Dog Days

         

Now we are in November which promises to be hotter than October, we are experiencing heat waves of temperatures in the forties degrees Celsius which translates to over 100 degrees F. Last week it reached 108 degrees F. In the office, the electric supply is not powerful enough to work the air condition in the medical part of the building.  While the coordination section enjoys the coolness of the AC, we struggle with two rotating standing fans blowing and circulating hot air at us.  Sometimes not even that as there was no electricity. Sweats trickle down the backs of my legs and I feel like I am in a sauna.  Soon I am sitting in sticky wet clothes literally.  My walks to and from the hospital in this temperature have not been pleasant even the dogs leave me alone having dug themselves holes in the ground for their long lazy naps. Ku Tentha kwanmbiri (It is very hot)

At night my nightgown and the sheets get drenched despite the fan which blows hot air.  Outside however there is always a cool breeze which makes me long to sleep outdoors but that is not possible.  We actually have it better than when I was in Kenya/Somalia when the generator was turned off by nine in the evening and the ceiling fan stopped whirring.  We lay in our beds in our sweats, not a breeze came through the window.  We once kept our door open to let some breeze through but this was met with protestations from the Kenyan men who lived in the same compound with us.  This is a mostly Islamic area. We heard about the complaints through the grapevine not directly from them.  While they could open their door ajar the women could not.

            In the hospital when the temperature reaches above 100 degrees F, the AC ceases to work.  The conference room where we hold meetings is usually flooded with sunlight and Malawians seem to always come very late to a meeting and love long meetings which do not help.  The sweltering heat makes one sweat through one’s clothes and one’s forehead is covered with the wet stuff, throats are soon parched and with no safe water source, some staff go out to buy water.  My bottle of water is hot and the water does not quench my thirst.  After all these years of MSF presence in hot Nsanje, our office in the hospital has no filtered water and I put a mental note to request one for my mentors.

            As we walk out of the office in mid-afternoon, hot sultry air just blasts us in the face and burns our skin, wilting our will to carry on but carry on we must.  

            A local neighboring Malawian boy rigged up a small fan using discarded materials and operated it with the use of a solar panel as he and his friends rested on a mat outside his house.

Neighboring Boys with their Fan

          

This past weekend, our new expat from Argentina who joined us two weeks ago asked one of our drivers to take us to the base of the mountains to Chididi. With this Argentinian expat in Shire House, we are no longer an all women team.  One of the expats from Belgium became ill two months ago and left and so there is a vacated room for him.  The driver took us to the wrong place and some local women told him where to drop us.  We brought plenty of water for it was a hot day and we could not start early because the driver does not begin working till after seven.

            The Australian expat and I took the lead, trailing behind us and struggling were the Filipino and Argentinian, stopping frequently to rest.  This route is apparently the short cut used by the people of Chididi to go to the Nsanje Boma and it traverses over three slopes.  We met many locals who were wondering why we were trekking to Chididi.  The Argentinian off-handedly said,” We are just hiking to Chididi to get a cold Fanta!” The locals do not walk this route for leisure only the Azungus. As a matter of fact the Argentinian being in logistics was planning to build a wading pool in the backyard of Shire House for us to cool off.  He was hoping to get some timber from Chididi.

            It took us three and a half hours to reach cooler Chididi where the Argentinian negotiated to buy some lumber.  The locals gathered somberly at a funeral service but were distracted by our arrival.  A few boys were catching some giant ants for a snack.  Another driver waited for us by the Chididi Health Center to take us in the cruiser back to the withering heat of Nsanje. I had tried to organize hiking in Mulanje in the past but none of the girls was ever interested. And so I remain the only expat who had climbed Mulanje. I gave the Argentinian a great deal of credit for mobilizing some of the expats to hike and sacrificing their habit of sleeping late on the weekends.   

Boys Catching Insects for Snack

         

           It rained heavily for an hour in the afternoon when the pool was completed and it was partly filled with rain water. The drawback is it blocks the view of the mountains in the backyard. We dipped in it after work for the first time, watching the sunset.  

Our New Pool