Pepani

Pepani means "I'm sorry" in Chichewa, and it is used to express sympathy with you when something is not working out. It is very commonly used.

Thursday:
-Delivering my car to the workshop for changing the ignition plugs
-The plug wires have melted into the engine due to a prior overheating. Half of the engine has to go out.
When opening the engine it looks like someone has cooked porridge and burned it inside. It has to be cleaned. The whole operation will take several days.
-I have to go to Lilongwe the next day to pick up a shipment from DHL and a project meeting at the Norwegian embassy.
-Sille kindly agrees to borrow her car to us so we can go to Lilongwe.
-Later the same day Sille's car also has a problem, so she will have to take it to the workshop the next day.
-I rent a car from the owner of the gas station in Nkhotakota for the equivalent amount of six months salary in Malawi.

Friday:
-We wake up at 05:30 to go to Lilongwe and get there in time.
-When I come to the gas station to pick up the car it is not ready. I have to wait an hour.
-I drive like crazy from Nkhotakota to Lilongwe to be able to pick up my DHL shipment before the Embassy meeting.
-When I get to DHL, the package is not there. I had talked to them and told them five times at what time I would come and that I needed the package to be ready.
-I have to drive another hour back and forth to the airport to fetch the package.
-I scream and shout and promise myself to never use DHL  again (this was only the last part of a lot of fuss for several weeks with this shipment with DHL), and to never involve in international trade again in Malawi.
-My meeting with the Embassy is postponed for an hour.
-The locks on the doors of the rental car stops working and I can only lock from the inside. Luckily I can still unlock from the outside so I can still use the car.
-I go to the meeting, and after some personal shopping to the hotel.
-Someone tells me that the registration plates of our rental car are false and that we must expect to be stopped by the police any time.
-The rental car does not have front lights. We are stuck in the hotel, which is in a little remote location.
-Luckily the hotel has a restaurant so we can eat before we go to sleep.

Saturday:
-We wake up at 07:30 to be able to have time to go to do all the things I have to do that day.
-I go to purchase a long list of things that I need for the project I'm working with in the unbearable Area Two in Lilongwe.
-When I am inside of a shop away from the rental car for five minutes, someone breaks in to it and steal copper cables worth an equivalent of six months normal salary in Malawi
-I go to the police station to give my statement.
-I drive the police officer and a friend out to the scene of the crime because they say they need to investigate before they can prepare a report.
-I am told to come and meet the officer on Sunday morning at nine to pick up the report so I can present it to the insurance company.
-I do the rest of the purchases.
-We go to the hotel
-We hire a man with a car to drive us out to a restaurant to eat and have some drinks with some friends. There are no official taxis in Malawi (only bicycle taxis).

Sunday:
-We wake up early to go to the police station so that we can finalise the business and go to Nkhotakota before it gets dark.
-When I get to the police station the officer who promised to meet me there is not there.
-The officer in charge is not in, so I can appearantly not get a signed report.
-I manage to convince a person to start typing up the report while we wait for the officer in charge to come.
-There is a blackout, so the report cannot be typed in or printed anyway.
- The woman who agreed to type in the report admits that it is quite probable that the officer in charge will not get in today anyway.
-I give up and drive back to Nkhotakota.

Djuda, the woman in the police station who agreed to type up the report. She was not very helpful.

Solar-powered office

Our company moved into our new offices this week, and the frist thing we did was of course to cut the wire to the power grid and put up our own system. The panels were mounted on top of the building today, and we are now probably one of very few self-powered solar energy companies. The tech details: Our electricity demand is covered by two 100 W panels, a 12 V battery pack of 150 Ah and a 1 kW inverter (a bit too big that one..). It is so pleasing to be able to demonstrate to customers in Malawi that solar-powered business is within reach. The price of the system we have installed, including all electrical installation work, components, lights, switches and all, will be just above 500,000 Malawian kwacha (about 7,700 NOK, or 900 €). Not too bad for powering the office with solar energy every day, without ever having to think about electricity bills connection fees.

Wiring up the charge controller and distribution board. 

Mounting the panels 

Our showroom tanking shape, with the office's battery pack down to the right

The new office - Now with the logo on the wall and solar panels on the roof

Veterinary practice

I've gotten a lot of new experience and learned many new things already after the first two and a half months in Malawi. One of these is how to set a subcutaneous injection. I was definitely not expecting to learn that, but I assume it is a nice skill to have.

One of the dogs at our house was sick when we took over the place here in January. Her name is Joy. She was constantly scratching and biting herself and loosing a lot of fur on her back. After a few weeks of trying with washing and anti tick treatment we found out that it did not help, so we called a veterinary. The Nkhotakota veterinary is apparently expert on goats and cows, at least he has no affection for dogs. He did not want to touch the dog and had brought an assistant to set an injection. The assistant was also extremely uncomfortable with the dog. But after jumping away a couple of times when Joy looked at him with scepticism, he managed to set an injection. They were happy with the achievement, and claimed that the injection would have to be repeated within six months.

Joy got better after the injection, but after about two weeks she started biting and scratching herself again. This time we went to see a pet veterinary in Lilongwe, to get a second opinion. We did not bring along Joy, but the vet seemed to understand the problem, and said that we had to do a treatment of six weeks with weekly injections and antibiotic pills for the first week. We brought along syringes and 30 ml of a slimy liquid to inject on weekly intervals.

Back in Nkhotakota, I saw no reason to bother the scared veterinary to come and set the weekly injections. So I put my stuff together and got the injection set. Now, after the fourth injection, I think Joy is even looking forward to the weekly ritual, as she knows there is a treat waiting for her afterwards. Our other dog, Kalle, is obviously jealous of the attention I'm giving to Joy, so he's started to line up for the injection himself. I hope Joy will get well after the six weeks, even though it is fun to play veterinary...