October 3
Hello everyone!
On March 26th, I left Malawi for the UK. Soon after, the airport closed. At the end of June, my Temporary Employment Permit (TEP) expired. These two things stopped me from returning to the Warm Heart of Africa. For a long, long time.
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| Mini was waiting for my return for about 6 months |
170 days later, on September 12th, my plane landed at Lilongwe International Airport. The plane looked full, probably owing to the fact that Ethiopian Airlines had scaled back to flying once a week, rather than once a day.
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| Commercial flights didn't start landing until early September |
I was curious to see what – if any – Covid protocols the airport had in place. Heathrow had been a mess simply because there were too many people. Addis had been very thorough, to the point where they almost didn’t let a friend on the plane as they argued her Covid test was out-of-date. Lilongwe…started well…
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| You now walk towards the terminal, rather than being squashed onto buses |
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| The gaps quickly disappeared |
The bit we all heard was that we needed our temperature taken before entering a nearby tent. They announce they have two temperature guns. For a full flight of probably over 150 people. Two guns. They then directed people in lane A to start having their temperature taken. The second person off the plane, in lane B, doesn’t see this as fair, so then pushes in. Which leads to everyone pushing in…
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| The holy grail: the tent |
I managed to worm my way around the back of the pack and get
my temperature checked. 35.4’C. Almost hypothermia. In Malawi in September?? I
then proceed to the tent entrance, where they ask me for a piece of paper
filled in on the plane. Oh, and then they ask me for my temperature. No proof
needed. I think it would be easy to skip the scrum around the gun.
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| You could probably say any number below 37 and be allowed to proceed |
We were then told that there were two lanes in the tent.
Left lane if you have had a Covid test, right lane if you haven’t. Even though
in both London and Addis you had to prove you’d had a test in order to be
allowed on the plane…So both lanes got used. My heart skipped a beat when,
instead of being sent left to immigration, I was sent straight to another tent.
The man there looked at my test, queried why I was at the tent, then said,
“Proceed.” Brilliant.
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| Waiting inside the tent - this will be interesting when it becomes very hot or starts raining... |
Immigration without actually having a TEP wasn’t as bad as feared, partly because I had managed to beat the crowd into the terminal. A man looked at my government certificate, sent to me a few days before, ushered me to the side, completed a new form and then sent me back to immigration. The man stamped my new form, rather than my passport, and told me to go to the regional immigration office on Monday – 2 days later. I reminded him I was supposed to quarantine for 14 days. “Good point,” he replied.
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| My third quarantine of the year! |
Has much changed? Not massively. People wear masks in
certain areas, like banks and shopping centres. Hand washing stations are
outside most shops geared towards those with money. Take a trip through the
more local areas, however, and you’ll do well to see a mask.
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| Lots of signs, generally adhered to in shops in places like Gateway Mall |
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| Handwashing buckets like these are a common sight |
By all accounts, Malawi hasn’t been hit badly by Covid in
terms of cases and deaths. A lack of testing undoubtedly makes the numbers hard
to believe but it doesn’t seem as if there is news of many more people being in
hospital. Life is different, but not massively so.
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| Returning to a car which doesn't work - some things will never change... |
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| A line for the bank at the end of the month - with social distancing, this probably would have ended up in a different city! |
Well, apart from in school. We’ve had to make some quite
drastic changes in order to reopen on site. It’s gone well so far, though.
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| An example of how a classroom is now set up |
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| Most of our teaching will now be done outside |
My first venture out of quarantine, when I was kept fed by friends and driven insane by looking after two dogs, was linking back up with my running group.
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| I am looking after our friend's dog, Maxi, as well as Mini |
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| Definitely worth using one of my 3 red meat days this year to have lots of bacon and sausage after a 16km run! |
The following week, we were invited to run a half-marathon
in support of International Ranger Day. One global effect of Covid has been
economic turmoil, which has affected most across the world. Rangers who protect
animals from poachers are no exception. To keep them in jobs, we ran as part of
a fundraising initiative. The Wildlife Ranger Challenge.
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| Starting our 'ranger run' in Mbabzi |
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| Our route was made by the farm owner and thankfully easy to follow! |
Once I’d gotten over the irritation at having to wake up before 5am on a Saturday, it was a lovely morning. We were on the western edge of Lilongwe in an area called Mbabzi.
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| Con: should definitely be in bed Pro: gorgeous sunrise |
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| Not much city life out here |
Even with the early alarm, starting at 6am was definitely the right call. It was hot by the time our running group returned back to the farm where we started. I felt for those who had signed up for the 21km walk, it must have been scorching for them towards the end.
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| A farm building in Mbabzi |
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| Jacarandas are showing off their stunning purple colours at this time of year |
Our event raised MWK 885,000 – well over $1000. Whatever we
raised was to be matched by two conservation charities. We also received pictures the following
day of the rangers we were supporting, in two areas of Malawi, running their
own 21km route. With 25kg backpacks and full ranger gear. I would have
collapsed early on, I think. Very impressive.
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| Poachers wouldn't be too worried about us... |
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| ...but should be about them! |
It felt like we had left the relative bustle of the city,
even though we weren’t too far away. It was a lovely, if tiring, way to spend a
morning and helped some very important people protect the wildlife of Malawi.
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| A beautiful and different Saturday morning run |
Love you all,
Matt