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!

March 10th

Blog #1 Malawi

Since our arrival on the tarmac in Malawi, pulling up to see a group of Peace Corps Volunteers waving a flag saying “Welcome to Malawi,” everything has seemed like a dream. Something that I have not been able to fully process. We spent the last week at MIM (Malawi Institute for Management) which was its own little campus. Each of us were given our own rooms, complete with a bed, mosquito net, bathroom (with toilet!) and a shower. After months of preparing myself to go without these things, I was almost disappointed. We attended several training sessions mostly about safety policies, medical safety and cross-cultural courses where they taught us about the dos and don’ts here in Malawi. We were spoiled with great food like chicken, goat and beef always served with rice. Every day we had two tea breaks where we got samosas and cakes. At night, of course, we helped ourselves to the bar where Carlsberg and Specials (Malawi’s two main beers) were consumed along with one really expensive Malawi gin and tonic, which I have to say beats Tanqueray any day.

The weather here is fantastic, 60s at night and 70-80 during the day. Some nights you can look out over the valley and see these huge cumulonimbus clouds lighting up in the sky like contained fireworks, its really beautiful to watch, especially at dusk. The flowers are everywhere, everything is green and lush. The staff at MIM were so nice, always wanting to help us learn more Chichewa and laughing politely when we slaughtered a word or two. We were able to squeeze in a couple language sessions before heading to our homestay village. Basically I can now ask how you are, I am fine, thank you see you later in Chichewa! If I need, I can adjust that on the time of day- morning or afternoon. Needless to say I was a little nervous on the bus to the village with such limited skills.

While loading up the bus, we were all told what language we would be learning during pre-service training. Malawi has something like 13 different languages spoken in country. Most of Malawi speaks and understands Chichewa, but as you enter the more remote areas (i.e. what almost every PCV does), they stick to the language of their village. My name was the first read from the whole group. I will be learning Chilambya, a language spoken only in the northern regions. We had a brief interview with the Peace Corps environmental coordinators a couple days earlier where they asked us specific questions about our past experience and what, specifically we are interested to do with our time here. They also asked if we had a preference on where we would like to end up. Most of us were surprised by this questions since throughout the whole process we had been told to “Serve where PC asks you to”. To have a choice- well, we didn’t know what to do! Since I was the last interview, I did have some time to think about it. I requested to be in the mountains since it’s so much cooler than the lake which I have heard can get miserably hot in January. While I am excited to be given the northern region of Malawi, I am nervous about a lot of things as well. There are only three of us learning this language, we could be placed in a very remote area, far from other volunteers. Also, I will be living in a house with a family who only speaks Chichewa for 9 weeks, so I will be learning two languages at the same time. While I am very nervous about all of these things, I keep reminding myself to take a deep breath and remember how I got here. The years of dreaming of living in a different country, of immersing myself in a new culture completely foreign to all that I know and am comfortable with. This is what I want, what I’ve worked for. I can’t believe I am here!!!