Tidzawona Red pa 17

The other day I set the boy that lives with me, Moses, up with a gmail account. This is a guy that has lived his entire life in a village with no electricity, running water or even newspapers. Suffice it to say that computers, not to mention the Internet, baffle him. He's real excited about this, and he's certainly at the steep end of the learning curve trying to figure out the basics of using a computer. Most five year-olds in the States are significantly more fluent in the world of computers and technology than he is at 18 years old. He just hasn't been exposed to this stuff, and in this way, he represents a surprising number of people here. I hate to be so pessimistic all the time, but I don't see how places like this in the world, places where a majority of the population has little to no idea what the Internet is, will ever catch on with the current, rapid rate at which technology is evolving. Anyways, send the kid an email at mosessamalani@gmail.com. He will be elated to write back and forth with you as he tries to figure out how to use a computer. I'm too lazy to actually sit down and teach him this stuff (how to right click, how to capitalize letters, how to open Word, etc.). I also just don't have the patience. Instead, I'm going to give him little tasks to do, like sending an email to so and so, where I'll just help him out if he has a question and he can more or less figure out how to work a MacBook on his own (I feel kind of bad that he's learning on a MacBook because they're almost non-existent here, and he'll probably never see one again; instead he'll just be confused again once he starts using another operating system.)

Some of you may have heard about the demonstrations and riots we had here last week. I'll downplay what happened (this is what most people here, especially the government and Peace Corps, have been doing). Check out this article for a decent summary of what happened: DPP Woyeaaaa. Everything's calm now. People are just talking a lot. The general public, at least the general public that I'm exposed to here in Mitundu and wherever else I find myself these days, is openly upset with what is happening here politically. The President and his crew feel threatened by this overwhelming displeasure with them. There is tension in the air, but nothing should happen again until August 17th when another demonstration is planned. I've been asking a lot of Malawians what they think will happen on this day, and I've been getting a variety of non-committal answers, but everyone talks about this with nervous energy. Don't worry about me. If there are any problems and violence it won't be direct at people like me (e.g. American volunteers that have been around for a while). More importantly, our Peace Corps office here is keeping a close eye on things, and they're doing a good job of keeping us updated.

I submitted my primary application for medical school today. I applied to ten schools: U of M-Twin Cities, U of M-Duluth, U of W- Madison, U of Michigan, Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Loyola University in Chicago, Rosalind Franklin in Chicago, Rush Medical College in Chicago, Creighton University in Omaha, and University of Saint Louis. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean I can now sit back and relax. I'm not even half way through the application process yet. Most of these schools will be sending me secondary application in the next few weeks. These secondary applications can be a lot of work (essays and such) depending on the school. Hopefully, I'll get a handful of interview invites after that, and then I'll be interviewing in January and February. This is my plan. As you can see it's a very general plan. I've been making less detailed plans lately, giving myself more wiggle room. Perhaps this is because I have been living where very few things go as planned for the last three years.

"We come unbidden into this life, and if we are lucky we find a purpose beyond starvation, misery, and early death which, lest we forget, is the common lot." Abraham Verghese

Fumbi, Mayeso, ndi Nyumba Zopanda Azibambo

I was working my butt off on July 4th, but today-Malawi's Independence Day-I have no work to do and lot's of time on my hands. Thus, here's a long awaited post with some ramblings:

Life goes on in Malawi. This time of year there is a lot of dust. I've been ridding my bike a lot here, and there are usually one of two different problems to deal with-mud or dust. It seems like just yesterday that I was pushing my bike through the mud, unable to ride it because the mud was sticking everywhere to the tires. Cursing and very upset, I dreamt of the dry season, when there is no mud and you don't have to ford rivers just to get to work. Well, the dry season has come, and I completely forgot about the dust. You think I would have this figured out after three years, but apparently I don't. It now happens on a daily basis where I'm ridding my bike down a dirt road (95% of them are dirt in Malawi) on my way to school or something, and I spot a big truck coming from the other direction. In this situation, the best thing to do is run for hell in a direction perpendicular to the road, away from where the truck has come and where the truck is going. The reason for this is that it's bone dry this time of year. We haven't seen a single cloud for a few months, and trucks passing down a rural dirt road tend to create a huge dust clouds that people have been known to get lost in forever. At least we have mud and the rainy season to look forward to in November/December (by then I'll be on my way out of here!).

A few days ago I got roped into invigilating (watching over the students while they take an exam) the much-anticipated national exams that the students take to pass secondary school. With my bachelor’s degree and air of authority, I am considered an expert on the physical sciences. Therefore, the school that I work a little bit with thought it imperative for me to do much of the legwork for the practical part of their physical science exam (in which they attempt to do experiments with equipment and materials that they have never used before, such as ammeters, graduated cylinders, and stop watches). Of course, I agreed to this. End result: I felt like a super busy waiter on a never-ending (12 hour) shift. We showed up at 7am to set up for the exam, and then we proceeded to run around for twelve hours answering questions like: "Sir, what am I supposed to do with this [he holds up a beaker full of bromine, but it sure doesn't look like beautiful, brown bromine after it expired two years ago and has been sitting in the African sun for at least three years]," "Sir, I don't have this," "Sir, I don't have that," "Sir, sir, sir..." We had a limited amount of equipment to use for the various electrical and chemical experiments that they had to use so we ended up having the students take the exam in shifts- many, many shifts. We were having them do each experiment for 30 minutes, and while that group did their experiment we had to wait on them: refilling chemicals, washing equipment, fixing equipment, etc. Then we would bring another group in for 30 minutes, and then another, and then another... until I realized that it was late afternoon and we still had three groups to get through. We ended up finishing at 7:30 in the evening, and I was exhausted. The last group was taking the exam after the sun had set, and this wasn't a problem until the power went out. We had to scramble around looking for candles for a few minutes, but it all worked out. I remember invigilating last year at my old school, and I thought that was difficult when we got done early in the afternoon. This year, however, was exhausting. After getting done, I went home, went straight to bed, and slept like a rock.

I think I'm correct in saying that immigration is still a big issue these days back in the States. That's the impression I get from listening to the BBC sporadically. I find it interesting that we have similar problems with immigration here. The following analogy is fitting: Malawi is to South Africa as Mexico is to the United States. Even though (at least from an American perspective) South Africa has plenty of problems and it can't be considered a "developed" country (certainly parts of it are developed, but other parts are as bad as it gets on this planet), many young Malawian men dream of going to South Africa to work and live happily ever after. Especially in the area where I am, many men get married, have a few kids, and decide that the best way for them to provide for their family is to run away to South Africa, find a job, and send money back to their family in Malawi from time to time. This is basically what goes on between Mexico and the US as well. I've spoke with many Malawians that have worked in South Africa, and a few experiences seem to be common there: 1) They do work that South Africans refuse to do (e.g. hands-on agricultural labor, cleaning, gardening, etc.). 2) They have a hard time integrating into South African society and are generally disliked by South Africans (this is the xenophobia that we always hear about). 3) They are often there illegally, end up getting caught, and find themselves deported back to Malawi. 4) There main purpose for going to South Africa is to make money, more money than they think they can make by doing the same amount of work in their homeland. However, it takes many of them longer than expected to find regular work, and they usually face lots of trouble early on after immigrating. Does all of this sound familiar? It does seem like many of them actually end up making a decent amount of money that they send back home, but that money goes back to a home that hasn't had a father around in a while...but I won't go into all the problems that leads to.

That's all I got for today. I'll try to post more frequently in the near future, but I can't promise anything.

"There is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for." Paulo Coelho