Promises Fulfilled

It’s amazing how time flies! I realized this morning how long it has been since I last posted and thought it was high time I put some new material up. One of the reasons I haven’t updated recently is that we are now working on study set up which means that I am spending much more time in an office assembling databases and data collection and much less time in the hospital/clinic.  I don’t think my insights on Microsoft Excel and Access are really blog material, so I’ll spare you.

Now that I finally have access to reasonably speedy internet I thought I would take the opportunity to post some pictures, something I’ve been trying to do for weeks, but have been thwarted by poor connectivity.
I don’t have many pictures of people, because I think there are many ethical grey zones surrounding photographing individuals over whom one has power. As an American medical student I am already granted so much access to the people of Malawi, and especially to the patients at KCH, that for the most part I am not comfortable photographing the residents/patients I interact with.

I hope you will enjoy these landscape pictures and pictures of other UNC Project folks.
First, a view from Ntchisi Forest:
The girls from the guesthouse took a day trip to Ntchisi  one Sunday in June. There were gorgeous views from the top (as you can see) and we all had a great time!















Speaking of the guesthouse, here is our happy home:

Now for a cultural lesson....While driving down the highway in Malawi one will often see men in costume running down the road, often with large knives. These men are Gule, members of a secrete society who get together, dress up in costume and masks, smoke marijuana, drinking homemade alcohol and then go from town to town performing dances. They are often hired to dance at weddings and funerals. If you see a Gule running down the road you can pull over and give him several hundred kwacha to dance and let you take pictures. When Mariah, Timica, Rob, Rita and I went to Salima this is precisely what we did. Below, a Gule:

 Speaking of Malawian culture, grocery shopping here is a complicated process involving one or two grocery stores, and a trip to the market where we get all of our produce. The Farmer's Market is one of my favorite summer activities, so it's nice to be able to recreate that here.

 The Lake is a very important part of the Malawian national consciousness. Since arriving I have been asked repeatedly if I have been to the lake, and if I have eaten Chambo from the lake. I have done both, and enjoyed both greatly. More than being a great place to swim and fish, Lake Malawi is the only place in the world where Cichlids can be found. These small flourescent fish are very popular for fish tanks in the States.

 In one of my first posts I wrote about chitenjes; the colorful cloth that Malawian women use as wraps for themselves and to createe slings in which to carry their babies. The marke in Lilongwe has a huge selection of chitenjes, here is a small sampling:

 So, as you can see Malawi is full of many many beautiful things. I hope to get back to posting more regularly and with more pictures (even some with people!) but for now I must say tewanana (see you later!)