Sorry I’ve been away for so long. I’ve been really busy since my last real post, but today I am making a point of giving ya’ll an update on my life because I do feel that it is important and worthwhile for you to hear what is going on over here in Malawi.
Let me start by talking about the elections. You may or may not have heard that we had our national elections two Tuesdays ago. I haven’t blogged at all about this for the sake of preventing you guys from worrying about me. If you are moderately aware of the world news, you probably heard about the violent elections Kenya had last year and similar problems in Madagascar this year. With these nearby warnings and a variety of other reasons, I was a little worried about things going into election week (I should also tell you that Peace Corps was also keeping a close eye on things during this time, and they have done an decent job keeping us safe-as far as I have been able to tell). There was certainly some tension during this time. This is a new democracy (less than two decades ago this country was run by a “president for life”), and it certainly shows. I observed men sitting on the side of the road yelling at a woman walking by and calling her a prostitute because she was wearing a tee-shirt of the opposition party. The teachers at my school would have daily arguments about the strengths and weaknesses of the various presidential candidates. The political rallies that I observed from a distance appeared more like high school pep rallies (now that I think of it, all this isn’t that much different than the States). Rather than voting for a candidate, I was told that many people will simply vote for a party’s symbol throughout their lives. The children all knew the favored party’s chants and slogans very well, and they would keep yelling them long into the night. The neighbor’s four-year old boy, Crispin, is still yelling “DPP yoyheaaa!!” on a daily basis.
In spite of all this, I must say that the elections did go smoothly. We have reelected Bingu Mutharika by a wide margin (things could have been a lot more heated if the results were closer). Bingu seems to be doing a decent job with the plethora of problems that this country provides him with, and hopefully he will keep that up in his second term. The main opposition candidate did accuse Bingu of cheating after the votes were tallied, but apparently he does this after every election so his complaints weren’t taken seriously.
Unfortunately for my students, a few of the teachers at my school also decided that Tuesday’s elections were a good excuse to take the ENTIRE week off as a vacation. Election Day was a scheduled national holiday so there was no school, but we were supposed to have school the rest of the week. What actually happened was a different story. I ended up teaching all of the students that showed up on Monday and Wednesday by myself, and on Thursday and Friday only about half of the students and teachers came to school. Well, as my friend Mr. Chembe likes to say, “Such is life.”
A couple of weeks ago we had a problem in the garden. Now that the dry season has started, the local goats are no longer tied up to trees. Instead, they are allowed to run around free all day so that they can scavenge for food. Since I was a child and we had a goat named Ice Cream, I was never a big fan of the goat species. Well, I can say that now I absolutely hate these creatures. The free-range goats of Chadabwa managed to find a weak spot in my garden fence while I was at school one day. The boys and I were just about to harvest a big bean crop, but the goats gobbled those up quickly. They also found the banana tree, papaya tree, Chinese cabbage, and mustard leaves particularly appetizing. For some reason, they didn’t eat the peas. Thankfully, some guys from the village helped us repair the fence with some sturdy elephant grass. We haven’t had any goats since, and we quickly replanted so that now the garden looks even better than it did before those damn goats got in.
Another thing that I am really excited about right now is our new chicken. I had been asking around for a while about a smaller hen that is just starting to lay eggs that we would be able to raise at our house. After a couple of weeks of asking various people I finally found what I was looking for. We have had her for about two weeks now, and she should start laying eggs anytime. The idea is that she will have a good time with the neighbor’s rooster, lay about eight eggs, and in about ten months we will have eight full-grown chickens to eat. They are easy as pie to take care of. We just had to keep her tied up in the back yard for a couple of days to teach her where her new home is. Now, she sleeps in the storage room (I want to build a coup soon because the house will start to smell a little funky if we let her and all of the babies sleep in there). We let her out in the morning to find food (and the rooster), and she comes back on her own every night looking for a place to sleep. One of my buddies is telling me that I now need to start raising pigs as well, but I think I’ll just stick with chickens.
Sorry I don’t have many good pics to put up today. If you haven’t done so already, make sure that you check out the link on the left column to all of my pictures. Also, I will try to start taking some more around where I live so that you guys can get a better idea of what that looks like. Finally, don’t forget to donate money to CampSky at friendsofmalawi.org Tell your friends!!
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”
George Carlin
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Camp Sky
Hello everyone. I only have one very important thing to tell you about today. Every year the education sector here at Peace Corps Malawi puts on an event called Camp Sky (see below for some details). We have just started planning for this event, and guess who we decided to put in charge of the whole project this year????? That's right, it's me your old friend Bryan. It will be a lot of work, but those of you that know me well are aware that I am most happy when I have a lot of work to get done.
Perhaps you may be asking yourself what you can do to help me out? Well, it would be wonderful if you could send us some MONEY. It's very simple, you don't even have to get up from your computer:
1) Go to this link: http://www.friendsofmalawi.org/grants/how_to_donate.html
2) Scroll down to "Summer School "Camp Sky" 2009 Project"
3) Click on "Donate"
4) Make a donation
We certainly appreciate any amount that you send to us (a dollar can buy about 5 kgs of maize flour here in Malawi), but large amounts are certianly more useful;-)
What IS CAMP SKY?
CampSky is a two week academic camp for talented From 3 students from CDSS [Community Day Secondary Schools] throughout Malawi. Over the two weeks students have classes focused on their core MSCE [examinable] subjects – Math, Science, English. However, students also have the opportunity to take elective courses – for overall intellectual development or just plain pleasure. Students get to travel, meet peers form all over the country and learn in an environment much more conducive to learning than most of the schools they are coming from.
MISSION STATEMENT
Mission
Expose students and teachers from underserved, rural Community Day Secondary Schools (C.D.S.S.’s) to new experiences that will the will be able to utilize for individual, communal, and national development..
Objectives
-Provide training to a select group of experienced Malawian educators from country-wide C.D.S.S.’s
-Expose select students from country-wide C.D.S.S.’s to a variety of occupation-focused subjects and opportunities
-Expand student’s post-secondary opportunities by rigorous MSCE preparation
-Establish an Alumni Association which will assist graduate campers in secondary tuition, post-secondary admissions and tuition, and career acquisition
-Motivate students to succeed by establishing a fun yet hard-working and practical learning environment
-Expose students to new social and cultural perspectives that will broaden their national and global perspective.
-Expose students and teachers to ideas and skills pertaining to health and environment which they can implement into their respective communities
Before you do anything else you must also check out this lovely website that will tell you all about last year's Camp Sky: http://campskyinzomba2008.shutterfly.com/
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD
"Up ahead us we've a mighty task
To love the face behind hatred's mask
'cause on the day we understand our past
God almighty we'll be free at last"
-Mason Jennings
Perhaps you may be asking yourself what you can do to help me out? Well, it would be wonderful if you could send us some MONEY. It's very simple, you don't even have to get up from your computer:
1) Go to this link: http://www.friendsofmalawi.org/grants/how_to_donate.html
2) Scroll down to "Summer School "Camp Sky" 2009 Project"
3) Click on "Donate"
4) Make a donation
We certainly appreciate any amount that you send to us (a dollar can buy about 5 kgs of maize flour here in Malawi), but large amounts are certianly more useful;-)
What IS CAMP SKY?
CampSky is a two week academic camp for talented From 3 students from CDSS [Community Day Secondary Schools] throughout Malawi. Over the two weeks students have classes focused on their core MSCE [examinable] subjects – Math, Science, English. However, students also have the opportunity to take elective courses – for overall intellectual development or just plain pleasure. Students get to travel, meet peers form all over the country and learn in an environment much more conducive to learning than most of the schools they are coming from.
MISSION STATEMENT
Mission
Expose students and teachers from underserved, rural Community Day Secondary Schools (C.D.S.S.’s) to new experiences that will the will be able to utilize for individual, communal, and national development..
Objectives
-Provide training to a select group of experienced Malawian educators from country-wide C.D.S.S.’s
-Expose select students from country-wide C.D.S.S.’s to a variety of occupation-focused subjects and opportunities
-Expand student’s post-secondary opportunities by rigorous MSCE preparation
-Establish an Alumni Association which will assist graduate campers in secondary tuition, post-secondary admissions and tuition, and career acquisition
-Motivate students to succeed by establishing a fun yet hard-working and practical learning environment
-Expose students to new social and cultural perspectives that will broaden their national and global perspective.
-Expose students and teachers to ideas and skills pertaining to health and environment which they can implement into their respective communities
Before you do anything else you must also check out this lovely website that will tell you all about last year's Camp Sky: http://campskyinzomba2008.shutterfly.com/
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD
"Up ahead us we've a mighty task
To love the face behind hatred's mask
'cause on the day we understand our past
God almighty we'll be free at last"
-Mason Jennings
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Vacation!!
Hello world. I just got back from an interesting vacation/adventure on the northern lakeshore. I took lots of awesome pictures so make sure you check those out using the link on the left (sorry I may not have these ones up for another months since this computer isn’t cooperating). I went with four of my good buddies; thus the official title for this sojourn was “Man Camp.”
(Perhaps you will want to look at a good map of Malawi while reading this)
The trip started of with me hitching up north to a small city/big town called Mzuzu. This was my first time being north of Lilongwe, and I must say that the North is way different than the central region I am from. In brief, there are a lot more trees and a lot less people up there. Coincidence, I think not.
The next morning the five of us took a minibus up to a small trading center on the lake called Chiweta. I can best compare this area, the northern lakeshore, to the lakeshore of Lake Superior-except with much different flora, more heat, and warmer water. From Chiweta we took a matola (large flat bed truck used for transporting massive amounts of goods and people over rugged roads) to Mlowe. From there we started hiking south the rest of the afternoon. That night we found an idyllic beach to camp on just outside of a small fishing village.
The next day we were all feeling lazy and out of it, and we didn’t get very far. Nevertheless, we did move a little further south, and by evening we were having a difficult time finding a camp site. A little before dusk we spotted a small beach that was just big enough for the five of us… so we set up camp. While setting things up, some villagers came by to inform us that we had to move because this beautiful little beach is where the local women bathe every morning (oops!). Luckily, these guys helped us find another spot to spend the night further down the trail. They also informed us that a boat going south would be stopping in the nearby village the next morning.
With this good news (good because we were collectively disgruntled with the trail’s rough terrain (which begs the question: Was this trip worthy of the title “Man Camp”?) and it’s a heck of a lot easier to sit on a boat rather than climb mountains), we awoke early the next morning to catch the boat for an hour long ride south to Ruarwe, a larger fishing village. Here we spent three nights at a nearby lodge called Wherearewe? (lake-paradise.com), which was absoloutely beautiful. It feels silly to try and describe it in words. You all will just have to come and see it for yourself (I will be happy to serve as your tour guide). Anyways, here’s a list of some of the stuff we did there: two hour hike up a waterfall with tea at the top, jumping off 50 foot cliffs, snorkeling with the colorful fish of lake Malawi, eating great food such as banana fritters; ravioli; and good old rice with beans, attempting to paddle to local dug-out wooden boats, and chatting it up with the local village folk. All I can really say about this place is that it is one of the top five most beautiful places that I have ever been too. Get there fast while it is still cheap; the owner has plans of turning it into a five-star resort!
After three days of relaxation, we were running out of money and time so we decided that we better head back to Mzuzu. To do this, we first had a six hour hike with cool weather and gorgeous scenery until we reached a place called Usisa. We were told that a matola would be leaving at 6pm to take us over the mountains and back to Mzuzu. Not surprisingly, we didn’t actually leave until about eight, but looking back on the whole experience the tardy departure was the least of our struggles.
I will never forget this dark, crowded, uncomfortable, slow, muddy, wet, and frightening four hour matola ride. First of all, the road over the escarpment was barely passable-muddy, steep and rutted out, as the rainy season in this area was just coming to a close. On three separate occasions all of us passengers had to get out so that the driver could wiggle the truck up an especially difficult section of road. Once he made it through these obstacles, there was always a mad rush to get back into the truck bed as everyone yelled “Place!, place!, place!”. The last time we all mounted to truck, I wasn’t quick enough, and I ended up standing on the outside, barely hanging over the railing as we barreled our way through the hills in the middle of the night. To add insult to injury, it was raining during the last hour or two of the trip until we finally arrived in the quite city of Mzuzu. I certainly didn’t enjoy this last leg of our trip, but I must say that it was very interesting and crazy. It is something I am glad to have experienced, but not something I ever want to experience again.
The next morning, after taking care of some business in the city, I started hitching south to Lilongwe. My first ride broke down about an hour south of Mzuzu. Luckily, we stalled next to a small village where I was able to quickly catch another ride with some guys in a truck hauling lumber south all the way to LL. This wasn’t the best ride (we probably averaged about 40 mph with a heavy load through the hills, and we had to stop ever hour or so to find water for the engine with a leaky radiator). It took us about eight hours on a trip that ideally lasts four hours. However, it all ended well with our safe arrival in LL late yesterday evening.
I’m leaving out a lot of juicy details here, but I can’t spend all afternoon writing this. My vacation’s over, and I have to get back to saving the world. Peace out.
"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
(Perhaps you will want to look at a good map of Malawi while reading this)
The trip started of with me hitching up north to a small city/big town called Mzuzu. This was my first time being north of Lilongwe, and I must say that the North is way different than the central region I am from. In brief, there are a lot more trees and a lot less people up there. Coincidence, I think not.
The next morning the five of us took a minibus up to a small trading center on the lake called Chiweta. I can best compare this area, the northern lakeshore, to the lakeshore of Lake Superior-except with much different flora, more heat, and warmer water. From Chiweta we took a matola (large flat bed truck used for transporting massive amounts of goods and people over rugged roads) to Mlowe. From there we started hiking south the rest of the afternoon. That night we found an idyllic beach to camp on just outside of a small fishing village.
The next day we were all feeling lazy and out of it, and we didn’t get very far. Nevertheless, we did move a little further south, and by evening we were having a difficult time finding a camp site. A little before dusk we spotted a small beach that was just big enough for the five of us… so we set up camp. While setting things up, some villagers came by to inform us that we had to move because this beautiful little beach is where the local women bathe every morning (oops!). Luckily, these guys helped us find another spot to spend the night further down the trail. They also informed us that a boat going south would be stopping in the nearby village the next morning.
With this good news (good because we were collectively disgruntled with the trail’s rough terrain (which begs the question: Was this trip worthy of the title “Man Camp”?) and it’s a heck of a lot easier to sit on a boat rather than climb mountains), we awoke early the next morning to catch the boat for an hour long ride south to Ruarwe, a larger fishing village. Here we spent three nights at a nearby lodge called Wherearewe? (lake-paradise.com), which was absoloutely beautiful. It feels silly to try and describe it in words. You all will just have to come and see it for yourself (I will be happy to serve as your tour guide). Anyways, here’s a list of some of the stuff we did there: two hour hike up a waterfall with tea at the top, jumping off 50 foot cliffs, snorkeling with the colorful fish of lake Malawi, eating great food such as banana fritters; ravioli; and good old rice with beans, attempting to paddle to local dug-out wooden boats, and chatting it up with the local village folk. All I can really say about this place is that it is one of the top five most beautiful places that I have ever been too. Get there fast while it is still cheap; the owner has plans of turning it into a five-star resort!
After three days of relaxation, we were running out of money and time so we decided that we better head back to Mzuzu. To do this, we first had a six hour hike with cool weather and gorgeous scenery until we reached a place called Usisa. We were told that a matola would be leaving at 6pm to take us over the mountains and back to Mzuzu. Not surprisingly, we didn’t actually leave until about eight, but looking back on the whole experience the tardy departure was the least of our struggles.
I will never forget this dark, crowded, uncomfortable, slow, muddy, wet, and frightening four hour matola ride. First of all, the road over the escarpment was barely passable-muddy, steep and rutted out, as the rainy season in this area was just coming to a close. On three separate occasions all of us passengers had to get out so that the driver could wiggle the truck up an especially difficult section of road. Once he made it through these obstacles, there was always a mad rush to get back into the truck bed as everyone yelled “Place!, place!, place!”. The last time we all mounted to truck, I wasn’t quick enough, and I ended up standing on the outside, barely hanging over the railing as we barreled our way through the hills in the middle of the night. To add insult to injury, it was raining during the last hour or two of the trip until we finally arrived in the quite city of Mzuzu. I certainly didn’t enjoy this last leg of our trip, but I must say that it was very interesting and crazy. It is something I am glad to have experienced, but not something I ever want to experience again.
The next morning, after taking care of some business in the city, I started hitching south to Lilongwe. My first ride broke down about an hour south of Mzuzu. Luckily, we stalled next to a small village where I was able to quickly catch another ride with some guys in a truck hauling lumber south all the way to LL. This wasn’t the best ride (we probably averaged about 40 mph with a heavy load through the hills, and we had to stop ever hour or so to find water for the engine with a leaky radiator). It took us about eight hours on a trip that ideally lasts four hours. However, it all ended well with our safe arrival in LL late yesterday evening.
I’m leaving out a lot of juicy details here, but I can’t spend all afternoon writing this. My vacation’s over, and I have to get back to saving the world. Peace out.
"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Quick Update
I don't have time to write up a whole speal today, but I do have to things to tell you about. One, notice that my phone number (on the left column) now has a few more 9s. Two, you can now look at a whole bunch of my pictures by using the link, username, and password under "Links." Please let me know if there are any glitches with this. Perhaps I will have time to write a real post next weekend...
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Hello everyone-I'm still alive. I know it's been a while since my last post, but I haven't had internet access for a while. Nevertheless, I'm here now, so without further ado, please allow me to give you the lowdown on my life the past month our so.
The rains were supposed to end a few weeks ago. However, thanks to those industrialized countries; in the developed world; with their SUVs, power plants, technology, smoke, smog, plastic bottles, fossil fuels , and Al Gore with his climate change; the weather has been slightly different this year. We have still been getting a lot of rain.
The farmers in the area where I live (which I guess includes just about everyone, including myself) have all been telling me that these late rains will cause problems with the upcoming maize harvest, as a large portion of the crop may be rotting. I remember a few months ago when everyone was complaining that we weren't getting enough rains. Now we are getting too much. I guess farmers are the same all over the world: they are never content with yesterday's weather or tomorrow's forecast. But I shouldn't make it sound like we are having monsoons all of the time because we do still have some beautiful sunsets.
On a different note, Friday was the last day of Term 1 at my school. I'm now at the capital, and this afternoon I will be headed back to Dedza College of Forestry (the place where I had most of my training last year) to spend 10 days doing something called a Reconnect. I will be meeting back up with everyone that I went through training with, and we will have the chance to complain and joke about our first few months on our own, develop our language skills, and learn about other useful things like grant writing and such. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again (I've already been seeing a lot of old faces today). During this time, I should also have an opportunity to visit the family I was living with back in November. I have a nice framed picture of us to give them, and I'm hoping they'll give me another sack of spuds or maybe some peanuts like they did when I left Dedza in December. After that, a bunch of us are planning on taking a multi-day hike along the northern lakeshore. I haven't done a lot of traveling so far, as I have been busy with school, so I pumped to finally have a chance to get out and see more of Africa. I should have some cool picks from this little adventure in a few weeks.
As I said, I am now done with school, and we will begin Term 2 in three weeks. All in all, things have been going well for me. The two boys that I have living with me are now like my little brothers, my students appear to at least be learning something, my Chichewa is getting better everyday, I have lots of IGAs (income generating activities) lined up in the community, and Chadabwa is truly beginning to feel like my home. Two weeks ago, the boys helped me triple the size of my garden. It's looking pretty good, although the maize we planted is having some trouble (They keep trying to convince me that we need to apply fertilizer while I tell them we just need to make more compost. I have a feeling they're going to put down some fertilizer the next couple of days since I won't be around to stop this from happening. This country's addicted to fertilizer, but it appears to be the only immediate solution to feed everyone because there are simply too many people living here and there is not enough land to feed everyone.). It will be nice to have a break from village life for a few weeks, but I already miss everyone back home in Chadabwa.
Before I go I should tell you about the funeral I went to a few weeks ago. In the area where I live, the predominate tribe is Chewa while the predominate religion is Christianity (especially the Catholic and Presbyterian flavors). At this point, I don't entirely understand how these two cultural aspects-tribe and religion-coexist (there does appear to be some tension between the two, perhaps analogous to the superficial feud between science and religion), but both are very important parts of the Malawian culture. Anyways, this funeral was strictly of the Chewa variety, without any Christianity added. Certainly it was different than any funeral I have seen before, and although it's difficult for me to explain it in words (I will have some pictures in the future (this time around the chiefs wouldn't allow me to bring a camera) after I am "initiated" into the Chewa tribe (a friend has told me that this "initiation" will consist of spending a few consecutive nights at the village's manda (graveyard)-obviously I will have more to say about this in the future))), let me try to highlight some of the more interesting parts. The entire village community was, or more accurately-was expected to be, present. There were also many people from outside the community (they were all very surprised to see me, a white man, that far away from Town at a funeral in the village). I would estimate that there were about 300 people present. This was a surprise to me because (I say this with no intention of disrespecting the individual) the man that passed away was only an ordinary person in the village. The highlight (yes there is a highlight to a Chewa funeral) of the ceremony was the Gule Waukulu, which means Big Dance in English. This consisted of three traditional dancers, in elaborate costumes with disturbing masks, putting on a ten or 15 minute performance in which they danced while collecting money from the crowd. If I interpreted everything correctly, the idea is that the dancers represent spirits, and these spirits have the responsibility of escorting the deceased into the afterlife. The funeral definitely involved mourning, but the Gule Waukulu was more like a celebration with people laughing and enjoying the dance. I will have more to say on Chewa culture in the future since I find it fascinating, and I am becoming good friends with a guy that is always telling me that he will teach me things “DEEP into Chewa culture.”
That’s all for today folks, but I will leave you with a word of wisdom. The next time you are disgruntled with the “economic crisis” just think that it could be a lot worse if you were living in immense poverty like the people I see here every day. As Eric the Midget likes to say, “Buy for now.”
"Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish. And yet it also pleases me and seems right that what is of value and wisdom to one man seems nonsense to another." Hermann Hesse
The rains were supposed to end a few weeks ago. However, thanks to those industrialized countries; in the developed world; with their SUVs, power plants, technology, smoke, smog, plastic bottles, fossil fuels , and Al Gore with his climate change; the weather has been slightly different this year. We have still been getting a lot of rain.
The farmers in the area where I live (which I guess includes just about everyone, including myself) have all been telling me that these late rains will cause problems with the upcoming maize harvest, as a large portion of the crop may be rotting. I remember a few months ago when everyone was complaining that we weren't getting enough rains. Now we are getting too much. I guess farmers are the same all over the world: they are never content with yesterday's weather or tomorrow's forecast. But I shouldn't make it sound like we are having monsoons all of the time because we do still have some beautiful sunsets.
On a different note, Friday was the last day of Term 1 at my school. I'm now at the capital, and this afternoon I will be headed back to Dedza College of Forestry (the place where I had most of my training last year) to spend 10 days doing something called a Reconnect. I will be meeting back up with everyone that I went through training with, and we will have the chance to complain and joke about our first few months on our own, develop our language skills, and learn about other useful things like grant writing and such. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again (I've already been seeing a lot of old faces today). During this time, I should also have an opportunity to visit the family I was living with back in November. I have a nice framed picture of us to give them, and I'm hoping they'll give me another sack of spuds or maybe some peanuts like they did when I left Dedza in December. After that, a bunch of us are planning on taking a multi-day hike along the northern lakeshore. I haven't done a lot of traveling so far, as I have been busy with school, so I pumped to finally have a chance to get out and see more of Africa. I should have some cool picks from this little adventure in a few weeks.
As I said, I am now done with school, and we will begin Term 2 in three weeks. All in all, things have been going well for me. The two boys that I have living with me are now like my little brothers, my students appear to at least be learning something, my Chichewa is getting better everyday, I have lots of IGAs (income generating activities) lined up in the community, and Chadabwa is truly beginning to feel like my home. Two weeks ago, the boys helped me triple the size of my garden. It's looking pretty good, although the maize we planted is having some trouble (They keep trying to convince me that we need to apply fertilizer while I tell them we just need to make more compost. I have a feeling they're going to put down some fertilizer the next couple of days since I won't be around to stop this from happening. This country's addicted to fertilizer, but it appears to be the only immediate solution to feed everyone because there are simply too many people living here and there is not enough land to feed everyone.). It will be nice to have a break from village life for a few weeks, but I already miss everyone back home in Chadabwa.
Before I go I should tell you about the funeral I went to a few weeks ago. In the area where I live, the predominate tribe is Chewa while the predominate religion is Christianity (especially the Catholic and Presbyterian flavors). At this point, I don't entirely understand how these two cultural aspects-tribe and religion-coexist (there does appear to be some tension between the two, perhaps analogous to the superficial feud between science and religion), but both are very important parts of the Malawian culture. Anyways, this funeral was strictly of the Chewa variety, without any Christianity added. Certainly it was different than any funeral I have seen before, and although it's difficult for me to explain it in words (I will have some pictures in the future (this time around the chiefs wouldn't allow me to bring a camera) after I am "initiated" into the Chewa tribe (a friend has told me that this "initiation" will consist of spending a few consecutive nights at the village's manda (graveyard)-obviously I will have more to say about this in the future))), let me try to highlight some of the more interesting parts. The entire village community was, or more accurately-was expected to be, present. There were also many people from outside the community (they were all very surprised to see me, a white man, that far away from Town at a funeral in the village). I would estimate that there were about 300 people present. This was a surprise to me because (I say this with no intention of disrespecting the individual) the man that passed away was only an ordinary person in the village. The highlight (yes there is a highlight to a Chewa funeral) of the ceremony was the Gule Waukulu, which means Big Dance in English. This consisted of three traditional dancers, in elaborate costumes with disturbing masks, putting on a ten or 15 minute performance in which they danced while collecting money from the crowd. If I interpreted everything correctly, the idea is that the dancers represent spirits, and these spirits have the responsibility of escorting the deceased into the afterlife. The funeral definitely involved mourning, but the Gule Waukulu was more like a celebration with people laughing and enjoying the dance. I will have more to say on Chewa culture in the future since I find it fascinating, and I am becoming good friends with a guy that is always telling me that he will teach me things “DEEP into Chewa culture.”
That’s all for today folks, but I will leave you with a word of wisdom. The next time you are disgruntled with the “economic crisis” just think that it could be a lot worse if you were living in immense poverty like the people I see here every day. As Eric the Midget likes to say, “Buy for now.”
"Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish. And yet it also pleases me and seems right that what is of value and wisdom to one man seems nonsense to another." Hermann Hesse
Saturday, February 28, 2009
New Roommates, New Crops, and New Food
I’ll start things off hear with some proof that I’m not the only one hear in Africa that eats insects:
At least I cook mine. These kids just eat them straight out of the ground. I can’t decided if this picture is absolutely hysterical or disturbing.
On a different note, this upcoming weekend I’ll have a pretty big change at home: two of my students will be moving in with me. Three factors influenced this decision. First, I’ve been spending a lot of time every day just doing chores-things like sweeping, washing clothes, starting a fire, fetching water, cooking, and cleaning. It’s not that I’m incapable of doing these things, or that I hate doing them, but rather they take up a lot of my time and energy. A lot of time and energy that would better be spent at the school or out in the community doing work. These guys should be able to help me out with these things, which will make my life a lot easier (especially starting a fire, something that I still haven’t been able to master during this rainy season).
Second, my house is built for a family. Since the first day I saw it in November, I knew that I wanted to try and have students live with me. Right now there are two empty rooms that I use for unnecessary storage space. I just doesn’t make sense for me to sprawl our in this huge house when these other guys would be so much better off living right next to the school with me.
Third, and most importantly, I think these two boys will benefit greatly from living with me. One of them is an orphan, and he is currently living with his grandparents, a situation that he doesn’t like at all. The other boy lives with his single mother (the father skipped out of town when he was a baby). They live in a village that is pretty far from the school so he had a long commute every day until he started boarding in the local trading center. Nevertheless, they should both be much better off with me. They won’t have to pay rent any longer (they’ll just have to do some chores they are more than willing to do). Also, I need to stress that these two are very respectful, hard working, and intelligent. They are the top students in forms 3 and 4, and they are always asking me questions in class that I never have time to answer. They are thirsty for knowledge. I should be able to help them out a lot more if we are all living under the same roof. Most of my students will probably end up with the same life as their parents, living in the village as low-income farmers (which is fine), but these two really stand out as having an opportunity to escape this cycle of poverty. Hopefully, I can be the little push that they need to get over the hump. I excited to see how this all goes. I have spoken with some of the veteran volunteers that have been living with students for about a year now, and they say that its been great for both them and there students. I’ll keep ya’ll updated on how all this goes.
My garden’s finally looking good enough that I can put up a picture of it:
I’m pleasantly surprised by how well most of the crops are growing. I’ve started harvesting some Chineese cabbage; basil; and beans, with a bunch more on the way. Within the next month I should have a ton of pumpkins, tomatoes, and cucumbers. As you can see, I planted the cucumbers a little to close together so that they are sort of taking over everything, but I try and persuade them to keep a respectful distance from the other crops. Once I find time, I want to make another bed or two, doubling the current size. This whole gardening thing is actually pretty fun. Mom-I regret that I never helped you out planting stuff in the past at home. Missed opportunities…
… But we can’t dwell on the past too long when there are so many mice to eat!!!
That’s right folks. It’s nearing the end of the rainy season here in Malawi, meaning that the mice (or perhaps they look more like rats-let’s just use the Chichewa name: mbewa) are out in full force. Therefore, we need to trap ‘em, dry ‘em, and fry ‘em up before they go underground for the rest of the year.
Yes indeed, I have now eaten rats on a stick (I don’t think they have those at the MN State Fair). This is another good source of village protein, although they don’t taste nearly as good as the fried ants. At first, my buddy insisted that I try them just dried and salted, which was okay, but I’m not a big fan of munching on all that fur. So then I insisted that we burn the hair off over the fire (a common practice of more “civilized” folk like myself). I can’t say that mbewa is my favorite food here in Africa. I can say that the head and tail have interesting texture.
It might be a while until my next post, as I want to be around at home for a few weeks while the boys are getting settled in, so don’t get worried if you don’t hear from me for a while. Don’t forget that you can send me a cheap text message, cheap letter, expensive care package, or expensive phone call as well.
"He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough."
-Lao Tzu
At least I cook mine. These kids just eat them straight out of the ground. I can’t decided if this picture is absolutely hysterical or disturbing.
On a different note, this upcoming weekend I’ll have a pretty big change at home: two of my students will be moving in with me. Three factors influenced this decision. First, I’ve been spending a lot of time every day just doing chores-things like sweeping, washing clothes, starting a fire, fetching water, cooking, and cleaning. It’s not that I’m incapable of doing these things, or that I hate doing them, but rather they take up a lot of my time and energy. A lot of time and energy that would better be spent at the school or out in the community doing work. These guys should be able to help me out with these things, which will make my life a lot easier (especially starting a fire, something that I still haven’t been able to master during this rainy season).
Second, my house is built for a family. Since the first day I saw it in November, I knew that I wanted to try and have students live with me. Right now there are two empty rooms that I use for unnecessary storage space. I just doesn’t make sense for me to sprawl our in this huge house when these other guys would be so much better off living right next to the school with me.
Third, and most importantly, I think these two boys will benefit greatly from living with me. One of them is an orphan, and he is currently living with his grandparents, a situation that he doesn’t like at all. The other boy lives with his single mother (the father skipped out of town when he was a baby). They live in a village that is pretty far from the school so he had a long commute every day until he started boarding in the local trading center. Nevertheless, they should both be much better off with me. They won’t have to pay rent any longer (they’ll just have to do some chores they are more than willing to do). Also, I need to stress that these two are very respectful, hard working, and intelligent. They are the top students in forms 3 and 4, and they are always asking me questions in class that I never have time to answer. They are thirsty for knowledge. I should be able to help them out a lot more if we are all living under the same roof. Most of my students will probably end up with the same life as their parents, living in the village as low-income farmers (which is fine), but these two really stand out as having an opportunity to escape this cycle of poverty. Hopefully, I can be the little push that they need to get over the hump. I excited to see how this all goes. I have spoken with some of the veteran volunteers that have been living with students for about a year now, and they say that its been great for both them and there students. I’ll keep ya’ll updated on how all this goes.
My garden’s finally looking good enough that I can put up a picture of it:
I’m pleasantly surprised by how well most of the crops are growing. I’ve started harvesting some Chineese cabbage; basil; and beans, with a bunch more on the way. Within the next month I should have a ton of pumpkins, tomatoes, and cucumbers. As you can see, I planted the cucumbers a little to close together so that they are sort of taking over everything, but I try and persuade them to keep a respectful distance from the other crops. Once I find time, I want to make another bed or two, doubling the current size. This whole gardening thing is actually pretty fun. Mom-I regret that I never helped you out planting stuff in the past at home. Missed opportunities…
… But we can’t dwell on the past too long when there are so many mice to eat!!!
That’s right folks. It’s nearing the end of the rainy season here in Malawi, meaning that the mice (or perhaps they look more like rats-let’s just use the Chichewa name: mbewa) are out in full force. Therefore, we need to trap ‘em, dry ‘em, and fry ‘em up before they go underground for the rest of the year.
Yes indeed, I have now eaten rats on a stick (I don’t think they have those at the MN State Fair). This is another good source of village protein, although they don’t taste nearly as good as the fried ants. At first, my buddy insisted that I try them just dried and salted, which was okay, but I’m not a big fan of munching on all that fur. So then I insisted that we burn the hair off over the fire (a common practice of more “civilized” folk like myself). I can’t say that mbewa is my favorite food here in Africa. I can say that the head and tail have interesting texture.
It might be a while until my next post, as I want to be around at home for a few weeks while the boys are getting settled in, so don’t get worried if you don’t hear from me for a while. Don’t forget that you can send me a cheap text message, cheap letter, expensive care package, or expensive phone call as well.
"He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough."
-Lao Tzu
Friday, February 6, 2009
(I can't think of a good title today-just read below please)
Hello everyone, I’m back in town again. [Town is what we call Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, which is about 60 km from my site (but between 90 min. to three hours travel time including a 45 min bike ride until I reach Mitundu where I can pick up a minibus that takes me to the bus depot in town, and from there it is a 10 min. walk to either the Peace Corps rest house (pictures of the outside and inside below)
or the Peace Corps office (where I am currently on the computer composing this fantastic blog)), and is a place where I can retreat from my site for a few days for both a mental break and some time to get work done at the office and on the internet.]
Please allow me to vent with my one complaint, and then we can get to the good stuff: There are seven teachers at my school. Three of us, the headmaster; deputy head; and myself, live immediately next to the school, while the other four live in Mitundu. As I have said in the past, Mitundu is the nearest major trading center, but it’s about a 45 min. bike ride away from the school. As far as I can tell, these other four have had the opportunity in the past to live closer to the school, making their lives easier with a shorter commute to work.
However, they prefer to live in Mitundu instead for a variety of reasons. First, most, if not all of them, have businesses there to supplement their teachers salary (which isn’t great, but relative to the respective national average, it’s a lot better than high school teacher’s salaries back in the states). Secondly, they thoroughly enjoy drinking, and there just aren’t any good bottle stores (bars) near Chadabwa. Finally, I heard that one of them actually did try living in Chadabwa a few years ago, but he had to leave because his family, which lives in this village, was always bugging him for money.
With that being said, they all feel that there long commute to work is a good excuse for them to show up late to school EVERY day. Take note that I said “EVERY” day. School begins at 7:30, and not a single one of them has showed up on time on any of these day during these first five weeks of school. It would make sense that if you were a half hour late for work every day you would simply depart home a half hour earlier. Unfortunately, in this case (and in an overwhelming amount of cases in this country), “sense” seems to be lacking. People are surprised to hear that where I come from, back in America, a worker is fired from their job if they show up late to work everyday. Well, that can’t be done here because there are enough teachers in the first place. If these lazy teachers are fired there simply won’t be anyone to replace them. Is a lazy teacher better than no teacher at all? What a great example these guys are for the students. How am I supposed to expect my students to show up on time if the teachers don’t????
With that out of the way, I should say that I am trying to focus my energy on working with the students and the community rather than the teachers (I must point out that I do get along very well with the Head and Dept. Head, who are good people-to the best of my knowledge). It has been difficult teaching Form 1 because their English skills are horrible. Therefore, much of my teaching in that class is done in Chichewa, but a lot of things, especially in the realm of science, don’t translate very well. Oh well, if anything they’re getting better at writing, hearing, and speaking English. I make them take a lot of notes (there aren’t many other options since we don’t have textbooks here for the students) and answer a lot of questions out loud.
It’s definitely easier for me to teach Form 3, although they’re not fluent speakers by any means. Last Thursday in Life Skills, we were having a discussion about gender roles in America versus Malawi. This somehow morphed into me leaving them all baffled when I ended class by telling them about homosexuality in the States (a concept that most of them were apparently completely unaware of). In sum, the actual teaching part (outside of the office) of being at school is going well, and I’ll see how much my students have learned this upcoming week, as they will be taking mid-term exams.
I’ve been excited to post this picture since I took it a few weeks ago. This is my new favorite food in Malawi:
The local name for it is ngumbi or inswa, but it can be simply explained to you all as fried ants! I prepared this batch myself by first boiling them, and then frying them in margarine and salt. Result: delicious. They are definitely better than the fried pig intestines I had a few months ago. They have a hard-to-describe nutty flavor and are a good source of protein in the village. But I must admit that the amayi (the women in the village) can prepare them a lot better them me. Andrew Zimmern would be so proud of me. Maybe I should invite him out to Chadabwa to do an episode of Bizarre Foods. There’s another exotic, African food that I should be trying in the near future. I won’t tell you what it is yet, leaving it up to your imagination…
My garden is looking good now that it isn’t being attacked by chickens. I should have some tomatoes; pumpkins; and cucumbers within the next month, with some different peppers; basil; cabbage; cilantro; beans; and peanuts on the way after that. Everyone around my place is addicted to fertilizer, and they are all trying to persuade me to use some. As a result, I have to constantly explain the concept of an “organic garden” that won’t destroy the land after a few years. In addition to caring for my vegetable garden, I recently planted a papaya tree seedling, and one of my students gave me a young banana tree from his grandparents large grove. The papaya was a heck of a deal-less than a dollar (although everyone in my village thought I got ripped off when I told them I paid 100MK for it). Both of these should start to give fruit during my two years here, assuming I can keep them alive.
I don’t really want to spent all morning on this silly computer so I should wrap things up here. Please send me an email, letter, or post a comment so I can get an idea of who is reading this. Also, let me know what you would like me to write about.
“The most moral activity of all is the creation of space for life to move around.”
-Robert M. Pirsig
or the Peace Corps office (where I am currently on the computer composing this fantastic blog)), and is a place where I can retreat from my site for a few days for both a mental break and some time to get work done at the office and on the internet.]
Please allow me to vent with my one complaint, and then we can get to the good stuff: There are seven teachers at my school. Three of us, the headmaster; deputy head; and myself, live immediately next to the school, while the other four live in Mitundu. As I have said in the past, Mitundu is the nearest major trading center, but it’s about a 45 min. bike ride away from the school. As far as I can tell, these other four have had the opportunity in the past to live closer to the school, making their lives easier with a shorter commute to work.
However, they prefer to live in Mitundu instead for a variety of reasons. First, most, if not all of them, have businesses there to supplement their teachers salary (which isn’t great, but relative to the respective national average, it’s a lot better than high school teacher’s salaries back in the states). Secondly, they thoroughly enjoy drinking, and there just aren’t any good bottle stores (bars) near Chadabwa. Finally, I heard that one of them actually did try living in Chadabwa a few years ago, but he had to leave because his family, which lives in this village, was always bugging him for money.
With that being said, they all feel that there long commute to work is a good excuse for them to show up late to school EVERY day. Take note that I said “EVERY” day. School begins at 7:30, and not a single one of them has showed up on time on any of these day during these first five weeks of school. It would make sense that if you were a half hour late for work every day you would simply depart home a half hour earlier. Unfortunately, in this case (and in an overwhelming amount of cases in this country), “sense” seems to be lacking. People are surprised to hear that where I come from, back in America, a worker is fired from their job if they show up late to work everyday. Well, that can’t be done here because there are enough teachers in the first place. If these lazy teachers are fired there simply won’t be anyone to replace them. Is a lazy teacher better than no teacher at all? What a great example these guys are for the students. How am I supposed to expect my students to show up on time if the teachers don’t????
With that out of the way, I should say that I am trying to focus my energy on working with the students and the community rather than the teachers (I must point out that I do get along very well with the Head and Dept. Head, who are good people-to the best of my knowledge). It has been difficult teaching Form 1 because their English skills are horrible. Therefore, much of my teaching in that class is done in Chichewa, but a lot of things, especially in the realm of science, don’t translate very well. Oh well, if anything they’re getting better at writing, hearing, and speaking English. I make them take a lot of notes (there aren’t many other options since we don’t have textbooks here for the students) and answer a lot of questions out loud.
It’s definitely easier for me to teach Form 3, although they’re not fluent speakers by any means. Last Thursday in Life Skills, we were having a discussion about gender roles in America versus Malawi. This somehow morphed into me leaving them all baffled when I ended class by telling them about homosexuality in the States (a concept that most of them were apparently completely unaware of). In sum, the actual teaching part (outside of the office) of being at school is going well, and I’ll see how much my students have learned this upcoming week, as they will be taking mid-term exams.
I’ve been excited to post this picture since I took it a few weeks ago. This is my new favorite food in Malawi:
The local name for it is ngumbi or inswa, but it can be simply explained to you all as fried ants! I prepared this batch myself by first boiling them, and then frying them in margarine and salt. Result: delicious. They are definitely better than the fried pig intestines I had a few months ago. They have a hard-to-describe nutty flavor and are a good source of protein in the village. But I must admit that the amayi (the women in the village) can prepare them a lot better them me. Andrew Zimmern would be so proud of me. Maybe I should invite him out to Chadabwa to do an episode of Bizarre Foods. There’s another exotic, African food that I should be trying in the near future. I won’t tell you what it is yet, leaving it up to your imagination…
My garden is looking good now that it isn’t being attacked by chickens. I should have some tomatoes; pumpkins; and cucumbers within the next month, with some different peppers; basil; cabbage; cilantro; beans; and peanuts on the way after that. Everyone around my place is addicted to fertilizer, and they are all trying to persuade me to use some. As a result, I have to constantly explain the concept of an “organic garden” that won’t destroy the land after a few years. In addition to caring for my vegetable garden, I recently planted a papaya tree seedling, and one of my students gave me a young banana tree from his grandparents large grove. The papaya was a heck of a deal-less than a dollar (although everyone in my village thought I got ripped off when I told them I paid 100MK for it). Both of these should start to give fruit during my two years here, assuming I can keep them alive.
I don’t really want to spent all morning on this silly computer so I should wrap things up here. Please send me an email, letter, or post a comment so I can get an idea of who is reading this. Also, let me know what you would like me to write about.
“The most moral activity of all is the creation of space for life to move around.”
-Robert M. Pirsig
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