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