Some Pictures!

Fishermen on Lake Malawi. Balancing on the dug-out canoes are made to look easy by the locals! This was the view from my room at the backpackers lodge.

Our house in the village. The blue bucket on the right is one of our water buckets and the green one on the left is our bath.

.

Me with Mary in Rumphi. An inspirational woman who runs a school in Mzuzu. She gave us a lift between Mzuzu and Rumphi, which is the nearest town to our village.

Work on the construction site. The man in the blue t-shirt is Mcloud, our host. This pic shows the stage we were at before we left for our weekend away. We now hope to have all the walls up to window level.

The next few weeks will hopefully see the completion of the building plus a couple of trips; one to Nyika National Park for a Safari and one to Vwaza Marsh where we will be accompanying some people from the village to an intense course in beekeeping skills.

Till next time,

love amali x

June 26th half way there (of project)

hello everybody,

I'm sorry it has been a while. I am just back in Nkhata bay for our mid-project holiday. The last three weeks have gone by very quickly and the construction of the beekeeping centre is well under way. The village is three hours north of Rumphi, which is in a fairly mountainous region very close to the Zambian border. On arrival in the village, we were given a tour of the village and shown the construction site and our house. The house is in a corner of the village with three small rooms, a lock and a long-drop. It feels very much like home and I'm looking forward to returning there after this short break.
Because a fair amount of time has passed I'll let you know the main things that stick in my mind from these first few weeks:
- The sun sets everyday at about 6 so after that we are in complete darkness. Evening past-times include bidding-whist, chatting to our watchman Richard and eating dinner. (this is generally biscuits with peanut butter/ honey) I'm normally asleep by about 9, meaning that 6 am starts feel quite luxorious.
- We have a pump that we collect water from, which is about 400m away. We collect water in 30litre buckets which we then have to carry on our heads back to the house. It's very much a case of mind over matter but I am still yet to complete a water run without spilling a good few litres on me.
- Food: on a typical day we get to the work site for 6.30/7 am. We have sweet potato for breakfast with a cup of tea and then have a lunch of nsima and malawi beans. Nsima is a thick porridge-like substance made from maize flour which is the local dish. Although bland, it goes well with sauce and is a good filler. The dish is made complete with a touch of Nali Peri-peri.
- Work activities include digging sand from nearby land. We create a human bucket chain to move sand from the pit to a pile on higher ground and then a truck is hired to transport the sand to the site. We move about 5 tonnes at a time.
- Watching England vs USA on a generator tv in the village. There is one man who has a satelite tv and he charges 50kwacha to watch the game. It was a fun experience, shame the game was so boring!
- Alcoholism is a big problem in the village and is something that has taken me by surprise. The beer is made from fermented nsima and Mcloud, our host, has told us how 70% of the village drink during the day. It seems to be a difficult cycle as there is an extreme lack of jobs in the village and it seems that people struggle to deal with responsibility/money. Our builders, who after completing the foundations of the beekeeping centre, were paid their first installment and then never returned. According to Mcloud, the locals really want the work but don't know how to deal with the money they earn. Mcloud, a strikingly driven local, sees the beekeeping centre as a way to channel money and provide further jobs/livelihood for the community. A livelihood would mean that drinking would not be the only option.
On a more positive note, the reception we have recieved from the village has been heart warming. I have really enjoyed playing games with the local kids, practicing my chiTumbuka and building endless fires to heat water and cook. The local kids are more than happy to help us out when our fires are struggling to take off. I am not, it would seem, a 'fire-starter'.
That's it for now, I'll try and upload a few pics soon.
Love Amali x

4th June - paradise not lost

Oh hey dudes.
I'm writing from the "Big Blue Star backpackers lodge" in the touristy Nkhata bay. The night bus from Lilongwe to Mzuzu took about 5 hours and was a good opportunity for me to get some shut eye. The bus arrived at about 4.30am and we stayed sleeping on the bus for an hour longer, until Rose realised that we had actually arrived, and that we should probably get off. Thankfully the bus didnt have an onward journey, otherwise I'm not sure where we would have ended up. Possibly Mozambique.
We were met by McCloud, our contact who works for Kachimbeka, and went to sort out some local phones/sim cards. After saying goodbye to Rose, Tom and McCloud who were then going to head to the village, Poppy, Emily, Mark and I took a minibus to Nkhata Bay. Despite organising the phones we haven't been able to get in contact with Tom and Rose so we hope that they are still alive and kicking!
Whilst they organise the project for our impending arrival on Sunday, we have taken the opportunity to acclimatise in the popular Nkhata bay. We are staying in a 4 dorm room which has a balcony looking out onto the lake. It's costing 900 kwacha per night which is about 4 pounds. However, there is a tab system upon which everything you order, including the drinks at the bar are conveniently "put on the tab". This has to be carefully controlled.
Tabs aside, I have spent the last few days, reading, swimming and eating. not bad really. I'm thinking it's going to hit me when we arrive on project.
Last night we went to a local bar place where people appear to dance the night away. Although an interesting experience, we mutually decided to leave pretty quickly , feeling somewhat overly approached for our colour and therefore assumed wealth. It became clear to me that I am perceived here as a white tourist and nothing more and I feel that the people here know how to play the tourist game. Although I appreciate that for many, their lives revolve around the tourism industry, I have felt at times that white people are maybe mocked by the locals at the same time. Apart from this, people are eager to come and say hello, and ask how we are. There have been a lot of thumbs up exchanges aswell.
I am looking forward to moving into a village that doesn't even appear on google and getting involved with everyday life.
On sunday we are going to be met in Mzuzu by a lady who is known mutually by some of my family in England. She has promised to pick us up in her pick up truck and show us where she lives. We will then make our way to the village by bus, where we will be living for the following 8 weeks - am feeling so ready and excited to get to project. :):):):)
Would also like to give a shout out to Chris and say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
that's it for now, sorry for rambling a bit! love amali b x

1st June - touchdown!

So I have arrived! and am writing from an internet cafe in the middle of a buzzing lilongwe. Everything has run fairly smoothly so far apart from a few visa issues which meant we had to buy another flight out of Malawi to prove we were leaving the country! We have been promised that we will get a full refund, making me feel a little easier about using my "credit card for emergencies" within 15 minutes of the trip beginning at Heathrow airport!
The flights went fairly quickly and I managed to sleep quite a lot. I saw a stunning view of Mount Kilimanjaro from the plane, peeping out of the clouds from nowhere.
We took a taxi from the airport in Lilongwe to the centre, about 25 km, and saw some stunning views from inside the car. I saw the classic images of women carrying things on their heads and little babies being carried on their mothers backs in colourful slings.
We hailed a minibus to go across town which saw all of us cram into the bus alongside many others. this journey cost 100 kwacha which is about 50p.
Tonight we are getting a night bus into Mzuzu which leaves Lilongwe at 10pm - another night on the road before we reach our Nkhati bay, where we'll stay for a few days.
It's about 22degrees, Malawi's winter and it isn't too humid, which is nice when I'm carrying round my 20.9kg bag - yep the largest in the group! Am looking forward to getting rid of that cricket bat.
Till next time x