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...
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
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...
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