1) Road transportation
Getting around in Malawi is not always easy. There are lots of minibuses and so-called taxis, but as it said in the guidebook, they are "overcrowded, unreliable, and dangerous." Our trip to Nkhata Bay last weekend, which would take only an hour if you had your own car, took over two hours. The first leg of the trip (to Mzuzu) was in a minibus containing up to 12 people at times. We paid less than $1 for this ride, but since we were the first ones in the van, we had to wait around until it filled up. The second part of the journey (from Mzuzu to Nkhata Bay) was in a station wagon type taxi with 4 friends we've met here and 1 other Malawian man. This trip cost about $5 each. The crazy part about it was that we were pulled over at police checkpoints 3 times during the 1 hour trip and fined several dollars each time for random, minute reasons. Additionally, fuel here is extremely expensive... it comes out to almost $8.50 per gallon!!! Between the stiff fines and cost of
gas, it's actually amazing that any of the local people can afford to drive at all.
2) Simple Solutions
Before we left for Africa, two people gave us cheap international cell phones to use while we're here. However, one of them didn't have a charger, so I assumed that it would be worthless and left it at home. Similarly, we were asked to carry a package from a Malawian man living in Indianapolis to his father here in Ekwendeni. The package weighed about 8 pounds (which is a lot considering a suitcase must be less than 50 pounds!) and was sketchily taped shut, so we decided we had better open so it we would at least know what was in it in case someone from airport security asked. Inside were about 25 cell phones without chargers - we didn't see the point but brought them anyway. Now that we're here, we understand... there are cell phone charging shops called TNM set up all over the place. Because of this system, even people without electricity have cell phones. It's really an ingenious solution, and a good reason to donate old cell phones (even if you've lost the charging cord)!
3) Pancake Day
Yesterday we were invited to Dr. Carol Jack's house for "Pancake Day." At first, we thought she just really liked pancakes (and who doesn't?!), but then she explained that Pancake Day is a tradition in the UK on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. The idea is that people use up all the excess eggs/flour/etc that they will not need during Lent. There was also some talk about people doing races where they run and flip the pancakes in the pan... but only one person tried that! We told everyone at the dinner about Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras in the US (leaving out a few choice details about how beaded necklaces are acquired), and then we each tried the pancakes. Actually, they were more like crepes, and toppings consisted of jams, mangoes, and honey. Although they can't hold a candle to Javorek family pancakes, they were still pretty delish :)
4) Clean water
Residents of Malawian villages spend a good deal of their time obtaining water. There are pumping stations along the side of the road, and women go there in the mornings to fetch water and carry buckets back on top of their heads. Water is often boiled for purification, but yet we've still seen patients in the hospital admitted with dysentery because their water source is a dirty stream. Stevie and I brought chlorine drops and a portable water filter to make sure we'd have clean drinking water, and even that task has become tedious after only 10 days. We jump at the chance to drink a Coke or a Fanta because it means we don't have to filter more water, and have really come to appreciate how easy it is to turn on a faucet back home.
5) How to hold onto the Sparkle
Much of this week, we have been in the pediatric ward focused on a very sick child named Mike. He had a complicated case of cerebral malaria, and had been seizing for over 24 hours when he came in on Monday. Throughout that day, his condition remained grim, and by the end of the day there was little hope that he'd make it through the night. However, Dr. Anneke told us that she still had what she called "a sparkle of hope." We thought about that patient a lot overnight, and were amazed and ecstatic to see that he was alive and improving the next day. Thinking about what Anneke had said the day before, we realized how resilient children can be. Was Anneke's hope stemming from the wisdom of a pediatrician who has seen similarly sick children survive, or is that "sparkle of hope" something that everyone can strive for?
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