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