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!

Farewell, Rick

I (uneventfully) drove in to work again this morning, but this time there were just three of us because Rick returned to the UK today.  One of the first out here on the project, he has done an amazing job setting up the extensive templates, processes and training programmes from which those of us arriving from now on are reaping the benefits.

The office internet is still down (and was all day) and so it was a question of pressing on with things as best we can, but with no email and reduced research opportunity.  However, I did my first diagnostics with two small businesses - one a restaurant and the other a leisure venue.  We'll now be putting together proposals based on the information we obtained from our meetings with the principals, and wait to see what their responses will be.  I'm hopeful that at least one will decide to invest in a consultancy assignment - fingers crossed.

Then it was back to the house to watch a bit of soccer and to have dinner.  Tonight Abraham produced a very pleasant beef stew with green beans and cabbage.

The wind has got up this evening, and the temperature has dropped significantly, although it was a very pleasant day weather-wise earlier on.