Stateside thoughts...

Our flight home was LONG, but thankfully uneventful this time. I did not pass out in the aisle this time - low flight drama. The highlight of our reentry was getting my African drum through customs. Mom and Bill picked us up from the airport and took us to lunch on the way home. It was good to have some fish! We didn't eat meat the whole time we were gone - check out the picture below - Malawi's high meat packaging standards... yummy. We went to Books a Million to get some coffee (Brett's second within 3 hours of landing in the US). We felt shell shocked as we roamed around the store - so many choices and THINGS.

Our friends and family outdid themselves in welcoming us home. We had warm, homemade muffins, delicious complete dinners in the fridge, freshly roasted Bald Guy Coffee (I think Brett drank it 4 different times that first day back!), spoiled and happy dogs, and tons of calls, texts, visits, and hugs. It was really hard to leave Malawi, but our excitement about seeing our loved ones helped motivate us.

It was interesting to get use to being in such a minority as white people. I didn’t really notice how use to it I was until I saw some other white people in town that last week. I was shocked and couldn’t take my eyes off of them. They stood out so much in a sea of brown faces. I know that’s how we looked to others. I have really noticed the difference since being back. Everything is white – the people, signs, posters, everything. I miss the color! It has made me keenly aware of how minorities must feel in our white dominated advertising.

Our transition has been difficult. We really nitched into our life in Malawi in a short time. We so enjoyed the laid back lifestyle and the relational verses task orientation of the culture. It has been hard to come home to the pressures and pace of our life (and the catch to life we now face) with the goal of bringing those values with us.

I am so thankful that Brett and I went on this journey together. It has been wonderful to be able to remember people, places, and stories with each other, and to share in frustrations, joys, and sadness. It helps to know he feels it all too. Two of the volunteers on the trip made an incredible video of our trip and we have watched it often since our return. The first time we watched it was the 3^rd day home. We both had tears in our eyes that the other could so easily understand. Love, love, love that man.
Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuYmbAK85Fo

It was also so awesome to know so many people were supporting us on this experience – with financial backing, time off work, covering our work, phone calls, emails, asking our parents about us, reading this blog, thoughts, prayers – all of it. It made the experience more meaningful knowing we were never alone.

We both feel that we have been “bitten” by Malawi. We drove ourselves crazy for the first part of the trip trying to figure out what that meant and how it might manifest in our lives. Are we suppose to host students, adopt children, work with World Camp or another non-profit to further effect change, expose people at home to the lessons we’ve learned…. I think we wanted to come up with some concrete ideas so to ease our fears about loosing whatever was changing us once we came home. But we knew that we would have to come home and process the experience to begin to know what this bite from Malawi is all about. I finally got some peace through an activity we did in one of our reflection sessions. One of the other coordinators, Katy led this wonderful activity; we wrote letters to ourselves to be read in 6 months. These letters will be mailed to us in July of this year. I used this opportunity to write a ton of snippets to capture life there to remind me to not forget that bite. As I was writing a metaphor came to me that helped me let go of the festering over a concrete understanding of our purpose. I told myself that Malawi gave us an important seed that promises to be meaningful and necessary for our lives. We can not yet know what kind of plant will grow from this seed, but we are still charged with fostering its growth with the intensity that would come from the African sun and rain. So, all of that to realize that our work is the process of growth – duh, Catherine.

Random thoughts and stories from our last days in Malawi…

Our last week in Malawi flew by, much like all our weeks there. After our trip to Zambia for safari, we completed three more three day camps with the student volunteers. Each camp seemed to be even better than the last as the volunteers blossomed into great teachers. As with so many things, we all really became proficient and comfortable just in time to leave and move on to the next chapter in our lives.

I struggled with illness our last week and a half, which was frustrating. I wanted to be out living wide open and fully. Instead I had to listen to my body and miss a few days of camp. My immune system was not use to communal living and I just couldn’t stay away from all those cute kids and their not-so-cute germs. I finally took some antibiotic and kicked the junk.

The last camp was such fun. I worked with the teachers one day and played with the “rug rats” the other days. We had a great time doing yoga in the field (see pictures in an earlier post.) Brett played a fierce game of soccer with the little ones and was totally “schooled” by a 10 year old boy in sandals. The boys decided to play shirts and skins. Brett was on the skins team and got quite the stares when the boys saw his white chest.

Our night guard, Vito (below with us), got sick with a GI issue and also had an external hernia from his belly button. Vito’s son came to ask for our help, so Brett was his escort to the clinic. Brett HATES belly buttons, so watching the doctor put Vito’s hernia back in was quite a show for Brett! Vito made a full recovery and was back to his cheerful, willing, helpful self.

John (with us below), the house manager, became a good friend to us both. When I looked in John’s eyes, I felt sure that he knows God in a way that most of us do not. Just looking into his eyes made me feel closer to God.

John lost his grandfather while we were in Malawi. His grandfather was in his 90’s – an amazing oddity considering the life expectancy in Malawi is 40 year. When we spoke and I was offering my condolences, John spoke with such conviction about the better life his grandfather would have in heaven. It struck me that religion and faith seems very necessary in this culture. They live such hard lives here on earth; they must have some hope of something after this in order to get through.
That made me consider religion and faith as more of a choice in our culture; that choice being a luxury of sorts because we live such good lives that the idea of heaven is not our sustaining promise of salvation.
I was reading on of our college volunteer’s blog. He wrote as a daily journal. This is part of his entry from that same day. None of us talked about this with each other, so I found it so interesting that he too was struck by John’s unwavering belief.

“January 9: Our house manager’s father recently past away so he left to pay his respects. But as he as leaving, he said that everything is alright because this life is nothing, and the life in heaven is everything to look forward to. I wonder if every Malawian has that attitude towards their life. it makes me feel guilty that sometimes my life is so good that I don't even look forward to heaven.”

I helped one of our translators, Humphreys write his college entrance essay. I felt it was an honor and I really enjoyed helping him with it. We had many long and interesting conversations during our trip. One day on the bus we had a discussion about the concept “ignorance is bliss.” It was early in the trip, and I was really struggling with this concept and wondering if the good we’re trying to do was worth the angst we might cause the villagers when they start the inevitable comparisons. Humphreys turned the question around on me. He asked if I thought I would be changed from what I was seeing in the villages. I said of course I would. He asked if I would feel frustrated and motivated to change and create change. I said of course I would. He said the exposure to diversity is much the same for both of us. He explained,

(paraphrasing…) “When we interact we’re both changed. We both see things that we never have before and are left with strong feelings of jealously, anger, injustice, frustration, guilt, hope, hopelessness. Our work is to come to terms with these feelings in order to have peace. This work is our growth. We are all better from that exposure and consequent growth.”

Ummm… wow. What a truly amazing human being. This was just one of many reminders that we had way more to learn than we had to teach.

Humphreys in his Highland Homes shirt from Brett.

Working the numbers...

During the World Camp January 2009 Session, 15 of us accomplished the following:
-Traveled to 6 Primary Schools
-Worked with 41 teachers
-Taught approximately 865 pupils
-Served approximately 3800 meals

Last bit of baby time before we left...

One of our last days we went to visit the Crisis Nursery again. Torture! Check out the locked gaze Brett has with this little guy.

Sweet, quiet Joseph working his magic on me...


Valentina - MISS Sassy and full of herself (and porridge!)

More pictures from the village school

Two of our wonderful translators - Edna and Jackie.

Sweet Ben

Daisy and Jay serving up nsima and chicken.... uggggg

We had extra that day to share with the little ones.

You can see here how they make a ball of nsima in their hands (little girl in white dress). Then they dip the ball into the sauce of the chicken.

Kids yoga at a villiage school

At our last camp I did a 45 minute yoga class with the little ones.
It was so much fun. Edna was my translator and we did all kinds of fun poses...

King cobra and 5 point star (below)


Tall mountain (just LOOK at that face!!)


Frogs jumping (insert sound of "ribit"!)


Boat pose while singing row, row, row your boat

Child's pose -here we made a thunder storm by pounding our hands on the ground like rain.


Side rainbows...


Lions roaring

Images from schools

I was playing with the younger kids one day at school when this truck pulled up across the street. The headmaster went over to talk to the driver, then whistled to the kids. All the boys jumped up and ran over to help the man unload the building supplies. They worked as a team and cleared the truck in minutes. I'm pretty sure I didn't hear anything like a whine or compliant about helping...

We were often struck and warmed by how affectionate most Malawians are with each other. We were especially shocked to see how touchy the boys and men are with each other. It was so nice to see how they used touch in platonic ways.

This mural was painted on the wall of a school privy. It just cracked me up...

The first time Brett did this the kids were totally freaked - especially the one upside down. But once the first little boy made it through alive and then giggled and asked for more, the kids started lining up for their turn.

Another wonderful example of the resourcefulness born of need and lack of resources... this boy's soccer ball is made of a plastic grocery bag full of newspaper. We saw these balls at every school and we saw serious games played with them.

Environmental curriculum

These pictures are from one of the environmental games in the World Camp curriculum.
The students split into two groups and each make a box that represents an environment. The one on the right is an environment full of trees, bushes, and other greenery. The box on the left is meant to represent a deforested environment.

The volunteers use these to show the effects of wind and water erosion.
Here is the water erosion:

Here is the wind erosion:

And here are pictures of beautiful Malawi - worth saving!
Notice how small and few the trees are...

I bought a drum - basically a goat skinned across some wood!
This is a picture from one of my many lessons from Humphreys.
He is sitting to my right. He worked as a translator for us at every
camp. He is an amazing person - we would love to find a way to
bring him here and host him for a year... more on this later.

This is one of Brett's tree pick-ups. World Camp bought approximately 200 trees for each camp. The students planted 20 at each school, and we gave each student a tree to take home to plant.
Check out the bumper sticker: Use Condom Sense

Brett and John - the house manager.

Thoughts and pictures from safari

From Brett 1/25/09:

The World Camp program offers an optional 2 day safari in Zambia. Our whole group of volunteers chose to do this and we had a great time last week. It was a nice break in the intense 6 day a week camp schedule for everyone. It took a full day to travel there and back due to very rough road conditions despite being a main artery from the closest major airport. We can upon a large muddy section that was hard to determine the depth and hazards within. After chatting with the villagers that came out to look at the spectacle, we started to narrow down the not so random incidence of this trouble spot. It seemed that the villagers use this spot in the road as a source of extortion. One of the great things that we have noticed and admired about the people we have witnessed is their crafty resourcefulness. We have seen many good examples of this in the daily lives of the people here, but this is an example of how being resourceful can go to the other extreme of gaining at the expense of others. Since, this road is the main route for “rich white travelers” going to safari, what a perfect opportunity to be crafty and resourceful. They proceeded to “help us” through the puddle, then asked for money. They helped us by walking through the puddle to show the depth and stepping over the big holes they dug in the middle. The bus we brought was “dead in the water”, no pun intended. During this rough section of road the bus had damaged the radiator to the point that replacement was the only option. Luckily we were only about 20km from our destination. We then loaded the Land Rover we brought to the gills with all the volunteers to the camp. I went back to get the remaining coordinators and gear. Long day to say the least.

From Catherine 1/25/09:

There were parts of me that felt guilty about going to safari when the work we’re doing continuously highlights the need and poverty of the vast majority we’ve seen here. But I’m really glad Brett and I decided to go. It really brought home for me the environmental message we’re teaching in the schools. For instance, the reason we have to travel to Zambia for safari is because of the devastating effects of deforestation here in Malawi. As few as 25 years ago there were forests to support animals around the villages, but now there is only one small area in the whole country that has safari type animals and the habitat to support them. As soon as we crossed the boarder from Malawi to Zambia we could see a very obvious difference in the size and amount of trees. Zambia also faces the effects of deforestation, but the country is not nearly as densely populated as Malawi.

We stayed in at a safari camp called Wilderness Camp in Mfuwe, Zambia – bordering the 3 million acre (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) South Luangwa National Park. The accommodations were modest, but greatly enjoyed by all. They had a large kitchen for us to use for group cooking and lots of PB&J sandwich making. The wildlife right outside our cabins was the highlight for me. Brett and I took our sandwiches back to our cabin to eat on our porch one day at lunch. One of the monkeys grabbed half of Brett’s sandwich right off his plate! Ok, so maybe I was tossing bits to them to get them close, but they were so cute – how could I help myself? ;)

After we drove through the park on our two safari drives, I was amazed by the diversity of the wildlife we witnessed moving and living in their natural surroundings. I was stuck by, what seems to me, the divine plan of it all. Every tree, plant, insect, reptile, rodent, bird, and animal is there for a purpose that benefits and completes the system. I find it impossible to think that this is all random or by accident. It also gave me lots of food for thought about how beautiful and natural interdependence is, and how we as Westerners often squirm at any notion other than independence. I have also pondered the role we play in this divinely designed system – how are my actions contributing in positive ways and detracting in negative ways? All in all the safari experience was incredibly peaceful for me. The questions and musings only serve to give the experience more meaning for me, which also brings me some peace from all the swirling guilty feelings that can easily take over.

This is a picture of most of our group...such a great group of people.

This picture is taken right outside of our group common area at Wilderness Camp. See the elephants in the distance - they were so close! I taught 2 yoga classes in this common area while we were there. I laughed with the volunteers about how if I teach that same class back home it just won't be the same without, "Inhale up to tall mountain, whoa, and look at the elephants."

See below for lots more pictures...

Here is that crazy little monkey that took Brett's sandwich - look at him eying Brett's plate!

We were quite shocked and intrigued by the color of this species of monkeys', ummm, as Brett says "junk"

Enjoying a beer with Jesse on our first drive. Our guide took us to a beautiful spot to enjoy the sunset. We have continued to enjoy our group - such a great group of people. It was great having Jesse here too since he was our connection to World Camp (he is one of the founders).

This is an elephant foot print that we found right in the middle of our camp. We also came across a large group of them on our way back to our cabins one night. The camp provided and required us to use escorts when walking around camp after dark.

Here is one of the many groups hippos we saw. It was early morning - 6am - he wasn't the only one yawning!

Look at this cutie pie money and her baby holding on underneath.

The elephants were amazing, but of course we LOVED the babies. We learned that the elephants often cause havoc in the villages - especially the mama elephants. They are very aggressive about protecting their babies. They knock people down with their trunks them trample them. They also destroy property and eat wood that villagers use for heating and cooking.

This is the second pride of elephants we saw on the second drive we took into the park. Our guide said it is so unusual to see two different prides on one drive. It was raining during this drive, so we almost didn't go, but our guide said the animals like to hang out by the road when it is wet. He was right - we saw tons of animals right by our truck.

These birds are in the stork family - saddle faced storks. They have a bright yellow saddle shape on their faces. This is a male - you can tell by the bright yellow iris of his eye.

Look how close the other truck in our group was to this lion - the head of the pride. Again, we could never have gotten this close if the lions hadn't just chowed down on that giraffe.