Accommodation in rural Malawi (well, in all of Malawi) can be really challenging. Even if I wanted to stay in posh hotels, the places that my Trustee work with the Mamie Martin Fund take me have a limited range of places to stay. Water supply is tricky in lots of places so here’s my water story from a delightful place called Embangweni in Northern Malawi.
Embangweni is very far from everywhere else and accessible only by rough roads in either direction. So one is relieved to get there and the surroundings are lovely. My special treat is the mustering of storks (I asked Mr Google for that collective noun!) in the trees. They make such a racket and are very entertaining as they ‘muster’ for the night.
When we found the Donald Fraser Guesthouse last year, we were delighted with it and I am still very happy that this is available there. On arrival this time our rooms had no water; apparently there is only running water in some of the rooms. That’s ok, you get used to being without water and/or electricity in Malawi. A young man came to apologise and offer hot water – this happened at about 5 pm. I responded happily but nothing happened. Other guests arrived and all were promised water. Those without towels were also promised towels but the person with the towel cupboard key had left with the key. Ah well, waiting is the main activity in Malawi so we waited. Then we went in for dinner where we could wash our hands, as is traditional here. The chicken and rice was lovely.
Fortified with that lovely food, we asked again about the water. Hey presto! It really did come – 7.30 pm. Never did a bucket of hot water give me so much pleasure. Travelling and working out of doors in Malawi is really dusty so to be able to wash at the end of the day is pretty good. Joy of joys, I even managed to wash my hair even though I was not given the small jug which is a very helpful piece of equipment for showering with a bucket.