Hello there
July 2011
was a very chilly foggy cold (in Malawian terms) month, and Blantyre was built
on the high plateau to be cool in the hot season, and therefore very chilly in
the winter. So this year we decided to escape as much as possible to warmer
parts of the country.
The first
July weekend we went to the lake, ostensibly for a party to say goodbye to our
paediatrician friends Surita and Andy. We rented a newly renovated cottage
belonging to our friends and landlords Jane and Mac Mallewa on the lake shore
and set off with Roshina, Jen and two psychiatric colleages of Jen’s who were
teaching here. On Friday afternoon as we arrived, Andy Murray
was playing Jo Wilfred Tsonga in the men’s semi’s at Wimbledon. Jen amazingly
managed to tune her i-pad into radio Wimbledon, so we drank G&Ts by the
beach listening to the match. In true Malawian style, the coverage was very
sporadic, and cut out at all the vital moments. Towards the end of the match
the power went out, so we sat by candlelight, cheering Andy on, missing all the
vital shots, and I think Joshi thought we were quite mad. He joined in all the
cheering thinking it was all hilarious, and practiced pointing at the candle
saying ‘light!’.
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| tennis and scrabble by candlelight |
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| Jacaranda at sunset |
The next
day we spent in typical lake shore fashion – doing nothing except lying around
reading chatting and dozing. Joshi finally managed to let go of Gavin’s hand
and took his first steps, which were a sprint towards the lake, so pleased with
himself for finally managing to walk/run and spent the rest of the weekend with
one of us chasing after him, and cheering him on. The party on the Saturday
night was lovely – set on a beachside bar with the full moon reflecting in the
lake, with great music and lots of silly dancing in the sand. On Sunday we all
rushed back to BT to make sure we saw Andy in the final at Jen’s house, as she
has DSTV(South African Sky), however Joshi hated it, crying everytime the crowd
cheered, so Gav and I negotiated rapidly, and watched two games each while
swapping running around the garden with him.
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| and he's off................ |
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| and is very pleased with himself afterwards |
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| beach party Malawi style with Sarita, Aisleen and Andy |
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| Roshina Gav and Joshi watch the Fed beat Andy in the Wimbledon final |
The second
weekend in July was the porter’s race, which is a massive race consisting of
all the Mulanje mountain porters, plus some crazy mazungu runners running up
and down Mt Mulanje over about 26 km – imagine a vertical marathon where you
ascend about 2000m and then come down again, starting at 5am. Joshi and I
joined the posse of people watching everyone come down at the end, and we were
so proud of all our friends who managed this amazing feat in a variety of 3-5
hours. We all went for pizza afterwards – bizarrely at the bottom of the
beautiful mountain is a pizza restaurant with a wood-fired oven, which gets all
its business from hungry hikers. The after-party that
night at Karen’s was amazingly lively with runners drinking and dancing until 2am. Yours
truly crashed at midnight, outstripped by all the runners who don’t have
toddlers to wake them up……
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| Emma and Joshi set off to watch the end of the race |
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| Nick crosss the river on his way to the finish line |
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| Rob and Emile find the best way to cool off after the race |
The
following weekend was my birthday weekend, and we headed back off to Mac and
Jane’s cottage again, this time with Helena and Nick (very sadly our last
weekend in Malawi together with them), and our mutual friends Nic and Dean with
their kids Sophie and Samuel. More lakeshore relaxation ensued with Pimms at
lunchtime by the pool, and a lazy trip to Club Mak, which is a fancy hotel up
the road. After a failed birthday trip to the spa in true Malawian style, we
hung out by the pool with Joshi and joined the others for a round of golf on
the club Mak course, surrounded by baobabs and the beautiful sunset. We ate
fabulously with Mozambiquan lobster braai one night and roast filet the next,
cooked on charcoal under the stars by the lake by Lloyd the fabulous
housekeeper, such gorgeous surrounds with good friends – I could not think of a
better way to turn 35, thanks guys.
I am also getting into home food delivery - Malawi style. So far we have had home made bagels and cinnamon rolls, freshly roasted coffee and free range eggs delivered regularly to the door, as well as passers by selling strawberries, fish, pots, cloth and pretty much anything. Luka who makes the bagels has bought a Royal Mail bike - Blantyre is awash with these after a delivery from the UK, and they make me smile everytime we see one in the street.
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| Luka delivers hot cinnamon rolls on his Royal Mail bike |
This month
in Malawi not much has happened apart from the ongoing downstream economic
ripples from the devaluation – the waterboard went on strike with no notice,
cutting water to the whole city including the hospital, followed by the postal
service. Power, water and fuel is set to double in cost this coming month and
everywhere it is the average Malawian who has to meet this cost. After her
first dramatic 100 days in office, Joyce hasn’t done much more, or said where
she is going to take the country over the next 12 months. Malawians desperately
need a strong leader who can move things forward, let’s hope Joyce can live up
to her promise.
Work
continues as per usual for both of us, and now he can walk, Joshi is rushing
about everywhere and enjoying hanging out with his baby friends. As it is the
school holidays this and next month, most of his friends are away, they all
come back mid-August so we are all looking forward to regular Wednesday and
Monday playgroups starting up again. Joshi’s vocabulary now stands at about 25
words, and he is growing into a strong, happy confident little person, it is a
real delight to see.
We are all
excited about our trip back to the UK in September and hope to see as many of
our family friends, and their new arrivals, as possible, along with eating as
much cheese/sushi/Chinese/tyaabs as we can manage!
Lots of
love
Emma Gavin
and Joshi J
