It’s my last night in Malawi. I’ve left Blantyre, taking a coach bus for 5.5 hours to get to Lilongwe.  I had tried to rent a car, because I wanted to be able to stop along the way at Dedza which is the home of a beautiful pottery studio that’s known around the country, but [...]

I am writing this in Blantyre, Malawi (in south eastern Africa) in the start of my last week of my Leave for Change program. My time here, although short, has changed the way that I see the world, and even more so, changed the way that I think about health.  I am indeed surprised at [...]

There is one thing that I have wanted to see since I was a little child: an elephant in the wild.  So this weekend (my last full weekend here), I went to Liwonde National Park and stayed in the Mvuu Camp. I cannot write a lot right now, since I am exhausted and tomorrow morning [...]

There’s a huge used clothing market in Blantyre, which is likely supported by tremendous donations of clothes from overseas.  Every day I have a good laugh seeing the tshirts some of the people are wearing, since some of the messages on the t-shirts are so out of context or inappropriate.  Unfortunately, I don’t like to [...]

I am still alive, but blogging is so hard to do from here. Every day, while crammed into a minibus on the way to work, I have dozens of things to tell you.  But finding the internet (that’s reliable enough) to be able to upload things is difficult.  Also, taking the time to blog is [...]

I realized the other day that my job in Canada has an impact on the people of Malawi.  Even before I worked at UBC, I worked in tobacco cessation, to help people quit smoking.  But here in Malawi, I was told about the drop in tobacco sales, the largest cash crop in Malawi, impacting the [...]

I wrote this yesterday, but because of the internet and computer issues here, I couldn’t post it. I’m having a colleague press “Publish” for me, since I can’t seem to do it here now that I’m in Malawi. I left Vancouver on Sunday, February 12 and now it is Tuesday, February 14.  Three flights (about ~18 [...]

The time is come and I have to say that I’m bounding in excitement! I have to pack tomorrow, clean up the house, spend some quality time with my boyfriend and then board the plane on Sunday (February 12)! Next time I blog, I will be in London, since I have a 7 hour layover [...]

In 5 days and 4 hours (if the flights are on time), I will be sitting on my Air Canada flight. This week is flying by, since I’m still out doing the Travelling Health Fair, as well as trying to write the March Healthy UBC Newsletter before I go (and do a few other dozen [...]

My friend Lo told me a story about how when she went to India, her friend and her brought along a little bit of comfort food for an emergency.  She had a few oreos to eat when times were tough, and she told me she treasured those Oreos one difficult day when she was homesick.  [...]