the Journal 6
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Open Arms Infants’ Home – Malawi and Lake Malawi

After a few hours drive from the Malawi Northern border it looked unlikely that we were going to be a be to find anywhere to spend the night and so we parked up once more on the roadside in a bus stop. Plagued by Lake flies and mosquitoes we made another unappetizing meal from tins and crashed out. The following morning we realized the Lake was only about 200m from us and so went for a swim at Chitimba Lodge, a distinctly herbal place nestled into a village with stunning surroundings. Jonny brought inline skates from the UK and we devised a fairly dangerous new sport being dragged along attached to the bus with a towrope - good fun, until the bus stops.

Lilongwe was our only other stop before the Infants’ Home in Blantyre but the capital of Malawi, one of the poorest nations in Africa, is only remarkable by its apparent wealth and developed center. Our hosts were called unexpectedly to the UK for personal reasons but we were warmly welcomed by the matron in charge who had set us up to assist with the Scottish Malawi Partnership in addition to the work around the Home. The next ten days were a real treat as we traveled to Chikwawa District Hospital to repair mosquito screens on the wards and make fairly large additions to the dispensary that were crucial to them gaining access to anti-retro virals, (ARVs are now free to hospitals that prove they can dispense them responsibly and make a vast difference to the length and quality of HIV sufferers lives). Each of us drew on our own particular skills to assist at Open Arms in whatever way we could over this time and we were joined by two other British volunteers who decided to join the trip when we proceeded further South.

In stark contrast to the Tanzanian orphanage, where not even the exact number of children was known and there was no long-term sustainability plans, Open Arms was a well-supported establishment. Dedicated staff, organized fundraising and a small number of orphans ensured their good success record; significantly they took responsibility for the appropriate placement of the children back into their home communities. Included in the orphans their were cases of abandonment, maltreatment and perhaps most callously a case where a baby was thrown down a pit-latrine and deserted. The care and backing offered to those orphans that are re-homed (usually once they reach 2 years of age) is exceptional and takes the form of social welfare visits, fiscal support and even food provision.

There are increasing numbers of infants who are not lucky enough to find an appropriate new home and remain at Open Arms in Harrogate House, a pre-primary crèche with dorms. The fate of these children is undecided and a system where their needs can be met until their teens is under development but requires more funding. Every penny donated to Open Arms is spent on the infants in their care and we counted ourselves very fortunate to have been allowed to join in with their work for a short while. It was certainly a welcome break from sitting in a bus for 20 hours a day. Plans are drafted to acquire properties in the area to house the children as they reach maturity but further links with communities and especially educational establishments back in the UK would greatly assist in seeing all these plans through.

A brief visit to Cape Maclear on the lake shore was extended slightly to allow Barry and Jonny to complete a Nitrox Scuba course courtesy of Scuba-Shack and the sensation of diving in the freshwater of Lake Malawi was very different to our other sub-aquatic explorations off Egypt and Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean. There is also a certain satisfaction of eating for dinner the fish that you have just seen in the day, cichlids and large catfish mostly. Our first game viewing was at Liwonde National Park just to the south of the lake. To reach there it is necessary to hire bike taxis for a 16km trip down “4x4 access only” tracks and the bike operators charge more in the late afternoon due to the increased danger posed by marauding elephants. The riverside campsite was very picturesque and the water looked inviting until you noticed that the large logs were 4m long crocs. Our tents were right in the bush and during the early hours of the morning the grazing hippos were snorting and munching right outside only a few feet away. On the game drive and boat trip we were graced by impala, eland, bushbuck, mongooses, snub-nosed ground badgers, eagles, warthogs, hundreds of bird species and thousands of hippos.

Jonny left early to collect the bus from where it was stationed further up the road and was caught in a sudden rainstorm. With all his possessions and clothes sopping like a damp wizard’s sleeve it was hard not to notice the large number of funerals in the villages along the way. Sadly the two trades that are ostensibly booming in sub-Saharan Africa in the devastating wake of AIDS are coffin making and tombstone carving. After this character-building bike taxi back up the tracks we boarded the bus once more and set off for Zambia.