So Dad asked for more background about health care in Malawi, which is good because for me it just seems normal now after taking other volunteers and about a hundred students to the hospital – normal, not acceptable of course.  It also helped to get Laura’s input since our late night trip was her first experience.  To start off with, when you’re visualizing the hospital, you shouldn’t think of it as you would an American hospital.  Laura said it seems like an olden-days insane asylum where they’re going to conduct all kinds of experiments on patients.  You walk in and there’s no one there to greet you, so you just kind of wander along without any impediments.  The hallways are not lit so it seems very dark and dreary.  It’s completely deserted actually.  Granted it was night time but I can attest that during the day it’s not too different – no medical personal bustling about, just patients.  So you wander through these halls passing a bunch of gates, some locked, some not.  There are 3 main wards – male ward, female ward, and the maternity ward.  The wards are just huge open rooms with probably anywhere between 50-75 beds for patients.  We obviously went to the female ward, which is further split into two sections, tuberculosis ward and general, where everyone else is just thrown together.  I’d imagine it’s a miracle if you make it out of there without catching some additional disease.  We were particularly worried since there were mosquitoes everywhere that had likely bitten multiple malaria patients.  There’s no security at all – like I mentioned before, TB patients were just wandering in and out.  It is expected here that someone accompanies you to the hospital and stays with you.  So they sleep on the floors next to the bed.  Molly has a particular horrid story about being attacked by an army of ants while staying with Matt.  There is food at the hospital but it’s considered disgraceful if you have to eat it – your relatives, friends, or coworkers are supposed to bring 3 meals a day to you and stay for awhile to keep you company.  I do actually think this is a lovely sentiment.  The one good physical thing I can say about the building is that there were mosquito nets for each bed.  I was shocked to see that actually.  So you walk into the female ward and there’s a desk where the nurses sleep on the counter.  You sit on a bench and give your symptoms to the nurse/clinical officer/doctor there.  No privacy or confidentiality at all, just telling your tale for all of the other patients to hear.  There are a couple of private rooms that the other volunteers got to use in the past, but according to a new sign on the door, it seems to have been reallocated as nurse sleeping quarters.  Dad also asked how often Malawians would go to the hospital – for regular care or just emergencies.  Considering most of them cannot afford the private clinics unless it is something really serious or their employers pay for it, I’d say they usually go to the hospital for everything.  Especially since they seem to assume even the slightest feeling of weakness is malaria, so they’re quick to go for the free medicine.  The hospital in Karonga is a District Hospital so it’s supposed to serve the whole area, not just the town.  It’s run by the government.  Apparently the private and mission hospitals are much better – both in staff and facilities.  The teachers here threw a (justified) fit when discovering labor/delivery expenses were not covered under their medical coverage… this means that they can’t afford to go to the private hospital in Mzuzu and would be stuck with the Karonga District Hospital.  They were livid.  So clearly they do prefer the private ones as well.  However, none of them were particularly surprised by the drug addicts story.  There tisked but weren’t horrified as were Jim and Robyn.  So I take that as an indication that they’re simply used to such horrible treatment.  I feel like it would blow there mind to see an American hospital.  I’m gonna take Banda to visit Brittany at work when we come home, just to see his reaction. 

Follow-up on the health care issues:  Even a few days after using the medication from Maneno Clinic, I was still sick.  So we decided to make another trip to the clinic to see if he had any other options.  He didn’t.  His advice was to go to Mzuzu to the private hospital there, since they have the proper lab facilities to do tests for anything other than malaria.  Awesome.  Well, let’s be honest, with my stomach issues there was no way I could sit on a bus for 5+ hours without having any chances of getting off.  Instead, I called Jim and Robyn who – wonderful people (and nurses) that they are – came right over.  After listening to my description of the severe pains I was feeling, they recommended that I most likely had a kidney stone.  Considering that it came on quickly and was the worst pain I’ve ever felt and that it had gone by morning.  Plus it’s apparently very common for foreigners who relocate to a tropical environment and never drink enough water.  And I never had a fever, so infection/virus was automatically out.  Seems like a doctor here would have known that?  But anyways, that was the pains and they said the stomach problems were just the body reacting to the trauma.  It’s very comforting to know that they are there for me with solid professional knowledge.  Had a bit of a relapse a couple of days later as the stomach issues resurfaced.  Had a major panic attack complete with uncontrollable sobbing and an inability to breathe.  Laura was gone by this point and poor Banda just didn’t know what to do since panic attacks don’t often happen here and if they do, they certainly don’t have a name and explanation.   The next day, we became  convinced that the reoccurring stomach issues were happening because I was drinking litres of juice – a known diarrhetic – with the hydrating powder instead of water.  So I laid off of that and the next day and the following days I’ve been back to my normal self.  A little more tired than usual from the whole ordeal, but definitely on the upswing. 

Laura’s Departure:  Sad times.  I can’t believe the time went so quickly.  In some ways it feels like we’ve been in Malawi forever, but when I think about her time period here, that seems to have gone very quickly.  She spent her last day hanging artwork in the library – posters of beautiful urban scenes as well as various paintings.  I love it – gives me something to look at other than white walls.  I’m going to do her painting project soon, which will also add a great splash of color to the window frames and the bookshelves!  We spent our last evening finishing “Out of Africa” and having dinner with the brothers.  That was lovely since it was really just us, Beams, and Paul having our own little sub-party, so we got our fill of them.  And Alick made a cake!  Oh it was wonderful – how I’ve missed their cakes.  I drove her to the bus depot the next day (my plans of accompanying to Mzuzu were scratched because of the sickness) and was happy that Banda, Raymond, and Envy all love her enough to come along.  I’m glad she got to meet such beautiful people.  Anyways, goodbyes and tears were had in the middle of the bus depot and then she was off!  It’s strange being the only American on campus now.  I do like living alone in terms of household stuff, but there are certainly a couple of hours of loneliness squeezed in between being content upon arriving home from work and when Banda comes over for dinner.  I foresee a very clean house as I get antsy from just laying around – I’ve already cleaned my former bedroom (that I vacated after the decaying lizard incident). 

Football Fun:  I finally went to a MIRACLE football game which I’ve been promising to do since coming back but always seem to miss out on thanks to lake days.  It was a great time!  Settled myself down to watch and thoroughly enjoyed myself even though the boys lost.  They were playing against Livingstonia Technical, which is actually where Banda’s younger brother goes to school.  And he just happened to be on the football team!  What are the odds of that? Lol  So I got to meet him which was fun although he was certainly much quieter than Mr. Banda. 

Domestic Duties:  As mentioned, I’ve become a cleaning machine.  Also since Laura was our only tall person, of course the universe decided to burn out 2 lightbulbs the day she left.  Of course.  So short little Banda stacked 2 chairs and a table on top of each other to switch them out.  I could see death approaching.  Especially when we had to turn off the fuse box and have him tinker with wires that had become unattached.  But it was successful!  I’m also on a recipe mission… I’m so sick of eating the same things all the time.  So I’ve been scouring the internet for simple recipes that I can recreate here.  Let me know if you have any suggestions!  Keeping in mind that meat and dairy (except for butter and milk) are essentially out.  So eggs and beans are the primary protein source.  And lots of vegetables.  Basically anything rice or potato based that actually tastes like something would be great!  Last night I made fried rice for the first time and I’m pretty sure that it will change my life.  So much better than plain rice which I get sick of daily.  And I made Mom’s potato and ham skillet which was heavenly.  I’d eat it every day except for the depressing fact that my spam supply is about to run out.  Feel free to send more even though I’m sure the very idea repulses many of you – trust me, I was equally disgusted by the concept until I moved to Africa where meat is too expensive for me to buy!  Or if you feel so inclined to send packets of powdered sauces… they must sell those right?  I can recreate pasta-roni if I have some good sauces.  Pretty sick of the pepper, garlic, salt and beef bouillon mixture that goes on everything here. 

A rant about gender (in)equality:  I very nearly lost it recently during a meeting at MIRACLE.  We received updates about multiple girls who had gotten pregnant and who were thus kicked out of school.  And it literally made me sick to see every single teacher cackling with laughter over the situations and shaking their heads about the stupid and seductive girls.  Even though I think I’m used to the inequalities here, every now and then it just smacks me in the face and it still continues to shock me how there is just no accountability for the men.  Not only do the fathers get to stay in school.  But even the acts of sex and pregnancy themselves.  That it is all the women’s fault.  They are temptresses and the men just cannot – and should not have to – help themselves.  And that there’s no inkling in anyone that maybe the profound lack of respect for and subjugation of women in this culture could be a foundational problem that is simply unconquerable for most women here.  Socially, financially, educationally, emotionally.  Everything is all wrapped up together.  All under the guise of “respect.”  Well I’ll tell you what, that respect should go both ways buddy.  But if the man doesn’t want to wear a condom, there’s pretty much nothing to be done other than abstinence which often doesn’t even work here since the man can just take whatever he wants.  And if they are financially dependent – as younger girls are SO OFTEN here because students will go stay with relatives for their high school years – then there’s really no way out.  One former student was even arrested because she got pregnant, went home and was chased by her family.  So she ended up in Lilongwe with friends and decided to get an abortion, which is illegal, so she’s in jail.  And the teachers just laughed their heads off and said she got what she deserved because she was stupid enough to get pregnant and that the man was her sister’s husband. Now yes, the fact that it was her brother-in-law upsets me.  But in a Malawian context, I’d be willing to bet almost anything that he was the aggressor and that because she was his financial dependent and staying in his home, he felt like he could have whatever he wanted.  And that he’s likely sitting pretty in his home as I type this, still being taken care of by his wife and not dealing with any consequences.  I thought I was going to burst into tears right on the spot.  Where is the compassion and equality in God’s eyes that’s supposedly preached in their churches every weekend?!  Oh and the fact that 5 minutes later they were discussing a kid who was skipping school in order to do piece work.  Expressly against the rules and grounds for expulsion.  And the reason they decided to let him stay was… get this… that he has several children all over the place and he needs to graduate.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!  Not a single chastisement about his promiscuity.  Just taken for normal.  Whereas any girl with even one child would be kicked out of school and branded a slut, deserving of ostracization, mockery, and even arrest.  It is one of those situations that make me incredibly grateful for being raised in America since the hypocrisy drives me crazy and makes me feel hopeless about true ideological change in this country despite all of their chatter about teaching gender equality in schools. 

House Update:  To end on a more positive note, the house is flying along!  Of course I feel like I’m hemorrhaging money and am way over budget.  Sigh.  Stupid first quote left out basically everything.  If I’d have known it’d be this much, I’d never have done it.  But I keep telling myself it’s a good investment.  So anyways, the roof is on.  I was pleased that even with the roof and walls, it’s still very cool in temperature.  Cooler than any other house I’d been in on a fairly hot day.  Good airflow and the tall ceilings really help.  Today they are starting to plaster the walls and then all that is left is pouring the concrete floor and attaching doors and window frames.  And then doing the pit latrine and septic tank.  Very exciting!  It’s just adorable and I love it already.  When I went to visit last time, my neighbor came over and gave me a gift – 2 guava tree seedlings.  My heart was full.