I have just read back through the last few months of this
blog, it seems a bit like all
we do is go on holiday and have fun. That is not strictly true, we do work very
hard in a hospital full of desperately poor and sick people, pushing hard against
a system that is constantly under-resourced and full to capacity. Gav is hoping that his legacy here will be a new dialysis unit, and my study is going well, so far....... We recently examined for the finals of the medical school and it
was great to see some of our students who we first met as third years graduate, although out of an intake of 60
in 2009 only 26 are graduating this August which is very sad and leaves Malawi
continuously short of doctors. We were part of a mass exodus of senior staff from the department of medicine including the Dean of the medical school and the head of department, which meant lots of parties but now a massively under-staffed department.
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| Gav with Theresa, our outgoing head of department of Medicine |
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| The future of medicine in Malawi? Tamara, Shalom and Chaniyzia, three registrars on the MMed programme |
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| Me with 3 of my Wellcome Fellow colleagues Phil, Toni and Steve |
This month Gav and I both had our last month of
full clinical work, Gav’s contract with the College of Medicine is up so he is
resigning and working full time on his MD thesis. My study is continuing but I
am also allowed to come off the wards to concentrate on writing up my thesis
and finishing off the study – I am due back in the NHS 12 months from today, so
need to get my skates on. I am going to be sad to give up the HIV clinic I do,
as that is where I feel, apart from my study, I actually do some good work
making my patients better and able to live healthily with their HIV infection.
I was flabbergasted when a patient came in wearing flip flops and a chitenge
clutching a Louis Vuitton handbag, original leather that she had bought in the
local market – clearly Oxfam had missed that one.
This blog is about another couple of trips we have made, but
don’t worry, I am not going to wax
lyrical about how beautiful Mozambique was, how interesting it was to learn
about the history or how much fun it was to see Ros, or how much we enjoyed the
fresh tuna with coconut rice or the enormous prawns, I am going to let the
pictures speak for themselves. It was one of our best trips ever and well worth
the long drive to the coast. We got through all the road-blocks no problem, the
only bribe we paid was a copy of Company magazine and a sprite to a border
guard who hardly spoke English – who knows what he made of the fashion tips.
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| cheerful Joshi at 6am at the border |
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| Dhows at Ilha harbour |
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| wreck at Ilha harbour |
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| Governor's mansion seen from the pier at Ilha harbour |
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| elegantly faded buildings |
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| beachside lunch at Ilha |
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| prawns! |
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| gateway to the original harbour on Ilha |
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| 'big boom mummy!' |
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| Original hospital entrance |
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| the incredibly elegant and decrepit hospital (note tree growing out of window - even worse than Queen's) due to be demolished and turned into a luxury hotel |
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| Chapel in the fort - the oldest European building in East Africa built 1498, still complete with gargoyles |
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| Portuguese elegance at our hotel on Ilha |
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| shopping arcade including wine and book shop |
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| disused cinema |
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| 18th century law court |
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| Mozambiquans are sassy |
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| walk in the park at sunset on Ilha |
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| 1498 - 1st Christians in Africa |
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| First public church built in East Africa |
Nuarro lodge where we went after Ilha is an eco-resort in the middle of nowhere north of Nacala. It was founded by a group of divers who were making their way down the coast in a boat looking for dive sites and decided this reef was the best and most pristine they had ever dived and set up camp. Slowly a gorgeous lodge has been built with chalets on the beach and hammocks everywhere. The site is so remote that there are no thefts, so no locks on any doors and the only nocturnal visitors were hermit crabs. The beach is so clean that the only things washed up are perfect pansy shells. We were the only guests for a few days so had this paradise to ourselves, lazy days of diving (Gav), snorkelling (all of us), kayaking and sailing and lying around were incredible, after 7 nights we did not want to leave. Snorkelling and diving on the reef was unbelievably beautiful. Our battery in our car broke on the rough drive and the manager replaced it for us with one from his own car - you don't get that kind of service in most places. We even saw whales on our last day coming in from the cold water to mate in the warm water off the coast, a final sight to end the most relaxing holiday we have been on in Africa ever.
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| Daily chill out under the tree on Nuarro beach |
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| Paradise beach at Nuarro |
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| Joshi reads Glamour magazine upside down and asks 'Mummy where are the cars?' |
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| Rock pools at sunset at low tide - we found an eel and lots of crabs |
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| Ros at the most incredible secluded beach getaway for our last day lunch |
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| who needs toys when you have giant cushions, the sunshine and a view like that |
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| Kayaking in the unbelievably clear water |
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| Dawn at Nuarro |
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| outside shower essential for de-sanding Joshi |
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| My gorgeous boys |
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| so grown up |
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| our beachside home for 7 incredible nights |
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| how relaxed can you get.......? |
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| crabs at low tide |
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| uncanny resemblance between Joshi and auntie Ros |
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| Dhow at low tide with the clearest blue water imaginable |
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| Nuarro reef seen from the 1930's lighthouse |
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| Lighthouse still going with solar panels |
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| Whale watching on the deck at Nuarro |
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| Nuarro sunset |
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| Baobab tree, the true iconic tree of Southern Africa |
Almost immediately after getting back from Moz I unpacked
and turned myself around for my first Mulanje trip. I have been wanting to
climb southern Africa’s highest peak that is only down the road for some time,
but leaving Joshi or taking him with didn’t seem feasible. This trip was
organised by the fabulous Jen, one of only two consultant psychiatrists in the
whole of Malawi, and a mountain regular. We went the steepest route up which
involved gentle walking through the tea plantations until it got steeper and
steeper and we were climbing ladders up rock faces – but if Karen’s dog Pushkin
could do it, so could I. Eating lunch looking down on eagles circling around
the waterfall was incredible, as was the beauty of the plateau and the hut when
we got there. I only stayed one night to get back to Joshi and Gav so I didn’t
go on the next day to do a peak, instead we dashed back down in time to watch
Andy win Wimbledon – the perfect end to a perfect 2 weeks.
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| Another classic Malawi shop sign 'the Difficult to understand shopping centre and tea room' |
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| Villagers in the tea plantations sending off some relatives |
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| Setting off through the tea to the mountain |
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| Karen and Pushkin, aka the most intrepid mountain climbing team in Malawi |
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| Pushkin sensibly avoids the edge |
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| Incredible lunch time view with eagles circling below us |
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| Bip is king of all he surveys (in his head) |
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| cloud forest |
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| Brave swimmers in the icy mountain water |
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| Madzeka hut where we slept at the bottom of the picture on the Mulanje plateau |
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| hungry climbers waiting for yummy dinner cooked on the fire |
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| Fresh mountain streams |
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| From the left, Me, Kate, Jen, Toni, and two Italian climbers |
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| View on the way up and down |
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| match point |
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| Yessssssssssssssssss |
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| Jen amazingly produces some fizz to celebrate |
Since then Gav has been to Durban for another conference and
went to the World Transplant games which was on at the same time– any person
who has ever had a transplant can put together a national team and compete, Gav
asked the Irish team for directions and 30 minutes later he looked like this, I think it was slightly less competitive than the Olympics.
Gav also hosted Roberto, who is the International Society of Nephrology's international ambassador who came as part of the funding Gav has raised to teach about peritoneal dialysis (PD) in adults and children. PD is very attractive option for dialysis in poor countries like Malawi as it can be done at home and does not incur costs for trips to hospital etc. Gav took Roberto to the village to deliver dialysis supplies to a patient - I think an eye opening trip for all concerned! Roberto and his wife Martha and son Peter all enjoyed their first trip to Africa, and we all hope that it is the start of a long collaboration.
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| Roberto and the dialysis nurses carrying 10 litres of PD fluid each |
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| Gav going the extra mile for his job |
Joshi has been a super-star with all the driving we have
been doing, all he wants to do is play with anything that comes to hand
wherever we go – cushions in Nuarro, shells, plants, animals, the sea, seed
pods, other children. When we played with friends recently he picked up a bat and ball and said proudly ‘look mummy I’ve
got a zapper!’ - his only experience of
a bat is watching us zap mozzies at dinner time every night.
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| Bouncing at the Cure childrens' fun day |
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| Helping mummy with the shopping |
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| I think you have to be 2 years old to get away with making this much mess face painting! |
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| artist |
Next up is a flying trip to the UK and a regular annual
meeting of MLW and Liverpool at the lake, then we are both off to East Africa to
teach and then we have to get read to wind up our lives here and get ready to
move home. We will be back before we know it I suspect.
Lots of love to all
Emma, Gav and Joshi
