Malawi P-Global: Summer 2015: The Chambo's Arrival on Likoma

In the early morning hours of Thursday, we arose to make our final preparations for our trip to Likoma Island. We finished packing our four suitcases with hundreds of pounds of provisions, since we were told it is best to purchase everything on the mainland due to either high prices or shortages on the island. We set out in an early morning fog, making our way towards the bay, and Mzuzu’s port, Nkata Bay. Our ship was scheduled to leave to 8am, so we arrived about 7am in order to ensure that we had seats and space for all of our luggage. As we arrived at Nkata Bay, the Chambo Boat awaited us, and to our pleasant surprise appeared to be a quality, sturdy ship, fit for a lake prone to rough seas. Onboard, local young boys passed up and down the aisle selling boiled eggs and doughnuts for breakfast, trying to earn a bit of money.

After sitting and waiting for around an hour, 8am arrived and we were ready to set sail. However, foolish us, we were thinking in terms of American time! We waited for 30 more minutes, then another 30, as still more passengers piled on with their luggage. Finally, 90 minutes “late”, the Chambo departed the dock. However, not even 2 minutes after leaving the dock, we circled back. The Chambo had left one of its crew on the dock! After this 15 minute delay of circling back, docking again, and pushing off again, we finally left Nkata Bay and entered Lake Malawi. The Chambo wasn’t necessarily full, as there were still seats available, but the variety of contents on the boat was rather intriguing. Cement, grain, produce, fuel, building materials, firewood, suitcases, appliances, etc. occupied the passenger compartment.

After sailing over somewhat rough seas, we arrived in Chizumulu Island, a smaller island just to the west of Likoma in Lake Malawi. This island did not have a proper dock, and so we simply dropped anchor in the bay as a whole host of men piloting canoes approached the ship to offload some of the aforementioned cargo, passengers, and bring new passengers and cargo to the ship for the trip to Likoma, or to continue on to Mozambique. In addition, these canoes were selling fish, and people on the Chambo rushed to the sides of the ship to purchase the morning’s catch, bringing the fish back into the passenger cabin with them.

After sailing for what seemed like another hour, we finally arrived on the beach of Likoma Island. I say this because Likoma doesn’t have a proper dock either. The boat simply beached itself, put down its front cargo ramp, and people proceeded to unload their persons and belongings! It was quite a sight to see, this fairly large boat, beached on a sandy beach, with people offloading every imaginable good from the ship, since ship or air is the only way anything comes in or out of Likoma. Shortly after we reached Likoma, employees of the Diocese greeted us on the Chambo to help us with our heavy bags. After sliding them down the ramp and either lifting or dragging them through the sand, we placed them into a truck, everyone climbed in the bed of the truck or the cab and we were off.

After a few meters, we exited the sandy beach and found ourselves on perilously rocky roads, winding our way inland. At times I thought that the tiny truck surely was going to overturn due to all of the weight it had onboard, combined with the less than ideal road conditions. Soon enough, though, we found ourselves in front of a beautiful home in front of an enormous cathedral. As time has shown, our home, the Bishop’s island residence, is by far the nicest on the entire island. We have clean running water, electricity, a hot shower, a cook, a housekeeper, a wrap-around porch and a beautiful view of St. Peter’s Cathedral, the largest church in all of Central Africa.

Electricity on the island is provided by a set of three generators in a centrally located power plant. All of them are operated on diesel fuel, which is brought over on the aforementioned ships, 55-gallon drum by 55-gallon drum. The electricity is switched off on the island M-F at 10pm, returning at 6am. On Saturday, the power turns on at 7am, and it stays on until 12am Sunday, returning at 8am Sunday. Each and every day, seven days a week, the electricity shuts off from 12:30pm-2:30pm. All of these measures are in an effort to conserve precious diesel fuel, and money. As one can imagine, shipping all of this fuel to the island, all in a country that doesn’t produce a drop of its own oil, can get to be quite expensive!

Internet service on the island has been difficult to obtain. After chatting with several of the people Katherine and I work with, we determined that the best (only) way to access Internet is via cellular data. A teacher at the school gave us a USB device that accesses the cellular network on the island. We then had to buy data for the device, which proved to be quite cheap, like just about everything else in Malawi, at least if Americans are the ones doing the purchasing. It is remarkably fast, and most importantly, we have access to the world outside of this little island in the middle of Lake Malawi in the middle of Central Africa!