I had a great breakfast at that hotel, and for the first time since I had arrived saw some news. Nothing good as usual, but wow it hit me how disconnected I had been. Robin, the country director for Concern Universal, took us to lunch at a rural spot on the edge of Blantyre's outer skirts on a hilltop that overlooked the valley and border with Mozambique. They prepared our meals with a kitchen ran on a generator, and Robin walked us through CU's Malawi operations at a high level as well as what our role would be for the week. They really do some great stuff. A couple of the items I thought had an amazing impact that have good regional coverage and funding include providing micro-loans to women small business groups, putting in wells and protecting drinking water sources, creating programs to increase land fertility and crop seasons, and selling fuel efficient clay stoves at subsidized prices. The USAID and similar organizations ran by the UN, Australia and Ireland fund their operations. It's amazing what an impact an organization and group of motivated people can have on the quality of life in a place like this, where crop shortages leave people starving, women aren't always provided freedom from their husbands, waterborne disease is common and there is a lack of enough firewood to supply energy and heat to some regions. Really simple problems, but the government here as well as many other African governments can't seem to even put a dent in the problems. We headed from there to Phalombe district which encompasses a large area just North of the Mulanje mountains, in Southern Malawi. We went through the normal routine of lengthy bargaining with the Thuchila lodge staff since this was the 3rd time since I've been here where they assume that since we're white we surely must want the most expensive suite they have. Thuchila lodge is the tourist camp on Thuchila tobacco farm. The rooms weren't the greatest, as expected, but the bathrooms were pretty clean and the views were awesome. Our lodge was practically on top of where fresh water is pumped to the town center, situated on the base of the mountains. There's also a nice little bar and restaurant that we can have a big meal at for breakfast and dinner. Unfortunately breaking for lunch, or eating anything besides a few snacks during the work day, is not too common. So it took a couple days to get used to but is not as difficult as I imagined actually. Sunday night was pretty nice checking out the river and small waterfalls up the trail from our lodge. Walking Alecia and Jen up there gave me a good sense of what I was in for. They had big purses over their shoulders, and stepped more carefully than if in a mine field. That night was pretty hot, and as soon as the sun went down it became clear how horrible the bugs were. Literally you could not use the lights in the room after dusk or thousands of bugs would fly and creep through the cracks seeking the light. So we primarily used headlamps and candles. Since we are in a high risk malaria area and distributing nets for that reason, we obviously are sleeping under nets ourselves. I went over to the girls room to chat a bit and as they said "tuck them in"- referring to the bed net around their mattress. I can sleep through anything and caught plenty of z's, but I don't think they got more than a couple hours due to the heat and extremely loud buzzing of bugs outside their net. I must say for not doing this stuff ever they are troopers. The evenings are just miserable outside. But the strange thing is the mornings are absolutely beautiful. The sun rises just before 4:30 and every day I got up just after that, hung my hammock outside and read. The temperature was cool and I don't think I was bit once in the morning.
