GEAMOC

We're coordinating with GEAMOC, which has been supporting 7 orphans at Matenje Primary and Secondary over the years. The orphans are given vitamin supplemented Likuni porridge (a mixture of maize and soy), and have supported a group of women to generate income that is used to provide clothing, soap, and school supplies. GEAMOC funded a diesel engine maize mill for the women to run their Income Generating Activity (IGA), charging villagers a small amount of money for the milling service. However, diesel is expensive, and the the group's committee lacked the business sense to save some proceeds for maintenance and fuel, perhaps expecting GEAMOC to continue funding the mill when they were really supposed to be sustainable after the initial setup. A few weeks ago, while we were trying to understand the situation of why the mill was dead and there was no money, the president of GEAMOC suddenly appeared. Hans travels to Malawi once a year to inspect the supported projects. He's an engineer, and he informed us that the mill was improperly cared for and maintained, and would not continue giving money to mechanics when he wants to support orphans. He said that if electricity could be installed, he will give them a new electric engine that would be much more easy to run and much more difficult to damage. In the meantime, we are going to help coordinate GEAMOC's orphan support while we are in Malawi, distributing the porridge and making sure school fees are paid with their funds. Also, we will be able to email with Hans and let him know how things are going while he's in Germany. A good connection.

Just some more pictures we thought you would enjoy.

Here is some cotton growing.


A Baobob tree. We have one growing in our compost. How cool is that?


This is a former student from our school who helps us out with a lot of projects.


Sunset. Did we mention it is hot here?

HIV Support Group Garden

Last week the HIV support group we work with invited us to see their garden project. The garden provides nutritional supplements to their diet as well as a source of income. While they have some problems to work out, we were impressed with their initiative to help themselves live a better life. Considering that is easy for them to become sick, a physical project like this takes a lot of perseverance and determination.


Here's Brian following our hosts to the garden.


Then we had to cross a river. Nothing is ever easy in Malawi, but we didn't mind because it felt good on our feet. We try not to think about what parasites may have invited themselves into our bodies.


Here is the group working in the garden. It is close to the river, so it is easy to water in the dry season. They are still hoping to get more watering cans though because it is a slow process with only one.


Another one of their problems they are facing are insects and not enough fertilizer. Each member has already contributed a small amount for fertilizer, but it is not enough. We are encouraging them to use more eco-friendly methods which would also be cheaper (or free), but we aren't exactly experts on that either. Insects aren't the only thing eating their garden. Goats are a problem, so a fence is also on their wish list.


After visiting the vegetable garden we went to look at the medicinal herb garden. This is the chairman of the support group showing us some kind of plant that I can't remember (and it probably wouldn't matter if I did because it would be a Chichewa name). They have many plants growing that will help treat some of their opportunistic infections that accompany HIV/AIDS. The one main problem with the herb garden is water. It is pretty far from the river or a borehole. We want to try to encourage a watering schedule so the members of the group can rotate the task.


This is a baby Neem tree. I was excited about this because I remembered learning about Neem in India. It seems like it has a million uses.

Failed Attempt

I was feeling pretty good about myself when I made this papaya jam. It was delicious. I say 'was', because a few days later it spoiled so I was unsuccessful with the preservation process. I don't think I used enough lemons, which have pectin. Or maybe I didn't boil it long enough. Or maybe I didn't put it in the jars the right way. But hey, I have a while to perfect it.

America v. Japan

A group of PCVs played basketball against a group of JAICA volunteers last Saturday afternoon. Taka really loves basketball, so he organized the event at Bishop Mckenzie International School. America won two games, 11-3, 11-8. The second game was closer because we played full court instead of 3/4 court. Full court wore us down since JAICA had 2 subs to rest their runners. Also, our gentle giant, Ben, was playing barefoot. We co-mingled the third game to make it more even (the first pass-in was to the wrong player).

Garden Fresh

Now that we are actually paying a boy to water our garden and have a retired friend who has a background in agriculture, we are seeing results!

This pic is for Britta as promised. Brian said I made the tomato look larger than it actually is. Artistic freedom I guess.


And lettuce!


These are some indigenous beans. Not sure what we are doing with them yet.


Our first garden salad. Some of the toppings are actually from care packages, but the lettuce, pepper, tomato and basil are from our garden. Plus we had a peanut butter- lemon juice dressing made from the homemade peanut butter.


And because we thought that eating a salad might be too healthy, we decided to make French Fries (potatoes not from the garden...but we do have sweet potatoes growing so maybe we'll have to try sweet potato fries when they are ready).

Getting Ready for the Hot Season

"African Air Conditioning"

We suspended some bamboo mats from our ceiling in our bedroom to trap the heat. We have already done a test with the digital thermometer my dad sent and it was 3 degrees cooler.

"African Refrigerator"

Once filled with water and insulated in a hole in the ground this will become our refrigerator. We'll probably actually just use the cooler water to dump on our heads. Last year when we arrived at our site at the end of the hot season we were taking about 5 bucket baths a day.
FYI, inside our house it has reached 95 degrees. We haven't tested the temperature in the sun yet.

Chess

I play chess with Reverend Nkhokamasa. We're about even in games won; he might have a slight edge over me. If I get too aggressive, I play right into his hands. His setup is slow and he never exposes his King. He's also methodical about his play, and even though I can see a couple moves ahead how he's going to attack, he persists until I forget about my defense. I might try to set up a chess club with willing, motivated students if I can get my hands on some more chess sets.

TWIM

This week in Malawi I arranged for the district coordinator for the National Association for People with HIV/AIDS in Malawi (NAPHAM) to meet with a group of people in my village. There are about 20 people living with HIV in our immediate area, and another 40 in two other nearby villages. They were oriented to the organization and will be registered to receive support group benefits like technical skills on how to live and eat healthier, have better access to Anti-Retroviral drugs (ARVs), and be referred to and transported to better health facilities like the Salima District Hospital or Ndi Moyo, a palliative care center in Salima (actually the only one in Malawi).
NAPHAM
Article on NAPHAM

Also, I successfully got my school to be more involved with other schools. There are about 18 secondary schools within our Cluster. Schools are supposed to participate in academic and extra-curriculur activities that boost student learning. I was told these activities have not taken place in several years. On Friday I ended up being one of the three judges at the Msalura Cluster Competition put on by the Association for Teachers of English in Malawi (ATEM). I sat through a grueling program: 2 poems, 2 short stories, 1 press conference, 1 panel discussion, 3 debates, and 5 dramas. Our school participated in drama, which is about all I can say for their performance. I'm glad they had the opportunity and experience.



Some of our students being goofy in a drama. They don't usually tie each other up to trees. At least not that we know about...

Preparing for their rebuttal in the debate.

Knitting Club

The ladies in knitting club finished their first project- baby booties. They are waiting to make baby hats before they sell them. Some of them turned out pretty cute for a first project.

Brian with his book and his puppy on his birthday.

The bouquet of flowers was given to him by our friend in the village.

Malawian Bakery

The mud oven has been tested and it was a full success! Two loaves of bread and two cakes. The ingrediants for the cakes were a bit of a splurge on a Peace Corps living allowance, but you only turn 34 once, so I figured Brian needed some cake.