View of QECH to the left and Mt. Soche to the right. Photo courtesy of Carissa

Now that I have been in Malawi a full week, I have started to set up a routine for what my days at QECH look like. I have spent some time shadowing Chatinka nursery, where many of the patients are babies in their first few weeks of life, and most all of whom are very premature. Some of the patients are barely larger than the size of my hand. From Chatinka I have been collecting some data about the use of oxygen and CPAPs. In the afternoons I have been coming back to the BTB office and working on data analysis from there. I have been setting up meeting with a number of different doctors, nurses and administrators, and in the process I have become slightly more familiar with the long hallways and numerous wards of Queen Elizabeth’s. It has taken me getting lost more than once to be able to get to the BTB office from Chatinka without having to ask for directions.

This week Jacinta, Caleb and I have been working particularly hard to pick up some more Chichewa. It would be nice to become more familiar with the language both for convenience and as a courtesy, as most of the people we’ve met are very happy to hear our improvement and communication is easier when we can better understand each other. Here are some of the words that the three of us have (nearly) mastered in the past few days:

Zikomo- thank you/excuse me 

Madzuka bwanji- good morning, answered by dadzuka or dadzuka bwino

Tionana- see you later

Pepani- I’m sorry

Ndangalala- I am happy

Most of these were patiently taught to us by Tandi who works at BTB with us and Alfred who owns the Cure House where we’re staying. Some friends at Poly also gave Caleb and Jacinta a list of common Chichewa words to learn that we have been studying in hopes of soon being able to communicate with our Malawian friends in their own language. Everyone I’ve tried my new vocabulary on is appreciative of my efforts and definitely willing to help me continue to learn.

If you’ve read the other Blantyre interns’ blogs, you probably read something of our hike on Saturday up Mt. Soche. We went with some new friends who live in Blantyre; John who is a photographer working for a year at the Cure Hospital, and Alex, a Blantyre native. We were also accompanied by three boys about ten years old who lived in the village at the base of the mountain. While the five of us struggled up the mountain dehydrated, overheated, and thoroughly exhausted, our three new friends seemed never to tire. Every time I turned around they were dancing, or sword fighting with sticks, or jumping off of rocks into bushes and leaves. They brought no water or food, and climbed the entire mountain without shoes on their feet- something hugely impressive and humbling to us less hardy hikers. All of the people that I’ve met since coming here- the children especially- are exceptionally strong and unfailingly friendly. We made sure to share some of our sandwiches and water with the boys before they left.

One of my favorite moments on this trip so far was seeing the view from the peak of Soche. You could see most of Blantyre and the surrounding landscape, and from where I sat I had almost 360 degrees of view down below. When we got back that night after the hike, I spent some time outside admiring the stars, which are very clear and numerous even in the city. The landscape around Blantyre is so colorful and vivacious during the day and so serene during the night, it has given me a lot of anticipation for getting to see more in the upcoming weeks.