Breakfast time was set for 7:00. The dining area/bar area of the lodge is on a
deck over part of the beach. Beautiful
area! The fisherman in their hand-dug
canoes were bringing in their early morning catch from the lake. We enjoyed a
full English Breakfast served in this environment.
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The First Clinic |
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People meeting under the tree |
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Justin Talking to the Villagers |
The drive to the location of the mobile medical clinic was
supposed to be 1 ½ hours, but turned out to be more like 2 hours over roads
that you would not want to travel with anything other than an a 4x4. We drove on a hard surfaced road for maybe 20
minutes before turning off onto roads that were dirt, not hard surfaced or graveled.
There was severe flooding earlier in the year making the dirt roads difficult
to navigate. There were washouts on one
side or the other, ruts from when the road was mud, bridges that had large
timbers lengthwise and half of the cross boards missing, to say nothing about
the people walking on the road, or the goats, chickens, cattle and dogs that
were either walking on the road or crossing in front of you. I was very happy to be only a passenger and
not driving. The next question was
following directions. We were very happy
Justin knew where he was going. The
further we went the narrower the road became, at times only being two tracks
with grass growing between the tracks.
When we arrived at the destination where the clinic was
going to happen crowds of local people were waiting for us, sitting under the
trees for shade. It was after 12:00 when
we arrived, and at that time only one doctor was there – we can’t forget we are
working on African time!!
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Waiting for the Clinic |
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Our Clinic Doctors |
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Add caption |
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Cattle being herded through the Village |
Justin is the Honorable Justin MP (Member of Parliament),
representing this area of Malawi, so the people were very happy to see him. In
true politician style, both Justin and his wife went around and greeted people,
especially the chiefs and their wives. After greeting everyone of importance
the local coordinator called for everyone’s attention and soon gave Justin a
chance to address the group. This is all
done in their local language so we were not able to understand what was being
said, but the people seemed to enjoy his speech – they responded with lots of
clapping. After Justin’s speech, several of the chiefs also gave short talks.
Finally, the medical clinic could begin. We stayed around until 2:45 – Justin talking
to different people - He knows how to work a crowd! Shortly after we left 3 more doctors
arrived. Of the hundreds of people who
were gathered we have no idea how many had medical issues or how many were
supporting the sick person.
Some were there with the malaria virus. Of course the children were screaming when
they were pricked for the malaria blood test.
The people were so appreciative for the mobile clinic, as otherwise they
would have to walk 15 – 20 – 25 km to get any medical help. The missing health aspects were a dentist and
an eye doctor. One gal needed a tooth pulled, but could not afford
transportation to get to a dentist, so all they could give her now was pain
killers. In a discrete way we have given
money so she can go to a dentist.
After we left the medical clinic we drove to one of the villages
where a school is located that has the Rotary funded solar panel to power lights
in one classroom.
We met the Head Master.
He overflowed with appreciation for the lights! It is not just for the
students, but also for the teachers and himself who can work after dark on
their lessons. When you realize it is
dark by 6:00 pm, there is a large chunk of time in the evening for productive
study when there is light. The lights
are usually turned off between 10:00 – 10:30. The head Master told us that
since there are lights, all (50) of his 8th grade students were able
to move on to high school whereas before only 7 out of a class were able to get
high enough test scores.
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School with Solar Panel |
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The Solar Panel |
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Lighted Classroom |
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Rechargeable Battery and Cell Phone Charger |
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Cal, Rachel with the School Head Master |
Solar power is definitely the energy sources for
Africa. It really is a simple
concept. A solar panel to catch the sun’s
rays, wires, battery and wires to the light sockets that have bulbs. However, you do want heavy duty batteries,
and good equipment, as we have heard of one solar unit on a house was not
working – It was too cheap! We have seen
small (12 x 15”) solar panels standing outside of a house that had direct feeds
to a radio. As the sun moved they could
move this portable solar panel. We also
saw a larger panel (2ft x 4 ft) standing outside a home – we have no idea what
it was powering.
Before we returned to the lodge we went to the village where
Justin was raised and saw the school room Rotary electrified there. This village also is home of SOM (Save the
Orphans Ministry). Justin and Jane have
a home in this village so when Parliament is not in session they are in his
District most of the time, and when it is in session he is out here on
weekends. They have solar panels on this home so it is electrified as well. We saw buildings built by church groups from
Des Moines who would come for a week at a time over a period of years building
different buildings. They invested a lot
of time and money into the ministry of SOM.
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The Communal Water Pump |
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Crossing the Bridgs |
We have a long drive back to the Lodge on the Lake. Thank
goodness we are in a vehicle with A/C.
You are so glad to get out of the vehicle after that bumpy ride!!
The evening was spent relaxing at the Lodge. When the sun sets, the temperature cools
down. It was a beautiful evening by the
lake.
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