Before I go any further I should give credit to the ‘strap line’ I have used at the top of my blog-‘Africa-A Hand-up not a Hand Out’. This is a direct steal from the charity Ripple Africa whose website I highly recommend you go to for huge inspiration! I'd also like to send huge thanks to Romek who has kindly taken over my share of the administration needed to run our business, Pet 24. I'm still recruiting, training and managing our sales team, but without Romek's support I wouldn't be able to be here.

I’m now starting my third week in Malawi at Ripple Africa’s base in Mwaya Beach. Many apologies for the length of time it's taken for me to get a blog going-believe me, there has been a lot going on and now at last I have  a weekly plan that allows me some writing time! Also-I've FINALLY realised that I'm not writing a blinking book so I MUST stop re-writing just about all of it and stop worrying about the details-I proof read for a couple of writers and I'm finding it so hard to just let go-so just roll your eyes when you read a typo or have to suffer poor grammar!! I've also just discovered (having cycled 9k to find what I was told is a better Wifi signal for uploading blog photos)...that it's just the same as at our base-extremely slow! All the videos will have to wait until I'm back and I'll have to keep the amount of photos to a minimum as each one takes around 5/6 mins!! 

One reads about the extreme culture-shock that happens when westerners arrive in Africa, particularly rural Africa, but reading about it in my case couldn’t come close to preparing me for the effect it had and is still having. I won't try to encapsulate it all in this intro-it’s probably more effective (an easier for a non-writer!) to describe individual events as they happen.

 A typical bus ride...with a basketful of pongy fish!

On landing at Lilongwe airport (small!) I had to queue with about 20 others to have my visa granted, paid for, then stamped for entry into Malawi. Ripple Africa is one of the most organised charities I’ve worked with. They had already explained that to have our visa forms filled in and the $75 in cash ready, this would make our entry much smoother-they were right! It was easy to see many others struggling with filling in their forms, arguing about why can’t they use their credit cards…. with impatient visa officials clearly having all sorts of negative thoughts about us pesky westerners spoiling their day- while they frowned and looked on, making many corrections with much eyeball-rolling, tuts and sighs! That attitude however is the opposite of how we all find the Malawians-they are ALWAYS so friendly and helpful, anywhere you go.

Once through the passport/visa hurdles I had an interminable wait by the luggage carousel where after 15 mins I was thinking-‘Well, that’s it-my luggage clearly wasn’t transferred at Adis Ababa airport, just the owner of it.’  After 20 mins of trying not to panic-sweat, both my cases appeared, to my great relief. One of the cases contained 2 large carrier bags of arts & craft materials that had taken some time and thought to gather together for the charity’s Summer Club and would be very hard if not impossible to replace in Malawi. Never have I been so pleased to see a suitcase! I’ll be more honest too-3 months without hair conditioner would have left me looking like a haystack after a storm-so at least no-one has to suffer looking at that for the duration of my time here.

Nikki, the project manager at Ripple Africa, had encouraged all the new volunteers arriving at similar times, to get together for the 4.5 hour taxi ride from Lilongwe up to Mwaya Beach, close to Matete, the nearest village. I met Kate (a travelled British doctor) at the airport. We taxied into Lilongwe centre together then met Kerri (a travelled Kiwi nurse) at Kibobo Hotel where we were all booked to stay for one night.

I’m reasonably travelled, and have enjoyed travelling alone at times, particularly in India, but after such long flights/waiting at Adis Ababa airport, I was very relieved to be able to shower, rest for 30 mins then join interesting company for a good chat and a meal in the restaurant next to the hotel. I’m sure you can imagine how GOOD our first cold beer tasted-I’ll never forget that!

We were all aware that we had to live successfully together for at least 3 months ( though Kerri is staying for 5) so everyone was keen to find out about everyone else-and pretty soon I think we all felt that we had enough in common to make it work! I’m sure that this is something Ripple Africa, Nikki in particular as the manager, have to take into careful consideration when bringing volunteers together for long periods of time, from all over the world. 

The view from a supermarket in Lilongwe

After a great night's sleep we had quite a busy morning organising our phones, credits, money and the all-important visit to the local supermarket as we had to make the most of the wide choices available in Lilongwe that certainly wouldn't be about up in our small village of Matete. Jessica, another volunteer who arrived 10 days before us, had put in her order for chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate, amongst other items tho not so interesting. 

One couldn’t cope with this experience without a sturdy positive attitude-which made itself evident in our small group pretty quickly. There are many changes one has to recognise (even if it’s hard to accept)- from the most important issues- the extreme poverty that makes itself abundantly clear immediately one arrives in the villages, the severe lack of medicinal and educational support from a corrupt government, HUGE amounts of people to be either treated for illness or to be educated in massive classes…to the smaller issues- no electricity in our chalets, lots of tough cycling on sandy/dusty lanes in extreme heat, Malawian time-keeping (no such thing!) and little sleep in the first couple of weeks while one acclimatises to the night’s sounds. (One of the most piercing is a bird that we’ve named the ‘truck-reverser-bird’ as it sounds EXACTLY like that, only louder and goes on and on ad infinitum!)

 Children from the nearest school to our centre-Mwaya Primary school-they are unfailingly joyful, friendly, inquisitive and very inspiring!

The centre volunteer manager Dan gave us a few days induction which was was both interesting and instructive. We were taken to local schools and clinics, and shown some of the other Ripple Africa projects e.g. their fruit-tree nursery and where the demonstrate how to build a safe fire for the women to cook on (the  The charity is keen that all the volunteers work where they feel they can both of the most sustainable benefit AND where they feel a sense of reward and enjoyment if possible.

 This was on the wall of one of the local clinics. The staff consist of one medical officer and a nurse. They both work 7 days a week from 8-6pm with no other support.

There are 9 Primary schools in the area and just one Secondary school (built by Ripple Africa). You can imagine how tough the competition is to be accepted when there are so few secondary places compared to the primary children needing them.

On my second day I met with Maurice who is the Educational Co-ordinator for the schools. He helped me achieve a better sense of what is needed most and in which schools. None of the school has any music teaching so at first I thought I’d be able to cycle to ALL of them every week! Maurice soon pointed out that that would be too much and that I should focus on 3/4 schools nearer to our centre to start with, then branch out further later in my stay, if possible.

My teaching week is pretty varied, with a lot of cycling! I’m happy with both: with  the teaching, I’ve got a couple of pre-school classes (2-5 yr olds-more of that later!), lots of primary lessons, and a 2-hour session at the secondary school, Kapanda. With the cycling, I enjoy the cycling, except when it doesn't rain for days, the sand loosens up so much it’s impossible to ride through, so it’s along hot push now and then! I’m forever telling myself ‘This is a great workout-stay positive!’…tho arriving at a school absolutely drenched in sweat is no-one’s ides of fun-least of all the pupils who always rush up to grab my hands-much to my over-heated amazement!