November 21, 2010
Woke up Sunday in Liwonde to a light shower..…are the rains coming or is this just a tease like the Malawian’s are saying? Liwonde is just north of Blantyre where we are dropped off Mala for a week to work at a children hospice. Saturday we went on a night safari drive through the Liwonde National Park...didn’t see a lot of different animals mainly elephants, wart hogs and a few impalas.
Today we made our way to Nguludi where I will be spending the rest of my time here with Susan working at St. Joseph’s Hospital. When we arrived, Susan gave me a quick tour of the facility then we made our way to the guest house. It a beautiful 3 bedroom house, basic in its amenities..… I had no linen so I’m sleeping on 4 yards of material that Susan purchased last week to make a tradition skirt and 2 cushions from the coach as my pillow.
We met up with one of the hospital drivers “Malisimo” who suggested to Susan last week that they take a walk to a neighboring village PIM. This village is a missionary site that was established in 1900 and is the home of Malawi’s most famous freedom fighter Rev. John Chilembwe. To date it is still a very active community in the region and is a commercial centre for many of the surrounding villages to sell the goods and services twice a week.
The walk took a little longer then we anticipated. We left the Nguludi shortly after 3 and expected to return shortly after five just before nightfall. Well,that didn’t happen because of the time spent taking pictures, talking to people along the way and stumbling across a situation that needed our immediate attention. We were going to stop and take a few pictures of women pumping water at a community borehole when I noticed that all the women were sitting around the well but not pumping water. I asked Malisimo if there was a problem and he asked the group of ladies. It turns out that the well is inoperable because someone stole the pumping handle and the rubber hose that draws the water from the well four days ago. Unfortunately the village does not have the resources to replace the missing equipment so the women were trying to determine what to do. In the mean time the village is drawing their water from a near by river where in many places river water is stagnant. This has the makings of a cholera problem, which will be magnified as soon as the rains arrive in a week or so.
As we were discussing the situation with the ladies, I suggested to Susan that we consider helping. We had a option of purchasing the missing equipment from Blantyre and deliver it to the village so they could make the repairs. Malisimo said that we would need to discuss this with the chief…and just at that moment the chief made her way down to the Borehole. It was agreed that the village would send a representative to the city to secure a quote for materials and report back to me Monday. Once the Chief announced what we were doing the crowed of mostly women burst out in applause.
News of what we were proposing spread very quickly and it wasn’t long before we were greeted by a village headman on the road who not only thanked us but also said for us to consider his village our home and to feel as safe here as you would in our own home.
Woke up Sunday in Liwonde to a light shower..…are the rains coming or is this just a tease like the Malawian’s are saying? Liwonde is just north of Blantyre where we are dropped off Mala for a week to work at a children hospice. Saturday we went on a night safari drive through the Liwonde National Park...didn’t see a lot of different animals mainly elephants, wart hogs and a few impalas.
Today we made our way to Nguludi where I will be spending the rest of my time here with Susan working at St. Joseph’s Hospital. When we arrived, Susan gave me a quick tour of the facility then we made our way to the guest house. It a beautiful 3 bedroom house, basic in its amenities..… I had no linen so I’m sleeping on 4 yards of material that Susan purchased last week to make a tradition skirt and 2 cushions from the coach as my pillow.
We met up with one of the hospital drivers “Malisimo” who suggested to Susan last week that they take a walk to a neighboring village PIM. This village is a missionary site that was established in 1900 and is the home of Malawi’s most famous freedom fighter Rev. John Chilembwe. To date it is still a very active community in the region and is a commercial centre for many of the surrounding villages to sell the goods and services twice a week.
The walk took a little longer then we anticipated. We left the Nguludi shortly after 3 and expected to return shortly after five just before nightfall. Well,that didn’t happen because of the time spent taking pictures, talking to people along the way and stumbling across a situation that needed our immediate attention. We were going to stop and take a few pictures of women pumping water at a community borehole when I noticed that all the women were sitting around the well but not pumping water. I asked Malisimo if there was a problem and he asked the group of ladies. It turns out that the well is inoperable because someone stole the pumping handle and the rubber hose that draws the water from the well four days ago. Unfortunately the village does not have the resources to replace the missing equipment so the women were trying to determine what to do. In the mean time the village is drawing their water from a near by river where in many places river water is stagnant. This has the makings of a cholera problem, which will be magnified as soon as the rains arrive in a week or so.
As we were discussing the situation with the ladies, I suggested to Susan that we consider helping. We had a option of purchasing the missing equipment from Blantyre and deliver it to the village so they could make the repairs. Malisimo said that we would need to discuss this with the chief…and just at that moment the chief made her way down to the Borehole. It was agreed that the village would send a representative to the city to secure a quote for materials and report back to me Monday. Once the Chief announced what we were doing the crowed of mostly women burst out in applause.
News of what we were proposing spread very quickly and it wasn’t long before we were greeted by a village headman on the road who not only thanked us but also said for us to consider his village our home and to feel as safe here as you would in our own home.
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