If, like me, geography
wasn’t your favourite subject at school, you may be wondering where
precisely Malawi is.
Malawi can be quite hard to spot on the map as it’s a long
thin country which is land locked on three sides with Lake Malawi on the fourth.
This is an good map read but beware … some of the other
information is out of date Mrs Joyce
Banda has been the President since April 2012
Lilongwe, the capital, is right in the middle of the country.
It’s a quiet place compared even compared to somewhere like Bromley. There’s no
one city centre as such. The Parliament
Building is new and shiny. There are lots of embassies here, lots of overseas
aid agencies, a variety of shopping centres
(don’t imagine Bluewater, more the Nugent Centre, for those of you who know Orpington!), just one dual carriageway.
The city is divided up into areas. I live and work in Area 3
but if you think that’s between areas 2 and 4 you are very much mistaken! It’s near
areas 9, 10 and 14. Just don’t ask! Within
each area, the residences are known as plots and again don’t expect 1 to be
next to 2 ……Have a look on google maps and see if you can spot me!
I’ve found it hard to orientate myself (don’t be cheeky and
say “there’s a surprise!). I have finally realised that the roads sort of join
up into a sort of circle. Some of the roads don’t have street signs so although
they do have names you are not quite sure if you’re are the right place. If you ask
for directions, people will use landmarks or say at the third roundabout ……As I
like to know road names I am having to adapt and have even found myself asking “is
that near …..?” So far so good and even when I’ve found myself lost, I’ve
managed to find my way home! Lilongwe really isn’t a big place so I’m never too
far from home. Also, thankfully the roads are not too busy so I can usually
dither a bit at the roundabouts if I’m still trying to work out where to go. I’m
feeling happy with driving now but more of that later!
No comments:
Post a Comment