Saying Goodbye

Good Byes are always the hardest and believe me I put a lot of thought, prayer and advice into this decision. After only 9 months I decided to Early Terminate my service, which may come as a surprise to some of you who have faithfully read my posts. Truth is Peace Corps is not for everyone and I could not handle it. I have made some great friends and will miss many people, and I definitely cried saying good bye to some people because they have become a sort of family to me.

While I will not go in depth to why I am quitting, I will just tell you there have been things that have frustrated me or made me feel as if I have been wasting my time. Sometimes I wonder if I have become a mean or negative person being here, especially today when I got in a fight with a man on the mini bus who I later apologized to. I have learned a lot from this experience and hope I have made some bit, if any impact on the communities. I believe this is the right time for me to go home, a time in which I still have the want to help the people here, but in a some other way. You sometimes don't realize the impact you have on a persons life until you go, although I still feel as I have accomplished little the people are still so grateful for the little things. My BMF (Best Malawian Friend) even wrote me a letter on how much I impacted her life. Really though I think she impacted my life in more ways...thanks Meggie for having so many girl's night-movie night-sleep overs with me!

I will leave Malawi with a much deeper appreciation of all the things I have including family, as well as more patience and larger worldview. I do believe Peace Corps is a great organization and many volunteers have done and continue to do amazing things.

If you would like to follow/support some other Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Malawi here are some links to their blogs below:

kayismyname.com
christymalawi.blogspot.com
towaxandwane.wordpress.com
cwolff597.wordpress.com

As for me I am excited to come home. Will I regret coming home? Maybe, but I know that no matter where you are in the world you can make a difference. Thank you for all the letters, packages, love and support I have received from family and friends. It really meant a lot.

Hope you have all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

To Be Thankful

November 9, 2013

Here’s a brief synapses of what I have been doing this pass month. Besides tree nurseries and cook stove making , I have started Charcoal making at Chichere Farm using Ag waste products. Hopefully, the charcoal will generate income for the farm to help it become sustainable and not rely on outside sources for money. I also completed a Malaria Project at Home of Hope. This involved planting 300 Lemongrass plants, and purchasing 82 Mosquito Nets with funds from Raising Malawi. The Elephant Pump in Soko Village is still under construction…the NGO Pump Aid here is really the one who is slowing it up. It may be the thing that I snap over, as it should have been completed weeks ago and now they may not install the actual pump until January. I finally started my garden as well, it took me 6 hours to dig it and 2 more to fill it, and 2 hours to plant. I hired someone to build a fence around it as I tried to do it myself, trying to make a sunflower stalk fence was so frustrating that I went and looked up positions for teaching and started editing my resume. ha My neighbor kept telling me I couldn’t do all the digging in one day and that I would get sick…I told her yes I can! The next day she came to see if I was sick. No I was not, I was sore for maybe 3 days with 7 blisters on my hands from my hoe, but was I going to admit that to her…heck no! I am an American! A lot of Malawians pretty much wake up early to work and quit before it’s too hot. How are you to get any work done this way? I also started the Grassroots Soccer Program at Bua Primary school, I am excited to continue having fun with this! I also started going to church in the my boma at the Assemblies of God there since it is in English. It is great and the chief from Soko attends this church. When meeting him I could tell he was a Spirit filled man, by his presence, through his prayers (even though I can’t understand) them, through his overall joy he releases every time I see him. He really makes me feel like I am doing so much to help the people here which makes me so thankful. That being said…

As Thanksgiving is approaching I thought it’d be appropriate to write about things I am thankful for. Being here in Malawi really puts things into perspective on how thankful I really should be and things I have taken for granted back home.

*I am thankful for my family…even though when I get back home it may be 2 days before I am sick of them again, you only have one family and they are not going to be around forever. Also seeing so many orphans here makes me thankful that I still have my parents.

* I am thankful that I am placed in a house here with electricity, running water, toilet, and a shower. Many volunteers do not have these and most Malawians do not. Only one house has electricity in my main village I work with has electricity. The other things no homes have these in my villages. I will not be taking these things for granted again back home.

*I am thankful for access to good education. While some can argue that the education system is heading on a downward path in America. It is nowhere near how poor of a system it is here. Students may still be 18 and in Standard 8, or never even make it that far. Most drop out as well because they cannot afford secondary school. Pursuing higher education here is even more difficult.

* I am thankful I have never gone hungry and have access to clean water. In some areas of the country, children eat mud bricks and the only food they may get is porridge that may or may not be served at school, and water may be taken from an unprotected well or dirty stream.

*I am thankful for good roads and my own car back home. Now throw me in a mini bus with near 30 people and no seatbelts, which may hit near every pothole and hit 2 goats (who were baby making) on the way to town. I may never be a backseat driver again. I am visiting my friend in the North soon; I hear the roads are even worse…I know some of you have been in a car with me when I pretty much freak out or cry, let’s hope this does not happen. When I think about things like …’wow not many people wear glasses here, I need glasses/contacts to drive’, it freaks me out even more.

*I am thankful for a good health care system back home. Although it may cost you (maybe more with Obamacare), I do not think you would want the system they have here which is free. If you want a hospital that has no medication and the person who may be attending you is a drunk then come on over.

* I am thankful for the new friendships I have gained while being here. As well as the constant love and support I receive from friends and family from home through snail mail, email or Facebook. Thanks for the recent care package from the Twin Cities Phi Mu Alumnae Chapter full of toothbrushes, toothpaste and other dental products to help make the children’s smiles shine! I did a dental hygiene session with them earlier today!

* I am thankful that each day I can grow in my patience, learn more about the culture here, help my friends when needed and bring a smile to a child’s face.

* Finally I am thankful that I have only had one cockroach in my house….I’d be even more thankful if that was the case for spiders. I didn’t sleep in my bedroom one summer because of spider; I killed 3 rather large ones yesterday. This reminds me I need some more Doom.

These are some of the things I am thankful for and the list could go on. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving in a couple weeks. PS. I will eventually post pictures on this Blog for those of you without Facebook.

Tis the Season

October 9, 2013

It is not Fall here or pumpkin season, but I am constantly reminded with the friends Facebook statuses about Pumpkin Spice and how lovely the weather is. I should stay away from Facebook being that Fall is my favorite season, however it is like fall here too. I can  walk and crunch leaves although they are falling because of the heat and not the cold, it makes me feel like we are in the same season! Instead of Pumpkin Season or Hunting Season, it is Mango Season, Hot Season and Fire Ant Season here…basically the same thing right?

September was a far less emotional time than August and a pretty busy month. I was able to educate the communities on different trees and have the tree nurseries started. There are 6 village tree nurseries and the good news is that many of the women’s banking groups also want to start tree nurseries. I planted moringa with the HIV support group. After 3 weeks of trying to get Pump Aid to come and visit I finally went and spoke to the man in charge as I clearly was not getting anywhere with anyone else. He came and picked me up and we went around to my villages to assess the water situations. Good news is Mkhomba and Soko villages are getting Elephant Pumps. They will begin the digging shortly in Soko, they were suppose to last week, but this is Malawi after all, no one ever sticks to the time table they tell you. 

Grassroots Soccer Training was amazing! It is a program that educates youth from ages 12-19  about HIV and Malaria. It is high energy, fun and uses soccer skills to teach them about ways to prevent HIV and how to stay safe. My counterpart for GRS is great; she is the Youth Parliamentarian and a reporter at local radio station. I think it will be great for youth in the area to get to know someone who they hear on the radio. I am especially excited about the awesome excel sheet I get to monitor and evaluate this program to see the success of each participant. It is a very organized program. We should be starting the actual program with local secondary schools around the end of October, whenever she responds.

I also started the training of groups who will be the leaders implementing the programs in the communities instead of me. Each community has 10 leaders and they are in charge of taking what they learn from the trainings and implementing it into their community. Our first training was about how to be effective leaders and utilize the local resources for sustainable development. My patience must be better as only 23 of the 60 had showed up for the first meeting, but I was quite happy as I viewed it as a success. Just bringing my expectations down to reality, thanks to the advice from a former PCV!

This past weekend I went to Liwonde National Reserve! It was beautiful! About 40 Peace Corps volunteers helped with the Annual Game Count. I now feel like I am in Africa as I was able to see a few different packs of elephants, water buck, hippos, impala, great kudu and monkeys! I didn’t see any lions or rhinos, but maybe next year.

After the Game Count, my PCV friend Christy came to visit and helped me show people how to make Fuel Efficient Cookstoves! We also made a few recipes from our Malawi Cookbooks. I had the idea of making every recipe while being here, but I decided I would rather not eat Ox Tongue. I will show Malawians a few of these recipes instead of the same old Nsima they eat each day.

Other Random Adventures:

*On one of my hitched rides from Lilongwe to Malawi, we came to a roadblock. At this point a swat team/police hopped in the bed of our truck while we drove though this part of the road. They shot tear gas at the villagers. The villagers were revolting against the police as they would not turn some thieves over so they could take justice into their own hands and burn them alive…CRAZY SCARY!

*Azungu Traps aka gutters filled with garbage where people pee and who knows what else. I did not know why they were called Azungu Traps until I face planted in one when trying to jump the short distance of maybe 4 feet across. Now I know you cannot leap in a skirt.

*I had my hair braided in the Rasta braids…it looked awful, a bit better when I have a handkerchief covering my head so I didn’t look bald.  However, Malawians told me I looked smart. I cut them out with my Leatherman…definitely the most useful thing I brought to this country from fixing my toilet to cutting fruit. ha

So Many Emotions

September 5, 2013
Well.. August was a very busy month and gosh the time is flying! Which is good because it has been a roller coaster of a ride. If you think that I haven't thought about quitting and everything is rainbows and butterflies, sorry about my pooping rainbows in all my posts ha. However, don't worry I could never quit as the thing that keeps me going here are the children and I already am sad about the day that I one day will have to say goodbye to them. Besides I cried after quitting my first job at Shopko and even worked there after my 'last' day. So in essence I hate quitting, so I hope things never come to that point.

So 'integration' is now complete, but really I think that will be an ongoing process. This past month we had our IST. I wish I could say I learned a lot from my In-service Training in Lilongwe, but things were either repetitive or made me more confused on what I should start with. Some great things at training included a field trip to the Nordine's house whom are former Peace Corps Volunteers themselves. Their property is a permaculture heaven. They have a website called Never Ending Food, and are able to produce food all year round for their family with little water and labor. The thing that is disheartening about it is the fact that they have lived there for many years and Malawians around them still do not adopt what they are doing. Malawians are stuck in the mono cropping of maize. It really made me think about agriculture differently. Don't get me wrong I think mono cropping is okay in places like America where we have the technology and resources to do so, but here in Africa if their one crop fails they starve. No such thing as crop insurance here. Another thing I learned about was making charcoal out of locally available waste products, I was all excited to share with the people and the first group of people I tell this to says its too much work! Really?! You waste your money buying charcoal which is illegal here in Malawi when you could make charcoal for free? I know there are people out there though who will love this idea and I will be happy to show them! I'm not going to let the frustration I experienced from telling that one group, stop me from telling other groups of people about this awesome opportunity. One other thing I plan on implementing is SOLID which was started by another volunteer in her community. It is the training of leaders within the communities to make an impact on the communities themselves, so that they are not just relying on me. They will learn communication and technical skills and the importance of volunteerism. So I will start that in a few weeks. While in Lilongwe we also celebrated Peace Corps 50th Anniversary in Malawi and the installation of SEED GHSP. This took place at Kamuzu Place, President Joyce Banda's residence with the Director of the Peace Corps and some other important people...who really I cannot remember. There was dancing, a live band and good food, except they ran out of cake! The best part about being in Lilongwe for the two weeks was reuniting with other Peace Corps Volunteers whom I hadn't seen since we came to our sites in May.

After two weeks I was ready to be back at site and was greeted by a swarm of children upon arrival. I received a care package from Aunt Beth and Uncle Todd for the children, Thank You! They love the coloring books, cards, Frisbees, and harmonicas! They have managed to throw the Frisbees onto the roofs and to the trees many times. I'm going to teach them origami with the colored paper once I figure how to do it. Thank you to my sister for sending a care package too! With the gifts the children received, I received the gift of a cold through their germs, apparently my immune system forgot about them. So now that I am back from training I can begin projects! I will be working with the HIV/AIDS support group with medicinal gardening and begin planting moringa with them in the morning. I actually never knew any one with HIV before Malawi and until my friend told me about the group I didn't know any Malawians who had it either because its not something I was going to ask. I definitely got all emotional on my walk back home when finding out all the people who are affected by HIV in my community. Next week I start planting trees with the communities. The following week I am back in Lilongwe for Grassroots Soccer Training, which will teach the youth about HIV/AIDS and Malaria. I met with several youth organizations and we will be having a soccer tournament in which youth will learn about HIV/AIDS and help take the stigmatism away from those who do have HIV. I also may be working with Home of Hope which is an orphanage in Mchinji, which is under the Raising Malawi Organization by Madonna which is kind of cool.

I attended a funeral in my village this past Monday. There is dancing at funerals, however it was still a sad time. Hundreds of people attended. Maybe its an American thing, but I really have never seen a man cry until at this funeral. Wait... I once saw my dad crying while watching the movie Fireproof, it was awkward so I walked out before he saw me see him ha. Yep, it has to be an American thing because really even at funerals there are not as many people crying as I saw here. They don't silent cry here, its weeping and screaming and wailing, it made me emotional, I silent cried and tried to make sure no one saw me doing so. The woman was 73 years old, I just thought there would be more hip, hip, hooray's because she had a long life and since the life expectancy here is much shorter, I read somewhere that it is now 36 years old in Malawi. She must have been a great person, mother, and grandmother. Or its just me as I just never really knew my grandparents as they passed before I have a memory to remember such a funeral. It was a cultural experience for sure, a 6 hour long one and that crying mentioned above lasted the entire time. Today, I was in a jovial mood after planning my first 'lesson' on tree planting...I actually used a lesson plan which was probably why I was jovial because all the Facebook statuses of my friends who are starting to teach this year also has a certain emotional effect on me. I just have to remember I decided to come here instead of taking a teaching at job home right away, but teaching here is still teaching, which I decided is my niche here. I am also pretty dang happy that my student email expired as I no longer get the updates of all the teaching positions be posted, so no more looking at teaching positions until at least February 2015.

To commemorate my completing 6 months of Peace Corps I bought a hot plate to cook with, this included emotions of joy when thinking I'd no longer have to cook over a fire. Emotions of #$2?! when 2 hours ago I started my wiring on fire as the hot plate is too strong for my electrical and I am now without electricity, at least until I get it fixed. I was warned it was probably not strong enough and I should of took the hint when the lights dimmed when I turned on the hot plate, or that cracking noise was a fire and not some creature scattering about. And yet despite this sometimes roller coaster ride, (which I hate roller coasters...I've cried in line before even getting on one in the past) I thank God for this opportunity to be here and the strength He provides me to overcome whatever comes my way because without Him, I'm pretty sure I would have quit already.  Until next time, Tiwonana!

Other Emotions:
-Happiness for all my friends and family getting married
-Sadness for not being able to attend those important events
-Excitement every time I get a letter in the mail!
-Fear of spiders and the fact I will probably never overcome this phobia
-My Anticipation for the Game Count next month!
-And all other emotions including: love, anger, discovery, wonder, relaxation, patience, nervousness...yes I looked these up on Wikipedia, I really didn't know these were considered emotions ha

Just Dance!

August 4th, 2013
Let the good times roll! I finished up my PACA meetings in the beginning of the month. Now what? I helped the women make food for the men making dairy kholas. I like to think of us as cheerleaders, as we danced and sang songs as well, songs about heifers. There were 6 dairy kholas constructed in the area recently, and a dairy facility will be constructed in a near by village within the next few months. I hope there are more dairy kholas to be put up...1. Because who doesn't like milk (although you can't beat Wisconsin milk) and 2. There is always meat served at these functions ( I still refuse to eat meat from the market which is covered in flies...although if someone cooks it for me I will, I just tell myself they purchased this meat somewhere which meets the USDA regulations). Once the dairy is up and running, I may teach them how to make cheese and yogurt. I have ensure that the people stay motivated with this project as some dairy cows in other villages were taken away because they were near starvation.

This month I also attended one of my villages chieftainships. Crowning of a chief. There were hundreds of people, food, and Ngoni dancers. The ceremony was sweet. The chief and his wife kneeled before the Group Village Headman in minimal clothes and was then dressed in his official outfit which looked like cheetah skin. I had taken a bunch of pictures, but realized after that the camera was flipped around, 36 pictures of my forehead. I helped prepare food for the Traditional Authority (TA) for this event. The hierarchy is as follows: Village headman, Group Village Headman, SG Village Headman, Traditional Authority and then King. Each village has its headman/chief, our area GVH looks over 6 villages and I'm not entirely sure how many villages the TA is over. The king is the king of the Chewas, hence the language Chichewa. He is located somewhere in Zambia. This was definitely an exciting event and I am happy that I had the opportunity to take part in , minus the one drunk Ngoni dancer who followed me all the way home as he was telling everyone I was his madam. Bodza (liar)!

Yesterday, I also attended my first Malawian wedding. It almost makes up for all the weddings I will miss...not even close. I didn't attend the ceremony, as I was preparing food for the bridal party. The menu included: Nsima, rice, chicken, beef and cabbage. I'm getting better at eating with my hands, but eating rice with your hands is much harder than eating nsima with your hands. After that we headed to the resort where they were having the reception. The bridal party sat on the stage while hundreds of people were seated watching them. The ceremony included: The Pelican...pretty sure
thats what they call it. This is where the bride and groom stand with a bucket and people dance and throw money at them. That lasted a few  hours. They had to have received at least 1 million Kwacha. I should have left as it was getting dark, but I wanted a piece of cake! Finally, the cake cutting ceremony. They cut it and then auctioned off pieces of cake about the size of a quarter. I got a piece for 500 kwacha. She tossed her boquet to her bridal party and that concluded the wedding. It was great to see a Malawian wedding, but for me I will stick with the dream wedding any American girl plans since the age of 6...and that dream includes BBQ ribs. ha

So I have come to the conclusion, that dancing is just a part of everyday life here. Oh and don't worry I'm sure I didn't embarrass myself with my dance skills. I just embarrassed everyone in America because they probably think my dance skills are the same as every other American.

More random points:
**I hired someone to wash my laundry. Lazy? No, I see it as stimulating the local economy. I know she must get the clothes cleaner than I did as I could make a bar of soap last a month, she goes through 2 each time she washes my clothes.

** I started taking Chichewa tutoring lessons this past month. New favorite saying: Ndili Khwakhwakhwa. (I don't have any money)

**I've gotten several marriage proposals, they think its awful that I'm 23 and not married. Not going to lie, there are some good looking Malawians here, especially the postal worker...I probably check to see if I have mail more than I need to.

** Thirsty Thursday must be universal as I think my entire village was drunk this past Thursday before noon.

**I've eaten over 7kg of peanut butter since arriving at site in May. That's kind of gross, but I need to get some protein. I don't think I will ever get sick of PB and J.

**I'll be heading to Lilongwe for In-service training next week!! So excited!

I think I like it here

July 5th, 2013

Today marks the fourth month since leaving the land I love of good ol' Green Bay. While I admit I have been homesick, I've come to the point where I think I like it here. June flew by, mainly because most of my meetings were going as scheduled until the last week. Since arriving at site on May 1st, I've held or attended at least 30 meetings. Of the needs assessment I have conducted so far, the villages main concern is water. Water is life, so without a good source of clean water, why would anything else be more important. Other needs/wants include a primary school ( I was a bit freaked out
about this one), however after attending an area chief meeting they have already started the molding of bricks, which calmed my nerves a bit. In regards to Agriculture/Environment, the primary concern is fertilizer, seasonal gardening/irrigation and income generating activities. My favorite villages are Soko and Bernardo. Soko because they are the most organized and welcoming, they greet me with song and dance when I arrive and a Fanta and bread when I leave. One thing the women of that
village wanted me to teach them was how to make good food. Why? So their husbands wouldn't leave them for other women. Funny, but sad at the same time. Bernardo is another favorite village because the men are funny and honest. When compiling a list of their daily activities, they did not leave out drinking beer as an activity and asked me what do they put on the list if they do nothing. The men in this village also wake up at 6am versus the other 5 villages the men wake up at 4am, so I'm not sure how accurate the activity really was. I really enjoy all the villages I am working with.

Some entertaining conversations I have had involve Leo, the man whom I purchase bread from and who always either manages to get me to buy biscuits or have a soda. The other day, I told him, I'm on a soda break, and turned him down on his last offer of a Fanta. I was telling him about how bad soda is for you, and he said it gives you energy. He wanted proof that it is bad for you. The funny part was when, he said 'As a former medical student' he knows its not bad for him. I cracked up laughing when he said that. I'm not entirely sure what his past profession was because he talked about being a lawyer
type, he is older I would say 60. He is from Zambia, and I enjoy visiting him for a laugh. One of my first times meeting him, he asked if I was from Holland, I of course told him where, what and why I was here. He said I laugh like a  Hollander he knew. I'll have to meet a Hollander one day as I really never met anyone with my laugh, ha.

Other random points:
* I hitched a ride for the first time by myself, the fact that I was in a truck in between 3 other men I didn't know was not so bad really. I wasn't even looking for a ride, but hopped in the truck when they pulled over and offered me a ride. They were quite nice.

* I find that when meetings are canceled, it doesn't bother me so much anymore. I sat on the side of the road waiting for my counterpart who didn't show, but ended up having 20 children surround me, and had an impromptu dance circle. I also taught them 'Down by the Banks'. I need to learn more Chichewa, because my attempts at playing Red Light, Green Light and Duck, Duck, Goose failed.

* Children here love bubbles...it gets crazy, I had to stop because kids were getting hurt trampling each other chasing after bubbles. I think as a craft I will make bubble wands as well. They also love the paddle ball and yo-yo I got in a care package (Thanks Jenny and Jada), however they haven't managed to figure them out. The paddle ball though I can't even figure out ha.

*Children here just wander about with no supervision. It is common to see a 4 year old with a baby strapped to her back as well. Another need/want is village nursery schools. Anyone have some pinterest craft ideas I can do with them here?

Structure?

So I have been at site for just over a month! While at times it seems to be going at a slow rate, when I look back I think  it is kind of going fast...kind of. I do have a lot of time on my hands, this past month I have finished doing community mapping with the 6 villages I will be working with. It took quite some time because meetings were supposedly canceled, and people NEVER show up on time. Patience will be one of my strongest virtues, I'm sure of it when I get back...right now not so much. Well, for this month I gave my counterpart a schedule that I would like to hopefully workout. It will be meeting with the villages every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and if they have to reschedule they can do it the next day. Well I hope it works, although this past Monday no one did show up so we just wandered around and found groups of people to complete the seasonal and daily activities activity I had. Since the meetings haven't been so structured I decided I need some type of
structure in my life or I may just go crazy. I started working out with the Nike Training App which is pretty awesome, I only missed 2 days since I started: one Sunday when I strained my ankle at church because BOTH my feet fell asleep...I got up too fast and didn't realize they were asleep until I practically face planted it, good thing I had Stella next to me to catch me; I also missed Monday because I was sick, I'll spare you the details on that. Another thing I have started is running which I do like when I actually get up and do it, its just the motivation at first which I lack and then I feel
pretty good after. I don't run every day, but I've run about 45 miles total. When I run I usually do at least 2 miles, sometimes when I feel like a slacker I run more just to tell myself to shut up and just do it ha. Believe it or not I've started reading as well everyday...when you have to be in before dark or meetings start 1 or 2 hours after the start time you just have too much time not to read. I've read 12 books so far! Okay maybe each book in the Bible doesn't count as a single book, but I'm counting it. I'm currently in 1 Kings reading about Solomon. I wonder if some of the nightmares I get are actually from some the crazy things I read and not from the Malaria medicine. The other books I have read are Pride and Prejudice, Erasing Hell, A Hole in Our Gospel and I'm currently reading East of Eden. I've met some pretty great people in Malawi so far and I love the children. Word of warning if you are to bring your nail polish out to paint kids nails, do it yourself they make an awful mess and I swear use half a bottle...even when then only paint their non nsima eating hand. The line will only be about 30 children long with both boys and girls. My church had a recent fundraiser to build a new church as it is just mud and a thatch roof. It was an interesting thing, let me tell you dancing, singing, very joyful givers, I'll be excited to help them build when they have enough money. The service is Chichewa so I never do know what is going on, my neighbor just shows me what scripture they are at so I can follow along. I hear they have a 6am English service in town...I do not think I'll be waking up for that. Oh! I've started a fire with a single match for more than a week...granted I have been using a lot of paper... those community maps come in handy when they are finished. So I miss you all and hope some of you decide to come venture out to this amazing land of Malawi. In the mean time, why don't you sponsor a child or 2 or 10 or one for each child you have. It's never too soon to teach a child about children around the world and what they can do to help. Here is the website where you can do this: www.cotni.org  This is the organization that Chichere Farm, which I will be working with is a part of and raises food for the children here in Malawi who belong to this program.

Other Thoughts:
-Some children think of me as Chinese as there are Chinese shops here and they are the only other non black people they see...so I've been called Machina from children
-If I had a kwacha for every time a chicken pooped on my porch, I'd be rich...I may just not feel bad if I am forced to kill one....I chickened out last time ha
-American Agriculture...how I miss you. Especially after hand harvesting maize for 7 hours, the amount we harvested would have taken less then hour back home
-A visit to Lilongwe is full of excitement...I was so excited to see a city with good food and other volunteers. My preparation for my journey included: conditioner...only for special occasions, painted my toes my favorite toe nail polish color which is different then my actual favorite color of course and changed my outfit 6 times trying to figure out what was best.

Froot Loops>Fire

May 8th, 2013
Its been a week at my new site. While I do enjoy it, I do miss homestay ( the part that is suppose to be the hardest). Ummm I think homestay will be one of the easier parts....at least until I figure out how to start a fire. After one week I was able to start a fire with one match! However, God must of thought I was cocky or something because then it took me 10 matches the next meal and the next day, I just said screw it I'll make a peanut butter banana sandwich. I was only ever good at starting fires when I didn't want to anyway. In America, I've even managed to set the stove on fire while boiling water...and to think my life dream growing up was to be a fire fighter. A dream that I may still do as a volunteer. Anyways, when I was in town to stock up I found FROOT LOOPS! One less fire to start each day! I've also come to the realization that I am a pretty good cook.... when I have a cook book. The soya pieces that I loved so much during homestay are awful now. I did not pay attention when my amayi made them. My cooking skills will be good though in no time at all and I'd bet I'd be able put an Iron Chef to shame, okay wishful thinking. In other news, this past week I've dug ground nuts and I think I have the children calling me Lachero now instead of Azungu. Lachero is Rachel in Chichewa and Azungu is something like stranger/white person/ghost, I forget exactly. Since its harvest time right now, I haven't been able to meet with many people yet. Today I will be meeting with the Village Loan and Bank Cooperative and now I have a schedule of the various times and locations where many of the women's groups will be meeting. All thanks to Rose, a Malawian whom will be very helpful to me in the future. I've also been just wandering, greeting anyone I see. Yesterday when wandering through the woods on the farm, I heard bees and thought to myself RADAR (which stands for something I learned in a safety and security session). I better figure out where the bee hives are next time before I wander. Better go start/attempt to start my fire to make lunch now. Tiwonana!

Peace Corps Training and all that Jazz

March 5th, I boarded a plane for staging in Philadelphia. I was running a bit late because of flight delays, but I made it on time. At staging we had a short introduction to what the Peace Corps was and were able to meet the other 38 volunteers going to Malawi. Half are Environment volunteers and half are Health volunteers.  Then we were able to wander the streets and get a last meal in America. I had a Philly Cheese Steak. We  boarded our bus at 2 am for JFK and then around 10:30 am we were on the Plane for Johannesburg, South Africa. When we reached South Africa we got on a plane for Malawi. We were greeted in Malawi by the country director and some current on Culture, Language, Safety and Medical. After the many shots I had received I could probably fall in a Chimbudzi ( Malawian toilet=hole in the ground) or get bitten by a rabies infested lion and still be okay. If not, I have my medical kit which has everything from Mr. D pills (diarrhea) to my Malaria medication. My malaria medicine gives me some pretty awesome dreams....dreaming is better then watching tv. However, sometimes I get nightmares, and when I wake up I just think ok that must have been a dream because 1. I can't see anything in the dark regardless of a crazy spider and 2. nothing can ever get me underneath  my trusty mosquito net.

After the first week at MIM, we moved to our Homestay village to live a host family. Here we learned many technical skills, learned language Chichewa for me, as well as more safety and more medical information. During technical, things I've learned were building improved cook stoves; Malawians cook over a 3 stone fire which is unsafe and inefficient; composting, ANAMED/medicinal gardening, irrigation methods, contour gardening, tree nurseries, Permaculture and much more. My homestay village was Kaphaizi located in the Kasungu District of Malawi. I love my Malawian family even if most of the time I couldn't understand what they were saying.  I have an amayi (mom) Mary, 2 achimwali (sisters) Violet and Esta and 2 achimwine (brothers) Dixon and Gilbert. Dixon is technically my cousin, his parents both passed. His mother at childbirth and not sure how his father passed. I don't have an abambo (father) he passed in 2004 of a stroke at age 40. I had assumed HIV, but I asked my amayi. It is sad to think she lost her husband when she was only 36 years old. We lived a small brick hut, thatch grass roof with no electricity or running water. The chimbudzi I was deathly afraid at first and tried to only use it during daylight hours to ensure that I would not come in contact with any spiders or cochroaches. Of course nature calls and when I look at the clock and it is only 1 am , I know I cannot hold it for another 4.5 hours....if I had 1 or 2 hours to hold it maybe, at the expense of losing sleep.

Each day I woke up went to the borehole to fetch water and carry it back on my head, swept the dirt in my room and outside my house, washed dishes, ate breakfast, went to training, ate lunch, went to training, came home ate dinner, took a bucket bath, danced with my family under the stars, read and  went to sleep. My day ran from 5:45am to the late hour of 8pm. Food here is simple. The staple food is Nsima which is maize boiled into a thick porridge. It is served with greens such as mustard, potato leaves, or pumpkin leaves with usually onion and tomato thrown in. It is also served with a meat or meat substitute. This includes soya (so good), osipa (dried little fish that I will not eat), beef, goat, eggs, beans or chicken. The beef you have to chew for half an hour before deciding its not going to get any more digestible and just swallow it whole. We sometimes had rice because Peace Corps provided it, but that is usually only served on special occasions.

Training was 7 weeks long, we took many tests. I passed my Chichewa Language Proficiency Interview with an Intermediate High!!! The first time I failed. We were sworn in as official volunteers on April 30th and came to site on May 1st.

My site is located in Mkhomba village. I will be working on Chichere farm which is part of Children of the Nations. The try to produce enough food cheaper than it would be to purchase it for over a 1000 children. I will also be working with 6 surrounding villages. My house is very nice and I am very lucky compared to most other volunteers. I have electricity, running water, shower although cold a nice comfy queen bed, and a TOILET!!! Two days ago when I moved in I was unable to move in until later because there were swarms of bees surrounding the area. They killed the 4 watch dogs and several chickens, it was very sad. I am though very excited to be at site and ready to integrate into my community, and help out in ways that are needed. So I hope you continue to read my blog, feel free to ask any questions: the posts in the future will than likely be much shorter. Tiwonana!


Other tidbits about Malawi/Malawians:

• Most Malawians don't like dogs....they throw rocks at them because they are associated with rabies
• Men can hold hands...men and women cannot
• Feel free to pick your nose in public, its okay
• About 11% of Malawians have HIV
• Showing your knees in a village is scandalous...women make sure to always wear your tchenge
• Without women here in Malawi, I'm not sure if men would survive
• Many Malawians have never seen an elephant or any other exotic animal as they are in wildlife reserves
• The Kwatcha is the unit of money: 420 Kwatcha to the dollar is the current exchange rate---this can buy me 4 Fantas or 2 KG of rice or lots of tomatoes (everyone sells them)
• Most students don't go past Standard 8 in school if they are lucky enough to go to school at all as in Form 1-4 they are taught in English
• Malawians always look stern, until you greet them and then a smile lights across their face. Many times they do not smile in pictures.
• There is very strong faith here: public meetings are usually opened and closed with a prayer

The count down to the Peace Corps

In February 2012, I was sitting in my apartment with my lovely roommates (Abby and Nicole) whom had just come back from a Peace Corps informational meeting on campus. I remembered my senior year of high school looking into the Peace Corps, but hadn't thought too much about it until one of my sorority sisters (Bethany) had joined and I was able to follow her blog about her experience in Peace Corps Swaziland. I was student teaching at the time, and I figured it was my 'back up plan' after I graduated, so I applied. About a week later as I was taking some of my students to FFA Farm Forum, I received a call from my recruiter who wanted to set up an interview! I was quite surprised as I didn't expect to hear from anyone for a few months. I scheduled the interview for March 8th. I had to get finger prints taken, fill out some paperwork on my agricultural background and have my 3 references in before my interview. I only had 2 references in due some technical issues, but we proceeded with the interview regardless. The interview went well. One question I remember being asked was what do you do when you are bored: I listed off a bunch of things because he kept on asking what else? what else? I ended that with I'd talk to myself...which is probably more true than read a book or journal. ha He also asked me if I'd rather go to South America or Africa, to me it didn't matter, because both had programs in agriculture. He told me once he received my third reference I'd be getting a nomination!  Thank you Kara, Steven, Mr. Meyer and Tammy for the recommendations . It was March 19th when I received my nomination for Sub Saharan Africa in Agricultural Extension and Forestry to leave for February or March 2013! I did not have my third nomination in yet and I assured him it was in the mail and he should receive it shortly. He said that was okay. A few days later he had still not received the third letter of recommendation and asked me to find another person as he technically should not have interviewed me, none the less nominated me without it. So I did that, and from there on I was pretty much set on joining the Peace Corps. I read countless blogs, tried to find any horror story possible in order maybe to change my mind. I worked at 3-D Angus and Dalton Grain farm the summer after graduation to complete my 3 month required additional experience. Thank you Dalton's for having me in your home and teaching me many things. Although I was pretty much dead set on joining the Peace Corps, there was still a small part of me that wanted to teach too, so I had several interviews for teaching positions. I did not prepare well for them mainly because I knew what I was wanting to do more, so I'm not sure why I cared so much when I didn't get a job since I knew if I took a teaching job I would regret not going through with the Peace Corps. Through this time I also went through many medical and dental tests....Woot woot yay for root canals and wisdom teeth removal. PS. being put to sleep is pretty much the sweetest thing ever, you go in, fall asleep, wake up and boom your done. I no problems and was eating steak the next day ha, but am sad that I forgot to ask to keep my wisdom teeth so I could put them under my pillow for the tooth fairy. After many months of waiting, submitting paperwork, submitting resumes, reading more blogs, watching YouTube videos on people receiving their invitations, dreaming about where I'd be going......I received my invitation  in November for the Peace Corps!!....I'll give you one guess to where. MALAWI on March 5, 2013.