A perfect day!

I had the perfect day. Yesterday was the perfect day. It was beautiful when I woke up. I sat and had my tea (since I only drink Zabars coffee and nothing comes even close here, so I’ve made a temporary switch) on the lovely bamboo veranda at House Three in Thyolo. I listened to the morning sounds of birds, roosters and people getting about their day. I could see almost none of this, only the tops of the tree topped mountains in the hazy morning distance.

I walked to work on the hard, bumpy red roads, children screaming morning greetings along the way. When I arrived, I learned that the morning meeting with the District Medical Officer which I had believed to be fixed for 8:30 was not at all fixed. Rather I would have to stand outside his 7:30 meeting in the hopes that I could catch him before the vast hordes of people who suck his time on a daily basis descended. I waited two weeks for this appointment, but this is the man with the power, knowledge and will to get things done in the future. We waylaid him on his way to the office—a slight man in a well cut suit—who grimaced hello in agreement that he did have a few minutes to speak with me. It was then that I dazzled him with my epidemiologists without border schpiel using his very own data.

I think I got more time than he initially thought he would provide. We actually had quite a good time together. I showed him the tools I had created for systematizing data collection. He was so impressed that he asked me when I was going to work directly with the Ministry of Health to update their tools and strategy at that level. It was then that I had to advise him that it was beyond my mandate. I am merely the lowly measles outbreak investigation epidemiologist in charge of working with the local district health offices in the south. I did assure him that I was indeed working with all districts, all of whom were willing to adopt my system (in one form or another...).

After that I returned to the office to discover that the internet was working in a way it has never worked since my arrival in Malawi! Of course it’s not working today, but it was working magnificently yesterday, the perfect day. All of my interactions with absolutely everyone all day long on the perfect day were predictably wonderful. I even managed to finish a project I started on my very first day that seemed almost insurmountable—but not with a little help from my friends.

The warm sunshine after an unseasonably cold and rainy spell continues even today on the residues of the perfect day.