Nkhata Bay!

So this week brought a sad event: leaving everyone that I have become close friends with! I know I have mentioned it before but during the week I have become so friendly with the 21 other volunteers and really want to see them as much as possible. I already miss them all so much and have been texting everyone lots. I had to get up at 5am to see everyone off to their own placements, it was the strangest feeling I have had in a while, but I can’t think about that too much as now they are all spread across the whole of the country and I will never see some of them again!!

Anthony and myself had to travel from the capital, Lilongwe, to a small town of the Lake called Nkhata Bay… over 7 hours of travel! Me and 8 others bundled into Matt’s small truck thing and set off to Mzuzu where we would have lunch. The truck was already terrible but with the weight of 9 of us and all our luggage it was painfully slow! The journey was supposed to take under 5 hours, instead it was 6.5 hours! After lunch Anthony and I had to split up from the rest of them and make the 45 minute journey to Nkhata Bay ourselves. We were shown which minibus to get on and managed to just fit into the tightly squeezed vehicle. Everything was going well until the minibus veered to the right about 20 minutes into the trip. The driver did well to hold the bus on the road but the damage was quite obvious to see. There was smoke in the bus and at this point we quickly evacuated the vehicle and took all our bags with us. After having a quick look at what was wrong, it was clear that it wouldn’t be fixed, so this left us on the side of the road – about 15km away from our destination with all our luggage. We were stranded. We tried desperately to flag down passing cars (of which were few), but they all drove past and laughed. Then a lorry came along which stopped by the broken minibus. All the locals piled on the high lorry which looked to contain some sort of grain. Anthony and I quickly chatted over our options and then we decided to go for it, after all, you only live once! The decision was the best I have made this trip, after piling on our luggage we sat on the top of the bags of grain as we were escorted through the countryside. The views were quite remarkable and I think it is the best way to see the area – I would definitely recommend hitching a lift on a lorry around the Isle of Wight!

We arrived at the place we would be staying for the next week (not on campus as the room at the school is not ready for us yet.), but the doors were locked and no one seemed to be around. Then we were invited to join two men on the lawn for a chat while we waited. There is a phrase that is commonly used here, “Malawi Time”, basically meaning whatever will be, will be and there is no rush! This was my first proper experience of this. We sat there chatting to the 2 men about the UK, Ireland and Malawian history and gradually we were joined by more and more men. After about 30 minutes there were around 10 people all sat around the lawn on cheap, plastic chairs enjoying beer or reading the newspaper! This was purely brilliant! Eventually the “man with the key” arrived and we were shown to our rooms which were quite basic but had everything you needed in there really.

After quickly getting changed we were met by the Principle and Vice-Principle of our school. They were so friendly and jokey that we immediately felt comfortable around them! They took us down to the bay in the school minibus (about a 2km drive). We came to the lake-shore and looked out… it was the most beautiful thing I had seen in many years (well excluding Anthony’s lovely bed-hair!). The view took my breath away and I actually shed a tear whilst looking around. After a couple of minutes of looking in amazement we were given a little tour of the market area and then taken to a local bar where they were showing the F.A. Cup (but at the moment I can’t remember which game, but it involved Wigan!). If there is one thing to know about Malawi then it is that they are completely sport mad, particularly the Premier League. The deputy principle and myself had a long discussion about Birmingham which was amazing! Anyway, the area is beautiful and then people seem lovely. After they dropped us back off at our temporary accommodation we agreed to be picked up at 9am the next morning.

We were both waiting outside our camp at 9am on the dot, but remembering this is Malawi the minibus didn’t come until 9:45 so we enjoyed a chat with the local priest who seems very friendly! Eventually we made it into the school which is about 10km from the bay, it seemed very nice and incredibly big as all the teachers and staff lived on campus. We were given a seat in the principal’s office whilst they worked out what we would be teaching. Again their love of football was obvious as they we showing another F.A. Cup game, this one involving Fleetwood!! They looked at our strengths and weaknesses and I was given Maths Grade 3 and Social Studies Grade 1 and then we were shown the syllabus’s and whilst reading the Maths Grade 3 syllabus my initial reaction was, “Ohh heck.” (Again the wording has been censored due to the family nature of this blog! The maths was identical to AS Maths, which I took 2 years ago and got a D for my efforts. In theory I could teach it as I could study it all over again but this would be very tricky. After much panic I suggested that I should teach Grade 1 – this is more like my level of maths!! We sat in on one class for a few minutes but then quickly went back to our accommodation.

We decided to go to the bay again, as there is not much to do in our rooms. Anthony took his swimming stuff and I took my camera to take photos of the stunning views. Whilst Anthony was in the water I met 6 kids on the beach who asked for a photo. They then spent the next 30 minutes playing around and posing for photos… they were seriously cute and their smiles would light up a room! So happy with the photos.

Again we went back to the school today and started planning on what to teach. We were given our timetables and I have made initial plans on how I am going to start the first lesson. Both myself and Anthony are a little surprised about how well off the school is, hopefully we can be of use to them!

Anyway, I am not sure on the plan for the rest of today but I am sure it will involve a beer or some coca-cola! I have spent 1 hour 3 minutes writing this blog up to now and my hands are beginning to ache slightly… I will try and upload some photos but this maybe problematic! I hope everyone is okay back in the UK and hope you enjoyed reading my story up to now!

Yebo! (Thankyou).