The Luggage Question

One of those issues that suddenly jumps up and bites you has come to light.

Having been advised by Alastair (who was out in Malawi earlier in the year, and who will be returning later) that he found that he had packed too much, I was preparing to cut back my luggage "ruthlessly".  However, given that my allowance with Kenya Airways is 2 x 23kg bags in the hold, and then a shoulder bag and a laptop as hand luggage, I was feeling fine.  However, now that the final leg of my journey (from Lilongwe to Blantyre) has been booked for 9 June, I see from the Air Malawi website that my allowance is just 20kg.  Even with judicious pruning, there's no way I'm going to be under 20kg (I'm carrying books, for example), so there is now an investigation of the implications going on in Malawi as I write this.  Much thanks to Kondwani in Blantyre and Cecilia in Lilongwe for their efforts on this.

It just goes to show that it's really hard to foresee all eventualities, and reinforces the benefits of building a database of every issue that arises together with the eventual solution (if any) so that the organisation continues to learn over time.

Update On Outbound Journey

I'm flying with Kenya Airways from Heathrow to Lilongwe via Nairobi.  Due to the availability of flights, it seems that I'll be taking an extra day to get out to Blantyre.  As there are no flights from Lilongwe to Blantyre on the Monday, I'm having a stop-over in Lilongwe (B&B I'm told) and will fly on to Blantyre on Tuesday 8th.

Spent Saturday morning at The Galleria in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, visiting the outlet stores for final items including a large holdall to carry 3 months-worth of gear.  Just got to get everything ironed and packed now.

How Brilliant Is This?

So what's this Malawi thing all about?

It started for me at the end of April, when Jan (my wife) came back from a meeting in London with a copy of the Metro newspaper.  In it was an advert from Challenges Worldwide (CWW) asking for volunteers to join a project team based in Blantyre, Malawi.  

The project is funded by the Scottish Government, and aims to build an indigenous consultancy capacity in the country through UK consultants working on live projects for micro, small and medium-sized organisations, and also training and mentoring local apprentice consultants.

It struck me as a well-defined and sustainable approach and one that seemed extremely worthwhile, so I called CWW up and received a load of information.  There was a need for a new consultant to get out to Malawi urgently to work on a new client requirement, so on 17 May I had an interview, was offered the position, and my e-tickets to Lilongwe with Kenya Airways arrived in my inbox this afternoon (18 May).

It's now all a question of rushing about to get all my stuff together ready for the off.  I can't wait.