Malawi, Malawi, Malawi!
I cannot believe how time flies and apologize for not having updated my blog sooner. The last few weeks have been pretty eventful, mainly in a good way, so I’ll cut to the chase!
To start with, Sophie is now back with me in Nchalo. Unfortunately at the beginning of May she had to fly home to England to get diagnosis and treatment for her wrists which had been incredibly sore since January. At the time we were keeping it quiet, but now that she is back and it is not too serious we can celebrate her return! Life in Malawi without Soph was pretty tough; one of the best things about having a partner is that you can be honest with them and discuss your situation openly, knowing that they will understand because they are experiencing the same situations. Without that to fall back on, life at home was chaotic and, despite the fact that there were 11 people in the house, it was quite lonely. Spending a month in Malawi, alone, was difficult but I believe that it was good for me and that I became more outgoing (having to work harder in social situations) and independent at the same time.
What didn’t help was catching labarynthitis while Sophie was in England! Being quite a distance from the lake and very far from any ocean, the feeling of having sea-sickness was very strange and I was off work for a week. At first we wondered if I had malaria and Phoebe and Ignatius insisted on having a blood test. I am very happy that not only did I not have malaria but I also have a Malawian Health Passport! Admittedly the name on it is “Catherine Rovegrove”, but with “R” and “L” being interchangeable in Chichewa we’ll let that one slide!
NRU continues the same as ever, though we arrived on Friday to find a new BP machine-a battery operated one too! That will not only be good for our ears, as using the old, broken stethoscopes was really sore, but now the nurses have more chance of finding possible cases of pre-eclampsia in pregnancy early and acting to prevent harm to mother or baby. The weather in Nchalo has become significantly cooler in the mornings, never fear, it’s still hot by 10am, and so the mothers come to the clinic a lot later than they do during the hot season. Nevertheless, we continue to register new clients who are either very young or have given birth many times before. I came across a woman on her 11th pregnancy the other day-wow!
Recently, home based care training sessions have been going well. We still have a strong turn-out of about 20 volunteers (though there are still a couple who turn up in the last 5 minutes-Malawi!) and they are very enthusiastic and willing to learn. We have done a couple of sessions on nutrition and HIV, using activities and diagrams to illustrate the lessons and get the volunteers involved. This week they were particularly excited when we had them moving around while discussing HIV/Aids; they were like school children and we had to keep telling them to please be quiet and listen to the explanation! Their animation shows enthusiasm and that they are not only enjoying the morning, but that they are interested and gaining something from the session. We keep encouraging them to apply what we tell them in the sessions to the patients who they visit in their villages. Both Sophie, Never, the volunteers and I feel very positively about how this part of our project is going.
As always, the hospital has been very interesting and in the last few weeks I spent time in theatre watching a hernia repair. It was really interesting to learn how common hernias are in the population around Nchalo. It turns out that they are quite prevalent; both because of genetic pre-dispositions but also because of how much manual labour people do to earn a living. Having seen hernia repairs in the UK, it was also great to see how they deal with them in Malawi. Because there is less up-to-date technology and fewer specialized tools, the hernia was repaired using sutures. At home there is a specific mesh which surgeons incorporate into the patient’s tissue, but that isn’t an option here, so they make do with what supplies are relatively plentiful. Unfortunately, a lot of surgery has had to be postponed because the hospital’s autoclave has broken so equipment cannot be sterilized. Any emergencies are referred 30km north to Chikwawa and all elective procedures are put on hold, so if anyone has an autoclave spare or knows where to find one, I can think of a good home for it!
All in all the project is going well though we haven’t seen Paul, our host in over two months now. For a while I felt a little confused because of how much has turned out differently to what I expected (no youth group running or drumming clubs and outreach clinics) and I wondered if my being in Nchalo was doing good. However, I feel that we are helping the HBC volunteers and therefore the patients in villages because they seem to be learning new things which they can apply to their roles within FHECC. At NRU we have encouraged efficiency and give the nurses more time to spend with clients as we handle formalities and they examine them. At the hospital, though we aren’t qualified, for many patients, seeing a white face gives them confidence that they are receiving good treatment. We have been busy in the maternity ward discharging patients and I even removed one mother’s c-section sutures; that was amazing. What I have realized is that we are being useful to the community despite not being essential, and this is the best way to have it. If we were essential then when we leave in 4 weeks’ time for travelling and then home (scary!) we would leave a hole in the community and the projects would suffer. As it is, when we leave, the community will be more than capable of continuing the good work that they do and what we are contributing now will still be of use to them when we leave.
So much of our project has involved us scouting out where and how we can be involved and though PT aren’t sending volunteers to Nchalo next year, I still see this as a positive experience. We have used a lot of initiative so far and learned masses about healthcare, Africa and ourselves. I was probably naïve when I came to Malawi, but I now see that I can make a small positive impact on the Nchalo community, but it will make far more of a difference to me and I am so grateful for that; so thank you to everyone who helped me get here!
Just after Sophie came back it was time for our first family visit. Her Mum, Dad and sister came out and we spent a five days with them, both in Nchalo, Blantyre and in Thyolo. It was Phil’s birthday and we had a very special celebration on an old colonial tea estate with some incredible food, lovely tea, brilliant games and great company. It was a very successful visit and now we’re looking forward to our next guests; the Lovegroves! I can’t believe it’s 2 weeks until my family arrive in Malawi and also how close it is to the middle of August. I am very excited about the coming weeks, especially seeing Mum, Dad and Jen, but also reluctant to leave Nchalo and the Phiri family because I have grown into Nchalo life so much in the last 5 months.
Ok, nearly done, but I realize that I have barely mentioned food in this blog. I have discovered that maize flour (a Malawian family’s staple food, used to make nsima) can be used successfully to make pancakes! Soph brought back a few treats from England and we are looking forward to some risotto and parmesan for the first time since January! What I will ask is this: does anybody know if you can get or grow cassava in the UK? It’s a root vegetable a bit like potato but it is an actual root and it has been brilliant while I have been here and Sophie and I are worried about missing cassava when we return home and venture off to university. So, if anybody could let us know, that would be great!
In the mean time, love to all, have a good end of term and start to the summer. Post is still amazing and please keep it coming but I would recommend not sending anything after the beginning of July because we’ll leave Nchalo soon after and there’s a strong possibility that letters would arrive after our departure. In saying that, we do have a possible solution as to how to retrieve any late post, so don’t feel completely deterred!
Enjoy Wimbledon, Greese and the end of exams. I’ll see you all soon.
Lots of love,
Catherine
xxx
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