The journey...and arrival.

I'm here. Yes, I've finally reached Malawi. After months of preparation and weeks of anticipation and anxiety, I've reached my destination.

The journey here was relatively uneventful. From Calgary, I flew to London and then on to Johannesburg, which I quickly learned, everyone refers to as “Joburg.” I like that. From Joburg, it was on to Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. VSO staff met me at the airport and directed me to the waiting vehicle for transporting volunteers to the hotel. I was happy and excited to see that over 20 of us had arrived! We headed to the hotel, had about an hour to rest, and then attended a brief meeting with the VSO country director. After a quick dinner of local Malawian food (my first taste of nsima – a thick maize porridge that is the staple dish!), everyone decided it was best to sleep, so off we went to rest up for the next day.

The second day was spent in training. We began bright and early at 8 am and had a full day packed with information on safety & security, accommodation, finance, meeting the VSO office staff, language training (which depends on which part of Malawi you are going to as there are several local languages), and a 1-1 session with the program manager. VSO focuses on 4 different program areas in Malawi - education, health, secure livelihoods, and HIV/AIDS. In Malawi, the health and HIV/AIDS programs are the largest and most of the volunteers I arrived with will be working in these areas, as they are doctors. In the education area, there are only 2 new volunteers – Mark (from Australia) and myself. I think there are 9 other volunteers already in Malawi working in education.

After our training, we were taken for a visit into town. VSO staff helped us buy SIM cards and set up our mobile phones. Then we went to a few shops to see what was available, so we could begin planning what we need to buy or prepare for our new homes. I was shocked to see the amount and variety of goods available in the shops we went to. In hindsight, I may have over-packed as I anticipated I wouldn’t have access to many products I normally use. Also, I’m relieved to learn that I will not be alone! I am the only new volunteer with a placement in Domasi, which is very close to Zomba, the closest city (though it recently was a town). Two other new volunteers - Anna (an occupational therapist from the UK) and Nick (a psychiatrist also from the UK) - will be working at the mental hospital in Zomba. That gives me hope for friendship, support and some sort of a social life. I’m thankful that my placement will be near one of the most beautiful places in Malawi! My little guidebook says that Zomba is “often claimed to have been the most beautiful capital city anywhere in the British Empire.” At the start of our training, we introduced ourselves to the entire group and stated the location of our placement and then the VSO Malawian staff told us a bit about our location. Well, it sounds like one of the volunteers is headed to what the locals called the “Dust Bowl” and another is going to the “Armpit of Africa.” I really hope I get to visit them and see what that’s all about.