Malawi Journal – Day 18 Our Trip to Mzuzu – A Long Day

Up Early

I got up early this morning. We want to be on the road by 6:30. We have a lot of things to do today, I have been compiling a list for days of things we need to take care of in Mzuzu so I checked the list to make sure we were not forgetting to take anything. The car was loaded and finally, we are on the road by 6:45.

Heavy rains last night cause it to take twice as long to get through Mzimba and on the main highway. Everything is green after the rains.  The morning drive is breathtaking as it takes us through the forest and mountains. They are beautiful.

Our Trip Today

Our trip has one main purpose today, which is to visit Mzuzu Central Hospital. Five of us are traveling. 23 year old Chewemwe, his mom, Mbwenu, Wanangwa, and me. Chewemwe cut. his foot with an ax in December and spent two months in the hospital. He almost lost his foot and his life. As he started to recover they decided to send him home. They were concerned that he might contract Covid 19.

Applying Honey to the Wound

Chewemwe was sent home with oral antibiotics and instructions to change the dressing on his foot every day. He has finished his antibiotics weeks ago and is continuing to change the dressing every day and applying honey to the wound. The theory is that the bacteria will like the honey and leave the wound alone. His foot is still not healing well.

We have been quite concerned about Chewemwe losing his foot. It would be so tragic. A few days ago we visited his family and asked if he would like to go to see a specialist. They said yes, so we made arrangements for this trip.

Mzuzu Central Hospital

Lloyd met at the hospital. He is an uncle of Chewemwe. He had come ahead of us and made arrangements for us to be seen quickly. This was a huge help in getting through the gate and having the opportunity to see the doctor today.

They led us into the reception area to check-in for the visit. Behind the desk is a posted price list for each item. This gave me an idea about how much this visit might cost. They asked, “who will be paying?” I raised my hand. They said very well. We will hunt you down if you do not pay and they all laughed.

Our patient was escorted into the examination area. A few minutes later Lloyd came to tell us we should go and do our shopping because this was going to take a long time. Since we had a long list of things to purchase while we were in the city we agreed this was a good plan.

Shopping

Our list includes propane, songbooks, Bibles, a refrigerator, a printer, wholesale items for Wanangwa’s shop, and some children’s clothes. We stop and exchange the propane tank first. Next, we visit a shop that has both printers and refrigerators. They give us two prices for everything. One with a receipt and one without. We decided we would like to get a few more estimates since these are high-dollar purchases.

Mzuzu Church of Christ sits on a nice fenced piece of property. The grounds are well maintained. This is clearly one of the nicest church buildings we have seen in Malawi. There is also a classroom building and flushing toilets. We meet one of the church leaders, Robert to purchase our songbooks. We purchase 150 thanks to Lee and Jerry, Enoch, and the Southgate Church of Christ.

Robert travels with us and advises us where to shop for the printer and the Bibles. This is a great help because he knows the city and he gets a discount on the Bibles. Because of his help we were able to save money on the Bibles and over $200 on the printer. We drop Robert off at the Coffee Depot. I spot coffee and ice cream shops! We are definitely in the big city. The city is loud and people are everywhere. The roundabouts are busy and at one point blocked because the new president is supposed to pass this way. There are police officers everywhere along the route.

Kips

We do not wait for the president. For breakfast, we ate a banana in the car so we are ready for lunch. We stop at Kip’s for a nice lunch. Kips is a pizza place but also has traditional foods. I get the roasted chicken and rice, soup, greens, and a coke. It is all very good. The plate is huge so I get a to-go box and take part of it with me.

Mbwenu gets a call that our patient is finished so he leaves to pick him up and take them for lunch. The plan is for him to pick us up after we have shopped.

Wanangwa and I leave on foot to purchase some boys’ shorts. I find a nice piece of fabric to surprise Esther with a skirt. Then we hit the wholesalers! We shop until we drop. Wanangwa is no doubt the Proverbs 31 lady we ready about in the Bible!

The Holder

We buy so much that soon we leave some of our purchases with a “holder”. I am not really sure what they call him but we entrust him with our ever-growing stack of packages. I cannot possibly tell you how many wholesalers we visited. Soon we had more packages than I thought would fit in the car especially with the refrigerator, the printer, the Bibles, and the songbooks!

When we are almost through with our shopping  Wanangwa leaves me with the holder as she runs back for one more thing. I watch some men playing the fastest checker game I have ever seen. They have a homemade board and bottle caps.

The car is to meet us at the holder. I spot the car driving by and wave them down. Mbwenu parks the car and then we begin the process of trying to fit everything into the car. We have to fold down the rear seats and after some juggling, we fit everything into the car. We pay the holder. The two men are upfront and we three ladies are in the middle seat.

Leaving Mzuzu

We make one last stop at Shop Rite and head for home with cold water for us all. It has been a very full day. We are all tired and quiet.

Arrested!

There are several roadblocks along the way. We have grown accustomed to these. However, at one roadblock the officer said you are arrested. I thought it was a joke! Some Tumbuka was exchanged and the only word I understood was sorry. We had broken the Covid restrictions. Under the guidelines, we were allowed 6 people but not 3 in a seat.

Mbwenu had to get out of the car and show our receipts for our large purchases and discuss our situation. He explained we are all one family and eat together. They ask what about the white lady. He explained that I was a Bible teacher and that we were paying for this young man to have the treatment and could not be left behind. They said all right, all right, and let us go. Whew!

It was getting dark as we neared Mzimba. We stopped and purchased some bananas and left town for Tombolombo. The roads had dried up while we were gone and this made the last few miles a lot easier to travel.

We dropped Chewemwe and his mom off at home and she expressed her appreciation for what we had done for her son.

Hospital Results

The family shared with us the results of the visit. He was given oral antibiotics as well as an antibiotic ointment. Chewemwe was given nutrition counseling to control his high blood sugar which was discovered during this accident. Today his blood sugar was over 400! He takes insulin every day. There is no family history either! He has to travel to Mzimba every Friday to have his blood sugar checked! There are no at-home meters.

Home At Last

When we arrive home Esther who stayed home with Lawrence had made chili for dinner. This is new for our host family. We eat and are ready to sleep.

Another full day!