What we have been doing lately...

As you may or may not know, as Peace Corps Volunteers we are highly encouraged to have secondary projects. We have a lot of freedom to decide on a project but obviously it should fit the needs of the community. They could be IGAs (Income Generating Activities), youth clubs, HIV/AIDs prevention, access to clean water, etc...
With the help of Willows Community School we will be working on a couple secondary projects through Friends of Malawi. The first is at our own school, Matenje C.D.S.S. About half our students are boarders. By this I mean they all sleep on the floor in an empty room without beds or mosquito nets (we live in an area with a HIGH risk of Malaria). We (and by "we" I mean "Brian") have started to gather estimates from some local carpenters to build bunk beds for our students. We are also hoping to buy nets, books and sports supplies with some of the money.
Because of the generosity of Willows Community School we will also be able to use some of the money for CampSky. CampSky is a two-week long summer school program that Peace Corps Volunteers put on every year. Here is a link to last year's description. CampSky. This is a great opprotunity for students from all over Malawi and we will be telling you more about it in the near future. I (as in Kristy) have taken on a leadership role with it so it will also be considered one of these secondary projects.
This past week we have recieved more donations that I would like to recognize. School supplies came from Ann F., and Hillary and Dan M., and again from Andy and Amy F. Thank you so much!!! My students started using some of the glue last week to make paper beads in art club. Since I am on the topic of adhesives and donations, another thing we seem to be using a lot of is duct tape. We brought a roll for our own purposes and were left on by another volunteer, but we have found they are very useful at school. I use it to hang new English words on our word wall and to repair books in the library. Plus I think we all know there are 1,001 uses for duct tape.
Again, I want to remind people that things move very slow in Malawi so I am sorry if we don't have pictures up of things we are doing with your donations right away.
Oh, I should also tell you about a couple new clubs we have started. Brian has started Careers Club for the Form 4 students. They are researching careers in Malawi and the steps they need to take to get there. So far he has been working with small groups of boys, but I think we can get some girls if we make a seperate club for them. I have started a Girls' Study Club. Basically it just means that for one hour a week I limit the library to just girls. I started it because I never saw the girls coming into the library. I figured there was a reason for it. I suspect it is because they are intimidated by the boys. I have had about 20 girls coming each week. I also notice they seem a little more relaxed and sit more comfortably without being worried about showing a little knee every once in a while. :) We also just found a jigsaw puzzle and are thinking about starting a Puzzle Club soon. The kids were so excited when they saw the box they ripped it open and wanted to start putting it together. They have never had enriching activites like that in primary school. We might add these types of things to our school's wish list (puzzles, games, etc.).
On that note, I just wanted to add one more thing- the Flat Rate Box. Check with the post office before you mail anything that costs over 37 dollars in postage. I haven't mentioned it earlier because I didn't expect for people to send packages that heavy, but some have and I feel bad for not telling you about this money saver. Okay that is all for now.
Love, B & K
P.S. Anybody interested in being a pen pal for some students? Their English is really low, but 3 or 4 students have asked about writing to people in America. I would rather set them up with a young adult than a younger child. Let me know if you are interested.