Fun and frolics

I’ve now been in Chitipa for about 2 weeks, and I’m still trying to get used to the place. When I last wrote, I hadn’t yet started working, and to be honest, that hasn’t really changed. I only had a day in the office last week before going off to the beach (for a conference!) and now I’m back it’s time to start figuring out what I’m going to be doing. I’ve been told it takes about 3 months before you actually feel like you’re doing anything productive, so in the meantime I’m just observing and reading a few bits and pieces. My house still isn’t ready for me to move in and I’m starting to wonder where I’ll go once Imogen gets back in December!

More photos of Chitipa

 

 

Wide variety of vegetables on offer at the local market ;-)

But to the fun stuff! After my first week in Chitipa, getting used to the pace of life and not expecting much to happen, I was quite surprised to be invited to a Halloween party in one of the bars here. It was organised by American Peacecorps volunteers, and I was a bit overwhelmed when I turned up and discovered about 20 very drunk, very rowdy ‘kids’ in fancy dress - it took me back to university days (for the Tit Hallers reading this, Viva came to mind). Anyway, once I got drunk myself (and yes, I managed to find wine), it was quite a fun evening. It seems that the Peacecorps guys are very isolated in their placements - they live in villages and have to live the local way, so it’s quite tough. I can understand why they go a bit crazy when they do occasionally get together! There are actually only 5 in Chitipa district (the others travelled up especially for the party) and they all seemed nice. 

Sparks, me and Denis

Adam, a Peacecorps volunteer based in the district

 

So after that, as I said, I only had a day in the office and then headed off to Kande beach, on Lake Malawi, for the VSO National Conference. It was great to catch up with my friends and just relax. I must say it’s been hard hearing about other people’s experiences and living conditions, as it seems we have it very tough in Chitipa - most of the others have running water at least most of the day and fairly comfortable housing - but I’m just going to have to accept that’s not my reality and suck it up! It’s also hard because the others who live relatively near each other are able to meet up and go places on the weekends, whereas to leave Chitipa is a mammoth effort and it takes at least 5 hours if not 8 (depending on the mode of transport) to get to the nearest city, Mzuzu. As I mentioned before, the road from Chitipa to Karonga is a work in progress (the Chinese are in charge of building it) so it takes about 2 hours in a land rover if you’re lucky enough to catch a ride with someone. The only other way to travel is in the back of a pick-up truck, which is not only dangerous but uncomfortable as you get covered in dust. It also increases the journey time by about 3 hours. But by the time you reach Karonga you can catch a bus and the roads are good, so I think it might be an effort worth making from time to time just to get away.

On the way to Mzuzu

Kande Beach resort

 

I think I’m starting to figure out my job, which is to work with community-based organisations across the district, to find out their needs, what exactly they’re trying to achieve and how they could improve their organisations. A lot of it will be helping them to obtain funding (writing proposals and following up on the required feedback and reporting). I hadn’t realised fundraising would be such a large part of the job and as many of you already know, it’s not something I ever wanted to do. But that’s just another thing I have to accept and I think I can still learn a lot about how the CBOs work and I’m quite looking forward to getting out to meet them. I now have to start getting back on the bike, which I’ve been avoiding since I’ve been here…