A Plot Twist

The tone of this post will be a lot different than the one I posted last month. That’s because the tone of my life has changed as well. To spill the beans right away (I actually did spill the beans last week, which I’ve done multiple times over here. It’s not easy balancing a boiling pot of beans over a fire with three small bricks as support.), I’ve decided that at this point in my life it makes the most sense for me to stay here in Malawi. It’s become clear to me that I really do enjoy this crazy country. I can only think of two things that bother me here. One, transport’s a pain in the butt (Today I almost went off the deep end when it took us two and a half hours to go about 30 miles on a minibus that stopped every 100 feet to exchange passengers, add gas to the tank piecemeal-as the money was available, backtrack to find more passengers, stop at road blocks to get harassed by cops looking for bribes, and find the best price for the mice that were being sold by a bunch of kids on the side of the road.). Two, this isn’t a huge burden, but these last few months at school have become a grind. I’m dealing with the same old BS day after day, and it is not as exciting as it was last year. I do still feel that the work I’m doing at the school is worthwhile and important, and I’m excited for my students, who will be writing their national exams these next two months after I have thought them for almost two years now. However, I need to find something new to do-which I have done.

Inshallah, I will be living at a new place with a new job in September. I will be living in Mitundu, a big trading center with lot’s of people, stuff, electricity, noise, and-most importantly to me-development. I’ve spent a lot of time and made a lot of friends there already because I go there a lot to see the PCV that lives there, go to their big weekly market, and pass through on my way into Lilongwe. It will be a big change for me to live there, a change I’m really excited about. I’ll have electricity in my house (!!!)-although not all of the time since blackouts are common. I’ll be living on a paved road with easy, fast (relatively speaking), and cheap transport into Lilongwe. I’ll also be around more educated people (and just more people in general, as the place is growing real fast, and it has a huge transient population-which does give security concerns).

My work will also be completely different. I’ll be loosely affiliated with Mitundu Youth Organization. This is a smaller association that I feel is about to turn the corner and expand quickly in the next few years. They have a building where youth (or pretty much anyone) can come to hang out, play board games, read books from their library, and get advice from the five or so counselors that work there. They also do a lot of outreach work in the surrounding area: assisting the elderly, orphans, single mothers, and people living with HIV; taking the local kids on field trips; training people in basic computer skills; and advising the big “local sex worker” population (when I say “advising,” I mean giving them basic training on how to use various contraceptives, but apparently these women complain about not having enough time to attend these training sessions since they’re so busy at work-they’re in high demand in Mitundu, especially this time of year when the men are selling all the crops they recently harvested, crops they’ll be missing sorely when they don’t have any food in November-but its hard to pass up a night in Mitundu at the disco/bottle store (we call them “bars” in America) with plenty of beer, hookers, and thumping Zambian music). I’m looking into setting up some after school tutoring sessions, but I think I’ll mostly be helping them expand their library (anyone want to send over some books? Keep in mind that shipping’s not cheap.), expand their computer literacy program, fund other projects such as tree planting and borehole construction, and demonstrating environmentally friendly agricultural techniques. Based on the previous paragraph, Mitundu may sound like a high class suburb, but its really more like a ghetto. Yeah, there are a bunch of well-to-do people around, but poverty is rampant, as is HIV, and there’s plenty of room for improvement.

Nonetheless, I’m pumped about this new role that I will be playing, and the next year or so of my life should be enjoyable and productive. I’ll be working with a small group of young, highly motivated people-folks that I’ve already become pretty good friends with over the past two years. Did I mention that I’ll have electricity? That’s right ya’ll, Bryan’s movin’ up in the world!

I’ve made this decision that I will be “extending,” still working under the Peace Corps and utilizing the safety net they provide to volunteers, but another thing I have to figure out is “for how long?”. If a PCV extends for a full year, they get 30 days of home leave. This entails a free round trip back home and a small allowance. If I go this route, I’ll probably take my home leave during the holidays this year, but I’m not sure about any of this stuff. Right now I’m on a different Cloud Nine.

"Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star." Henry David Thoreau