Halloween

I'm just going to post pictures. If you want an explanation; comment. It's my way to testing to see if anybody looks at this thing anymore =P

Eep! I haven't posted since July?!

wowsa. So much has been going on since then. Good, bad, ugly, thrilling - all of it.
The big news is that the new group of Education Trainees arrived here in Malawi yesterday! So I've officially been here for a year, which is a mind warp. It's also sad because my friends who are a year ahead of me have already started COS-ing (finishing their service and going home). Luckily being in the Peace Corps and getting new volunteers coming into the country three times a year means that three times a year hand picked awesome folks arrive, the new Health group and new Environment group kick ass.
So, the new group is currently at our training location in Dedza and on Saturday will move into three different villages for their 6- 7 weeks of homestay and I'll go with them! Saturday to Thursday I'll be a "PCV of the week," hanging out with the newbs and doing my utmost to be simultaneously informative and positive. It'll be weird to be back in a homestay environment but I'll be armed with a can of doom and I will get free meals and hot bafas everyday so I'll deal :)
My women's group have finished building the khola for the guinea fowl and purchased the birds, but they're not laying eggs! This is a problem for an egg selling business. More to come as we figure this out.
I have a big old project in the works with a PLWA (People Living With AIDS) group in my village. I'm writing a grant to purchase a maize mill, which my community needs because many people can't afford the transport to the nearest mill. The PLWA group will run the mill and use all the profits for transport to get their medications, medicinal garden(s), better nutrition, and a revolving micro-loan fund for income generating activities, as well as support for people affected by AIDS such as orphans and the elderly who are left behind frequently to care for them. I'm feeling a bit daunted, it's a lot to undertake, but hey, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life so I'm diggin it, too. My community is motivated and have already started molding bricks for the building for the maize mill, the chief donated a piece of land, and I'm writing the grant and crossing my fingers. Cross yours too, if this works it will be awesome.
Otherwise, life's just life :) Hot season is upon us and we sizzle at the lakeshore (already 120 in the sun and getting progressively hotter for the next two months). I swim in gorgeous Lake Malawi everyday that I'm at site. I'm building a summer hut so I have a shady spot to sit outside since, with a tin roof, my house is literally an oven. School is going well, the Form 2's are writing their big exams that determine if they can move onto Form 3 next year, and in a couple of weeks the Form 4's will write their graduation exams. My neighbor is due to have a baby next month and I'm hoping she can't think of a name and asks for suggestions (Michael for a boy, Mina for a girl). I miss my friends and my family but I'm seeing how time flies here and know I'll be with them all again before I can believe it. Will try to post pictures next time, I haven't been taking many at all.

love to all from Malawi

Small Update

Wow, for somebody who loves to write I really (honestly) hate updating this blog. Words are never enough to really communicate what my life is like here, but pictures help, so here's a few :)

I had a community meeting in my village last Friday, where in true peace corps style I executed "paca" (participatory analysis for community action - i think) activities.

The first photo is the women drawing a map of Ngala, our village, so that they can think of what resources are available and begin to conceptualize what resources could be put to more use.

The second photo is men doing the same thing. The women's map was simple, but quite effective. The men argued for about 30 minutes over whether the bar was a place of business or a leisure place. Hmmmm....

The last photo is one of the men explaining their map to myself and the other women.

This is the sort of work that I *love* - community action, getting input from those who would be affected by any type of development work... and lots and lots of Chichewa practice!

For pictures of my sister Christina's visit to Malawi a couple of weeks ago, I will direct you to her Picasa web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/christina01/Malawi?feat=email#

Mbua Zipatso - my women's group

Our project is moving along....


Me happily giving 13,500 Malawi Kwacha to two members and their co-ordinator, Mr. Chirwa. This is close to $100 USD.

One of the members, looking very introspective.

The khola is being built! This is where the guinea fowls will live soon. These are several of the members and a few kids tossed in for good measure.

the khola sans human - these birds are going to live better than some local humans!


Two blog entries in 1 day... y'all are lucky =)

It's Been Awhile...

All Apologies! I'm a terrible blogger, I know. I confess. But to be fair I have been quite the busy volunteer lately, as the pictures below will prove. I'm half way through 2nd term at school, which means half way through the first year! Wow - I've been here just over 8 months and to be honest I'm already I alittle bit worried about leaving! The word "extend" has come to mind several times in the last few weeks but of course I still have plenty of time to consider whether I'm seriously interested in that. "Cold" season is upon us - it's winter down here! Meaning that here in Lilongwe it's cold at night (jacket when outside, socks, thick blanket for sleeping) and in my village on the lakeshore I can still walk around during the day in a skirt and tank top but around 3am I wake up and pull a sheet up over my legs to stay warm. It is surely very different from winter as I've understood it for the last 27 years and I'm thrilled to say so. Y'all can keep it! The biggest news is that in just over 24 hours I'm going to be at the airport in LL picking up my SISTER! She's somewhere between SFO and Heathrow right now, and I cannot find words to express how excited I am to show her what I've been talking about since KSP in '03: Africa. Of course I'll post after her trip and add to the pictures below:

Me crying about my destroyed house (yea I'm in my house in this pic, not a landfill).... except not really crying at all.

What used to be my floor (and is now again a very nice floor).

Preparing fresh lentils from my garden. This took hours.

It's ant season!!!! Just a sampling from my bafa.

More picture lovin'

I find that, speaking Chichewa and Chitonga frequently, and most frequently speaking Malawian English, has been eroding my ability to effectively communicate in American English. Hence, I post pictures and let you draw your own conclusions :) I swear, I'll draft an actual entry and deliver it unto the needy masses in the next month or so. Hands to God.

Mua Mission: A mission (hah) and museum about the history and cultures of Malawi and the role of the church in "supporting" those cultures (my political commentary stops there).

Photo Phun!

The family I stayed with for six weeks during PST, the Akwendas. I <3 this family and I'm going to visit them next week!




Burned while cooking nsima, Malawi's staple food, which is prepared by boiling water, adding flour, and stirring until a dough-like consistency is achieved. Flesh optional.












What used to be my "chim," or chimbudzi (pit latrine). Rainwater underground sucked it down, and it went boom.







Cockroaches poured out for days!








My helpful cleaning crew of ants, eating a cricket I'd smashed about 3 minutes earlier. The cricked was gone in an hour. Thanks buddies!





So IST (In Service Training) is upon us and today we roll out to Dedza. I'll be back in town the 16th or so.

PHONE INFORMATION

My number's been slightly changed, y'all.
Instead of 011 265 9 514 472
you now dial 011 265 999 514 472.
Okay? Okay!

6 months in

Well, what a month March was. The overall theme seems to have been "suck it up" ~or~ "how to deal when everything breaks." And, I do mean everything. From the necklace my mother gave me to my brand new phone, from a key bridge washed out by rains to my very own outdoor toilet, and etc.,* a LOT of shit broke this month. I also received word that a piece of my father (his arm) broke. Perhaps the worst, though, is the departure of my friend Erica, who was so instrumental in making so many of my Malawian challenges bearable. So, cliched as it is, a bit of my heart has broken, too.
But it hasn't been all bad. I confined myself to the village for the entire month of March and survived - no - succeeded! I moved forward with my secondary project of raising guinea fowls for a women's group. I finished out Term 1 of the school year, and read some damn good books. I've been harvesting from my garden and sharing the bounty with friends and neighbors. I have 2 separate fan clubs of a-freakin'-dorable kids who run at me, squealing and waiting for a hand shake or head pat whenever I walk by.
In short, I've made the first steps into teaching myself to make the best of it. Seriously - there's duct tape holding up a part of my wall. I wrote "It's What You Make Of It!" on the tape and eyeball it appreciatively everyday. I've been here for 6 months, now, and have finally started learning from my neighbors instead of simply observing them.
As my fellow teacher Mr. Chunda would say, "when there is a problem, we sit down and solve the problem. We solve the what? The problem." (a pattern of repetition unique to Malawian educators). So, that's what I've been doing even though there's usually a lot of sitting down before the problem can be solved.
Pics will be posted as soon as I'm on a computer that allows it. Love to all.

*iPod, solar charger, plans, systems, logic, floor, budget, and a prostitutes assumed humanity

More Picture Happiness....

Gorgeous! Pay no attention to the powerlines - they aren't helping me out at all!

The rainbow was East... this was West. While I was taking these pics my house was filling with bats, just to reward me for admiring nature.

We weeded! And holy crap there's a lot of vegetables in my garden.

Beans, cukes, and pumpkins galore....

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture came to my school and these are some of our students singing to him.

So all in all things are going well! I can't believe February is almost finished, though I *am* a little relieved, honestly. I'm done with rainy season and ready to keep the year moving. I know I've been terrible about updating this thing and I'm about to skip out again but I swear, leave me comments with what you'd LIKE to hear about, and I'll oblige. I'm in Lilongwe until Sunday so anybody who wants to can contact me before then.

Pics =D

Myself and my fellow teachers at Dwasulu Community Day Secondary School! I don't *always* look this tired, I swear.


My form 1 students - well, most of them anyways :)

this building houses our staff room (left) and library (more bats than books in that one).

oh, the children. the children! We call them "iwes" here (ee-ways) - means "you" in an impolite way.

Moi! Just checkin' in!

More updates to come - for now life continues as normal. The rains have come and Malawians rightfully rejoice. Hope all is well with everybody at home!