number of people you see everywhere you go is just mind blowing, there is definitely no shortage of people in Africa. I am staying in a large and somewhat luxury volunteers house - at the moment there is about 12 of us, two just left and three more coming next Monday. There is a mixture of medical, teaching and sports coaching volunteers. Everyone is really nice, the age range is pretty wide, 17-60 I think,
I have so far worked at 3 orphanages, they are all very different but only one I would say are the kids taught well. They know English but only to chant numbers or letters, if you ask them a number outside of the chant they have no clue what we mean. It is almost an impossible task to single handedly educate and entertain 60+ children who don't speak English and can be aged 2 or 5. But it is better than nothing.
We have started work on the malaria prevention scheme which involves surveying whole villages, spraying their houses with Fendona and providing mosquito nets - in the first year of this prior to me being here they had a village with over 300 cases of Malaria and 18 or so deaths. After the treatments and six months, there were only 5 cases of Malaria and NO deaths - its pretty simple work, the spraying is exhausting in this heat, but that is such a huge impact! We have a long long long list of villages to get through, the last village had 206 houses in it and it took a whole day just to treat 11 houses this week and that was a good day!
We have HIV groups which I am yet to teach. It is hard to get people from the villages to these groups and therefore educated on prevention or treatment they mostly desperately need. There is such a huge stigma here surrounding HIV that no one will admit they have it.
The hospital face similar problems, we have no doctors and no equipment. People will not come to the hospital because they see it as a place to die. It is just horrible. Some of these people have easily treatable upsets but when left untreated for so long they have little to no chance of survival. Last week we managed to convince a man to let us take his wife to hospital, she had malaria and dysentery she was so weak she could barely crawl out the door, yet he still insisted she was better off at home. He will not visit her there and the hospital cannot provide food so she will very likely die and then the fear will be instilled in his family forever more. We have however managed to buy 8 bicycle ambulances so we can at least make getting to hospital a bit easier if at all.
Getting around here is a nightmare, there is usually a good eight of us in a minibus heading off to different projects each morning. We quite often have to work for a good 30 minutes which through hot sand is not the most fun!
We also have a wound clinic that we hold in two different locations and we see some pretty hideous things! Mostly they are superficial injuries that have been left untreated and so end up engulfing an entire limb. This is run completely by volunteers so this is really helpful to the locals, it means they can get treatment without fear of having to go to hospital. We are so lacking in equipment that quite often we will have no choice but to dress something in an unsuitable type of dressing as it is better than leaving it gaping open...
It is not all doom and gloom though! The Malawian people are amazingly friendly. You can work past 100 people in two minutes and every single one will say hello, how are you, I'm fine, what is your name etc etc - it makes getting around a very slow process! The kids love us, they shout mazungu mazungu and ask for jambule jambule - which means ghost and take our pictuuuure! They have all their secondary school lessons in English so we HAVE to get them speaking it someway or another. It is so so hard.
Last weekend I went on a three day safari - we saw elephants and hippos and sable, lots of antelope type things and a buffallo. We stayed in an amazing lodge, it was like nothing I've ever seen and some of the views here just literally take your breath away. There are baboons everywhere here so you kind of get used to them! We have two dogs at the house, Simba and Benji and they are excellent guards!
We also went on a sunset cruise as one of the staff at the house has a boat. The sunsets here are just incredible - I am yet to see a sunrise although I am up at 6am everyday. We are all usually in bed by 9/10pm at the VERY latest, it is not quite like home!
The house staff are really great, they look after us so well and the food is so good. We have a driver called Gibson who is absolutely hilarious and he cracks me up as soon as he opens his mouth, his wife had a baby last night and named him after our project co-ordinator Mark which is pretty special for him!
So that is pretty much it for now really, I can't really remember what else I've done so far, there is so much, it feels like I have been here for so long! I will appreciate my ridiculously easy life back home so much now. I have hundreds of photos and will put them up when I get back home. Only three weeks left now.
I am most looking forward to having a HOT shower, wow, can't even imagine what that will be like, it is impossible to remain clean out here, my feet are a nice shade of black and will probably remain so until my third or fourth shower on UK soil!
Tionana!
My flight here was pretty uneventful, I made it so that was my first achievement! 11 hours to South Africa, 2 and a half to Malawi and then a four hour drive.
There is nothing here except hut after hut after hut after hut and the sheer number of people you see everywhere you go is just mind blowing, there is definitely no shortage of people in Africa. I am staying in a large and somewhat luxury volunteers house - at the moment there is about 12 of us, two just left and three more coming next Monday. There is a mixture of medical, teaching and sports coaching volunteers. Everyone is really nice, the age range is pretty wide, 17-60 I think,
I have so far worked at 3 orphanages, they are all very different but only one I would say are the kids taught well. They know English but only to chant numbers or letters, if you ask them a number outside of the chant they have no clue what we mean. It is almost an impossible task to single handedly educate and entertain 60+ children who don't speak English and can be aged 2 or 5. But it is better than nothing.
We have started work on the malaria prevention scheme which involves surveying whole villages, spraying their houses with Fendona and providing mosquito nets - in the first year of this prior to me being here they had a village with over 300 cases of Malaria and 18 or so deaths. After the treatments and six months, there were only 5 cases of Malaria and NO deaths - its pretty simple work, the spraying is exhausting in this heat, but that is such a huge impact! We have a long long long list of villages to get through, the last village had 206 houses in it and it took a whole day just to treat 11 houses this week and that was a good day!
We have HIV groups which I am yet to teach. It is hard to get people from the villages to these groups and therefore educated on prevention or treatment they mostly desperately need. There is such a huge stigma here surrounding HIV that no one will admit they have it.
The hospital face similar problems, we have no doctors and no equipment. People will not come to the hospital because they see it as a place to die. It is just horrible. Some of these people have easily treatable upsets but when left untreated for so long they have little to no chance of survival. Last week we managed to convince a man to let us take his wife to hospital, she had malaria and dysentery she was so weak she could barely crawl out the door, yet he still insisted she was better off at home. He will not visit her there and the hospital cannot provide food so she will very likely die and then the fear will be instilled in his family forever more. We have however managed to buy 8 bicycle ambulances so we can at least make getting to hospital a bit easier if at all.
Getting around here is a nightmare, there is usually a good eight of us in a minibus heading off to different projects each morning. We quite often have to work for a good 30 minutes which through hot sand is not the most fun!
We also have a wound clinic that we hold in two different locations and we see some pretty hideous things! Mostly they are superficial injuries that have been left untreated and so end up engulfing an entire limb. This is run completely by volunteers so this is really helpful to the locals, it means they can get treatment without fear of having to go to hospital. We are so lacking in equipment that quite often we will have no choice but to dress something in an unsuitable type of dressing as it is better than leaving it gaping open...
It is not all doom and gloom though! The Malawian people are amazingly friendly. You can work past 100 people in two minutes and every single one will say hello, how are you, I'm fine, what is your name etc etc - it makes getting around a very slow process! The kids love us, they shout mazungu mazungu and ask for jambule jambule - which means ghost and take our pictuuuure! They have all their secondary school lessons in English so we HAVE to get them speaking it someway or another. It is so so hard.
Last weekend I went on a three day safari - we saw elephants and hippos and sable, lots of antelope type things and a buffallo. We stayed in an amazing lodge, it was like nothing I've ever seen and some of the views here just literally take your breath away. There are baboons everywhere here so you kind of get used to them! We have two dogs at the house, Simba and Benji and they are excellent guards!
We also went on a sunset cruise as one of the staff at the house has a boat. The sunsets here are just incredible - I am yet to see a sunrise although I am up at 6am everyday. We are all usually in bed by 9/10pm at the VERY latest, it is not quite like home!
The house staff are really great, they look after us so well and the food is so good. We have a driver called Gibson who is absolutely hilarious and he cracks me up as soon as he opens his mouth, his wife had a baby last night and named him after our project co-ordinator Mark which is pretty special for him!
So that is pretty much it for now really, I can't really remember what else I've done so far, there is so much, it feels like I have been here for so long! I will appreciate my ridiculously easy life back home so much now. I have hundreds of photos and will put them up when I get back home. Only three weeks left now.
I am most looking forward to having a HOT shower, wow, can't even imagine what that will be like, it is impossible to remain clean out here, my feet are a nice shade of black and will probably remain so until my third or fourth shower on UK soil!
Tionana!
Thursday, 3 September 2009
D-day Minus One...
This is it, the time is here!
One year of planning and a matter of hours before I head to Heathrow. Financially, this trip has crippled me, emotionally, I am more drained than I have ever felt but now I just feel ready. I am impatient to leave but yet to pack...
I don't have much time to go into anything more than a few thank yous....
They would be without a doubt for my family and friends and my colleagues.
If it weren't for them I probably wouldn't be going anywhere tomorrow so to them I am eternally grateful. They have helped the people I will meet in Malawi as much as I will do when I get there and start teaching, building and caring.
Project work will probably begin on the 9th/10th September once we have settled in to our accommodation surroundings, village - Monkey Bay. I am not sure when I will next get to update on here but we do have internet access at our volunteers house.
I don't think I would have come close to making it to Malawi if people hadn't donated in such HUGE numbers. I never expected to raise as much money as we did, it was totally unexpected, it wasn't always easy but it made all the difference.
Malawi, for me is a huge turning point - I expect it to change my values and perspectives forever and I can only hope that shows on my return.
I will miss those closest to me more than they will ever imagine and I will miss what I see as 'normal' life but four weeks is so little time and more than anything I wish I could stay longer...
So I guess I will see you all on the other side...
One year of planning and a matter of hours before I head to Heathrow. Financially, this trip has crippled me, emotionally, I am more drained than I have ever felt but now I just feel ready. I am impatient to leave but yet to pack...
I don't have much time to go into anything more than a few thank yous....
They would be without a doubt for my family and friends and my colleagues.
If it weren't for them I probably wouldn't be going anywhere tomorrow so to them I am eternally grateful. They have helped the people I will meet in Malawi as much as I will do when I get there and start teaching, building and caring.
Project work will probably begin on the 9th/10th September once we have settled in to our accommodation surroundings, village - Monkey Bay. I am not sure when I will next get to update on here but we do have internet access at our volunteers house.
I don't think I would have come close to making it to Malawi if people hadn't donated in such HUGE numbers. I never expected to raise as much money as we did, it was totally unexpected, it wasn't always easy but it made all the difference.
Malawi, for me is a huge turning point - I expect it to change my values and perspectives forever and I can only hope that shows on my return.
I will miss those closest to me more than they will ever imagine and I will miss what I see as 'normal' life but four weeks is so little time and more than anything I wish I could stay longer...
So I guess I will see you all on the other side...
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Humbled.
Six weeks to go and we have had a pretty tough month in these parts. I haven't had much time to worry about the ticking clock on the countdown to Malawi.
Firstly, we lost a good friend in Lucinda & I don't really know what to say - but I will always remember hearing that any life, no matter how short lived, is never a waste. No matter how it ends.
It's hard to stay positive when people seem to be dropping around you. Young people too. Young makes it seem so much harder. How will I ever cope with the poverty and life expectancy in Africa.
Some people never do get over the things they see & that plays on my mind a lot.
I'm not really sure if there is any way to prepare...
I am happy to say on the other hand that my brother has set a date for his wedding, with his first son on the way & has asked me to be the sole reader at the ceremony.
I'm having trouble trying to decide on what I might like to say and what they might like to hear.
Luckily I have never had to read at a funeral. I'm not sure if I could ever manage that, but part of me hopes that one day I would have the strength to read for someone I loved.
In loving memory of Lucinda, Brian, Daniel
We live in hope that we lose no more.
Firstly, we lost a good friend in Lucinda & I don't really know what to say - but I will always remember hearing that any life, no matter how short lived, is never a waste. No matter how it ends.
It's hard to stay positive when people seem to be dropping around you. Young people too. Young makes it seem so much harder. How will I ever cope with the poverty and life expectancy in Africa.
Some people never do get over the things they see & that plays on my mind a lot.
I'm not really sure if there is any way to prepare...
I am happy to say on the other hand that my brother has set a date for his wedding, with his first son on the way & has asked me to be the sole reader at the ceremony.
I'm having trouble trying to decide on what I might like to say and what they might like to hear.
Luckily I have never had to read at a funeral. I'm not sure if I could ever manage that, but part of me hopes that one day I would have the strength to read for someone I loved.
As each day passes
we sit and wonder why?
Why you were taken
without a chance to say goodbye
and as we start thinking
with tears running down our cheeks.
We think of life without you and it really makes us weep
We think of the future
and nothing seems that bright nothing is the same without you by the families side
all we have is memories and a hole inside our hearts.
We knew how much we loved you from the very start.
In loving memory of Lucinda, Brian, Daniel
We live in hope that we lose no more.
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Catch Up
Wow it has been absolutely ages since I updated here but plenty has been going on.
The discrepancies with Orphancare Malawi turned out to be too true to ignore and Real Gap pulled the Orphan Care project. There has been much drama surrounding how my trip will continue since this decision was made but pulling out wasn't an option.
I have now removed my fundraising page at Just Giving and will now be joining a medical programme in Monkey Bay.
I only have £320 left to pay of my project costs and have started thinking about kit and equipment I will need.
I have created a gift registry which has had over a 100 hits in less than two days.
http://justthething.co.uk/themalawiproject/The-Malawi-Project
Starting to get excited now...much improvement on being just consumed with fear...
The discrepancies with Orphancare Malawi turned out to be too true to ignore and Real Gap pulled the Orphan Care project. There has been much drama surrounding how my trip will continue since this decision was made but pulling out wasn't an option.
I have now removed my fundraising page at Just Giving and will now be joining a medical programme in Monkey Bay.
I only have £320 left to pay of my project costs and have started thinking about kit and equipment I will need.
I have created a gift registry which has had over a 100 hits in less than two days.
http://justthething.co.uk/themalawiproject/The-Malawi-Project
Starting to get excited now...much improvement on being just consumed with fear...
Friday, 30 January 2009
The almost $2 a day challenge
My last entry ended with me wanting more time & more money. Surely in life that is just what everyone is hoping for but how often do we do anything about it. In my eyes I see the time between now and my departure to Africa as EIGHT paydays. I do not see over half a year, 8 months or even 243.494799 long days. I see how much money is coming in between then and now & there’s not a lot to be honest.
Almost two years ago I left a job I disliked and moved home to my mum who was not so long ago bedridden with ME. She is now much better although still blighted by the illness and fighting for its recognition as a serious debilitating condition. My being there and contributing towards the mortgage means she is able to upkeep a car, get out of the house and regain the social life she saw slip away.
Anyway, my mum is always making a point about what this trip will do to me. That being, that it should change my values forever…
I have read about the $2 a day challenge…one week on roughly £1.30 a day but that is for food alone. So my plan is to give myself £80. £20 a week, far more than I will need in Malawi per day, but this will cover my food, travel and hopefully cure my cosmetic addiction in the process. If it’ll make my hair thicker I’ll buy it, if it’ll make my skin less shiny, I’ll use it, if the adverts right, I’ll fall for it.
My ever patient mum will be sole keeper of my purse and this gives me the opportunity to save £500 if not more in one month. With no choice but to pull it off, no money to fall back on and no hole in the wall to feed my spending habits.
My travel to work alone costs me £13.00 for just over a week so it will be a challenge to see just how far the remaining money can stretch. I am determined to kill my itchy cash machine finger and it seems the only way to do it is with some serious tough love.
Almost two years ago I left a job I disliked and moved home to my mum who was not so long ago bedridden with ME. She is now much better although still blighted by the illness and fighting for its recognition as a serious debilitating condition. My being there and contributing towards the mortgage means she is able to upkeep a car, get out of the house and regain the social life she saw slip away.
Anyway, my mum is always making a point about what this trip will do to me. That being, that it should change my values forever…
I have read about the $2 a day challenge…one week on roughly £1.30 a day but that is for food alone. So my plan is to give myself £80. £20 a week, far more than I will need in Malawi per day, but this will cover my food, travel and hopefully cure my cosmetic addiction in the process. If it’ll make my hair thicker I’ll buy it, if it’ll make my skin less shiny, I’ll use it, if the adverts right, I’ll fall for it.
My ever patient mum will be sole keeper of my purse and this gives me the opportunity to save £500 if not more in one month. With no choice but to pull it off, no money to fall back on and no hole in the wall to feed my spending habits.
My travel to work alone costs me £13.00 for just over a week so it will be a challenge to see just how far the remaining money can stretch. I am determined to kill my itchy cash machine finger and it seems the only way to do it is with some serious tough love.
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Hunger; been & gone...
I carried out on my fast on Tuesday just gone in the end because I was pretty run down on Monday so decided to play it safe and wait till I was feeling a little less like death.
It went well, despite me morphing into a very grumpy little girl indeed! The trick, it turns outs is toothpaste...as soon as I'd brushed my teeth ready for bed, I felt fine, now if only I'd known that five hours earlier. All in all I raised an extra £40 or so for Orphancare Malawi which isn't a huge amount but it was just a small fundraiser & every penny counts.
I have learnt that there is some trouble with Orphancare Malawi at the moment and someone from Real Gap will be visiting Blantyre to assess the situation within the next couple of weeks, I guess for now all I can do is sit and wait and hope that my place on this project is not in jeopardy.
We said goodbye to a friend and neighbour yesterday so things haven't been great lately. It was a nice service...but funerals always leave you feeling a little dark & so the pessimism creeps back in. Eight months just doesn't seem enough time to prepare for this in my mind, which frustrates me, because I know plenty of people who could jump ship and do this next week.
This and the news that all is not well in Malawi hasn't made for the best of weeks.
While I wait on news from Real Gap I will be having another fundraising sale at my local cricket club on February 21st, the same day as my sister's 30Th movie themed birthday...costume ideas anyone?
I will also be having my third day at Barnardo's on Saturday and the closing date for the job I optimistically applied for was yesterday so fingers, toes and numerous other bodily parts crossed.
Thanks to everyone that donated at www.justgiving.com/sarahkitchen & everyone at work who donated their loose change.
I now need time to go a little slower, things to go a little smoother and money to grow a lot lot faster...
It went well, despite me morphing into a very grumpy little girl indeed! The trick, it turns outs is toothpaste...as soon as I'd brushed my teeth ready for bed, I felt fine, now if only I'd known that five hours earlier. All in all I raised an extra £40 or so for Orphancare Malawi which isn't a huge amount but it was just a small fundraiser & every penny counts.
I have learnt that there is some trouble with Orphancare Malawi at the moment and someone from Real Gap will be visiting Blantyre to assess the situation within the next couple of weeks, I guess for now all I can do is sit and wait and hope that my place on this project is not in jeopardy.
We said goodbye to a friend and neighbour yesterday so things haven't been great lately. It was a nice service...but funerals always leave you feeling a little dark & so the pessimism creeps back in. Eight months just doesn't seem enough time to prepare for this in my mind, which frustrates me, because I know plenty of people who could jump ship and do this next week.
This and the news that all is not well in Malawi hasn't made for the best of weeks.
While I wait on news from Real Gap I will be having another fundraising sale at my local cricket club on February 21st, the same day as my sister's 30Th movie themed birthday...costume ideas anyone?
I will also be having my third day at Barnardo's on Saturday and the closing date for the job I optimistically applied for was yesterday so fingers, toes and numerous other bodily parts crossed.
Thanks to everyone that donated at www.justgiving.com/sarahkitchen & everyone at work who donated their loose change.
I now need time to go a little slower, things to go a little smoother and money to grow a lot lot faster...
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