Your Man in Malawi: March 2016

It's been a while... I spent much of January and February in the UK for various reasons, but am now back in Malawi. As I alluded to in my previous post, I was recently offered a new posting in another glamorous overseas location - Eritrea this time. After a brief visit in February, I took the decision to turn down the offer and am anticipating a return to the UK in September, where I will continue my work with the Department for International Development, albeit from an office in Whitehall, while I summon up the energy for another great adventure! Eritrea is a beautiful and strange place - variously described as Africa's Piccolo Roma and its North Korea. In truth, it's a bit of both, and fascinating for it.

Szilvi has just flown back to the UK after a week's visit. We spent our time together on a whirlwind tour of the south of the country, visiting the Satemwa Tea Estate, hiking on the Mulanje Massif - a 650km² 'island in the sky' (where I turned the grand old age of twenty-eight) - and relaxing on Mumbo Island, at the southern tip of Lake Malawi. A big thanks to our guide, George, and aptly named-porter, Samson, for doing the hard work on Mulanje. A shout out also to three friends of mine - Rob, Andrew and George - who made the trip out at the beginning of March, only to find I was stuck in the UK, and ably navigated themselves around the watering holes - both natural and manmade - of Malawi and Zambia without me.

In other Farm news, Nep is enjoying his new job with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, where he is helping to supervise smallholder farmers growing improved varieties of soy beans - we see him about once a fortnight when he returns from 'the field'; Piliran has taken over the key Strawberry Farm duties, and is doing a fine job of keeping the animals fed and the house clean; Robert and Patience are enjoying watching Pixar movies and playing with Lego; Paddy is working hard at school and has his final exams in a few months time; and we have three pregnant pigs, so I will soon I have more piglets than I know what to do with! In a final piece of sad news, Harry (the dog) died suddenly in February, having contracted the rabies virus. So this post is dedicated to you Harry - you were strong, and brave, and smart, and grumpy with it. All my favourite qualities. You brought joy and laughter to all of us at Strawberry Farm. We shan't see another like you.