Early monkey wake up call

Now travelling with the boys from Engineerswithout Borders, our trip to Nkhata Bay was much longer than expected, but then this is Africa, so I suppose that was to be expected.

The bus was supposed to leave at 11.30 am and after being told that we had a seat, then that we didn’t, then that there was no bus today, then that there was a bus but it was full and finally there was a bus and it was full but if we could squeeze on we could get on it, we eventually started boarding at around 1pm. Tight squeeze does not even come close. I quickly became an intimate acquaintance with the next guy’s armpit and had a small boy ask me if I’d marry him (of course, I said yes - he had a bag of sweets). When we spilled off the bus in Mzuzu at around 8.30 we had another hour in a taxi to the Bay. By the time we arrived we could barely stand; we ate and went straight to bed.

The next morning I was woken early by what sounded like a herd of angry pigs charging my cottage. When I went to investigate, I was greeted by hundreds of monkeys chasing each other around and play-wrestling right on my doorstep. It was amazing to watch. 

The little ones were bouncing up and down together and running circles around a big rock in front of the lake. 

I must have watched them for about an hour before, one by one, they disappeared back into the trees and I was left alone in silence with the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen.

That morning we travelled back into Mzuzu to give a talk at the University about the bicycle powered water pump that EWB have been developing. The pump is very simple and low cost, and uses a very simple system to pump water from Lake Malawi into farmers’ fields.

Later, back in the Bay, we spent the late afternoon enjoying the quiet tranquility of the lake. I’m not one to sit and relax very often, but you just can’t help it at this place. Everyone is super friendly; we were staying at Butterfly Space (a unique, non-profit, volunteer community project which brings international volunteers and the community together - more on that another time) and pretty much everyone was there working or on some kind of volunteering programme, so it was really nice to get to know people and hear their stories. It’s somewhere I could quite happily disappear to, never to be seen again.

With new friends in tow, we decided to have an explore around the town part of the bay and had a wander through the market, had some lunch (which, again, took a lot longer than expected!) and eventually strolled back up to Butterfly for dinner and drinks overlooking the water.

The nights at Butterfly consisted of drinking and talking, playing pool (badly) and stumbling back to my room in the pitch dark in the early hours. The days were spent meeting important folk, such as the Minister of Agriculture,  door-stepping people and making important contacts to help the EWB boys make their project a success.

Five short days passed in a blur. If ever there was a place I could go back to, this is it.

Next stop – SAFARI!

Is it a croc or a gator?

It seems that Malawi is a bit of a mecca for Sheffield alumni and I have been bumping into them in one way or another all week.

Today I paid a visit to the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre in search of their famous one eyed lion Bella, who was rescued from Romania. The centre is actually run by two alumni from the University of Sheffield, and as I'm here on university business I will be going back out to meet them towards the end of my trip. Today was a pleasure trip.

I was surprised by how many people were at the centre. Your entry fee includes a guided tour of the sanctuary and there's a tour leaving on the hour every hour so I expected there to be, maybe, five or six other people joining me. I was one of about 40 people, most of whom were Malawian families. It's obviously popular.

We headed straight for the reptiles and found two alligators sunning themselves by a stream. Our guide, Henry, told us that they had been sterilised because if they were allowed to breed, they could have up to 60 baby 'gators creeping about each year and they'd soon become overrun. You can tell these are alligators and not crocs by the shape of their jaw - crocs have a pointy jaw where alligators have a shorter, more square one. I didn't get close enough to check, so I took Henry's word for it.

Next were the monkeys, always a favourite of mine because watching them is a bit like people watching. I love how they always look deep in thought like they've got something really important on their mind and how they behave towards their babies, just like a human mum would (except for picking and eating fleas - I've never observed a human mum doing that).

The serval was hiding behind a tree so we didn't get to see her, which was a shame, but Bella the lion was sprawled out by the railings of the park, gazing out beyond. Bella had glaucoma in her left eye and it had to be removed so unfortunately she'll never be released back into the wild. For most of the animals at the centre, though, the plan is rehabilitation and release.

Apparently 4pm on a Sunday afternoon is not the best time to visit the centre as a lot of the animals were asleep or hiding, as was the rock python who we could just about see coiled up inside an old tyre. Better there than coiled around your ankles, I guess.

Last stop were the baboons.

The lazy sleepy baboons.

If you could just say Aaaaaa sir...

Azungu, Azungu!

I have just arrived in Malawi to work on water and sanitation projects with students from the University of Sheffield.

The first thing I noticed as I stepped out of the airport in Lilongwe was the light. No matter what time of day it is, everything is bathed in a warm rosy gold light. There seems to be an overall feeling of happiness here, at least for me. As I sat in the taxi from the airport and chatted with the driver, I couldn’t help but let the smile creep across my face. I knew instantly that I’d love it here.

After settling into the lodge, I caught up with the students to learn more about the projects.

The first of two projects that I’ll be working on is called Tapping Potential, run by Enactus Sheffield, which takes a 3 pronged approach to supporting a better life for people in communities just outside the capital, Lilongwe.

As water borne diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea are such big killers here, educating about cleanliness is very important. The first step; clean water. The team will be teaching local school leavers to maintain the boreholes in their villages to provide their people with clean water. We will also be teaching them how to explain to people why using clean water, rather than water from the river and streams is so vital. Step two is soap. We’ll be supporting the group to set up a business where they will make luxury soap, which they can then sell on to the villages and hotels in the area. The proceeds from the soap business will not only give our school leavers a living wage, but also brings us to step three: medicine. Without medicines, countless people die each year from water borne diseases. Profit from the soap business will go into buying medicines for the local clinics. So, it’s a very simple structure, but one that could change the lives of many in the community.

On our first day we drove an hour to the village where we’ll be carrying out the training to meet the school leavers that we’ll be working with. 

We spent some time doing icebreaker exercises and then moved onto teaching about sanitation and business skills such as sales and marketing. We explained to the group that we will be helping them to set up their business, but that it is THEIR business and it is for them to run as they believe is right. We will give them the skills to make it a success, but then it’s over to them.

At lunch we ate a traditional meal of nsima (pronounced seema) – a porridgey dish made from maize flour and water, which is served in a big lump that you have to break off and roll in your hands before dipping in a watery tomato based sauce and eating with cabbage and a boiled egg. It’s an incredibly filling dish which isn’t entirely offensive, but no matter how much of the nsima you eat, the mound never seems to go down!

 In the afternoon we did more team building and training before heading out on a rescue mission to a remote village an hour away where one of our vehicles had broken down. As we drove through villages the setting sun turned the sand and bricks a warm baked orange as the streets came to life with children playing and people selling fruits, fly-covered meat and used clothes by the roadside.

When we pulled up alongside our broken down 4-wheel drive, kids flocked out to see what we were doing and began showing off for my camera. 

They all enjoyed posing and then looking at their pictures on my LCD screen. One of the really little ones was terrified of us because he’d never seen a white person before and stood wailing behind his older brother’s legs, peeking out now and then to see if we’d gone. When we asked the kids their ages we were surprised to find that they were twice as old as we thought; they are so tiny, no doubt due to malnutrition. Despite the hard lives these kids must lead and uncertain futures ahead, they all seemed perfectly happy.

 After a quick jump-start and a bit of tweaking, both cars were back on the road. As we drove away, we were followed by the call of ‘Azungu, Azungu!’ – ‘White person! White person!’