Settling into Chipata life...

Not much excitement to report today …I guess the N’cwala Festival at the weekend will take some out beating!

My journey to work is a 30 minute walk and for my first day, to help me learn the route, I was accompanied on the journey by my new colleague Sampson …AND TORRENTIAL RAIN! I was wearing my wellies and a waterproof poncho (with grateful thanks to Gaynor and the Edinburgh Military Tattoo!) but still got absolutely soaked. It’s the wet season here and though it’s hot and humid, we get LOTS of rain which, when it falls, makes the Merthyr ‘sideways’ rain look like gently drizzle.  Also, as I have to be prepared for every eventuality, rain, sun, thunderstorm (!), I have to carry a full rucksack everywhere.  That plus the laptop makes for gruelling walks in this heat.  I tell you, the SAS don't train this hard!!!!  I am one of the lucky ones though as by far the largest majority of Chipata folk do not have raincoats or umbrellas; they continue their day-to-day activities in the rain ….drenched through to the skin!!

My new employers are great people to work with and they are managing to do some amazing work with their VERY limited resources. Coming from such a resource-rich working environment, it IS a huge challenge for me but I am slowly adapting to new ways of working. A good example is that yesterday, I needed to see an advertisement for some EU funding that we potentially could apply for – simple enough you may think. In reality, it meant me walking nearly a mile through mud and over makeshift bridges to another organisation who, being slightly better off than us, had a photocopy of the add that they kindly gave me…!
That type of occurrence, coupled with the lack of internet and no office paper to print on makes me have to consider every action carefully and devise other ways of achieving it. One thing I know for sure is that at the end of this placement, I will not take for granted how fortunate we are in our workplace. (Look out WAG colleagues, the sermons will no doubt start as soon as I’m back!)

On a personal level, all is very well. ‘TAF’ have settled well into a daily routine where we go off to work, come home, cook supper (we take it in turns) and then sit in our little home chatting about our respective days activities before turning in. Its early days I know, but so far, have not missed the TV or radio one iota…!!!

We don't really have any alcohol to speak of at home but I have introduced Francis & Alan to the concept of 'Wine Night' so we are all very much looking forward to tomorrow!!!