Monday, December 20, 2010

Lessons Learned From a Funeral

The youth center for Active Youth in Development was going up too well. In Malawian standards there were no problems-every time I went to the site the youth group, led by a hardworking contractor, were diligently layering bricks, mixing cement and building a youth center. I am so proud of them.

Saturday I went to the site to help work for the day. By help, I mean I carry some bricks, try to mix some cement, and mostly stand in the way. They don't let me do a lot of work, but I like being around and it so cool to see a building come to life.

I was watching the contractor work on Saturday and thought to myself-'we really lucked out.' Not only was his quote the lowest, but the building was going up on schedule. He wasn't showy or chatty-he got the job done.

Sunday morning I got a call at 5:30am saying that he had died. Our contractor got hit by a car on his bicycle after buying some tomatoes at the market. It was dark outside and a truck was trying to overtake another car on the narrow road-the trailer of the truck swung and hit our builder. He died instantly from head trauma. I went to the funeral Sunday morning, the group was really upset but they are moving forward. And that is what I am taking from this death-life goes on. We bought the roofing this morning and the group is looking for a new builder this week. It is not because they are over the death of our friend, it is because they still have to plant the crops, they still have to draw the water, and they still have to build our youth center.

My sister comes tomorrow-it could not be better timed. I am so looking forward to her visit, followed my parents arrival on the 27th. I really need a vacation and some family time.

Happy holidays and cheers to the new year!

loads of love,
e

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A Year at the Turnoff

I have officially completed my first year as a volunteer. It seems so bizarre to think last year at this time I moved into my house at the turnoff-scared, excited, overwhelmed, nervous...yes, mostly nervous. This has been the most intense, trying, inspiring, frustrating, wonderful year. Here is a recap:

December 2009- Arrive at site, it is so hot I think I might die. It takes 2 hours to scramble eggs because my fire keeps going out. What does a teacher development facilitator really do? I read a lot of books and wonder what I am doing in Malawi.

January 2010- This entire year will be spent in Malawi. Hmm. Active Youth in Development is formed. The rains come and I think I might die from the flooding.

February 2010-Starting to figure out being a TDF- but really, what am I doing here?

March 2010- We have been at site for 3 months-training in Dedza. Climb Mt. Mulanje.

April 2010- Start teaching at school. Start planning Camp Sky. This isn't so bad.

May 2010-Happy Birthday to me! Camp Sky is going to be a lot of work. AYID decides to make soap. Being busy is so much better.

June 2010- Winter arrives at the turnoff. The cool weather is amazing.

July 2010- Meet the president of Malawi, celebrate the 4th at the ambassador's house, write a grant for a youth group building, camp sky is next month!

August 2010- CAMP SKY!

September - AMERICA!

October 2010- Search for elephants. October is Typically my favorite one, this one seems never ending.

November 2010- Teaching a lot more. Weekend trips to the lake. Youth group building is started. I buy lots of cement, timber, nails, and other stuff to build a house.

December 2010- I made it. A full year! There were plenty of days I didn't think I would. There were lots of sad, homesick days-but there were plenty more great days. Now I am applying to grad schools and have about 6.5 months left. (this is not official because I will probably have to leave early to start school, but I will be able to finish the school year) My family is coming, AYID's building is going up, we are painting a world map school, and we have another training in January....and then it will be 5.5 months to go!

I hope you are all having a very merry holiday season. Love and miss you all!

love,
e

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Being Thankful

Thanksgiving has arrived. While I do wish I were at home mashing potatoes (the extent of my turkey day responsibilities) there are so many things to be thankful for in Malawi.

1) My family. They are flying around the world to go to the bathroom in a hole in the ground and eat nsima. That is love.

2) My friends. In Malawi and in America. Emails, letters, packages of encouragement and support make me believe I have the best friends in the whole world.

3) Health. Maybe it was the chemical burn in eye or watching Sarah's courageous battle with cancer but out health is so precious. You never know when you might misread a contact solution label or go through a scary doctors appointment.

4) The rains. Rainy season is here in Malawi. While it will soon become a swampy, muggy mess I am currently thankful for the reprieve it gives from the heat. I am also thankful for the reminder that all seasons are temporary.

5) My Malawian family. I am thankful for the hugs I get from Dennis and Derrick every morning before I go to school, watching Derrick's body explode into a crazy wild spasm when he is so happy he can't control himself, for Vinny's songs when I come home from a trip, for Innocent's earnestness and perceptiveness, my Amayi's constant concern. Well, sometimes I am not thankful for that but it is really nice to have someone to make sure I am okay. Or, to let me know when I am getting fat.

6) Malawi. While it has taken my patience and occasionally my sanity and made me speak in an awkward bizarre accent constantly misusing words and switching my 'l's and 'r's while writing and speaking it has the lake. And millions of smiling faces and generous spirits, and crazy adventures, beautiful sunsets, hundreds of lessons, and a lifetime of memories. Fair trade.

7) The future. I am currently applying to graduate school. I have no idea where I will end up but I am so excited that next year at this time my life will be completely different. That is awesome.

8) Cold Fanta

9) My students. I love teaching again. My form 4s (senior year) are witty and clever, and hardworking and make me laugh every day. I will miss them. a lot.

10) Learning how to live alone. In a village in Malawi in Africa. This was and continues to be the toughest lesson. Being alone can be a scary thing-I am learning to embrace it and even crave it. I am thankful for that.

There are lots of other things I am thankful for like nutella, post-it notes, good books, Glee, etc but these are the big things this year. I am hope you take this time to be thankful too.

loads of love,
e

Monday, November 22, 2010

Elisabeth Goes on Med Hold

I am not known for my direction reading skills. I prefer to figure things out in my own way. This week I learned an important lesson on reading directions-they are there for a reason.

Last Sunday I came into Lilongwe to go to the bank and run some errands. My plan was to be here less than 24 hours. That was my plan....

I wear contacts. I have worn contacts for years and don't enjoy wearing glasses. Peace Corps advises volunteers not to wear contacts because of the risk of infection. In order to avoid infections I have been using no-rub solution which requires a special case. Maybe you are familiar? In my hasty packing I forgot my contact case. When I realized this I didn't think twice to find some cups and let my contacts soak in the cups overnight. Now, this goes back to my lack of reading directions: on the bottle it says 'use only the lens case provided'-but living in Malawi has made me believe expiration dates and directions aren't totally necessary. Monday morning I woke up to go for a run and put my contacts in like I do everyday. I put my right contact in and felt intense fiery pain. My eye immediately pinched closed and it took my prying fingers to remove my contact. I ran into the shower and hoped my eye would stop spazzing. Unfortunately it did not. Luckily, I was in Lilongwe so I was able to visit the doctors. The doctor irrigated my eye and gave me goop (medicated eye drops) to put in 4 times a day. And then he told me I had to stay in Lilongwe until Friday...

Friday became Monday but now I am finally on my way back home! Lesson learned-read the directions on your contact solution bottle. They are not lying.

loads of love,
e

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Thinking of Sarah

"Most people don't know there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don't get too comfortable and fall asleep and miss your life."

-Brian Andrea
My friend Sarah needs your thoughts, prayers, wishes, hopes, and every positive vibe you can send. She is getting married on the 27th of this month (well, she and her husband, Eric, already got married but this is the one with the bigger dress) and deserves a perfect day. Plus, she is such an amazing person you can help but not be inspired by watching these blogs.

Loads of love,
Elisabeth

Monday, October 25, 2010

Elisa the Builder?

Every Peace Corps volunteer struggles with the idea of development, specifically sustainable development. What does development look like and how can you make it effective in the long term? Some volunteers refuse to build anything, determined to make their service entirely composed of a transfer of technical skills. Some volunteers raise thousands of dollars to build schools, toilets, houses, and offices. I was not planning on building anything as I was more of the first opinion, building stuff doesn't solve problems. But....the youth group I work with wanted a youth center. Really, really badly. They proved their work ethic for 6 months so I wrote a grant (mostly just to appease them, I really didn't think it would go through)...the grant came through!

So now we are building a youth center with a library. While I was away the group (AYID) burned 20,000 bricks. Yes, they got the sand, the water, they mixed it together, they burned them, each individual brick...20,000 times. The funny thing about building stuff in Malawi is that there are no codes or regulations, you just kinda build. If you have read Three Cups of Tea it is a little like that- you just meet people who know people and then things turn up. There are no guarantees with anything, I am constantly surprised when things go as planned, but somehow they always do. We have a builder, last week we opened our bank account (a 4.5 hour process), next Friday we are going to Nkhotakota to buy 100 bags of cement and lots of timber (among other things). We made another batch of soap (which sold like hot cakes!) on Saturday to help pay for our 25% of the grant, the land is being cleared this week, and now it is a race to finish before the rains. The coolest thing is that things are happening...quickly. Two things that are not a guarantee in Malawi.

The Saturdays spent at Habitat for Humanity are coming in handy. I am learning about types of cement and how to lay a foundation and the difference between a roofing nail and other kinds of nails. This might not be the safest building (as we are following zero codes) or the prettiest (the layout was a hand drawn copy of something the chief and the director sketched out in the sand) but it is our building. And that makes it pretty cool.

loads of love,
e

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Playing Soccer With Elephant Dung

Most people know I am not exactly an animal person. I like some on an individual basis, but if you want Dr. Doolittle please see my sister. However, I have been on a mini mission to see an elephant in real life. I felt like seeing an elephant would complete my experience of living in Africa; seeing Dumbo makes this Peace Corps thing a little more real....

So, every year a few of the environment volunteers are in charge of the game count in Liwonde National Park in the south east side of Malawi. National parks in Malawi are not exactly the mecca of the big five as far as game parks are concerned; but as far as I am concerned warthogs are almost as cool as lions. Maybe not--but they did make laugh every time hoping I to see a meercat riding on its back a la Lion King. I digress, my quest for seeing an elephant became magnified when I signed up for this game count. This was my opportunity!

Saturday Ben, Jordan, a guide, a navigator and I set off for a 14k trek through our assigned quadrant of the park. We were dropped off in a village and had to army crawl under the park fence. I realized then our chances of seeing an elephant drastically decreased because a) they aren't going to visit the gun-toting villagers and b) herds are led by females so it is not like they are going to get lost...ha, bad joke. We walked and walked and walked and saw lots of poo. Finally, we saw Impala, a few Livingtonia things (like mini foxes/rabbit things), two kudu, and lots of warthogs--but no meercats and certainly no singing. We saw some wild pigs, those were my favorite, they had some crazy mohawks and looked like they should be in a rock band. We walked and walked and walked right into the 'leprosy tree.' I was intrigued by this 'leprosy tree' because of the stories our guide was sharing. Apparently they stuffed people both dead and and alive suffering from leprosy into a small hole in a tree. 'No way,' I thought. Well, that tree is the stuff nightmares are made of. We climbed up to look in the small hole and saw bones and skulls staring back at us. Our guide was not kidding.

In an effort to make things a little more lighthearted over what we just saw and the fact that we didn't see any actual elephants we played soccer with elephant dung all the way home....

The next day we were in a 'hide'- I use this term loosely as were were sitting on a giant mound of dirt in the middle of a very open plain next to the river. It was more like a 'here I am!' And there we were sitting in the middle of a termite mound in the middle of a national park in the middle of Africa watching animals everywhere. A herd of 150 water buffalo march to the water, hundreds of impalas and water bucks and wart hogs scampered around, and finally the ELEPHANTS CAME! We saw about 20 different elephants in different groups trekking to the water. (They are just as big and beautiful as they are in the zoo.) It was in that moment I wondered how my life became so far from in the middle.

loads of love,
e

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Crossing the 1000 meter mark...

If you rowed this makes sense. If not, let me explain. Crossing the 1000 meter mark of a 2000meter race is a euphoric combination of exuberance and dread. Exuberance because you are half way, you hit your stride, the home stretch is coming. Dread in that you have to do it all over again. The best part of the last 1000 meters is that is goes by quickly.

I am sounding negative. That is not my intention. I love rowing, much like I love Malawi. I am a different person because of these experiences; however, that does not mean they were/are easy. In fact, if they were easy I am certain they would not be so profound. I could never be a college athlete again, and at this point I will most likely never be a Peace Corps volunteer again. I still love to row and I will still need to travel and have crazy adventures. Just in a more toned down masters group/summer vacation sort of way.

The best part of coming back to Malawi was that I was coming back to my life. Coming back to my house, my job, my community, my projects. How incredible to have established a life in Malawi!

Last weekend I hung around Lilongwe to finish a welcome book for Peace Corps Volunteers. VSV (volunteers supporting volunteers) -the committee I am part of- is putting together a book with volunteer profiles, travel tips, a language reference guide (Chichewa is the official language, but Chitumbuka is spoken in the north and Chitonga is spoken in the Nkhata Bay area along with various other Bantu languages specific to the tribe of the area), health tips and coping mechanisms, and other helpful notes. The book, titled Tilipo (we are around), will have to be updated regularly but hopefully will be useful.

On Monday I traveled back to site with all of the my goodies from America. My kitchen is stocked with processed goodness, I have a proper towel for bathing, and a yoga mat. My life has improved drastically. It is now a mad dash to eat all the chocolate before it melts in the oven of my house...well, that is what I am telling myself. I have been added to the teaching schedule and will be teaching much more than last year, but still will have time to focus on workshops and other projects.

Without much time to get comfortable, I left for my friend Jerrod's site on Thursday. Alexis, Chris and I were invited to do a workshop at his site in Mzimba district in the middle of the country and about 10 feet east of Zambia. Friday morning Alexis and I taught Form 2 and Form 4 girls about menstruation, how to use a condom, and entertained enlightening questions during an anonymous q & a session with questions that were both honest and refreshing. It should be noted that there is 1 female teacher at this school and like most Malawians she is very uncomfortable discussing her body and sexual activity. A year ago this session would have made me uncomfortable and blush excessively. Now, if the girls make the boys wear a condom or they think twice before having sex it has gotten past that point, now I realize it can be a life and death discussion. And that is certainly nothing to blush at.

Jerrod was a lovely host, his site-about an hour off the road in the middle of ths bush was absolutely beautiful. It was so much fun to work with Alexis and Chris on a workshop on a subject I love-reading.

Next weekend I am going to Liwonde National Park to participate in a game count. Here's to seeing elephants!

miss you all!
loads of love,
elisabeth

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Here, There, and Everywhere

My romp across continents is finished. I am back in Malawi settling into the new school year, picking up semi-forgotten projects, and planning a few more adventures.



America was (and I'm fairly certain still is) amazing. The following is a brief itinerary of my American adventure.



Thursday-arrived in America, turkey sandwich waiting, milkshake on the way home. Life is good.

Friday-Drove to Minnesota. Personal transport is wonderful. So are outlet malls.



Saturday- Manicure/Pedicure, rehearsal dinner on the lake. I have missed America.



Sunday- MELISSA AND MARCUS GET MARRIED!!!



Monday- Fly to Houston



Tuesday- Surprise Sarah! Manicures/Pedicures and fajitas with Melissa and Sarah. Wonderful friends, wonderful food...why did I leave America? Later-Aligator hunt and small group. Houston wasn't sooo bad : )



Wednesday- Errands with Sarah, lunch downtown, dinner 1 with Sarah, Eric, and Sarah's parents, dinner 2 with my happy hour girls. So thankful for my health and my friends.



Thursday- Back to Grand Rapids. The sister arrives!!!!



Friday- Beach day with the family. I love Lake Michigan. so much. Drinks with Lizzie and Melissa. I love my friends.



Saturday- Bill's for breakfast. If you live in Grand Rapids, you too should make this a habit. Order special toast, I promise it will change your life. Dinner with Lizzie, Melissa, Mieke, Ganny, Meredith, Alix, Zach, Scott. Some things just never change. : )



Sunday- Bike ride with the mom. I love fall and I love ice cream. Both were available on this trip. Sister goes back to Tucson, but I will see her in 3 months!



Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday- Wake up, work out, have lunch with great people, research grad schools, visit Target, Schuler's, and other places of necessity, have dinner with more great people. Watch ridiculous television and listen to terrible music. I have missed America.



Friday-Drive to Indiana. Erin is getting MARRIED! Rehearsal, rehearsal dinner. My friends are so cool.



Saturday- Hair appointments, play dress up, take lots of pictures, drive in a sweet Impala to the church, ERIN AND MARTIN GET MARRIED, drive around in a golf cart, take more pictures, eat yummy food, dance for hours. Am I really going back to Malawi?



Sunday- Back to Grand Rapids. Pack. I guess I should go back to Malawi.



Monday- Long run with my dad. Lunch with my mom. Drive to Detroit. Fly to Amersterdam. I am ready to go back to Malawi.



Tuesday- Land in Amsterdam. Take the train into the city center, eat a hotdog, watch human mimes, take the train back to the airport, fly to Nairobi.



Wednesday- Land in Nairobi, it smells like Africa. Fly to Lilongwe. Check in at the hostel. Take long nap. I am home.



I missed America more than I imagined. I missed my family and friends, cheese, ice cream, personal cars, music, electricity, escalators, ice, showers, the smell of cut grass, fall leaves, going to the gym, calling people on the phone, and walking around after dark. But all of those things will be there when I return. I have work to do in Malawi, I have purpose in Malawi. Now it is back to business.



Keep the emails coming, I love hearing from home! Also, visitors are most welcome. Anytime. Really, anytime. ; )



loads of love,

elisabeth



p.s. A giant thank you to Auntie Carol, Memere, and the Rathbuns for the packages awaiting my arrival. : )

Friday, August 27, 2010

The Day is Just Fantastic

"I'm busy busy forming my future" - one of my favorite girls after she was late for lunch.

With that Camp Sky is over. Six months of planning and organizing over in 10 days. The most exhausting, inspiring, stressful, wonderful ten days of my time in Malawi have come to a close. I must admit, it was a huge success.

Success #1
The students arrived in one day all before 9pm. Public transportation in Malawi is less than reliable therefore this is a small miracle.

Success #2
The students were divided into four streams of classes each with 17 campers. This meant the campers had smaller class sizes (compared to the 60+ they normally have in the classes), the teachers (other volunteers) could plan activities for smaller classes and for kids who are above average academically, plus they got to have labs in real science labs, and use the computer lab. (for many kids it was the first time they had ever turned on a computer and many schools do not have any kind of science lab or lab equipment)

Success #3
In the afternoon the kids participated in three extracurricular activities from sustainable agriculture, solar engineering, tuck shop, cooking, sewing, writers' workshop, business, mud stove building, orienteering, batiking, etc. It was so cool to have our own camp tuck shop based on the business skills they learned, reading poems from writers' workshop, and having kids sort through the rubbish pile shouting "we love composting!" Over the weekend they also did a goat dissection (we later had goat for dinner) and built a bee hive to learn about honey IGAs. (income generating activities)

Success #4
Climbing a mountain. With 76 kids. We all made it up, we all made it own. That is one giant success.

Success #5
People came to talk to us. We had some special force police officers, a solar engineering guy, a fish pond guy, and a journalist from the major radio station in Malawi. They talked about the importance of education, career guidance, and professional options in Malawi. The kids had never heard of a lot of these options and now have lots of plans for their future that don't just include farming.

Success #6
A field trip is always exhausting. A field trip in Malawi offers lots of potential challenges like transport not arriving, people forgetting we are coming, moving 76 kids around Lilongwe, etc etc But we made it! We toured Parliament, had lunch at a memorial (rice and beans out of a bucket), watched some airplanes take off and land, and made it back to Kasungu.

Success #7
The ATTORNEY GENERAL came to speak at camp. This was a total fluke. I was in the office picking up my passport (SO I CAN COME TO AMERICA) and was talking to the secretary for the Country Director. It was the day before camp so I was really excited talking about it, Betty (the wonderful secretary) mentioned some ideas for speakers and told me to call her back. I called a few days later and Betty had the attorney general lined up. Good thing I am coming to America because otherwise this might not ever have happened.

Success #8
The kids made it home. 76 kids from all over Malawi are back in their villages. I hope they are inspired.

Next week I am coming to America. Land of ice cream, cheese, salads, and personal vehicles. I arrive in Detroit Thursday morning and will be using my mom's cellphone for the 3 weeks I am around. Send me a message with your number so we can have a phone date. The safety and security officer with whom I had to have a briefing with before filing my leave of absence for America warned me that "your friends will make fun of you for talking so slow-you must explain to them you talk slow because you live in Malawi and must speak slowly in order for your students to understand you." Please don't make fun of me for being slow. : )

much love,
e

Monday, August 23, 2010

Prayers for Sarah

I cannot wait to blog about Camp! It is going far better than I could have ever imagined but today this blog is not about Camp Sky or Malawi. It is about something far more important, it is about my friend Sarah.

Sarah Chidgey is one of the most beautiful people I have ever met. When I was struggling through teaching in Houston she was there to encourage, support, and pray for me. She reminded me there is nothing prayer can't solve and God never gives more than we can handle. Now she needs your prayers. Sarah was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Her blog is www.sarahchidgey.blogspot.com -read about her, love her, and tell cancer to start packing.

Much love,
e

Monday, August 9, 2010

A blog stolen from Alexis

I stole this blog from Alexis to explain the last 24 crazy hours in Lilongwe:

Apparently, when instinct kicks in, I opt for the former.

I'm in Lilongwe to shop for school supplies and tie up loose ends before Camp Sky starts next week in Kasungu, and the last 24 hours have been pretty weird.

Last night Elisabeth and I played ultimate frisbee and saw a man hit by a car on the way home. We were riding with a doctor, who tried to stop the growing mob from touching the man, but it was too late. They picked him up like a sack of maize and tossed him in the back of a car, his body twitching in his last breaths. Car accidents are fairly frequent here, but it doesn't lessen the shock of seeing them. No ambulances show up in 5 minutes, no EMTs with backboards, no policemen arrive on the scene to calm the crowd and take notes. A mob collects, surrounds the involved parties, tempers rise and then slowly dispel. There won't be a notice in the paper.

So we were contemplative this morning, crossing the bridge of last night's accident, as we embarked on a hellish three hours of market shopping. I have never been a shopper. Inevitably, my blood-sugar levels plummet an hour in and I morph into a impatient animal on a ravenous search for peanuts or sugar. Unfortunately, this morning that happened at the very moment we were accosted by a large crazy man who followed us around the streets of Lilongwe. We weaved in and out of stores, crossed the street, walked zigzag and still this man was a step behind, mouthing kisses and mumbling incoherently.

Well, Elisabeth booked it and I lost it, unleashing a loud and long slew of pointed directions as to where he should go and how he might arrive there. It was quite a scene we made there, in the electronics shop next to the bus depot. I think my reaction was a result of the stress of the night before, and of pent-up frustration at the barrage of unwanted negative attention that women receive here. Anyhow, after my rant, we ducked, ran, and dove behind an idling car, and (to the amusement of its passengers) waited and watched until our pursuer rambled away, and we escaped safely into the depths of the chaotic clothes market.Some deep breaths and big lunch later, I'm writing off this trip to Lilongwe as a bad dream, and looking forward to better days ahead: a stop tomorrow at the health sector's Camp Glow where I'll be talking to the girls about writing, then a fondue-inclusive visit to Jen and Kris's site on the way north to Kasungu, and then 10 crazy (the good kind of crazy) fun-filled days of camp after that.

I am spending tomorrow in Lilongwe to finish up some things for SKY and then will head to Kasungu on Wednesday for more camp preparations and camp. Hears to hoping the next 24 hours will be better : )

loads of love,
e

Thursday, August 5, 2010

August, already??!!

I decided I want to go to graduate school when I come home. Of course I want to go for all the obvious reasons (I miss the smell of libraries, I miss learning in an academic environment, it will give me something to obsess about during the last few months of my peace corps service, etc). However, I have also realized that after Peace Corps I would be in no condition to have a real job with set hours and expectations. At my current school in Malawi I make a poster and receive a giant thanks, it will be devastating to work in America where a poster might only receive some strange looks, but certainly not a round of applause. But the last few weeks have been busy, really busy. Like America busy and I have confirmed my decision to stay away from an actual job for a few more years.

To rewind, last time I wrote in this blog we were going to have lunch with the President. Yes, that happened. Yes, it is in my top 5 days in Malawi. Yes, it was totally ridiculous and over the top and absolutely fantastic. We arrived to a giant tent with 17 portable air conditioning units. It is the middle of winter in Malawi. We dined and danced and shook hands with the President and the First Lady. They had a marching band to play the national anthem and popular Malawian played while we were dancing. I sat next to the Minister of Education and tried to a) get him to come to Camp Sky and b) build a science lab at my school but he was having none of that. Nonetheless, I drank wine and ate chocolate cake and had a ball.

Back in the real world...
While in Lilongwe, I submitted a proposal for a youth center with a library for AYID. It is a long shot because of the amount of money (A LOT) but AYID is working hard selling soap and building bricks. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I came back to house for the Form Four graduation. I cannot believe the first school year is finished. I helped cook and was lucky enough to learn how to cut apart the insides of the goat. Yes, they have me a giant basin of the goat insides and a knife. So there I was, at school, cutting apart a goat's liver, stomach, intestines, and other organs realizing I have made it in Malawi. And I have absolutley no desire to ever do that again. On the plus side, I could clarify I only wanted the 'outside' of the goat and they could save the 'insides' for other people. In any case, the graduation was wonderful (or as wonderful as 6 hours of speeches can be-but this time it was worth it for the students).

Sunday I was hanging out at my house and my mysterious Member of Parliament arrived. The same MP who never returns my phone calls and frequently forgets meetings just showed up at my house. We discussed the issue of electricity and she casually said 'ok' sounds good-we will commit to half the cost. She had spoken with the committees and the other subcommittees and the other subsubcommittees and they had okey'ed bringing electricity to the school. Unfortunately, that leaves me with fundraising $9000usd. (yikes!) I talked to some Malawians and some Peace Corps staff who were all shocked at the high cost. Afraid of getting 'azungu priced' I went back to the electricity supplier more prepared to play the game and they are doing a reappraisal. I may be asking for your assistance with this project so please stay tuned!

However, the biggest fish frying right now is Camp Sky. I am heading to Lilongwe on Sunday to buy supplies and to Kasungu to prepare. It is going to take some small miracles for everything to happen, but I have to remember this is Malawi and things just magically happen.

27 days till America!

Loads of love,
e

Friday, July 16, 2010

I am Inspired

I went back to Dedza this week to help with training and act as a "resource volunteer of the week." I came back inspired and excited and energized. They were a much bigger resource for me.

The new volunteers arrived two weeks ago. They spent the first week at the College of Forestry, the second week they moved in with a family in a village for four weeks (last year we had six weeks). I was in a different village than last year but the family I lived with was absolutely brilliant. In what other situation would a family chop wood to heat the water so you can bathe more comfortably and not know your last name. Nevermind that, what host would chop wood for you to bathe? The children were so sweet and fun, even after only having been there a week I was sad to go.

Anyway, the new volunteers are AMAZING! They are so enthusiastic and energetic and focused. It was SO refreshing to be around such positive spirits. We talked about teaching in Malawi, lesson planning, classroom management, and all of the crazy things you might run into at school in Malawi. (100 students, no books, teachers missing, etc) I met with the new teacher development facilitators (TDF) and tried to explain what the position meant. ie. whatever you want it to be. I am so excited to go back to site with some new energy.

The coolest thing of the week and the month (so far) was meeting the author of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, William Kamkwamba. He is from a farming family in Kasungu and attended a Community Day Secondary School (CDSS-the schools were Peace Corps volunteers work) until there was a drought and his families crops didn't produce enough money to pay for his school fees. ( SO common with my students) Anyway, he went to the library to try and keep up his studies, stumbled upon an engineering book and figured out a way to make a windmill to power water for the fields. He built another windmill for electricity. Out of stuff from a junkyard. This fall he is going to Dartmouth. He is what all of my students strive to be, he is a success story, he proved that anything really is possible. After being here almost ten months I don't like to believe I am jaded, but my expectations have changed. He reminded me that high expectations yield high results, no excuses. It was exactly what I needed to hear.

Oh, and by the by next week we get to meet the President of Malawi. Yep, Peace Corps Malawi has been invited for lunch to the President's house next Wednesday. I'll let you know how it goes.

Much love,
Elisabeth

Sunday, July 4, 2010

The Way Things Magically Happen

Happy Fourth of July! I hope everyone enjoys lots of watermelon, pie, and fireworks...I really miss fireworks.

I have been in Lilongwe this weekend for our Volunteers Serving Volunteers meeting, a Camp Sky meeting, a celebration at the Ambassador's house for the 4th, and to welcome the new health and education volunteers who arrived last night. It is so wonderful to see everyone but it has been really, really busy.

So this is the really great news. Last night around 8:30 I received a phone call from my member of parliament. (If you read the last blog post you know this is rare treat) She asked where I was and I started panicking as though I missed a meeting. No, I had not missed a meeting she just wanted to meet. This morning I greeted the new volunteers and ran over to meet my MP without much expectation and prepared for a very long wait. Today she was fifteen minutes early! (kind of unheard of in Malawi) I didn't have many of the documents with me as I wasn't expecting to meet with her this weekend but luckily I carry the numbers around with me because you never know who'll you'll run into. So we met for about twenty minutes, she was really excited and is going to present the idea to the people in the ministry this week and I should know by next week. Oh, and I asked her to speak at Camp Sky. : ) Of course, this is all wishful thinking but it COULD happen. At least this is a start.

Tuesday is soap making day for AYID. One of the environment volunteers is going to visit my site to teach the group how to make the soap, it then has to sit for three weeks, but I am really excited to see how this IGA (income generating activity) works for the group.

Next week I am going to Dedza to do some trainings with the new group, specifically working with the teacher development facilitators on what that actually means and looks like in Malawi. It will be really cool to meet the new volunteers and now I finally feel like I am not a baby in Malawi. People are asking me questions!

I am hoping I will be able to update later with good news about electricity...or use unveil plan b. Keep your fingers crossed and our school in your thought.

loads of love,
elisabeth

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The longest shortest nine months

I have been in Malawi for over nine months. Woah, that seems like the shortest, long nine months of my life. (I know that doesn't make sense but it does in my head) I really love Malawi, though I must admit it can lonely and sometimes frustrating. Nothing is ever perfect and sometimes it takes these moments of frustration to embrace the moments of goodness that surround all of us. I am giving myself ten minutes to complain and then I'll talk about the good stuff. : )



My mom always told me patience is a virtue. I am glad I learned that lesson before coming to Malawi. Otherwise, I might turn into a crazy person. Some things just take FOREVER. For example, AYID, the youth group I am working with wanted to make soap. As I have previously mentioned one of the main ingredients for soap, Palm Oil, is found only in Karonga (almost Tanzania) and is a big challenge (read-a huge pain) to bring to my site. I contacted every little shop at my site (I live in a small trading center, I can buy vegetables (tomatoes, onions, okra, pumpkins), fruit (bananas), bread, cold fanta : ), fabric and plastic basins) to see if someone knew of someone who might have a car going to Karonga. I also asked the same thing in Nkhotakota. Nada. But, one of my favorite shop owners was able to go to Lilongwe to buy caustic soda (the other main ingredient) so if you happen to find yourself at the turnoff you should stop by Kankyhulu Hardware. I digress, anyway I finally contacted someone at the Peace Corps office whose husband if from Karonga and travels back and forth fairly frequently. He was able to bring some back on his last trip, all I had to do was bring it back to site. No problem. However, 20 liters of palm oil is really, really, really heavy. It comes in an awkward container, the kind that digs into your hands and you lose circulation almost instantly. So I carried it on my head to the mini-bus depot, to my friend's house, back to the mini-bus depot, and to my house. Yes, people laughed, yes I had a headache, did the palm oil make it. YES! So, after almost two and a half months after we received funding we finally have the ingredients to make soap.



On a separate issue, I have been trying to contact my member of Parliament (MP) for the last six weeks. I found her number in the school logbook (I prefer to call that detective work and not stalker training) and called to arrange a meeting. I wanted to speak with her about bring electricity to my school. Electricity is unbelievably expensive and there is only one company in Malawi, who in my humble opinion stinks. I was hoping to arrange a deal where we could split the cost of the electricity hookup (the school is less than 500m from a transformer, but somehow we need a new transformer which will cost more than $16,000USD). I would try and find a grant for half; she could provide the other half from the community development fund and take all the credit. I thought that was a pretty great deal. I was supposed to meet with her in Lilongwe, I waited for three hours and called so many times she turned her phone off and not once called or texted to apologize or explain. I then met the Governor of my area who is the liaison for our village and the MP; we arranged to meet in my village the following weekend. Again, nothing. She didn't call or text but when I saw the Governor he just said, "yes, she failed to come." No kidding. I have recently learned that in Malawi it is considered saving face if you don't acknowledge you missed a meeting. If you don't acknowledge missing it, it never happened. There are some things I will never understand.

Okay, my ten minutes of complaining is over. Now, the good stuff.

Charity, one of my form three students who helps me get my water in exchange for school fees, invited me to to her home to meet her family. Charity is one of my favorite students; she tries so hard but doesn't always understand the material, especially English Literature. I don't always understand Shakespeare and I speak English, I can't imagine trying to read Romeo and Juliet in my second language. (if i had a second language) She has been coming over every weekend so we can review what she is reading and practice vocabulary, I am continually impressed with how focused she is and how much education means to her. So on Saturday we went to her village. I asked her how far her village is and she responded "oh, just very close." I laughed and said "do you mean 1k close or 20k close?" She replied "oh, just maybe 1k." I have been here long enough to realize nothing is "just very close" and an hour and forty-five minutes later after crossing multiple rivers and one Indiana Jones type bridge we arrived in her village. Her family was absolutely brilliant. I met the chiefs of her village, the village headmen, her brothers and sisters, cousins, uncles, aunts, relatives once and twice removed. Their house was absolutely bare. They had a mat to sleep on and a radio, but they are so proud of Charity. They served me a basin of rice that was probably equivalent to having Chinese food with 6 other people. When I explained to her Uncle (who also found it necessary that I come to his house to eat) that I was too full I would need to sleep before walking home he responded "you are most welcome, but we don't have a mattress" and proceeded to give me a giant bag of rice. I write this because for as many times as people ask for money or pens or hair (yes, sometimes they shout 'give me your hair') there are some people I have met that are beyond generous. I must remember these people when I am frustrated with others always asking. Two of my other students also come from the same village and were home for the day. The three of them gave me the tour of the village (the fish dams, the church, the youth center) and were so excited that I was visiting their home. It was one of the best days I have had in a long time. We left sometime in the afternoon and arrived an hour and forty five minutes later tired, dirty and with enough rice to share.

In other news, World Cup season is alive and well in Malawi. I wasn't expecting to be able to watch any of the games at my site but was pleasantly surprised when a few of the teachers invited me to watch with them in the market. I was hesitant at first because women are not allowed in the bottle shops (bars), women in bottle shops are considered prostitutes but I trust my teachers and hoped for the best. The first time I went it was awkward. I was the only female in the room (a thatched hut with a TV) of about about 40 men; they weren't sure why I was there and were generally confused by my presence. Then they realized I just love watching sports, no alcohol was served, and I can root for my team with the best of them. Pretty soon I was getting high fives and questioned when I missed a game. Saturday night was US vs. Ghana, it was too late for me to be out of my house but some of the guys called to give me updates on the game. I feel like I have made it in the sports watching world of my site. Sunday was hilarious; other regular viewers were talking to me like a family member had died, justifying the loss and explaining that the US team did the best they could; one team just had to lose. I tried to take each conversation seriously but it was pretty comical how genuinely concerned they were for me for the loss of the US in the World Cup. For the record, sure I cheered for the US team, did I think they were going to win the World Cup, no. One of my favorite teachers told me that if it was the Malawian team and they lost twenty times, but one once, the one win would be publicized for a month. Never mind the twenty losses. I like that mentality. Celebrate the wins and get over the losses. Support your team no matter what.

I am currently in Lilongwe for VSV (volunteers serving volunteers- each group has three representatives to help support, encourage, and be a friendly face to new volunteers) training. Saturday we have a big Camp Sky meeting, the last with the whole group before August, in the afternoon we are going to the Ambassador's house for Fourth of July festivities. Sunday, the new group of health and education volunteers arrive!

That is that, I can't believe Fourth of July is Sunday! I hope you have a safe and wonderful holiday. Miss and love you all!

loads of love,
e

p.s. Shout out to laura and her new husband matt who are now honeymooning in Italy! eat lots of gelato and delicious Italian food : ) can't wait to see the photos and hear all about it!

Saturday, June 5, 2010

No News is Good News

I have been trying to think of something clever to write, a funny story or crazy adventure. Truth be told life is simply happening.

School
The past two weeks have have been a two week term break but the teachers at my school are so awesome they are teaching through the break. The school year was shortened by about six weeks this year so they are trying to fit the syllabus into the shortened year. I am really fortunate to be working in such a hardworking school, many of my friends have ended up teaching literally every class because the teachers don't feel like teaching or go missing. The first week we just taught form 2 and form 4 because those are the testing grades. I taught form four life skills which ended up being lessons on biases in the media. (How do you teach this without Fox news?) It was an interesting objective to teach because while the students are familiar with newspapers (sort of) and radio they don't really have any opportunities to cross-examine media sources and it isn't in their nature to question authority. Thus teaching lessons on how the media might not always be telling the whole truth was mindblowing. I do hope to do more teaching the next school year, it is way more fun teaching students than teaching teachers.

AYID
Soapmaking is turning out to be a ridiculous fiasco. One of the main ingredients, palm oil, can only be found in Karonga which is really close to Tanzania. Trying to find someone going that direction and with the ability to bring back palm oil is incredibly difficult. We have some options for the end of the month and another volunteer has offered to teach how to make it in July so I think I just need to be patient. It is times like this I wish I had a car.

Camp Sky
The countdown is on and we are slowly getting things prepared. The contract has been signed, registration forms have been turned in, curriculum is being written, registration forms have been submitted, the menu is finished, and the fundraisers have been collecting funds. There are still about a billion things to do but it will come together, it always does.

Malawi in the News
And not just for Madonna! In December a gay couple was put in jail based on their homosexuality. Homosexuality is a very taboo topic in Malawi but from what I can gather in random conversations it happens privately. So these two guys were not so private and then sent to jail to perform hard labor for fourteen years. Lots of NGOs and other foreign aid started pulling out of Malawi because of the violations against human rights. Last week the President of Malawi pardoned the couple mostly because he realized Malawi cannot exist without the substantial foreign aid it receives. The story is in the newspapers but it is difficult to have a conversation on the topic with most Malawians. The only Malawians I have actually spoken to about it have been educated outside of Malawi. I'm not sure what will happen with gay rights for the future of Malawi, but I hope they change for more than just foreign aid.

Play
The past two weekends I have spent camping on the lake. It is amazing the difference a night away can make. Two weeks ago Jesi and I went camping about 30k away from my site. It was absolutely beautiful and we saw a crocodile! The second weekend my friend Haakon visited, he taught a math lesson, we bought fresh fish, I cleaned my first fish!, then we went to Senga Bay. It was so great to see friends, grilled fresh fish, swam all day, and stared at the amazing stars. Plus, we saw lots of monkeys and baboons. This weekend I am in Lilongwe to meet the new environment group and attempted to meet with my member of Parliament. But she never showed up so I wrote this instead.
In other news I am coming home for two weddings in September and am SO excited. I arrive the 2nd of September, travel to Minnesota for Melissa and Marcus' wedding, spend time in the mitten, then head to Indiana for Erin and Martin's wedding. If you are going to be around then let me know, it is never to early to schedule a lunch date. : )


That is that. I miss you all and would love to hear from you soon!

loads of love,
elisabeth

Saturday, May 15, 2010

The Hardest Days

Time has a strange way of moving in Malawi. Some days seem to crawl on forever, while blocks of time come and go with the blink of an eye. It is an odd paradox of feeling like I will be here forever, while often worrying if I can be effective in two short years. Recently, the days have been flying by without a moment to catch my breath but things came to a standstill this weekend and truth be told it was one of the hardest weekends I have had thus far.

I will preface this weekend’s events with the fact that last week was spent typing exams. Lots and lots and lots of exams—full of ridiculous questions and complicated diagrams—you can have a look at my three favorite questions found in the Social and Development Studies Exam at the end of this blog for your enjoyment. I don’t really mind typing exams, it is just extremely tedious and boring and I was trying to do too much. (as per usual)

Saturday was a bust. I was supposed to have a gender development workshop which was initially scheduled for a different location. I changed the location at the last workshop, each school was represented and wrote it down and confirmed the location change. When I arrived at my school a little before 9 I wasn’t really surprised to not see any of the other teachers. But then it was 10 and then 10:30 and no one called or texted so I went to find my headteacher who had sent our teacher to the initial location for the workshop. I felt terrible for changing the location and the miscommunication, but I was mostly bummed that no inquired about my whereabouts in an effort to hold the workshop.

Lucky for me I have my brothers. I have never had a dog but sometimes I think coming home to them is like coming home to dogs. (in the most loving sense) They can tell if I have had a good day (that is when they ask for sweeties or pencils) or a bad day (that is when they suggest a dance party and color with me). The point is that they can always tell what kind of a mood I am in and know how to respond. (well, maybe it is the fact that I give them pencils and sweeties and the occasional cup of cooking oil but what are neighbors for?) Anyway, we had a grand dance party in my house and I believe you would be hard pressed to find a person who could be in a bad mood jumping around to the Jackson 5.

Sunday morning I found out a Form 2 student from my school died. My neighbor told me it was Malaria (Malawians think everything is Malaria-thus part of the problem is resistance to the treatments because they take Coartem (malaria medication) for everything but that is another story). I found out from other teachers that it was a rib injury. Precious Mbale (the student) was a football player and football is no joke in Malawi. I often cringe watching them play because few students wear shoes or shin guards or any of the other protective sportswear my overly maternal instincts deem necessary for contact sports. Anyway, he had been complaining about his rib cage and while I am not a doctor he was coughing blood and that seems like a sign of a punctured lung or internal bleeding or something painful. But I think they gave him malaria medication. He passed early Sunday morning. I had yet to attend a funeral in Malawi and I hope to not have to attend many more. The men and women are divided into different areas. The women first must visit one area to deliver the flour and fire wood to the family, their name is checked off a list and they can move to the prayer area. There are prayers and songs and everyone from the village was there, in many ways it was so beautiful and moving. Amongst all of these beautiful sounds there is the hammering and sawing of the men building the coffin. It seemed like such a strange contradiction between the prayers of a safe journey to heaven meshed with the sounds of building what seemed like a permanent, final resting place. After some time the chief speaks and finally the community is allowed to mourn and cry. My students who are normally so bubbly and full of life looked so defeated and sad. The boys from school carried Precious in his coffin to the road to an ox-cart that would take him away to be buried. There are no grief counselors for the students, life goes on at Mkaika, but life was taken away too soon from such a beautiful person.

Peace Corps tries to prepare you for funerals and death, we had training on what to wear and how to act, but this was so real. It made me miss my friend Grant who passed this time last year, though I know he is an angel to SO many people now. It reminded me to tell you that I love you and I appreciate you. It reminded me that life really is Precious.


Loads of love,
elisabeth





On a lighter note, here are some of the ridiculous test questions I have spent way too long typing. Enjoy.

1) All the these are gender roles for women except:
a. Taking care of children at home
b. Cooking for the family
c. Taking care of sick people
d. Digging graves at funerals is for husbands

2) What rights do women have according to Malawian constitution?
i. Right to inherit property
ii. Right to polygamous family
iii. Right to best education
iv. Right to be beaten by their husband
a. I, II, and III
b. I and III
c. II and IV
d. III and IV

3) What are functions and duties of the state:
i. Homicide
ii. Nutrition
iii. Health
iv. Killing political opponents
a. I and II
b. II and III
c. III and IV
d. I and IV

Monday, May 3, 2010

A Birthday in Malawi

I turned 26 this year. Sometimes that feels really old; sometimes I feel like I have the rest of my life in front of me. I am not really sure how I feel about being 26--but I can say I had a really wonderful birthday. Meg made the most delicious cake in a mud oven (yeah, she is that amazing), Alexis led a yoga session on the beach, we swam and tried to run, and ate some more cake, we crammed lots of people in a room meant for 5 and it was wonderful. So, in honor of my 26th birthday I have compiled a list of 26 things I have learned this year and bits of wisdom I have tried to embrace.



1) Life really is a journey--not just on t-shirts and coffee mugs, seriously it is

2) You can fit 23 people, 6 chickens, 2 goats, 7 bags of maize, and countless pieces of luggage in a mini-bus meant for 12 people--it is possible
3) Food can typically* last overnight
4) Expiration dates are mere suggestions for deadlines
5)Who you are as a person is far more important than what you do
6) Patience-I have learned a whole lot of patience. Patience for sitting in a minibus for 4 hours to travel 70km, patience for my students to critically think about anything, patience for Malawi to start to rely on its own abilities, and patience for myself to be wherever I am
7) Frogs are not smart. (this is not meant to be offensive to frog lovers-I just have a lot of frogs living in my house and they are dumb animals)
8) The people that matter don't mind and the people who mind don't matter
9) My family is amazing.
10) I have incredible friends in Malawi and America and those friends make all the difference.
11) In the big scheme of life 2 years is not that long
12)How to carry 20L of water on my head
13) How to boil and egg and cook rice (yes, I didn't know how to do either before...no excuses, just embarrassment)
14) When you try to explain Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and the tooth fairy to Malawians you end up sounding very foolish
15)You should always be wearing an 'adventure sandal'-you never know when an adventure might arise so you should always be prepared
16) Being self-sufficient is satisfying, but not as satisfying as eating in a really good restaurant and being pampered (just a little bit : ) )
17) How to sew (sort of) and knit (kind of)
18) Fanta is an invaluable teaching tool
19) how to start a decent cooking fire
20) How to make a compost pile and garden
21) How to diagnose malaria, giardia, shistos, dysentery and a variety of other pleasant ailments
22) In chichewa 'want' and 'need' is the same word: kufuna. More languages should celebrate the similarities
23) I have learned to sit and be still. Some people (my mom) might find this hard to believe, but I really can just sit and be for a long time. A big change from my former super scheduled life (at a moment I was working with 5 minute blocks of time). Most Malawians tell time by the sun. Meetings are scheduled by talking to a person and them saying "when the sun is somewhere over there we will meet." (Picture a person pointing an ambiguous place in the sky) Do you think this would work in America?
24) In Malawi it is a compliment to be told you are fat. My neighbor tells me I am fat everyday. (literally, I come home from school and say hello and she says "Elisa-so fat in malawi! fat, fat, fat!) At first it was frustrating so I tried to compromise and explained the word 'medium' so we decided I could be medium. That lasted about a week, now I am trying to embrace the 'compliment' of being fat.
25) I really like doing things the hard way. It always makes for a better story in the end.
26) I am so blessed and lucky.
*You should not try this at home if a refrigerator is available
Thank you all for the sweet messages, phone calls, letters, and thoughts. I appreciate them all SO much. I love and miss you all.
loads of love,
elisabeth

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The Secret to Teacher Trainings is...Fanta?

I think I have discovered the secret to teacher success kuno ku Malawi. (As far as my workshops are concerned) It is not the venue, time of day, day of week, participating schools and/or teachers. Nope, success is found with Fantas, biscuits, and stickers.

In Malawi, it is expected to give teachers allowances for workshops. That is to say, they get a little bonus for missing school. Plus a Fanta. I don't agree with allowances (mostly, I am not willing to pay people out of my pocket to come to my workshop). Therefore, my workshops have been allowance and Fanta free. This Saturday, (yes-I even made it on a Saturday! Most workshops are during the week meaning the teacher misses all their classes and they haven't exactly developed the substitute teaching system in Malawi) I was so excited I had 13 participants (up from 6 last time) I succumbed to the Fanta pressure and provided cookies and drinks. This was the best thing I could have ever done. At first, just a morning spent with Elisa talking about school stuff. Providing a Fanta elevated the session to a legitimate workshop. Oh, and the stickers--I passed out sticker pages for good answers and as a review/wrap up at the end of the workshop. We had talked about positive reinforcement and stickers aren't wildy available in my village so I was hoping they would take them back to their schools to use them for excellent student work. Instead, they bedazzled their cell phones with 'good luck' and 'A for effort' stickers.

On a separate note, I think it is hilarious and ironic I am teaching a classroom management workshop. I guess all those workshops from Houston came in handy....What is that saying, those that can't do, teach?

p.s. for more Malawi reading check out alexisinmalawi.blogspot.com

Friday, April 9, 2010

Climbing Every Mountain

I have never been one to turn down an adventure. When the opportunity to climb Mt. Mulanje presented itself, I was not about to say no. However, next time a mountain climbing opportunity unfolds before me I will do a little research into what I am getting myself into...

Mt. Mulanje is the third tallest mountain in Africa. You have to have a guide and apparently they have not been informed of the beauty of switchbacks. We literally climbed on all fours up the mountain. This in itself would have been difficult but our group was too frugal to get a porter so we carried our packs. Again, this would have been totally manageable, but I was carrying WAY too much stuff. (Clothes and work for Lilongwe, books, lots of food, water...) The first day was six hours up. On all fours, climbing up rocky steps and stairs, straight up. We made it the hut, patted ourselves on the backs for a job well done, and made a delicious dinner. We heard the first day was the hardest so we were pleased with our efforts and excited for the next day. Little did we know....

Day Two: We climbed for another 3 hours to the next hut. We were told we needed to move quickly if we wanted to summit. We threw our bags down and were ready to go. It didn't take more than 5 minutes to realize the first day had nothing on summiting this crazy mountain. The positive was that we didn't have our super heavy packs, the negatives were that I am really scared of heights and we were bouldering (jumping from rock to rock) and scrambling up the side of a mountain. We were about 40 minutes from the top and then it started raining. So now we were scrambling on wet rocks on the side of a mountain. Good idea? Bad idea? ...bad idea. I don't like quiting things. In fact, I hate quiting things. But I quite. Alexis and I huddled together while the rest of the group scrambled to the top. We had some thoughts on freezing on the side of a mountain and tried to laugh off the ridiculousness of the situation. But it was pretty scary. The rest of the group found us and we proceeded to slide down the side of the mountain. Yes, slide. On our bums, crabwalking, slipping, planning which piece of vegetation was going to stop a slide off the mountain. By the end we had 5 ripped pants (some of us ripped through to the second layer and were literally sliding down on their bums), 1 lost camera, 12 ripped up hands, cuts, bruises, and very wobbly muscles. Luckily, we made it off the really slippery part before it got dark. Some of us had headlamps and were doing our best to guide each other down but with very little muscle control, darkness, wetness, and exhaustion it wasn't very pretty. After what seemed like hours (it did take us 4 hours to get down) we saw the hut. I have never seen such a beautiful building in my life. It was a glorious sight.

Going down the mountain: Should be easy, right? no. At first it was funny because none of us had any leg muscle control from the crazy day before--so in a span of about 10 minutes each of us fell. But then we had to keep going...and going...and going...Down the slippery, muddy staircases we climbed up 2 days prior. Going up was tough, going down was a pain in the butt. (literally-my tailbone has never been so bruised)--we forded rivers with rocks and logs, we climbed up and down until it was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other. But we made it. 7 hours later we were at the bottom. The best part of being at the bottom of the mountain is that there is a pizza place. We ate the best pizza I have ever eaten (well, ever eaten in Malawi) and felt/looked like we had just been through a war.

Post Mulanje: Walking is a bit of a struggle. Many of our feet are still swollen and our hands are ripped. But we did it. It was awesome. And now we have some crazy stories.

I am headed back to site today and get to meet my new environment neighbor tomorrow! I hope they will be as awesome as Sarah and Austin (that is a tough task : ) ) But it is back to site and back to work.

loads of love,
elisabeth

Friday, April 2, 2010

Just a little update....

Happy Easter! I thought it time for an overall update on life in Malawi...so here goes:

Mkaika CDSS
Teaching is going....I really enjoy the students but the school year is so short and there are breaks every week it seems so it is difficult to be consistent. The syllabus is also ridiculous. The students know very minimal English but according to the objectives it is necessary they learn about gerunds, appositives, participles, dangling modifiers, and other less than relevant information. Maybe this stuff is important, but I have gotten through almost 26 years of life without knowing (or caring) and feel like there is other more important information to teach. For example, the use of periods and capitalization and the meaning of words like super, wonderful, and awesome.

A.Y.I.D.
I love this youth group. They took about two weeks to raise the equivalent of $10 US to sell dried fruit. They really want to build a youth center with a library so we are trying to sell fruit to raise capital to buy soap making materials. They are so determined and ambitious--it is definitely refreshing work.

Workshops
Hmm. I am currently taking my lesson planning workshop on tour. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes the teachers seem more confused than when they entered the room. It is kind of like teaching any class I suppose. I am planning a classroom management workshop (the irony of this is hilarious because I attended SO many classroom management workshops in Houston) and a female empowerment workshop in May.

Camp Sky
We have a location (Kasungu Teacher Training College) and a date (August 17-27). This was way more difficult than it sounds due to transportation (I have a bike), exam schedules (all the schools are testing the Form 4s so we couldn't use the nice government schools they have used in the past), and a variety of other crazy things. But...the applications are out! We just have to plan the curriculum and schedule speakers, etc but it is slowly coming together.

Life
Life is good. I am on my way to Climb Mt. Mulanje for Easter break and am totally jazzed about this adventure. I also now have a cell phone with Internet--a nicer phone than I had in America! And it costs less for me to respond to an email than to text America. So, you should email. I'll write back. : )

I think that is all from Malawi...for now. I miss you all and hope to hear from you soon!

loads of love,
elisabeth

Friday, March 26, 2010

This is Africa (cont...)

T.I.A. Moments Continued….

The other day I decided to walk to A.Y.I.D. (the youth group I am working with). Normally I ride my back, but I felt like going for a walk. A.Y.I.D. is in a small fishing village on the lake so fishermen are going in and out constantly on their bicycles. One offered me a ride, I was still pretty far away and the charm of my long walk had long since worn off. I jumped on the rack on the back of his bike and off we went faster than normal but I thought he was just in a hurry to get to the fish. The path started sloping down and we started going even faster…..I see my fishermen motion to his friends to stop and I become slightly concerned. My fishermen starts riding off the path into the bushes, trees, and brush attemping to slow down. I jump off and he gets the bike under control. He then apologies “ sorry madam, I am just missing these”—he points to the brakes.



#2
There are certain heartbreak things I have (sadly) gotten used to—the babies with bloated bellies and orange hair from malnutrition, the wailing nearly every other night announcing yet another funeral, men hobbling with the aid of a stick to walk on their severely twisted leg, teachers justifying AIDS as a form of population control…etc. But the other day my heart hurt because I realized how little control I have over anything. I was on my way to Nkhotakota when an open bed truck flew past-in the back without a guard rail was a lady lying on a green plastic mattress and an IV attached to the cab. For as beautiful as this country is, sometimes it just breaks my heart.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Paradise

If you ever join the Peace Corps it is certainly an added bonus to be in a beautiful beautiful country. Two weeks ago Jesi, Alexis, Will and I traveled north during the school holiday to visit Will's site and hike to Livingstonia. We attempted to make it to Will's site on one day but our bus ran out of gas and Jesi's bus (she was coming from Nkhotakota) got stuck in the mud. We camped that night in Muzuzu which also means that had cheeseburgers at the hostel. : ) We made it to Will's site Wednesday afternoon and quickly realized he lives in paradise. He is right on the lake so we got to swim and ate a giant feast at his head teacher's house. Thursday morning we started early (in the rain) with the walk from Will's house to the bottom of the road/trail. It is a 15k hike uphill with over 21 switchbacks and absolutely stunning. We didn't really have plans to stay anywhere (thus is the whimsical schedule (or lack thereof) of traveling in Malawi) but ended up at the Lukwe Permaculture Camp. After a long day of hiking in the rain it seemed totally justifiable to cram into a chalet and enjoy a little vacation. We explored their incredible gardens (they grow everything from coffee, maize, peppers, beans, bananas, etc) and then played in a giant waterfall. We also had the most delicious food (probably because everything comes from the garden). We were the only people there and it was probably one of my favorite nights in Malawi thus far.

Friday morning we wandered around Livingstonia (historically, a really important spot in Malawi but not really much to do...at all) and then found transport down the mountain. We had dinner a the headteachers house where I had my first experience with condolay. Condolay is nsima made from cassava...so think mashed cassava past = the gluiest, thickest substance I have ever eaten. They have to saw it apart, literally. Malawians love it because they "do not feel hunger" after eating. I didn't feel hunger either, I just felt like I had eaten cotton balls with elmers glue.

Saturday Jesi, Alexis, and I attempted to make our way home. It started well and we arrived in Muzuzu around 9:45, plenty of time to make it home. Due to finances (read: we have no money) the most cost effective method of transport is hitching. So we tried...for three hours...in the rain, pushing back our must leave time little by little. Finally, we realized we might have better luck in Nkhata Bay so we begrudgingly paid for transport. Nkhata Bay was equally problematic. We waited another four hours and then remembered something about difficulty traveling down the lakeshore road in the middle of rainy season due to bridges washing out and impassable muddy roads. whoops. Luckily, one of the girls in our group lived about 30k south of Nkhata Bat so we again paid our way to Chinteche. Sunday morning exhausted, dirty, and ready to go home we accepted the fact we have to pay for a bus. I couldn't remember the last time I bathed and after spending the previous nights in a tent, sharing a double bed with 2 other girls, and 3 nights on the floor, my foam mattress and bucket bath never looked so good.

Positives Upon Arrival
* My brothers were waiting for me at the bus depot!
* People remembered me! (I was a little nervous after being gone for 2 weeks)
*I realized I was excited about coming home.
* Everything was still in my house

Not as positive...
*EVERYTHING in my house was moldy. Clothes, tables, dishes, everything. 4 hours of laundry and lots of mopping and scrubbing I think it is okay now..


Back to reality.....
After galavanting across Malawi I, very quickly, was reminded that yes I live in a village in Africa. Last Monday I went to Gertrude's house to meet with her and the Post Test group (the people living with HIV/AIDS). On the way I nearly rode my bike over a crazy green snake. I am not, nor will I ever be a fan of snakes. I am convinced it was a green mamba and like to count this as a brush with death. (maybe that is dramatic, but drama is necessary when dealing with snake encounters) Anyway, Gertrude wasn't there but some of the other ladies were around and it wasn't until after serving me Palla (porridge) that they asked why I was there...feeling kind of silly because I ate their palla and there wasn't really a meeting I just said I would help with the chickens. So we walked into the corral and they handed me a chicken and showed me how to clean its feet (toes? talons? whatever chickens walk on) Yes, I picked chicken poo off of chicken feet. For an hour. T.I.A.


loads of love,
elisabeth

Sunday, February 28, 2010

How is your life?

Malawians really love to greet people. everyone. all the time. They often follow up the greeting with the question, "how is your life?" That seems like a pretty loaded question, but I feel like I can honestly answer "my life is good." We just finished our Interim Service Training (IST) in Dedza and now I am hanging out in Lilongwe to do some work and then heading north on Tuesday with Will, Jesi, and Alexis to visit Will's site and hike around Livingstonia. I'm pretty jazzed.

IST was awesome. Once again I am so thankful for the amazing people in our group. We have people starting women's groups, planting tree nurseries, and turning into amazing teachers. Plus, they are just generally really cool. We bonded over mattress diving (yes, as it sounds. we took the extra mattresses and piled them into our living room area. we proceeded to run and jump onto the mattresses for a good 4 hours. yes, we are all over 22) , students names (McVicious, Mavoto Madzi (problem water)), and the general awkward, random, and ridiculous things that happen when you put an American in a Malawian village. Of course, we had legitimate sessions on medical stuff, security stuff, grant writing, permaculture, and technical sessions. We also started our planning for Camp Sky which is a education sector tradition. This year yours truly is the director which is a totally overwhelming and exciting. It is a 10 day camp for the top students in the volunteers schools. It is primarily an academic camp for the students to prepare for the MSCE (the big test when they finish secondary school) but we are also going to do cool workshops about composting, sustainable agriculture, writer's workshops, knitting and sewing, and other IGAs. Camp isn't camp without capture the flag so we will definitely have other fun games, dances, talent shows, and silly camp activities. It is going to be a big task, but I can't wait.

The new environment volunteers arrived today which means we are no longer the newest volunteers in country. It is a good feeling. As much as I as I am enjoying my life it is comforting to know that Peace Corps is a revolving of people coming and going.

If you or anyone you know has a contact with Madonna please let me know, maybe she wants to sponsor our camp! She has a thing for Malawi...it's worth a try. : )


loads of love,
elisabeth

Saturday, February 27, 2010

IST, Already?

**Note: I wrote this before IST but wasn't able to update...better late than never!

Next week we are traveling back to Dedza for IST, our training that comes after three months at site. I am SO excited to see everyone, to not think about what to cook, to climb the mountain, and generally have more social contact than I have had in a while. (unless hanging out with 6 boys under 12 including one who has peed on me twice counts) In so many ways this has been the longest 2.5months of my life, but the learning curve is sharp and I was forced to figure out how to live with some sense of normalcy very quickly or turn into a crazy person. Some days are hard and long and lonely and isolating. Some days are inspiring and encouraging and wonderful. Such is life, I guess.

Pre IST Highlights
1) Crazy Christmas
2) Swimming in Lake Malawi
3) Being Elisa and not Azungu
4) Doing an hour run with 2 little boys (who were barefoot) and them never giving up. Their little feet just kept running and they were smiling and laughing the entire time. I felt like I was in a cheesy Nike commercial.
5) Watching Derrick take his first steps (Dennis still hasn't figured out how to walk)
6) My watermelons and sunflowers are actually growing!
7) Realizing I do enjoy cooking
8) Reading more books than I have in the last 2 years
9) Being excited to come to my home in Malawi after traveling or even being gone for a day
10) running with 25 kids on their way to school
11) Hanging out with Gertrude on her poultry farm for the Positive Living (people living with HIV/AIDS) groups. She is one of the most amazing women I have ever met.
12) Charity trying to teach me how to scale and clean a fish-well, I think it was a highlight for her...
13) Totally wiping out in front of the entire school whilst trying to show off my cool soccer moves...not really a highlight but a memorable moment nonetheless
14) Realizing that being here is enough, things always happen for a reason

After IST a small group of us are going hiking in Livingstonia and then it is back home and back to school. After IST means I can also have visitors...if you have ever been considering a trip to Africa you have a host in Malawi. And if you haven't considered a trip to Africa, you should. I'll make you banana pancakes. : )

loads of love,
elisabeth

Monday, February 8, 2010

Workshop #1 and Other Misc. Activities

Lesson Planning Workshop
My primary job is to offer workshops for the 6 secondary schools in my cluster. I held the first one last Friday on lesson planning. Overall, I think it went pretty well. To be sure, I have listed the positives and negatives as follows:

Positives:
1) One representative came from each school! (though one was 2.5 hours late but who is counting?)
2) I have never seen Malawian men so giddy as when they were matching up math facts as a race-hilarious!
3) They asked legitimate questions (and some ridiculous ones) but they were genuinely interested!
4) At the end they actually went to the teachers room to get books to write a five-step lesson plan! They were using active strategies, using resource books, and wrote REAL lesson plans!

Negatives:
1) We held the workshop at the head cluster school--the headteacher was supposed to reserve the teacher development center but as I was setting up 15 guys came in for a red cross meeting. whoops, guess he forgot.
2) I have visited all but one of my schools because it is SO far away (I am actually not really sure where it is...) anyway, their representative walks in and says "you are just a stranger to me." yikes, nice to meet you too.
3) I am not sure these lessons will be implemented into the classroom....baby steps.


I am Teaching!
Wahoo! I have been wanting to teach but it is difficult with traveling for school visits so my headteacher is letting me teach 2 days a week. I am teaching English to form 3 and Life Skills to form 1. I really love teaching the form 3 class, but form 1 can barely speak basic conversational English (secondary school in Malawi is supposed to be taught entirely in English). The first lesson was on self esteem. Imagine trying to learn about why self esteem is important in Greek--yeah, it was like that for the students.

A.Y.I.D.
Active Youth In Development--This is is a youth group I have been working with in a small village about 20 minute bike ride away. They named me their "patron" (technicalities) and I am really excited about working with them because they are super enthusiastic and ambitious. Last week we had a composting workshop (thanks to Sarah and Austin my environment volunteer neighbors!) The fields in Malawi are totally depleted of nutrients because they constantly grow maize and burn the fields, then they have to spend tons of money on expensive fertilizer with lots of nitrogen which runs off into the lake, etc etc...Now, they are planning on doing more workshops with the farmers to teach them the stuff they learned! This week we are having a speaker come from the local health center. They have some big goals and I am trying to keep mine realistic but it is so refreshing to work with an enthusiastic group.


I think that is all for now...I love hearing from you! Please keep the letters/emails coming! I miss and love you all!

loads of love,
elisabeth

Monday, February 1, 2010

Pictures!

Just a note to say I have uploaded some photos on facebook. If we are facebook friends you probably already know that and if we aren't facebook friends I think you can still look at my pictures. : )

loads of love,
elisabeth

Friday, January 29, 2010

Everything is Relative

Recently, I have been struggling with the idea that I am not being effective, that I am just killing time and hanging out. I attend meetings and visit schools, but I haven't done anything substantial or tangible. Of course, things in Africa take time and this is perfectly normal but it was still starting to bother me. Patience is a funny thing and just as these thoughts were starting to bum me out a little a little boy reminded me everything is relative.
So, for background, Malawi is a very male dominated society. Women are supposed to be at home cooking and taking care of the family. I am the only female at my school and one of three females in all of my cluster schools. (there are 6 schools).
Last Friday I had a meeting with all of the headteachers in a building next to the primary school. School is a very loose term in this case-there are hundreds of kids running around, few teachers, and even fewer resources. As I was waiting for the Heads to arrive I started doing an impromptu lesson on numbers and letters with the 50+ children who decided watching the white lady was more important than sitting in a classroom. (also, I am not sure where the teachers were, in any case lots of kids running around at "school") One of my schools just received a female headteacher (included in the 3 females)-she was the first to arrive and asked if I knew what this young boy in the front was saying to the little girl next to him. I said no so she explained, he was saying if you stay in school and work hard you can be like Madam Elisa. So I haven't built anything or saved the world and the majority of my time is spent reading and playing with my neighbors. But, maybe one day there will be more madams in Malawi and that is a good thing.