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!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
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
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
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