Got to get the shopping done

Basket Stalls in the Market

This weekend I decided I had to finally sort out what I'm going to be taking home for people, so I wandered out of the house in the morning, prepared to put in a great deal of foot-slogging around Blantyre.

I first went for a mooch about Blantyre Market, which is quite big, and contains all manner of stalls selling everything from 1970s English school textbooks through to second-hand clothes and shoes, to furniture and food.

It's bustling, quite dirty in some areas, but great fun at the same time.

The "Photographer"!

I didn't buy anything, but the highlight for me was one young guy who let me take his picture, and then offered to use my camera to take a picture of me. Thankfully I saw that one coming, and politely declined (otherwise I had a totally unjustified vision that he'd have been off with it faster than Linford Christie).

Then on to Mandala House where there's a crafts and gifts shop called La Galleria. I picked up a few little items here, before pausing for a coffee at La Caverna, a lovely cafe with seating on the verandah of the house overlooking the gardens.

La Galleria, Mandala Houe

Refreshed, I headed back into town, and roamed about, popping into various shops. There's another little Africana shop opposite the Metro supermarket, and I went in there to buy a few bangles. I asked the owner, a very nice young Malawi lady, if she knew where I could buy some Malawi music CDs, and she gave me the email address of a friend who is a musician (I've emailed him and am now waiting to hear back from him when and where I can meet him. She also pointed me towards an electronics shop across the road from the Mount Soche Hotel, and I next went there and bought 4 CDs for 3050 Kwacha (that's about £10) - and they're all good stuff.

By this time, it was the middle of the afternoon, and I'd been on my feet all day, and had developed a large blister on my right foot, so I hobbled back towards the house, and to pause at the Alem Ethiopian restaurant on Victoria Avenue for a quick bite to eat.  I had Zigin Wot (a very spicy beef dish served with injera - a yeast-risen flat bread made of teff flour, with a slightly spongy texture that is the staple bread of Ethiopia).

Then back to the house for a bit of work and a lie down.

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.