10. May 2026

Potholes, Paint Spills...and a Party

It's been quite the week of extremes. On Monday, I had a day off teaching so I could drive someone from the village to a palliative care clinic down in Salima, a large town about 100 km south of here. A friend of someone at the school kindly allowed me to borrow their car and so the patient, one of her family and I set off early, knowing that the state of the main road is such that it would take us way longer than it should to complete our journey. There are a few stretches of the road that provide smooth, undisturbed tarmac, but emphasis truly is on the word 'few'. Mostly, it's like navigating the surface of the moon, dodging one deep crater after another; there's no such thing as driving in a straight line! Hence, by the time you've slowed down to a snail's pace for every pothole and zigzagged your way round every crater, 100 km feels more like 400!

A mere 3 hours later (!) we arrived at Ndi Moyo Clinic, a wonderful oasis of calm and dignity in the centre of busy Salima. It's a charity run trust, which has just celebtrated its 20th year and provides palliative care for people with cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-limiting diseases. Its moto is 'We will never turn away anyone in pain'. The kindness shown to the lady I'd taken along was wonderful. It was determined that she needed to see a specialist at the clinic on Friday (I'd been previously been advised by the clinic on the phone that this was a possibility, so we had prepared for this eventuallity), so we took her to stay with her daughter, who happens to live in Salima, to avoid her having another painful drive over the potholes/craters until after her second clinic visit at the end of the week.

Her son and I then ran some errands in town, including buying some blackboard paint for the school, and stocking up on provisions for me (it seemed wise to make the most of having a car for a day before embarking on the bumpy drive back to Nkhotakota).

We arrived back just as the sun was setting. There was a power cut (nothing surprising there), so the cup of tea I'd been fantasising about for the whole journey back wasn't to be. Hey, ho, we'd unpack the shopping and I'd just have a big drink of water and collapse into bed, I thought. Alas, we opened the boot to a nightmare sight; the paint tin had punctured and leaked everywhere! So, a frantic attempt to clean the tar-like spillage from the borrowed car (mortifying) ensued, leading to me being covered in the stuff. Luckily, the owner of the car was incredibly gracious about it and I was very relieved when he said it would still be okay for me to borrow the car again on Friday. I asked if he could leave the carpet from the boot with me for a few days - more soaking and scrubbing was required!

The good news is that there is still sufficient paint left in the tin to refresh the school blackboards!

Back to Teaching

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were teaching days and joyous as ever, one highlight being the enthusiasm of some of the Form 1 students when I got them to act out part of a short story we were studying. Thursday was a non-uniform day for the school, an enrichment activity taken seriously by one of the Form 3 students, who had made a superb effort with his smart suit and bow tie!

Back to Salima on my Birthday

Not quite the traditional birthday bumps, but after getting up before sunrise on my birthday (luckily I managed to boil the kettle for a cuppa before the power went off again at 6 am), two of M's sons and I set off in the borrowed car to hit the crater-riddled road again to collect M from her daughter's house and take her back to Ndi Moyo Clinic.

Again, I was struck by what a wonderful facility Ndi Moyo is. M was seen swiftly by the consultant, as they knew she had a long journey home ahead. Whilst we were outside in the waiting area, staff brought round tea and bread to all the waiting patients. There is such an air of dignity and warmth at Ndi Moyo, you can't help but be touched by it.

After seeing the consultant, M then spent time with the palliative care nurse, discussing the treatment pathway that has been suggested. She asked the nurse if I could be brought into this chat, so that I could help her discuss it with her family later; the compassion shown for her situation was immense. I was quick to explain that I have zero medical knowledge, but the nurse said M felt it would help her to have someone else hear what they were proposing.

More information on Ndi Moyo can be found on this link: https://www.ndimoyo.org/. It's humbling to read what they are achieving there. I can't thank them enough for the help they gave M this week (special thanks to Chimweme, who came to say goodbye as we left and to give me the calendar below).

I'm pleased to report that with no spillable purchases made, the trip back to Nkhotakota was disaster-free!

And, the hug M gave me when we got back was worth any number of bumps in the road...

A Memorable Start to my Sixties!

So after such a busy week (and a creative writing class with Form 4 on Saturday morning), it was time to celebrate, Malawi-style!

I'd like to point out that Malawi gin is responsible for the late posting of my blog this week, but I'm sure you'll forgive me. The teachers from school organised a party for me - and what a party it was! My cheeks are still hurting from smiling and laughing so much - it was such a good evening with wonderful people. And my lovely friend, Miss C had made me a birthday present I'll treasure!

What a week!

Blogging Off...

More teaching ahead this week, before yet more excitement...Harry, Matthew, Lydia and William are arriving in Lilongwe next weekend! I can't wait to see them - and for them to experience Malawi! We have some adventures planned whilst they're here!

So I'll most likely be posting my next blog whilst I'm eagerly awaiting their arrival next Saturday, but in the meantime, feel free to follow my Instagram updates, if you don't already do so, @Malawi_enjoying_ourselves.

Thanks for reading!

Clare