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!
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Thursday, May 2, 2013
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:
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)