I’m not sure if it’s ironic or not that my last post was about how great having an internet phone was since it was stolen way back in October. I mourned a little bit for my beloved Blackberry and was angry at the people who hang around the Lilongwe bus depot since this was the second (but first successful) time that people tried to steal from me. So now I am back to checking email and stuff maybe once a week and I am okay with that since I can spend more of my time not being distracted by Facebook and Gmail and enjoying my surroundings while I still can.
Life has been hectic the past few months and I cannot believe that December is already here. Before I give you an update on what I am doing now let me fill you in on what I’ve been up to the last few months…
ANAMED training-
I spent the first week of October in Dedza at an Action for Natural Medicine training. I was able to bring one of my counterparts, Jimmy, as he is the chairperson of the HIV/AIDS support group and already had a medicinal garden that he is in charge of. We spent the week learning about different indigenous and exotic plants and trees and how they can be used for medicine and nutrition. The majority of our time was spent outside identifying the plants, inside the classroom, and the more hands-on part of making teas, ointments, powders, tinctures, etc. The week was by far my favorite training I have ever attended and myself and Jimmy couldn’t wait to get back to Kapiri to start implementing what we have learned. The biggest thing that I took away from the week was that there is definite income generating potential with these plants and trees. My entire service I have wanted to do a lot with these herbal plants but doubted the market availability or demand since most people seem to want to just go to the hospital and buy their medicine there. Now that my mindset has changed I am determined to focus most of my time and energy for the rest of my service on medicinal plants.
Liwonde National Park Annual Waterhole Game Count-
After ANAMED I headed down to Liwonde National Park with about a dozen other PCVs, most of whom are in my group. Our job for the week was to sit in a hide perched above a waterhole in 4 hour shifts and count every single animal that comes to drink. So all day long from the middle of the night to the very hot afternoons we sat quietly at the hides and counted elephants, water buffalo, hippos, antelope, warthogs, zebra, sable, hyenas, and the extremely rare and ever elusive black rhino. Highlights of the week include hearing elephants eating from a tree directly above my tent during the middle of the night but being too scared to get out of my tent and run away. Monkeys and baboons were always hanging around our camp and were constantly trying to steal our food and playing with our tents. During one shift an elephant came so close to our hide that I could have literally reached out and touched him if it were not for the park guard grabbing his gun and telling us to not move.
Camp RENEW-
I then headed way up north to Nyika National Park for Camp RENEW which is a one week camp for kids in secondary school to learn about the environment. It’s so important to teach these kids about how to care for the environment since as their population continues to increase at such a rapid rate, the dependence on their natural resources will only continue to increase as well. Therefore we discussed issues such as deforestation, alternative energy, nutrition, permaculture and sustainable farming, environmental business, environmental activism, and more. Nyika was a very fitting place to have the camp as we were able to take hikes throughout the week and on the game drive through the park we got to see zebra and roan antelope.
50th Anniversary-
Peace Corps worldwide celebrated its 50th birthday this year and in PC Malawi we celebrated by having a celebratory function at the US Ambassador’s house. It was also a celebration for USAID and so we hosted a variety of government officials and people working with NGOs. Peter Mutharika, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the President’s brother, and the possible next president of Malawi came and gave a speech. Overall it was a nice affair, but then again any excuse to dress up and eat nice food is good enough for us.
GRE-
I took the GRE back in November, I had been studying for it for a while so I’m hoping to do well enough to get into the schools I’m applying for. However, I’ve been feeling lately that maybe I should put off school until ’13 since one of the things that you need before going to school is money and I certainly don’t have that after being a poor volunteer for the past 2 years. But regardless we will see how it goes…
Thanksgiving + Mulanje -
I traveled to Blantyre for Thanksgiving and spent it with a few friends from my group. I ate the best Indian food I have ever had, then we went to Malawi’s only movie theater and saw a movie called Columbiana. It was a dumb movie and we spent way too much of our monthly allowance to see it, but for two hours we got to feel like we were back in America and that certainly made it all worth it!
The next day I went south to Mulanje with my friends Bri and Amy to Bri’s site. She prepared a trip up Mulanje Mountain (Africa’s 2nd tallest mountain) with her wildlife club at the local primary school and so Amy and I helped out with it. For 2 two days we hiked up and back down part of the mountain with 30 kids in 7th and 8th grade. Aside from the rain and my sore legs for a few days afterwards it was a really great trip.
Ukwati-
Something I’ve been excited for for months finally happened on the 3rd of December… my amayi and my landlord got married. They’ve been living together for about 5 years and in Malawian culture once a couple starts living together they are seen as being (officially and unofficially) married, but since they both want to join the Presbyterian church here they needed to have an official ceremony with all the proper documents, etc.
My amayi is one of my favorite people here, she is always looking out for me and treats me as her own daughter. If I am sick she takes care of me, when I first got to site and couldn’t make a fire she taught me how, whenever I unknowingly break a cultural faux pau she politely takes me aside and lets me know, and every night I eat with her, my landlord, and some of her grandkids that she takes care of. She likes to tell people that I am her second born child out of the five kids she already has, and most importantly she is the closest thing that I have to a mom here. And for that I was excited about their wedding and wanted to help make it a special day for them.
In the few days before the ceremony I enjoyed helping the other women prepare for the reception by gathering firewood, making thobwa (a drink made from corn that they like to drink at special occasions), and cooking the food. But my favorite part was the night before the wedding when all of the women stayed up all night to dance and make bawdy jokes about amayi’s wedding night.
Their church is about 6 miles from their house and since they have very little money their plan was to ride their bikes to the church. Thinking of my amayi in her wedding dress on the back of a bicycle seemed unacceptable so I rented a 3 ton flatbed truck to take them, their family, and some of the neighbors to the church. So the 2 of them sat in front and myself and about 40 other people rode in the back singing the whole way to the church and it was great.
After the ceremony we went back to the village for the celebration. I could go on and on about Malawian weddings since they are completely different than what I am used to. Needless to say I pretty much hate weddings here, they are basically a shameless ploy for everyone to give the couple money. People spend hours just dancing around the bride and groom throwing money at them and I always felt forced to give more money than everyone else since I’m seen as the rich white girl. I normally do everything I can to avoid going to a wedding, but this one was definitely different for me.
My sister bought a goat and so a few of the men slaughtered it and then some of the women made nsima and goat for lunch. It was delicious and afterwards we all danced for a couple hours. After dancing came the time for people to give money to the bride and groom. In total they managed to raise over $100 which for this time of year during the hunger season is quite a feat. Overall the day was great and I think it will be one of my favorite memories of my village.
Projects-
Most of my activities are winding down as the health clinic has finished being built and the only remaining part of my project with the AIDS support group is to buy their pigs which we will do tomorrow. I am still doing work with the medicinal plants, my volleyball club, beekeeping, the women’s group, and other things but as far as funding goes my work is done. Right now I am focusing on slowly distancing myself from the projects and to try to set up the people that I am working with to continue the projects once I leave. It’s a weird feeling giving up a lot of the responsibility as I like to have everything go only the way that I want it to, but I know that for the sustainability of the projects that it must be done.
What’s Ahead…
Christmas will be spent at Likoma Island, a tiny island on Lake Malawi that is a favorite getaway for a lot of volunteers. It’s pretty remote as the only way to get there is by a boat that comes in and out once a week or by plane. So I’m hoping to spend the week swimming, eating fish, watching a ton of movies, and trying not to miss home too much.
New Year’s will be spent in my village and I’m very excited to buy some fireworks and celebrate with my friends. I wasn’t able to be there for New Year’s last year and since this will be my last one here in Malawi I am hoping to make it extra special. I’m thinking a lot of dancing, eating rice and goat, and maybe even cooking some American food is in order.
In the beginning of January we will have our Close of Service conference at Senga Bay on the lake. Each group has this conference 3 months before they finish their service and for Environment ’10, ours has FINALLY come. Basically we spend 2-3 days talking about how to spend our last 3 months, close out our projects, talk about site replacements for those of us who want another volunteer in our villages, and most importantly we each choose our official dates to come home. It’s the last official time all 18 people in our group get together and it’s something we’ve all been looking forward to for a long time.
Well that’s about it, if you made it to the end of this very long post then I must congratulate you and say thank you for reading all of it! Check out my Facebook soon for pictures of everything I just talked about!
Life has been hectic the past few months and I cannot believe that December is already here. Before I give you an update on what I am doing now let me fill you in on what I’ve been up to the last few months…
ANAMED training-
I spent the first week of October in Dedza at an Action for Natural Medicine training. I was able to bring one of my counterparts, Jimmy, as he is the chairperson of the HIV/AIDS support group and already had a medicinal garden that he is in charge of. We spent the week learning about different indigenous and exotic plants and trees and how they can be used for medicine and nutrition. The majority of our time was spent outside identifying the plants, inside the classroom, and the more hands-on part of making teas, ointments, powders, tinctures, etc. The week was by far my favorite training I have ever attended and myself and Jimmy couldn’t wait to get back to Kapiri to start implementing what we have learned. The biggest thing that I took away from the week was that there is definite income generating potential with these plants and trees. My entire service I have wanted to do a lot with these herbal plants but doubted the market availability or demand since most people seem to want to just go to the hospital and buy their medicine there. Now that my mindset has changed I am determined to focus most of my time and energy for the rest of my service on medicinal plants.
Liwonde National Park Annual Waterhole Game Count-
After ANAMED I headed down to Liwonde National Park with about a dozen other PCVs, most of whom are in my group. Our job for the week was to sit in a hide perched above a waterhole in 4 hour shifts and count every single animal that comes to drink. So all day long from the middle of the night to the very hot afternoons we sat quietly at the hides and counted elephants, water buffalo, hippos, antelope, warthogs, zebra, sable, hyenas, and the extremely rare and ever elusive black rhino. Highlights of the week include hearing elephants eating from a tree directly above my tent during the middle of the night but being too scared to get out of my tent and run away. Monkeys and baboons were always hanging around our camp and were constantly trying to steal our food and playing with our tents. During one shift an elephant came so close to our hide that I could have literally reached out and touched him if it were not for the park guard grabbing his gun and telling us to not move.
Camp RENEW-
I then headed way up north to Nyika National Park for Camp RENEW which is a one week camp for kids in secondary school to learn about the environment. It’s so important to teach these kids about how to care for the environment since as their population continues to increase at such a rapid rate, the dependence on their natural resources will only continue to increase as well. Therefore we discussed issues such as deforestation, alternative energy, nutrition, permaculture and sustainable farming, environmental business, environmental activism, and more. Nyika was a very fitting place to have the camp as we were able to take hikes throughout the week and on the game drive through the park we got to see zebra and roan antelope.
50th Anniversary-
Peace Corps worldwide celebrated its 50th birthday this year and in PC Malawi we celebrated by having a celebratory function at the US Ambassador’s house. It was also a celebration for USAID and so we hosted a variety of government officials and people working with NGOs. Peter Mutharika, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the President’s brother, and the possible next president of Malawi came and gave a speech. Overall it was a nice affair, but then again any excuse to dress up and eat nice food is good enough for us.
GRE-
I took the GRE back in November, I had been studying for it for a while so I’m hoping to do well enough to get into the schools I’m applying for. However, I’ve been feeling lately that maybe I should put off school until ’13 since one of the things that you need before going to school is money and I certainly don’t have that after being a poor volunteer for the past 2 years. But regardless we will see how it goes…
Thanksgiving + Mulanje -
I traveled to Blantyre for Thanksgiving and spent it with a few friends from my group. I ate the best Indian food I have ever had, then we went to Malawi’s only movie theater and saw a movie called Columbiana. It was a dumb movie and we spent way too much of our monthly allowance to see it, but for two hours we got to feel like we were back in America and that certainly made it all worth it!
The next day I went south to Mulanje with my friends Bri and Amy to Bri’s site. She prepared a trip up Mulanje Mountain (Africa’s 2nd tallest mountain) with her wildlife club at the local primary school and so Amy and I helped out with it. For 2 two days we hiked up and back down part of the mountain with 30 kids in 7th and 8th grade. Aside from the rain and my sore legs for a few days afterwards it was a really great trip.
Ukwati-
Something I’ve been excited for for months finally happened on the 3rd of December… my amayi and my landlord got married. They’ve been living together for about 5 years and in Malawian culture once a couple starts living together they are seen as being (officially and unofficially) married, but since they both want to join the Presbyterian church here they needed to have an official ceremony with all the proper documents, etc.
My amayi is one of my favorite people here, she is always looking out for me and treats me as her own daughter. If I am sick she takes care of me, when I first got to site and couldn’t make a fire she taught me how, whenever I unknowingly break a cultural faux pau she politely takes me aside and lets me know, and every night I eat with her, my landlord, and some of her grandkids that she takes care of. She likes to tell people that I am her second born child out of the five kids she already has, and most importantly she is the closest thing that I have to a mom here. And for that I was excited about their wedding and wanted to help make it a special day for them.
In the few days before the ceremony I enjoyed helping the other women prepare for the reception by gathering firewood, making thobwa (a drink made from corn that they like to drink at special occasions), and cooking the food. But my favorite part was the night before the wedding when all of the women stayed up all night to dance and make bawdy jokes about amayi’s wedding night.
Their church is about 6 miles from their house and since they have very little money their plan was to ride their bikes to the church. Thinking of my amayi in her wedding dress on the back of a bicycle seemed unacceptable so I rented a 3 ton flatbed truck to take them, their family, and some of the neighbors to the church. So the 2 of them sat in front and myself and about 40 other people rode in the back singing the whole way to the church and it was great.
After the ceremony we went back to the village for the celebration. I could go on and on about Malawian weddings since they are completely different than what I am used to. Needless to say I pretty much hate weddings here, they are basically a shameless ploy for everyone to give the couple money. People spend hours just dancing around the bride and groom throwing money at them and I always felt forced to give more money than everyone else since I’m seen as the rich white girl. I normally do everything I can to avoid going to a wedding, but this one was definitely different for me.
My sister bought a goat and so a few of the men slaughtered it and then some of the women made nsima and goat for lunch. It was delicious and afterwards we all danced for a couple hours. After dancing came the time for people to give money to the bride and groom. In total they managed to raise over $100 which for this time of year during the hunger season is quite a feat. Overall the day was great and I think it will be one of my favorite memories of my village.
Projects-
Most of my activities are winding down as the health clinic has finished being built and the only remaining part of my project with the AIDS support group is to buy their pigs which we will do tomorrow. I am still doing work with the medicinal plants, my volleyball club, beekeeping, the women’s group, and other things but as far as funding goes my work is done. Right now I am focusing on slowly distancing myself from the projects and to try to set up the people that I am working with to continue the projects once I leave. It’s a weird feeling giving up a lot of the responsibility as I like to have everything go only the way that I want it to, but I know that for the sustainability of the projects that it must be done.
What’s Ahead…
Christmas will be spent at Likoma Island, a tiny island on Lake Malawi that is a favorite getaway for a lot of volunteers. It’s pretty remote as the only way to get there is by a boat that comes in and out once a week or by plane. So I’m hoping to spend the week swimming, eating fish, watching a ton of movies, and trying not to miss home too much.
New Year’s will be spent in my village and I’m very excited to buy some fireworks and celebrate with my friends. I wasn’t able to be there for New Year’s last year and since this will be my last one here in Malawi I am hoping to make it extra special. I’m thinking a lot of dancing, eating rice and goat, and maybe even cooking some American food is in order.
In the beginning of January we will have our Close of Service conference at Senga Bay on the lake. Each group has this conference 3 months before they finish their service and for Environment ’10, ours has FINALLY come. Basically we spend 2-3 days talking about how to spend our last 3 months, close out our projects, talk about site replacements for those of us who want another volunteer in our villages, and most importantly we each choose our official dates to come home. It’s the last official time all 18 people in our group get together and it’s something we’ve all been looking forward to for a long time.
Well that’s about it, if you made it to the end of this very long post then I must congratulate you and say thank you for reading all of it! Check out my Facebook soon for pictures of everything I just talked about!
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