Beginning the House Hunt

Today will be our fourth day in Malawi. So far things have been good but we are still trying to wrap our heads around the city and getting ourselves set up. We are being put up for two weeks in a guest lodge which is like a house for rent where you get a room and then share the kitchen and common area with other guests. It is in Area 3 of the city which is how Lilongwe is organized, neighbourhoods are given numerical designations. The only trick is that as far as I can tell there is not any clear system for this numbering as Area 3 has Area 9 to one side and Area 37 on the opposite side. As well there is an Area 47 relatively close by but I don’t see most of the other numbers that lead up to 47 on our map. Either they don’t exist or they just don’t make it on our map, I’m not sure. We have these two weeks to find a school for Regan and we also must find a house. As far as schools go we have found one called Mt. Sinai which seems like it will be a good match. The hours of school here are quite different though as she will have to be there at 7:15 a.m. and then is done at 3:30 p.m. We still have to work out the logistics as the work day here goes from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a one hour lunch. Our first day of work is tomorrow but at first we are allowed to get organized as we have to be out of this guest house and into our own place within two weeks of arriving. We went looking at some houses for rent yesterday as unfortunately we have discovered you are on your own to find your own place which is difficult without transportation and without knowing which areas are acceptable. Thankfully one of the workers from the organization a woman who is also a volunteer is with was able to drive us around. We have been getting some advice that some areas of the city wouldn’t be suitable because of the amount of attention foreigners would attract could be a security risk. The problem is that the few areas we looked at yesterday that are considered good choices for foreign volunteers are quite expensive. As well due to the unique layout of the city we are not sure how to effectively get around without a car yet prices are also high in this area. A used car that is about 15 years old here starts at $5000, something a little out of the range of volunteers. Most foreigners here are getting paid salaries that put them in quite a good position with regard to Malawian costs. What is truly surprising is how expensive Lilongwe is considering it is considered to be one of the ten poorest nations on earth. It is much different than my experience in Brazil where I could get by on a few dollars a day. Gas prices here are more expensive than Canada and buying a new bicycle here still costs at least $125. My suspicion is that there are ways to live more cheaply but it will take a while to learn them. A Canadian couple that we visited yesterday so that we could get a sense of their house versus their monthly rent showed to us that it could be done as there rent was half the rent of the houses we saw and it was really nice. The house we saw were not the best, in fact some were a little depressing due to their poor state of repair. When we ask how to get the deals though we are told that it is hit and miss and takes having connections. That is all well and good, but with only two weeks to find a place we don’t have time to make connections. Janna and I are hoping that the organizations we will be starting with tomorrow might be able to help us. That is what WUSC has stated is how it works but we have also been told that the partner organizations don’t have the resources or time to help us. I guess we will see tomorrow.