Apologies for the delay in posting a blog! As I mentioned last week, our entire Rice-Malawi team spent the weekend on the shores of Lake Malawi, taking a much -needed weekend to relax and recharge for the rest of our internship. Words cannot describe what an amazing time we had!
The weekend began on Friday with a late afternoon drive up to Cape Maclear, a town just outside Mangochi, where Aakash and I had been just two weeks before collecting CPAP data. After passing through Mangochi, we turned off on a dirt road, and one bumpy hour later we were at the lake! The lodge we stayed at for the weekend, Mgoza lodge, had delicious food (I highly recommend the goat burger to anyone who happens to be in the area). I was most excited that cheese was available – cheese in Malawi is rather expensive, so we never buy it for the guesthouse! Additionally, the lodges at the lake are all situated just meters away from the beach, leaving us with a gorgeous view of the water from our tree house style dormitory.
Friday evening we met up with the interns from Namitete and spent time getting to know our way around Cape Maclear. We took a leisurely walk up the beach, and being conspicuously the only non Malawians in the area, were instantly met by about a dozen shopkeepers, all trying to sell us trinkets and fabrics as souvenirs. Tourism makes up approximately 10 percent of Malawi’s GDP, as the tourism sector has been rapidly growing over the past decade. Tourist attractions are common in Malawi, from small wood carving shops on street corners in Blantyre to the more expensive safari lodges, but Cape Maclear seemed to have an economy that was based almost 90 percent on tourism (and 10 percent on fishing)!
Following our beach walk, we headed back to our lodge, taking a detour through town. As a large group of foreigners we were instantly noticed by the children from the village – they ran up to us giving us high fives and holding our hands as we walked down the street. Emily in particular was a big hit with the kids, and for the rest of the weekend whenever we were on the beach they would run up to us, asking for piggyback rides and giving us impromptu Chechewa lessons. We even got a chance to meet their mothers – Emily was introduced to them while we walked by the lake. Personally, I felt a lot better playing with the kids by our lodge knowing that their family was close by and approving!
Exhausted from our travel and exploration, we arrived back at Mgoza and found out that we had an additional roommate in our dorm. After about five minutes of conversation we found out that the new guest, Michael, was a Rice Alum and a fourth year student at Baylor College of Medicine! It certainly is a small world after all! While Rice and Baylor are some of the more prominent American institutions invested in Malawi, it was totally unexpected that we would meet a Rice Alum, not at a hospital, but at Lake Malawi! The chances are even smaller that he would be staying at the same lodge, on the same weekend, and in the same room as us! Michael was completing a global health rotation with a focus in ophthalmology at KCH in Lilongwe, and our conversations with him gave us all more insight to the differences between private and public clinics in Malawi.
Saturday, our only full day in Cape Maclear, we went on a boat ride and spent the entire day on the lake! We hung out in the sun, went cliff jumping and snorkeling, and ate delicious fish, freshly caught and cooked on the beach! Many of us bought souvenirs for friends and family, and we spent the evening watching the Ghana-Germany world cup at gecko lodge, the lodge where the Namitete team was staying. Sunday morning we enjoyed some final cheese omelets, said goodbye to the children who had become our friends for the weekend, and headed back to Blantyre. Everyone slept very soundly Sunday night, exhausted but refreshed and ready for work on Monday!
While we had lots of fun times at the lake, I also learned a lot – especially from getting to talk to Michael and the Namitete interns. All of us have been to different places in Malawi, and we all have a different perspective about the challenges to healthcare here. One of the great things about this program, and about the opportunities that Rice provides, is that it allows us to connect with people from all over Malawi, and all over the world. The different perspectives that this provides us with allows us to take a holistic approach to any technology we may develop, providing technical solutions, like the CPAP, that are able to be used in a wide variety of settings. The people that are currently involved with Rice projects are American and Malawian. We are bioengineers, doctors, and humanities students, and we are undergraduates, grad students, post docs, and professionals. From the program directors back home, to Dr. Gamula and the employees at PAM, to medical students like Michael and Becky, the diverse nature of the people I have met on this trip are truly amazing, and I have made friendships and connections that I hope to maintain throughout my life.
