Out on a Field Trip with the Society of Malawi

Today I met up with members of the Society of Malawi at Mandala House in Blantyre.  By 8.30am there were five 4x4s carrying Society members as we headed off south-west towards the Lower Shire valley.  We were going to visit some missionary graves from the time of Livingstone's expedition (in this case 1862/63).

The assembled throng was an eclectic mix of old-school colonials (been here for donkeys' years, etc.), and people from Malawi and Mozambique.  There was a wealth of knowledge about the history of the places we visited that really brought the places and the events to life.

We finished off at a new Lodge that has been built by a Dutch couple right by the rapids on the River Shire (the ones that Livingstone failed to navigate in his original steam ship, and had to skirt by carrying his boat around them.  It was a wonderful location; the Lodge doesn't formally open until 1st July, but the Society had arranged with Gerhard (mine host) to get in some Carlsberg Green so that we could quench our thirst at the end of a hard morning's grave exploration.

All in all it was a great trip out, and thanks to Mike Bamford for driving me around, and to Tawanda Madovi for his extensive knowledge and erudite exposition of the tales of Livingstone's expedition.

I've taken loads of photos today, and a selection is posted on Flickr.  Don't forget to select "Show Info" to view the titles, etc.

Highlight of the day - getting into an argument with a policeman for taking a photograph at a roadblock.  Silly thing, I know, and I immediately erased the photo, but my fellow car passengers tore into the cop big time, much to my embarrassment and concern.  However, all ended happily enough.

I've Joined the Society of Malawi

This evening I went back to Mandala House to join the Society of Malawi.  It's run entirely by volunteers, and so is only open on weekday mornings and on Thursday evenings from 6pm to 7.30pm.

For the evening opening hours, access is only via the rear door, so I had to go into the car park within the adjacent car dealership.  Then up the stairs, where I was greeted by Dora again, and was ushered into a room where I met her husband Stephen.  They were working on the Society's absolutely amazing photographic collection.  It has thousands of really beautiful images, dating as far back as the first half of the nineteenth century.

The collection has been digitised, and I'm talking to them about how best they can commercially exploit it to raise funds to support the Society's work.

Whilst viewing some of the pictures, my subscription payment was taken by Dora, and I received my first Journal of the Society (Volume 62 ,Issue 2).  By the way, they are currently looking to sell a complete set of Journals, starting in 1946 if anyone is interested (offers over USD 1,000 I'm told).

On Saturday, I'm going on my first Society Field Trip to the Lower Shire Valley.  I quote:

"We will give a perspective on the recent history of the river particularly on events of the early 1860s. We will stop at the tombstone markers of Henry Scudamore and Dr John Dickinson (UMCA missionaries) and of Richard Thornton (one of David Livingstone’s party), and stop at other places of interest on the way. We intend ending up late morning at the new Ngona Lodge, formerly Marshall’s Camp, on the Shire River.  From there people can either proceed into Majete Game Reserve or return to Blantyre."

So a diet of history and culture for me at the weekend (but with a bit of footie thrown in at the end!).

The oldest standing building in Malawi....

First of all, I suppose well-done to England for progressing to the knock-out stages of the World Cup.  Overall I thought the performance was much better than in the first two games, although Rooney continues to look well below par, and it would have been nice for the best parts of the performance to have been carried on for a bit more of the game.

We watched the match at Club Mustang Sally, having worked through lunchtime so that we could nip off a bit early to see the game.

This morning, I went to Mandala House, home of the Society of Malawi.  I'd got in touch with them before I left home, and wanted to learn more about what they do, and decide if I should join.  I firstly met with Seth - an American who has been in Malawi since around 2000, when his parents moved here to do missionary work - they are located near Lake Malawi.  Seth moved to Blantyre a little time ago, and is doing various IT-related projects, including some for the Society (e.g. he has digitised the Society's photo library that includes thousands of images from the 1820s onwards).  We talked about various ways in which the catalogue could potentially be exploited at a relatively low cost, and it will be interesting to see if anything becomes of the suggestions I made.

I then went up to the first floor of Mandala House to meet Dora Wimbush, the Honorary Librarian.  Dora is clearly a  passionate supporter of everything Malawian, and eloquently talked me into joining up.  The Society occupies the entire first floor of the building, which is the oldest in Malawi.  On the ground floor there's a cafe and a arts & crafts gallery.  Upstairs is the Society's office, library, records archive, and meeting room.  It's a pretty and  atmospheric environment.  I've taken a few pics of the building, which you can see on this Flickr slideshow.  By the way, the French Tricouleur is flying because the building is now owned by a French organisation.

Finally I wanted to mention that this morning I was introduced to Abraham's wife.  I've mentioned Abraham before - he is the lovely man who cleans and cooks for us, and is being very patient whilst teaching me to speak a little Chichewa, and I asked him if he'd mind if I took his photo.  He was more than happy for this (I reckon that secretly he yearns for the spotlight), so here he is in all his glory.

It must be the routine...

... as there hasn't been too much to report over the last few days.

I've met with a couple more potential clients, and today's prospect in particular looks promising.  I'm still waiting to find out if I'll be doing the sizeable project in Lilongwe during July - I really hope it comes off, but we're hanging on news from the bid team in Edinburgh.  I should know in the next couple of days.

I'm taking advantage of my time here to try and adjust my diet and weight, by eating breakfast (required for the malaria tablets), eating smaller meals, and ramping up my fruit intake.  So far all is well, with none of the negative side effects that one might expect from such a radical new regimen.  If I can return home a leaner Pryde, that will be a good thing.  Wish me luck.

I will be posting in due course about the food in Malawi, but my early impressions are that it can be very nice, but not overly healthy.  There's a tendency towards meat with rice or chips (quite often rice AND chips), and they don't go a bundle on veg.  But with a bit of careful dish selection, one can lean towards meals that at least nod in the direction of the healthier option.

I got a very nice Fathers' Day email from David, which perked me up enormously.  This week he's started his training programme at the new bar where he's going to be working over the summer, and I'm looking forward to hearing how he gets on.

The other good news is that the weather is looking good for the rest of the week, even though I took my umbrella in to work today, having been assured by Abraham that it would definitely rain.  I forgive him, though!

New Arrival

This morning, Chris Farrance, the new consultant to join us here in Blantyre was due to arrive by coach from Lilongwe.  It was due to arrive at around 11.30 this morning, so before that Peter and I set off on a further orientation journey around Blantyre, so I could see where the key areas and places in the city are located.

The coach trip from Lilongwe should take around 4 hours (police road blocks  permitting).  Unfortunately, at around 11.15, we got a call from Chris to say that his coach had broken down just 3.5kms outside Blantyre, so we decided to go and pick him up.  We stopped for petrol, which was just as well because we then got another call to say that he was in fact about 30 minutes outside Blantyre (clearly had got some duff information from the coach driver).

So off we went (I was driving) to find the coach.  Along the way I saw a second "instant demise of goat" incident, this time meted out by the minibus in front of us on the road - I reckon the goats of Malawi are going to start watching out for me and running away.  Eventually we found the coach parked up with all the passengers standing around on the side of the road.  I turned Daisy around and pulled up behind the coach.  Chris was distributing sweets to the kids from the nearby village.  We extricated him and his luggage, and set off back towards Blantyre.

We got back into Blantyre, and decided to go to a vegetarian Indian restaurant (Veggie Delight) for a spot of lunch.  I had a masala Dhosa [see left] which was very acceptable indeed, and only a couple of quid.

We then took Chris on a quick tour of Blantyre including where the office is located, the supermarket, and the sports club.

We also popped into Club Mustang Sally for a beer.  I introduced myself to the owner, Rob - I mentioned him in Friday's blog.  It seems Rob used to own a couple of clubs in the Manchester area and came out to Malawi some time ago.  His story is that where the bar is used to be his house, and his mates used to come round and drink his beer, so he figured he might as well set up a bar and charge them for it!  I took a couple of pictures to give a feel for the place, including the entrance (above), and the upstairs bar & pool (below).

I've not actually seen anyone in the pool yet, but I'm told it does happen, although it may require several drinks to make it seem a sensible thing to do.  Rob was keen for us to stay for his regular weekend barbecue (I quote "big steaks at cost price") but as we'd already eaten, we politely declined, but I will try and do one at some point.  You can see the pool in the picture here.  The disco is to the left of this shot, and the upper bar is in the background.

After a quick beer, it was back to the house so that Chris could settle in.  This evening, we're planning to go to TJ's bar to watch the Brazil vs Ivory Coast game.

That's all for now.