Leaving Lilongwe, arriving in Blantyre

It is now Tuesday morning, our last day in Lilongwe as we will take the bus to Blantyre tomorrow morning.

We have managed to get a lot done for Flemmings while here despite the ongoing sicknesses in his family.  He wanted us to come over on Sunday, but phoned to say both his wife and 5-year-old daughter Rejoice were quite ill with vomiting and diarrhea.  It’s a good thing he was trained as a nurse as he was able to care for them and ensure that dehydration wasn’t getting serious enough to have to go for IV hydration at the hospital. 

It did give us a chance to go to our favorite Italian restaurant in Lilongwe, but we would much rather have had Flemmings family healthy enough for us to visit.

We got to meet the Dean of the main nursing and midwifery college in Malawi, who was very impressive.  She and Flemmings have known each other for a long time and she is the president of the board at the association where he now works.  She was just made an adjunct professor at University of Michigan, has connections with the Gates Foundation etc.  Quite a dynamo.

After our meeting we had lunch at an amazing place called The Four Seasons – this is a photo of their gardens from where we were at lunch.  It felt like we had stepped into an alternative universe,

It was so emotional saying goodbye to Flemmings family last night – and Flemmings drove us to the bus stop this morning.  His wife was feeling a bit better but still quite weak and Rejoice still had a fever and they were trying the second line of Malaria medicine thinking that she might have resistant Malaria.

The bus ride was another out of body experience – with only half the seats filled and snacks and drinks served.  And the scenery between Lilongwe and Blantyre is quite beautiful with lots of granite massif’s rising up and green river valleys,  Both John and I remarked that there seemed to be more trees, and I could see stands that had been planted so the reforestation program must be having some success. 

Blantyre is more prosperous looking, green and hilly and feels a bit like an oasis.  The little lodge I found it just charming – spacious, on a hilly tree lined street, there is a small pool I didn’t know about and a lovely restaurant.  We even have a shower with tile and a glass door and a pretty view out our window.  Heavenly.