Ending the year 2009 in Thyolo with a bang

Today is 30th December and it’s just a few days from New Year. I am told the former President of Malawi is not well and I wish him a quick recovery .
I am currently in Thyolo district, home of the new president , and I am completing the blindness research that I stopped due to absence of fuel in Malawi that happened for a few weeks . Now there is fuel in town .
Today I am in chiromo village ,near Luchenza , and this is one of the villages under the Member of Parliament honorable Mutharikka .Naturally apart from seeing a few blind people ,you expect everyone to be happy in this constituency ( as its where the big man comes from and the Mhlako wa Alommwe is strongest ).I see this old blind man ; and asks how the rains have been so far ; and he replies that you people in Government did not give us the fertilizer you promised because we did not cast a vote ; and so why do you care about the rain.
When I finally tell him that he has a cataract that needs to be operated on in Thyolo hospital, he doubts if he will come, as he says he has no confidence in this Government. I as an outsider, is surprised that this old man who did not get the free fertilizer coupons thinks that unless something happens he will not get the free surgery .
As I move round the village in a Government vehicle , I get numerous complaints about the big man-spefically to do with how the fertilizer issue ; and I am asked to donate some funds for completion of a church in the centre of the village . I definitely say “No” as it would be likely that I would be put in jail if I tried to defame the big man by donating small monies to his constituency (I don’t have the monies anyway).
But am glad we have harvested a good number of blind people and have asked to come to Blantyre in Jan 2010.I will be performing surgery on them.

By the way I have missed the job promotion again this year; and from rumours I get in thyolo am tempted to think that it’s probably to do with my place of origins; as colleagues from different Regions have all been promoted.If only the big man knew that this blind person i am treating is from his village, am sure he would have influenced my promoton.After all i am long overdue and qualified.But he has wrong advisors who only want to promote tribalism .

Imagine am mistaken as being a Lomwe and all these things are being said to me in confidence ; but I am only here for seeing eye patients and I am afraid to reveal that i am not from here incase i maybe stoned.

I have been told i should always remember I come from the dead Northen Region of Malawi ; though I may now probably settle near Ndata farm (to feed from the big man’s savings)in southern Region and be a Lomwe for life.

Kamuzu many times said we were all Malawians and completely discouraged regionalism; thuswhy i can confidently go and treat eye patients in thyolo . But things are slowly changing -who knows where i will be next ?

Will be posting pictures from Ndata farm soon

Any way Happy new year once again .

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