becca last one

6/30 – airport grand hotel and conference center

so here I am in this nice fancy hotel in joburg (im here waiting for my next flight in the morning). My own room. Privacy. A big, comfortable bed. A shower. A bathtub. In my room. A tv. Heater. Lights. Pillows. Blankets. Electricity. THE WORKS. But I am so lonely. The past few weeks of scrounging and being poppers was much more fun. With friends. If I travel the world, I don’t want it to be by myself. Any takers?

So our last week in Malawi… what did we do? after we returned from blantyre, we went back to dusty Lilongwe… extremely unexcited about it, but we knew we had to. So the first day we did some errands and made our way to say good bye to the babies at crisis nursery. At night when we were locked in our hotel we forced ourselves to work on our info packet (after the light fiasco of course)The following day we made our way to a clinic in a rural village. We had no idea what to expect, but we drove 1 ½ in each direction to arrive at a clinic that had over 100 people waiting outside to be seen by the one doctor and one nurse. But we arrived and in pure Malawian tradition, the doctor came outside and welcomed us. In Malawi, visitors are compared to the morning dew… it may be here now, but you don’t know when it will be back, so you must appreciate it and care for it as best you can…
Anyway, he began giving us a tour of the 4 room clinic. We insisted that he get back to his patients, so the nurse finished showing us around. We were able to ask questions and attempt to understand the clinic and their needs. But as usual, we felt that we were intruding and in everyones way, so we made a hasty exit. Although we were there to learn and hopefully facilitate help for them in the future, we did not feel comfortable taking up their time while there are deathly ill patients who walked countless kilometers to see the doctor for fifty kwacha (about 30 cents).
So we drove another hour and a half back to Lilongwe confused and frustrated like usual. This was the only clinic for miles. The closest hospital is about 20 kilometers away. What we’ve learned in Malawi is that there isn’t necessarily a shortage of doctors or nurses, because the universities are FULL of them. The problem, like in many other industries throughout the world, is that they are not paid well. So nurses in Malawi aren’t paid well, so when people graduate, they move to other countries where pay is a little better, leaving hospitals- especially public hospitals- understaffed. So what to do? if you have an answer, you may want to contact the Malawian government and/or the US government. SOMEONE EXPLAIN WHY TEACHERS AND NURSES ARENT PAID WELL!?!?! WHERE ARE YOUR PRIORITIES?!
Anyway so after the clinic, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the Raising Malawi office trying to figure out plans for the weekend. Eventually we decided that we would travel to Mzuzu in the north for many reasons. First of all, the north is a very different climate: mountainous, cold, and beautiful. So we apparently HAD to see it. so we drove 5 hours to the north to visit the crisis nursery in Mzuzu. On the way there we stopped at a beautiful boarding school. We just wanted to see another life that exists in Malawi. It put my university to shame, it was so beautiful. And we met a VERY nice, wonderful woman who insisted we stay for tea and sandwiches after our tour. We had a great morning talking with students and teacher, learning about this drastically different, wealthy Malawian life. We also began recruiting new students for clark. ☺
So at the nursery we played with some babies… compared and contrasted differences between this nursery and the one we spent more time at in Lilongwe, and before we knew it, we had to be off. We decided to spend the night on the lake, so we had to drive a little further. By this time it was pitch black and we were driving up and down and around a steep mountain on a road that sometimes turned to dirt. But hey, we made it. hahahha. Best part. We get to the town where we were staying, but we didn’t know how to get to the lodge, so they sent someone to find us in town and show us the way… so a man comes to our car and says that he is going to show us. So this rasta man starts talking and introduces himself as Happy Coconut. Yes. His name is Happy Coconut…. We didn’t really ask questions… but he showed us down the mountain to the lodge. Down a rocky road that broke the car at leas 10 times, but finally we made it. still pitch darkness we arrived at Butterfly Lodge around 6:30 pm. We got to our dorm and to our excitement, there was someone else staying there. We were very excited about the prospects of another interesting character. Unfortunately we were disappointed when he turned out to be a really quiet awkward guy who maybe said one word. Oh well. We want to check out the night life at the hotel next door, but shohini decided to trip and fall and twist her ankle walkin around the lodge, so we couldn’t make it all the way next door. Did I mention these places are built on a steep rocky mountain. So everything is steep and rocky and cliff-like. All in the pitch darkness. Hahaha. yess!!
So the next day we were relaxing by the lake and a boat man offered to take us on his boat… so after negotiating the price, we decided to do it… it was beautiful and calm…. Until the clouds came rolling in and the wind picked up along with the waves. And oh did it pick up. Long story short, I got a little sea sick and threw up on the whole way back to the dock. But it was nice and we got some good pictures. And the boat guys were really cool.. david banda and co. haha.
What else? So after recovering from the boat we began our journey back to Lilongwe.. we decided to take the scenic route along the lake….. little did we know it was 2 hours longer. Jesus it was painful. Highlight: we didn’t hit any dogs. Only clipped a goat. And had to stop for a family of monkeys crossing the road. ☺
Sunday was spent at Lois’ house where we had an amazing meal and got to spend time with her and her family without talking about work. It was wonderful and I really want to go back! ☹
Monday we spent tying up loose ends and buying the last of our curios. I love those beach bitches. Maybe because it’s the end of the month (pay day), but they were all pretty drunk at 11 am. And it made for a highly entertaining experience. We bonded with many a rasta man.

Anyway… that’s about it… I am still reflecting on everything. Maybe thoughts wont be coherent until I am back home. I don’t know. Thinking back and remembering everything is whats keeping me sane right now in this hotel room by myself. Hope I didn’t bore you. Hmmm. I want to upload pictures.. I have over 1000. And we all have pictures… this should be interesting.

This may be the last blog entry. Hope you enjoyed.