And I'm back

I ran away. I needed some perspective – on work, on my new living
arrangement, and on being in Zambia. Then I came back and one day at
the office made me want to run away again. I'm trying to find a
feeling that maybe cannot be found. Malawi is beautiful. After four
days on the beach, I was slowly getting to that feeling – waking up
happy and with a relatively clear mind. I'll take a beach and good
book any day. However, dealing with a typical Monday morning at work
clouded whatever space I had cleared in my mind. Another vacation is
in order – soon!

I've written on Malawi before – on how I think it seems better of than
Zambia (nicer roads, infrastructure) and people seem friendlier.
However, I suppose it's the difference between visiting a country and
living in one. Of course, I've had more of a chance to discover what I
don't like about Zambia. Still, while rural Zambia compared to rural
Malawi are indeed very similar, I find Lilongwe, the capital less
hurried than Lusaka. I was shocked at the lack of hassle I got going
through the bus stations in Lilongwe, which some days I feel is
impossible in Lusaka. Maybe I smelled bad in Lilongwe and people kept
their distance.

I could talk more about the beautiful secluded beach, which I was
happy to find mostly tourist and backpacker free, but the bus journey
back from Northern Malawi was a nut case.

Bus 1 – Mzuzu to Lilongwe
Official bus capacity – around 20. Actual number of people packed in –
40. The "seat" I thought I had was actually a quarter of one seat and
half of a seat 10cm lower. So I lost all feeling in my butt and
because a giant bag of rice took up most of my leg room, all the
feeling in my legs went as well. Had a good chat with some medical
students from Wales doing electives in Malawi. They commented on the
poverty: "I didn't expect the poverty to be this bad." Hmm… yeah
poverty. It is possible that I've stopped noticing it after a while.
It had blurred, become less obvious. Interestingly, I think I needed
that reminder from a new pair of eyes that this poverty is extreme,
unnecessary, unacceptable. There will always be poorer and richer
people… just not the kind of poverty that dictates life or death.

Bus 2 – Lilongwe to Mchinji (near Malawi/Zambia border)
I had a seat in the minibus, but it didn't have a back. Okay for the
first hour, but soon discovered it was hard to sit properly so my back
wasn't oddly curved. The man beside me was carrying a television. When
the bus hit a pothole too hard, the tv shifted and squashed me to the
window. Then I felt something move under me. Umm… someone else's feet…
no! Two chickens! How did I not notice them when I got on the bus.
Then for the next hour all I could think about were those poor
chicken. I had visions of them breaking free and wreaking havoc in the
minibus. When we the police at roadblock insisted on searching the
bus, we all tumbled out – not unlike a clown car. Then to my surprise,
a white guy had somehow also been squashed in. And get this, another
Canadian from the same province. What are the chances – first to run
into another foreigner on a minibus (there are a plethora of minibuses
to take), to meet a Canadian, and then a Canadian who grew up not far
from where I did.

Bus 3 – Chipata (near Zambia/Malawi border) to Lusaka
Went to bus station to make sure I had a ticket for the first bus out
in the morning. I discovered that if you arrive at night and taking
the 4am bus, you can sleep on the bus. I'd never done that before but
the hassle of getting a taxi at 3am, wasn't really worth it so, I
boarded the bus and went to sleep. At about 1am, a group of 15 young
English kids boarded the bus. Huh? Yup, so at one point there were
more white than black people on the bus. I was confused. Chipata is
not exactly a tourist destination.

Needless to say, I was sore, tired, and dirty when I finally rolled into Lusaka.

Back at work for a week now. Plans for the new little bit: Workshops.
Monitoring visits. Hiring new staff – hopefully. Ministry of Education
working group. Book distribution. HIV programmes at village level.
Youth group launches (hmm… PEPFAR and abstinence based programmes – a
future post).

I need ideas for happy posts. Maybe I should write about beaches and
good books after all.