Saturday, I met a boy whose name means "Please Think" in Chichewa...

And that, my friends, is a true story.  Ganizani was his name.  Kuganiza is the infinitive form "to think." Add onto that the suffix -ni, and there you go... Hope you enjoyed today's lesson of the Chichewa language!

Anyways... To the few (and by that I mean 3) people who actually read this blog, I wish to say “pepani” or sorry for neglecting you!  It has been far too long since I’ve updated this.  I wish I had a great excuse, but unfortunately, laziness is by far the biggest factor.  In fact, I’m only overcoming this obstacle by the fact that I need to be doing something while my iPod is charging on my computer so it doesn’t go into standby and since I’ve run out of work to do otherwise, the blog it is.  J  I have to say… its sort of odd to be typing this by the light of a kerosene hurricane lamp and candles (I should be more stingy with the candles, but I can’t stand sitting in the dark). 

So officially at the beginning of the month (well, 29 April to be precise), I’ve been a volunteer for 1 year.  That realization has been met with a variety of mixed feelings… ranging from relief that I only have one more year to go, to anxiety that I won’t get everything I wanted to get accomplished done, to depression over the fact that I’m only half-way to when I can see friends and family again, to a lot of anger and bitterness and disillusionment and generally too much bitching to friends here about pretty much everything (hopefully stopping soon)... So, in brief, an emotional rollercoaster.  The last two months haven’t really helped since I’ve been travelling a great deal, but not for fun-mostly “work” related stuff.  And travelling in this country involves a lot of waiting and a need for the patience of a saint.  On top of that, my site-mate Amy, thru a series of unfortunate events and irrational decision making by certain Peace Corps staff (and that’s all I’ll say on the matter) has moved out of our district to the nearby but not an hour’s bike ride district of Chiridzulu.  Thankfully, at her new site, she’ll be working her dream job, but still, it sucks. 

On some positive notes, we’ve welcomed a new group of volunteers (congrats for making it thru training!) in both health and environment, said good-bye to an amazing group of volunteers (you’ll be missed but we’re happy for you!), and I’ve gotten some work done.  And I’ve managed to stay in my village for a solid 2 weeks (looking at 3 shortly).  Which is wonderful.  I’ve missed my house and my cat and my neighbors and the Phundumas, and pretty much everything about my village.  And on a literary note, I’ve discovered the amazing-ness of Sherlock Holmes.  Thanks to my new site mate, Leith, for leaving that book at my house!

Currently, the big project is bore holes… Just got funding for 3 (see appropriate water projects page), and working on another grant to replace missing parts for the one I (and about a million other people) used to go to before some bastard decided that he was more important than the 100+ families in my area that now have to walk 1+ KM to get to a safe water source.  Not that I’m bitter or anything.  So, Alex (my counterpart) and I have talked to most of the water committee members and parts are ordered.  A few other projects are in the works, but waiting on feedback from community/PC. 

This week should be pretty busy, but in a good way.  A few meetings… hopefully not as far as the ones I went to on Saturday (2 ½ hrs on bike… on really bad roads!!  Beautiful though!).  Need to get some laundry done.  And visit with some friends I’ve been too busy to actually sit down and chat with (and then eat nsima… because it’s not proper chatting until you’ve left someone’s house so full of food you can’t eat till the next day J).  Anyways… that’s it for now.  Love and miss you folks back home and thanks for reading.  Till next time!

Happy 1 year anniversary of arriving in Malawi! And welcome to Malawi for the new folks!

That's right.  One year in Malawi.  And that means what?  Only 13.5 months to go!!!  Ok... I'm not really counting down the months... or days... but its kind of nice to realize that in another year I'll be back home annoying family and friends for the first time in 2 years!

Currently still on Med hold till Wednesday.  Advantages: good medical care, Evelyn's hug, free internet, hanging out with people I never see!  Disadvantages: missing out on meetings back at site, Lilongwe's expensive... and there are so many tempting places to eat, no personal space.

Particularly of concern is that this week I was demonstrating how to construct fuel efficient mud stoves for two of my groups.  Now I'm not going to be able to do this till next week... maybe... if I have time.  Argh.  I miss site so much!  But, my skin rash thingy, while no longer septic, is spreading.  So, leaving now is not a good plan.  Currently sporting a blue circle around it to see if the prednasone helps or if it gets worse.  Max will take a look tomorrow...  I absolutely love the med staff here.  They are amazing and really look out for us...

Yesterday, to break up the monotony of just working at my computer for 8 hours, went with a bunch of volunteers to see the arrival of the new environment and health trainees!  It was awesome.  We have 45 new volunteers total.  We've been following their pre-arrival funness on Facebook and I can't wait to actually chat with everyone in a few weeks (like 2).  A good sign: plane arrived on time, and no luggage was lost!  Current volunteers were on best behavior unlike when I arrived, so overall a success I think.  We did the introductions and pictures and off they went to Dedza to hopefully get a good night's sleep!

So... going to spend the next few days working on a Food Security Taskforce assignment with Jackie and then getting started on Tilipo updates and revisions with Chloe.  At least I won't be bored!  If any folks want to Skype, I'll be able to if the internet here cooperates.  FB message me or email me to let me know.

Tilipo....

The thing I hate about Lilongwe is that its ridiculously stressful to get here, and when I do arrive, I feel like all I do is run around getting even more stressed out and yet not actually getting anything done.  At all.  Arrived Wednesday night after getting a ridiculously wonderful hitch a little north of Blantyre.  I'm staying at Mufasa's and the last few days have been training for Volunteers Supporting Volunteers.  Its been pretty interesting for the most part and people in VSV have some cool ideas for things the group can do here to welcome new volunteers to their regions and stuff. I'm really excited anyways to be a part of the group.

Even more fun is I have a skin infection on my foot!  Its pretty awesome... And by that I mean gross...  :)  Apparently it was infected so now I'm on med hold until Monday in case it takes a turn for the worse!  Right now it seems to be getting less infected, but the rashy part seems to be spreading... And its ITCHY.  Ridiculously so.  And those of you who know me realize that itchy is a huge problem... Not scratching is a constant struggle.

Work is busy now.  I should be doing stuff for VSV, like edits for the volunteer directory thing, or getting stuff written up for the food security task force thingy I'm on (did actually do some of that), but the lure of free internet is so much easier to accept.  So instead, I've been spending my afternoon on facebook, looking up graduate programs (hey... only 14 months left), and random other things.  Oh well.. I'll be back to business soon enough.  Like tomorrow.

Damn you Mark Risso... you were right... Kurt Vonnegat is a genius!

So a long time ago... in a land called Nittany Valley... a girl named Brianna got ridiculously pissed off at her former roommate (Mark Risso) for insulting her favorite genre of book.  I believe he said something along the lines of:  "If they can't tell the story in less than 300 pages, they just can't write" and used Kurt Vonnegut as a prime example.  (Ok... it was actually a much more heated discussion... much more heated...  in which Kurt Vonnegut was held up as the epitome of writers while all fantasy and science fiction writers, with the notable exception of Tolkien, were tramped upon... )  Thus, the girl... who in her defense was very young at the time, held a huge grudge against said author.  Fast forward to the future.  In the land of Mulanje, Malawi, where free time seems to be abundant and the sources of books scarce, this girl decided to give it a try since Vonnegut seems to just pop up everywhere (thank you peace corps library!).  After reading... said girl is forced to say, although she still holds fantasy and sci fi in high esteem, Kurt Vonnegut is FREAKING amazing.  For sure...  Read him if you haven't... I suggest starting with Bluebeard

In other news... xmas and new years were spent lounging on the beach.  A much needed (although didn't realize it at the time) vacation.  Lake Malawi is beautiful!  While I definitely missed the presence of snow (its amazing how much we associate that time of year with snow... it really didn't feel like xmas/new years without it and with temperatures above 80F), it was nice.  Also, not having family around was a super bummer.  I didn't realize how much time I spent with my family this time of year... putting up the tree, cooking food... getting yelled at by dad for not cleaning the house :) cranberry sauce... cookies... xmas eve at dad's... driving to NJ to see mom's family... and one more year of that :(  but I know that when I get home, I'll really appreciate the holiday season even more.

In Water project news... After a slight miscommunication, in which the village chief at namwera wanted to change the project to a different, more expensive one at last minute (he understood we have a limited budget and we went back to the original program), we are rolling!  The community found volunteers to dig trenches and finished Wednesday.  Yesterday, myself, the local plumber Mr. Gologoda, and about 7 volunteers, including the Village Headman Namwera, went to the trading center by me to buy all the supplies and transport them back.  Hopefully they'll have everything done in the next few days!  Otherwise, waiting to hear about some funding for a school library, trying to get some more funding for a few more water projects, and helping with some training for village savings and loans groups I work with now.  So... busy busy busy.  :)

I love the phrase "You've been approved!!"

That's right!  Approved!  My first project, extending the water pipeline from my village to Maliera has been approved!  I was a little worried.  The cut-off for funding is US$500 and I was at $492... But all is good!  I was getting a little nervous because the village chief had said they'd already started digging for the pipes they already had despite my adamant "I'm not promising this is getting funded... but I'm trying" statements over and over... But now the work can begin in earnest!!!!  WAHOO!  In addition to this being my first "real" project I've planned here, its super important that the people living in Namwera have access to clean water asap.  Most women go to the river for drinking water now b/c the borehole is too far away... and they're at risk for a lot of waterborne illnesses here... like cholera... not a fun time I've heard.  Anyways... if anyone is looking for a cause to donate to during the holiday season, please check out my project at:  http://appropriateprojects.com/node/466

On other news... don't think I've mentioned that actually did get a cat.  Her name is Toco... which is the informal version of grateful or thankful... Its a commonish name here and my counterpart's wife (and good friend here) Lucy picked it so its extra special.  She really pretty... orangish... born in august.  Really like her, but she's much more high maintenance than anticipated.  She's really whiny... like all the time.  Which is good bc the mice hear her and flee in terror (Yippie!), but really annoying, at say 3am.  Its gotten a little better since she started sleeping on the bed with me... Except her favorite place to sleep is on my chest...

Sort of annoying for me is that for whatever reason... maybe the honeymoon is over at site... but I've had a ton of people, mostly women I work with in the mushroom group, ask me to give them or their kids food (or occasionally money) when I'm walking around and wanting to just chat with people.  Which puts me into a pickle: if I want to continue working with them, I can't be too bitchy, but I really just want to flip out on them. One or two is not a huge deal... I usually calmly explain to them a few times that I'm a volunteer... I don't have enough food/money to give them, or if I did I'd have everyone in the village coming up to me for the same thing (word travels fast here... gossip is spread like fire), plus I came to Malawi to help with development and environmental projects, not to hand out shit.  But 4-5 people in a matter of 2 days, especially when I just got back from travelling and was looking forward to just hanging out with my friends in the village and working on projects is frustrating.  What's also frustrating with the mushroom group is that I've also already given them ~$30 to get them started on their mushroom growing (which is going well fyi!), plus every suggestion I give them to increase business they say "oh ok..." then don't do it.  So, Wednesday's meeting is going to be interesting...

Anyways... looking forward to getting the water project started... and for christmas.  Going to the lake to camp with a bunch of friends... Should be fun and relaxing!

Turkey Day & Water Projects Galore!

So HAPPY LATE TURKEY DAY!!!  I hope everyone was ridiculously stuffed with turkey and mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce and apple/pumpkin pie!!!  I was definitely missing everyone in the US the last few days... especially family.  (Love you guys!).  My Thanksgiving here was pretty fabulous... Spent this past Thursday in Blantyre.  VSV in the south had a welcome/orientation for the new education and health volunteers that arrived in July.  Technically they've been stuck at site for the last 3 months and are "officially" able to travel, so it was supposed to be the first time we all got together.  Definitely a fun time... we all stayed at Doogle's, the backpacker's lodge there.  We pretty much just hung out and chatted... and drank... probably a little too much, but that's ok.  And ate really yummy food.  Amy and I also had a good time shopping and hanging out with Mary, a girl from University of South Carolina (I think...) who's doing research for her Ph.D in Mulanje district...

Friday was an exciting travel day.  And by that I mean we got on a bus at 630 am, and didn't move from our seats until 11.  Got some stuff done at the Peace Corps office in Lilongwe... and by that I mean I played with my new computer for about 4 hours!  Its absolutely beautiful!  Its a burgundy & black on the outside and has a pretty largish keyboard for a net book, and has an amazing battery life (very important when you don't have electric... :), and there's a digital camera thing that might mean if I can get a high speed internet connection I can try skype!  Super excited because I've already used it a ton to write these two grants that I will explain soon...

Saturday was the official Peace Corps Thanksgiving dinner!  It was delicious!  The needed a few additional volunteers to help cook, so went to that...  It was insane and awesome!  Feeding 100 people is a ton of work but we all had fun.  Main course was a roast pig (turkey is way too impractical...).  Also had mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, mango pie (almost like apple!), green bean cassarole, salad... you get the idea... yumminess...  And there was lots of dancing!  Vic, our country directer provided music and has a really good collection of random stuff... Afterward... we just all hung out... then went to Chez Ntemba, a night club... I'm constantly amazed at night clubs here... and how much more comfortable I am dancing... Until a dance-off went down, followed by a techno rendition of Jingle Bells that I was just not feeling.  So a bunch of us went home...

So... grants... A village right by me called Namwera is currently having a major water problem.  They have 2 boreholes (think giant hand pump) for getting water, but one has no parts... a problem you can imagine, and the other is in need of replacement parts, so right now its operational, but takes about 2x as long to fill up a bucket as one that's in good condition and the hand pump part sounds like its going to fall apart at any moment.  In addition to this, the "working" one is at the bottom of a hill, while the majority of the village is at the top... And this is a steep hill.  For those of you who know my Dad's house, imagine walking up the hill my driveway is off of (Grapevine Rd), to the top, with a 20L bucket of water on your head.  Not a fun time.  Which means either more work for the women and girls here, or they drink untreated stream water.  So, I'm writing 2 grants.  One is to fix these 2 boreholes, plus one in my village that hasn't been working for awhile... Also, when I went to go talk to the village chief about the boreholes, he asked for help with another project.  There's a pipeline system running from my village... an intake pipe takes water from a nearby stream, treats it with chlorine (when available), and then pipes take the water to parts of my village and a few others south of Maliera... Namwera's Village Development committee managed to raise ~US$200 to get some pipes to extend the system, but were struggling with the rest (~US$500).  So, that's the second grant.  Anyways... keep your fingers crossed that they get approved!  The grants are through a really cool organization called appropriate projects that is all about water projects under US$500.  They fund projects upfront so it gets finished asap, and then they ask people to sponsor the projects and donate the money for it.   So... if anyone is interested in helping out... check out appropriateprojects.com

The Stolen Camera Saga...

So... thought I'd take a moment to describe the joys of the legal system here in Malawi.  For those of you who don't know, my camera was stolen from my backpack Oct 31st... I was getting off a bus, realized people could see my camera sticking out of my bag, so closed it.  Started walking away from the bus stop to a different place to board a different minibus, and as usual, was crowded by bus conducters, drunks, and random people who "just want to be friends."  When I boarded the 2nd minibus, realized that my camera was gone, and that one of the people crowding me had probably taken it.  Amy, who was with me at the time, and I went back and started asking people for help, and finally some guy took us to the police station to make a report.  At the time, was seriously unimpressed with the police service, but to my great surprise, got a call the following week that my camera had been found!!  Ecstatic, I went back to Limbe, thinking I'd only be there a few hours, identified my camera (minus 1 memory card and flashdrive and transfer cable thing... plus all pics on the 2nd card were deleted...), and was told I should stick around till the next day... so I did... and the guy who stole my camera plead not guilty (claimed he found it on the street).  So, was then informed I'd have to talk in court the next day. 

After getting prepped on court procedure by Hector, Peace Corps' amazing safety and security officer, who also was super patient in answering my questions and getting the police to speed up the process so I wasn't hanging out in Blantyre/Limbe forever, I met the prosecuter for my case.  At the courtroom, sat on a very uncomfortable bench for a very long time... Malawian court is really interesting.  The defendent doesn't have a lawyer (at least in the cases I saw) and the court doesn't provide one when they can't afford one.  So, the prosecuter asks questions of witnesses they call, and then afterwards the defendant can cross examine.  There's a clerk that interprets English (which most of the proceedings are in) into Chichewa (but not the other way around).  Also, the magistrate (referred to as "your worship") records all the dialouge himself and then asks more questions to clarify.  Was super nervous at first, but then I watched a ton of cases before mine was heard, so had the whole process down. 

Anyways... then had to wait 2 more days to get my camera... went all the way to Limbe (its expensive!) found out that I couldn't take it yet... then arranged through some awesome people who live in Blantyre to get my camera through a friend of theirs and they'd bring it with them the following week to my village.  Worked out pretty well... EXCEPT... the friend had to wait 4-5 hours because she refused to pay a bribe (after I called the prosecuter to ask if the arrangement was ok AND wrote a letter giving her permission) and sometime between the trial and getting it last week, it was dropped... and while it still works, its annoying. 

Either way... I'm incredibly thankful that it was found!  Overall, minus the last bit, the Limbe police were absolutely amazing.  I have a working camera... and that means I can continue to take pictures instead of not being able to at all!  Anyways... more on some projects I have later...

AND HAPPY TURKEY DAY TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!