Malawi Blog 7

Today was a little chaotic!  We worked with the Government of Malawi Dowa Hospital in a very remote location.  The road we traveled was more like a dirt path.  The people from 3-4 surrounding villages came to the clinic and we treated over 600 people.  We estimate that we filled between 1,500 – 1,800 prescriptions.   There are variations in how medicine is practiced in Malawi and we learn from each other.  The children were very curious, and we had to have our translators tell them to go back to school – they didn’t!

Each day as we travel to clinic, we get to see the everyday life of Malawians.   We drive through the market where people sell a variety of goods and we drive through the countryside where we see people working in the fields.  We travel in a pink bus but most people walk and ride bikes.  Today, we saw a motorcyle with 2 men and a pig.  We drove past the Dzaleka Refuge Camp, which is wall to wall tents.  This refugee camp was built to house about 10,000 people and currently houses about 60,000 people.  Most are residents from the DRC, Burunda and Rwanda.  Their website says that 93% are women and children.   It is very humbling to see.

We have been able to experience some of the local food prepared by our hotel (we don’t eat food from street vendors and only drink bottled water to keep our tummies happy)  We have enjoyed Chambo fillet, a local fish from Lake Malawi.  We have eaten some familiar things such as fresh watermelon and pizza.  We have eaten some unique things like fried bananas or cooked pumpkin for breakfast.  The adventurous foodie among us had chicken gizzards one evening.  The coffee is STRONG to get all of us going every morning.

I cannot believe we only have one more day to serve in clinic.  Tomorrow we will be traveling to a remote location again with the Government of Malawi Dowa Hospital.