Hello from Malawi!
This week started with five of us checking 11 bags in the Houston airport and boarding the first flight of our 3 day journey to Malawi. Having never traveled internationally by plane before, I was a little nervous that something would go wrong along the way… but thankfully the worst thing that happened was my favorite Rice 360º water bottle falling out of my backpack and breaking 🙁
Once in London, we took the underground from Heathrow to Trafalgar Square. Because our layover happened to coincide with Trump’s visit to the UK, the streets were filled with thousands of police and protestors. Making our way through the crowds, we saw the entrance to 10 Downing Street, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace.
After a lunch of fish and chips, our shared love of Harry Potter brought us to take the underground once more to King’s Cross Station and Platform 9 and 3/4 before heading back to the airport.
Back at Heathrow, the nicest lady from South African Airways pushed our bags through to Lilongwe and also switched our seats so that we each had an entire row to ourselves! Liseth and Kyla then met us in South Africa, and we boarded our final flight to Malawi. Apparently our plane was delayed several hours on the runway, but I was so tired I passed out the second I got in my seat.
Walking out of the Lilongwe Airport, we immediately were greeted by Mr. Richard, our driver who would take us to Blantyre. We then loaded up the bus and drove to the center of the town, where the interns from Tanzania had spent the day waiting for us to arrive. Due to our flight delays, we spent the night in Lilongwe. This allowed us the opportunity to get to know Betty, Nana, Joel, and Cholo over a nice dinner at the hotel. It also felt really good to shower again after two days of travel.
The next morning we began our drive to Blantyre. Still feeling tired, I was expecting to sleep on the bus, but the view from the window was too beautiful. Enormous mountains could be seen in the distance while vibrant flowers and bustling markets lined the sides of the road. Throughout the ride, Richard would make jokes and explain everything we were seeing. We were all blown away when he told us that on the left of the bus was Malawi and on our right was Mozambique.
We eventually reached the Kabula Lodge in Blantyre and thanked Richard for all of his help along the way. After grabbing dinner in town, we all sat and ate while watching the beautiful sunset on the patio of the lodge.
The next day, we hopped onto a shuttle to go visit Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Polytechnic, where we met all of the interns that we’ll be working with this summer. Finally having everyone from Rice, DIT, MUST and the Poly come together was a special moment, and everyone seemed to share excitement for the next seven weeks. Some of the Malawi interns were even nice enough to give a tour of the campus and helped us buy groceries for the lodge.
That brings me to today, a point where I feel we have finally settled into life in Malawi. As I am writing this blog, I am overlooking the beautiful city of Blantyre by night. I can hear music in the distance and the occasional cheering from a local soccer match. After reading so many of these blogs, it’s hard to believe that we are finally here. I cannot wait to start at the Polytechnic on Monday and begin the rest of this journey.
– Alex