This is my first post using my new 9.8"net book. I bought this little laptop for my trip to Malawi in order to down load some of my pictures I take while there. it seems to work quite well, but is somewhat slower than my Powerbook.

On another note, Adam, Peter and Devon are in swimming now and they tell me its very cold. Matt is also in as they are playing volleyball. We had a great supper of BBQ hamburgers and hotdogs. Nice to have some of the boys home for the weekend.

With less than a week until I depart for Malawi there is still so much to do. Cash to get at the bank, clothes to buy, go through the checklist, register with the government, contact the credit card center and on and on...

This is a very exciting trip, but I really wish Nadine was coming along to share the experience. I will be working south of Blantyre (a large city) in southern Malawi and will be somewhat isolated from many of our luxuries. I will have to learn to survive without the internet for a week at a time. I am hoping I can get to Blantyre on the weekends and hook in through an internet cafe. I also understand that water and electricity are not to be taken for granted. Pack lots of batteries they tell me.

I will be assisting a local dairy farmers cooperative society with their marketing and business planning and I hope to coach them so they can continue to use these skills after I leave.

I will be using this site to let people know what I am up to, so stay tuned as I muddle my way through Malawi.

Thanks to Colin for finding out the information for my quick (4 hour) trip into London. I am at the Halifax Airport and my flight is 40 minutes late. Not a problem, I have 7 hours to spend in Montreal. You have to love the free internet at the airport...all is well.

That was the first time I fley through a lightning storm. The flight from Halifax was smooth until the
decent when I noticed a flash of lightning. It was a little un-nerving, however, we made it down without a problem. We had to wait on the tarmack because the ground workers were under a code red, which means they cannot work outside because of the lightning. We got into the terminal after about 15 minutes. I am now waiting in the boarding area, for another 4 hours.

I am having breakfast in South Africa. I arrived from London this morning to Johannesburg after a 10 ½ hour flight. Smooth sailing all the way. I took a side trip into London while there and visited my
sister-in-law and brother-in-law and their two kids. I walked around Hyde Park with Val and Emily and we stopped for a beer in one of the local pubs. It was nice to be back in London. My niece and nephew are so cute. My next stop will be Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. I arrive there at 2:05 this afternoon Malawi time (9:05 at home). The temperature was 5 degrees when I got off the plane this morning but is now up to 12, bright sun and not a cloud in the sky.

I made it safely to Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. We are starting our day in the office of the World University Service of Canada. This is the organization who sponsored me to be here. I will be here until tomorrow at which time I leave for Blantyre. I will hopefully be able to post from there and up load some pictures.

I spent the morning traveling from Lilongwe to Blantyre with Jacob. After some meetings with more volunteers and a bite of lunch, Jacob and I went looking for a place for me to stay. I settled on a nice hotel in Limbe, just outside Blantyre. We then drove on to Bvumbwe where I will be working for the next four weeks. I met some of the people I will be working with and they were very keen that I am there. After some preliminary discussion, I know it will be a challenge.

I have had a great week so far. The people here at the Bvumbwe Dairy are very kind and helpful. I am helping them create a marketing plan and business plan so they can expand their facilities. The conditions are somewhat old, however, they are doing the best they can. We lost our power for about 2 ½ hours today which I understand is a common occurrence. It takes almost 2 hours to get to work each morning and 2 hours back by mini bus. That is quite an experience. Today was cold and rainy, so I was unable to take many pictures of the area.

This is the sign of their plant that I tool Wednesday.

The weather is not supposed to be very nice this weekend so I am staying in Blantyre for the weekend. I am hoping to get to a wildlife reserve next weekend.

Week 2 and all is well. The work I am doing is going to be very helpful to the local farmers in Bvumbwe. I am helping the local farmer’s dairy cooperative, and when they succeed the farmers benefit. The weather is starting to warm up and it did not rain today. I walked around the city of Blantyre this weekend and saw some sad and amazing sites. It is amazing how everyone smiles here no matter how poor they are. People cooking food on the side of the road to sell, crushing gravel by hammering it, selling their wares on the sidewalks, anything to help support their families. I hope to get to the Mulanje Mountains this weekend if I can book a car and driver. I hope to have more pictures soon.

I rented a car and driver today and we drove to Mt. Mulanje. We took a detour and went to the Mozambique boarder where I walked into Mozambique (just to say I was there). The day started out very foggy so I couldn’t take many pictures in the morning. The sun finally came out around noon and we walked part way up the mountain to the water falls.


On the way to Mulanje we passed through many towns and villages. It market day in most of them and there were thousands of people buying and selling.


We stopped at one spot to buy something and were almost mugged, everyone wanted to sell to us, and it was somewhat frightening. I was also an unusual site in these areas. We also passed by many large tea plantations and a few banana plantations on the drive. It was a great day.

Happy Anniversary Nadine.