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Mwaswera bwanji from Lilongwe Wildlife Center in Malawi. It's been 1 week of our 2 week volunteer project here, with some exciting new experiences for Haley, some funny stories, and some crazy adventures in the busy and exotic Lilongwe. With Haley's animal science studies and background, she's been placed with the small group of Veterinary medical students that are volunteering here. This comes with some special privileges, as the "vet students" are given priority experiences with the procedures and veterinary activity onsite. Right away on the first day here, Haley was very fortunate to participate in a rare medical procedure on the resident lion, Simba. His health has been deteriorating lately, so they did a medical check, sedating him with a dart gun, pulling blood and urine, and some other tests. She was hands on with the 5 veterinary med students, weighing him (335 lbs) by lifting him onto a suspended scale, and Haley was in charge of administering oxygen while he was under. Very lucky to participate, as this type of procedure is only done once every 2-3 months. They will be doing similar procedures on a group of 18 primates during her upcoming course, so many more exciting experiences for her. It's an intensive week long course that she enrolled in, and comes with coursework taught by the resident veterinarians from France & USA, as well as clinical experience.
Then, additional news came in that the vet students were being included in a rare opportunity at the Liwonde National Park, about 5 hours from our location here in Malawi. Haley will participate in a boat safari, and a project involving tranquilizing a group of elephants and transporting them to a new site. She'll spend 2 nights away from the center here, while at Liwonde, and should see some amazing things. Once again, it's hands-on and lots of work, so it should be a rewarding opportunity for her with her animal studies.
Daily life here at Lilongwe Wildlife Center is rather simple compared to life at home. Not much to stress about or be consumed with -- just volunteer duties and work, the simple life. The guys on staff here loved it when I broke out the speaker and rock music, as we blasted it while chopping the vegetables for the primates -- energy level and productivity increased, and was quite fun, rocking out while chopping with a machete ! Then there's the cleaning of the cages, and the feeling that I was just demoted. Nothing more humbling than scrubbing monkey cages and sweeping up monkey s***. Doing my duty, and part of the experience I suppose.
But it's not all grunt work at all, in fact, they've recognized that I have some talents that don't come around here that often and they've jumped all over my woodworking/construction abilities. Tomorrow I will spend the day working with one other, building a recycling collection and storage container system for the wildlife center. It's certainly more rewarding to build something that's needed and valued here, rather than picking up monkey doo doo.
The veterinarian requested that I work on building a surgical light for the clinic, as right now they are using a single fluorescent strip on the ceiling as their only source of light during a surgery. Not even close to having proper lighting, so this requested project will be one they'll get good use out of. She provided me with an obsolete anesthesia cart, and I stripped all the components off it to be my base/stand. With a concept in mind, it was time to go after the materials for my project. Simple, right, go down to Home Depot and away you go ! WRONG, we're in Lilongwe, Malawi, and there is nothing of the sort. Onto the wild adventure . . .
I walked all over the city with the Lilongwe chaos everywhere. ATMs issue the money in local currency "Kwacha", and their largest denomination is 2,000 bill, which is less than $3 . The machine spits out money in 1,000 bills, which is just over $1, if you can imagine an ATM issuing $1 bills ! I went to 8 or 9 hardware stores trying to find the most basic stuff, like wood screw bolts and washers. I dealt with local Malawian owned stores, an Indian owned store, and a Chinese owned store --- nobody understood me and nobody had the materials I needed. They each brought out what they thought was what I wanted, but it wasn't even close. Then I went to the "black market" as they call it, which was an absolute zoo of small shacks that were all small hardware stands, extremely poor, and guys pimping out each other's stuff. Once again, nobody understands me, and keeps bringing out unrelated stuff. After several stands and lots of frustration, I meet one guy who has decent English. They tell you that we have everything, and then they run to another stall around the corner, pimping it out, taking their price and adding some money for him -- capitalism at its finest. Finally, I've gathered all the materials for my project ! I get back over to the shared bus/van which is always an adventure, as they pack in 10 people into a minivan that's absolutely thrashed -- fare is just 20 to 25 cents per person, and it's a true cultural adventure ! So, I tell the guy where I'm going, "Wildlife Center", and he says "yes". 20 mins later, the driver passes the wildlife center, and I say "that's my stop, that's me, hello ? " Keeps driving. Then it looks like he's pulling over, speaking in Chichewa. Nope, still driving. Then I turn back to the guy collecting the money, and say "so what's the plan now, you passed my stop". He keeps saying "hospital", no hospital, wildlife center !!! He keeps going, then I finally get him to stop, and now I've go to walk all the way back on the side of the road. Then there's a big bus (45-50 passenger, but they probably had 80 in there) broken down on the side of the road. Many school kids and some adults, with a lady yelling and swatting at them, then they all start pushing the huge bus ! I figured they were pushing it a few feet to get off the road, but no, they're still going, and pushing the bus uphill, kids and adults together ! Outrageous to see this 45 passenger bus being pushed uphill by the passengers. I couldn't tell you where they were going . . . So, yeah, this was all just to buy some bolts and washers etc. that would've been a 15 minute jaunt to Home Depot ! Only in Malawi.
The group of volunteers went out one night for some nightlife at The Living Room lounge/bar, and had quite a good time together. Drinking beers & mojitos, and playing some drinking games, and provided us with some bonding experience. There were lots of black men having great interest in the white woman. Then there were the few young American Marines there on security duty with the embassy, calming down some of the locals getting a little too "touchy feely" with the women. It's pretty funny to watch all these dynamics going on with a group of 9 young white girls and just me and one other guy, in a Malawi bar with lots of local guys interested in the foreign girls.
Back at the wildlife center, there was one monkey that keeps taunting me -- he keeps making sounds to me from the trees right by my room, and when I look up at him in the slightest, he immediately stoops down, shoulders down and head forward - strutting this look of a provoking attitude. He stares me down and makes more noise when I glance over. Now, we're not supposed to give them attention or speak to them, but this monkey's got something with me. So, I don't appreciate his sassy attitude and intimidation and I'm thinking, if he continues taunting and harassing me, I ought to beat his ass and find out who's the monkey and who's the man !!
All kidding aside, it's one week of volunteer work down, and one to go, and many great experiences for Haley to look forward to. It's starting to feel like the adventure has been enough and it's time to come home.
So long for now, from Lilongwe Wildlife Center, Malawi.
Robert & Haley
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