Malawi 2009

Stateside thoughts...

2009-02-11T23:10:00.003-05:00

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…

2009-02-11T22:33:00.002-05:00

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...

2009-02-11T21:49:00.001-05:00

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...

2009-02-11T21:13:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-11T09:17:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-11T08:55:00.004-05:00

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

2009-02-09T21:18:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-09T20:56:00.002-05:00

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...

2009-02-09T20:42:00.003-05:00

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

2009-01-25T12:32:00.002-05:00

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...

2009-01-25T11:43:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-01-25T11:21:00.002-05:00

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.

Pictures from safari

2009-01-25T10:57:00.003-05:00

Impalas – our guide calls these fast food for lions and leopards – see those M’s on their butts? The golden arches are everywhere!

This is a hyena. Our guide said it is really unusual to see these sitting out in the rain in the morning like we did. Ina would be happy to see the beautiful speckles.

This is what was left of a giraffe that after a pride of 8 lions had their way with it for 24 hours. I have some amazing video of the lions eatting the giraffe, but the internet is too slow to load video.

Here is one of the lions going for seconds - or thirds! By the time we came accross the pride, they were in food coma - they barely blinked when our trucks drove in. We were able to get within a few feet of the lions because they were so full and lazy.

We saw tons of beautiful Zebras. We learned that all Zebras have a unique pattern of stripes. Mother Zebras have their babies on isolation and nurse them in isolation for a week so that their babies can learn their stripe pattern.

Thoughts about home stay...

2009-01-22T08:44:00.001-05:00

Home stay in the village was amazing. As the married couple of the group, they chose us to stay with the chief and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Lomos. Within 10 minutes of arriving and introductions, the men went one way and the women the other. I sat and talked with the women about their children and duties in the village. The women were the wives of the chief’s 7 sons. I helped them sweep the dirt between their hut structures. I would never have thought about sweeping dirt, but they really work to keep their areas clean. I also helped the chief’s wife cook nsima. She had a separate hut for cooking. She starts a fire each night and then takes a burning coal to each of her son’s wives for their cooking. Stirring nsima is HARD work! And the women touch the hot pots with their bare hands. Some of the kids were looking at my hands one day at camp and said that I must not work because my hands are so soft. After seeing the kind of work these women did, the work I do seems like a breeze!

We sat in their hut while they ate their nsima with cooked pumpkin and okra leaf relish. We gave the family a 10kg bag of nsima flour some towels for bathing, t-shirts, and some granola bars for the kids. Mrs. Lomas cooks for her husband and her 3 unmarried sons. They all eat together each night. One of their sons spoke enough English for us to converse for about 2 hours. Then Mrs. Lomas insisted on heating water (yes, over a fire) for us to have to wash. We washed our faces (oh, and she also insisted on getting us each our own fresh water). Then we braved the dark walk to the toilet hut. This was a brick sided version of the hole-in-the-ground we use at camp. Using it in the dark was a totally different experience. I was practicing a lot of deep breathing and mind control (there were 3 inch long cock roaches everywhere…and I had to squat over them… you get the picture.) Then Mrs. Lomos showed us our room – this was the room in the hut where she and Mr. Lomos sleep. There was a nice grass mat on the dirt floor and tobacco and onions drying over our heads. We thought we would sleep in the main room where they ate on a grass mat, but they insisted we take their room.

This got me thinking…. How many of us would open our homes to a group of Malawians we didn’t know and then offer them our master bedroom? These people have so little materially compared to us, yet they are so generous. They live simply. They work very hard. They laugh often. They live with or near their families, They truly understand and live the idea of community. It isn’t an idea to them. It is such a part of them, that I imagine it would be hard for us to even have a discussion about it. We have such material and financial wealth compared to them, but at what cost? It makes me think of the ways we have sacrificed other (more sustain?) kinds of wealth in the process. Are their ways to have both, or is it an either or equation. This is so similar to the questions I debated after my time in Ecuador. They looked to the US with such hope and envy, yet I looked at their lifestyles (family, community, culture, tradition) with longing and a sense of how we have sacrificed that for what we have that they covet.

Pictures from home stay

2009-01-22T04:01:00.007-05:00

Here are some pictures and comments from our home stay. I don't know why they're so spread out - no college kids around to ask either! So keep scrolling down...

Me trying to cook nsima - tough stuff! All the kids were gathered around the door to the kitchen hut laughing at my meager attempts.

Here is a picture from our hosts' family compound looking at the beautiful sunset over the tobacco fields. These women and children are the wives and grandchildren of the village chief and his wife, Mr & Mrs Lomos.

We worked in this village's school during our home stay. The PTA secretary helped coordinate our stay. We all drove to his hut and he gave us a tour of this part of the village. As we walked we gathered quite a crowd. He showed each group of 2 to their hosts' hut. Because we are married, they put us with the village chief.

This is such a typical site throughout Malawi. The women carried babies on their backs and EVERYTHING on their heads - from firewood like this to 5 gallon paint buckets full of water.

Our home stay hosts had a hut for their goats. This little baby was about a week old. He was so soft - like a puppy! The kids thought it was hilarious that I thought it was so cute. The man in the back is our hosts' son, Richard who spoke enough English for us to communicate.

Here the room we slept in during our stay. The Lomos' insisted that we take their room.

Here is Mrs. Lomos with the 10kg bag of nsima we gave them to thank them for hosting us.

Here is the Lomos' hut with Mr and Mrs Lomos out front.

Fabric Market

2009-01-22T03:41:00.002-05:00

The fabric market was AFRICA! It was busy, crazy, loud, colorful, beautiful, smelly, exciting.
We got lost in all the tight aisles of vendors. I love looking at what they sell. Everything from fish to cassette tapes (still a big deal here) to clothes to auto parts. This one booth really struck me. He had a pile of new screws, nuts and bolts, and a huge pile of used ones. I thought about the hands that had searched for those small parts on discarded items. I thought about all the things we throw away because they don't work perfectly. They hardly throw ANYTHING away here - they are always finding ways to reuse and recycle. Seems like need fosters the most ingenuity, invention, and resourcefulness.
I asked a women with a fabric wrap skirt where to get fabric like hers. A man said follow me. He wove us through the middle of the chaos. It was a little scary - loud voices, loud music, poignant smells, tight alleys - like a movie. Brett was pretty freaked I think. It reminded me of the Paris flea market - guess I had some "training"! But we stayed with the guy and he took us right to the fabric alley. We bought 5 different fabrics for one of the coordinators to sell in a fund raiser in San Fransisco. I'm ho ping Mom will agree to make some place mats for me with some of this cool fabric! It is so bright and beautiful and only about $2.50 for 2 meters.

Home today

2009-01-14T05:22:00.007-05:00

Brett and I didn't go to camp today. I'm not feeling so hot, so I am resting before we do our home stay (staying with a family in the village overnight) on Friday night and go on safari Sunday. So I'm catching up on this blog while no one is here (= faster internet!) Jesse Pipes is here, so we have plenty of coordinators to cover camp. Brett is working on painting the fence around the pool. We're also going to the fabric market this afternoon to buy fabric for a World Camp fund raiser.

These are the two families that keep the World Camp house beautiful and the nsima lunch program going. From the left: John & Monica Chizimba and Felix & Margaret Gilitoni, and their baby, Sampson. We call Felix Angoni because that is the name of his tribe - known in Malawi as the strong warriors. John, Monica & Margaret work hard all day keeping the house clean, washing clothes, and cooking the nsima and relish we serve to the school kids everyday. Margaret carries little Sampson on her back all day in this cool wrap.

The language barrier is a bit hard, but I think I understood John to say that little Sampson has malaria.

This is Angoni cutting the grass with a blade - amazing!
It looks as good as a mower. He is in charge of taking care of the outside of the house, and guarding the gate.

Here is Brett working on the fence.
The pool has been a great way to cool off and chill after camps. We had a big pool volleyball match the day Jesse arrived. One team has to tread water in the deep end, so it is a good workout.
I usually teach yoga right behind Brett there on the pool deck. Two days ago I have 11 of 15 of us out there for a class! Last night I taught a beginners class for some of our volunteers and one of our Malawian translators.

I'll write again after our home stay...

Small World and teaching methods

2009-01-14T04:47:00.005-05:00

This picture is of Joyce, one of the teachers I worked with yesterday. Check out her school bag - Kincaid Furnishings!! Kim and Steve Kincaid donated money to get us here, and here is their company in a village in Malawi! Kim you were obviously on my mind yesterday.

This is a picture of all the teachers from the school yesterday. We also worked with some student teachers.

We do condom demonstrations with bananas. After the demo, we have the students eat the banana to show that condoms keep you protected and that the lubricant is good for the skin. Then we have two students compete to see who can blow up the condom the biggest before it pops. This is to show the durability of the condoms and to prove that one size DOES fit all!!
This picture just cracked me up - the left overs of our demo.

This picture was taken during one of our interactive classroom games. This one focuses on HIV prevention. The four students in the front of the class represent faithfulness (far left), covering up (middle), and abstinence (far right). The rest of the students do not know this and the whole class is told to shake hands with at least 6 people in the room. The faithful two won't shake with anyone except each other, the covered up person will only shake with the covered hand, and the abstaining person holds both hands behind his back and won't shake with anyone. After everyone sits down on of our volunteers says that in this game shaking hands represents having unprotected sex. She then says that for this game she has HIV. Anyone that shook hands with her (usually lots because they love to interact with the volunteers) has to sit down. Then everyone that shook hands with the people sitting down has to sit down also, etc until the only ones standing are the 4 students at the front of the class. The volunteer explains what their hand shaking behavior represents and why they are safe from HIV.

Construction Site - yikes!

2009-01-14T04:01:00.002-05:00

Check out this construction site – especially the ramp. Brett and I both get scared just LOOKING at the scaffolding at job sites here. One of the translators said that constructions workers get “used” because it is such a dangerous job – there are so many that get injured or killed doing that kind of work.

More pictures

2009-01-14T03:21:00.005-05:00

This sweet baby, Abigail, is 2 months old. The women carry the babies like this on their back all the time. They keep working and the babies just sleep or look around. Often the siblings will carry the babies on their backs too. This little girl that I feel in love with yesterday told me through a translator, “My name is Cecelia, I’m 4, but I can hold a tiny little baby on my back. I have a new little brother.”

After lunch I took a break in the bus, but my friends followed me. I took this while sitting just inside the door. I taught them how to make monkey faces, fish faces, and to roll their tongues (it gets tough to think of games and activities to do without a translator!!)This is the tongue rolling one. They howled with laughter when I showed them the picture!

This is from the tree planting part of our curriculum. The school was given 20 trees to plant and the students planted them as classes.The boy working here is Steven’s older brother. He does not have HIV.

This is from our final presentation. Jesse Pipes found a donor to give money for us to buy a sapling for every child at each school to take home and plant with their families. We had some extra for this school, so we were able to present tree saplings to the village members and elders, and some of the rug rats too. They were all so excited. I am on the far right. The baby on my back is Cecilia – remember she is 4!! Look how little she is! Brett was in charge of passing out the trees, so I think he was moving the trailer when this picture was taken. You should have seen him pulling this little trailer full of trees on these super rutted out dirt roads. He was amazing! Trailer work at home will feel like a breeze after that!

2009-01-12T14:12:00.001-05:00

The village water pump is always busy, and is a gathering place for the villagers. This picture was taken after we feed the rug rats lunch. They all jumped in to help us clean the coolers we had filled with nsima and beans. You can see some still eating – they cleaned the coolers with their hands before they put them in the water. They got every bit of nsima left.

2009-01-12T03:53:00.000-05:00

We called these sweet boys the Three Musketeers. I met them the first day, hanging out together under a tree. I never saw them for the rest of camp without the others. The two on the right are brothers. They always had their arms around each other and some fun new game to play. I saw the one on the right, Dickson, run up to the other little one on the left and put out his hand. He had about 6 corn kernels and shared them with his friend and brother.They loved for me to pick them up, turn them upside down, and spin them in the air. They also loved learning thumb war!

Sunday reflections

2009-01-12T02:08:00.000-05:00

Working in at camp in the villages is intense and wonderful.

When we drive up, the kids come running from all directions singing and jumping. They crowd around the door and reach out for high fives and to hold our hands as we get out of the bus. We usually head straight to pee after the 1.5 hour ride (after bad coffee - grrrrr says Brett). That means we go behind a reed screen to find two holes in the ground and tons of flies. Luckily it is so hot that, despite drinking 64 oz of water during the day, we don’t usually have to pee again till we get home (not sure if it is psychological or because of dehydration!!) Then we run to the field for morning games (and anytime, anywhere we run the kids follow in droves.)

We are only allowed (by the Ministry of Education) to teach grades 5-8, so grades 1-4 have to sit outside of the circle (which kills me – so I play games & sing with them later). We sing lots of repeat after me songs. They get so into it – they sing and dance and GRIN the whole time. Later in the day I always catch on of the little ones singing our songs to him/herself and they light up when I start singing it with them. Then they split into their groups with our volunteers to do games with a parachute and trust games like circle sit and trust walk. We also teach the kids how to throw Frisbee and to play Ultimate.

Our volunteers then take the older students to their classrooms to teach our curriculum. This includes 3 main subjects, HIV/AIDS, the environment, and empowerment. The HIV/AIDS part includes the ways to contract HIV, the differences between HIV and AIDS, how to protect from getting HIV, how to keep healthy so HIV doesn’t turn into AIDS, myths about HIV/AIDS, etc. The environmental section includes deforestation (causes, effects, ways to prevent), soil erosion, population control, building and testing solar ovens, and tree planting. This is a tough section because most people in Malawi, and all villagers use wood for cooking and heat. Gas is way too expensive to be a viable option. I will send some amazing and scary stats later, but it is weird to not see any big old trees – the only trees anywhere are small. Our volunteers use fun, interactive games to help students grasp concepts and to test their comprehension. Each class also works on creating a presentation about one of these subjects to perform to the community and village elders on the last day. Their singing, dancing, and creativity made that a really wonderful time.

The empowerment section takes place on the 2^nd day of camp. The students break up by gender and age to discuss topics about gender empowerment and sex. Our volunteers teach about reproductive systems, what getting your period means, pregnancy, forced sex, making choices to protect yourself, and how to create a support network for themselves. Discussion about any of these topics simply does not happen in this culture. Girls do not know what is happening when they start their period. Mothers, grandmothers, aunts, etc do not pass this information to girls. This leaves the girls with so many questions and of course so many ways to be susceptible to misinformation, especially when it comes to sex. Both genders believe that it is only the man’s decision to have sex and whether or not to use a condom, and sex is most always seen as a transaction. Men/boys will approach girls for sex, and offer some sort of incentive such as food, money, grades, passing their 8^th grade test (to be eligible for high school). This was of course hard for all of us to hear and understand. It is also hard for us to not go in and tell them that it is wrong. But that isn’t our call to make. In the reflection group I am leading with the volunteers, we try to remind ourselves how we would respond or feel if a group came in and told us that our ways of doing things was wrong. Our job is only to open the discussion, educate, and encourage honest discussion. It is also interesting to think about it in this way – if the girls and women are not taught to enjoy sex, or taught that they shouldn’t enjoy sex, then wanting to “get something out of this” isn’t that weird. In some ways sex is always a transaction when we look at it in that way. During the empowerment time both gender groups do role plays about these situations and talk about the implications of them. They are encouraged to think of alternative ways of looking at things. They also have a change to ask anonymous questions. Here are some examples:

“What should a girl do if a teacher forced her to have sex, she got pregnant, and now the teacher is pressuring her not to tell?”

“Do I have HIV?”

“Why would the teachers want to have sex with us?”

“Why does my period come in the form of blood?”

“Does the egg break when having sex?”

‘Where does HIV come from?”

“Can you get HIV from having sex with a cow?”

You can imagine the circles we spin in our reflection discussions!!! I think those sessions are helping all of us – not only is this a very different culture in general, which can be tough to process, but we’re getting in there and talking about sex and gender issues on top of that. Having that set time to talk and process together has been great for me.

Before lunch the students talk about sanitation and practice hand washing as a group. They all run home to get their plate and cup, then they come by class for us to serve them food. They usually have to go home and try to find some food, so this is a big treat for them. We serve nsima – “see-ma”, which is kind of like dense grits, with some sort of “relish” with is. The relish is either a cabbage and tomato sauce (reminds me of Chinese food), beans (very yummy – much like Caribbean beans with sauce) or meat cooked in water and oil (looks totally gross – we don’t eat meat at all while we’re here – all it takes is one look at the many cow or goat carcasses hanging for sale on the side of the road to curb that appetite!!) The kids go crazy for this stuff – they sing songs about it and all report that it is their very favorite food. They turn their noses up at our “weird” PNB & J sandwiches, and think it is hilariously weird that most of us don’t like the nsima or only eat the relish.

The rug rats all hang around during lunch hoping and/or hustling for some nsima. I saw many students sharing with their younger siblings, which was so cute. I also watched the little ones scheme with the older ones to get their plates after the older ones ate so they could try to get in the line. We have so far had plenty of left over so we can feed the little ones (thank goodness – it would kill me to turn them away after they line up and watch the older ones come out with full plates or bowls.) Feeding the little ones has been a tough experience for me. We don’t have enough to give them each their own helping, so we circle them up and put a big plate of nsima and a big plate of relish in the middle and they all go after it. I hate to say this, but it was like watching hungry dogs eat in a pack. The second day was even worse because we fed them outside. The bigger kids where pushing the little ones out of the way, the kids were fighting, some would grab a big slab of nsima and try to make a run for it, the kids were picking it up out of the dirt and eating it – oh it was so awful. A couple of us lost it later that night when we talked about it in reflection. Yesterday was better – we had a translator assure them that everyone would get to eat, but if they fought, no one could eat. We had them line up single file youngest to oldest. We let 10 in at a time to sit in a circle and have their 2 plates. This worked much better. The little ones were so sweet and shared with each other. The older ones still got a little crazy, but I’m sure they are starting to get that impossible to satiate hunger of adolescence. Oh, and the kids are so little for their age. I’m sure this is due to poor nutrition (when the favorite food nationally is ground corn!) The 4 year olds look 2, the nine year olds look 6.

On the second day one of the teachers asked me to help one of her students. His name is Steven. He is 10 and was born with HIV. His mother died from HIV. He lives with his grandmother and older brother. His younger sister was adopted. He took his ARV medicine that morning without food because they didn’t have any. He was very sick, and the teacher wanted to know if I could give him some food. Steven wouldn’t eat until he washed his hands (a big deal for HIV positive people, so they can stay healthy.) I took him to the building we use for lunch and got Brett to unload our nsima and supplies. (This building by the way isn’t being used for classes because half the roof had blown off, and they don’t have the supplies to fix this one.) I put a plate of nsima in front of this sweet child and he looked at me with this sad and desperate look on his face and ran out the door. He threw up 5-6 times in the grass. Then he came back in and did his best to eat. I got a translator so we could tell him to slow down. But he was scared he couldn’t take it with him (enter sound of my heart breaking, yet again…) So we found a bag for him to take home some nsima and meat and encouraged him to just drink some of the watered down sweet drink we bring that they love. I talked to the teachers later in the afternoon about the problem of taking ARVs without food. That expensive and vital medicine was in the grass behind the food building instead of in Steven’s body. The teachers said because he is an orphan, he often doesn’t have any food. So, it is wonderful and amazing that Steven has access to this life-sustaining medicine, but he doesn’t have enough food to take the medicine so he doesn’t throw it right back up – uggggg…. So frustrating.

Steven (the one on my lap – Brett says, “Can you believe he is 10!?) came back the 3^rd day feeling much better. His teacher said he did take his medicine that morning and had found some food. Notice he brought his cup and plate that 3^rd day incase he could get more nsima. He found me as soon as I got off the bus. We held hands as we walked to the circle. A little one tried to get in the circle, and Steven saw a bigger kid push him away. He went and got the little one and pulled him in – first between me and Steven, and then Steven looked at me and my hand, and put the little one on his other side so we could say beside each other.

Brett says:

Also on the third day World Camp brings about 200 trees to plant and distribute to the students, village elders and teachers. We planted 20 at this first school. Amazing to watch the kids use their home-made hoes to dig the holes in the hard red dirt. They are defiantly comfortable with that type of work. Their classes gathered around and sang their group song while they took turns digging. They took great care in planting them and made a ring out of bricks to mark them. The bricks will hopefully help them survive, grazing livestock just roams everywhere. The trees were a big hit, everyone was very excited. We found the trees at a nursery that the government owns. They worked out to be about $0.50 a piece. A native tree called Cassia (red and white).

Camp day one

2009-01-12T01:49:00.000-05:00

When we arrived at the first village school, the kids ran from all directions to meet our bus. They waved and sang and jumped with excitement. This was our view as we walked out of the bus. The kids are so open and friendly. They walk right up and grab our hands. We officially work with the kids from 5-8 grade (as restricted by the Ministry of Education), but the younger children never want to go home when we’re there. We coordinators work to keep the “rug rats” entertained and distracted from climbing up and peeping into the classroom windows. I LOVE that job – the little ones are so cute!

2009-01-12T01:12:00.001-05:00

January 7, 2009

We're really loving it here. The other coordinators are GREAT people who I imagine we will work to keep in our lives. All of the volunteers are here – 10 total. 8 are college students, sophomores to seniors from Salem College (NC), Randolph Macon (VA), Colby (ME), and Middlebury (VT). The other two guys are 27 and in between jobs. One is moving to South Africa for a job and the other to England for a job. They are both CPAs – totally queens! They keep us all laughing and Brett blushing ;)

I am definitely the mom of the group, but the queens call me ‘House Sister’ so I don’t feel old. Some of my assigned tasks: cook group organizer, kitchen organizer, point person for aliments, teacher coordinator, house tours, getting rooms ready for volunteers, reflection and evaluation leader, and Brett and I are working to start a compost pile and "program" for the house. I am in my element and feel so comfortable here.

Brett is up to his usual tricks - working on cars, fixing anything anyone mentions needs work, working on the computers, driving everywhere, buying tools, making friends with the house guys – John and Anjoni who are so great. John is a wonderful cook - he is teaching me some tricks! Anjoni is in charge of all the things on the outside of the house. Brett likes working with them both. We both have loved being able to bring our talents and skills to the house.

One of the coordinators, Daisy and I went to a crisis nursery to hold babies before the rest of the volunteers arrived. WOW. They keep up to 20 babies (they’re always full) ages birth to 18 months that have been orphaned. The facility was in good repair, and the women who work there seem to really care for the children. I can’t imagine how they don’t get attached to all the cuties. They are always in need of formula because if is so expensive here. I think World Camp is going to start accepting baby donations from volunteers and donors to give to the nursery. Usually WC discourages material donations because they have found that giving out items in the village gives the children the idea that we’re only here to give stuff and pay less attention to what we ARE here to give – education.

That visit prompted the START of what I imagine will be a very long discussion about international adoption and mulit-race adoption among the group.

We went to Lake Malawi from Monday – Wednesday (today) for volunteer orientation. It was beautiful, and especially great to start working with the volunteers. They are a good group of people. We went through the whole 3 day camp curriculum so they could practice. We coordinators also created many opportunities for reflection, and get to know you activities.

Our lodge, Cool Runnings, was right on the water, so our breaks were filled with time in the sun and swimming in the lake. The villagers use the lake for all their water needs – including bathing and washing dishes. It was hard to not feel guilty about relaxing in the water while these women, men and children used it to meet their basic needs. But – it did give us great opportunities to interact with them. I went into the water one afternoon and had a group of kids swim over to me to play. They are so open and friendly. The 4 year old jumped right into my arms. He LOVED being thrown on the count of three. Then he got tired and cold and just wanted me to hold him (I totally melted of course!) Some other volunteers were there too, so we practiced singing the songs we will use to open our days at camps in the villages. The kids LOVED it – we all sang and danced and played in the water. All the kids I met on the beach didn’t hesitate to sing, dance, and play with us. I just love their spirit. That has been the highlight of my trip so far.

I led our first official reflection group with the volunteers tonight. It went really well I think. They all seemed like they were ready and needing to vent and discuss all that we’ve seen and done so far. They were all very willing to tackle some tough issues already. I think this will be an important addition to the World Camp program for all of us. All of the coordinators are participating also.

Brett has enjoyed the running. They walk over to this private golf course. They have to walk in town because everyone looks at them like they’re crazy – “what are they running FROM??” He says the course is nice – a few hills – but short. He’s hoping to push some of the other runners to do two laps eventually. They have to be off the course by 7:30, so he is learning to love morning exercise (or at least dealing with it!) He is bummed that the coffee is TERRIBLE – surprising since we’re relatively close to Kenya – guess they ship it all to the US!

I have taught a couple of yoga classes for the group. Tonight over half of the whole group (volunteers and coordinators) joined me outside under the moon for a class. I’m excited to have so many people interested in yoga and also for the opportunity to practice teaching. It is very motivating for me. My meditation practice has been regular and wonderful here – so much to process. I think the quiet, still time is really good for me in this (and all really!) situation.

Brett and I both are really enjoying the laid back atmosphere here. “African time” is suiting us well. A Malawian explained it nicely – he said that they are more relationally driven than results driven. It is a nice change of pace, and we’ll be working on ways to incorporate that value into our lives.

We’re up early tomorrow to head into the bush to a village school for our first camp. We will go back to that school 3 days in a row. We will go to a total of 6 schools – all for 3 days at a time. The volunteers are buzzing around the house getting all their supplies ready to teach for the first time tomorrow. I can’t wait!

Hope you all are doing well. Thank you all for your love and support of this journey.

We love you!

Catherine & Brett

Africa # 1

2009-01-12T00:48:00.000-05:00

We arrived yesterday afternoon after a VERY LONG day of travel!
I dealt with some stomach bug on the 17 hour plane ride (passed out in the first class section while rushing to the can - so embarrassing!)
So that made a long time even longer for both of us. We were delayed about 3 hours in Ethiopia, but that plane was not full, so we were able
to stretch out a bit and finally get some sleep.
We got to the house yesterday around 4pm local time. We unpacked, showered, made dinner, and started to work with the other coordinators
to get the house ready for the volunteers to start arriving on the 2nd. I am unfortunately feeling sick again like I caught a cold or something on the plane (likely since I was
so weaken with the stomach mess - ugggg...)
The house is great - tons of room to spread out - it is MADE for big groups.
The kitchen is huge! The two guys that run the house are super nice and helpful. John made us a yummy curry for dinner tonight.
We slept like logs of course and made our way into town today. This area of Lilongwe is a bit more modern I'm told (we'll check out old Lilongwe
tomorrow) but I was surprised to see some pretty nice and modern buildings and businesses. The grocery store has anything we would want - as long as we're willing to pay for the imported stuff. A 5th of Cuervo equals about $50 US dollars!! Brett bought Malawi gin to ring in the New Year instead! The exchange rate is crazy - we'll be doing big math to keep up with $1 = 160 kwacha. We felt rich walking around with 18,000 bills - too bad they're kwacha and not dollars! We walked through the local market - wow.
lots of tiny fish stacked in little piles (you can imagine the smells and flies!), good looking fruits and veggies, an fire pit roasting corn right across from a stand selling printer cartridges. Lots of shoe cobblers ( my favorite was called "Try Again Shoe Repair")
I slept the rest of the day, but Brett continues to explore. He tried his hand at driving - toured the town by car, got fuel, bought tons of groceries for camp, worked on the cars, worked on getting the internet going - busy and super helpful as always.
We enjoyed our yummy curry dinner with the other 2 coordinators that are here, Scott and Daisy. We all shared some chocolate and chatted after dinner. They're great people. I'm excited to work with them. It is 9:30pm now - we're all doubting we'll make it to midnight.
Hope you all have a wonderful new year's eve and day.
The number here at the house is: 265-175-3424
If you want to call - buy an international calling card - WAY cheaper than using your land line.

our love,
Catherine & Brett