More firsts!

The weekend before last, 10^th – 11^th  November, I felt I was seeing and experiencing lots more new things in Malawi. The truth is I see new things every single day. I never cease to be amazed.

1. No carrier bags in the supermarket, thankfully I hadn’t bought too much and was able to take the trolley to the car to load up my shopping. I’ve not seen any recycling initiatives since I been here although colleagues tell me there is some newspaper recycling. Some of the shops sell bags similar to the Bags for Life ideas in UK supermarkets although I’ve seen very few people using them. I have one and now need to invest in a couple more so that I’m ready for the next time there are no carrier bags. I’m pretty sure there will be a next time!
   
   
2. A deaf teenager wearing a hearing aid and a tee shirt from International Week of the Deaf. From my time with the National Deaf Children’sSociety, I know that being disabled in a developing country often means you are stigmatised and have very very limited access to support that we take for granted in the UK. I was delighted for the teenager that he had a hearing aid and had also been part of a worldwide event.
   
   
3. Believe it or not I was up early on the Sunday and went, for the first time, to St Peter’s, my local Anglican church. The service started at 7.30am, according to the notice board. I arrived early (unusually for me!). More details about the whole service in another post! This was my first experience of a bilingual church service. Thankfully, the prayer book had Chichewa on one page and English  on the facing page so I was able to follow the service. Where the Chichewa wasn’t too complicated to pronounce, I was even able to join in! My knowledge of Chichewa increased from zikomo (thank you) to include Ambuye, mutichitire chifundo (Lord have mercy). A great way to start the day.  If you want to learn prayers in Chichewa have a look here. Be warned, lots of the words have lots of constants (eat your heart out Carol Vorderman!)  
   
   I’d not expected any reference to Remembrance Day and there wasn’t but the service did end with the hymn “O God our help in ages past” so I felt I’d been part of the service of Remembrance despite being 4,948 miles away (yes I checked the distance on this website!)
   
   
4. Last Sunday (18^th) as I drove back from a colleague’s house I had to take a second look when I saw a man pushing a baby in a buggy. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’ve not seen a single buggy since I've been here, not even one  being used by Europeans.