Working with Dwasco

Feb 23rd:
Have not been able to keep up the blog for the past couple of days due to the poor Internet connection. I am having to write this up in Word and then wait for a connection to publish it to the Blog. My update of the events for the last couple of days will start with an apology to Penny for waking you up at midnight yesterday to try out my Skype connection…..Sorry Dear! About all I heard was that you could hear me, and then the rest was very intermittent and I could not catch a whole sentence. Anyway, we started the morning of the 23rd with a great omelette at the Ngala Lodge, then Davison came to pick us up at about 8:45. We were introduced to most of the staff members, then met with Davison in the Boardroom to discuss some of the areas of operations that we will be helping them with. I won’t get into any detail on that, as the operational stuff is not that exciting to hear about. We went for lunch at the Ksasa club, then Davison took us for a walking tour of the Dwangwa estate, where all the sugar cane factory employees live. It is actually several small villages, with a small trading centre, every church know to mankind, and very busy! We visited the building where the SACCO first started, and met three of his Board members, that now work in the building, as it is now the Human Resources centre for the factory. Davison then took us to a tailor to get measured up for a couple of handmade Malawian shirts we (and Paul) had requested, and then we headed back to the SACCO. Brad and I have been taking turns driving Davison’s Toyota van to and from the Ksasa club, which is about 5-6 Km away, but you can only go about 60-70 Km max. as the roads are very washboardy from all the rains. They are not great at the best of times, but this week they are especially bad. Sitting on the right side of the vehicle and driving on the left side of the road takes quite a bit of getting used to……..not only that, but you are dodging pedestrians and bicycles on both sides of the road constantly. It is not bad on the road we are using, but when you get on the paved road to where we are staying it is a real challenge. Davison let me drive to the trading centre today (24th) and I was not comfortable going over the speed limit of 80 Km, but Davison does it at 110-120. I have visions of a kid running out into the road, and I would have a hard time living with the hitting a child or anyone else for that matter, so being very careful. Back to the days events.....we finished at the SACCO around 4 :30 PM and headed back to the lodge. For supper this evening I had a steak, which although quite small by our standards, would rival any North american steak. Sandy said that it was sirloin and it tasted like as good or better than any other I have ever had....plus it was cooked just the way I like it.
During supper we started chatting with a Maria, a visitor from Ecuador, and she told us about some of the work she is doing while in Africa. It is just amazing who you meet up with in our travels. Oh yeah, we also met a South African gent that is working with some marketing co-op, and he is the most annoying person ever.....all he does is bitch and complain about what is happening in Malawi, and runs down just about everyone. Needless to say we try to avoid sitting close to the guy, but the dining room is quite small and he has a loud voice. Anyway, great meal and we visited in the lounge for awhile and then called it a night.