Real Human?

A lot has happened in the past 48 hours. On Tuesday I visited some pre-schools and a primary school with Chihiro. It was my a great day! It seemed like we walked all over the country. It was a total of almost 8hrs of walking/ hiking. My feet were a little sore to say the least, but whenever I was asked if I needed a break I would say I was fine because I wanted to see more. I wanted to go to one more school and talk to one more teacher. In the afternoon Chihiro taught an English class. I think she was nervous because I was there, but I don’t think I could have done as good a job as she did. Young, another DI from South Korea also came to Chihiro’s class. On our 2 hour walk home from afternoon English the two girls talked about how sometimes the walk or sun can get to you out here, but there are so many more problems that we can actually help fix so you have to just fight through the pain. I don’t remember their exact words, but it was something like that. I think they are totally right. My foot pains will go away once I get used to the walk, but the pains of these people won’t go away until they receive real education and learn that they can pull themselves up and there is a brighter future for each and every one of them. One thing Chihiro said during the day has really stuck with me this week. She said, “It has taken me all my life, but now I know what it feels like to be a real human being.” I was curious by what she meant, and all she meant was we finally are living like the vast majority of the people in the world. We are facing the same struggles they are and have to figure out what to do for ourselves. We don’t have our own cars or have a quick shop down the street where we can eat when we are hungry or grab a quick drink when we are thirsty. We don’t have the luxuries we have always had, now we are just regular people. I agreed with her, we had a great reminder of just how true her words were when we got home that night. During the day the generator had run out of gas, so there was no power on Tuesday night. While we were out that had diverted most of our water to the kitchen for cooking rice that day and upon our return I had enough water to wash my feet. So after walking around in 95 degree heat all day, no shower, no light, only hope for a better day tomorrow. The one thing I did have was a bottle of water I had put on the roof that morning. My way of purifying the water is to put a clear plastic bottle of water on the roof for 5 to 6 hours and let the UV rays purify the water. So far it has worked out great.
On Wednesday I was blindsided by my head teacher. I came to class and he was gone for the day. When I called him, he said just teach what’s on the schedule, but when I got to class he had told the had supposedly assigned. It was an interesting class, once I get acquainted with how the school works I feel I will be a lot more effective. The biggest shocker for me was that night when I finally saw the teacher he approached me to apologize for putting me in that situation. I was utterly shocked, in a very good way. I was surprised and happy that he recognized that as being a bad situation to put me in. On Wednesday night I got some sad news. The one man I like the most on the staff is Fredrick, and he is the cook. He has taken a liking to me and helped me out from time to time. I came to dinner early on Wednesday to talk to Fredrick and he was telling me about his life and family and then he said it all changed when he tested positive for HIV. I was stunned. I have read all the statistics and given presentations about HIV and AIDS, but not once since I had arrived had I thought about people at the school being sick. He was very upbeat about it and he said that he likes the DI’s, because they actually talk to him about it. They make sure he is eating regularly and taking his medications. I know this is something that I can do too! Fredrick is a very nice older man and a great cook. We are going to get along just fine while I’m here. After dinner the student’s turned on the T.V. while the power was on. There is only one local station in Malawi, so they put in a movie. I was excited to see what was on because there was a lot of commotion in the eating hall. The students were screaming and chanting to what? WWE Judgment Day! I couldn’t believe it, the WWE is popular in Malawi, but don’t tell the students here that it’s not real or you might be the one getting hit with a steel chair or being choke-slammed through a table. It was mother’s day in Malawi on Thursday so of course the internet place that is always open was closed.