Tales of Transit.

Hello from Malawi! As I write this it is Saturday evening and I have just now reached the end of my 50-hour mission to get here! I departed Edinburgh before sunrise on Thursday, taking the 10-hour MegaBus trip down to London where I could more cheaply catch a flight to Malawi. The flight from London to Nairobi was when things started getting interesting. Laura (one of the girls I will be interning with at ASAP) and I lucked out and were able to snag seats next to one another and then because the flight was a bit empty we were crossing our fingers that no one would sit in the remaining third seat in our row. Luck was against us and we got a character named Jeeko. Jeeko was in his 50s and was one of those dreaded non-stop talkers that are oblivious to social ques. They really do seem to gravitate to me on all forms of transport. He was born and raised in Kenya but was clearly of Indian heritage and repeatedly spoke of his ‘English’ upbringing. He now lives in Surrey, England and was on his annual visit to see his family that still lives in Kenya. In addition, he was uneasy about flying and by a few hours into the flight he had downed eight of the little flight bottles of gin, no thanks to the flight attendant that kept sneaking them to him! I do believe the flight attendant just wanted him to pass out, as he really was that obnoxious. At one point he had us help pick out watches from the duty free catalogue for his nephews and later wanted us to pick something out for ourselves as well. He was ‘so very proud of us’ and wanted us to remember him and our special chat (which was entirely a one-way conversation). Laura and I graciously declined explaining how unnecessary it was, hoping he would then catch on to how annoyed we were and our desire for him to shut up and let us sleep (as it was an overnight flight and around two in the morning by this point). He insisted for some time and after we continued to refuse to pick something out of the catalogue he summoned for a female flight attendant for some assistance. And that is how we ended up in Malawi with $150 worth of Hallie Berry and Gucci perfume!

Yesterday morning, after a connection in Nairobi, we arrived in warm, sunny Lilongwe, Malawi. Though the locals continue to insist it is a chilly ‘winter’, I have to say it is near perfect summer weather with sunshine, a slight breeze, and daytime temperatures in the upper 70s. From Lilongwe we took a 5-hour bus ride down to Blantyre where we will be based. Though I was going in and out of a nap, I did catch glimpses of the beautiful scenery. Malawi is much more tropical than I expected with lush green vegetation that is extra vibrant at the moment since it is the end of the rainy season. It is also more hilly/mountainous than I pictured and at times I awoke to the bus on a cliff with a fantastic view of the rural countryside spread out forever below.

I should mention that prior our departure we had many housing issues that remained unsorted so I was a bit unsurprised when we did not have accommodation upon our arrival in Blantyre last night. I do not think that accommodation was given much thought by our host organization until two weeks or so before we were due to arrive. Also, I do not think that there is much of a thriving rental market here in Blantyre, making it difficult to secure something for us. Anyway, the first house that we were set to rent turned out to still have someone living in it. The second option wanted about a $1,500 down payment that we knew we would never see again so that was out of the question. Then, the third option was found between the time that Laura and I left on Thursday and when we arrived here yesterday. We were told that the family was still moving out so we had to stay in local accommodation last night. This was obviously not ideal because we didn’t want to pay for it and were keen to settle down in our own place, take a hot shower, and get some sleep. We survived however and expected to move in this morning. When we showed up at 9am to check it out it was clear that they were only just beginning to remove a lifetime of belongings from a huge family. We returned again this evening to them still clearing stuff out. They finally left around 7pm or so with many things still remaining but I am at least now able to unpack which is all I want to do after so much time in transit.

A little bit about the house… We are put up in quite a mansion by Malawian standards. A fortress might be an even better word. We have one guard during the day, three at night, a full time guard dog, a huge fence around the compound, burglar bars on our windows, an alarm system, panic buttons, and over twenty doors and locks to close up before bed time. It feels a bit like a prison rather than just trying to keep people out! I think it might be a bit overkill. The gardens and yard are quite impressive as well – a pool even, though it clearly has not been used in quite a few years and is more like a mosquito breeding ground at the moment. It must be difficult to get proper pool chemicals here in Malawi. We are situated up on a hill, which is apparently sought after because of the cooler, fresher winds meaning fewer mosquitoes and a lower malaria risk.

Anyway, I am very excited to be here and it is wonderful to feel the sun on my skin again after months in Edinburgh. Malawi seems to be a vibrant but relaxed place, though even poorer than I expected. The ‘city’ is even less built up than other poor cities I have been to. I should have quite an experience ahead of me!