Muli Bwanji?!
That's the main greeting here. It means "how are you?" and then they respond with "Titi bwino. kai enu?" meaning "I'm fine and you?" To which you say "Titi bwino! Zikomo!" meaning "I'm fine, thank you!"
Every time. It's automatic. And it means so much to people when I open my mouth and speak Chichewa, they just light up to hear it.
Morning at Annie's Lodge, Lilongwe
I got to use my sweet Chichewa skills on our first full day. The T&L group went to the freedom gardens (which sounded dope) while Me, Penny, and Ashley got straight to bidness. It was acutally really startling to go to hospitals less than 24 hours after arriving in Malawi, but as the capital city, Lilongwe has some pretty important hospitals and that was our only full day in Lilongwe. Thanks to Dr. Muelenaer, Ashley and Penny, we had a great guide, Lloyd, who organized some meetings for us.
SO
After breakfast at Annie's lodge, (chips [like british chips, like fried potatoes], Spanish eggs, banana, toast with marmalade, and tea-such a happy tummy), we hopped on our nutty bus and our friend Andrew (who I got to talk to a BUNCH the next day, just you wait) drove us to Kamuzu Central Hospital. We brought along our three main projects: my thermistor, Ashley's infant warmer (chicken feather insulation in a pod made of PVC pipe to keep an infant at stable temperature for at least 4 hours) and Penny's "mtb" an attachment for a microscope that can take photo of slides through the scope and use computer vision to determine if the slide contains tuberculosis (tb). [credit for all these devices to the PMDI members that helped create them, and the senior design team behind the baby pod!] We met Lloyd in the car park and he led us to the office of Dr. Ngoma, the hospital director. Dr. Ngoma was such a fun happy man. We showed him our devices, some using the inflatable mannequin we brought along. He was very excited and then left sort of suddenly. We were very content to chat with Lloyd, who is an absolute joy and who has visited VT and loves it there. A while later, Dr. Ngoma appeared and brought with him nearly all the leadership of the hospital! The chief nurse, medical engineer, laboratory director, a pediatrician, and even more all poured into the room. We all sat and did introductions, and then we carefully demonstrated our devices again. They were all so excited and kind and helpful. They gave me a little feedback on the thermistor but helped most with the baby pod- they warned the shape and the chitenji (colorful fabric often used as a skirt or to sling a baby on your back) that covered it looked like a coffin for an infant, which would rile the superstitions of most mothers. We sat and talked about our devices and countries for about 3 hours. Then they took us through the hospital. We went to the lab and tried out the mtb device and looked at some slides of tuberculosis.
Ashley showing the mtb to Grycain and Lloyd at Kamuzu
We did lots of work, but my most incredible moment was down in pediatrics. We were led there by a great friend Grycian Massa, the medical engineer. He introduced us to a nurse and she led me to the "high dependancy unit" where the malnourished children are treated. We went up to a little girl who was 2 years and 10 months old, eating protein porridge they give patients to increase their strength. I got to take the MUAC (mid-upper arm circumference, the quantitative method of determining degree of malnourishment) of the little girl with my MUAC band (it was 134 mm, the upper end of moderate malnourishment). We slid my armband onto her to test for fit. She didn't fuss, but it was a little tight, which makes sense since she was less malnourished than the children with SAM (severe acute malnourishment) that I designed it for. It was incredible to interact with the children an mothers.
At another point in the tour we were shown the incubators they use for newborns in the nursery. A nurse showed us one that was in use, warming the smallest human I have ever seen. It's arms and legs were like a man's fingers, and it's elbows and knees were like knuckles.
While walking from one building to another on the hospital campus, we stopped to let a gurney go by. Four healthcare workers were pushing it, and on it was a body completely covered by a sheet. Behind the gurney walked a mother, crying and saying over and over "my baby." Many women walked with and behind her, comforting her. After they passed, Dr. Penny tried to ask Grycian a question on a separate topic, but I could hear her voice was choked. I fought not to cry as well, it was so strange to see something so incredibly sad but not react or say anything to mourners. Even though it was a calm day at Kamuzu Central, there was plenty of sickness and grief. After that, I smiled at and said "muli bwanji" to everyone I could, so I could interact with all the joy I could find in the hospital.
After Kamuzu Central we got lunch at KFC with Lloyd, who drove us around for the rest of the day. He told us about his life and his family. There were also strange menu times with sprinkles.
How?
He then brought us to Bwaila Hospital, a center for malnutrition. There we met with the administrative head, Lisongo, who was a beautiful, wonderful person. She answered our endless questions on their treatment programs for malnourishment, and she was so excited about the infant warmer and the thermistors. Then she took us to the lab so Penny could ask about tuberculosis, and I met the incredible lab technician, Nancy, who works every day, and very casually detects tuberculosis and HIV for patients and saves their lives. On the way from Lisongo's office to the lab we saw a tent set up to detect people for Malaria.
Waiting for Lloyd to come back to get us, we talked about family with Lisongo. While she was lovely to talk to about her work and ours, she absolutely lit up when we began to show her pictures. She flipped through tons of photos on Ashley's phone, interested to know who each person was, especially when she could tell it was family. I showed her my loved ones too, including my cat Loki, and Penny showed her kids. Lisongo showed us her three children and was the proudest mother on earth. When we left with Lloyd she hugged us.
Lloyd accidentally brought us to the other Annie's Lodge in Lilongwe but coincidentally, the T&L group was there on invitation from Annie to have a party, so we accidentally went to the right place! We had a blast socializing with Annie and her staff. I drank an energy drink because I had passed out in Lloyd's car after the hospitals. It was red bull basically but with an elephant on it!
On the bus back to our lodge that night we took selfies.
Malawi is great because people settle down and get in bedrooms at about 8 pm, so we sleep nice and early and get up at 7. We are up with the sun and it feels so health and fresh. Other miscellaneous Malawi stuff: the women wear skirts to below their knees, so we do as well. It's really fun and breezy and swishy. We also can't drink the water so we buy TONS of bottled water and brush our teeth with it and so on. Also we sleep under mosquito nets so bedtime feels very elegant and dream like. Even bug defense is perfect here.
With love and ELEPHANT ENERGY,
Lauren
May 27
I am grateful for…
1.
Ashely and Dr. Penny 2. Mosquito netting 3. Bottles of water
What will I do to make
today great?
1.
Learn and use Chichewa 2. Ask lots of questions in the hospitals 3. Mentally invest in being here
Daily affirmations. I
am…
Good at being present
3 Amazing things that
happened today…
1.
I took the MUAC of a 2 year old in Kamuzu
Central 2. I shared photos of my loved
ones with Lisongo in Bwaila 3. We had
an evening party at the other AL and I learned about the T&L girls and
Annie’s staff: Andrew, Joseph, Monica, and Dani
How could I have made
today even better?
Having more courage to speak in the meeting at Kamuzu
Central
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