This is where it
started ...
When reading this, please keep in mind that I am
not educated in English, so there may be some surprises. Pirkko said to me that
i should write in English, even shortly, but how could you write shortly about
a country like Malawi.
1.9. 2016 at 6:33am Kajaani, Finland
Until to Rome things were rolling western
civilized manner, exactly on schedule, but then ...
It was supposed to be less than an hour
stopover, but one passenger claimed to have lost his suitcase: he does not find
it in the plane. The air hostesses look for all the places, after all, all the
passengers were forced to take their things off the shelves and the air
hostesses checked, whether any extra was left there. After all, no bag was
found. People’s calmness surprised: the plane was
full, the Boeing 747 can fit a lot of people, 9 seats in a row. No one was
nervous. An hour became a little more than two.
Landing at Addis-Ababa began brightly, full moon
and just a moment before landing in the sun came out. The airport was reached
by luck and skill, mist covered everything on the ground. Due to the two-hour
delay in Rome, a fast visit to the toilet and quickly to the gate. The crowd there
was about the size of of Kajaani’s population!
Check-managed for Lilongwe, well, almost. It
turned towards the gate to roll, but got instructions to come back ... it was reported that a passenger was to blame
for the return, but judging by the fact that a large part of the field staff
visited the cockpit, I thought there could have been a technical fault.
Two times we had the boarding ladder pulled
off the plane, and another official came – then steps were pulled back. A
little more than two hours late we’re ready to take off. This situation had
caused some passengers become nervous.
Desert dunes seem like small waves, the main
colour of Kenya’s plains is brown already, on top of Kilimantsaro there’s
still a few snowdrifts, in the southern part of Tanzania looks like someone is
in love with geometry; a huge large triangle, there at the middle a small
square, colours merging with other browns. Whoever is responsible for the
accomplishment of Malawi Lake, it’s incredibly bright blue.
It took me nearly an hour to get through at the
Lilongwe Airport, over 20 people looking for visas, four officials worked in
pairs. Both probably knew how to write, but only the one how to count, because
she was taking money for fees. (In Finland we say, that the two policemen are
always needed, one to read, one to write).
At the Airport a young man was meeting me, he
introduced himself as a driver at Regina’s school. A visit to the local member
of our team, Regina, in her home, then watching her school advertising
movie, arrival at my B&B on 2 Sept. at 6 pm. I experienced a good example
of Malawian hospitability first hand, the lady at the Reception deserves a full
hundred points. The previous night’s couple of hours sleep guaranteed sweet
dreams that night.
******
3.9.
Morning, waking up by birdsong concert, not
bad. Day for rest after the travelling. Sim card had been brought in the
afternoon, but it turned out to be a wrong size, and there were no
possibilities for Nano-Sim so it’s going for exchange. Hotel’s WiFi is mainly a
publicity stunt. You can imagine how it feels for the person, who is used to having
hundreds of megabits speed, falling down to a couple of hundred kilobit speed,
or into complete inoperability…
4.9.
A crow can be recognized by its voice here, too.
At breakfast opposite me were three priests, one from Zimbabwe, one from
Canada, one from Blantyre, staying in Lilongwe, ... fluency to speak
English accrues best in emergencies:) WiFi in the morning dumped a mailbox full
of messages and passed out ... You may forget using Facebook here. In the
afternoon having a meeting with the local members of our association.
The afternoon went by, after all, half past six,
a two-hour meeting, full of matters.
Back in
the lodgings the porter offered (I asked) a local food tasting, corn porridge
eaten by fingers… let’s see what the stomach likes about it. Sliced potatoes,
tea and toast for dinner and then sleep.
5.9.
Morning, birdsong and the coolness of the night
...
That means the coolness of approximately plus
ten. Hot air, smoke and exhaust-filled, stagnant air, temperature at up to
thirty, until by noon it began to accumulate clouds and the wind
ensued.
Sitting in a taxi dating from 1992, the traffic is
like from all the Kajaani congestions in past ten years at time, crowds of people
walking, packed up, a visit to the centre of Lilongwe, for a right SIM card, a
visit to an office and a visit to a bookstore. An educational trip.
First of all, the city is really wide, long
distances. Second; four-hour taxi ride, by the driver at the same time acting
as a guide and interpreter, paid thirteen thousand kwachas (× 0.008), the
third: Anja in Finland provided details of her taxi driver in Lilongwe which
was infinitely great. With a reliable and familiar man knowing the city, it is
much safer to move around. Great thanks to Anja.
The afternoon was spent visiting the private
school built by Regina. Great place, an impressive experience was, when I
asked a seven year old boy in English, do you know where Finland is located,
the answer came immediately, "I know." At his hand he had a Chitsewan textbook, which I did not
understand a word. The importance of education shook me.
At the end of the day we went to see a Regina’s
car, stolen and damaged, parts missing, totally written off, no good. The
return trip through the centre of Lilongwe ... everyone who complains about
traffic jams, should come to experience this. Approximately a five kilometres long
journey takes a surprisingly long time, when the car jerk forward half a
meter every now and then, people buzzing around, the air filled with smoke from
campfires, temperature about +30 C. Lilongwe is not otherwise taken the trouble
to offer much traffic safety. I have not yet seen any pedestrian signs.
Pedestrians are warned shortly by horn (and no one will show his middle finger:)
In the evening I pile all the goods for tomorrow,
the taxi comes at 6 am.
6.9.
In the morning fog the sun, a red ball, rises. The
fog is smoke, thousands of campfires at night. It’s a little bit hard to
imagine being in the capital city ....
On the way to the airport I asked Anja’s taxi
driver, if he might know a reliable taxi driver in Blantyre. After some
calls, there should be a man waiting for me at the Blantyre Airport.
Great.
Everything worked fine at the airport, A ticket
to Blantyre only required payment, a receipt will come to my mail. 45 minutes
of the flight, not enough time even to the seat belt warning light to go
out.
There was the taxi man, with a sign in hand my
first name on it. Great. During the trip I received information about the
places through which we drove. We used the old route, because of the new road
to Blantyre is in poor condition. By roadside you can see fashionable colonial houses. The Livingstone
Institute stretches up to one kilometre of this road. Signs of wealth, green,
established, colonial trees and gardens, the owners can afford to hire people
to look after their gardens and money to water them. Shining flowers, flowering
trees.
Blantyre surprised me, I think it is almost the
opposite of Lilongwe, a clean, well maintained, and not crowded. Reasons for
the difference are quite crude: after the Independence (1964), it was decided
that the capital city is Lilongwe, not Blantyre which was a colonial capital.
All functions of the state were forced to move to Lilongwe. Blantyre taxi
driver feels it is a dying city. Really a shame, if I had to choose, the scale
would be definitely for Blantyre’s
advantage.
ATMs have restrictions, one can withdraw only 40
000 Malawi kwacha at one time. The cash machine spits out only thousands,
smaller notes are not available. My Finnish wallet is not big enough here, I’d
need at least a shoulder bag.
Do I tell about my accommodation. I do not. However,
I'll go in the morning for a swim in that pool ...
In the afternoon we met with the local actors,
architects and Grace's "I'm just driver" - George. An unanimous
decision was that we leave as soon as possible, perhaps as early as Friday,
ie, to visit the construction site of the school in the village of Muona. We
want to have some understanding of the construction site, shape and state of
the plot and structure of the soil. The distance to the village is about 170
kilometres. The first 70 km of good roads, the rest not so good, that is, the
trip takes 45 minutes and 2.5 hours.
Electricity is cut off at about 13:30, the
battery of the tablet is empty - "We have become accustomed to this"
- the owner of the place comment. He tried to start the aggregate in the
evening, but it didn’t work either. As a
result, a candlelit dinner, followed by the only sensible way to exploit the
situation; in a horizontal position and eyes closed. Woke up at 23:42, from the charging rate of the tablet I was
able to conclude that the electricity had returned about 9 pm. Now it is 3:02am.
Writing-hand is a little numb.
7.9.
Today I go to the city. Need to find a hardware
store, access to the product range, to find the goods. Here I dare to go to the
city, Lilongwe made me think twice ...
Of course it was hot, a taxi driver said “Blantyre
is much hotter than Limbe, because there are the trees are cut down”. Fewer
people here than in Lilongwe, the city is in every way cooler, even trash bins
are available. But why on earth did they transfer the capital into Lilongwe...
The town market place, the square, is an
indescribable place. Probably India's urban bazaars are of the same type. Everything
possible is sold here, plus an extensive vegetables market to enjoy.
Electricity
came back finally at 4 pm, blackouts
can last a long time. Electricity markets
are reportedly opening up, hopefully companies bring solar power and wind power
here. After a hot day it was great to take a dip in the swimming pool. And the aggregate
is repaired, electricity guaranteed.
I have just tried to get a Skype session with
Pirkko. The connection was not good. Some things were communicated though.
Tomorrow morning we start towards the village
Muona.
8.9.
One more thing about yesterday’s visit to town.
Imagine the situation that you wander around in a have quite an unfamiliar place, you walk down the
street, all of a sudden you meet a guy, "Good morning, how are you".
Completely strangers. Men and women. And there were many. Overwhelmed me the
first time, but I succeeded to respond. If I sat down on the bench, the situation
was the same. I wondered, what they are talking about when they say
Malawi is Africa’s warm heart?. Try that sometimes in Finland:) :)
On the other hand the situation when some
shopkeeper is trying to attract your attention, they call "Boss".
Reflects the deep inequalities in society; the white man is always the boss.
******
Today finally came after all the travel down to
Nsanje, as a result of a lot of confusion. Car hire was successful, the architect
was released from teaching and work duties, the surveyor as well, Regina behind
the wheel of a car and let’s go. And I can tell you that the Finnish rally drivers
would have been satisfied.
The road climbed up early on the way
unobtrusively, and when it started to wriggle down the hillside, the view was
breathtakingly beautiful, even though at the same time spooky. A good time to
be here would be in April and May, after the rainy season. I believe that you
rush here to the mountain top, the river valley and surrounding mountains, all
are well worth seeing.
The spookiness is due to the fact that those
slopes covered by trees are cut down by major foreign companies, beaten, gains
exported to foreign countries. Many of you have bought hardwood surfaced
furniture. There is nothing in harvesting, here too the law obliges plants to
be replaced for the felled trees, no less than three new ones for the felled
one. This is about how the planting is made: seedlings in the ground, the
official to check that the matter has been taken care of, and as good, although
the middle of the dry season. And no one taking care of them in the future. As
a result, the full destruction, 99 seedlings per hundred died ... .the
landscape is inconsolable.
The rest of the road was not in a good condition.
Top speed was sixty kilometres per hour – I hardly believe that anywhere in Finland
you can be found even a forest road in that poor condition. The bottom of the
car bumping into the stones and rocks for dozens of times, a few times we had
to reverse. The culprit is the poor condition of the rainy season. The road
runs on level ground, mountains brought an avalanche of stones in the flood
waters along the river bed, the largest of them a beach ball size.
After many small villages and one punctured tire
we arrived in Muona. The heat was not surprising, after all, I had been warned.
It was surprising that the rise in a few tens of meters into the mountainside
temperature fell probably about ten degrees. A small house, a few small annex
buildings, a lot of trees, friendly people, greetings.
After a short stop, we headed to the promised
construction area. When we stopped the car and started up the gentle slope up,
crowds of people started gathering there, from children to grandparents. The
building area is a hilly terrain, on the riverbank are the cliffs that are
not given in and flood the field. Rise to the highest point accumulates the
beginning of a dozen or so meters, very sparse trees, dried up bushes.
After walk about and a group picture of our
plot, the people put up a dance, Regina involved, after all, it was
question about people in his home village. The sun fell down, the last images
in rather dim light, then to a dinner offered by the Regina's mother, on the way
there we picked car the mended tire, which during our dining was put back on.
Rice, corn porridge, fried chicken, fried vegetables. Good local
food.
The trip home went almost without mishaps, when
crossing river beds voices of loud frogs, encouraged the youth forces gathered
weekend dances getting started, and then this "almost": apparently a
drug gang, the men in their twenties, saw the driver's cell phone and started
chasing, suddenly the gas to the bottom, luckily on the flat road section, the
windows closed, we got away. The driver told after a mile she had trembling
legs even more.
I was left at the B&B at a quarter to
midnight. When I switched on cell phone, I found a message: "If you can,
let us know you are okay." I had not noticed, I have to thank the lady
....In the early morning there was another outage.
Today's pictures, images, information about the
place; we’ll get to work. Next week next visit, soil and sand samples to the
state laboratory for examination, I hope they can be used for making bricks.
The surveyor shall draw up a map of the area, the architect calculates the
preliminary cost estimates, which are, after all, informing us, when we are
able to start building work.
9.9.
Day off from everything but writing;) The day starts with a quarter of an hour in the sun,
wondering if I may get a little colour to the surface! City trips, sleeveless
t-shirt on, I have used a sunscreen with SPF 50, skin colour has not changed at
all. Good substance, even water resistant.
In the afternoon, we went with the innkeeper to
support local small entrepreneurs. Carlsberg, half a litre 1120K, ie EUR 1.4,
not bad. Half of it remained, not too much sweetness at once. In the evening,
the landlord took the whole gang to city to eat, the cook got a free evening.
From our trip yesterday came to mind bushfires.
When we got back up to the mountains, there were fires in two places. Someone
had thrown a cigarette from a car window, onto the parched grass. No one
is worried about that, it will burn down in the end or not. Also in the evening
while driving towards the city, we see on the top of a big mountain bush fires,
they had to be large, because that mountain was far away.
10.9.
After going to bed early, you wake up early,
this morning at two fifty. The electricity has remained on throughout the
morning, apparently it is off during the day to the needs of companies and.
One Englishman waiting at the airport, he had
spent here three weeks on vacation, visiting relatives. The flight from
Blantyre to Nairobi, from there straight to London, to work on Monday. Others
take the place.
This B & B place I can recommend. Quiet,
peaceful, reportedly over a 3-acre area. The purpose of the proprietor is to
make this a functionally ecologically principled place, small huts over there
under the trees etc. September is here, in his opinion, the hottest month, in
October can already get rain, in November even more likely. If they happen to
come, too, they have learned to African track of time. I have already learned
that the taxi quarter of an hour is about 50 minutes, on the other hand, when
you get busy, he has been here in a quarter of an hour, 10 kilometers distance.
11.9
Sunday, writing this, sunshine and rest. An English
speaking, elder couple came late yesterday from South Africa, they had been
living in rough places like Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra.
Tomorrow I’ll go to Blantyre city early
in the morning.
