We've arrived!

Soooo….we’re here in our new home Blantyre Malawi. We arrived here Wednesday afternoon after a good journey (extra legroom seats on both flights!) and all of our luggage arrived, we got through immigration with no problems just a VERY slow process. The heat hit us very quickly, it is VERY hot and humid currently, we’re trying to acclimatise to constantly sweating although we keep being assured it will cool down imminently.

Thursday and Friday morning were spent with a tour of our new places of work and some induction and work planning. Work ‘proper’ starts Monday morning, Mark is an office where he will be training and mentoring 2 Malawian members of staff and Laura is in a team of 8 Malawians who do outreach family support in the community. We’re both looking forward to seeing how we can contribute to the growth and development of our respective teams.

Mark's new desk with nice views out

We’ve had quite a few questions about where we’re living; we’re on the volunteer staff compound that is a 15 minute walk from where we all work. It is based within a poor township on the edge of the city, as we were driven to the compound it literally felt like we were in the middle of nowhere going up and down hilly dirt tracks, but at the end of the challenging drive to the compound you enter a haven in the midst of the township, it is very beautiful with views of the surrounding mountains. We live alongside other expat volunteers, currently 2 Japanese and 6 Brits but this number is due to grow over the coming months. We were hoping there would be some Malawian staff on the compound but their housing is in a different part of the township so the only Malawians who live in the compound are some teenage students of the college that is part of the organisation we’re volunteering for, but they are due to be rehoused in a few months to allow more space for more expat volunteers arriving. We’ve been allocated the last 2 bed house that was available, it has a lovely view and although simple is more than adequate for what we need, it has a good size lounge / dining room, shower room, good size bedroom and then a smaller bedroom which we will use for storage. We’ve only had 2 power cuts so far which is much less frequent than we thought and so far constant hot water!

Our Home

As we don’t yet have a vehicle we’re a little stranded really, we really are on the very outskirts of the city and are at the mercy of our colleagues who have access to vehicles to be able to leave the compound and do things like buy food. In one sense this is good as it is forcing us to rest and not do a lot but we’re keen to explore our new city and not have rely on our colleagues. We have begun searching for a vehicle but as yet have not found the right one but trusting the right one will appear at the right time!

That’s enough writing for now, we’ve got some pictures below. We’re both well though, feel very peaceful and enjoying the slower pace of life! Love to you all!