Once we arrived back in Malawi, we had a short time to settle in and the following morning we were up at 7am working in the Open Arms infant home. We are now based in Blantyre which is one of the most developed cities in Malawi – although that is not saying much. But it is far more developed than our previous stay in Luwawa forest, with supermarkets, restaurants and banks only 15 minutes walk away. We have noticed around the city that there are lots of other ‘Mzungus’ (white people) and it seems to be a popular place for westerners to work and live. We our staying in a little house in the grounds of the Open Arms home, which is very cosy and has everything we need. Now living in an urban area makes us really appreciate the amenities we have around us, compared with the rural life we were living before.
So back to our day starting at 7am….this is one of the busiest times in the home where all the babies and toddlers wake up for their porridge and milk. It can get extremely noisy and hectic and one of our jobs is washing the kids hands and putting them in their high chairs. However, this can be a thankless task as the cheeky ones climb out of their chairs, but we have become wise to this now. It is not uncommon to end up with porridge, wee or baby sick over you after breakfast!! For the rest of the day we help the kitchen staff washing up, make peanut butter sandwiches and then continue to feed the babies and play with the toddlers. Swinging the children up and down and giving them piggy backs is a very popular choice – even though this is causing a lot of strain for Kim’s shoulders and back. But hearing the laughter and giggles makes it worth it. The mothers of the home were very pleased when we gave them the 50 very colourful beanie hats that Kim’s mum has been knitting for many months (You can see some very cute pictures of the children wearing the hats in this blog).
There are over 30 babies and toddlers in this particular home all with their own sad stories, some arriving only a few days old. Most of them are here because they have lost their mothers for various reasons, but HIV or Aids are the most common. Due to the baby belonging to the mother’s side of the family in most cultures in Malawi, the mother’s extended family cannot afford to buy the milk for the baby. Therefore, the baby comes to Open Arms for the first 2 years of its life, with a hope that the child will be re-settled back in to his or her extended family.
For those children whose families cannot be traced or cannot be settled with their extended families, Harrogate House, set in the grounds of Open Arms becomes their home. The children in Harrogate housed are aged 2-6 years. The children here are extremely cute and we try and see them most days in the afternoon to play with them, doing things like art and sports. They went crazy over bubbles jumping all over the place and they all have so much energy that we come away extremely exhausted! They all appear very settled in the home, even though some are unwell, with one young boy having HIV who was extremely sick when he arrived only a year ago with his sister, and now that he is on medication and getting good nutrition, he is a very happy and energetic boy.
Once the children reach 6 years old they go in to one of the three foster homes set in the community. Each home has an average of six children, and after visiting 2 of the homes this week, the children are like a big family and do things together like any other family, such as watch TV and play out in the garden. The kids all go to a private school with very good education, which is setting them up for a hopeful future. Open Arms seems to be a great set up and different from other orphanages. They even send their nurses out regularly to visit the children who have re-settled back with their extended family, to make sure they are cared for well enough and get the right education and nutrition.
Since being here there have been 3 new arrivals to the home, only a few weeks old so it will be great seeing them grow and develop in the time we are here. There are definitely a few children that we are very fond of but we try and make an effort to play and hug all of the children – even if they are driving us crazy. We’re hoping that after the 2 and a half months we’re here we’ll eventually learn all the children and mothers names, as this is proving to be a challenge at the moment.
One thing we are struggling to get used to is waking up in the middle of the night and telling Bridget to keep the noise down!! (Bridget being the homes German Shepherd that guards the place), along with the sounds of the call to prayer at the local mosque.
On Friday night we thought we’d do something very English and went for a great curry at the Bombay Palace. Next weekend we’re going to head up to Lake Malawi to celebrate Kim’s Birthday (lets not mention his age ;-) ) so that we can relax in the sun.
That’s all for now and we hope you are all well and we’ll be updating you with more of our Africa Adventures in the near future.
Love Nat & Kim xxx
Unfortunately due to being one of the most popular times to visit South Africa we couldn’t get up Table Mountain (2 hour queues in the blazing heat) and Robben Island which was fully booked so we just had to look from afar. 
However we were very lucky to be there on what the Cape Coloured commumity called 2nd New year or Tweede Newe Jaar, where they celebrate the Minsteral Carnival or Kaapse Klopse on January 2nd. It is a huge carnival for the Muslim and Cape Coloured community where they dress in brightly coloured clothes, which they have all been secretly making most of that year and sing, dance and play instruments, competing against each other in large groups. The city really came to life and it was great to see the people really celebrating their culture.
After a very emotional goodbye to my mum at Cape Town Airport we then went off on a camping trip with Kims sister Heidi, Marq, Quinn and the two dogs Sky and Hawk to a place called Beverlac , 2 hours away from Cape Town. So we were back to living in a tent but only for a short while this time. The area is set in the mountains with rock pools so our days were spent lazing in the boiling sun and going for a dip in the pools. The dogs went crazy jumping into the water and playing and baby Quinn got just as much enjoyment out of watching the dogs play. Every night we chilled in front of the fire doing what South Africans do best, having a braai (bbq) with lots of meat and then roasting marshmallows over the fire – yum!! 
Our time in SA was very eventful but went far too quickly and there were more emotional goodbyes when we left as we are not sure if we can re-visit everyone again before heading back to the UK at the end of July.