Don’t think that all the volunteers have an easy life like me when they come to Malawi, things can be very difficult, and you can have a hard time. My friend Rachel for example was not so lucky, and she had a hell of a placement up to now.
She is an occupational therapist and she came to work at Zomba mental hospital, all the way from Hawaii! Mental illness in Africa is a big issue, there is only one mental hospital in the whole country, and the general opinion is that people with mental problems have suffered some kind of witchcraft or are chamba (marihuana) smokers..
Most of the people speak English here, but mental patients are different, so that was one of the first problems that Rachel had to face.. But well, we all receive quite a lot of training and eventually she would be able to work with patients. The main problem is that her colleagues at the hospital refused to talk in English when she was around or in the meetings, so she found herself totally stuck. She has tried to make it work but finally she gave up. Fortunately there is another place in Mzuzu where she could do some work and they wanted her to go there, so finally she managed to get a transfer and she moved there..
Mzuzu is far up the north of Malawi, near the border with Tanzania, so we rented a car and drove up there during the week end with all her stuff. Driving on the wrong side of the road with a manual car was too much for her, so I agreed to give her a hand. Is not that I enjoy driving 1200 km in a week end, but well, the road is quite good, and the landscapes fantastic!!
Talking about traveling, many of us are thinking of staying here over Christmas and cross the border to Mozambique!! The north of the country is easily accessible from Malawi (but not from South Africa) and its full of paradise like beaches.. We have two options: driving or public transport. Some volunteer have bought cars and are planning to drive there, but it will be raining season and the roads can get very doggy… the public transport option sounds more appealing to me, cos it involves taking loads of minibuses and a train in Mozambique.. it will take me two or three days to reach the coast but I’m sure is worth it!
2 comments:
joder pilt, si finalmente te vas a Mozambique vas a viajar más que Willy Fog, de todos modos, te echaremos de menos en el lechazo xo creo que la comida exótica que comerás x allí merecerá la pena tanto o más que ir a Aranda de Duero....jejeje...
cuidate y empieza a escribir tu cuaderno de viaje como Javier Perez Reverte....seguro que si no te dan el Nobel o el Príncipe de Asturias x el trabajo científico te dan el Planeta x la mejor obra de "FICCIÓN"??
un abrazo(cómo se dice en malagüeño??)
Estos pijillos que no saben conducir por las carreteras de Malawi, con los socavones y el barro y los bufalos y los elefantes... de verdad, Antuan, con que gentes te juntas. Como se nota que has subido en la escala social y ahora perteneces a la jetsetss esa... :-))
Ten cuidado por esas carreteras de dios!
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