GREETINGS FROM AFRICA 14
Hello Everyone,
We arrived safely back in Karonga on Sunday evening May31st, feeling rested from our 3 week holiday, and ready to swing into action again. The swing lost some of its “oomph” with the power going off 5 minutes before we arrived and staying off for 31hours! Yes, we’re definitely back in Africa. Some of the simple pleasures in life for us are turning on a shower and getting hot water (as opposed to a cold trickle, or even worse, no water at all!), mobile phones that work 24hrs a day, internet likewise, and electricity on, and at full strength, especially when you have a houseful of hungry visitors waiting for dinner!! It’s a four star day when everything is working at once!
Back to our holiday - we did a 16 day coach tour of England, Ireland and Scotland with a very compatible and enjoyable group of 44 people (29 Aussies, 13 Americans and 2 New Zealanders) plus Elva, our excellent tour guide, and Steve, our trusty Scottish coach driver. From all accounts we encountered fairly typical weather, with a good smattering of cold, drizzly and sometimes very windy days, but it was rarely an inconvenience and helped us to appreciate what the locals must have to endure in the real winter! (At lunch break in Salisbury on the first day, I (Anne) found the nearest camping shop and bought a cosy waterproof coat to avoid snap freezing!) It’s hard to choose the best thing about the trip because there were so many highlights, but the food and accommodation were outstanding (hot showers and electricity all the time!!) and the castles, cathedrals, villages, bays, landscapes etc. are amazing.
We also spent our first 24hrs in England with the brother and S-I-Law of a dear friend from Irian Jaya days, enjoying their outstanding hospitality and the lovely Sussex countryside. Next we caught up with Scottish friends in Edinburgh whom we first met here in Karonga, and then later we caught up with other ex-Irian friends at Stratford-on-Avon for a delicious riverside picnic lunch and stroll – these contacts each added a special dimension to the holiday. Now we just have to lose a few kilos and identify all our photos, easy at the time, but the information seems to be rapidly deleting itself from our minds!!
We finished with two days in London (one icy cold, wet and windy, the next hot and sunny!) and then flew overnight to Johannesburg and then on to Malawi. Rina met us at the airport and we had two nights in Lilongwe for a wonderful “catch–up/hand over the presents” time, and we also went shopping for groceries/household items etc. to stock up before Rina headed back to Mangochi and we set off for home.
Since arriving back, Chris has plunged back into his food buying role (to the great relief of the guy who filled in for him), and I have been getting all his accounts for the last 18 months in order for an audit – not for the faint hearted, and guaranteed to raise the stress levels! In the second week we had 2 days of Social Development planning meetings with our Country Manager and Department head from Perth, so that involved extra catering and candlelight dinners – yep, the power was off more than it was on while they were here, so a back-up generator is now being arranged – sounds good to me!
Last week we enjoyed a four day visit from one of the Paladin directors and his wife, and this week we have been hosting a film crew working for Paladin. Also during this time we had the wife of one of our expat workers staying here for a week. The day after he left for a week in South Africa, she became very ill with cerebral malaria, and although she responded quickly to IV treatment in the local hospital, she needed to be where we could take good care of her while she completed the course of quinine tablets, and until her husband returned.
We also had 6 young volunteers over for a meal on one of our free nights, before they all left after 10 weeks in Karonga. They had been living with a local family so really enjoyed the BBQ chicken, salads and fresh bread rolls – a welcome change from beans and rice!
I started this letter on June 1st, did some more on June 7th and finally got around to finishing it now, so if it sounds a bit disjointed you know why! We love to hear your news too, so drop us a line if you have time.
Warm regards,
Chris and Anne
Karonga, 25th June 2009
Hello Everyone,
We arrived safely back in Karonga on Sunday evening May31st, feeling rested from our 3 week holiday, and ready to swing into action again. The swing lost some of its “oomph” with the power going off 5 minutes before we arrived and staying off for 31hours! Yes, we’re definitely back in Africa. Some of the simple pleasures in life for us are turning on a shower and getting hot water (as opposed to a cold trickle, or even worse, no water at all!), mobile phones that work 24hrs a day, internet likewise, and electricity on, and at full strength, especially when you have a houseful of hungry visitors waiting for dinner!! It’s a four star day when everything is working at once!
Back to our holiday - we did a 16 day coach tour of England, Ireland and Scotland with a very compatible and enjoyable group of 44 people (29 Aussies, 13 Americans and 2 New Zealanders) plus Elva, our excellent tour guide, and Steve, our trusty Scottish coach driver. From all accounts we encountered fairly typical weather, with a good smattering of cold, drizzly and sometimes very windy days, but it was rarely an inconvenience and helped us to appreciate what the locals must have to endure in the real winter! (At lunch break in Salisbury on the first day, I (Anne) found the nearest camping shop and bought a cosy waterproof coat to avoid snap freezing!) It’s hard to choose the best thing about the trip because there were so many highlights, but the food and accommodation were outstanding (hot showers and electricity all the time!!) and the castles, cathedrals, villages, bays, landscapes etc. are amazing.
We also spent our first 24hrs in England with the brother and S-I-Law of a dear friend from Irian Jaya days, enjoying their outstanding hospitality and the lovely Sussex countryside. Next we caught up with Scottish friends in Edinburgh whom we first met here in Karonga, and then later we caught up with other ex-Irian friends at Stratford-on-Avon for a delicious riverside picnic lunch and stroll – these contacts each added a special dimension to the holiday. Now we just have to lose a few kilos and identify all our photos, easy at the time, but the information seems to be rapidly deleting itself from our minds!!
We finished with two days in London (one icy cold, wet and windy, the next hot and sunny!) and then flew overnight to Johannesburg and then on to Malawi. Rina met us at the airport and we had two nights in Lilongwe for a wonderful “catch–up/hand over the presents” time, and we also went shopping for groceries/household items etc. to stock up before Rina headed back to Mangochi and we set off for home.
Since arriving back, Chris has plunged back into his food buying role (to the great relief of the guy who filled in for him), and I have been getting all his accounts for the last 18 months in order for an audit – not for the faint hearted, and guaranteed to raise the stress levels! In the second week we had 2 days of Social Development planning meetings with our Country Manager and Department head from Perth, so that involved extra catering and candlelight dinners – yep, the power was off more than it was on while they were here, so a back-up generator is now being arranged – sounds good to me!
Last week we enjoyed a four day visit from one of the Paladin directors and his wife, and this week we have been hosting a film crew working for Paladin. Also during this time we had the wife of one of our expat workers staying here for a week. The day after he left for a week in South Africa, she became very ill with cerebral malaria, and although she responded quickly to IV treatment in the local hospital, she needed to be where we could take good care of her while she completed the course of quinine tablets, and until her husband returned.
We also had 6 young volunteers over for a meal on one of our free nights, before they all left after 10 weeks in Karonga. They had been living with a local family so really enjoyed the BBQ chicken, salads and fresh bread rolls – a welcome change from beans and rice!
I started this letter on June 1st, did some more on June 7th and finally got around to finishing it now, so if it sounds a bit disjointed you know why! We love to hear your news too, so drop us a line if you have time.
Warm regards,
Chris and Anne
Karonga, 25th June 2009
posted by Chris & Anne Mattinson @ 10:55 AM
0 Comments
