Free wi-fi in Africa!

This just never happens! I have free internet access!

Nothing to write about though.

I am in Blantyre this week, the second-largest city in Malawi. I like Blantyre - it's an older city than Lilongwe, and has nice big old trees, and lots of hills. Like my hometown, Seattle. There are even plenty of pan-handlers, just like home! (The ones in Malawi are usually have horribly disfigured limbs, however).

I'm helping to lead a week-long training in nutrition. Along with the Ministry of Health, I am training 30 people from throughout the country to become national trainers in the community management of acute malnutrition, if that means anything to you.

I usually enjoy training, but this one has been exhausting. I am pretty fastidious in keeping to my schedules, but it turns out my staff, who are supposed to be expert trainers, are not. So for most of the sessions I was leading, I had prepared material according to the schedule, then invariably had an hour less time to work with, because other presenters went over time. It is incredibly stressful trying to cram an hour's worth of discussion, activities, and material into 20 minutes!

Tomorrow is the last day, and mostly I will be sitting back as the participants present their group-work. Then on Saturday I make the four-hour trip to Lilongwe, squeezed with 6 others into the back of a Land Rover. Jorge is back on Monday (hooray!) along with his mother.

I'm thinking that the arrival of my mother-in-law, who will be staying for 2 months, is going to turn this blog into one long, madcap episode of "Three's Company goes to Africa." So watch this space...