Reflections on an old year
It feels almost surreal to think about it. The recent year switch actually symbolised close to a full year of my placement here. 11 months by the time this blog will be up. It moves me to tears almost. So intense. So fascinating. So real... It has transformed me in the deepest of ways and this has surely not been without the mistakes and challenges which forced that learning curve very much down the hard way! I’m confident that I’m coming out at the other end of this chronological divide stronger, cooler and wiser in my humanitarian vision.
So what has this journey, which is yet to be half completed, consisted of? Allow me this nostalgic retrospective exercise for symbolism’s sake. February 2010, the 7th, the day it all started. A mind boggling crash course into this country’s diverse facets before being thrust down the deep end for a taste of the real thing. To be honest, my dive was somewhat cushioned by a month of central hospital “settling in”. The immersion into Ntcheu’s myriad sensations felt none the less absolutely dazzling! There was the initial period of unlimited enthusiasm at changing everything in the hospital, soon tempered to the confines of the orthopaedic department. That itself gradually got further refined and narrowed in its scope. In May, Janet paid her first visit after 3months of sage separation and we celebrated in style by hitting on one the best road trips in my life, going up north through the highlands to Nyika plateau and cruising back along the lakeshore road. By June, things had started flowing a bit smoother, with connections being made within Ntcheu and wider into the cities, where senior Orthopaedic support is known to dwell. I was finding my depth and could now let my hair down a bit (that amazing amount that rests atop my head!). Fortune obviously had it that the world cup was happening at that very time. The first one ever to be hosted on African soil and one to which I actually had tickets (thanks Su)! And what a trip that was too- 30+ hours each way aboard a cochlea-challenging bus through Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Jo’burg then Cape Town followed in the full frenzy of possibly the most electric of all sports gatherings to exist. Truly, truly a landmark of my African escapade, not to mention my entire life! The work in Ntcheu then resumed with the same momentum it had before the interruption. I was collecting data for the Malawi Ortho Assoc’s AGM. This was given a special boost by the visit of the super-ortho-doc Steve Mannion and his team Feet First, who visited Ntcheu and whom I later joined on a full-on surgical week in Rumphi. My insight into the Malawi health care was also deepening as a result and I already had my sights on VSO’s next doctors’ peer support (for which Klaas and I had been designated as main organisers at the last one in May, courtesy of Marieke). Just before the AGM came another biggie, which somehow never got its due spectacle on this blog, partly out of a desire to preserve its full independent sanctity, and partly because it would have eaten up at least 10 blogs’ worth, which was impossible with the AGM around the corner. I’m talking of the Mauritian instalment of Janet and my wedding in August. Back in Malawi things picked up extremely fast with the AGM first and the VSO national conference/doctors’ peer support next. I found myself very involved at the AGM in September, presenting two papers while also helping with coordination of the whole event. The short lapse before the national conference saw the amazing Lake of Stars music festival and a brilliant leaving party that surely put Ntcheu on the map and on the musical repertoire of a sizeable bunch of VSOs (look up the Ntcheu song in the slam section for clarifications- the tune is that of Alicia’s Empire State of the Mind!). An intense build up to the national conference and peer support it certainly was, with meetings and phone calls and internet sessions happening at an unprecedented rate. All that while work was also proceeding at full steam, putting into practice all the newly gained wisdom from our orthopaedic meeting. My stress level, not in the least helped by the escalation of loud music from Ntcheu’s nightclubs to honour the summer peak in alcohol consumption, at that time distracted me from my intended mission in some ways and I found myself back pedalling very quickly. A perfectly timed retreat into the heart of Malawian culture helped to readjust my system. This was the most intimate contact I’d made thus far with the real Malawian folk as I spent a week sleeping in a hut on a reed mat and eating the local food daily in Gongonya village. All this while having my evenings cradled amidst quiet starlit reveries under limitless clear skies. Back on track, my mind was now set on the next major transition in my Malawi experience- that of welcoming aboard that so-far solitary journey of mine a new person- Janet. What a reunion it was! It’s been so marvellous and intense at the same time that I cannot find words to express it in this blog. Not without its challenges as expected, this new journey of two has been rightly set to the tune of an exciting year and a bit ahead. All the excitement of Christmas and New Year was somewhat consumed in the mutual “settling in”- Janet’s first and my second. And here we are in the new year with new hopes, new insights and new ambitions for this kaleidoscope of experiences that be the Malawian reality...
What better way to confirm that we are indeed in a new year than with this latest spate of joint madness! We were busy chopping up a panful of basil leaves freshly harvested from our bountiful kitchen garden and garlic to make our own pesto (which costs an arm and a leg here) when hey lo! from nowhere appears a drunken bat, executing the most bizarre pitches and yaws. The microbiologist in me and the one next to me took less than a second to figure out the threat that dwelled aloft. No-one forgets rabies when they’ve seen a case of it and no-one knowing that would take the slightest risk when faced with a potential threat of it. But then the question arose- how do you tackle a potentially rabid bat darting at full speed in your living room with all escape routes securely closed? Next thing Janet (still in the kitchen) sees, after we isolate the bat in the living room, is me emerging from our room covered from head to toe in heavy duty water proofs, save for my face. I’m on a mission to set the bat free with the minimum fuss. But my face feels vulnerable, exposed in the face of this challenge. Suddenly Thandizo, my guard, [who cavalierly offered to readily pounce on the flying mammal to put it (and us) out of our miseries but then revised his proposition seeing me in my new garb], points out us that there in my living room resided a crash helmet left by my recent flatmate. The rest is a scene that could well have come out of a spoof of the X-files: this helmeted strangely attired alien with a huge flattened cardboard box in his hand engaged in a frantic mission to ground an enemy a hundredth his size!! This he finally does after ten or so attempts and, in a final act of elation, concludes the mission with a firm sweep to the concussed victim which sends it flying onto the outside. And that is how we are marking the first days of this exciting year. We promise to bring many more of those to you... Just give us time. Happy New Year everyone and thanks for your enduring support.
Ntcheu Market
Handy juxtaposition of services!!!
X-files...
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