Mind your Ls and Rs

There is gleat excitement in the country light now as the big erections are pending!

All a bit risqué until you understand that almost all Malawians are in strange habit of using Ls and Rs interchangeably, it makes for interesting listening especially at the moment as the country gears up for going to the polls. I can’t help giggling to myself when I hear people talking about it!

There is much concern over whether they are going to be peaceful or if there will be lioting in the stleets. Plesident Bingu and his opposition (the plevious Plesident Muluzi) are not buddies even though, as I understand it, Muluzi hand picked Bingu to succeed him. It all went hollibly pear shaped when Bingu decided he didn’t fancy Muluzi’s party anymore and went off to make his own. There has been chaos since – all those issues with our nursing students was because the training budgets weren’t passed in time because everyone was too busy deciding who was allowed to stand. Even though things are pletty calm at the moment most people are a rittle bit anxious that things might get hairy. The biggest worry is that since Muluzi is currentry in plison on corluption charges, the erection will be postponed which means evelybody who wasn’t previousry ergible to vote because they weren’t the light age might now have had birthdays and be old enough to legister and so bump up the numbers in the wrong dilection.

I can’t work out what the ‘wrong direction’ is though - do they want Bingu back in or Muluzi should be allowed to take over again? A diremma if ever there was one. A lecipe for disaster either way if you ask me but since I don’t understand politics at the best of times who am I to say? When people ask me what Engrish voting is like I have to admit I’ve only been to put an x in the box once and to me, it doesn’t seem to make a huge difference who is in power, the NHS still struggles, crime still gets worse and most people don’t have the money they need. Out here though I do appreciate more the impact that a vote has, the power and sense of freedom that it gives people, the hope that things might be better.

I won’t be contributing to any political changes come May 19th, in fact the advice seems to be to stay at home if you’re not involved. Whatever the result, I shall continue to focus on my little CPD programme and the pilot project which is due to start anytime now. The government ordered CPD to happen and I just hope that whoever comes to power doesn’t change that.

Everyone play hard that it all turns out ok!