My First Post from Malawi!

This is the first chance I’ve had for more than just a few minutes on the Internet since I’ve been in country, so at last – my first blog post from Malawi! I can easily say that in the last two months, I’ve been happier than I can ever remember. Coming to Malawi with the Peace Corps was definitely the right move for me! I’ve been here nearly two months and am just about to finish training. On Wednesday, April 28th, I’ll swear in as an official Peace Corps volunteer, and the next day I’ll head to the site where I’ll be stationed for the next two years.

First, I want to say thank you for your letters, emails, messages and packages. It means so much to me to know that you care.

I apologize in advance for the length of this entry. There’s a lot to tell you! I’ll split it up into sections so you can pick and choose what you want to read.


Training:
Training was a little like being at camp for two months. We started out living in a dormitory at a forestry college in Dedza for the first week. Then, we spent five weeks living with a host family in a village near the forestry college. I was in the village of Chikanda and lived with the wonderful Madalitso family. After leaving there, we each visited a current Peace Corps volunteer for a few days and then visited our permanent sites for a few days. Next, we spent a week at intensive language training, then took our final language test, and Wednesday we swear in as volunteers.


Food:
The food here is pretty bland and repetitive. Malawians eat a dish called “nsima” at nearly every meal. Nsima is made of corn flour and is a little bit like grits, except thicker, and molded into patties about the size of my two palms put together. Malawians have a saying that if you haven’t eaten nsima, you haven’t eaten a meal, and they’ll typically eat two or three of these nsima patties in a meal. The problem with this is that nsima contains very little nutrition and makes up a huge portion of the typical Malawian’s diet. Malawians especially like white nsima, which is highly refined – like white bread in the States. They actually spend a lot of time and energy to process the corn flour into this white, tasteless, but very creamy nsima, but at the same time they remove any nutrition that was originally in the corn. A better option is ngaiwa nsima, which is made with flour from the whole corn kernel. This is healthier, but is viewed as less desirable and something that poor people eat. I much prefer it!
In addition to nsima, a typical Malawian meal includes cooked greens and some sort of protein – often beans, but sometimes eggs or meat if it’s available. Unfortunately, the Malawian dinner plate is often covered with a huge portion of nsima and very tiny portions of greens and protein. Part of my job here will be to help educate my community about nutrition and the benefits of balancing out their plate a bit more. It will be a challenge because not only are people resistant to change, but Malawians are also very poor and in many cases, are not able to afford a broader range of food. They grow their own maize, beans, and greens, but most have very limited access to animal proteins or a wider variety of fruits, vegetables and grains. I will encourage members of my community to diversify the grains and veggies that they plant. I’m also thinking of doing some small-scale livestock projects with rabbits, chickens or goats. There’s definitely a dearth of livestock in my region.
Dairy products are very hard to come by here. You can buy powdered milk or UHT milk (the kind that doesn’t have to be refrigerated and can sit on a shelf for months) at grocery stores in the larger towns, but it’s very expensive. Fresh milk is unheard of in most of Malawi. I would consider doing a dairy project, either with cows or goats, but that would be a major undertaking, so we’ll have to see if I feel up to it, and if the community is interested and willing to put in the time, effort and resources to make it successful and sustainable after I leave.
In my own home, I hope to have a more diversified diet than most Malawians. I’ll probably eat mostly eggs, beans and peanuts for protein, since meat is so hard to get. They have soya pieces here, which are the most delicious meat substitute I’ve ever tried, so those may become a staple. For veggies, I have a garden that will provide a lot of greens and some other fun things like green peppers, onions and carrots. There are also some strawberries and tomatoes planted. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for those, but I don’t know how well they’ll do because the climate at my site is pretty cold and damp. I can also buy bananas pretty much year-round, and will be able to buy some produce from a couple farmers in the village that have it available on a seasonal basis. Whole grains are hard to come by here, so feel free to send brown rice and whole wheat pasta to me! I can get couscous here occasionally, so that’s something. Besides that, I’ll probably eat a lot of white rice and some ngaiwa nsima. I also have a small mud oven, so I plan to try a little baking. I hope to get creative with cooking and make some really delicious meals, despite the lack of ingredients!


Amenities:
It’s amazing how quickly one can get used to bathing out of a bucket and using a pit latrine. Before I came here, I thought those would be some of the hardest adjustments, but I find that they’re really not a problem. Bucket baths are actually quite pleasant, as long as the water is warm. Of course, I might change my mind about that when it gets cold here in a few months. There’s a water tap about 50 meters away from my house, so it’s very convenient, and the water is pretty clean. Also, my pit latrine is pretty clean, except for the flies that come out of the hole when you remove the lid. Plus, toilet tissue is available from grocery stores in large towns, and is fairly inexpensive, so I don’t have to use leaves as I anticipated I might.
It was a bit of a shock the first time it got dark and I realized I couldn’t just flip a switch to turn on the lights. I had to scramble to find my flashlight and light a candle. But, it was another quick adjustment, and now I know exactly where my flashlight is, and I’m ready with it when dusk arrives. The greater challenge will be keeping my laptop powered. I have a solar device (thanks CNN Money Unit friends!) to charge smaller electronics like my camera and iPod, but sadly it doesn’t charge my laptop. I’ll be able to charge it at least once a month when I travel into the capital of Lilongwe. Other than that, I’m going to investigate whether anyone in my village has a generator or car battery that I can use to recharge, and I may look into buying a car battery of my own.
Along with no electricity comes the problem of how to cook food. There’s plenty of firewood available in the forest preserve near my house, but at this time of year the wood is very wet, so it’s hard to start a fire for cooking and heating bathwater. I’m going to look into buying a paraffin stove. Paraffin is expensive, but it would be nice to have a back-up for the days when I have a lot of trouble starting a wood fire. It’s going to take a little experimentation to learn to cook well over a fire, so I might have a few poorly cooked meals before I get the hang of it!
The one other amenity that I’ll miss here is Internet. It’s not available anywhere near me as far as I can tell. That means I’ll be able to get online only once a month in Lilongwe. However, I’m looking into some options such as buying a wireless card or an Internet-enabled cell phone. Of course, I don’t have cell phone service at my house and have to walk up a nearby hill for coverage, but that’s a minor detail. Fingers crossed that I can find an alternative and update you on a somewhat regular basis!
One more note – if you’d like my cell phone number, send me a personal message. I’d love to receive calls, but we have to arrange in advance so I can walk up the hill to get reception when I’m expecting a call!


Work:
As an environment volunteer, I have a lot of flexibility to work on the types of projects I want, and to set my schedule as I wish. The main objective is to do projects that the community wants, that will help improve quality of life, that will help villagers reduce dependence on the forest preserve, and that will be sustainable to continue after I leave. Here are some of the types of projects I’m considering working on with my community:
- beekeeping (to sell honey and beeswax candles)
- mushroom farming
- fish farming
- soap making
- jam making
- cheese making
- peanut oil pressing
- permagardening (for year-round produce)
- tree nurseries and planting (both for food production & re-forestation)
- irrigation projects
- making crafts to sell (pottery, knitting/crocheting, wood carvings, baskets)
- micro-credit & other banking/finance/community savings plans
- business training
- livestock projects
- building mud stoves (for fuel efficiency & better indoor air quality)
- teaching & encouraging composting
- teaching & guest lecturing at the local high school
- running environment camp
- health education (nutrition, HIV/AIDS, rehydration therapy for diarrhea, etc.)
- assisting with health clinics for under-5 children
- wildlife/environment club at local school
- start 4-H/FFA-type club at local school

Let me know if you have any ideas for me!


My House:
My house is a large (for Malawi), three-room structure with mud-brick walls and a thatched roof. It’s really nice by local standards, and I’m thrilled with it! I have plenty of room and an extra double bed for visitors, so make your travel plans now! I live on the side of Ntchisi Mountain, right outside the Ntchisi Forest Reserve, and about one kilometer from Ntchisi Forest Lodge, which caters to tourists. My area is called the “Scotland of Malawi,” and is absolutely beautiful with gorgeous green hills leading up to the mountain. The climate is a little cooler than most of Malawi and I’m told it gets pretty cold in July and August – perhaps even down to freezing. That will be an experience since I’ll have no heat in the house, and brought very few winter-type clothes! The two big upsides of this are that it’s not so brutally hot in the summer as other parts of the country, and there are very few mosquitoes to buzz around my head at night as I’m trying to enjoy dinner! The downside of being in a fairly remote village is that transportation to this area is a little sketchy, and in the rainy season, the road leading to the village can be difficult if not impassable.
Surrounding my house is a wonderful garden that the previous volunteer, Bright Tate, planned and implemented. There’s a huge variety of veggies, herbs and flowers. There are also four peach trees, which makes me ecstatic, although they’re young, so I don’t know if they’ll produce any fruit for me in the next two years. I have a large kitchen building that is separate from the main house and is as large as many people’s houses here. There’s also a large bafa for bathing, a large chim (building surrounding the pit latrine), a house for rabbits, and a tall reed privacy fence around the entire complex. On one side of the fence, lives a small family – father, mother and baby. The father there will help me with my garden and any fixes I need around the house. On the other side of the fence is a large family compound of four or five houses, occupied by my landlord and several of his sons and daughters and their families.


Malawi in General:
Malawi is a beautiful country and the people here are incredible. They work hard (especially the women!) and they are some of the most hospitable people I’ve ever met. Poverty is a tremendous problem here, but I believe the people are happier with their lives than most people that I know in the U.S. While they may not have the material possessions we have in the States, they have stronger ties to their families and communities, and they’re not always striving to keep up with the Joneses, but striving to share what they have with their neighbors. Malawians are quick to tell you that they’re poor, but I think they’re richer than they believe. I don’t want to change their communities, except to help them better provide for their families, so they’ll always have nutritious food on their tables and so their children will have opportunities to make what they want of their lives.


That’s all for now. I hope to update this blog at least once a month and will start including some fun stories about my experiences and the people I meet here. Thanks for all your support!

Leaving Tomorrow!

After more than a year of waiting, the time has finally come to leave for the Peace Corps. I fly from Raleigh/Durham to Philadelphia tomorrow morning for staging, which is basically orientation. Fingers crossed that the snow storm doesn't delay or cancel my flight!

To give you an idea of what I'll be doing in Malawi, I'm going to be an environmental volunteer. I'll probably be stationed in a village near one of Malawi's national parks or forest reserves, and will work with the national parks or forestry department, or an NGO, to deal with deforestation. That will be my primary job. I will also probably find secondary projects to do based on the needs of my community. For example, I may help improve agricultural productivity in the village, help a women's group start a small business cooperative, or work on AIDS prevention and treatment. There are many possibilities for what I'll be able to work on when I'm there, and I'll decide what to do after I talk with community members to see what they need.

One of the keys in Peace Corps work is to develop sustainable programs for the communities in which we serve. Anything I do will be done in a way that it can be continued by the host country nationals after I leave. I hope that I'll be able to make a lot of positive changes to help community members eventually pull themselves out of poverty and have a better quality of life. That said, I've also been forewarned that this type of work is often slow, and it can be difficult to acheive results. One thing I'll need to work on while there will be managing my own expectations, and being a little more laid-back about the way I work. We'll see how that goes!

In addition to my Peace Corps job, I also hope to do some writing while I'm there - personal writing, journalism, and maybe some sociological study. I'm taking a Flip video camera with me as well and hope to put together some pieces. I don't know how much I'll be able to post here because of slow Internet speeds, but I'll try to get some things up over the course of my time there. Let me know if there's anything in particular you're interested in seeing or hearing about.

I'm off to finish some last-minute details and finalize my packing arrangements. Keep your fingers crossed for my on-time departure tomorrow!

This may be my last post for a couple months, since I won't have Internet access at all during our initial training. But, I'll update again as soon as I'm able. Until then!

Getting Ready to Go

I've created this blog to keep my friends and family updated on my adventure with the Peace Corps in Malawi. I hope you'll enjoy reading it and will find it informative and interesting.

Since leaving CNN of February 5th, I've been running around, trying to get myself ready for this trip! Between shopping, packing, handling financial and legal matters, and unwinding from my previous career, it's been a busy few weeks! Now, I have just two days left to finish everything, and then it's off to the Peace Corps!

On Friday, Feb. 26, I'll take an early flight to Philadelphia for "staging," in which my group of trainees will get a brief introduction to Peace Corps. Then, we leave at 1:30am Saturday for our flight from JFK to Johannesburg. After a brief stop-over in South Africa, we'll arrive in Lilongwe, Malawi on Sunday, Feb. 28th. Then, we'll go to Dedza, a town in the south of Malawi, where we'll complete two months of training in language, culture, development work, and health and safety concerns. I'll be staying with a host family for most of the two months, and I'll have no access to Internet or phone. For the first two months, at least, snail mail will be the best way to reach me.

My chief concern for the next couple days is to finish packing for the trip. We're allowed 80 pounds of checked luggage, with no bag weighing more than 50 pounds. I got my large suitcase packed a few days ago, but it weighed about 65 pounds, so I'll have to work on rearranging some things. I have a 5-page-long list of things I think I should take, but it may have to be scaled back a bit. The most essential items: tent, sleeping bag and mat, netbook, pressure cooker (for quicker cooking of beans), and solar backpack (which I hope will charge my netbook, iPod and a few other devices).

I'll leave it at that for now, but plan to make one more post before I go silent for two months!