Another Weekend - Another Country

On Saturday, Richard and I went to Zambia.  This was work, mind you.  We were driven to the border, and were picked up on the other side by a guy who works for a client of Richard's.  The idea was to spend the day visiting a couple of warehouses, before going off into the bush to visit a village and see produce being picked and  stored.

This picture shows Richard in the newly-acquired warehouse that will store up to 350 tonnes of produce when it arrives from the villages.  The harvest is due within the next month.

We then went out into the bush - a long way out.  We visited a village called Makowa.

At first it seemed to be deserted, but we found a family busy shelling groundnuts (peanuts).  It turned out the the majority of the villagers were out in the fields picking nuts, so we headed off to take a look.

It turned out that the crop had been planted a bit later than it should have been, so to make sure that everything was ready for the date when the buyers would be collecting the produce, all the village had turned out to help bring in the harvest.

We were shown round by Thomas, the Chief of the village (on the left in the picture), who was sporting a fine orange shirt with a depiction of Barack Obama on the back.  I asked permission to take some photos, and when I showed them the photos on the screen of my camera, it caused a great deal of hilarity.

We overnighted at a Lodge called Mama Rula in Chipata.  My room was excellent, with a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, and with a distinctly African feel to the decor (see picture).

I had an excellent T-Bone steak for dinner, before we went to the bar for a quick drink before retiring.  There was a small fire in a stone hearth outside the bar which was very pleasant to sit by to counter the slight chill in the night air.

Mama Rula's son is a big South African rugby fan, and so the bar is extensively decorated with flags and paraphernalia from the Super 14 competition.

By the way, the Lodge is currently on the market, so if you've got a spare $1 million, you may want to contact the vendors!

Site Visit

The project I'm working is for the development of a business plan for the creation of a new business to process a particular type of agricultural produce.  If the plan works, then it could have a significant impact on the livelihoods of Malawi smallholders, as well as contributing to improving the country's balance of payments.

Work has already started on the facility where the processing will take place, and we headed over there today to see how things are progressing.  At the moment, it is just a steel shell, but it will be very different in a month's time.

We were joined by Ian, the South African who is designing and supplying the plant and equipment (mostly sourced from China), so that he could measure up the size of the available area.  The aim is to have a processing facility that is flexible enough to be able to switch outputs according to the prevailing market conditions, and so to optimise the revenues into the business.

We also visited the premises of a prospective customer, which produces a wonder-product that has a fantastic impact on the treatment of malnutrition, and also can improve the effectiveness of the anti-retrovirals used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

There are so many positive impacts from this project that it's hard not to feel totally excited to be a small part of it.

First Day In The Office In Lilongwe

So Day 1 at work in Lilongwe - no time for Monday morning blues as its straight into meetings and discussions with client staff.  

This picture shows the office I'm working at - it's centrally located in the city centre, and we are using a table in the office of the General Manager of the client organisation.  I've got access to the internet for emails, and so far things are going well.

The apprentice consultant who is working with me on the project arrived on Sunday and he is now ensconced with the client's finance team to get to grips with the business plan's financial model, and will eventually be undertaking some sensitivity analysis on the numbers.

We take a few minutes out at lunchtime to grab something to eat from a Lebanese-owned petrol station and mini-market.  I have a chicken somosa and a ham & salad roll (it is now striking me that all I ever talk about in these blog posts is food - I'll make more effort to vary the diet [oh, dammit]).

First full day in Lilongwe for the project.  Sun is shining, and it's much warmer here than in Blantyre.

Amusing start to the day, as over breakfast, one of the clients (Richard) who is staying in the house reported that he'd had a slight problem with his bed overnight.

It transpired that in the small hours his bed had a catastrophic failure, which merited a quick photo.  He decided then to move rooms for his own peace of mind.

Being Sunday, it's an opportunity to get acclimatised to the new location, explore the house, and meet the staff - Hastings is the cook.  The house is pretty nice - it will benefit from the additional furniture that will be arriving next week, but the garden is very pleasant.  My room isn't in the main building, but is one of two bedrooms located in the garden.  The bed is comfortable, and there is plenty of space.

We met Malcolm, a lawyer from Scotland who is here to help set up the Capacity Building for Justice project that will have lawyers coming out from the UK to work with legal departments within the Malawi Government, providing advice and mentoring.

We went to Buchanan's for a late lunch.  It's situated in the Four Seasons, which is basically a lovely landscaped area with lush planting, the restaurant, a nightclub, and a variety of speciality shops selling gifts, furniture and art.  The food is very good, and there is usually a band of some sort playing in the evenings.  It also has the advantage that it is fairly close to the house.  We ate at this table, which is right next to the large pond containing some of the brightly-coloured fish (cichlids) found in Lake Malawi.

On returning to the house, I met my new room-mate, who was making himself comfortable on my bedroom door.  He hasn't told me his name yet - I think he's a bit shy, but I'm sure we'll get on really well.

On The Move

Journeyed up to Lilongwe yesterday.

Andrew, the client, drove and it was interesting to see a part of Malawi that I hadn't really seen before, other than flying over it when I first arrived in the country.

The scenery is really fantastic, with hills and mountains rising up in the distance, before the road starts to climb and you then get wonderful views over the rift valley below, and small villages scattered along the roadside.

We stopped off at Dedza, where there is a pottery and restaurant. They make all sorts of items ranging from decorated tiles through dinner services and figurines.  This picture shows a selection of the tiles depicting various African scenes.

We took the opportunity to grab a bite to eat in the restaurant, looking over the pleasant gardens before getting back in the car to complete the journey to Lilongwe.