Send me stuff in Malawi! Here's how:

When sending be sure to write things like "God Saves" or just draw crosses all over it... this helps reduce the temptation to steal. Also, when claiming what you are sending please put things like bible, and tampons...

What I would like/miss:
-Seeds (fun stuff like flowers and vegetables!)
-Candy (I LOVE Reese's, Reisens, and anything chocolate. Also Starburst, Sour Patch Kids, Skittles are fruity faves)
-Trail mix
-Spices
-Dried Fruit
-Nuts
-Granola bars (Luna and Cliff are my favorites!)
-Good books
-Movies/music/tv shows on a flash drive (things can get pretty boring, I would love entertainment!)
-Bungee cords
-Clear tape (I'll use to make dry erase boards)
-Dry-erase markers :)
-Any type of hobby materials, I have a lot of time on my hands (I've gotten really good at juggling..)
-Any kind of food/sauce you can just add hot water to
-Photos of your beautiful face!
-Oreos!!!
-Southern Hemisphere start chart
-Good sunscreen
-Beef jerky
-Tuna
-Kid toys
-AAA Batteries
-Deodorant
-Pens/Cool paper
-Scissors
-1 Liter Nalagine bottle
-Sunglasses
-Envelopes

Here is my address:

Britney Tonning
PO Box 51
Chitipa, Malawi

THANK YOU!!!!! I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!!

May 13th

May 13, 2014

Well, its official, I am a Peace Corps Volunteer! The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of Peace Corps traditions, tests, tears, and travel. Getting back to Kasungu after our site visit, we spent the next couple of weeks wrapping up our classes, preparing for our language assessment interview, and trying to soak in as much time with our families and friends as possible. There were several walks to Linga (nearby village) for Carlsberg’s which is Malawi’s beer of choice, our last ultimate Frisbee game, and the last chance to run as a group as the sun rose over Kasungu Mountain. I wish I could write about all of these very special moments, but that would take hours and I don’t have enough computer battery for all of that! I’ll try to highlight the main points:

- I scored advanced-low on my language assessment (which is much higher than it should have been in my opinion). The grading scale goes from Novice-low, med, high, Intermediate-low, med, high, advanced-low, med, high to native speaker. While I am proud of the progress I have made, I have a lot to learn over the next couple of years, and especially since my village speaks Chinyiha which I feel should learn… good thing Peace Corps provides money for a tutor!

-We had our graduation ceremony at the United States Ambassadors house in Lilongwe. Many girls had traditional dresses made in Kasungu so there were bright colored dresses everywhere! It was beautiful. The ambassador’s house was amazing, we arrived and were ushered to this lawn where tents were set up for our group, our trainers, and for returned Peace Corps volunteers still serving in country. I was chosen to give part of a speech on behalf of the Peace Corps trainees. There were four languages taught during training based on where each trainee would be placed in Malawi. There was a Chichewa group, chitonga, chitimbuka and chilambya. The speech that we gave was split up into each of these four languages and then spoken all in English at the end. As soon as I have enough internet I will post the video of the speech on here for all of you to hear! After the speeches we gave our oath to serve as Peace Corps volunteers and boom, we were official volunteers! While all of this should have been very moving and emotional, all any of us had on our minds was the food being served after. As embarrassing as this is, we were so excited for the promise of cheese… Once let loose we attacked the servers as they passed around cookies, breads, keish, cake, bagels and other delicious foods we had been missing for months. I kept looking up to make sure I was not the only one feasting like I had not eaten in weeks, only to realize I was one of 37 others who was in a food frenzy. As we were leaving we all kind of looked around at each other in a daze like we didn’t know what had just happened, we were in a food euphoria. It. Was. Wonderful.

- The following day we had our village appreciation. Peace Corps set up tents at the grounds in the village and the village headmen, local traditional authority, country director for Peace Corps and others made speeches of how appreciative we were to the families and village for opening their homes to us. The women from each village performed dances for us including my amayi which was very fun to watch. We then were each called up to receive a certificate of appreciation. My Malawi parents were so proud and excited, it was very fun to watch. Cedric (the culture and language director for Peace Corps) arranged a performance from the traditional masked dancers which was amazing! Again, as soon as I can I will post video for you. I am hoping to do some more research about them, and will probably make a whole blog entry about it in the future. After the village appreciation several people in our group who live close to Kasungu was sent out. It happened so fast. All of a sudden 7 of us were on the way to their site. We would not see each other for the next 3 ½ months. It is so weird to be thrown together as a group, spend over 8 hours a day with each other (sometimes more), six days a week only to be separated completely for such a long time. I can’t wait to be reunited for our in-service training in August!

-The following morning we were told to meet at the community hall at 5am with all of our belongings. I felt so bad waking up my mother and siblings to have them carry not only my luggage, but my water filter, mattress and every book I had accumulated over the past 2 months of training and walk it through the village in the dark. Unfortunately in true Peace Corps Malawi fashion, we then sat at the hall for the next 2 hours waiting for our cars to arrive… Once they finally showed up and we packed everything into the cars, we gave our last hugs and goodbyes. It was a little overwhelming. I am not sure if it is just the culture or what, by my amayi basically threw herself on me saying (in Chichewa) that she would miss me, and started crying. For those of you who know me, I do not do well in emotional situations… it was awkward to say the least. We waved goodbye and were off!

-They packed 3 of us into a small ass car. Bike, mattresses, water filters, luggage, everything was squished into a 4 person car… It was insane. Somehow we all fit in and were on our way to Chitipa. I will be living in Chitipa with Dylan and Isabel. Isabel is in the same village as me. We are the only ones to be placed together since we are so rural from the rest of Malawi. I am so extremely grateful not only to have a site mate, but to have one that I actually really enjoy hanging out with! Dylan is located in Meru which is about 70km away, but we share the same boma (city center) so we will see each other frequently which is great. We had to stay the night in Karonga on the way up which was fantastic. The hotel we stayed at was a 5 minute walk from Lake Malawi. The lake is huge, the water is clear and warm, and it’s surrounded by mountains. I cannot wait to be able to really spend some time in it!

-After dropping Dylan off in his tiny village we made our way to Kameme. We unloaded, unpacked and have been exploring ever since. So far we have gone on runs, hiked a small mountain to watch the sunrise, made banana bread, had some great meals, attended a youth program focused on theater for development, met the local medicine man, put together a solar panel so we can charge our computers, saw the president of Malawi speak, drew water from the well ourselves, and had a Monday movie night. Each of these things were equally exciting. I feel so lucky to be placed in such an amazing site. The people are so friendly and warm. Every time I walk anywhere I am greeted by someone new welcoming me to Kameme. There are some established programs already in place in my village, along with a secondary school where the opportunities for me to be involved with programs and projects are endless. I keep having to keep myself in check, everything seems so perfect right now, I know there will be challenges in the future but I right now I am on cloud nine!

May 4th

May 4, 2014

I wish I could tell stories like my mother. For any of my English teachers, or really any person reading this blog, I wish my ability to convey what I see, hear and feel on a daily basis was better. There are some truly amazing things I have experienced since stepping on African soil, yet, most of the time when I try to write it down I can’t do it any justice and for this, I apologize.

Tonight I experienced one of those times when I was overcome with awe. I had just finished up my bafa and headed outside to watch my sisters and amayi prepare dinner. Usually we will sit around and laugh at this and that, but tonight was all about the singing. I was sitting on the dirt floor of our kitchen watching my two sisters singing and dancing to traditional African songs. Both my sisters have beautiful voices, but my amayi is amazing. I am always trying to get her to sing more but she will just laugh and shy away. Tonight though, she sat behind me cooking and harmonizing perfectly with my sisters. I sat there with one of the twins in my lap, the other leaning against me at my side, watching as they danced, lit by the flickering flames from the kitchen. Their back drop was the milky way, and their shadows danced against the wall from the moonlight. It was truly magical. I want to bottle up that moment and keep it with me forever.

April 30th

April 30^th

In about a week I will be standing at the United States ambassador’s house swearing in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. It is crazy to think that Pre-service training has gone by so incredibly fast. There were several days where I thought our classes would never end, nights when I could not fathom how I would survive 9 weeks living in a house hold of strangers, and what seemed like hours of staring contests with my abombo once we ran out of English and Chichewa words that we could understand. Yet somehow, I’ve made it through, somehow I come home from classes and joke around with my sisters, make dinner with my host mother, and talk politics with my host father. After 8 weeks, I am experiencing similar feelings as I did before boarding the plane in Cedar Rapids. I am comfortable here, I know the routine, I know what is expected of me, how can I leave all this for an unknown future in a place I hardly know anything about with people I don’t know?? I’ve realized this is what life is. Taking these small and sometimes big leaps into the unknown. You don’t know what you will learn, how you will grow and what impact these small leaps will have on your life. I have made several big unknown leaps since graduating college. They have led me to some amazing people who I hope to have in my life for a long time from all across the country. I miss my Washington and Tennessee families like crazy and know that if I had not taken those leaps to go outside my comfort zone to work at those crazy jobs I found online I would not have that. I’m feeling pretty nostalgic today. This is actually the first blog entry I have typed on my computer. All previous blogs were handwritten and typed at a later date. I have not used my tablet since leaving the hotel in Philadelphia. Since this is the first time on the computer, this is the first time I have had access to a lot of my music and photos… Thank you again to my amazing friends who took the time to help me download music. It is amazing how much music can be used as therapy, I’ve missed it dearly.

Like I said, this is our last week here in Kasungu. The group dynamic has changed a little bit since coming back from our site visits. Its suddenly real that we are all moving away from the safety of Chicombwe and Dombolara. We are not going to see each other every single day, and we are starting to realize we are going to be doing this as individuals, not as a group of 37. I am going to miss several people in the group who are moving to the southern tip of Malawi- opposite of me up in the North. Hell, I’m going to miss seeing those who are only living 40k away from me. Travel in Malawi is so difficult. While this country is only the size of Indianana (or so I’ve been told), it could take days for me to reach friends living in the south. Roads here are tricky, if they are paved the usually have huge pot holes and heavy traffic (foot, bike and vehical). Your mode of transportation is usually sketchy at best. Even when I dished out money to take the “nice bus” from my site back to Kasungu, the bus ended up breaking down and we had to hitch part of the way back. However I would take the risk of taking the nicer buses rather than being packed into a minibus where there are only 18 seats and sometimes upwards of 25 people (and sometimes chickens) trying to fit in there. Travel is an adventure… that’s all I can really say. I am looking forward to sharing stories with you all when I do decide to venture away from my post!

March 20th

March 20^th, 2014

It has been over a week since moving into my homestay house and I have to say it’s been an adventure. I really do love living with my family. We have fallen into something of a routine I guess. I wake up around 5:30am every day, about an hour after the rest of my family (from what I can guess). For those of you who know me, you know 5:30am is pushing it. In the mornings I help my amayi (mother) and siblings with chores. Usually this means helping start the fire, getting water, doing dishes from dinner the previous night, and of course my bafa (bath). Getting water from the borehole is actually one of my favorite things to do. I walk to the borehole with my amayi or sisters and try to greet all the women waiting in line. Once I’ve exhausted my Chichewa skills which takes all of about 2 seconds, the ladies continue to chat, about me I’m sure (the pointing and laughing is a good hint). My amayi will put the bucket under the pump while I get my morning workout of pumping the water as it slowly comes out of the ground. I’ll fill one small bucket 3/4 of the way, and then the other 4 times its size to the rim. The small one is of course for me. My mom or sister help me put it on my head while the ladies laugh- it’s even worse when my youngest sister plops the large bucket on her head not spilling a drop. I have yet to spill any, which I attribute to my 10 years of marching band practice. Other volunteers have had a far harder time and generally reach their home soaking wet. I am lucky enough to live pretty close to the borehole which also helps.

 My other favorite thing in the morning has become my bafa. Usually by the time I wake up the water has already been heated for me over the fire. I take my time splashing around in the buckets, knowing I will do this again at night. If my amayi had her way I’d have another at my lunch break too. Who knew I would be cleaner in Africa than at home!? I’m sure it will change once I get to my own site since I will then be the one drawing the water/starting the fire and doing everything in the mornings. One of the funniest things is the morning sweeping. I’m not talking about sweeping in the home, but outside. In the US you are expected to keep your yard trimmed and neat, here you are to “clean” the dirt around your house. There is no grass so sweeping any leaves or sticks that may have fallen during the night is very important. Sweeping has never been my favorite activity, sweeping a large yard of dirt is even worse. Around 7 we will all sit down for a quick breakfast. Sometimes just bread slices, sometimes we have mandazi which is a fried dough that tastes like non-sweetened doughnuts. We always have tea at breakfast. Again, I am looked at like the crazy person every morning because I only add ½ scoop of sugar to my tea where the rest of my family will pour in 4-5 heaping spoonful’s (including the 2 year olds). After helping clean up really fast and getting a snack from my amayi I’m off to class yelling ‘Tiowana’ to all of my siblings.

                Our training is different every day. Sometimes we stay together as a large group, and other times we are split up by our sectors. Today for example, our classes consisted of 1 ½ hours of language training, 1 ½ hours of information on diaharrea and another 1 ½ hours on malaria prevention. Lunch- where I go home to my amayi and twin sisters to eat and play games. Then back to school where I learned about food preservation from a current PCV. Finally we ended the day with a presentation from the Department of Ministries head of agriculture and irrigation in Malawi. After classes I spend a little time tossing around the Frisbee in the village’s sports field with fellow PCT’s and head home. There, I sit around and try to talk to my abombo (dad) about my classes in his broken English and my horrible Chichewa before heading outside to pretend to help with dinner (really just playing with the two year old twin girls). Sometimes I will play a game of keep away with the 11 and 13 year old sisters. This is played with a ball that is really just rags bundled together then wrapped and tied in a plastic bag. It’s fun until it’s so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face. This apparently to them, increases the hilariousness factor. For me it just means I get hit in the face a lot with the ball… I am usually relieved when my amayi will call me away so I can take my second bafa of the day. After the bafa I will take some time to study language until dinner. Dinner is always nsima, Malawians don’t consider a meal a meal unless there is nsima apparently. Usually there is some type o leafy green that is like creamed or steamed spinach and is served with beans, chicken or beef. It always tastes fine. The nsima is actually growing on me, though I think I’m going to gain 20 lbs before these 9 weeks are up. Good thing I’m moving to the mountains soon where the bike rides will be extra exciting on twisty roads! After dinner, lately I have discovered my sisters love card games and I have been working to teach them how to shuffle which is hilarious. Finally something I know how to do that they don’t! I may not be able to cook nsima, but shuffling cards, no problem. After a couple games I head to my room to write you all letters or handwrite blog entries!

March 11th

March 11, 2014

Today we packed our bags and got into the very tightly packed bus to go to our host village. We couldn’t go there directly however, as us Americans needed to get one very vital piece of our culture we can’t go without- toilet paper. We stopped for only an hour in Lilongwe, which was actually more exciting than you might think. After spending a week at MIM where we weren’t allowed to really leave campus, it felt like we were stepping on real Malawian soil for the first time. Looking forward knowing we had just said goodbye to last toilet, shower, and internet access for 9 weeks and we couldn’t be more excited. After picking up toilet paper and a quick trip to an ice cream store, we were loaded back on the bus. Malawian countryside is so fascinating. It feels like home in such a weird way. Right now we are coming up on harvest season which means 6-7 ft. corn is everywhere! Not too different from Iowa in August. However if you look closer, you can see all the things that remind me I am in Africa. Squash (especially pumpkins) are grown between the corn stalks, with rows of potatoes in the middle. Shadows from the nearby mountains with their beautiful rock outcrops cover the corn at dusk. The corn will all of a sudden be replaced with fields of tobacco which is Malawi’s number one cash crop. Not to mention the people you see in the fields using hoes to remove the weeds or to build up the potatoes ridges. No tractors in sight. As we were driving we would pass women carrying loads of rice or water on their heads, with a child or two strapped to her back. We passed trucks filled way beyond their capacity with young men perched precariously on top. So many people would stop to watch the bus full of Americans drive by and smile and wave. We drove for about two hours until we pulled onto a dirt road following the sign that said Kasungu Wildlife Reserve. We passed the largest house I’ve seen here in Africa. A mansion home that belonged to Malawi’s first president, which since his passing now sits empty- except for the servants who maintain the place. Every child we passed would begin to chase our bus, waving and yelling despite the dust we had just kicked up in their faces. After about 10 minutes of dodging pot holes and children on the road, we finally made our last turn to pull up to a group of Malawian women singing, dancing and waving to us in their beautiful tchenges with such excitement on their faces. As we got off the bus, leaders from the villages came and shook each of our hands to welcome us. We sat down and watched as the women performed and danced traditional Malawian dances for us. Everyone was giddy with anticipation of what would happen next. After several dances the women took their spot under some trees and we all listened as the local village headmen spoke. The chief of Chicombwe was very excited to have us in his village. Back in 1965, when he was a young child he had a teacher who was a Peace Corps Volunteer.  He spoke at the 50^th anniversary for Peace Corps celebration here in Malawi last year about how the influence from this volunteer helped shape his life and how he is excited for the opportunity to teach new volunteers about Malawian culture.

After lots of clapping and speeches from many other people, we were assigned our family for the next 9 weeks. My name was the first called. I was paired with the Chingala family. When my new amayi’s (mother) name was called she came running up to me arms spread wide with a huge grin on her face. She only is about 5 feet tall and was wearing a bright orange head piece with an orange tchenge (traditional cloth skirt wrap thing) to match. We sat and watched as everyone else was assigned their families, cheering them on as they met each other for the first time. After everyone was paired up, all of our amayis took our luggage, plopped it on top of their heads and we were off to see our house. I live in a pretty nice house compared to some of my fellow PCT’s. My house is made out of brick and mud with a tin roof. It has four bedrooms, one large sitting area, a kitchen area, storage closet and a bathing room. The floors are cement, and there is glass in the windows. In the sitting area we have a couch, two large chairs, a table with four chairs and a china cabinet. Many other houses have dirt floors, a thatch roof and no contents within the house besides a bamboo sitting mat.

The very first night in my house I sat at our table and ate dinner as the whole family watched me with curiosity. I discovered quickly that my father and brother were the only ones who spoke very limited English. Because of this, we mostly ate in silence. I had nsima for the first time. I am not sure if it was nerves or because nsima has no taste, but I had to force myself to eat without gagging that first night. I quickly finished and excused myself to go to bed on my thin mattress placed on the concrete ground. I tucked in my mosquito net and fell asleep right away. It’s only the second day, and I am looking forward to getting to know my family. Let the adventure begin!