Pretty flower...
Amazing Malawi women who carry everything on their heads
Motto necessary to have a successful Malawi trip 
One thing not carried on the heads of Malawi women: kids. they go on the back 
Bicycles never carried just a person 
"Ground nuts" (peanuts) were popular passengers on women's heads 
We walked to work every day 
Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, where we worked, was the largest hospital in the country. It was all one floor.
It did have an MRI, impressively enough. The only one in the country. 
Our house... beloved 24 Kufa Rd. 
Looking down on Blantyre... lots of satellite dishes 
Libby looking doctorly outside of the hospital 
We saw Madonna... but did we mention we saw Obama? (sort of) 
The largest bill in Malawi is worth 500 Kwacha or about $3. Imagine how thick your wallet would be if you wanted to have $100 with you for souvenirs! 
The market in Blantyre SAFARI!!!
Land Cruisers in the park 
Our camp site 
View from camp: The Luangwa River and on the other side, South Luangwa National Park (where we went to spot animals) 
Zebras! (A group of zebras is called a dazzle!)
An elephant family!
Hippos! 
Lion! (at night, obviously) 
Hippo! 
Can you spot all three giraffes in the family? (a group of giraffes is called a tower!) 
Water Buffalo! 
Monkey in our campsite! 
Crocodile, waiting to strike 
Road block! 
Our friend, Robert the warthog
Another pride of lions, hunting
We also took a weekend trip to beautiful Lake Malawi
Boat tour... we stopped at an island, and the guides cooked us freshly caught Chambo fish.
While they cooked, we snorkled!
Ashore... the villagers used the lake to bathe, wash clothes, and wash dishes.
How pretty!
We went kayaking, too! (Not us in the picture... it's our classmates)
We spent the last two weeks of our trip at Embangweni Mission Hospital. Much smaller than Queens... only one doctor for the whole hospital!
We worked a lot on the Labor Ward, since it was the busiest part of the hospital... Here Libby is listening to a fetal heart rate (with a very old, outdated fetoscope... in the US they use fancy doppler devices)
The village of Embangweni was very welcoming... we even got to see traditional dancers
Looking down on Embangweni (in the distance) and the countryside
White people (or "azungu") were uncommon. Wherever we went, kids would shout, "AZUUUUUUUUUNNNNGUUUUUUUU!" and run to see us. Adults would stare, too, often looking confused. This was a herd of children that followed us on a hike we took.
One was even brave enough to try to touch one of us... he chickened out at the last second, though.
By the end of our trip, Libby was able to carry things on her head! (just long enough to snap a picture, though, and then it would fall off)
downtown Embangweni... it was a happening place
Other students who were visiting at the same time as us.
One of my jobs was to teach people (who didn't have their own computers and weren't very familiar with anything on computers other than games) how to use Excel to analyze data and make graphs... This picture shows me helping the two best Labor nurses (Mary and Mary) how to search different parameters.
The children's ward... note the mosquito nets, which had to be used throughout the country to prevent malaria. Also note how empty the ward is. It is JUST before harvest time, so it's the poorest time of the year for the villagers, so they couldn't afford the minimal charges that the hospital had for its services.
Definitely more oxen than cars in this village. It was a major endeavor trying to find a driver to take us to the closest bus stop an hour away when it was time to go home. We were isolated physically, not just technologically (without internet)
In the Postpartum area, sick babies are often overlooked because of understaffing. Libby and I were in chargeo of this baby who would've fallen through the cracks. She had a lack of oxygen during birth and had lots of seizures in her first week of life. Hopefully she can have a full life, but who knows about her long-term prognosis?And this concludes the broadcast of the African adventures... this chapter of it, at least.
Next adventure: IRELAND!
