Roligs in Malawi

Still blogging...

2009-11-22T10:21:00.000-08:00

www.roligsinminneapolis.blogspot.com

Close of Service (COS)

2009-09-24T06:02:00.000-07:00

Brittany, our new site mate who is located just 2km away at a local health center, was so helpful as we prepared for our departure. She's actually one of those volunteers with electricity, so we were able to use a laptop to write our final reports before we went into the office to close up business. She'll be our future connection to our village and will be able to give us updates.

Dora, our Associate Peace Corps Director of Education (APCD) reviewed our final reports,

Dr. Erfan, our Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO), collected "specimens,"

Vic, our country director (CD), signed off on our official Description of Service (DOS).

Peace, Roligs in Malawi. For more adventures with Brian and Kristy, please visit our new blog, Roligs in Minneapolis.

Print Pictures for Gifts: Check

2009-09-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

We began taking pictures of our friends and colleagues in the village so we are able to make prints to give them as gifts. As we near our end of service, it seems that the time to run these little errands has creeped up on us.

IGA Camp Pics

2009-08-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

Instruction, Planning, and Modeling of Example Income Generating Activities

2009-08-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

Chad

2009-08-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

Chad visited! He enjoyed our village wine and a ride on the back of a World Relief International truck. We were taken to the vegetable garden that Chiyembekezo HIV+ Support Group is growing for added nutrition. We also visited the fabric market in the area he was supposed to be dropped off by his midnight bus.

Prerequisite photo at the PC/Malawi Office

Chad and Baxter at our home in the village

At the beach for book club

links to pics

2009-08-30T04:46:00.000-07:00

I just realized some of our friends posted pictures of the IGA camp. Check out these blogs if you are interested in pictures:
http://malawiadventurez.blogspot.com/
http://malawiwowi.blogspot.com/

Updates on our life!

2009-08-22T04:21:00.000-07:00

I know we are much overdue for a blog update, but we have been so busy lately that we haven’t had a chance (or we have been in the village and away from computers).
First of all, I should start with the most important news and that is that we will be eating 2+ Thanksgiving dinners in the U.S. of A. !!! We don’t know exactly the day we will be back, but will be home to spend Thanksgiving with our families which makes us really happy. But let me back up and update you on all we have done since the last blog. In the picture on the previous entry we enjoyed a day at the beach with our site-mates in our district. We have been lucky enough to get a new site-mate, Brittany, a health volunteer, at the health center only 3km from our house and school. We are so excited to have her as we see a huge need for a health volunteer in our area. Plus she is going to take Baxter (or Baxy, or Baster, depending on which Malawian you ask.) when we leave! If I hadn’t wrote this earlier, Moto, our awesome cat, ran away when we were traveling with Katie and Nick and Kevin. We are assuming the best that he found a really nice family that could afford to feed him fish all the time.
The last week of July we had our IGA camp which went off without a hitch. All 20 young adults that were invited attended the camp as well as 7 Peace Corps Volunteers as facilitators. The students learned about different business types, marketing, book-keeping, customer service as well as some exposure to some IGAs such as oil pressing peanuts, fisheries, bee-keeping and peanut-butter making. Some of the students who attended already had some IGAs (barber shop, pineapple farmer, tuck shops, etc.) that they are planning to make improvements to. Many thanks go out to office supply donations sent by Carol R., Amy and Andy F. and Joe and Katie W. We were also able to give each participant a red “Summer Reading Program 2007” t-shirt donated by Friends of Malawi. Nobody seemed to care what the t-shirt said, they were just excited to have them. We even heard reports that 5 people wore them to church the next weekend after the camp.
After the IGA Camp, we headed off to Lilongwe to pick up Chad. His arrival was quite interesting compared to our other visitors. After waiting until midnight in a borrowed car in a sketchy part of town near the bus depot (we are talking people warming their hands over trash fires…just to give you an image) we were able to contact him on a phone he borrowed from someone else on his bus. We convinced them to drop him off at a safer part of town and quite literally we picked him up on the side of the road in the middle of the night. The next day we took him to our site, where we stayed for two nights. Everyone was really impressed with Chad’s ability to eat 3 nsima patties when we dined at a friend’s home. Then we spent three relaxing nights on the beach (in tents of course). After the lake we headed back to Lilongwe and he was able to meet a bunch of our Peace Corps friends before we headed off to our COS (Close of Service) conference.
The same day that Chad left we went to our COS conference at Nkhotakota Pottery on the lake. We discussed a lot of issues at the conference- medical, financial, pulling ourselves out of the village and readjustment to American life (Please be patient! We may act strange!). Also, it was nice to spend quality time with our training group with whom we have become close with over the last two years. Besides that we can never get enough of Lake Malawi. I expect it is something we will greatly miss.
Now we are back into our routine at school. We are in Salima town today, so I am sending this from an internet café. Sorry, no pictures until we get free internet time in Lilongwe.
Love to everyone! B&K

Salima Site-Mates Day at Lake Malawi

2009-07-24T07:24:00.000-07:00

Brian making nsima for dinner

2009-07-24T07:15:00.000-07:00

Visiting with knitters

2009-07-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for exams

2009-07-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of me cleaning the typewriter and a video of the "Duplicater Machine" printing exams.

Independence Days - 233rd & 45th

2009-07-06T05:00:00.001-07:00

We have been in Lilongwe the last few days for the 4th of July. Once again we celebrated at the ambassador's house. Highlights of the event were eating hamburgers, hot dogs and lying in the grass. We felt really American! It was fun, but not as fun as being at the cabin with family. No fireworks either (sorry to disappoint, Dad!). Also, today is Malawian Independence Day. They are celebrating 45 years of independence.
Preparations for our Income Generating Mini-Camp are going well. We received some supplies from the Wahlbergs that will help our students with bookkeeping, note taking, etc. Thank you very much. The camp is July 27th-31st in Nkhotakota. There will be 20 young adults attending the event and 7 are coming from our village.
We are expecting our friend, Chad, to roll into town the day after the camp. Literally, he will just be rolling in as he is travelling overland from South Africa. Then we will spend around 9 days with him in our village and at the lake. The day Chad leaves we head to our Close of Service conference at Nkhotakota Pottery Lodge on the lake. At the conference we will discuss wrapping up our service, bank issues, re-entry into American culture and actually find out what day we are going home!!! We'll keep everyone updated.
Oh, I should also tell you that we are thoroughly enjoying the cold season here. We drink tea, sleep under the covers and even put socks on sometimes! One day last week I was chilled all day and put long sleeves on. Then I went to check out the thermometer and it was 76 degrees. Who am I?
The pictures are of our wine making, me selling yarn, Brian at a chess tournament and us enjoying the grass at the ambassador's.

2009-05-30T23:27:00.000-07:00

2009-05-30T23:18:00.000-07:00

IGA Camp

2009-05-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

We were in town today to plan an IGA (Income Generating Activities) camp for some young adults. We, along with some other volunteers, have been working on this camp, which will happen at the end of July, to help some of the young adults in our villages get on their feet. At the camp they will learn business skills, be exposed to different IGAs and write their own business plan. Some of the IGAs might be things like fruit drying, knitting, jam making, charcoal making and many other things.
Sooooooo....I am writing to solicit donations again (and only because people keep asking "What do you need? How can I help?"!). We are looking for donations of office supplies- more specifically about 30 folders, 30 sets of black and blue pens, 30 notebooks, etc... Also we have a few other random things we are looking for. One is old point and shoot film cameras. Film is still the most popular here and owning a camera is a really great way for some of these people to make some money. They love taking portraits of their friends and charging a small fee to get them developed. I thought I would bring it up because I know many people at home just have these cameras sitting in their junk drawers. So, if anyone is so inclined, we would definitely appreciate the donation. Consider it a favor to the environment and helping Malawi at the same time! Of course like I said, the camp is the end of July, so only if it is feasible for you to send it by then. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Kristy's brother Kevin visited!

2009-05-04T01:33:00.000-07:00

Border crossing for our South Luangwa Safari
Baobab tree (more than 1,000 years old?)
Backbacking to the beach
Carrying water
Nkhotakota Sunrise
PC/Malawi office
Meeting PC friends before Kristy's 30th Birthday!
Map Reading 101 (meeting our Form 3 students)
Preparing for a fishing excursion
Fishing boat pose
Bike taxi ride in the village
Croc Valley Lodge Bar
A sign for Doug

What's in Season?

2009-04-09T02:07:00.001-07:00

We thought you might be interested to know what is growing in Malawi right now. As the rains have ended it is now harvest time. People have begun to harvest their maize, but we are most excited about some other treats. Pumpkins are everywhere, including our backyard. We didn't even plant them and they are growing. Because they are practically free we have been eating a lot of them. Some of our creations have been pumpkin soup, pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin pie filling (eaten for breakfast).

There are also these crazy fruits called Mphomba that are kind of a cross between a cucumber and a watermelon. We thought it was a cucumber at first and tried to eat it when it was really immature but it was really bitter. Even when it is ripe you need to put sugar on it to taste good. These are also growing all over our yard so Kristy decided to make jam out of them because we just couldn't eat all of them.

Guavas are also in season and practically free.

Katie and Nick

2009-04-09T00:46:00.000-07:00

Our friends, Katie and Nick, arrived safely and happy to see us, even though the luggage didn't make it. The luggage turned up a day later after 2:00 a.m. wake up calls to Nancy and Gene and pestering Lilongwe and Johannesburg airport officials. (Here is Katie calling Nancy)

From the airport we went straight to Mua Mission, then the next day back to the airport to pick up luggage. Here we are next to some bamboo

Then to Senga Bay, where monkeys stole my apple, where we took a boat ride to an island to swim and fish, and where we enjoyed good food. We were so focused on a fishing trip that we didn't think about putting our swimsuits on, but that didn't stop Brian.

Nick was really excited to be able to do some fishing and even managed to catch a couple.

What? You can't see it? Well have a closer look.

We also did a little shopping and had a nice lunch.

Here are our other visitors

They have met a couple of our friends here already too. Here is Katie, Kristy and Angela at the hotel in Lilongwe.

We sent them on Safari at Luangwa National Park in Zambia and are waiting for them to return today. We'll go to our village before they leave us on Sunday.

NAPHAM and UNICEF

2009-04-08T23:45:00.000-07:00

The National Association for People with HIV/Aids in Malawi (NAPHAM) expanded to include a support group in our village. We helped to register them last year and again this year. The support group should receive aid in the form of supplemental food, medicine, and technical training, like getting the most nutrition out of available food, and medicinal uses of indigenous herbs. NAPHAM must be linked to UNICEF, as you can see in these pictures. The Chairperson of the support group, after having gone to a training, is explaining to the Group Village Head (GVH) the medical supplies received.

Change in Contact Information

2009-03-31T22:45:00.000-07:00

Zain Malawi, our cell phone provider, has changed our number so that now you have to add two extra 9's before entering the final 7 digits.

265 Malawi's country code
99 extra nines
9 118 260 Brian's 7 digits
or
9 118 526 Kristy's 7 digits

Calling from the U.S. I think you also have to dial the outgoing U.S. country code, which I believe is 011, making a call to me a grand total of
011-265-99-9-118-260.

If it doesn't work, just call me.

Mail

2009-03-31T06:19:00.000-07:00

FYI: It was just brought to our attention that packages are not duty free after our first six months here. One of our friends just spent the day dealing with customs trying to get some packages from the post office. Of course his packages were quilts his mom made for orphans, so this was especially frustrating!!! So, I thought it would be worth it to let people know that the value of the packages should not be more than $20 (or at least say that it is worth more). Basically I am telling you that if you feel so inclined to send a package over $20 to lie about the value. :)

Phy. Ed. or Child Labor?

2009-03-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

For Phy. Ed. here kids do manual labor. I have to say, they are pretty ripped.

Our site-mate gets a visit from the ambassador!

2009-03-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

Our friend, Tim, who is an environment volunteer in our district, recieved a visit from the ambassador last week. A while back Tim wrote a proposal for the Ambassador's Self-Help grant to get a borehole for the school near him. Last week was the hand-over ceremony. Brian and I went to show our support. Plus it is always fun to see other volunteers' projects. The ambassador also brought pencils and soccer balls for the kids. His wife brought Tim homemade brownies, which he shared with us (only because we busted him for trying to hide them!). Also, Gule Wamkulu made an appearance.

A visit to Angela's

2009-03-15T05:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had a girls' weekend at my friend, Angela's site. She lives with two girl students. It is a nice arrangement because she provides food and school fees and they help out a lot with chores. For them to live with Angela means they do a lot less housework than living with their families. This allows them more time to study.

A baby in Angela's village that she named.

Angela and her "daughters".

Memory, one of the girls, is from a village on the lake and is an expert at preparing fish. I am not sure if using a hammer like this is a traditional method though.

We taught the girls how to make pancakes one morning. As part of my lesson in "You control the pancake; the pancake does not control you" otherwise known as "flip it aggressively" I totally burned my hand on the oil. I blistered a few days later. Then this weekend I went out in Lilongwe and left the top layer of my skin on the dance floor. Oops! Let's hope it doesn't scar.

Vikings-Packers Rivalry Reaches Africa

2009-03-15T05:45:00.000-07:00

Compost Fun

2009-02-19T21:59:00.000-08:00

Another new hobby of ours is guessing what is growing out of our compost pile. These are papaya trees.

Computer Training

2009-02-19T21:50:00.000-08:00

Brian has started giving computer classes on Saturday mornings at another school in our area that is fortunate enough to have both electricity and computers. He has started with a basic typing program.

Girls' Study Club

2009-02-19T21:40:00.000-08:00

Pink Pancakes

2009-02-19T21:28:00.000-08:00

If you ever want to color your pancakes pink (say for Valentine's Day), and you don't have food coloring (because you are in the Peace Corps), just use Kool-Aid! There are so many ways to be entertained in the village.

More Chess

2009-02-19T21:22:00.000-08:00

Brian continues to draw a crowd for chess.

Permaculture Updates

2009-02-19T00:49:00.000-08:00

Our school has been making progress with the permaculture project. Like the tree planting, this has been with little guidance from us which is ideal for a sustainable project. We have really just been encouraging them and helping a little bit with organization. These pictures show the "natural fence" that has been planted to keep goats out (they don't like that kind of grass), our friend and community member, Mr. Khondowe, working on his own permaculture garden, the students and teachers planning the garden and some of the seeds they collected in their seed collecting contest.
www.permaculture.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture

Tree Planting

2009-02-19T00:19:00.000-08:00

As part of our permaculture project with the school we have started planting seedlings. Actually, I should say "they have started planting". The teachers and students took this on themselves. We are really happy and supportive of this initative to make our environment nicer.

Camp Sky Pics

2009-02-19T00:07:00.000-08:00

Much overdue, here are some pictures of Camp Sky in November. Stephanie, our Peace Corps Volunteer Leader, who is now back home, did an excellent job with the photography. Hopefully you can open the pictures faster than we can.

Permaculture Fieldtrip

2009-01-31T21:17:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago we organized a field trip that took us to a school and two homes that are practicing "Permaculture," which stands for permanent agriculture. The basic idea is a lot of intercropping of indigenous plants that work well with each other, improving the soil and groundwater without any chemicals, and a well thought out design for water harvesting and composting right outside your school door and home. On this trip we included the Headmaster of both the secondary and primary school, the Group Village Head (she's in charge of 11 other chiefs), a community member, two teachers, four students, and the two of us. Our role now at this point is to continually encourage the schools and individuals to start practicing permaculture now that they have the idea. There has been a dependency on chemical fertilizers, government vouchers, and one, nonindigenous crop (maize) for too long. Things are changing here in many parts of Malawi, but very slowly, and this field trip hopefully openened some eyes.

Rainy Season

2009-01-30T03:50:00.000-08:00

We are so happy it is the rainy season again here. I have never loved rain so much as I do in Malawi. Not only does it provide relief from the heat (temporarily), but also it makes it much easier to get water. We just put all of our buckets, basins and pots under the tin roof to collect all the run-off.

We (as in all of Malawi) are appreciative of the rainy season because the crops are growing. Unfortunately, until harvest time, this is also called the Hungry Season. Not a day goes by that we are not asked for food which creates a lot of guilt and frustration for us. There are so many reasons to pray for rain.

A Vote of Thanks!

2009-01-30T03:16:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all the many donations we have recieved from friends and family over the last year we were able to put together a "2009 Teacher Starter Kit" for each of our 9 teachers. In their bags they got: markers, crayons, scissors, glue, construction paper, rubber bands, and stickers. The teachers loved it!
Here is Mr. Gulumba, one of our geography teachers, and his homemade map and his new supplies.

Here is "A Vote of Thanks" that Mr. Matalulu, our deputy headmaster, wrote us.

All the the duct tape that has been sent has been used to repair library books as well as hang signs in the classrooms.

Of course I have also enjoyed all the supplies. Here is a sign for my Girls' Study Club. Basically it is an hour that I open the library to girls only to encourage them to come in and use it. Very often they feel intimidated by the boys and are hesitant to come in.

It has been a while since we were able to thank specific people on the blog. A lot of people have donated school supplies and yarn for the knitting club. Some of our recent donors are: Fritzes, Fields, Filos, Doug and Joan, Brad and Lonnie, Jack and Bonnie, a woman from Grandma Rolig's McDonalds Coffee group, Dvoraceks (also included toothbrushes and toothpaste) and Wahlbergs. I hope I am not forgetting anybody since the last time we posted about it! We appreciate all of it! Not to mention the wonderful letters and care packages that have sustained us while we are so far from home. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Grandma Rolig

2009-01-28T21:59:00.000-08:00

For lack of pictures of Grandma on hand, I've taken one from my sister-in-law's blog, where there are more, if you are interested. When we said our goodbyes before we left for Africa, we all knew it might be our last on this Earth, hoping that it wouldn't. We had a long, loving embrace with some tears, reminding each other of the good times we had together, especially at the kitchen table playing scrabble. Grandma inspires me with her will to live how she wanted to live, freely golfing and driving (up until just a few years ago), making new friends all the time at McDonald's, volunteering thousands of hours over the years, living in her own house, and loving us kids to no end. We miss her and love her very much, but we are blessed to have spent such quality time with her for so long. She was 95. One more thing I'll never forget about Grandma is her competitiveness without apology. I think her last words to me cautioned me to remember that she won the majority of those scrabble games. Isn't she cool?

Mid-Service Training

2009-01-11T03:03:00.000-08:00

We just returned from our mid-service training in Dedza. Each volunteer invited one Malawian counterpart teacher to join the training. We were able to bring two from our school. Brian actually presented two of our workshop sessions which other volunteers claimed were their favorites. :) We also had some cross-sector training in permaculture, beekeeping, and leading wildlife clubs. Our counterpart teachers were really appreciative of the training and we were glad they were there. Plus it was fun to hang out with our group which doesn't happen very often as we are spread out all over the country.

New Year's Pics

2009-01-11T02:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of our beach picnic on New Year's Eve. Our friends, Sarah, Austin, Judy and Susan are pictured (another friend, Audra was there, but not pictured). We all brought care package treats and wine to the beach for happy hour.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T04:40:00.000-08:00

We had an enjoyable New Year's on Lake Malawi at Nkhotakota Pottery with some friends. We don't have the camera on us but hopefully we will get some pics up. We our in town because we are headed off to our mid-service training in Dedza, where we did our pre-service training. We will be there for a week and we all have a counterpart Malawian teacher with us. It should be fun. Then we are back to site for a new school year. We are pretty much teaching the same things. Brian has one English class and his teacher development duties and I am teaching social studies and life skills. We are looking forward to our second year of service.
Happy 2009!

More Pictures from Jack and Bonnie's Visit

2008-12-25T10:52:00.000-08:00

P.S. Notice the slideshow to the right with our safari pictures! Yes, that is an elephant behind us in the boat picture.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T00:44:00.000-08:00

Love and peace to you all! Brian and Kristy

Bush Baby

2008-12-17T13:21:00.000-08:00

This bush baby was abandoned by his parents and is being rehabilitated by one of the owners of the lodge we stayed at. We got to help feed him and he was soooo cute. Bush babies are primates so his little fingers were really like a newborn baby's.

Swearing-In Ceremony at the Ambassador's

2008-12-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

J & B also experienced Peace Corps transport to the ambassador's house for the swearing-in ceremony for the new education volunteers. Our friends, Meghan and Jessica helped show them the ropes. Normally our motto is, "There is always room for one more volunteer in the vehicle". Thankfully, we weren't that packed that day.

Here we are "hob-knobbing" it with the ambassador. Don't we look important?

Performance

2008-12-17T12:39:00.000-08:00

A youth group put together some dramas and songs for our special guests.

A Visit to Our Village

2008-12-17T12:03:00.000-08:00

We often get special treatment as Peace Corps Volunteers in our village, but being the parents of a volunteer puts you in a whole other category! The children were very excited to "escort" them.

The reverend and his wife gave this chitenje (cloth wrap) to Bonnie. She is learning how to wear it. They also cooked an elaborate Malawian dinner for them. Actually, the most food served in a Malawian meal that we have ever seen.

Here Jack and Bonnie are with our Group Village Headman(chief of chiefs). Ours is a woman!

We are learning how rice is husked. They also pound their maize and peanuts like this.

P.S. Not only did they meet a million and a half people in two days, but they also survived the heat!

Two More Roligs in Malawi

2008-12-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

Teacher Workshop

2008-12-06T06:07:00.000-08:00

Some pictures from the teacher workshop I ran concurrently with Camp Sky. They observed volunteers teaching, went on a field trip to Domasi College of Education, learned the basics about computers, and as a part of our Cross Culture Exchange of Understanding theme, watched "Freedom Writers" and a CNN special on "Malawi's Brain Drain," played Jenga and UNO, and had a round table discussion about culture in America and Malawi.

Highs and Lows

2008-12-03T04:54:00.000-08:00

Wrapping up our first year of service as Peace Corps Volunteers, we have to say that we are really enjoying ourselves. We have CampSky under our belts now. I was the headmaster of the camp which basically meant I dealt with academic, camper and staff issues. Another volunteer, Tom, was camp director which dealt with logistics, budget, etc. Perfect if you ask me because I hate that stuff and he was wonderful at it. Brian successfully completed his first teacher workshop with Malawian counterparts at the camp. While we were short on sleep for two weeks, there are no regrets. Working with this hand selected group of students and teachers was very rewarding. They come from some of the most under-resourced schools in one of the poorest countries of the world and they are our top-performing students. Very deserving. In the mornings the students had their regular examinable subjects including Maths (British English), Physical Science, Biology and English. Their afternoons were filled with elective courses in 4 different tracks: environment, health, business and arts. All of the groups took career-related field trips as well as the trip to Liwonde National Park. As volunteers we were challenged in new ways. Most unexpected was our discussion of HIV/AIDS testing. Many in our group wanted to hold an HIV testing at the camp, but some of our colleagues were opposed due to the fact that the students could potentially receive such terrible news while they are so far from home. Although no testing was held at the camp, in light of our wonderful discussions I am sure that many of us will hold testing events within our own villages.
All this activity has taken us away from our village for a while. We haven't missed the heat, but we have definitely missed the people. Having lived there a year, we feel more integrated into the community. This is a wonderful thing most of the time. However, Malawians don't have it easy and the closer we become with them the closer we feel their hardships. On Thanksgiving day while we were walking back to the Peace Corps transit house to be picked up for our feast we ran into one of our students begging on the streets in Lilongwe. I wasn't sure how to feel; sad, frustrated,guilty, mad...First of all he was far from home so it most have cost him something to get there, but also, we know the reality of this time of year. The hot season is also called the hungry season here. And of course this happened as we were on our way to gorge ourselves on good American home-cooked food.
The last couple days we were back in our village trying to reconnect with people and prepare for Jack and Bonnie's visit. While we were there we had our first rains of the year. I didn't mind getting wet at all. In fact, I walked around in my wet clothes for a couple hours. We were also able to collect water from our tin roof in buckets which is much easier than getting it from the borehole. Then this morning as we were about to push off for Lilongwe again (J& B are flying in Friday morning), I heard that one of the women in my knitting group passed away last night while giving birth. I was heartbroken to hear this. Besides the newborn, she leaves behind a husband and three other children. While this would be a tragedy in any culture at any time, it is particularly devastating here. On our way back to Lilongwe (we unfortunately had to get back here so we couldn't stay for the funeral) Brian and I were talking about the baby. How will it get fed? It is not like there is formula in the village. And if there was, certainly the family couldn't afford it. Perhaps someone else will nurse it, but I am not sure how these things are handled here. And one less adult means one less person to work in the fields and grow food. Not to mention the tremendous grief this family will feel. But that is how it is in Malawi. People are being born and dying at an exponential rate everyday. Even among developing countries, Malawi has one of the highest death rates during childbirth. Recent figures from the Malawi Demographic and Health Survey show that 1,120 mothers and 4,200 babies die for every 100,000 live births.
So with heavy hearts, we move on to our new highs. This next day and half we are making our arrangements for Jack and Bonnie, our first visitors. We are very excited for them and can't wait to blog about all of the adventures we will have!
Peace and love for now.

Some more of our pets...

2008-12-03T04:36:00.000-08:00

These were actually taken at Liwonde National Park. We brought our students at Camp Sky there. The animals were really awesome, but watching the kids see them was probably better. For most of them it will be the only time they will ever see their national treasures.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T20:36:00.000-08:00

We'll be missing home today for sure, but don't feel too bad for us. We are off to the ambassador's house for a feast and some swimming in the pool. It has been raining all night long (which I am not complaining about in the slightest), but hopefully it holds off for a few hours so we can enjoy the day.
Love to you all!

More Tropical Fruit

2008-11-24T20:56:00.000-08:00

Bananas come in all sizes and colors here and are pretty much available year round. Right now it is mango season so they are practically free to us. A few weeks ago we tried making mango wine we'll see how it tastes when we get back to our site.

Camp Sky Graduation

2008-11-24T20:47:00.000-08:00

Here we are with our students Saulos, Kumbukani and Joyce at their Camp Sky graduation.

Ambassador’s visit to Camp Sky

2008-11-24T20:34:00.000-08:00

We just finished our two weeks at Camp Sky. It was probably the most rewarding Peace Corps work I've done. (more details and pics to come). Here is our new Ambassador to Malawi and his wife. They came to visit on the first day of camp. We will also be celebrating Thanksgiving at their house with all the other PCVs this year.

Scorpion

2008-11-24T20:13:00.000-08:00

Another one of our many pets here.

Northern Tour

2008-10-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

Tropics grow some tasty fruit thanks to the special fertilizer. The orange berry you see, I ate. They were growing near a stream flowing down the scarp of Nyika Plateau. We visited another married couple near Rumphi who are close to their Close of Service (COS), so we wanted to see them before they left. The temperature was cooler in the higher altitude, a good escape from the heat of Salima. Crops grow better up there, including wheat.

What I Have Learned from a Year as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi

2008-10-17T07:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we celebrated our one year anniversary of living in Malawi. Here are some of the things I have learned (or been reminded of) in the last year:

1. Electricity is overrated.
2. Water is undervalued and overused.
3. To appreciate all the work towards gender equality of the women before me. Yes, there is still a long way to go, but after living in a place where women are second class citizens, I am inspired and appreciative of their efforts, risks and sacrifices.
4. Even the deepest freeze in Minnesota could not prepare me for the hot season in Africa.
5. Although I have used the phrase, "I'm starving" countless times, I will never know what it really means.
6. I have been privileged to have a lot of good teachers in my life.
7. Always wash your hands.
8. Reading is almost always better than TV (Peace Corps Volunteers, An MTV Generation making up for lost time).
9. Transportation is easy in America, even with rising fuel prices.
10. Fresh and homemade is always better than processed.
11. Chocolate, ice cream, sushi and red wine are all worth missing, but not as much as friends and family.
12. My comforts are usually at somebody else's expense.
13. A lot of things can be eaten as food that we don't consider food in America.
14. Knowledge is power- it is meant to be shared.
15. Nothing beats real mail from home.
16. It is difficult to be the minority, even if it is the privileged minority.
17. HIV/AIDS. Not sure what to say about it, but I thought it should put it on the list. It is still too overwhelming to wrap my brain around.
18. Being able to wear jeans and a sweatshirt should not be taken for granted.
19. Breastfeeding is normal and should not have to be hidden.
20. Always wear sunscreen.
21. It really does make more sense to carry things on your head. It even has its own verb in Chichewa- kusenza.

How to Beat the Heat in Malawi

2008-10-17T06:36:00.000-07:00

As we have mentioned in previous blogs, we are in the midst of the hot season. This week it reached 101.3 degrees inside our house. Yes, the .3 degrees makes a difference. We now watch the digital thermometer like it is a TV and take bets on when it will go up or down. We are afraid to put the thermometer in the direct sun to check the outside temp, but a few weeks ago I conducted a “highly scientific experiment”. I put the sensor of the thermometer outside in the sun buried under some leaves. The temperature read 118 degrees. I suspect it is higher now.
Here is how we cope:

1. Wake up at 4:30 or earlier if you want to get anything done that requires moving your body.
2. Drink an insane amount of water. Put lots of sugar and salt on your food. We crave salt all the time.
3. Wear the least amount of clothing acceptable for the culture. (picture of Brian)
4. Frequently dump water on your head. (picture of Kristy)
5. From 10:30AM to 3:00PM do absolutely nothing. (picture of Moto)
6. Complain to each other.
7. Pant a lot if you are a dog. (picture of Baxter)
8. Take a bucket bath right before bed and don’t towel dry.
9. Sleep in your birthday suit and a wet bandana around your neck…not in a provocative way, just for survival.
10. Wake up at least once, if not twice, to bathe again.

Baby Goats

2008-10-10T06:07:00.000-07:00

While goats are no longer amusing to us, and are actually quite annoying, I couldn't resist these kids. Too cute. I also thought our animal-loving neice, Annika would love them.

Why not sing while knitting?

2008-10-10T05:21:00.000-07:00

Seriously, if this doesn't make you want to send yarn, what does? Aren't they sweet?

Brian's Guitar

2008-10-10T01:20:00.000-07:00

Brian got creative with his teaching the other week. He played his guitar for his students. He played Redemption Song by Bob Marley. He wrote all the lyrics on the board but left out some words for the students to figure out (that is why he is emphasizing certain words on the video). Not surprisingly, the kids loved it. They were really excited when they figured out all the words and were begging him to play more. Did I mention I love this guy?

Here they are writing what they thought the missing words were.

Just Some Beautiful Things...

2008-10-10T00:17:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures a while back and haven't had a chance to upload them.

GEAMOC

2008-09-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-09-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-28T07:09:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T01:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T00:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T00:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T00:14:00.000-07:00

"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

2008-09-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-14T01:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-09-12T05:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-12T05:16:00.000-07:00

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.

Headed back...

2008-08-26T03:03:00.000-07:00

We are headed back to our site in a little bit. It has been a busy long weekend, so we are looking forward to settling into our routine again. It looks like the next few weeks will also be busy at site. Plus Brian's birthday coming up! We will be celebrating by going to a village wedding. Hopefully we'll get some good pics to put up. We'll be back in Lilongwe on the 12th for Camp Sky meetings and again at the end of the month for various reasons including welcoming the new education volunteers at the airport. It is hard to believe it has almost been a year since we came to Malawi.
As your summer comes to an end we are about to start our hot season. This time will be more intense than last year because we were in Dedza, a cooler climate, for the hottest part of the year.
We missed a few fun weddings this summer. Congratulations to Jen and Dan and also Brett and Christy! Wish we could have been there to celebrate. Also, had we been home this summer we would have definitely been out to visit The Simple Lodge in Salida, Colorado (probably the coolest backpacking hostel ever and anybody travelling that direction should check it out).

Donations Update

2008-08-25T06:10:00.001-07:00

We have received some more wonderful things for our school and site projects that we should acknowledge. I hope I am not forgetting anyone:
Chad- colored pencils
Brad and Lonnie- tons of art supplies from Target Coon Rapids, again!
Filos- colored pencils, knitting needles
Jack and Bonnie- Knitting needles, yarn
Eric and Jessica- yarn, embroidery floss (picked out especially by Annika!)

Thank you so much for your support. You may have noticed we added a sidebar to indicate specific things we are looking for right now. Also, our group of education volunteers is putting on a summer school called CampSky. We are each selected our two most promising students to attend for two weeks. All of the students come from extremely under resourced schools and this is a once in a life time opportunity for them. If anybody is looking for a way to give monetarily, this would be a great cause. Also, you would be donating through a non-profit, Friends of Malawi and can use PayPal.
We will be accepting donations until October 1st.
Also check out the CampSky Blog if you haven't already.

2008-08-25T06:01:00.000-07:00

I'll probably get in trouble for posting this but I couldn't help it.

Headmaster's Graduation

2008-08-25T00:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend we attended our headmaster's graduation from Chancelor College in Zomba. We travelled with his wife, who is also a teacher at our school. He was receiving his Bachelor's Degree. Most teachers are very underqualified (secondary school certificates), so this was a really big deal and we wanted to support it. The ceremony itself was very similar to ours except they hit a big drum when each graduate walked up. The crowd was what was truely African. The families went completely nuts when their graduate was announced. Also, as orderly lines and punctuality are nearly nonexistant here, tons of extra people started pushing through the doors at the last minute. Some lady was practically sitting on Brian's lap until our headmaster's wife scolded her and we almost feared a riot from all the pushing. All in all, it was a really fun day and we are glad we joined. Plus we wore our Malawian clothes which seemed to be appreciated.

Joan's Restaurant

2008-08-25T00:03:00.000-07:00

Little did we know that Joan (my stepmom) had opend a restaurant at the bus depot in Zomba!!! Had she told us we would have gone months ago! I wonder if turkey sloppy joes are served there?

Mud Oven

2008-08-24T23:43:00.000-07:00

As soon as this mud oven dries we will be enjoying all kinds of baked goods! To use it we will build a fire underneath the bottome tin sheet. Then we will take charcoals from the fire and put them on the top tin sheet. The bread or cake will go between them and we have another small tin sheet we will lean on it for a door.
The ingrediants in our oven include locally made bricks, clay from termite mounds, ash and water.

GAD

2008-08-16T02:03:00.001-07:00

We are attending a fundraiser for Gender And Development (GAD). It is a Peace Corps group devoted to empowering both sexes for the sake of development in countries that Peace Corps serves. It is an Iron Chef theme, so several Peace Corps groups are competing in the culinary arts. I have heard that audience participation involves men in zitenje (the waist-down wrap that Malawian women wear). Our Country Director has opened his house for the big event.

Mixed Media

2008-08-16T01:02:00.000-07:00

Kristy added birds to the baobob tree and a swirly design to the hallway wall.

How to make peanut butter

2008-08-02T05:53:00.000-07:00

First shell all your peanuts

Then chop the wood for your fire. Remember, these are from the garden so they are only dried, not cooked.

Roast them over the fire.

Put them into a huge mortar.

And pound the heck out of them for a long time...then peanut butter!!!

Domestic Help

2008-08-02T05:36:00.000-07:00

Ladies, I am sure you are all jealous that my husband does the dishes...Plus he got a new hair cut (at his mother's request).

Our New Favorite Hobby

2008-08-02T05:22:00.000-07:00

Calling All Knitters!

2008-07-25T22:18:00.001-07:00

A while back a group of women in the village asked me to teach them how to knit. While, I do know how to knit and crochet, my greatest accomplishments have been scarves, which any knitter knows are the most basic. However, I do know a few students at our school who know how to knit and crochet (one being our worker), so we are starting a knitting club. I am modeling it after what a couple other volunteers are already doing in their villages. I recruited the reverend's wife to help me as well because she is interested in business and a leader in the community and she can help with language because her English is pretty good. We held our first meeting and 30 women showed up. It was a lot more than I expected, but after talking to another volunteer who has 55 women in her group I think it can work. At the first meeting we just discussed how the group would work and elected officials. Every Malawian club has to have officials, so we have a chairperson, an assistant chair person, a secretary, a treasurer and committee members. Right now I am buying yarn in Lilongwe at wholesale price. Each woman in the club will get their first skein free. After that they will be charged the wholesale price which they can pay for after their item is sold at a profit. Some of the profit they will keep, and some of it will go into the group fund. As the group fund grows the women will be able to take out loans from it. Ideally this will help empower the women who do most of the work in the family, but may have little control over the money and decision making.
I brought about 10 crochet hooks and 4 sets of knitting needles with me, but we are going to need more. We will probably make some from bicycle hooks. If anybody has yarn, needles or hooks they are willing to donate we will gladly accept them!

How do you say "Uff-da" in Chichewa?

2008-07-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

For months now we have felt like our lives have been so slow at our site. For the most part what we have been doing has been focused on the school. SInce our school is a boarding school, it can feel like an island between two villages. The teachers are definitely in a different economic situation than the surrounding villagers. Recently we met "our guy" to connect us to the village. He has been helping us with our gardens for free, but essentially in exchange for our help with development projects in the village. He is actually in the farming group that we are connecting with the groundnut sheller. Suddenly we feel busy (busy as in I am still reading a book a week)! We have been meeting with the chiefs, the reverend, and the community to assess the needs. An interesting side note is that "want" and "need" are the same word in Chichewa, so Malawians frequently interchange the two. Most of what they listed are truly needs though. It will just be impossible for us to do all of it, so we will have to narrow it down a bit. Here are some of the things they came up with:

*Some kind of orphan rehabilitation and orphanage
*Care for those living with HIV/AIDS
*Care for the elderly
*Another borehole (they only have one in the village)
*Some kind of pump for irrigation in fear of the coming food shortage
*Fixing a diesel powered maize mill that supports orphans, elderly and people with AIDS
*A fence to keep goats out of a garden that provides nutritional supplements to people with AIDS
*Soccer ball for the youth group (CHECK! We had one from Peace Corps but were waiting to identify a group. We are also able to give them a solar powered radio that they will be able to listen to radio shows directed towards preventing HIV/AIDS)

My response, "Uff-da!". Brian's response, "I just want to play hockey." No really, we do plan on focusing on a couple of issues, but are investigating the resources that already exist in the community. We also need to look into what grants are applicable to these needs. We will keep you updated!

3rd Anniversary on the Ilala

2008-07-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

To celebrate our 3rd anniversary we took a trip on the Ilala, a ferry on Lake Malawi. We had been hoarding our care package goodies to take on the trip. We were on the boat for about two days, leaving from Monkey Bay on the southern lake shore to Nkhata Bay in the north. Unfortunately we had a pretty rocky ride and both ralphed up our treats from sea-sickness. Perhaps a sign that at 3 years the honeymoon is over??? We did manage to get a few good sunsets and sunrises.

Saturday Morning Activities

2008-07-25T02:42:00.000-07:00

"What do you think would happen if I started painting on our walls?" Kristy asked Brian.
"Probably nothing," responds Brian.
And thus we have it, a big orange Baobob tree.

Peanut Butter!

2008-07-25T02:09:00.000-07:00

We have recently hired a woman in the village to make us peanut butter. She roasts the peanuts, adds a little bit of salt and sugar and smashes them up. We are buying the jars for 200MK each from her. They are about 220MK in the store, so it is cheaper for us and a lot of money for her. She started making extras that we are selling to other Peace Corps Volunteers. The orange tub is actually a Gatorade container sent in a care package from Jack and Bonnie. The other containers are just old peanut butter jars that we have used. Jif has got nothin' on this stuff.

We are applying through Peace Corps Malawi for a Groundnut Sheller to help a farming group we have identified in the village. Then hopefully the local villagers will grow less tobacco and more groundnuts to make peanut butter. Check out the Fully Belly Project and a short 9 minute video that shows the sheller in action. In exchange for the sheller, the community must provide for one bag of Portland cement, or the kwacha equivalent to pay for it. This bag of cement costs about MK2,600, or about $18.50. The cement is then used to make more GN shellers. We have been told that the device will shell the same amount of groundnuts in one hour what it would take a person to shell by hand in one week.

Gule Wamkulu

2008-07-03T22:51:00.000-07:00

Gule Wamkulu (literally meaning "big dance") is the name of the traditional African religion in Malawi. Guide books tell us roughly 15% of the poplulation practice African Traditional Religions (ATR). We don't know much about it other than they have initiation ceremonies and it is highly secretive. They occasionally make appearances in costume for different ceremonies. This is from a funeral ceremony. They call it a Chilumbo, or "beast". The kids are from the primary school next to ours.

Book Donations

2008-07-03T22:35:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday night a student came to our door and said we had a visitor in a car. Confused as to who it might be we went outside to find this huge truck with boxes. Friends of Malawi donated tons of books to Peace Corps so all the education volunteers got them at their schools. Some school district in Oregon donated all the books. As we are two volunteers we got twice as many books (39 boxes!). It was like Christmas in June. Better yet were the boxes they came in that reminded of us of home. One was even in a Pop-Tarts box! We now have tons of literature books, easy readers, grammer books and even a few biology books.

New Routine

2008-07-03T22:35:00.000-07:00

Before sunrise we now run 5 times around the football pitch, do situps and pushups, and play fetch with Baxter. Not sure how long the new routine will last, but we like it for now. Baxter really needs the exercise because we keep him in the back yard most of the day while we teach. Other dogs roam freely, but since they are malnourished and sometimes beaten, they usually just lie down in the dirt. Since we feed and play with Baxter, sometimes his energy translates into chicken and goat chasing, and our neighbors will have none of that. Understandable since chickens and goats equal income and food.

More Art Club

2008-07-03T22:21:00.000-07:00

Art club is painting these days. We just had our last meeting for a while because exams are starting and then a term break. We just received some more art supplies from Katie and Joe and our math department just got some calculators from The Willows via Karen and Jay. Thank you so much!

Weekend Activities at Site

2008-07-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

Life is real exciting in the village on the weekends. Some of our exciting activities include burning our trash and roasting peanuts. We manage to find time to read as well.

Giving Water Treatment Demonstrations

2008-07-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

Here I am giving a demonstration to village women on a new product put out by Population Services International, funded by USAID. We use their product, Waterguard, in our own water. The new procuct, Waterguard Wa Uffa (uffa meaning flour or powder) treats the water and makes all the sediment fall to the bottom. This is perfect for the village woman who get their water right from the river. Instead of giving out the product free, PSI charges a small amount and the rest is subsidized. The idea behind it is "social marketing". They have found that when they give out free procucts like Waterguard and mosquito nets, people don't value them and don't use them. When they charge a small price that villagers can afford they sell like hot cakes and people use them.
P.S. Brian had a role in this demonstration too. After all the sediment magically fell to the bottom of the bucket he would come over and look in the bucket excitedly saying "wonani! wonani! (look! look!)"

4th of July at the Ambassador's House

2008-07-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

We tasted a little bit of Americana at the ambassador's house for the 4th of July, which we actually celebrated on June 7th. We celebrated early because the ambassador is ending his term in Malawi to move on to a new country. As you can see many games were played including a water balloon toss, potato sack races and a tug-of-war between Peace Corps Volunteers and missionaries.

Using Supplies

2008-06-05T02:40:00.000-07:00

Here are Form 1 students using the crayola markers sent by various people (see previous blogs). Our school just few recieved a few more donations in some care packages. Cool pens and pencils from Jon and Mandy. They will become prizes for the students. A couple great multicultural lesson books, stickers, foamies and pencils from Kim and Rob. Thank you so much!

Hostels

2008-06-05T02:13:00.000-07:00

This is where our boarding students sleep. These pictures where taken when they were on break, but when they are there they just sleep on mats. Right now we are in the process of writing a grant to Friends of Malawi, who Willows Community School donated money to, for bunk beds and mosquito nets.