The past few weeks have been pretty slow here in Malawi. I am getting so used to some things that when they occur, they just don’t seem so special so I don’t write about them. People keep asking me if I am ready to come home. I say yes and no. I do miss my friends and family, and there are certain things that drive me absolutely crazy about this country, but Malawi is starting to grow on me. I am starting to have long individual conversations with the students, and I know they are starting to feel more comfortable around me. Lawrence dropped me off a few weeks ago and a few of the girls asked him if I was single and if I liked Malawian women. I am excited to come home, but I will miss some of the people here. I didn’t think I would miss the whole Christmas season in the USA as much as I really do. Yesterday I popped into Shop Rite (the super market) to buy a few things I need to get me through the week; I was only planning on getting a few things and getting out quick, but they had Christmas music playing so I ended up spending almost and an hour and a half just enjoying the music. It was the first Christmas music I had heard in English the year. I am also starting to really like and enjoy the DIs that I am working with from around the world. They are truly special people and have made this experience a million times better. If I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to meet and work with them, I would still be counting down the days till my flight leaves. I almost forgot, on a very special side note, right before Thanksgiving the Mary Jean Perrini Inspire to Serve award was officially given to Mary Perrini by The American Humanics Student Association from Kansas State University. So for those of you that know Mary, send her an email or give her a call at Miege to congratulate her! This past weekend I went with Chihiro and three other DIs to mount Mulanje. Mount Mulanje is the tallest mountain in Malawi. I was under the impression that we were going to hike around for a few hours, go to the waterfalls, and spend the night in a little town about 10km away. BOY WAS I WRONG! Chihiro and I met up with Calou, Caesar, and Anna; three other DIs that work in the TCE (total control of the Epidemic…HIV/AIDS program) in Limbe on Saturday morning. Anna and Caesar are a couple from Brazil. They are both have degrees to be pharmacists, but they want to get out of Brazil to do their work. Calou(sp?) is from Japan and the only thing I really found out about her was that the school that she trained at was in Michigan, and she went to Royals/ Whitesox game in Chicago. When we met up, we went food shopping and Chihiro and I were informed that we would be staying on the mountain at a little camp. I just thought ok sounds fun. When we got to the mountain and met up with our guide, Caesar and Anna said that we wanted to make the 6 hour hike to the CCAP lodge. When I heard this my jaw dropped and I my mind went blank. I thought 6 hours; these people have to be kidding! Then I came to my own conclusion that this 6 hours was really like 4 or less if you kept a steady pace, so we stretched out bought some bananas and got ready for the hike. Our guide doubled as a porter and he carried one of our back packs the whole trip. We set off and after the first 45 minutes I knew I was in trouble. At this time came to the realization that 6 hours for our group was really going to mean 8. Plus I only had brought 1.5 liters of water and I had already sweated out at least a half liter in the first 45 minutes. By hour number two, I had sweated out at least 1.5 liters of water and was still trying to ration my water. We came across 2 streams in the first few hours and our guide Fred said that they were clean and we wouldn’t get sick if we drank from them, but I wasn’t buying that! None of us were, we all walked right by and over them as our guide got fresh water each time. After it had seemed like we had hiked forever, we finally reached the half way point, and I was officially out of water. At that point we stopped to take a break and sat on a flat rock that poked out of the forest and showed the entire mountain. The view was incredible, it was so exciting to see trees again. The best thing from this view was how far we could see. I could see land clearly for miles away. The sky was clear and the land looked so peaceful. While we were resting and having a snack I asked Fred (the guide) if there was any more stream crossings coming up. I was out of water and I knew if it didn’t refill as soon as possible there was a good chance I would get dehydrated and maybe worse. Luckily there was one, only another hours walk. By the time we got to that stream my legs felt like jello and it was around 5 pm, but we still had at least another 2 hours till we got to the hut. I refilled my water, snapped a few pictures, and got ready to go. Needless to say since we were going very slow, darkness came before we arrived at the Camp. As the sun set and black started swallowing the sky, my legs had had enough hiking. I started to get cramps in my thighs, followed by my calves, and then those nasty ones in my hamstrings that wake you up at night. During this little episode I was having, I realized that there was absolutely nothing anyone else could do for me. I was up on a mountain in the middle of Malawi, 10,000 miles away from help. I guess I could have stopped walking and asked to take a break, but every time we did stop the pain just got worse and the cramps came back so I just kept moving no matter what. I don’t know if I have ever pushed myself that hard. Whenever I have been completely exhausted, I have always been able to stop and rest or have a “state regulated” water break, but up here there was nothing but me and the mountain. It was one of those moments in life that you can be really proud of yourself. I feel like I accomplished something. I didn’t climb all the way to the top, but I set a goal and reached it. It was probably the most physically challenging thing I have done in the past 10 years. Yes there were other people and we were all in this together, but everyone was facing their own battle on our night hike. We hiked for about 45 minutes in the dark, there was no moon and so I used my phone flash light to guide me. Chihiro had one of those lights that you wind up the battery (I think dad gave me one of those for Christmas onetime, but I didn’t bring it), and the other people had their own lights. It was amazing that even in the pitch black our guide knew exactly where to go and every turn to take. Our 6 hour hike took just about 7 hours and 45 minutes by the time we finally arrived at the camp. We got some fresh water, made dinner (pasta), met a very nice Englishman named Anthony, and went to bed. In the morning I awoke to Anthony and another group of travelers from Holland making breakfast. There were three hikers from Holland, who had gone to bed right as we had gotten to the camp the night before. After they made and ate breakfast they said goodbye and started their descent down the mountain. About the time they were leaving my group was just waking up. We made a quick breakfast and left the camp a little past 8. It was already a beautiful day, but unlike the day before it was getting hot early and there was just that hint that we needed to get on the move before the rains came. Once we were out of the camp and had climbed out of the small gully the camp was in, you could really see the mystery and history of this mountain. There was an old dirt landing strip inside the gully that used to fly supplies in, but hadn’t been used in at least 20 years. It looked like all of a sudden whoever used it, just stopped and no one had touched it since. There was grass and weeds that had overgrown the entire thing, but a lot of things have that same dilapidated feeling in Malawi. On our way down the mountain I got the chance to have a few conversations with Anthony. He had quit his job in England and agreed to come over to Malawi for 6 months and supervise the building of a school. It was all set up through his church. He had come across a lot of the same problems that myself and the DIs had. The one thing that really bothered him was the rudeness of the people here, more specifically the lying. Lying is very common here. Lying is no big deal. I have had project leaders and teachers lie to my face about things as simple as being late or why they couldn’t do something. It seems like it doesn’t bother anyone to lie here. If you have ever known a pathological liar, who lies about everything from the weather outside to whether or not he/she was actually dying, that is the type of liar that you find in Malawi. When I got back to the college on Sunday, one of the students who I really like asked me why I didn’t go to Mulanje? When I replied that I had, she just said no you didn’t Paul you are a liar. You lie you lie you liar. I don’t know about you or anyone you know, but I don’t like to be called a liar, that’s just not part of normal conversation where I come from. Anthony brought up a good point, he said, “in your church isn’t lying a sin?” I said yes and that I was also raised not to lie. He then talked about how he just didn’t understand how these Malawians could argue against every wrong doing of anyone by saying Jesus taught us this and God wants us to do that, but then turn around and lie to your face if you asked them if they had gone to church that week. The other thing that bothers me besides the constant lying (which isn’t done by all Malawians, but enough to make it a point) is some of the people are just playing and flat out rude, they have no regard for other people’s personal space or belongings. Ok, well I found out that personal space like your “personal bubble” didn’t exist in the first week that I got here, so I am used to that, but what I mean is my room is my personal space, and if I forget to lock my door whether I am in my room or not people will just walk in. No knock or anything, the thing that set me off on Sunday was the fact that one of the teachers had hung up a clothes line right in front of my door. Now I understand you need to dry your clothes, but we all have a clothes line hung up in our rooms, if the two communal lines outside are taken. Well I guess this teacher didn’t want to use the space in his room for his clothes so he hung his clothes right in front of my door. It is more the inconsideration of it all, like if you are living with other people you don’t use all the water, but not here, or you clean up after yourself, well here you just throw your trash outside and expect that someone else will pick it up. No one cares about the little things, and that bothers me. Anyways, Anthony had also run into several problems with knowing who to trust. He was living with the pastor and church officials from a sister parish, but coincidently they were the ones trying to rip him off. The people he was supposed to trust were trying to get him to buy cheap materials for the school so they could pocket the rest of the money, it is sad, but this problem happens almost every time a school or any aid building is built. I also got a chance to just converse with another native English speaker. It was great, I really hadn’t had a full conversation with an English speaker since I had gotten here, besides Lawrence, but I mean a native English speaker. We mainly talked about movies which I really didn’t mind, we could have talked about British history and soccer for all I cared, just having a conversation was great. The way down the mountain was more frustrating for me than the climb up. There was a cover of dew on most of the trail on the way down and I fell down at least 10 times. Besides the dew, the ants were out in the morning and there were at least 3 separate times where I had ants in my pants. I think I pulled 24 ants off me on the way down, after they had let me know they were there (by biting me). Also on the way down I got to enjoy the scenery much more than on the way up. The paths were covered in every type of tree I had seen in Malawi. We would walk for what seemed like an eternity through thick dark luscious forest and all of a sudden pop out for a minute of spectacular outlooks all the way up and down the mountain. The view was not only over the puffy clouds as they smashed into the mountain, but you could wait for 2 minutes and as the clouds cleared you could just see Africa. Every time we popped out on to one of these ledges, it was like the view from the Lion King, looking down from the top of the lion’s den over a vast never-ending kingdom of life and land, with only very few tiny buildings, houses, and huts and fewer traceable roads, this view was picturesque of what I had grown up hoping Africa really looked like; purely beauty and wonder. Since we didn’t stop on the way up at the “mulanje waterfall”, we decided to do it on the way down. Right as we got to where we could actually hear the stream turn into the waterfall it started to rain. We asked Fred if it was really worth going to see, because it was very obvious that all of our group was tired and getting hungry. It was almost one at this point and Fred assured us that this was something that we had to see, so we followed him down a “short-cut” to the waterfall. One thing we thought was funny was how Fred would describe the trails we were taking, he kept saying this next climb is very gentle don’t worry it isn’t hard, so when he said please be careful and watch your step when we took the shortcut, I thought to myself what is this guy getting us into? The short-cut we took was more like a death-cut. The side trail was wet and very steep, every now and again we would have to slide down a flat slippery rock surface, but not too fast because you wouldn’t stop if your body got going. Then we came to the back part of the waterfall, and our good guide Fred just hopped down onto three big rocks and said come on. I knew it was going to be difficult for the group to get across when I went after Fred. There was about a three foot space in between the first and second rocks. The first one was also quite a bit taller than the second one, and I couldn’t reach from boulder to boulder and if I couldn’t reach how were 2 small Japanese girls going to do it. For me Fred made a ledge with his foot and I was able to shimmy across, Anthony lowered himself down on a vine like Tarzan, and somehow Fred got everyone else across. The waterfall was nice, but nothing that special, I would rather have stayed on the normal path and not gone to the waterfall than take the “short-cut” and go through all that. Also on the way out of the waterfall as we were crossing more boulders I lost my balance and almost bit it into the river. If I wouldn’t have caught myself on a nearby rock I would have also gotten to see how a medical response team works in the middle of Malawi, and that would have been so much fun!
After the waterfalls we were making our way back down when Caesar saw a guy he knew. The guy was an American who was working with Doctors without borders. I was again excited to meet another American. Caesar told me that he was from Chicago and his name was Matthew. I said hello an introduced myself to Matthew, I said so you’re from Chicago, I’m from Kansas City, I wanted to ask him a few questions about Doctors without borders, but before I could say anything he looked at me and said yea… you sound like an American and walked away. It was one of those moments where you just stop, and ask yourself did that really just happen? I was super excited to meet another American that works for a great organization that a lot of people dream of working for (me included), and guy just blows you off. At least if was to my face right? When he was leaving, I said it was nice to meet you and he responded with yea? Not an oh you too, likewise, or even some small remark that makes a person sound like they give a damn, but just yea. Rude people have always bothered me, but it is worse when you are abroad. There is absolutely no need for shit like that, it is unreal. Sometimes it is just easy to see why so many people hate Americans. Some people are just Jerks.
One of the mind boggling things we found out about this mountain is that every year there is a porter’s race. All of the guides and porters race up around and down the mountain. The course is up to the top on the steepest trail, around the summit to the hut where we stayed the night, and then back down the trail we came down on. Anthony told us that he had hiked all the paths on this mountain and if he did the course and hiked it as fast as he could it would take him at least 10 hours and Anthony is an experienced hiker. The winning time from this year’s race was 2:05, two hours and five minutes; incredible! Our guide’s time was 2:23 and he was in 25th place. The only thing I could think of was just how amazing that actually is. I mean people that can run full marathons running like 8 minute miles or less amaze me (yes I mean you Aunt Mary), but going up this mountain is crazy with the heat and altitude, mind boggling is the only way I can describe it.
As I said before our guide’s name was Fred. Fred had been referred to us by other DIs who had come to the mountain. There were a few times that I was ahead of the pack with him that I got a chance to talk to him 1 on 1. Fred is 18 years old and in secondary school, which is like our high school. He has 4 siblings and lives with them and his mom. His father died in 2000 and he works on the weekend as a guide to support his family and pay his school fees. The average Malawian that works in this region makes about 150 kwacha or a dollar a day. A guide for the mountain makes about 1300 kwacha a day plus an extra thousand if he doubles as a porter and carries a bag, so Fred was doing alright for himself and made about 3600 kwacha from two days work. I was considering breaking my own rule and giving him an extra tip, because he really was a good guide, until he got me alone on the second day and said, “you look like you could afford to help me, and if you can’t I bet your parents can or you know someone that can!” I was just shocked, I said why do you think this and he replied something about how I looked like I worked hard and I’m from the USA so that means I am rich. So basically he saw the white man from the USA and thought to himself, YES, an easy target! I almost bought into it all too, until at the end he tried to get more money out of us, for “extra” work had done and time that he had spent with us. Ahh, this officially marks the millionth time in Malawi that a person has found out where I live and asked me to pay them money for something. This time it was Fred and paying his college school fees, last time it was a teacher from the school asking me to find money for her daughter, the first time it was the cook, and plenty of other strangers that right when I say I’m from the USA , I become a target for long distance donations. I mean it is so frustrating to be looked at by everyone you meet not as who you are, but as an object that can give them financial gain. It is the same in the stores, hotels, and the street vendors are the worst. Even at the hotels they have a sign posted that says Malawian price and White Price. The vendors will openly tell you they charge Malawians a 1/3 or a ¼ of what they charge Azungu (whites). I mean I guess that this describes a lot of third world countries, but it is definitely one thing that I will not miss about Malawi.
On Monday my body ached so bad. I haven’t been this sore for years, so I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing? Walking around the school on Monday was a slow waddle, and the best part of my day was getting to stretch several times. My shoulders and neck also were a problem on Monday. My shoulders still had red indentations from my back pack and my neck was stiff. Tuesday my legs still hurt, but I went into town to get a few things from the store and meet Lawrence for lunch. Every time I started to get a good pace and my legs started to feel somewhat normal my groin felt like it would strain or something and I would slow back down. Not a good feeling either way. Wednesday was better, I actually had a little hop back in my step and today I am doing a-ok. I also have found Christmas presents for Dad and Mom, real traditional Malawian presents. On Saturday we are having a Christmas party here at Amalika. We will all sing songs and play bingo and I have been told Santa is making an appearance, coming all the way from the USA! Wow, I’m so excited to meet Santa I wonder which Mzungu is going to be Santa? After Saturday I will go into town and spend the next few days with Lawrence and celebrate Christmas with him and his family, although I do wish I was on a beach in Charleston with mine. The week in between Christmas and new years I plan on traveling. I hope I can meet with one or two Peace Corps volunteers and check out the Mizzou for Malawi project outside of Salima. Then after new years I will get back to Amalika for a week, pick up my primary school surveys, finish making clips for a Planet Aid video and say my goodbyes. See you all in a little over 3 weeks. Tio-na-na.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Big week part 2
I had had enough (part 2 big week)
On the way out of town we had to stop and get some gas. I had previously told you about the diesel crisis here, but just hitting the country was a new petrol crisis. Yep that’s right that means there just isn’t any gas left in Malawi. We went 9 gas stations before we found one that had petrol. By the time we found the one station that had petrol and got in line, my sun burn was kicking in. I was drained, I was tired, and I just wanted to go home. The thing that pushed me over the edge was that every time a car would pull forward, if the car in front of you was turned off then someone would pull around from the back and cut you and 5 other people in line. Oh it was so frustrating, just another way that Malawians show absolutely no respect and no regard for any type of rules(written or unwritten). Our driver, being the brilliant driver he was got into the wrong line, because our gas tank was on the opposite side of the car, so when it was our turn he had to pull out of line and reverse back to the pump. Let’s just say every other car in lot saw this and wanted our spot, including a giant mini-bus that want to pass through cutting us off. I would have none of that, I proceeded to get out of the car walk in front of that bus and stop until our driver had finally gotten the car to the pump. The bus kept honking in my face inching closer and closer and I just turned my back and acted like I was an oblivious mzungu, it worked out pretty well. I didn’t get run over and nobody thought I was intentionally blocking the bus, they thought I was just some stupid white person doing whatever I wanted. After we had waited almost an hour and finally got to the pump, three boys with jugs ran up to the pump and the lady just started filling them up, no wait, they just got gas. Our driver asked the lady why they got this privilege and se said they are her regular customers, that she sees them daily and we are a onetime customer who she will never see again, so they will never have to wait and that’s just how it is. Our driver felt the need to argue, because Malawians feel the need to argue about everything! It wasn’t going to change her mind, just piss her off. She probably gets a bribe from them he said when we were driving home, but the situation reminded me of a KEG PARTY. This gas crisis is like a college kegger at every station. There is a line out the back door to get to the keg. Everyone needs a refill and the line or resemblance of a line is a mess. If you know the guy pumping or pouring the cups, you can sneak up behind them and get a quick refill with no questions asked and if anyone says something to the pourer or pumper about it, then that person might as well just go to the back of the line, b/c that cup is not getting filled for a while. In Lilongwe, it was like being that random dude at a FRAT party. Yes you came with some girls you know or are a friend of someone in the frat, but you are still getting stared at by every dude there who is asking themselves who is that random dude with? It is an awkward situation and that is how I felt that day in this nation’s capital. On our drive home our bad luck didn’t stop. The roads were terrible, worse than the day before on our drive to Lilongwe. There was road construction going on for almost 150 km. Some of the road construction we had encountered the day before, like detours, but most of it was new. There were giant square cut-outs of the road just missing. No cone or marker around the hole, just holes. Each square was at least 3 feet by 3 feet and at least a meter deep. Needless to say if a small car drives over one of these going 80mph it could total the car and kill the driver. We found the road construction crew about 30 km from the first hole and they said they were going to go back and fix all the holes before they quit for the day, but it was already dusk, so the chances of that happening are as good as the chiefs winning out grabbing a wild card spot and making a run like the cardinals did last year. Two other things drivers need to be weary of in Malawi are animals in the road and other drivers. The drivers here take the phrase “aggressive” driver to a whole new level. There are only a few roads have more than one lane per side. On all the other roads it is like driving down to Springfield on 7(I think). It is just a scary experience with multiple cars weaving in and out of the lanes passing up to 4 cars at one time, and all this is going on in the middle of road side markets and cities where people are walking and biking on the shoulders all the time. Then you have huge trucks, bigger than semis that can one go like 5-10 miles an hour, and at any given time they will just break down in the middle of the road and sit there for days. Traveling by motor vehicle is one of the scariest things I have ever had to do. As I mentioned before besides the drivers, there are just animals all over the roads. Chickens, goats, sometimes cows, and a plethora of other interesting animals, and the drivers here will stop on a dime to avoid hitting any of the animals, because everyone knows that one chicken in the middle of the road could be a Malawians only source of income. You would think in this situation that that one person who owned the chicken or goat would take better care of it, but no, they just roam around freely until they are needed. On our way back from Lilongwe while trying to avoid the holes in the road, our driver was still doing around 100-120km/h when out of nowhere a goat pops out on the road. The driver hit the brakes and honked the horn, unfortunately for the goat he skipped out of our way and was demolished by the car behind us who hadn’t taken warning to our immediate stop and thought it was a good idea to swerve around us and pass us. Unfortunately for them, their stupidity stopped their journey from that moment on. One thing I do remember vividly about the car that hit the goat was it was a white, shiny, brand new land rover donated by the National Aids Commission in Malawi. Yes, the Malawians and mzungu that drive the white new land rovers are without a doubt the worst drivers on the road. They act like everyone should get out of their way and that the road and country belongs to them. Not a very big fan of those vehicles. In between all this commotion on the ride home I tried to get a nap in, because my stomach was acting up. I have no idea what it was, but Lawrence had the same problem so I’m guessing it was something we had eaten that morning. I got a call from Dad right as we were pulling off the road to get a drink and a snack. It was great to hear a familiar voice and talk for about a minute, but right at I glanced over and saw a toilet sign, my stomach felt like it was about to explode and so I had to quickly hang up the phone and waddle over to the paying toilets. 20MK per use. I was walked into the toilet, which was a hole in the ground no bigger than a roll of duck tape. There was no toilet, just the hole and the enclosed area was about the same size as the dugout holes on the road or 3 ft x 3 ft. There was no tp in the bathroom and at first glance I actually didn’t think that it was physically possible for me to pop a squat. I waddled back outside looking for another quick option, a lady popped out of a shack and said, “EWAY(you) 20 kwacha”, I handed her the money and said “toilet paper”. She looked at me and gave me a couple piece of tp and a quickly waddled back into the paying toilet and found a way to get the job done. It was my first paying roadside toilet and god almighty I hope it is my last. After what seemed like one of the longest days of my adult life, we finally made it back to Chilengoma. Stayed in the same room I had two nights before and loved it again. I used great internet that night and the next morning, and I went into town around 11:30. I met up with Lawrence and did a little shopping and eventually made it back to Amalika. By the way that was Thanksgiving Day, so that night I got to Skpye with dad and Cheryl. We talked on and off for a few hours which was really great, they had a webcam so I got to see familiar faces which was also a very bi g plus for me. Then early the next morning around 1:30 am I woke up and talked to my family for Thanksgiving. It was great to talk to everyone at my dad’s house and then talk to mom, Katie, and Adam who were in Augusta. I apologize if I have jumped around a little bit over these last few points. As I am sitting here writing there is such a crazy rain storm going on outside that the water has started flooding into my room. I never in a million years thought I would be barricading my door with any dirty clothes I could find to keep water out, in Africa! Surreal huh? The wind and rains are so strong that in 45 minutes it has flooded our entire hostel complex. We built a little walkway bridge out of wooden ladders going out of our hostel that was almost 6 inches off the ground and I can’t even see that right now, it has sunk! I hope that gives you a good idea of what TOTO really meant by the rains down in Africa. These rains are no joke. They come, they flood, and then they are gone just like that. When it wasn’t been raining it has gotten really hot. Last Sunday it was 40 degrees Celsius or 104 degrees Fahrenheit on my area. The hardest part about Malawi right now, is the heat. This is the hottest place I have even been, and it is supposed to be the coolest time of the year. Every time the sun hits you, you just feel a little bit weaker and start to move just a little bit slower. Hopefully this weather can even itself off in my last month here, but if not, now I know what to expect, and hey what am I complaining about at least it’s not 20 degrees and in stuck in a foot of snow. Happy Holidays everyone! There is talk of Santa coming to the school’s Christmas party, I wonder who is going to get stuck with that role?
Oh btw Obama bread is supposed to big and hard (tough) and osama bread is small and soft(weak). Just wanted to note that correction.
On the way out of town we had to stop and get some gas. I had previously told you about the diesel crisis here, but just hitting the country was a new petrol crisis. Yep that’s right that means there just isn’t any gas left in Malawi. We went 9 gas stations before we found one that had petrol. By the time we found the one station that had petrol and got in line, my sun burn was kicking in. I was drained, I was tired, and I just wanted to go home. The thing that pushed me over the edge was that every time a car would pull forward, if the car in front of you was turned off then someone would pull around from the back and cut you and 5 other people in line. Oh it was so frustrating, just another way that Malawians show absolutely no respect and no regard for any type of rules(written or unwritten). Our driver, being the brilliant driver he was got into the wrong line, because our gas tank was on the opposite side of the car, so when it was our turn he had to pull out of line and reverse back to the pump. Let’s just say every other car in lot saw this and wanted our spot, including a giant mini-bus that want to pass through cutting us off. I would have none of that, I proceeded to get out of the car walk in front of that bus and stop until our driver had finally gotten the car to the pump. The bus kept honking in my face inching closer and closer and I just turned my back and acted like I was an oblivious mzungu, it worked out pretty well. I didn’t get run over and nobody thought I was intentionally blocking the bus, they thought I was just some stupid white person doing whatever I wanted. After we had waited almost an hour and finally got to the pump, three boys with jugs ran up to the pump and the lady just started filling them up, no wait, they just got gas. Our driver asked the lady why they got this privilege and se said they are her regular customers, that she sees them daily and we are a onetime customer who she will never see again, so they will never have to wait and that’s just how it is. Our driver felt the need to argue, because Malawians feel the need to argue about everything! It wasn’t going to change her mind, just piss her off. She probably gets a bribe from them he said when we were driving home, but the situation reminded me of a KEG PARTY. This gas crisis is like a college kegger at every station. There is a line out the back door to get to the keg. Everyone needs a refill and the line or resemblance of a line is a mess. If you know the guy pumping or pouring the cups, you can sneak up behind them and get a quick refill with no questions asked and if anyone says something to the pourer or pumper about it, then that person might as well just go to the back of the line, b/c that cup is not getting filled for a while. In Lilongwe, it was like being that random dude at a FRAT party. Yes you came with some girls you know or are a friend of someone in the frat, but you are still getting stared at by every dude there who is asking themselves who is that random dude with? It is an awkward situation and that is how I felt that day in this nation’s capital. On our drive home our bad luck didn’t stop. The roads were terrible, worse than the day before on our drive to Lilongwe. There was road construction going on for almost 150 km. Some of the road construction we had encountered the day before, like detours, but most of it was new. There were giant square cut-outs of the road just missing. No cone or marker around the hole, just holes. Each square was at least 3 feet by 3 feet and at least a meter deep. Needless to say if a small car drives over one of these going 80mph it could total the car and kill the driver. We found the road construction crew about 30 km from the first hole and they said they were going to go back and fix all the holes before they quit for the day, but it was already dusk, so the chances of that happening are as good as the chiefs winning out grabbing a wild card spot and making a run like the cardinals did last year. Two other things drivers need to be weary of in Malawi are animals in the road and other drivers. The drivers here take the phrase “aggressive” driver to a whole new level. There are only a few roads have more than one lane per side. On all the other roads it is like driving down to Springfield on 7(I think). It is just a scary experience with multiple cars weaving in and out of the lanes passing up to 4 cars at one time, and all this is going on in the middle of road side markets and cities where people are walking and biking on the shoulders all the time. Then you have huge trucks, bigger than semis that can one go like 5-10 miles an hour, and at any given time they will just break down in the middle of the road and sit there for days. Traveling by motor vehicle is one of the scariest things I have ever had to do. As I mentioned before besides the drivers, there are just animals all over the roads. Chickens, goats, sometimes cows, and a plethora of other interesting animals, and the drivers here will stop on a dime to avoid hitting any of the animals, because everyone knows that one chicken in the middle of the road could be a Malawians only source of income. You would think in this situation that that one person who owned the chicken or goat would take better care of it, but no, they just roam around freely until they are needed. On our way back from Lilongwe while trying to avoid the holes in the road, our driver was still doing around 100-120km/h when out of nowhere a goat pops out on the road. The driver hit the brakes and honked the horn, unfortunately for the goat he skipped out of our way and was demolished by the car behind us who hadn’t taken warning to our immediate stop and thought it was a good idea to swerve around us and pass us. Unfortunately for them, their stupidity stopped their journey from that moment on. One thing I do remember vividly about the car that hit the goat was it was a white, shiny, brand new land rover donated by the National Aids Commission in Malawi. Yes, the Malawians and mzungu that drive the white new land rovers are without a doubt the worst drivers on the road. They act like everyone should get out of their way and that the road and country belongs to them. Not a very big fan of those vehicles. In between all this commotion on the ride home I tried to get a nap in, because my stomach was acting up. I have no idea what it was, but Lawrence had the same problem so I’m guessing it was something we had eaten that morning. I got a call from Dad right as we were pulling off the road to get a drink and a snack. It was great to hear a familiar voice and talk for about a minute, but right at I glanced over and saw a toilet sign, my stomach felt like it was about to explode and so I had to quickly hang up the phone and waddle over to the paying toilets. 20MK per use. I was walked into the toilet, which was a hole in the ground no bigger than a roll of duck tape. There was no toilet, just the hole and the enclosed area was about the same size as the dugout holes on the road or 3 ft x 3 ft. There was no tp in the bathroom and at first glance I actually didn’t think that it was physically possible for me to pop a squat. I waddled back outside looking for another quick option, a lady popped out of a shack and said, “EWAY(you) 20 kwacha”, I handed her the money and said “toilet paper”. She looked at me and gave me a couple piece of tp and a quickly waddled back into the paying toilet and found a way to get the job done. It was my first paying roadside toilet and god almighty I hope it is my last. After what seemed like one of the longest days of my adult life, we finally made it back to Chilengoma. Stayed in the same room I had two nights before and loved it again. I used great internet that night and the next morning, and I went into town around 11:30. I met up with Lawrence and did a little shopping and eventually made it back to Amalika. By the way that was Thanksgiving Day, so that night I got to Skpye with dad and Cheryl. We talked on and off for a few hours which was really great, they had a webcam so I got to see familiar faces which was also a very bi g plus for me. Then early the next morning around 1:30 am I woke up and talked to my family for Thanksgiving. It was great to talk to everyone at my dad’s house and then talk to mom, Katie, and Adam who were in Augusta. I apologize if I have jumped around a little bit over these last few points. As I am sitting here writing there is such a crazy rain storm going on outside that the water has started flooding into my room. I never in a million years thought I would be barricading my door with any dirty clothes I could find to keep water out, in Africa! Surreal huh? The wind and rains are so strong that in 45 minutes it has flooded our entire hostel complex. We built a little walkway bridge out of wooden ladders going out of our hostel that was almost 6 inches off the ground and I can’t even see that right now, it has sunk! I hope that gives you a good idea of what TOTO really meant by the rains down in Africa. These rains are no joke. They come, they flood, and then they are gone just like that. When it wasn’t been raining it has gotten really hot. Last Sunday it was 40 degrees Celsius or 104 degrees Fahrenheit on my area. The hardest part about Malawi right now, is the heat. This is the hottest place I have even been, and it is supposed to be the coolest time of the year. Every time the sun hits you, you just feel a little bit weaker and start to move just a little bit slower. Hopefully this weather can even itself off in my last month here, but if not, now I know what to expect, and hey what am I complaining about at least it’s not 20 degrees and in stuck in a foot of snow. Happy Holidays everyone! There is talk of Santa coming to the school’s Christmas party, I wonder who is going to get stuck with that role?
Oh btw Obama bread is supposed to big and hard (tough) and osama bread is small and soft(weak). Just wanted to note that correction.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Big Week
BIG WEEK.
On Monday I found out that there was a cornerstone event at the new TTC In Dowa on Wednesday. I was also informed that I would be attending with Lawrence. We would be the Planet Aid representatives at the event. Upon hearing the news I was very excited, because if for no other reason, I would finally get to meet at least one American! That American, which I did meet and I was able to have a brief, but nice conversation with, was the US Ambassador to Malawi, Peter Bodde. Life is funny sometimes huh? I have been trying to meet an American for two months and coincidently the first one I do meet is the second most important American in Malawi. I say second, because if you asked any Malawian who the most famous/ important American is they would all tell you Madonna. Now I don’t have very good feelings towards Madonna and her NGO Raising Malawi, because she is essentially buying her love from the people, but that is the way things are done down here and even if you don’t like it you just have to except it. If you ask me, Peter Bodde is the most influential American in Malawi and I felt very blessed that I was able to meet him and hear how he felt about DAPP, Planet Aid, and Humana People to People. He was very impressed with the work DAPP is doing and has done in Malawi. He said that he likes working with DAPP, because they get the job done and are thinking about the future. It was really nice for me to hear what he thought on a personal level. It was also nice to hear the US Ambassador support organizations that are constantly criticized and called names in the USA. He basically said the same thing that I tell people when they ask me about it, he talked about how if the money being donated wasn’t going to the right places, then the US government wouldn’t be giving millions of dollars to these organizations.
So on Monday during the day we had the worst or best (depending on how you look at it) rain storms since I had gotten here. Because of these rains I left with Charlotte Monday night. We went to Chilengoma the other TTC in Chileka. We stayed the night at Chilengoma and left for Lilongwe early in the morning on Tuesday. Chilengoma is also where the HQ is for DAPP in Malawi. The room I stayed in was like a 5-star hotel. It was so much better than the hotel room I stayed in over the weekend of Lawrence’s wedding. I couldn’t believe it. The bed was great and the best thing of all…hot water! The shower had hot and cold water, I was so shocked I didn’t know what to do. I turned on the hot water and it shocked me, it shocked me so much I ended up taking a luke warm water shower because hot even warm was just too much. After my great Tuesday morning shower I got dressed and found Lawrence already at the school at 6 am. I checked facebook and a few emails before we had to go, it was great not only does the Chilengoma TTC have hot water and comfortable beds, but it has electricity all the time and GREAT internet. Now I know why Lawrence and Amanda told me that I should go to Chilengoma instead of Amalika. Ha Ha. We were a little delayed from the start of our trip, because we had some unexpected setbacks. One was that Charlotte was going to fly to Lilongwe in the early morning, so she could meet with the Minister of Education before the session of parlament began on Tuesday, but Air Malawi is just about as reliable as you would expect it to be. The told her at 6am when the plan was supposed to leave, that the flight hadn’t taken off yet from where ever it was coming from. Flying in Malawi is on a luck basis. Most of the time you have to wait between 2-4 hours for your flight, if they don’t cancel it all together. So Charlotte came with us, the other setback we had was one of our other passengers Innock had made an il-advised trip into Blantyre without speaking to Charlotte. We spent about an hour waiting and trying to find him. He kept saying I’m only a few minutes away, when eventually we came to find out his taxi has a blown tire and he was actually stuck on the side of the road (I thought it was kind of humorous when we found out where he really was, because he was NEVER going to get to us if we would have continued to wait for him instead of going to find him). After we got all our passengers in we took off an hour and a half late. The drive to Lilongwe takes about 4 hours. I will talk more about the condition later, but one of the really interesting things is that once you have driven for about an hour the road drives right along the Malawian border. On one side of the road is Malawi and on the other side is Mozambique. It is exactly like driving down state line road in Kansas City! I guess the one minor difference is that instead of different color street signs on opposite sides of the road, there are different colored houses. One the Mozambique side all of the houses are gray and painted, and on the Malawi side the houses aren’t painted and are just the mud/clay/brick color which coincidently is all the same color red. I slept for a little bit of the ride, but mostly just stared out my window into beautiful mountains and a never ending blazing sky. The views are constantly breath taking, if for no other reason people should take vacations to remote parts of the world to just enjoy the untouched earth’s beauty. If I never make it back to Malawi, I will miss the wonders of this mystic land. When we got into Lilongwe it was time to work. Charlotte got her meeting rescheduled, Lawrence and the driver went off to the site to meet representatives from the US Embassy, and Innock and I walked around Lilongwe busily running errands. We ate lunch at a place called McDauds. I think the people tried to build the restaurant like McDonalds, but failed miserably. The food was not good and overpriced, and the food wasn’t at all fried so yea it was nothing like McDonalds. After lunch Innock and I walked to an internet café that was on the other side of town. I we had 45 minutes to kill while we were waiting on some pictures to get laminated, but we walked across town when there was an internet café basically next door to where we were so I was little clueless about that decision. On the way back it started to rain, but Innock said “Do you see the people running for shelter? If you don’t then it’s not really raining!” I got what he was saying, but by the time we got back to the copy center I was still soaking wet. Oh well T.I.A (this is Africa) right? Later we met back up with Charlotte and ran some more errands before going back to the hotel. When we got to the hotel we had to order dinner at the front desk, I was famished so I ordered chicken and chips with an extra side of rice. Since I didn’t put in my order till after 5pm, it wasn’t ready until almost 8:15. Let’s just say by the time I got my food I was very visibly frustrated, I almost didn’t eat. I got up to leave and just go to bed when Lawrence said Paul your food is on the table. The lady at the desk said that there were several other orders in front of mine, and that mine was the last to be served for the night. I really didn’t want to hear excuses I just wanted to eat, but excuses or a certain reasons why always come out of someone’s mouth before you get what you’re looking for, and yes it is ten times worse here. People here start sentences with, “well the problem is”, constantly. Ahh, that is frustrating. [On a quick side note I just received my Bday care package from my mom! I was sitting in room reading Dark Star Safari and one of the new comers Hannah knocked on my door with a package for me. I was so happy/excited I wanted to just grab her and kiss her! I don’t know if that would have gone over so well seeing as she is a very nice/ respectful South Korean girl, so I calmly took the package and then gave her a big hug. I opened the package expecting there to be a note from some South African customs agent reading: Sorry my family needed the contents of this package more than you do, better luck next time. But in fact everything was still inside. Today is Monday November 30, so it only took 6 weeks for the package to get to me, but the important thing is that it got here! Thanks so much mom I feel like a little kiddy on Christmas, or like a young Paul Titterington on Halloween(b/c Halloween is my bday, so my neighbors would give me extra candy and other stuff). I am so excited to charge my new computer battery and that I will actually have more than 45 minutes of battery life. I usually hate Mondays, but this Monday has turned out to be a pretty darn good day. Thanks again mom, love you! Oh and as a note to everyone else, I would not suggest sending anything else since this is now my 8th week and now I only have a little over a month left, so I most likely wouldn’t receive anything. So if you have something for me I know I will enjoy it immensely when I get back to the states…now back to paulsadventuresinmalawi] So the day of the Cornerstone presentation finally came, and we got up around 6 and ate an interesting breakfast and set off. We had to stop by the airport and pick up the DAPP Malawi country director Lisbeth Thompson at the airport, but it was on the way so it didn’t set us back at all. After we picked her up we drove out to the building site for the third TTC. The site is in an area called Dowa, I actually really liked where they had chosen the site for this new school. The other two TTCs are far away from almost everything, but this new one was close to a new primary and secondary schools and from across the road towards the horizon you can see the Somalinian/Ethiopian/ Congolese(I think those are all right and there might be more) refugee camp. I like that the students and staff will have the opportunity to work with refugees. I guess you can say I was excited for the future prospects of this school. So once we had arrived we starting setting up the day. We put together as much as we could, while we waited and waited and waited on the contractor to bring out a small generator, a table, and display boards. The function was supposed to start at ten sharp and wouldn’t you know it the contractor and his crew didn’t show up until right at 9:30, I thought Charlotte was going to have a heart attack. I was nervous also, because I didn’t want the ceremony to look sloppy for all the people that were coming. There was supposed to be a DAPP choir to sing for all the guests, that didn’t show up until 10:45, let’s just say Charlotte and Lisbeth were not very happy with them, it was a little embarrassing for all of us. When the contractor’s workers finally got to the site they obnoxiously kept honking their horns, they dropped off the two display boards, one of which that was broken and left honking and laughing, thinking they were making some grand entrance and exit. Lawrence said that they are just boys and these kids have no respect for anything or anybody, which I agree with and have seen on several occasions. Once the guests started to arrive and the ceremony started it was quick and efficient. It was a nice one hour ceremony, because that was all the time the US Ambassador could spare. I got to chat with him a little about Thanksgiving and I also got to meet a representative from the Finnish (Finland) consulot (sp). I really enjoyed talking to this lady she was very nice and very curious about me. It was the first time that someone had shown genuine interest about who I was and what I was doing since I had gotten here, well besides Charlotte. At the end of the ceremony I helped the Ambassador plant a tree and then there were refreshments. At some point on this cloudy morning the sun had popped out for just about an hour. During that hour it roasted me like your Thanksgiving turkey. I haven’t had that bad of sun burn in a few years. The only good thing that comes out of this sun burn is that I should have a great tan when I get back to the states, well at least a great farmer’s tan, because it’s kind of disrespectful to take off your shirt to even out your tan lines down here.
On Monday I found out that there was a cornerstone event at the new TTC In Dowa on Wednesday. I was also informed that I would be attending with Lawrence. We would be the Planet Aid representatives at the event. Upon hearing the news I was very excited, because if for no other reason, I would finally get to meet at least one American! That American, which I did meet and I was able to have a brief, but nice conversation with, was the US Ambassador to Malawi, Peter Bodde. Life is funny sometimes huh? I have been trying to meet an American for two months and coincidently the first one I do meet is the second most important American in Malawi. I say second, because if you asked any Malawian who the most famous/ important American is they would all tell you Madonna. Now I don’t have very good feelings towards Madonna and her NGO Raising Malawi, because she is essentially buying her love from the people, but that is the way things are done down here and even if you don’t like it you just have to except it. If you ask me, Peter Bodde is the most influential American in Malawi and I felt very blessed that I was able to meet him and hear how he felt about DAPP, Planet Aid, and Humana People to People. He was very impressed with the work DAPP is doing and has done in Malawi. He said that he likes working with DAPP, because they get the job done and are thinking about the future. It was really nice for me to hear what he thought on a personal level. It was also nice to hear the US Ambassador support organizations that are constantly criticized and called names in the USA. He basically said the same thing that I tell people when they ask me about it, he talked about how if the money being donated wasn’t going to the right places, then the US government wouldn’t be giving millions of dollars to these organizations.
So on Monday during the day we had the worst or best (depending on how you look at it) rain storms since I had gotten here. Because of these rains I left with Charlotte Monday night. We went to Chilengoma the other TTC in Chileka. We stayed the night at Chilengoma and left for Lilongwe early in the morning on Tuesday. Chilengoma is also where the HQ is for DAPP in Malawi. The room I stayed in was like a 5-star hotel. It was so much better than the hotel room I stayed in over the weekend of Lawrence’s wedding. I couldn’t believe it. The bed was great and the best thing of all…hot water! The shower had hot and cold water, I was so shocked I didn’t know what to do. I turned on the hot water and it shocked me, it shocked me so much I ended up taking a luke warm water shower because hot even warm was just too much. After my great Tuesday morning shower I got dressed and found Lawrence already at the school at 6 am. I checked facebook and a few emails before we had to go, it was great not only does the Chilengoma TTC have hot water and comfortable beds, but it has electricity all the time and GREAT internet. Now I know why Lawrence and Amanda told me that I should go to Chilengoma instead of Amalika. Ha Ha. We were a little delayed from the start of our trip, because we had some unexpected setbacks. One was that Charlotte was going to fly to Lilongwe in the early morning, so she could meet with the Minister of Education before the session of parlament began on Tuesday, but Air Malawi is just about as reliable as you would expect it to be. The told her at 6am when the plan was supposed to leave, that the flight hadn’t taken off yet from where ever it was coming from. Flying in Malawi is on a luck basis. Most of the time you have to wait between 2-4 hours for your flight, if they don’t cancel it all together. So Charlotte came with us, the other setback we had was one of our other passengers Innock had made an il-advised trip into Blantyre without speaking to Charlotte. We spent about an hour waiting and trying to find him. He kept saying I’m only a few minutes away, when eventually we came to find out his taxi has a blown tire and he was actually stuck on the side of the road (I thought it was kind of humorous when we found out where he really was, because he was NEVER going to get to us if we would have continued to wait for him instead of going to find him). After we got all our passengers in we took off an hour and a half late. The drive to Lilongwe takes about 4 hours. I will talk more about the condition later, but one of the really interesting things is that once you have driven for about an hour the road drives right along the Malawian border. On one side of the road is Malawi and on the other side is Mozambique. It is exactly like driving down state line road in Kansas City! I guess the one minor difference is that instead of different color street signs on opposite sides of the road, there are different colored houses. One the Mozambique side all of the houses are gray and painted, and on the Malawi side the houses aren’t painted and are just the mud/clay/brick color which coincidently is all the same color red. I slept for a little bit of the ride, but mostly just stared out my window into beautiful mountains and a never ending blazing sky. The views are constantly breath taking, if for no other reason people should take vacations to remote parts of the world to just enjoy the untouched earth’s beauty. If I never make it back to Malawi, I will miss the wonders of this mystic land. When we got into Lilongwe it was time to work. Charlotte got her meeting rescheduled, Lawrence and the driver went off to the site to meet representatives from the US Embassy, and Innock and I walked around Lilongwe busily running errands. We ate lunch at a place called McDauds. I think the people tried to build the restaurant like McDonalds, but failed miserably. The food was not good and overpriced, and the food wasn’t at all fried so yea it was nothing like McDonalds. After lunch Innock and I walked to an internet café that was on the other side of town. I we had 45 minutes to kill while we were waiting on some pictures to get laminated, but we walked across town when there was an internet café basically next door to where we were so I was little clueless about that decision. On the way back it started to rain, but Innock said “Do you see the people running for shelter? If you don’t then it’s not really raining!” I got what he was saying, but by the time we got back to the copy center I was still soaking wet. Oh well T.I.A (this is Africa) right? Later we met back up with Charlotte and ran some more errands before going back to the hotel. When we got to the hotel we had to order dinner at the front desk, I was famished so I ordered chicken and chips with an extra side of rice. Since I didn’t put in my order till after 5pm, it wasn’t ready until almost 8:15. Let’s just say by the time I got my food I was very visibly frustrated, I almost didn’t eat. I got up to leave and just go to bed when Lawrence said Paul your food is on the table. The lady at the desk said that there were several other orders in front of mine, and that mine was the last to be served for the night. I really didn’t want to hear excuses I just wanted to eat, but excuses or a certain reasons why always come out of someone’s mouth before you get what you’re looking for, and yes it is ten times worse here. People here start sentences with, “well the problem is”, constantly. Ahh, that is frustrating. [On a quick side note I just received my Bday care package from my mom! I was sitting in room reading Dark Star Safari and one of the new comers Hannah knocked on my door with a package for me. I was so happy/excited I wanted to just grab her and kiss her! I don’t know if that would have gone over so well seeing as she is a very nice/ respectful South Korean girl, so I calmly took the package and then gave her a big hug. I opened the package expecting there to be a note from some South African customs agent reading: Sorry my family needed the contents of this package more than you do, better luck next time. But in fact everything was still inside. Today is Monday November 30, so it only took 6 weeks for the package to get to me, but the important thing is that it got here! Thanks so much mom I feel like a little kiddy on Christmas, or like a young Paul Titterington on Halloween(b/c Halloween is my bday, so my neighbors would give me extra candy and other stuff). I am so excited to charge my new computer battery and that I will actually have more than 45 minutes of battery life. I usually hate Mondays, but this Monday has turned out to be a pretty darn good day. Thanks again mom, love you! Oh and as a note to everyone else, I would not suggest sending anything else since this is now my 8th week and now I only have a little over a month left, so I most likely wouldn’t receive anything. So if you have something for me I know I will enjoy it immensely when I get back to the states…now back to paulsadventuresinmalawi] So the day of the Cornerstone presentation finally came, and we got up around 6 and ate an interesting breakfast and set off. We had to stop by the airport and pick up the DAPP Malawi country director Lisbeth Thompson at the airport, but it was on the way so it didn’t set us back at all. After we picked her up we drove out to the building site for the third TTC. The site is in an area called Dowa, I actually really liked where they had chosen the site for this new school. The other two TTCs are far away from almost everything, but this new one was close to a new primary and secondary schools and from across the road towards the horizon you can see the Somalinian/Ethiopian/ Congolese(I think those are all right and there might be more) refugee camp. I like that the students and staff will have the opportunity to work with refugees. I guess you can say I was excited for the future prospects of this school. So once we had arrived we starting setting up the day. We put together as much as we could, while we waited and waited and waited on the contractor to bring out a small generator, a table, and display boards. The function was supposed to start at ten sharp and wouldn’t you know it the contractor and his crew didn’t show up until right at 9:30, I thought Charlotte was going to have a heart attack. I was nervous also, because I didn’t want the ceremony to look sloppy for all the people that were coming. There was supposed to be a DAPP choir to sing for all the guests, that didn’t show up until 10:45, let’s just say Charlotte and Lisbeth were not very happy with them, it was a little embarrassing for all of us. When the contractor’s workers finally got to the site they obnoxiously kept honking their horns, they dropped off the two display boards, one of which that was broken and left honking and laughing, thinking they were making some grand entrance and exit. Lawrence said that they are just boys and these kids have no respect for anything or anybody, which I agree with and have seen on several occasions. Once the guests started to arrive and the ceremony started it was quick and efficient. It was a nice one hour ceremony, because that was all the time the US Ambassador could spare. I got to chat with him a little about Thanksgiving and I also got to meet a representative from the Finnish (Finland) consulot (sp). I really enjoyed talking to this lady she was very nice and very curious about me. It was the first time that someone had shown genuine interest about who I was and what I was doing since I had gotten here, well besides Charlotte. At the end of the ceremony I helped the Ambassador plant a tree and then there were refreshments. At some point on this cloudy morning the sun had popped out for just about an hour. During that hour it roasted me like your Thanksgiving turkey. I haven’t had that bad of sun burn in a few years. The only good thing that comes out of this sun burn is that I should have a great tan when I get back to the states, well at least a great farmer’s tan, because it’s kind of disrespectful to take off your shirt to even out your tan lines down here.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday Funday?
Sunday Funday?
So Sunday started off just as I had hoped. Hannah, Aumi, and I got the school car very early and it took us to Bvombwe market, where we had to take connecting mini-buses to Shoprite. We had breakfast and did a little shopping; I could tell that Hannah and Aumi were very happy to get a few necessities before the beginning of their first week. I talked to Lawrence, early in the week we had talked about going to a game reserve. He said that his family was planning on going, so there would be room in the car for me, but not my two new friends, so I said we will have to go another time, because I couldn’t leave Hannah and Aumi alone in Blantyre on their fourth day in Malawi. After we were done at Shoprite we took a mini-bus to limbe and then got in a mini-bus that looked like a nice bus, but boy was I wrong. On the outside it looked newish which is very rare here. We got in and I immediately knew I had picked the wrong bus, don’t judge a book by its cover was a popular moral in grade school, but it is a harsh reality in a third world country. Needless to say the bus broke down 3 times, before finally running out of gas less than half way to our expected destination. Two months ago this would have really frustrated me. I also would have probably freaked out a little, but at the time I just thought “oh well, this is Malawi”. We waited for another mini-bus to come by and pick us up for about 30 minutes. Since it was Sunday and there is a major fuel crisis there was only one bus in that 30 minutes that stopped, and since my two new friends didn’t know that you can’t just wait in line here, that if you want to be on that bus you have to take someone’s seat… we missed the bus. After that bus pulled away, I thought oh well lets hoof it. I would say it was about 100 degrees and the sun was beating down on us, and we walked a good 5K probably more to one of the teacher’s houses. That teacher Maiyse had invited me to come to his house at some point and now seemed as good a time as any. Right as we got to the turn off for his house, it started pouring. The rain was coming down like a hurricane. It was nuts, I took some great pictures and I quick camera video of it all from Maiyse’s house. We had to call the school car to come get us from Maiyse’s house. This was really the only option for us and it was good that the car or truck I should say was already in the area dropping off other teachers. When the truck came and got us the rain started to die down, which was a very good thing for the people that were outside. I guess it was even a very good thing for people that were inside, because it seems like just about everywhere you go, no roof that I have seen so far can hold up against this rain. Even the ceiling at the super market leaks when it is raining. When you look at it from an outsider’s perspective, when you put the rain up against something man made in Malawi, the rain always wins. Anyways, when the truck got of the high way and turned onto the dirt road that goes to the school, we had some problems. With the amount of rain that came down, even in only an hour or two the road had transformed into a mud slid. The driver quickly turned on four wheel drive and unlocked the front wheels, but it really didn’t matter. We were slipping and sliding all over the road. We were completely at the mercy of the road. It was like driving on solid ICE with absolutely no traction. The truck was just fish tailing back and forth. The driver and other passengers were a little nervous/ scared, but I was kind of excited. I don’t know why, but I actually thought the drive was fun. Yes, our car could have gone into a ditch at any time, or spun off the road doing one of a hundred things, but I still was like a little kid on a rollercoaster and I couldn’t hide it either. It was the most fun I have had on a drive since I have been in Malawi. Most of the time I’m just hoping the car or mini-bus I’m in doesn’t crash and kill everyone inside, but when it came to the mud, I felt alive. Once we got to the college, all the mud turned back into dirt, because even though less than 1 kilometer away there had been torrential down pours, Amalika hadn’t gotten a drop of rain. That’s just how life is out here in the bush. After I got back, I ran to my room and did some much needed laundry. I have started doing my laundry in the stream about 120 yards from my room. I still am skeptical about bathing with that water, but my uncle Frank(best doctor in the Midwest for those of you that were wondering about his qualifications) told me as long as I don’t get it in my eyes, ears, nose, or mouth that bathing shouldn’t be a problem, so I took that advice as saying it would be ok to do my laundry in; and so far it has worked out great.
So Sunday started off just as I had hoped. Hannah, Aumi, and I got the school car very early and it took us to Bvombwe market, where we had to take connecting mini-buses to Shoprite. We had breakfast and did a little shopping; I could tell that Hannah and Aumi were very happy to get a few necessities before the beginning of their first week. I talked to Lawrence, early in the week we had talked about going to a game reserve. He said that his family was planning on going, so there would be room in the car for me, but not my two new friends, so I said we will have to go another time, because I couldn’t leave Hannah and Aumi alone in Blantyre on their fourth day in Malawi. After we were done at Shoprite we took a mini-bus to limbe and then got in a mini-bus that looked like a nice bus, but boy was I wrong. On the outside it looked newish which is very rare here. We got in and I immediately knew I had picked the wrong bus, don’t judge a book by its cover was a popular moral in grade school, but it is a harsh reality in a third world country. Needless to say the bus broke down 3 times, before finally running out of gas less than half way to our expected destination. Two months ago this would have really frustrated me. I also would have probably freaked out a little, but at the time I just thought “oh well, this is Malawi”. We waited for another mini-bus to come by and pick us up for about 30 minutes. Since it was Sunday and there is a major fuel crisis there was only one bus in that 30 minutes that stopped, and since my two new friends didn’t know that you can’t just wait in line here, that if you want to be on that bus you have to take someone’s seat… we missed the bus. After that bus pulled away, I thought oh well lets hoof it. I would say it was about 100 degrees and the sun was beating down on us, and we walked a good 5K probably more to one of the teacher’s houses. That teacher Maiyse had invited me to come to his house at some point and now seemed as good a time as any. Right as we got to the turn off for his house, it started pouring. The rain was coming down like a hurricane. It was nuts, I took some great pictures and I quick camera video of it all from Maiyse’s house. We had to call the school car to come get us from Maiyse’s house. This was really the only option for us and it was good that the car or truck I should say was already in the area dropping off other teachers. When the truck came and got us the rain started to die down, which was a very good thing for the people that were outside. I guess it was even a very good thing for people that were inside, because it seems like just about everywhere you go, no roof that I have seen so far can hold up against this rain. Even the ceiling at the super market leaks when it is raining. When you look at it from an outsider’s perspective, when you put the rain up against something man made in Malawi, the rain always wins. Anyways, when the truck got of the high way and turned onto the dirt road that goes to the school, we had some problems. With the amount of rain that came down, even in only an hour or two the road had transformed into a mud slid. The driver quickly turned on four wheel drive and unlocked the front wheels, but it really didn’t matter. We were slipping and sliding all over the road. We were completely at the mercy of the road. It was like driving on solid ICE with absolutely no traction. The truck was just fish tailing back and forth. The driver and other passengers were a little nervous/ scared, but I was kind of excited. I don’t know why, but I actually thought the drive was fun. Yes, our car could have gone into a ditch at any time, or spun off the road doing one of a hundred things, but I still was like a little kid on a rollercoaster and I couldn’t hide it either. It was the most fun I have had on a drive since I have been in Malawi. Most of the time I’m just hoping the car or mini-bus I’m in doesn’t crash and kill everyone inside, but when it came to the mud, I felt alive. Once we got to the college, all the mud turned back into dirt, because even though less than 1 kilometer away there had been torrential down pours, Amalika hadn’t gotten a drop of rain. That’s just how life is out here in the bush. After I got back, I ran to my room and did some much needed laundry. I have started doing my laundry in the stream about 120 yards from my room. I still am skeptical about bathing with that water, but my uncle Frank(best doctor in the Midwest for those of you that were wondering about his qualifications) told me as long as I don’t get it in my eyes, ears, nose, or mouth that bathing shouldn’t be a problem, so I took that advice as saying it would be ok to do my laundry in; and so far it has worked out great.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Nov 21
Is it bad that I am happy that I will never have to teach my English class again? We had our final party yesterday (I had to promise them I would throw them a party if they actually came to class for the rest of the term, the joke was on me when the project leader shortened their term by two weeks). The class took their final exams on Thursday and can you believe it they all passed! They all passed because it was a pass/fail test with the fail line set at 50%. I was a little disappointed in the classes overall exam scores, but the ones who truly never came to class and just don’t care that much were the ones at the bottom and there was a clear separation between them and the students who actually tried. I passed back their exams right before the party and the ones who never came to class started to challenge me on some of the answers. In class we had covered certain material like figures of speech and parts of speech. Now you have to realize that I only introduced material that was very simple. A problem from the beginning with this class was that they would find other answers outside of the material that I was teaching and be like “well what about this? This book says this is a type of noun,” or “Paul we found these things when we researched on the internet, not the things you told us”. I tried to explain to the students several times that they could find a million different things on the internet or in different books, but the material that I was teaching them was what they needed to look up and study. I asked one of the students who was challenging me, “where did you learn this?” She replied, “in another class”. I am seriously worried about some of these students. On December 7, they start their student teaching term for 11 months, and some of them can’t understand why they got marked down for answers that weren’t covered in class, and WEREN’T ON THE EXAM STUDY GUIDE I MADE FOR THEM THAT HIGHLIGHTED WHAT MATERIAL WAS GOING TO BE ON THE EXAM. Ahhhhh!!!! I wanted to walk out of the classroom and scream after this brief exchange. At the end of the party they students thanked me for teaching and said that they would never forget my kindness and generosity, then they asked me to say a few words. All I could think of was a couple of things that I had wanted to say to the 5 of them that actually tried hard and came to class, the ones that will be great teachers and will help develop the educational system in Malawi. I said that I applauded them for what they are doing and the thanks should be given to them. Good teachers are so important to the growth of Malawi and the rest of the world, after telling them how I felt blessed to have the chance to work with them, I challenged them to always work hard and push themselves every day. Like I was saying before, I wanted to say these words to 5 maybe 6 of the 10 students. I really do believe they can help make a difference in so many children’s lives, and people’s lives in the surrounding villages for that matter. The other students, I wanted to give them an entirely different speech, that might have made them remember me in a slightly different light, but after I had some time to cool off, I realize now that if those students don’t change their act very soon then they won’t be teachers. The system will spit them out just as quick as it let them in. Malawi is looking for real teachers, not wannabes that are just looking for the next paycheck. Just when I was starting to think that all hope was lost for not just these few students, but the majority of the class…!!!BAM!!! A renewed since of hope popped up and hit me in the jaw! A since of hope and encouragement that came from 2 students later that night who I had a discussion with about 9/11 and GITMO. They were curious about GITMO and how the events of 9/11 affected GITMO. I went over some facts with them and then we had a great talk about the Middle East. I was shocked at how informed and intellectually challenging the students were about certain issues. The hour that we spent together renewed my faith that there are one a few bad apples in this bunch. Most of these students are going to be great teachers.
A few corrections from previous posts:
The Malawian gov’t had to borrow $50 million dollars to solve the gas problem
The play that I saw at BAF was called The Frogs, it was an adaptation of Aristophanes’ The Frogs and it was performed by NANZIKAMBE.
The two new DIs have arrived. They are Hannah from South Korea and Aumi (I know I spelled that wrong, but her name sounds like (I-U-ME)) from Japan. They got in last night, and wouldn’t you know it the water pump is broken again, so there has been no water for 3 days. I feel really bad for them that there is no water. I can imagine how I would have felt it there was no water when I got here.
Obama
The people here love that a black man is the president of the United States, but they don’t understand that I love that Obama is the president of the United States. They look at me like I just insulted their mothers when I say that I voted for Obama or when I say Obama is my president. One of the students that I discussed GITMO with asked me, how does it feel to be ruled by a black man? I kind of shook my head a little and said a president is not a ruler, my president, your president are our leaders. I tried to explain that a president in a democracy is not like a king or dictator, but a leader of the people. This is something I will have to further discuss with the students in a larger group discussion. Speaking of Obama, I ate my first piece of Obama bread today. It was really good, I joked with a few other teachers that Obama was giving me strength to be here at Amalika. So I should probably explain to you about this bread situation, there isn’t an actual bread that’s name is Obama bread. The people here have given nicknames to the two main types of bread here in Malawi. There is Obama bread which is big and soft and tastes very good, and there is Osama bread that is small and very hard. So the people say Obama bread is for everybody so it is better than Osama bread.
Rain
The rains have officially started. It rained a few times this past week, all of Friday night, and now we are have a huge storm as I write. I took Aumi and Hannah on a walk today and as we got to the first pre-school I wanted to show them I could see the sky starting to get gray and black, so we turned back towards Amalika. It was crazy, as we walked the storm just stalked us. Every step it felt like the storm was getting closer behind us, but when I would turn back to look at it, it looked like it was still a mile away. Then right as we got to the make shift bridge where we cross over a stream I turned around and the storm was right on top of us. The sky swelled with dark ominous clouds and it started pouring. I had a blast in the rain. I wasn’t actually in the rain, but I had a blast during the rain storm, I actually made very good use of my time. I filled up a bucket with water so I could flush my toilet, I filled up a five liter jug and 2 one liter jugs so I can shower for the next few days, and I used the time and extra water that the sky gave us to mop the crap out of my floor. I mopped my room floor like 5 times until it was immaculate. I was very proud of myself, I accomplished a lot… it was a very eventful day. Tomorrow I will go into town in the morning with Aumi and Hannah. Hopefully the money exchange place will be open on Sunday. I need to also pick up a few things at shop-rite since the party pretty much cleaned out my stash of snacks. I hope to meet up with Lawrence and Grisham tomorrow, but we will just have to see. Water is my main concern so it is great when I am able to get a ride home from them b/c then I can buy mass quantities of drinking water. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that the car will be on time and we can get into town in the morning, but only time can tell.
P.S. Dear Titterington Family, i love you all, but could you please take me off the list serv for messages like "thanksgiving menu an count". My Thanksgiving will consist of Nsima and maybe beans...if i'm lucky.
Is it bad that I am happy that I will never have to teach my English class again? We had our final party yesterday (I had to promise them I would throw them a party if they actually came to class for the rest of the term, the joke was on me when the project leader shortened their term by two weeks). The class took their final exams on Thursday and can you believe it they all passed! They all passed because it was a pass/fail test with the fail line set at 50%. I was a little disappointed in the classes overall exam scores, but the ones who truly never came to class and just don’t care that much were the ones at the bottom and there was a clear separation between them and the students who actually tried. I passed back their exams right before the party and the ones who never came to class started to challenge me on some of the answers. In class we had covered certain material like figures of speech and parts of speech. Now you have to realize that I only introduced material that was very simple. A problem from the beginning with this class was that they would find other answers outside of the material that I was teaching and be like “well what about this? This book says this is a type of noun,” or “Paul we found these things when we researched on the internet, not the things you told us”. I tried to explain to the students several times that they could find a million different things on the internet or in different books, but the material that I was teaching them was what they needed to look up and study. I asked one of the students who was challenging me, “where did you learn this?” She replied, “in another class”. I am seriously worried about some of these students. On December 7, they start their student teaching term for 11 months, and some of them can’t understand why they got marked down for answers that weren’t covered in class, and WEREN’T ON THE EXAM STUDY GUIDE I MADE FOR THEM THAT HIGHLIGHTED WHAT MATERIAL WAS GOING TO BE ON THE EXAM. Ahhhhh!!!! I wanted to walk out of the classroom and scream after this brief exchange. At the end of the party they students thanked me for teaching and said that they would never forget my kindness and generosity, then they asked me to say a few words. All I could think of was a couple of things that I had wanted to say to the 5 of them that actually tried hard and came to class, the ones that will be great teachers and will help develop the educational system in Malawi. I said that I applauded them for what they are doing and the thanks should be given to them. Good teachers are so important to the growth of Malawi and the rest of the world, after telling them how I felt blessed to have the chance to work with them, I challenged them to always work hard and push themselves every day. Like I was saying before, I wanted to say these words to 5 maybe 6 of the 10 students. I really do believe they can help make a difference in so many children’s lives, and people’s lives in the surrounding villages for that matter. The other students, I wanted to give them an entirely different speech, that might have made them remember me in a slightly different light, but after I had some time to cool off, I realize now that if those students don’t change their act very soon then they won’t be teachers. The system will spit them out just as quick as it let them in. Malawi is looking for real teachers, not wannabes that are just looking for the next paycheck. Just when I was starting to think that all hope was lost for not just these few students, but the majority of the class…!!!BAM!!! A renewed since of hope popped up and hit me in the jaw! A since of hope and encouragement that came from 2 students later that night who I had a discussion with about 9/11 and GITMO. They were curious about GITMO and how the events of 9/11 affected GITMO. I went over some facts with them and then we had a great talk about the Middle East. I was shocked at how informed and intellectually challenging the students were about certain issues. The hour that we spent together renewed my faith that there are one a few bad apples in this bunch. Most of these students are going to be great teachers.
A few corrections from previous posts:
The Malawian gov’t had to borrow $50 million dollars to solve the gas problem
The play that I saw at BAF was called The Frogs, it was an adaptation of Aristophanes’ The Frogs and it was performed by NANZIKAMBE.
The two new DIs have arrived. They are Hannah from South Korea and Aumi (I know I spelled that wrong, but her name sounds like (I-U-ME)) from Japan. They got in last night, and wouldn’t you know it the water pump is broken again, so there has been no water for 3 days. I feel really bad for them that there is no water. I can imagine how I would have felt it there was no water when I got here.
Obama
The people here love that a black man is the president of the United States, but they don’t understand that I love that Obama is the president of the United States. They look at me like I just insulted their mothers when I say that I voted for Obama or when I say Obama is my president. One of the students that I discussed GITMO with asked me, how does it feel to be ruled by a black man? I kind of shook my head a little and said a president is not a ruler, my president, your president are our leaders. I tried to explain that a president in a democracy is not like a king or dictator, but a leader of the people. This is something I will have to further discuss with the students in a larger group discussion. Speaking of Obama, I ate my first piece of Obama bread today. It was really good, I joked with a few other teachers that Obama was giving me strength to be here at Amalika. So I should probably explain to you about this bread situation, there isn’t an actual bread that’s name is Obama bread. The people here have given nicknames to the two main types of bread here in Malawi. There is Obama bread which is big and soft and tastes very good, and there is Osama bread that is small and very hard. So the people say Obama bread is for everybody so it is better than Osama bread.
Rain
The rains have officially started. It rained a few times this past week, all of Friday night, and now we are have a huge storm as I write. I took Aumi and Hannah on a walk today and as we got to the first pre-school I wanted to show them I could see the sky starting to get gray and black, so we turned back towards Amalika. It was crazy, as we walked the storm just stalked us. Every step it felt like the storm was getting closer behind us, but when I would turn back to look at it, it looked like it was still a mile away. Then right as we got to the make shift bridge where we cross over a stream I turned around and the storm was right on top of us. The sky swelled with dark ominous clouds and it started pouring. I had a blast in the rain. I wasn’t actually in the rain, but I had a blast during the rain storm, I actually made very good use of my time. I filled up a bucket with water so I could flush my toilet, I filled up a five liter jug and 2 one liter jugs so I can shower for the next few days, and I used the time and extra water that the sky gave us to mop the crap out of my floor. I mopped my room floor like 5 times until it was immaculate. I was very proud of myself, I accomplished a lot… it was a very eventful day. Tomorrow I will go into town in the morning with Aumi and Hannah. Hopefully the money exchange place will be open on Sunday. I need to also pick up a few things at shop-rite since the party pretty much cleaned out my stash of snacks. I hope to meet up with Lawrence and Grisham tomorrow, but we will just have to see. Water is my main concern so it is great when I am able to get a ride home from them b/c then I can buy mass quantities of drinking water. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that the car will be on time and we can get into town in the morning, but only time can tell.
P.S. Dear Titterington Family, i love you all, but could you please take me off the list serv for messages like "thanksgiving menu an count". My Thanksgiving will consist of Nsima and maybe beans...if i'm lucky.
Monday, November 16, 2009
This and that
So over the past few weeks there has been a major fuel crisis in Malawi. It is more of a diesel crisis and it has affected everything. Outside every gas station that has diesel there is a line of cars/trucks and people that easily stretches ½ mile; but if you’re willing to pay that right price to bribe the gas attendant, you can leave you container and come back in a few hours to get it. The whole bribery system here is getting ridiculous. I mean you can’t go more than a few miles without seeing a policeman taking a bribe from a mini-bus driver or the gas attendant taking a bribe to let someone skip out on waiting in the 10 hour diesel line. Yep that’s right folks, on average the people in line are waiting ten hours to buy gas. Sometimes we get impatient when we have to wait for ten minutes in the McDonald’s drive thru, can you even imagine waiting in line for ten hours to buy gas? Well, don’t worry I couldn’t either. I see the people in line, but I really doubt I could do it. The gas attendants would probably try to charge me more too; they would say “no this is the myzungu price for gas”. Ahhhhh! Is it sad that I can visualize that scenario in my head? The problem is coming from the fact that the Malawian government doesn’t have the money to buy gas. This seems kind of funny to me, not b/c I’m an American and we don’t have to worry about this sort of thing, but because two weeks before there was a big article in the Blantyre papers about how the President just bought a private jet for himself. I mean the jet only cost 2 billion kwacha. This situation is funny because it’s like any person in the world that lives way above their income level, and at the same time has terrible credit and a mountain of debt. I mean I went to a music and arts festival in Blantyre last weekend and it was sponsored by the German Embassy! I mean come on, they have a sponsor for everything here, so when anyone gets a good some of money they go out and spend it on something luxurious. I guarantee you that the president could have kept that 12.5 million us dollars and saved it for something important (like gas for the country) and some first world country’s embassy or international aid organization would have donated a jet to the Malawian government in less than 6 months. So instead the Malawian government had to borrow like 15 million dollars to buy gas so the country can go back to normal. By the way, with a shortage of diesel that means there will be a shortage of water. I have been doing fine on personal water intake, but the villages around us have been really struggling to get water.
Last Thursday I got to see some of the country on a trip to visit two pedagogical workshops being built at primary schools in rural areas. I went with a couple people from the school and a woman from the DAPP office in Blantyre. On the way we passed mulangie(sorry my spelling is so wrong) and I got another great reminder about the little beautiful things Malawi has to offer. Mulangie Mountain is the highest peak in Malawi. I don’t know how tall it is, but I could see the top while driving, so I’m thinking not very high. Anyways, I was captivated by how beautiful the mountain and landscape were. There was a luscious flourishing green forest covering the entire mountain! I was so excited to see all the trees together, the view was mystical. The forest was untouched; I was actually in shock that the people hadn’t ravaged this land as well. Then I remembered that Malawians believe that part of the mountain is cursed so that is probably the reason none of the trees have been cut down. The sky was so clear while we were driving by the mountain. The clouds looked like they were right above the car, they looked so close, close enough for you to reach you arm out the window and grab a big, white, fluffy clump of them right out of the clear blue sky. A kind of weird way to describe the view is just to say it was pure and untouched. I can imagine being on that road 100 years ago and everything looking the exact same way. There isn’t much if anything I can say that about in the US, but this mountain looked like it had just been on its own for a very long time. I wrote some words in my notebook while I was looking at the mountain that might really help you visualize what I am trying to say. “The forests look like one of David’s (my cousin David) paintings. All the perfect blotches of different shades of green mixed together in such a crazy way, the combination of colors makes you want to just stare at it for hours and just see if maybe you can find a hidden Buddha in its amazing beauty.”
This past weekend I went into Blantyre again. It was more of a work oriented weekend for me. I went to the DAPP country office and worked on a study guide for the English students , their final English exam, and the rough draft of a primary school survey I am making for the primary schools around our college. I worked for most of the day on Friday and on Saturday from 8-1. All I wanted to do was join in on the festivities in Manhattan, but I was 10,000 miles away! Plus I never know what happens until Sunday night or Monday morning. I mean yes I could call home and find out, but my mom feels it is necessary to tell me about what the KU basketball team is doing when I talk to her. Needless to say I would rather wait an extra day or two until I could find out on my own. Like I said before I went to the a music and art festival called the Blantyre Arts Festival. I went with Chihiro and we met another DI there. The other DI was Valentina from Italy, and it was the first time we had the chance to meet. She works at the other TTC at Chilengoma. We were at the festival for a few hours and i got to see Lucious Banda, one of the more popular reggae singers in Malawi and a play put on by an acting troop called The Frogs. The play was put on to challenge the people of Malawi to stand up for themselves and do things together. I had heard that drama was a very popular way to get politically and community development messages across, but I didn’t think I would have the opportunity to actually see one of these plays. It was actually very good and I enjoyed it immensely. Both nights I stayed with Lawrence at his house and both nights were terribly hot. Friday night was so hot that I couldn’t get to sleep until 3 am. I stayed awake with Grisham and watched Transformers 2 and Inglorious Bastards, both of which were very good movies. Sleeping in Blantyre is like sweating out a fever. You wake up 5+ times a night sweating profusely, at least once needing to change your sweat soaked shirt and you can’t wait for the morning to come so maybe you can cool off a little bit. On Saturday I got to bed around 11, but still had trouble sleeping because of the heat. Although it is dreadfully hot when I sleep at Lawrence’s house, I don’t mind for a few reasons. The first being because I actually have people to talk to when I’m there. His family treats me like I’m a part of their family which is great and I can actually have conversations with Lawrence, Grisham, and Prisca. I think I could talk to Lawrence’s brother Jonathon too, but he is a very quiet guy, so we don’t talk much. The other great thing besides great people is ice cold water. Now I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right I am being selfish and probably spoiled, but being able to wake up to a glass of cold water is so refreshing. Their house has electricity, so they have a fridge and freezer that runs constantly and after a long hot week at Amalika with warm or hot water 90% of the time, a glass of frosty H2O might possibly be the best thing on the planet!
On a sad note, Young the DI from South Korea left today. Her 6 month tour of duty is over and she is headed back to her school and then home. I will miss her very much. This is my 6th week. I am almost half way there and it was great to have my first 6 weeks with someone that had been here for 4+ months. She taught me a lot about the students and the school itself. Young and Chihiro have acted like two older sisters for me since I have gotten here. They have showed me around and gotten me little things that I was in desperate need of. Things like a blanket and mattress slip cover, also a little hand held mirror for when I put my contacts in. I used the reflection of my camera and computer screen for over 2 weeks before they hooked me up. It was very sad to see young go, it was sad for several reasons a couple being that unless we meet while traveling odds are that we will never physically see each other again, and more importantly I felt like we were on the same page on so many things. Although she had been here for a lot longer than me, I felt like we shared common feelings on a lot of the different issues, topics, and concerns about the project and people here. I guess one isn’t more important than the other, but I am sad to see her go. I am also happy for her, because it was time for her to move on. Now with Alberto and Young gone, in the next few days there will be 2 new DIs coming. One from South Korea and one from Japan. Hopefully I will get to know them like I have gotten to know Chihiro and Young, but only time will tell. Good luck Young!
Last Thursday I got to see some of the country on a trip to visit two pedagogical workshops being built at primary schools in rural areas. I went with a couple people from the school and a woman from the DAPP office in Blantyre. On the way we passed mulangie(sorry my spelling is so wrong) and I got another great reminder about the little beautiful things Malawi has to offer. Mulangie Mountain is the highest peak in Malawi. I don’t know how tall it is, but I could see the top while driving, so I’m thinking not very high. Anyways, I was captivated by how beautiful the mountain and landscape were. There was a luscious flourishing green forest covering the entire mountain! I was so excited to see all the trees together, the view was mystical. The forest was untouched; I was actually in shock that the people hadn’t ravaged this land as well. Then I remembered that Malawians believe that part of the mountain is cursed so that is probably the reason none of the trees have been cut down. The sky was so clear while we were driving by the mountain. The clouds looked like they were right above the car, they looked so close, close enough for you to reach you arm out the window and grab a big, white, fluffy clump of them right out of the clear blue sky. A kind of weird way to describe the view is just to say it was pure and untouched. I can imagine being on that road 100 years ago and everything looking the exact same way. There isn’t much if anything I can say that about in the US, but this mountain looked like it had just been on its own for a very long time. I wrote some words in my notebook while I was looking at the mountain that might really help you visualize what I am trying to say. “The forests look like one of David’s (my cousin David) paintings. All the perfect blotches of different shades of green mixed together in such a crazy way, the combination of colors makes you want to just stare at it for hours and just see if maybe you can find a hidden Buddha in its amazing beauty.”
This past weekend I went into Blantyre again. It was more of a work oriented weekend for me. I went to the DAPP country office and worked on a study guide for the English students , their final English exam, and the rough draft of a primary school survey I am making for the primary schools around our college. I worked for most of the day on Friday and on Saturday from 8-1. All I wanted to do was join in on the festivities in Manhattan, but I was 10,000 miles away! Plus I never know what happens until Sunday night or Monday morning. I mean yes I could call home and find out, but my mom feels it is necessary to tell me about what the KU basketball team is doing when I talk to her. Needless to say I would rather wait an extra day or two until I could find out on my own. Like I said before I went to the a music and art festival called the Blantyre Arts Festival. I went with Chihiro and we met another DI there. The other DI was Valentina from Italy, and it was the first time we had the chance to meet. She works at the other TTC at Chilengoma. We were at the festival for a few hours and i got to see Lucious Banda, one of the more popular reggae singers in Malawi and a play put on by an acting troop called The Frogs. The play was put on to challenge the people of Malawi to stand up for themselves and do things together. I had heard that drama was a very popular way to get politically and community development messages across, but I didn’t think I would have the opportunity to actually see one of these plays. It was actually very good and I enjoyed it immensely. Both nights I stayed with Lawrence at his house and both nights were terribly hot. Friday night was so hot that I couldn’t get to sleep until 3 am. I stayed awake with Grisham and watched Transformers 2 and Inglorious Bastards, both of which were very good movies. Sleeping in Blantyre is like sweating out a fever. You wake up 5+ times a night sweating profusely, at least once needing to change your sweat soaked shirt and you can’t wait for the morning to come so maybe you can cool off a little bit. On Saturday I got to bed around 11, but still had trouble sleeping because of the heat. Although it is dreadfully hot when I sleep at Lawrence’s house, I don’t mind for a few reasons. The first being because I actually have people to talk to when I’m there. His family treats me like I’m a part of their family which is great and I can actually have conversations with Lawrence, Grisham, and Prisca. I think I could talk to Lawrence’s brother Jonathon too, but he is a very quiet guy, so we don’t talk much. The other great thing besides great people is ice cold water. Now I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right I am being selfish and probably spoiled, but being able to wake up to a glass of cold water is so refreshing. Their house has electricity, so they have a fridge and freezer that runs constantly and after a long hot week at Amalika with warm or hot water 90% of the time, a glass of frosty H2O might possibly be the best thing on the planet!
On a sad note, Young the DI from South Korea left today. Her 6 month tour of duty is over and she is headed back to her school and then home. I will miss her very much. This is my 6th week. I am almost half way there and it was great to have my first 6 weeks with someone that had been here for 4+ months. She taught me a lot about the students and the school itself. Young and Chihiro have acted like two older sisters for me since I have gotten here. They have showed me around and gotten me little things that I was in desperate need of. Things like a blanket and mattress slip cover, also a little hand held mirror for when I put my contacts in. I used the reflection of my camera and computer screen for over 2 weeks before they hooked me up. It was very sad to see young go, it was sad for several reasons a couple being that unless we meet while traveling odds are that we will never physically see each other again, and more importantly I felt like we were on the same page on so many things. Although she had been here for a lot longer than me, I felt like we shared common feelings on a lot of the different issues, topics, and concerns about the project and people here. I guess one isn’t more important than the other, but I am sad to see her go. I am also happy for her, because it was time for her to move on. Now with Alberto and Young gone, in the next few days there will be 2 new DIs coming. One from South Korea and one from Japan. Hopefully I will get to know them like I have gotten to know Chihiro and Young, but only time will tell. Good luck Young!
November 9
This weekend it was very hot. I know what you’re thinking; it was hot hot in Africa? No way! But this weekend was hot! It was so hot I never stopped sweating, 24 hrs of sweating is too much, too much for anyone. On Monday i was so uncomfortable, I felt like I was drowning in sweat all day. Drowning in your own sweat and suffocating in blistering heat, yep that just about describes my weekend and Monday. For the first time since I have been here I actually needed to rest mid day because the heat was just too much. I slept for a little over an hour during out 2 hour lunch break. I started my stretching and mid day exercises, but as soon as I started profusely sweating I had to stop. I washed off with some of my saved water and immediately starting sweating again. Tomorrow is going to be bad. I am going out with Chihiro and if it is as hot as it has been, it will be an insanely long day. I am excited to go though; Tuesday has become my favorite day of the week. I like getting away from the school and going out into the villages. Although, it bothers me the most when little kids come up to me and all they know how to say in English is “GIVE ME YOUR MONEY NOW”, I do actually like getting out and meeting the elderly people. These people might truly be the nicest people in the world. The beggars in Malawi are relentless, like they are all over Africa. The people who are uneducated and even some that are think that white people are going to give them something. Just yesterday as Lawrence was driving me back to Amalika an old man walked up to my window and demanded money. We were driving through a little market at Tunga and this little old man it tattered clothes walked up to my window and said give me 10, give me 20! I looked at him and shook my head and said no. Lawrence rolled the window down and hell yelled give me 50! Lawrence said something to him in Chechewa and he started to hit and kick the car. Right as Lawrence rolled the window up he spat on the window and continued to hit the side of the car. Now you must realize that giving this man even 100 kwacha would have been less than one dollar, but the amount of money is not the issue. The people here that beg, beg because people give money and food and land and aid all the time. They have become dependent on people’s charity. If the people stop expecting money and other charities from mzungu (whites) and stood up and worked for themselves, Malawi could become a very great and self sustained country.
This weekend it was very hot. I know what you’re thinking; it was hot hot in Africa? No way! But this weekend was hot! It was so hot I never stopped sweating, 24 hrs of sweating is too much, too much for anyone. On Monday i was so uncomfortable, I felt like I was drowning in sweat all day. Drowning in your own sweat and suffocating in blistering heat, yep that just about describes my weekend and Monday. For the first time since I have been here I actually needed to rest mid day because the heat was just too much. I slept for a little over an hour during out 2 hour lunch break. I started my stretching and mid day exercises, but as soon as I started profusely sweating I had to stop. I washed off with some of my saved water and immediately starting sweating again. Tomorrow is going to be bad. I am going out with Chihiro and if it is as hot as it has been, it will be an insanely long day. I am excited to go though; Tuesday has become my favorite day of the week. I like getting away from the school and going out into the villages. Although, it bothers me the most when little kids come up to me and all they know how to say in English is “GIVE ME YOUR MONEY NOW”, I do actually like getting out and meeting the elderly people. These people might truly be the nicest people in the world. The beggars in Malawi are relentless, like they are all over Africa. The people who are uneducated and even some that are think that white people are going to give them something. Just yesterday as Lawrence was driving me back to Amalika an old man walked up to my window and demanded money. We were driving through a little market at Tunga and this little old man it tattered clothes walked up to my window and said give me 10, give me 20! I looked at him and shook my head and said no. Lawrence rolled the window down and hell yelled give me 50! Lawrence said something to him in Chechewa and he started to hit and kick the car. Right as Lawrence rolled the window up he spat on the window and continued to hit the side of the car. Now you must realize that giving this man even 100 kwacha would have been less than one dollar, but the amount of money is not the issue. The people here that beg, beg because people give money and food and land and aid all the time. They have become dependent on people’s charity. If the people stop expecting money and other charities from mzungu (whites) and stood up and worked for themselves, Malawi could become a very great and self sustained country.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Water woes
It’s official, I have been through of my first drought. We did not have water at the college for 7 days. Only 7 days you say? Yes 7 days and it was terrible! I can’t even imagine when people in any country go without water for a year or more. Every time I needed to use the toilet I had to walk to the river, fill up a bucket, and walk back so I could flush. Yes, WE HAVE TOILETS HERE. I talked to someone on facebook the other day that I knew from K-state. She said, “There are toilets? You mean you don’t just dig a hole, go to the bathroom, and then fill the hole back up?” No, we have toilets, there are out-houses also, but where I am now everyone is past just taking a dump in the backyard (sorry for the bluntness). I was a little heated after that conversation; some people are just very closed-minded about the world we live in. Anyways, back to the water woes. During this week you can forget about a shower or washing your face, the river water is not exactly the ideal choice to bathe in, at least for me. Some of the Malawians can drink this water and not get sick, but I would be glued to the toilet seat for a week. There is the option of boiling the river water, but there wasn’t as much free time as I had expected to take an hour to boil the water to bathe. On Tuesday it was especially depressing because I went out with Chihiro. We left the school at 6:30 am and got back at 5:45 pm. We walked for a good 8 hours and I was exhausted, dirty, sweaty, sticky, and a plethora of other unfavorable words. All I could hope for was that there was enough water to wash my face and my feet, but no, there was none. Luckily during the weekend I bought enough bottled water for me to drink this week. I was planning on saving some of the bottles for later during the rainy season, but they were called into action much sooner than expected. I wrote a poem during the mini drought:
Oh …Water… Water,
where are you?
You’ve been gone for so long,
You’ve left me feeling blue.
I know I’ve taken you for granted
year after year,
But I long for you now,
If I didn’t need it so much I might shed a tear.
Please come back to me very soon,
For I fear I shall have drank my last drop of your bottled brother tomorrow by noon.
During this experience I have started to write poetry and draw pictures during my spare time, I even sometimes find myself wandering around in the library picking up books and reading, yes I said reading mother. When I am at my hostel I am deep in Paul Theroux’s Dark Star Safari, but at the school I have started to read a book about Einstein. The water kicked back on on Thursday morning, the whole issue revolved around the facts that the pump was broken and our constant power issues. I woke up on Thursday in a cranky mood b/c there hadn’t been water on Wednesday night and I was officially out of drinking water. I was lying in my bed, just hoping for some reason I could go back to sleep, when all of a sudden I could hear the shower in the room next to mine. I jumped out of bed, massively tangling myself up in the mosquito netting, after quickly untangling myself I was so excited it was like Christmas morning when I was a little kid! The water Santa had come and I could finally shower! It was a great shower too, definitely a memorable shower haha. My expectations that our water woes here at Amalika will continue were confirmed on Friday when one of the project leaders relayed the message to us, that the pump that was supposed to be 45 meters down was in fact placed only 25 meters down in the borehole and now the other 20 meters has become too muddy to pump clean water; so we have to have the water company(borehole company) come back out and process the mud out of the water. Now you think since they made this gigantic mistake this company would want to come fix this problem, but they have not been answering the phone for over two weeks now and we finally worked out a deal for us to go and pick their surveyors up and bring them out here to fix the problem, then take them and their equipment home after the job is done. It’s a different world out here, unbelievable. The rainy season will be upon us soon. I am actually excited, because I like rain. The Malawians think I am crazy, and they all say I will not like rain by the time I leave. It will be a crazy month no doubt; I’m expecting tremendous downpours and unfavorable ground conditions. One of the teachers suggested that we start to build small bridges in between the college and the hostels, I laughed when she brought up the idea, and the other teachers took it into consideration. So that tells you something about how bad it can get. I’m more worried about the power situation than bridges though. It has been a rough month electricity wise here at the college. We are supposed to have 6 hrs of power each day, but during the past 2 weeks we are lucky to get one hour in the morning and two hours at night. It isn’t anyone’s fault here at the school; I guess you can blame it on Malawian society. I say this b/c we need diesel to run the generator. So the school has a contract with Total, a fuel company that has gas stations all over Malawi. Recently the gov’t said that the diesel price is about to rise. Every time the price of gas us risen, Malawians go to all the gas stations and buy all the diesel they can and then sell it themselves. So Total was bought out of diesel early this week, therefore we can’t just go to a Total gas station and get the fuel we have already paid for. Now the school has to find someone on the side of the road and bargain out a deal to get enough gas for one day. Since we have already paid Total, the school has been scrambling around to try and find petty cash for these extra expenses. Then it all starts to make since, without power there is no pumping of water. Without power the pump cannot fill the water tanks and the tanks cannot flow into the showers and toilets, add a broken pump and a muddy well and it all makes since why there is no water. Hmm, well at least it makes since to me. I just hope when the rains do come, that no one minds a mzungu (white person) running around in his boxers with soap taking a shower in the rain.
Oh …Water… Water,
where are you?
You’ve been gone for so long,
You’ve left me feeling blue.
I know I’ve taken you for granted
year after year,
But I long for you now,
If I didn’t need it so much I might shed a tear.
Please come back to me very soon,
For I fear I shall have drank my last drop of your bottled brother tomorrow by noon.
During this experience I have started to write poetry and draw pictures during my spare time, I even sometimes find myself wandering around in the library picking up books and reading, yes I said reading mother. When I am at my hostel I am deep in Paul Theroux’s Dark Star Safari, but at the school I have started to read a book about Einstein. The water kicked back on on Thursday morning, the whole issue revolved around the facts that the pump was broken and our constant power issues. I woke up on Thursday in a cranky mood b/c there hadn’t been water on Wednesday night and I was officially out of drinking water. I was lying in my bed, just hoping for some reason I could go back to sleep, when all of a sudden I could hear the shower in the room next to mine. I jumped out of bed, massively tangling myself up in the mosquito netting, after quickly untangling myself I was so excited it was like Christmas morning when I was a little kid! The water Santa had come and I could finally shower! It was a great shower too, definitely a memorable shower haha. My expectations that our water woes here at Amalika will continue were confirmed on Friday when one of the project leaders relayed the message to us, that the pump that was supposed to be 45 meters down was in fact placed only 25 meters down in the borehole and now the other 20 meters has become too muddy to pump clean water; so we have to have the water company(borehole company) come back out and process the mud out of the water. Now you think since they made this gigantic mistake this company would want to come fix this problem, but they have not been answering the phone for over two weeks now and we finally worked out a deal for us to go and pick their surveyors up and bring them out here to fix the problem, then take them and their equipment home after the job is done. It’s a different world out here, unbelievable. The rainy season will be upon us soon. I am actually excited, because I like rain. The Malawians think I am crazy, and they all say I will not like rain by the time I leave. It will be a crazy month no doubt; I’m expecting tremendous downpours and unfavorable ground conditions. One of the teachers suggested that we start to build small bridges in between the college and the hostels, I laughed when she brought up the idea, and the other teachers took it into consideration. So that tells you something about how bad it can get. I’m more worried about the power situation than bridges though. It has been a rough month electricity wise here at the college. We are supposed to have 6 hrs of power each day, but during the past 2 weeks we are lucky to get one hour in the morning and two hours at night. It isn’t anyone’s fault here at the school; I guess you can blame it on Malawian society. I say this b/c we need diesel to run the generator. So the school has a contract with Total, a fuel company that has gas stations all over Malawi. Recently the gov’t said that the diesel price is about to rise. Every time the price of gas us risen, Malawians go to all the gas stations and buy all the diesel they can and then sell it themselves. So Total was bought out of diesel early this week, therefore we can’t just go to a Total gas station and get the fuel we have already paid for. Now the school has to find someone on the side of the road and bargain out a deal to get enough gas for one day. Since we have already paid Total, the school has been scrambling around to try and find petty cash for these extra expenses. Then it all starts to make since, without power there is no pumping of water. Without power the pump cannot fill the water tanks and the tanks cannot flow into the showers and toilets, add a broken pump and a muddy well and it all makes since why there is no water. Hmm, well at least it makes since to me. I just hope when the rains do come, that no one minds a mzungu (white person) running around in his boxers with soap taking a shower in the rain.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Nov 1: Birthday Weekend
I can’t say that my birthday weekend started off the way I had expected. I was given an early birthday present on Friday morning on my way into Blantyre. As I was getting of a mini-bus I was pick pocketed. Immediately I knew realized what had happened and I started to freak out. Luckily, there were students from the college that had made this trip with me and Young one of the other DI’s. Once I said someone pick pocketed me they all said one thing to the mini-bus driver who comes to the school daily and he proceeded to walk into a crowd of around 50 people and came straight back with the guy that took my wallet. I again wanted to give this dude a piece of my mind, but instead he took 500 kwacha for going to the trouble of giving me back my wallet. I gave the bus driver a few hundred kwacha for helping me. I really could have cared less about the 3500 kwacha that was in my wallet, I was much more concerned about my visa debit card that I do really need. It would have been a VERY big hassle if I would have had to cancel it and have commerce bank send me a new one, especially for this weekend. After this little experience and a couple of unfortunate things that happened to my friend Chihiro and one of her Japanese friends a few weeks ago, I will not let myself become comfortable again while I’m here. Some Malawians truly do deserve the title, “the nicest people in the world” and some of them do make this the warm heart of Africa, but at the same time the second that you let your guard down or start to feel the slightest bit comfortable and trusting you will be taken advantage of or robbed. My mistake Malawi, it won’t happen again. Lawrence and his brother Grisham said that it won’t just happen to tourists or foreigners, if they as Malawians let their guard down, the same thing will happen to them. I know it is the same all over the world, but it just really sucks that so far in my traveling life I am 0-2 on were you robbed while traveling overseas alone? The rest of my Friday was quite nice. I went to the DAPP country office in Blantyre and used GREAT and FAST internet for really the first time since I have been here. It was much needed since I had a couple of projects I really needed the internet to finish. In the early afternoon I went to lunch with the other DIs from Amalika. We ate at the Hong Kong restaurant. I was super excited to have Chinese food and the two Asian DIs Chihiro(from Japan) and Young(from South Korea) were also very excited. The restaurant looked exactly how most American Chinese restaurants look, so I got a little giddy that the food might be the same way. Needless to say, my hopes were soon after crushed when they brought out our food. I ordered the specialty item of orange chicken, it was the medium size and there were maybe a total of 8 pieces, it was like paying 100 kwacha per piece. Besides the size of the dish the chicken tasted awful, but I plugged my nose and got it down. Alberto the DI from Spain ordered Mu Shoo Pork. His dish came out on a salad plate and it was full of thick noodles that you might see in homemade chicken noodle soup, large chucks of rubbery scrambled eggs, a few mushrooms here and there, and about 4 specs of pork that didn’t exactly taste like meat. After lunch the DIs surprised me with a small chocolate birthday cake and a chocolate bar. It was a nice little pre-birthday celebration. After we left the restaurant we walked around town for a while, then Young and I went and met Lawrence at Shoprite. Lawrence took Young to her friend Jenny’s house and then we went to the store and back to Lawrence’s house for dinner. After dinner we watched Coming to America and a very good bootleg copy of “The Goods”. I spent the night at Lawrence’s house, it was nice and I had a great mosquito net so my night was a little hot, but mosquito free.
On Saturday we started off the day looking for houses. I went with Lawrence and his brother Grisham to 2 potential houses. We had to pick up the real estate agents at different areas of the town and then they gave us directions to the house. It was a little different process than what goes on in the states. I’m sure my Aunt Mary would love to have potential buyers come pick her up at Country Club Christian Church when they were interested in seeing one of her properties. After the real estate agents showed us the houses we dropped them back off and gave them bus money for their time. One of the two properties was for rent and the other was for sale. The house that was for sale was a fixer-upper, but the lot the house was on was huge. It actually was a 3 bedroom house and garage, with a sitting area, bathroom, and kitchen plus a 2 room servant’s house. The property had enough room in between the two houses for a garden and laundry lines. It was a huge property for Malawi and it was selling for 1.5 million kwacha or $9,375.00. The owner was also selling the lot next to the house which was a little bit bigger for 150,000 kwacha or $937.50. Taking both of the lots and combining them you would have enough property to build a house on Ward Parkway and add a 50 meter swimming pool all for a little over $10,000 dollars US. If you actually wanted to construct mansion and the pool you might spend an extra $25,000 at the very most and you would have a VERY nice house. That night I had dinner with Lawrence and his family at a place called TJ’s. It was a very small, but nice restaurant. It was a lot more upscale then what I have been getting used to during my first month. Lawrence also invited his niece Diwinner(sp) and two of her friends. He gave a little speech about how he hopes and expects that all of the people will take care of me after he goes back to the US since I will be in Malawi for my b-day, thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. At the end of dinner we had some traditional Malawian cake, the cake was definitely special in its own way. It was very special for me to spend my birthday with such great people. After the restaurant, Lawrence, Grisham, Toco, Diwinner, Neaty(diwinner’s friend), and I went to my favorite club in Malawi to dance. I know you can’t read sarcasm, but we went to Mustang Sally’s for their Halloween party. Since it is owned by an American the club celebrates American holidays. I was surprised how international the club was, I think every European country was represented by a backpacker. There were even a couple Japanese guys there, but no other Americans. I am still in search of my first American. I really want to find an American for the simple reason of conversation. I have to speak so slowly when I talk here and still half of the time nobody has any idea what I am saying. I know a couple of the students are actually trying to learn from me and try to listen to me, but I have recently starting noticing that the majority of them aren’t even listening and they aren’t even trying to hide the fact that they don’t give a shit.
On Sunday I came back to Amalika and Charlotte also threw me a little birthday party. We had pancakes that she and Indu made, and we also had some hot chocolate. It was the first time that I have ever had milk and water hot chocolate. After we ate she gave me a really neat mahogany bowl. Overall, I would say that my birthday weekend was very nice, besides a few minor setbacks.
On Saturday we started off the day looking for houses. I went with Lawrence and his brother Grisham to 2 potential houses. We had to pick up the real estate agents at different areas of the town and then they gave us directions to the house. It was a little different process than what goes on in the states. I’m sure my Aunt Mary would love to have potential buyers come pick her up at Country Club Christian Church when they were interested in seeing one of her properties. After the real estate agents showed us the houses we dropped them back off and gave them bus money for their time. One of the two properties was for rent and the other was for sale. The house that was for sale was a fixer-upper, but the lot the house was on was huge. It actually was a 3 bedroom house and garage, with a sitting area, bathroom, and kitchen plus a 2 room servant’s house. The property had enough room in between the two houses for a garden and laundry lines. It was a huge property for Malawi and it was selling for 1.5 million kwacha or $9,375.00. The owner was also selling the lot next to the house which was a little bit bigger for 150,000 kwacha or $937.50. Taking both of the lots and combining them you would have enough property to build a house on Ward Parkway and add a 50 meter swimming pool all for a little over $10,000 dollars US. If you actually wanted to construct mansion and the pool you might spend an extra $25,000 at the very most and you would have a VERY nice house. That night I had dinner with Lawrence and his family at a place called TJ’s. It was a very small, but nice restaurant. It was a lot more upscale then what I have been getting used to during my first month. Lawrence also invited his niece Diwinner(sp) and two of her friends. He gave a little speech about how he hopes and expects that all of the people will take care of me after he goes back to the US since I will be in Malawi for my b-day, thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. At the end of dinner we had some traditional Malawian cake, the cake was definitely special in its own way. It was very special for me to spend my birthday with such great people. After the restaurant, Lawrence, Grisham, Toco, Diwinner, Neaty(diwinner’s friend), and I went to my favorite club in Malawi to dance. I know you can’t read sarcasm, but we went to Mustang Sally’s for their Halloween party. Since it is owned by an American the club celebrates American holidays. I was surprised how international the club was, I think every European country was represented by a backpacker. There were even a couple Japanese guys there, but no other Americans. I am still in search of my first American. I really want to find an American for the simple reason of conversation. I have to speak so slowly when I talk here and still half of the time nobody has any idea what I am saying. I know a couple of the students are actually trying to learn from me and try to listen to me, but I have recently starting noticing that the majority of them aren’t even listening and they aren’t even trying to hide the fact that they don’t give a shit.
On Sunday I came back to Amalika and Charlotte also threw me a little birthday party. We had pancakes that she and Indu made, and we also had some hot chocolate. It was the first time that I have ever had milk and water hot chocolate. After we ate she gave me a really neat mahogany bowl. Overall, I would say that my birthday weekend was very nice, besides a few minor setbacks.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Oct 28
Oct 28: Random thoughts
So on another night with no internet because the key holder is nowhere to be found, I thought I would sit down and journal about some random things. To start, my food situation. I can’t recall if I have given a general layout of what I eat every day. Now that we are almost a month in I can tell you about my new diet (at least Sunday – Friday). Every morning the cook prepares rice porridge. I have found just the right amount of sugar to mix in it to make it very good. Chihiro my Japanese friend is absolutely appalled that the Malawians put sugar in their rice, but that’s just another cultural difference. Around 10 a.m. is tea time. I sometimes grab a butter sandwich or two pieces of bread with butter in between, but I still refuse to drink the “tea” which looks more like milk with think chunks of ground coffee floating around in it. At 12:30 lunch is served and every day the main course is Nsimba, except on Tuesdays when rice is served. Lunch comes with a hearty helping of beans, soup, salad, or veggies and sometimes a small chunk of some sort of mystery beef that I am curious about, but I am hesitant to ask someone what it exactly is because I’m not really sure I want to know. Now when I say soup, salad, and veggies I know what you all are thinking, but your wrong. Soup is some kind of tomato based liquid that just seems to go on top of everything. Salad is not made with lettuce, but rather cabbage which has kind of been sautéed and little bits of tomato. The veggies taste great, I think because they have been drowned in salt, but they look like someone went down to the river and pulled up that thick grass and weeds by the bank, then threw some carrots in the mix for good measure. The beans are pretty much your typical beans. When dinner rolls around at 6:30 again the main course is Nsimba except for on Sunday nights when the meal is chicken and rice. Sunday dinners are obviously my favorite, the students do all the cooking on Sunday which can sometimes take a lot longer than normal, but that’s because they start the day off around 5 am and go buy chickens at the market. They bring the chickens home, prepare them for dinner, and then cook them. I’m going to get in the mix one of these Sundays and I’ll be sure to take a lot of pictures for all you to enjoy. I know you can already imagine me plucking and gutting a chicken, b/c unlike in the US out here we can’t just go to the store and get a nice golden rotisserie chicken for dinner. Most nights we get one boiled egg with dinner, sometimes when I can’t force Fredrick to eat he gives me his egg too. Nsimba, which I also will learn how to make, is a very simple concept. It is just watch and corn flour. You heat your water almost to a boil, then add a little corn flour and stir it in, then add some more and so on and so on. If I want a snack from the kitchen during the day Fredrick will offer me a small tomato. I actually have taken him up on that offer a few times. I know what you’re thinking mom, you couldn’t get me to eat half of this stuff my entire life and now I’m eating cabbage and tomatoes? What must this world be coming to? I also have a multi-vitamin pill every day. I have been trying to drink at least two liters of water every day as well, but sometimes I forget to boil my water the night before, and I don’t have time to do it when I wake up, so if there is water at the school I throw a bottle up on my roof for 5-6 hours and let the sun purify the H2O for me. These days are the longest; I have caught myself just trying to fill up a cup at one of the faucets in the kitchen, but always stopping myself before I do. I am excited about one thing though, I now have a plethora of water bottles and jugs, so I can now start rationing out my water for different uses when we actually get it. I have one 5 liter jug for drinking water and a few normal sized water bottles to drink from. I have 2 two-liter bottles for water purification, and another 5-liter jug for bath water since there is never enough water for me to take a quick shower, and by quick I mean less than 30 seconds, turning the water on and off. I guess bath is a bad word to use, I mean more of a cup shower, I would go into detail, but I think you get the idea. As for snacks, I have a little bag of chips and some cookies that I eat from time to time. When I get into town I like to eat chicken and chips. Chips here are kind of like French fries, but less processed, although they are served very greasy with plenty of salt. Nsimba is the food of Malawi. I think 20 people have asked me so far what kind of food I eat normally. It’s a weird question for me because they expect me to say that Americans eat rice or noodles every day, with some sort of meat every now and then, but I say it just depends on what we are in the mood for. Malawians don’t understand the concept of convenience like Americans do. If they want a different type of food than what is available, they walk 3 hrs to the market to buy something then 3 hrs back, but usually there is no complaint. With Americans, we can just jump in the car and drive to price chopper and get the meat of the day. I guess I’m just saying it’s hard to explain our life style to them without feeling like … well I’ll just let you fill in the blank.
So on another night with no internet because the key holder is nowhere to be found, I thought I would sit down and journal about some random things. To start, my food situation. I can’t recall if I have given a general layout of what I eat every day. Now that we are almost a month in I can tell you about my new diet (at least Sunday – Friday). Every morning the cook prepares rice porridge. I have found just the right amount of sugar to mix in it to make it very good. Chihiro my Japanese friend is absolutely appalled that the Malawians put sugar in their rice, but that’s just another cultural difference. Around 10 a.m. is tea time. I sometimes grab a butter sandwich or two pieces of bread with butter in between, but I still refuse to drink the “tea” which looks more like milk with think chunks of ground coffee floating around in it. At 12:30 lunch is served and every day the main course is Nsimba, except on Tuesdays when rice is served. Lunch comes with a hearty helping of beans, soup, salad, or veggies and sometimes a small chunk of some sort of mystery beef that I am curious about, but I am hesitant to ask someone what it exactly is because I’m not really sure I want to know. Now when I say soup, salad, and veggies I know what you all are thinking, but your wrong. Soup is some kind of tomato based liquid that just seems to go on top of everything. Salad is not made with lettuce, but rather cabbage which has kind of been sautéed and little bits of tomato. The veggies taste great, I think because they have been drowned in salt, but they look like someone went down to the river and pulled up that thick grass and weeds by the bank, then threw some carrots in the mix for good measure. The beans are pretty much your typical beans. When dinner rolls around at 6:30 again the main course is Nsimba except for on Sunday nights when the meal is chicken and rice. Sunday dinners are obviously my favorite, the students do all the cooking on Sunday which can sometimes take a lot longer than normal, but that’s because they start the day off around 5 am and go buy chickens at the market. They bring the chickens home, prepare them for dinner, and then cook them. I’m going to get in the mix one of these Sundays and I’ll be sure to take a lot of pictures for all you to enjoy. I know you can already imagine me plucking and gutting a chicken, b/c unlike in the US out here we can’t just go to the store and get a nice golden rotisserie chicken for dinner. Most nights we get one boiled egg with dinner, sometimes when I can’t force Fredrick to eat he gives me his egg too. Nsimba, which I also will learn how to make, is a very simple concept. It is just watch and corn flour. You heat your water almost to a boil, then add a little corn flour and stir it in, then add some more and so on and so on. If I want a snack from the kitchen during the day Fredrick will offer me a small tomato. I actually have taken him up on that offer a few times. I know what you’re thinking mom, you couldn’t get me to eat half of this stuff my entire life and now I’m eating cabbage and tomatoes? What must this world be coming to? I also have a multi-vitamin pill every day. I have been trying to drink at least two liters of water every day as well, but sometimes I forget to boil my water the night before, and I don’t have time to do it when I wake up, so if there is water at the school I throw a bottle up on my roof for 5-6 hours and let the sun purify the H2O for me. These days are the longest; I have caught myself just trying to fill up a cup at one of the faucets in the kitchen, but always stopping myself before I do. I am excited about one thing though, I now have a plethora of water bottles and jugs, so I can now start rationing out my water for different uses when we actually get it. I have one 5 liter jug for drinking water and a few normal sized water bottles to drink from. I have 2 two-liter bottles for water purification, and another 5-liter jug for bath water since there is never enough water for me to take a quick shower, and by quick I mean less than 30 seconds, turning the water on and off. I guess bath is a bad word to use, I mean more of a cup shower, I would go into detail, but I think you get the idea. As for snacks, I have a little bag of chips and some cookies that I eat from time to time. When I get into town I like to eat chicken and chips. Chips here are kind of like French fries, but less processed, although they are served very greasy with plenty of salt. Nsimba is the food of Malawi. I think 20 people have asked me so far what kind of food I eat normally. It’s a weird question for me because they expect me to say that Americans eat rice or noodles every day, with some sort of meat every now and then, but I say it just depends on what we are in the mood for. Malawians don’t understand the concept of convenience like Americans do. If they want a different type of food than what is available, they walk 3 hrs to the market to buy something then 3 hrs back, but usually there is no complaint. With Americans, we can just jump in the car and drive to price chopper and get the meat of the day. I guess I’m just saying it’s hard to explain our life style to them without feeling like … well I’ll just let you fill in the blank.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
One thing
There has been one thing that I have started to notice in Malawi that has really bothered me since the first day I arrived here. That thing is the way that most Indian (hindu) people treat the Malawians. My suspicions have been confirmed by several people now, that is why I share this tid bit now. The Indian people act like they are still living within their caste system. They treat the people of Malawi like dirt. They won’t talk to the Malawians or even act like they exist most of the time. The truly sad part about it, is that most of these Indian people came over to Malawi very poor, and now they have made some good money(most store owners in Malawi are Indian) they treat the people(Malawians) that accepted them(Indians) into this country like total garbage. I don’t know if that made since or not, but I just find it to be very sad and bothersome that these Indian people act like they are hot sh*t all the time. I know this is a problem in the US and all over the world. Not just with Indian people, but it is just so sad here. The night of Lawrence’s wedding while we were at the food court, I watched as these Indians just belittled a waiter for not picking up their empty drinks and keeping their table clean. It was disgusting behavior and if I was in Kansas City, I do believe I would have stood up and said something to the people, but since I’m 10,000 miles from home in an unfamiliar environment, I just felt it best to swallow my anger and stay seated.
Saturday was Lawrence’s wedding. My first and most likely only traditional Malawian wedding, unless some of the students or faculty get married while I am here. The wedding itself was very different than an American catholic wedding. There was a lot of dancing, a lot more singing, and there was a camera crew that really had no respect for the church or the ceremony, they just wanted the best shots so they could get paid well. The wedding photographer and camera guys really bothered me. I was taking pictures and had a video camera rolling for Lawrence, but I was in a good spot off to the side, where I wasn’t in the way. The wedding photographer approached me at one point and said I should shoot me camera from the alter to get the best shot. I politely declined and said I was fine where I was, but I wanted to ask him if he thought this was a circus and if he had ever been inside a church before. The one shot that really got me was when Lawrence and Prisca knelt down in front of the alter to say a prayer, the guy walks up and laid down in front of them, in between them and the alter. The best part about it was the shirt the guy was wearing. His shirt was a group that was fighting for photographer’s rights. I just thought to myself how fitting a photographer activist who wants rights, but will just walk all over tradition and religion to get a good shot.
Overall I really did enjoy the wedding, except for the cameramen and the fact that it was in another language. Prisca, Lawrence’s bride looked very beautiful and both of her brides maids were absolutely stunning. Lawrence also looked very nice in his Tuxedo, his two groomsman were his cousin Grisham and Prisca’s brother Toco. The reception was unlike anything I have ever seen or been a part of. Traditional Malawian receptions are fundraisers for the bride and groom. It took me about 45 minutes to figure out why people were just throwing money at them consistently. I also partook in the festivities as I was called on stage to hold the money plate for a song. I forgot to mention, that all of this is done to music. It was fun and different for me, I have started to use the word interesting a lot and this experience was very interesting to say the least. Towards the end of the reception everyone got a beverage for the toast, I got an orange Fanta. I wanted a cocopina, which quite possibly could be the greatest fruit drink on the planet, but I had to settle for a fanta. I had planned on going back to the school after the reception, but it lasted almost 5 hours. So after everything was over myself and the wedding party went back to the food court for a much needed meal. I devoured a small pizza. It tasted so amazing! I realized at that moment, that when I get back to the states, I am going to eat for days. I guess the eating will come after the 2-3 days of sleep that I will need to get back to normal.
After the crazy weekend I finally got back to the school on Sunday a little after noon. It is nuts now, I can’t sleep past 8 am for the life of me. I feel so old b/c I go to sleep so freaking early and wake up at dawn. I know it’s because of the power situation, but it is kind of nice b/c I get to enjoy those little things that I miss out on in the USA. I think that’s what I like best about being out in the middle of nowhere in Africa; the little things. Things like the most fantastic sun sets and the most powerful sunrises. The way the sun bursts over the mountain tops, ripping through the clouds like an explosion of light. Then how the morning mist creeps over the hills as the sun starts to shine over every inch of this old cut down forest. Maybe, it’s the thousands of ants the cover the every inch of the path on the way to school, and how I say to myself every day, “This is really the ant’s world that were just living in.” Whatever they are, I’ll keep updating you on these little things as they happen, because they are all just truly magical.
Overall I really did enjoy the wedding, except for the cameramen and the fact that it was in another language. Prisca, Lawrence’s bride looked very beautiful and both of her brides maids were absolutely stunning. Lawrence also looked very nice in his Tuxedo, his two groomsman were his cousin Grisham and Prisca’s brother Toco. The reception was unlike anything I have ever seen or been a part of. Traditional Malawian receptions are fundraisers for the bride and groom. It took me about 45 minutes to figure out why people were just throwing money at them consistently. I also partook in the festivities as I was called on stage to hold the money plate for a song. I forgot to mention, that all of this is done to music. It was fun and different for me, I have started to use the word interesting a lot and this experience was very interesting to say the least. Towards the end of the reception everyone got a beverage for the toast, I got an orange Fanta. I wanted a cocopina, which quite possibly could be the greatest fruit drink on the planet, but I had to settle for a fanta. I had planned on going back to the school after the reception, but it lasted almost 5 hours. So after everything was over myself and the wedding party went back to the food court for a much needed meal. I devoured a small pizza. It tasted so amazing! I realized at that moment, that when I get back to the states, I am going to eat for days. I guess the eating will come after the 2-3 days of sleep that I will need to get back to normal.
After the crazy weekend I finally got back to the school on Sunday a little after noon. It is nuts now, I can’t sleep past 8 am for the life of me. I feel so old b/c I go to sleep so freaking early and wake up at dawn. I know it’s because of the power situation, but it is kind of nice b/c I get to enjoy those little things that I miss out on in the USA. I think that’s what I like best about being out in the middle of nowhere in Africa; the little things. Things like the most fantastic sun sets and the most powerful sunrises. The way the sun bursts over the mountain tops, ripping through the clouds like an explosion of light. Then how the morning mist creeps over the hills as the sun starts to shine over every inch of this old cut down forest. Maybe, it’s the thousands of ants the cover the every inch of the path on the way to school, and how I say to myself every day, “This is really the ant’s world that were just living in.” Whatever they are, I’ll keep updating you on these little things as they happen, because they are all just truly magical.
Oct 25: Lawrence is officially married
Oct 25: Lawrence is officially married
This weekend was a very interesting one. I went to Zomba on Friday and did a presentation about our preschool program at a NGO called Creccom. It was a very good meeting, and I learned a lot about Malawi and about how the people see the future of their own development. Creccom is a community motivation organization. They work with Oxfam and Unicef and have a terrific executive director, at least they have a terrific Executive Director(ED) until the end of the year. After the first of the year the ED will be replaced, not because he is doing a poor job, but because for some reason this organization is set up where the ED can serve up to two terms of 4 years (kind of like the president of the US). Then they are replaced, regardless of the job they are doing and the direction the organization is in. After meeting one time with the ED that is currently ending his term, I just thought this NGO is losing a great man. After the meeting Masiye the head of partnership and I went back to Blantyre, had lunch and parted ways. I went to meet Lawrence who was scurrying around town getting things ready for his wedding on Saturday. I met him at his reception hall, which was the United Pentecostal Church. I spent a little while there watching the maid of honor teach the children in the wedding the entrance dance for the reception. Around 5 we left the reception church and went to the Chibwe catholic church for the rehearsal. I was a little shocked when the rehearsal began and the priest was going over how everything was going to go with Lawrence and Prisca and another couple. The other couple was getting married 2 hours before Lawrence and Prisca’s ceremony, but I just never thought that you would do a double rehearsal. It turned out to be a good idea, since about 20 minutes into the rehearsal a blackout hit that portion of the city and the rest of the rehearsal was done in the dark. The thing that I’ll remember most about that rehearsal was the sunset. You just don’t get to see sunsets like that in the US, except if you’re on a beach or in the mountains in Colorado. The sky was a orange-ish purple haze, with little streaks of yellow and blue fading off into the shadows of the sunset. It was beautiful, it was one of those little things that you forget how much you enjoy until you’re in the middle of it and you get that feeling of peace and the sense that no matter what happens right now everything is going to be ok. After the rehearsal was over I had dinner with Lawrence and his oldest son Limbani at a food court in Blantyre. He really likes this food court b/c it has “Mini-Soccer”. Mini-Soccer is a bastardized game of foosball. Mini-soccer is all about power and pure luck; it takes all the finesse out of foosball. It is played on about the same sized table, but there is a hill in every corner, it is enclosed in a plastic roof and the handles are spring-loaded at the end so when you pull it back and turn it, your player shoots the ball with force. I disliked the game from the second that I saw it. That night I stayed at a hotel with Prisca’s brother Tuco. The place was nice, but the mosquito netting was subpar to say the least. I woke up on Saturday and Sunday with mosquitoes inside the netting, needless to say the mosquitoes are a big fan of white meat. Now we all get to see what my malaria medication is made out of.
This weekend was a very interesting one. I went to Zomba on Friday and did a presentation about our preschool program at a NGO called Creccom. It was a very good meeting, and I learned a lot about Malawi and about how the people see the future of their own development. Creccom is a community motivation organization. They work with Oxfam and Unicef and have a terrific executive director, at least they have a terrific Executive Director(ED) until the end of the year. After the first of the year the ED will be replaced, not because he is doing a poor job, but because for some reason this organization is set up where the ED can serve up to two terms of 4 years (kind of like the president of the US). Then they are replaced, regardless of the job they are doing and the direction the organization is in. After meeting one time with the ED that is currently ending his term, I just thought this NGO is losing a great man. After the meeting Masiye the head of partnership and I went back to Blantyre, had lunch and parted ways. I went to meet Lawrence who was scurrying around town getting things ready for his wedding on Saturday. I met him at his reception hall, which was the United Pentecostal Church. I spent a little while there watching the maid of honor teach the children in the wedding the entrance dance for the reception. Around 5 we left the reception church and went to the Chibwe catholic church for the rehearsal. I was a little shocked when the rehearsal began and the priest was going over how everything was going to go with Lawrence and Prisca and another couple. The other couple was getting married 2 hours before Lawrence and Prisca’s ceremony, but I just never thought that you would do a double rehearsal. It turned out to be a good idea, since about 20 minutes into the rehearsal a blackout hit that portion of the city and the rest of the rehearsal was done in the dark. The thing that I’ll remember most about that rehearsal was the sunset. You just don’t get to see sunsets like that in the US, except if you’re on a beach or in the mountains in Colorado. The sky was a orange-ish purple haze, with little streaks of yellow and blue fading off into the shadows of the sunset. It was beautiful, it was one of those little things that you forget how much you enjoy until you’re in the middle of it and you get that feeling of peace and the sense that no matter what happens right now everything is going to be ok. After the rehearsal was over I had dinner with Lawrence and his oldest son Limbani at a food court in Blantyre. He really likes this food court b/c it has “Mini-Soccer”. Mini-Soccer is a bastardized game of foosball. Mini-soccer is all about power and pure luck; it takes all the finesse out of foosball. It is played on about the same sized table, but there is a hill in every corner, it is enclosed in a plastic roof and the handles are spring-loaded at the end so when you pull it back and turn it, your player shoots the ball with force. I disliked the game from the second that I saw it. That night I stayed at a hotel with Prisca’s brother Tuco. The place was nice, but the mosquito netting was subpar to say the least. I woke up on Saturday and Sunday with mosquitoes inside the netting, needless to say the mosquitoes are a big fan of white meat. Now we all get to see what my malaria medication is made out of.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Oct 21, Revelations from frustrations
Today was more frustrating for me than previous days so far. I woke up to a gas-less generator and with no power comes no water. No water again for about the third straight day. No power means no internet, which means a lot b/c the books that are here aren’t enough information for me to form any sort of a decent lesson plan. With these constant problems floating around me and the fact that if I am supposed to work at the school, then I miss the chance to learn the area that day from one of the other DI’s; which just adds to my frustrations, because I am starting to feel like I am never going to learn how to get around this place. So today I made an agreement with myself (b/c there is really no one else I can talk to) that I am going to memorize the local school map and within the next two weeks teach myself the routes to the different schools. I also found some Chichewa translations and will start to teach myself a little bit of the language, just enough so that I can greet the villagers and ask them simple questions. I can’t rely on other people here, the next two and ½ months have to be about what I can do. If you wait on other people here, you will never get anything done. Time doesn’t mean a whole lot to some of the people here, but it means a lot to me. I need to become self sufficient or I am going to lose my mind and run away. I have started doing every exercise I can think of while I wait on people. If I don’t change something now, I’m going to return home in a homemade orange jumpsuit and a couple of Paul made prison tats. Ahh! Oh well, but in other news I have been having crazy dreams. Not bad dreams or night terrors if you will, but ever since I got here I have just been dreaming. Every night I have vivid dreams, to the point when I wake up I just want to fall back asleep so I can go back to the dream I was having that I was enjoying so much, but I don’t. I have officially been here for two weeks, so two weeks down- ten weeks to go. I am going to Zomba on Friday for a partnership presentation, and Lawrence gets married on Saturday. Then next weekend is my B-day, so I am excited for the weekends here and until I change something I am just treading through the weeks.
Today was more frustrating for me than previous days so far. I woke up to a gas-less generator and with no power comes no water. No water again for about the third straight day. No power means no internet, which means a lot b/c the books that are here aren’t enough information for me to form any sort of a decent lesson plan. With these constant problems floating around me and the fact that if I am supposed to work at the school, then I miss the chance to learn the area that day from one of the other DI’s; which just adds to my frustrations, because I am starting to feel like I am never going to learn how to get around this place. So today I made an agreement with myself (b/c there is really no one else I can talk to) that I am going to memorize the local school map and within the next two weeks teach myself the routes to the different schools. I also found some Chichewa translations and will start to teach myself a little bit of the language, just enough so that I can greet the villagers and ask them simple questions. I can’t rely on other people here, the next two and ½ months have to be about what I can do. If you wait on other people here, you will never get anything done. Time doesn’t mean a whole lot to some of the people here, but it means a lot to me. I need to become self sufficient or I am going to lose my mind and run away. I have started doing every exercise I can think of while I wait on people. If I don’t change something now, I’m going to return home in a homemade orange jumpsuit and a couple of Paul made prison tats. Ahh! Oh well, but in other news I have been having crazy dreams. Not bad dreams or night terrors if you will, but ever since I got here I have just been dreaming. Every night I have vivid dreams, to the point when I wake up I just want to fall back asleep so I can go back to the dream I was having that I was enjoying so much, but I don’t. I have officially been here for two weeks, so two weeks down- ten weeks to go. I am going to Zomba on Friday for a partnership presentation, and Lawrence gets married on Saturday. Then next weekend is my B-day, so I am excited for the weekends here and until I change something I am just treading through the weeks.
Oct 18, God bless the rains down in Africa
This weekend has been very interesting. I finally meet the met the project leader/ head master Chilote (sp), I met a sick Lawrence in town, and I did my laundry for the first time; by hand and in a bucket. Hey mom I also woke up this morning with my first bug bite , think Its Malaria? I guess we will have to wait and see. Dad it was good to chat with you, I was shocked when your voice actually came through, I didn’t think it was possible. I was on the head master’s internet, so I will have to ask her if I can use it on thanksgiving and possibly Christmas if I’m around. I feel bad for bailey. We now have a tri-pod for a dog. Bailey, my dad and step-mom’s dog had to have a leg amputated. He got into a fight with a grizzly bear up at our cabin in Idaho Springs. Bailey was just trying to protect our house and the bear severely severed Bailey’s right leg. Poor guy, he was always our special dog before this tragedy; one thing is for sure he is not going to be a happy camper for the next few months! So maybe there was no grizzly, but if there was that would be one heck of a story right? So back in Africa, I finally met the project leader Charlotte. This whole time I could not figure out for the life of me what everyone was saying when they pronounced her name. Even my two new Japanese and Korean friends who speak English very well, never gave me the slightest insight as to what her name really was. I came up with Chilote as my best guess, but I finally saw it written and it is Charlotte. I was like wow, and just started laughing. If anyone wants to mail me something the address to send it to is:
Paul Titterington
DAPP Amalika TTC
2732 Blantyre, Malawi
That is a PO Box, by the way. I am very impressed so far with Charlotte. She is a very knowledgeable and kind woman. What I like about her the most is the way she is running the college. She has a new age kind of mind. She likes to try new things like giving students money and responsibilities. So far I think there have been a couple of misuses of the school’s money, but Charlotte expected some bumps in the road at first. I like how she is teaching the students responsibility and giving them a chance to prove that they can be trusted with large sums of money. The other head masters/ project leaders think she is crazy for doing things like letting the students go out and buy things for the whole college, but Charlotte doesn’t mind, she is always looking for a new way for things to work. We had a meeting on Monday morning where one of the students said, “Culturally, some of the students were afraid to speak their mind or even ask a Charlotte a question because of her position in the school and the power that she had.” She immediately countered this statement by talking about how we are all equal in this world and no one should ever tell you different. It was very Martin Luther King-esk(?), and very inspirational. The students listened to what she had to say, but it will take a lot longer than 30 minutes to change a lot of their minds on this subject. I find that very sad, there are so many great students here who are afraid to talk b/c they don’t have a high self worth, I hope I can help improve their self esteem and confidence in some way, but I get the feeling a lot of them look at me in the same way.
I did my first presentation yesterday. I gave my Planet Aid presentation and did some short facts about the USA. I asked all of the students after what they wanted to know about the USA? I told them I would make a presentation for them. I thought there would be a lot more suggestions, but that’s when I could feel the cultural suppression. The suggestions I did get were, to talk about how and why the US has a Black president, to talk about 9-11 and Guantanamo Bay, to explain more about how Christopher Columbus and how he founded America, and about that actor that became a politician and yes they mean the TERMINATOR! So I will start on that in my free time. I also got a new project to work on, on Monday. I am going to create a survey for the primary schools so that Charlotte and the Dean can see the progression of the 7 primary schools in our area over the next few years as Amalika teachers graduate and start working at these schools. I am actually interested to keep up on the survey also. It will be interesting to see how the enrollment of girls fluctuates over the next few years as well as graduation rates and the overall environment of these schools. As the title of this post says, we had a great rain storm yesterday. It was all day, I was very excited. The rains here are intense. I think some of the storms could get pretty bad though, because there is a very strong wind that rips through the campus on a regular basis. We are supposed to be in the Amalika Forest district, but all the trees have been cut down by the people who live around here. They need to wood for day-to-day survival. The pictures that I have of the “Forest” are shockingly sad. There is nothing, it reminds me of the flint hills by Manhattan, with a little red dirt mixed in. I think this problem could make for some terrible weather when the rainy season does get here, but I will keep you posted. I’m sure that will turn out to be quite an adventure.
This weekend has been very interesting. I finally meet the met the project leader/ head master Chilote (sp), I met a sick Lawrence in town, and I did my laundry for the first time; by hand and in a bucket. Hey mom I also woke up this morning with my first bug bite , think Its Malaria? I guess we will have to wait and see. Dad it was good to chat with you, I was shocked when your voice actually came through, I didn’t think it was possible. I was on the head master’s internet, so I will have to ask her if I can use it on thanksgiving and possibly Christmas if I’m around. I feel bad for bailey. We now have a tri-pod for a dog. Bailey, my dad and step-mom’s dog had to have a leg amputated. He got into a fight with a grizzly bear up at our cabin in Idaho Springs. Bailey was just trying to protect our house and the bear severely severed Bailey’s right leg. Poor guy, he was always our special dog before this tragedy; one thing is for sure he is not going to be a happy camper for the next few months! So maybe there was no grizzly, but if there was that would be one heck of a story right? So back in Africa, I finally met the project leader Charlotte. This whole time I could not figure out for the life of me what everyone was saying when they pronounced her name. Even my two new Japanese and Korean friends who speak English very well, never gave me the slightest insight as to what her name really was. I came up with Chilote as my best guess, but I finally saw it written and it is Charlotte. I was like wow, and just started laughing. If anyone wants to mail me something the address to send it to is:
Paul Titterington
DAPP Amalika TTC
2732 Blantyre, Malawi
That is a PO Box, by the way. I am very impressed so far with Charlotte. She is a very knowledgeable and kind woman. What I like about her the most is the way she is running the college. She has a new age kind of mind. She likes to try new things like giving students money and responsibilities. So far I think there have been a couple of misuses of the school’s money, but Charlotte expected some bumps in the road at first. I like how she is teaching the students responsibility and giving them a chance to prove that they can be trusted with large sums of money. The other head masters/ project leaders think she is crazy for doing things like letting the students go out and buy things for the whole college, but Charlotte doesn’t mind, she is always looking for a new way for things to work. We had a meeting on Monday morning where one of the students said, “Culturally, some of the students were afraid to speak their mind or even ask a Charlotte a question because of her position in the school and the power that she had.” She immediately countered this statement by talking about how we are all equal in this world and no one should ever tell you different. It was very Martin Luther King-esk(?), and very inspirational. The students listened to what she had to say, but it will take a lot longer than 30 minutes to change a lot of their minds on this subject. I find that very sad, there are so many great students here who are afraid to talk b/c they don’t have a high self worth, I hope I can help improve their self esteem and confidence in some way, but I get the feeling a lot of them look at me in the same way.
I did my first presentation yesterday. I gave my Planet Aid presentation and did some short facts about the USA. I asked all of the students after what they wanted to know about the USA? I told them I would make a presentation for them. I thought there would be a lot more suggestions, but that’s when I could feel the cultural suppression. The suggestions I did get were, to talk about how and why the US has a Black president, to talk about 9-11 and Guantanamo Bay, to explain more about how Christopher Columbus and how he founded America, and about that actor that became a politician and yes they mean the TERMINATOR! So I will start on that in my free time. I also got a new project to work on, on Monday. I am going to create a survey for the primary schools so that Charlotte and the Dean can see the progression of the 7 primary schools in our area over the next few years as Amalika teachers graduate and start working at these schools. I am actually interested to keep up on the survey also. It will be interesting to see how the enrollment of girls fluctuates over the next few years as well as graduation rates and the overall environment of these schools. As the title of this post says, we had a great rain storm yesterday. It was all day, I was very excited. The rains here are intense. I think some of the storms could get pretty bad though, because there is a very strong wind that rips through the campus on a regular basis. We are supposed to be in the Amalika Forest district, but all the trees have been cut down by the people who live around here. They need to wood for day-to-day survival. The pictures that I have of the “Forest” are shockingly sad. There is nothing, it reminds me of the flint hills by Manhattan, with a little red dirt mixed in. I think this problem could make for some terrible weather when the rainy season does get here, but I will keep you posted. I’m sure that will turn out to be quite an adventure.
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