January started with us all saying goodbye sadly to Ros, Mum and Dad, the latter after they spent a couple of nights in the Satemwa tea plantations hiking and looking at birds.
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| Joshi in his christmas baby bouncer |
We got back to work and my study started proper recruitment, so I hit the ground in a whirlwind of problem solving and team management. My team are fabulous and so hard working – they actually look depressed at the end of the day if they have not managed to recruit a patient! It is peak malaria season now the rains are set in, and every day the corridors of the hospital echo with the incredibly beautiful and moving sounds of singing as people accompany bodies of dead relatives to the mortuary. I had to buy quinine for a patient this week as there is none in the hospital (along with a chronic shortage of other essential drugs), a situation a Malawian colleague described as ‘shameful’.
January has been a month of hello’s and goodbyes – sadly we said goodbye to our friends Ruth and Steve McKew who have gone back to Cheshire with their daughters after 3 years in Malawi. Zoe their youngest had to double check there were no crocodiles in the river in the UK as she has lived all her life so far here J. Ruth had several leaving parties including 30 odd women invading the Bombay Palace to play games and eat curry, and a Burn’s night dinner which ended with several people in the swimming pool!
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| Escorting the haggis |
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| From the left: Nic, Helena, Ruth, Emma and Roshina drink wine and giggle |
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35 women descend on the Bombay palace to say good bye to Ruth
The Burn’s night dinner was memorable for that, and the fact everyone had a good, but surreal time paying homage to the haggis, listening to bagpipes, drinking whiskey and dancing a ceidlh, with the Malawian staff (and Gav and I!) looking on in good natured bemusement. We are also shortly saying bye to Jacqui who has been in Malawi from Australia for 10 years and we will miss them all.
Gav Joshi and I have loved spending time together as a family in Malawi -see pics below. |
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| Joshi learns to sing with Gavin |
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| Home haircut Malawi-style |
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| Hanging out in the hammock in the garden |
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| Joshi hangs out with mum and dad on the khondi |
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Sarah with Amos (3) and Arava (12 weeks)
We have also said hello again to Sarah and Naor Bar-Zeev, the lovely Australians who rented our house here while we went home to have Joshi, and then went home themselves to have a lovely daughter Arava (sister to Yona and Amos). They are living up the road and are settling back into being a large family here and it is fab having them so close.
We also have been on a day safari to Nyala park, which is only an hour's drive away and is a private reserve so you are guaranteed to see animals. We are pleased we went when we did as the road has now been washed away in the recent floods.
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| Giraffe and baby in Nyala park |
Joshi continues to thrive, he has gained a whopping 600g in one month and is now 10.6 kg at 10 months. He is an adept crawler now, eats with his hands making an enormous mess, and Is starting to pull himself to standing. He chats away in baby language, can clap hands and loves to play football in his baby bouncer and read books with daddy. and mummy. He is developing into an adorable relaxed friendly little person and we are so lucky to have the wonderful childcare here to support us. We hosted baby group for the first time this month and had a fabulous afternoon, especially Joshi hanging out with his posse of baby boy mates.
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| Our lounge is overtaken by mums and babies! |
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| Joshi shares his baby bouncer with Eidlih (13 months) |
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| Joshi hangs out with his posse of baby mates Seb, Caleb and Max |
Time is flying away with us – I meant to post this at the end of Jan, but I hope everyone is well and enjoyed Valentines this year (I got a bunch of flowers picked from the garden!) and I hope in the next post we will be able to announce the arrival of some chickens – it turns out buying chickens in Malawi in a recession is harder than we thought.
Lots of love to all
Emma Gavin and Joshi xxJ
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| Mystery giant antelope in Nyala park - can you identify it?? |
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