While all of you in America are preparing your grills and fireworks, I am in Lilongwe for the 4th which will be held at the US Ambassador’s house. All 130 volunteers as well as all expats living in Malawi are invited to the event. The Ambassador has an amazing house which includes a swimming pool and tennis court, so I am glad for the opportunity to escape village life for a few days. I am very excited for the event since there are many volunteers I have yet to meet as well as I get to chance to reconnect with the other 20 volunteers in my group, I haven’t seen most of them for two months and I miss them greatly! Also, Malawi’s Independence Day is on the 6th so I am interested in seeing how they celebrate here. Either way, this will be a fun and interesting first 4th of July away from home!
I’ve been living at my site for two months and I am still keeping myself busy with meeting new people and getting to know the area a bit better. I’ve still been doing a lot of work to my house, I had my fence fixed and extended it so that I could include more area for my garden. I am excited because I finally have gotten rid of the goats who have been terrorizing my garden and eating everything that I’ve planted. I had a new pit latrine built and also painted the inside and outside of my house with lime. My next projects on the list is to replace the roof on my outdoor kitchen before the rainy season comes as well as to replace the wooden beams on the inside of my house, unfortunately termites are a major problem here and they have done a lot of damage to my house.
Although I am still not technically supposed to start projects for another month or so, I have been planning on several small-scale projects to do in the community. This includes several tree nurseries, business training for women, home gardens, building mudstoves, and some beekeeping. Also, the volunteer before me worked with some fish ponds as well as a primary school so I am trying to continue in helping with both. I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to do such a variety of projects as well as to work with different groups and individuals. It sometimes feels overwhelming to see all the needs of the people here, but I know that as long as I am living and working here I will never be bored!
a traditional Chewa dancer, pretty scary
some of the iwes in my village
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!
1 comment:
Hey Katy,
My name is Jasper, and I think I might have met you at the ambassador's house in Lilongwe (I was one of the few Asian guys). Anyways, I'm working in Namitete for St. Gabriel's Hospital (on the road to Mchinji), and we're developing small business lessons for HIV support groups. We're currently working on that, and definitely by the end of the week, we will have it translated to Chichewa (and PPT slides to go with it too!).
I would love to share our lessons with you to help you out with your projects and also for input on how to make the lessons better.
Let me know if you're interested!
Thanks,
Jasper
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