Meet Kerry Bramley, a medical student and one of the winners of our Wesleyan Elective Competition 2017. She's sharing with us her elective experience in Malawi and the UK.
Here's Kerry third update on her elective trip in Malawi.
My Elective in Malawi - Part 2Nkhotakota, where WMF was based, was quite a small town, with few points of interest.
As a result, we had a good opportunity to integrate with the locals and understand the Malawian culture. There was a market that sold really fresh fruit and vegetables at cheap prices - a small banana was the equivalent of 1 pence!
One thing I noticed was that the Malawians never tried to charge you extra as a tourist, like many other places I have travelled.
A memorable evening was when our housekeeper taught us to make the local staple food, nsima. Nsima is maize flour mixed with boiling water until it thickens, and is usually served with a relish e.g. fish or vegetables.
The locals love it and eat it for most of their meals, as it is very filling.
There was very little meat in Nkhotakota and we avoided eating it anyway as there are lots of power cuts, so we were unsure how long things had been unrefrigerated for.
/br> As we were so busy during the week helping with the clinics, we tried to make the most of our weekends by going away.
The first weekend, we stayed at a place called Safari Lodge, which was on the Lake in Nkhotakota. It was a relaxing weekend and we spent a lot of the time sunbathing on
the beach and walking along the shore.Around the accommodation, we were lucky to see some wild monkeys.
We had been told that there was a good sunrise, so we made the effort to get up at 5.30am one morning, in order to see it. It rose behind a cloud but was still really pretty!
Nkhotakota is famous for it's pottery, so I purchased some mugs as presents for my family. After a busy first week, it was nice to have a relaxing weekend and enjoy spending some time by the lake.
The second weekend, we stayed at a place called Myoka Village in Nkhata Bay. The views from the accommodation were stunning.
There was free canoeing and paddle boarding available and we went on a boat trip that took us around the shore of the lake. It stopped to feed the fish eagles, snorkelling and at a beach where we played a game of beach volleyball.
The food was very good at Myoka Village, there was a BBQ night on the Friday that we arrived, and Pizza night on the Sunday.
Nkhata Bay had a lot more tourists than Nkhotakota and we met many English-speaking visitors. It was interesting to hear other people's stories - we met some primary school teachers who were out there volunteering, a cyclist who had travelled from Estonia down through Europe and Africa, and also another medical student!
Malawi was a great choice of location to spend the first 4 weeks of my elective - I was able to experience medicine in a developing country and enjoy my weekends in beautiful surroundings. I'd definitely recommend it to future students!
Watch out for some more updates about her elective adventures from Kerry!
Are you going on an elective? Head off on your travels safe in the knowledge that we've got you covered for problems such as cancellations for exam re-sit cancellations, HIV needle-stick injuries or unforeseen medical expenses with
elective insurance from Wesleyan.