Willeke in Malawi

Nkhoma Mountain

May 28, 2009 at 08:35 (Stay in Malawi, Uncategorized)

We made it to the top!

After work on Friday we went towards Nkhoma Mountain. We past by the home of family Ter Haar. Where Raynier Ter Haar, the Medical director of the hospital, asked us if it was okay if his dogs, Spots and Tinka would come along..

When we said we would managed without them, he added: “But they really want to”

So we took them along, or more they ran in front of us and we followed the way they showed us. Very smart dogs. We made it to the hut around 5, at 6 it would be darker so after some resting we made(read: 4 girls made) our own campfire. At some point the dogs started barking, there where some Malawian people approaching, and Malawians really do not like dogs. They were scared to walk further until we called the dogs, great guardsman, and the way they listen to us, wish my dog was like that. 

On the fire we boiled water for soup, and with a stick we put our marshmallows and bread dough (that Metrine prepared for us) in the fire. Some of us gave Tinka and Spots some of their bread and others burned their bread. But we had a lot of fun. I also had some chocolate milk packages with me (dankje pap!) which were perfect for the occasion.

We went to bed when it was getting colder..just something everyone forgot to mention me is that in the mountain hut the temperatures are really really low…all I took with me was a sheet and a jacket…the rest also had a blanket. I did not sleep much, because I was frozen, but the others also didn’t sleep much.

The next morning the alarm went off at 4.15, just for us to discover it was still really really dark outside… so at 5 we started to get out off bed, to discover Spots was no where to be found..

Knowing that usually Spots and Tinka go home anyway we continued with our climb to the top. Halfway there we saw part of the sunrise, because we were in between the two rocks. It was quite a hike, where sometimes the grass was very functional to grab to be a bit steadier. Forgetting some of the slidings (mostly made by me) it was a nice climb. Around 6 we reached the top.

Where we made amazing pictures and of course did some crazy stuff. We had a chupa chupa lolly and enjoyed the view. We could see Lilongwe and the lake!! We also could see little fires everywhere and the villages. We also texted Raynier about Spots, he was safe at home, and that the helicopter could come to pick us up at 9.00:P.

Going down was even more interesting, because it is a lot more dangerous. Going up we could crap branches and grass going down, was down by Ellen and me a lot more in a sitting and just sliding (again especially me) position.

Back at the hut we cleaned up and took our bags and we where brought Tinka home (or she us) around 9.30. For next time we can borrow sleeping bags of Ter Haar.

At home there was ¼ of Coffee cake, made by me, waiting for each of us. First thinking this was too much, everyone agreed, in the end, it was just enough.

After a shower and a nap in the garden in the sun, I was even ready to go to Nkhoma market again.

 

So that was last weekend.

This week I have been busy with finally putting all Home based care client names in a database…all 410 finally done! After that I had to check if there were double names, or almost double names. Seeing that everything is handwritten by different people registered names seem to differ with the second. Next to that I finally have the names of the referred patients (which are only 70, but there are 410 clients so that is a bit weird, and it is only of 2008…) and finally have a list of 17 referred but unregistered patients… which means I can start interviewing them and finally finish my research! Which means I have time to work on my UBM of the department, UBM=Universal Business Model, a model to analyse an organisation, or better said, the most-boring-report-to-write-ever-which-drains-all-my-new-found-motivation…

Besides that I finally have the video material of the visit of the moderator, which I could edit, and with that I discovered, our idol(s) performance is also recorded..:s 

Anyway lots of love from not so warm Malawi(at least n), see you soon, Willy