Malawi 2008

Greetings from Macdonald!

2008-08-17T17:41:00.001+02:00

I finally heard from MacDonald! You can imagine my excitement! I miss
him and our children dearly, and he continues to warm our hearts back
in the U.S.

August 16, 2008

Subject: Friendly Information

Krista,

Muli bwanji?

Sorry for taking such a long time without saying hi to you. I was
just thinking you were around then you will come again. But to my
surprise you are nowhere to be seen.

Then I realised that you have gone back to your motherland. Krista I
really misse you. I write just to appreciat the wonderful things that
you didd while you were here in Malawi. I learnt many from you during
your stay here in Malawi.

My family really appreciat your wonderful and perfect gifts which you
left to us while you were leaving back to your homeland. They say I
should wish you and Lexi a good health and nice stay in your country.
They also continued to say that if you come again they will give you a
land to build a house and the garden to grow maize so that you should
have your own maize to grind ready for nsima. Though I know that you
really love your country.

Greet your parents Lexi, brother, sister, Patricia your teacher and
lastly your boy friend. Say I love them.

Malawi Final Paper

2008-08-17T17:33:00.002+02:00

I decided to post my final paper for my trip and undergraduate research in Malawi.

Education, Sustainable Agriculture & AIDS Prevention:

The Keys to Progress in Malawi

Krista Patrick, August 2008

It's easy to see why Malawi is the "Warm Heart of Africa" with its friendly people and warm spirit, but Malawi is also a country that faces many issues challenging the country's wellbeing. While I'm not an expert on issues in Malawi, during my time there I was able to learn a great deal about the people and the issues they face. The keys to progress in Malawi are to increase the formal education of citizens, promote sustainable agriculture year round and spread AIDS awareness throughout the country despite cultural norms and traditions.

Education in Malawi

Formal education for children in Malawi starts at age six. Not all students start school at this age, but this is when government-funded primary education begins. Primary school includes eight years of education from "Standard 1" to "Standard 8". At the end of Standard 8, students sit for an exam called the Malawi National Examination Board. In order to be eligible for secondary school, students must pass this exam and be selected. Even if students pass this examination, there is no guarantee that he or she will be selected for secondary school. Government funds are set-aside for students that are selected to attend secondary school.

The education system in Malawi faces many struggles including large class sizes, insufficient supply of teachers, limited supplies, inadequately trained teachers and inefficient curriculum. Our main purpose in Malawi was to teach in a primary school in Domasi near Zomba. Each of us was placed in a classroom ranging from Standard 3 to Standard 7. We learned firsthand about the flawed but perhaps promising education system in Malawi. Each classroom had scarce supplies and needed renovations badly. With crumbling walls, little lighting and cracked chalkboards, it was easy to see how students lack the stimulating learning environment they deserve. Our classrooms were filled anywhere from 70 to 120 children. On an average day, at least 10 children would be missing, but there was no regulation on "make up work" or attendance policies. Some classrooms did not even have adequate seating or any seating for that matter.

According to US AID Malawi, when the government abolished school fees for primary schools in 1994, there was a sharp increase from 1.9 million students to 3.2 million with an average student-teacher ratio of 72 to 1 (USAID). This alone caused major problems for the school systems, especially with an inadequate amount of teachers. While we would think that more students attending school would be a positive change for Malawi, all of the inadequacies of the education system have caused more problems than benefits. The overall school quality is low. 80% of schools cannot meet the minimal standards for reading and math (USAID). We saw firsthand in our classrooms the reading and math levels of our students. While some excelled more than others, it would be virtually impossible for a student who is struggling to receive one on one attention from a teacher. With the average class size of over 70, it's just not possible.

Another severe issue is the dropout rate. About 60% of primary students drop out before completing grade 8. The literacy rate is also 63%, and with a high dropout rate, many students will never receive the literary skills they need to excel in jobs. During our class meetings, we discussed some of the reasons for such high drop out rates. A few of these reasons included conflicting beliefs following village initiations, female students and janitorial responsibilities, family obligations and female pregnancy/early marriage. We had extensive discussions on female dropout rates opposed to male rates due to the janitorial responsibilities that the young girls are required to perform like cleaning classrooms and toilets. Additionally, due to the limited spots for secondary school, some families choose which child will continue through school. Often this is the child who has excelled the most in school, and families need the other children for work in the villages and with their crops. The literacy rate is 63%, and this is obviously contributed much by the drop out rate of children in primary schools.

The Ministry of Education has begun to reform the curriculum in Malawian primary schools. According to their website:

"The vision of the MoEST in the Government of Malawi is to attain a stage in the educational development where all citizens shall be functionally literate and numerate, shall acquire relevant survival skills and knowledge at a functioning level of competence, shall be healthy and prosperous, shall possess and utilize communication, interpersonal skills and full tolerance of diversity for amicable and beneficial integration in free and peaceful Malawi and shall support socio-economic cultural and industrial development within a culture of peace."

Although this may be the vision for the schools of Malawi, we saw little results in the classroom. The new curriculum (that most schools are just beginning to use) does enforce more skills and knowledge assessments in earlier grades rather than waiting until Standard 8. This continuous assessment will allow teachers the ability to see the deficiencies or advancements of students before moving on to higher Standards. Also, rather than studying 12 subjects from Standard 1, the new curriculum starts students with 7 subjects. Standards 5 through 8 will study 9 subjects. In our Standard 6 classroom, we saw some of the integration of the new curriculum, but students are still lacking solid literary and language skills. While some students were effective writers and communicators, others were unable to complete basic sentences with correct spelling, meaning and punctuation or answer a simple question. Most of the work the students completed was checked for completion not accuracy. There is just not enough time in each class for the teacher to work with individual students. Also, "star students" are surrounded by other "star students" while students falling behind the achievement curve are placed with other students in similar circumstances. This just furthers their failure with no support from achieving peers.

Continuous assessment may help with students achieving the standards needed to move forward in their education, but the teachers have to have the training necessary to teach what is required. Simple steps like integrating high-achieving students with those who need more help may assist students in the classroom. During my teaching, I would check a student's work in a learning group, and if he or she had the work correct, I'd have him or her explain it to the rest of the group. If the student needed help, I would assist. Then, I could work with other students who needed individual help. Students also need a stimulating environment with adequate supplies. The government has to provide better textbooks and materials for the students. Additionally, instilling work ethic and equal rights among students with school chores would help with issues outside the classroom. Young girls are still faced with cleaning the schools while the boys are dismissed from these tasks, but the government is trying to change human rights for women. If they started in the classrooms, it may be an effort that can translate to experiences outside the classroom. I believe the education system in Malawi has a bright outlook somewhere in the distant future, but in order to offer improvements and the education Malawians deserve, many areas must improve.

Sustainable Agriculture

During our first week in Malawi, our group visited "Freedom Gardens" outside Lilongwe. We weren't sure what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised. Malawi spends about fours months of the year in the dry season. During this time, water supplies are limited and consequently so are food supplies from crops. We saw first hand the arid land, bone-dry rivers and land burning throughout the country. With little water coming in other than through man-made pumps, the water supply limits crop production in the dry season. One would think that this would be a hardship difficult to overcome, but some have found answers and ways to defeat any drought.

Glyvyns Chinkhuntha and his wife started their project in 1982. What started as "madman's" project to onlookers and a ten by ten meter plot of land with surrounding swamp is now a 20-acre property with endless variations of vegetation. It's completely sustainable with dammed fresh water from the rainy season, irrigation throughout the varying crops, no wasted space and a plan for the future. The best way to describe the philosophy of the Chinkhuntha is that they have their own Garden of Eden. They use only what God has given them and the land that is there. They have learned irrigation and how to use everything available to create a sustainable lifestyle. Their property and the sustainability they've maintained are examples that countries with similar farming seasons can use. Even in the dry season, they continue to harvest all that they can. Some of the crops include bananas, sugar cane, maize, cabbage, lettuce, cucumbers, curry, papaya, lemons, onions, limes, chamomile, and much more. With so many crops, six ponds, a dammed river, irrigation systems, storage units and their one pump for drinking water, their work is an outstanding example to other countries with food deficit. Their single pump for fresh drinking water is the only man-made pump on the twenty acres of farmland.

The farming at "Freedom Gardens" is based entirely on organic cultivation with no artificial fertilizers or pesticides. By using natural wastes like manure and compost, the damage to humans and nearby animals can be minimized, and costs are reduced. The irrigation is done through trenches rather than mechanized pumping systems.

"Freedom Gardens" is actually an international initiative for people around the world to become less dependent on corporate food supplies and the importing of foreign foods for survival. The concept is to use one's land to grow necessary crops and create a sustainable lifestyle. There are projects worldwide that have been successful, and this could be the solution for many third world countries and world hunger as a whole. The initiatives of Dr. and Mrs. Chinkhuntha alone show hope for Malawians.

If the techniques mastered by the Chinkhunthas could be applied throughout Malawi, there would be an end to starvation and related issues like infant mortality. Children would no longer be malnourished, and Malawians could have sustainable lifestyles for the future. Their vision is not only encouragement and hope for Malawi and Africa, but also for the world. With so many issues related to pesticide use, we need to move towards a world with organic farming to prevent cancers and other diseases. The Chinkhunthas have already started to spread their message to other Malawians and Africans, and if they continue, solutions to end starvation may be in the future. If Malawians could begin to use at least some of their techniques, a lot of problems could be resolved.

AIDS Awareness and Prevention

AIDS has become widespread in Malawi, and its victims are more than those infected. Although some research has shown that 12% of Malawians are infected with the virus, the entire population has seen its effects. With increasing numbers and damaging lifestyles, Malawians are faced with devastating realities. An entire generation gap has been formed leaving orphans and elderly alike with hardships never before faced.

During our time in Malawi, we met several people who were either infected or affected by the AIDS virus. It's easy to see how the widespread affects on the infected population have affected everyone. On one of our days off, a few of us visited a heavily affected village with a woman who had just returned from the United States. Her name is Jean and she is a Malawian who has devoted the rest of her life to giving back to her village in Malawi. Although she has lived in the U.S. for 30 years, she has taken consistent initiatives to give back to her community and embrace the devastating changes it has encountered in order to help in any way she can. Part of her initiatives have included building a clinic for her village and starting a "Grandmother's Club" for support. The grandmothers (like other grandparents in Malawi) have become the silent victims in the fight against AIDS. AIDS has devastated the generation of their children leaving orphaned grandchildren in grandparents care. The grandmothers in Jean's village find refuge in one another for the hardships they face, i.e. failing health, lack of income and the inability to provide basic needs for their grandchildren to name a few. It's just not getting any easier in Malawi.

The lack of AIDS awareness and education in Malawi is partially to blame for the devastating effects. Malawians are not informed about the consequences of sexual promiscuity, ritualistic practices or sometimes even the source of the virus. In some of our class discussion in Malawi, we discovered that some Malawians believe that AIDS is transmitted through mosquitoes! According to researcher John Lwanda, even some educated university students are unaware of the means for transmission of the disease. Malawians have also stereotyped the disease as "Western" blaming its introduction in the country on westerners (151). Some also believe that sleeping with a virgin can dispel it. The myths vary, but the root of this issue is the lack of education for the people.

The first national AIDS campaign program by the Malawi Ministry of Health was instituted in 1987 (Lwanda, 155). This started after several deaths of civil servants and government employees under President Banda. Since then, there has been a weak national movement encouraging safer sexual practices, but many Malawians still are against condom use and the limiting of time-honored rituals and traditions.

The Malawian government must take greater efforts to educate the population. Even if programming calls for the promotion of condom use, it's necessary to save lives in Malawi. Although clinics are beginning to become available in the country, the government has to at least provide testing for its citizens. It may be taboo now to discuss the disease, but as Jean discussed with us, the more people that share, the more others will learn. Prevention can be spread through simple awareness within families, villages and social circles. Myths about the transmission of the virus and rituals that give a death sentence to innocent children must be dispelled.

Conclusion

There is no simple solution to the problems facing Malawians today, but there is hope for the future. Malawians are strong willed, able and capable of change within their country. The key to each problem is education. Malawians need a sufficiently funded and supplied education system where they can learn and grow academically to become successful citizens within the country. Malawians must learn alternative and sustainable agricultural practices in order to survive in every season and provide for their children. Malawians must also recognize the severity of AIDS and learn how to change habits and traditions in order to prevent any increase in deaths within the country. The key to change is education. If the government continues to develop the education system, educates the population on sustainable agriculture year round and takes a progressive approach to educate the population, we will see positive changes for the future.

References

Lwanda, John. The political culture of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Malawi. Harri Englund, ed. Democracy of Chameleons: Politics and Culture in the New Malawi. Afterword by Jack Mapanje. Kachere Books, no. 14. Co-published with the Christian Literature Association, Malawi. Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute, 2002.

Malawi Ministry of Education. (2008). Vision & Strategic Objectives. The Ministry of Education. Retrieved July 28, 2008 from http://www.malawi.gov.mw/Education/Home%20%20Education.htm.

USAID. (2008). Education in Malawi. USAID from the American people, Malawi. Retrieved July 26, 2008 from http://www.usaid.gov/mw/aboutmalawi/education.htm.

Home Sweet Home!

2008-07-21T15:19:00.003+02:00

I'm finally back in the states but missing Malawi already! I have a whole week left to post, so keep checking for a wrap up to my trip. I never could have imagined such a wonderful experience, and I can't wait to go back someday!

Malemia Feeding Program

2008-07-14T22:19:00.000+02:00

Friday, July 11, 2008

Instead of going to our school assignments today, we all went to
Malemia Primary to see the start of a feeding program. Malemia is
where the Radford students are working during our time here. Last
year, a student was able to donate $100 to start a program at the
school. It was enough money to feed the close to 800 students at
Malemia twice a week for seven months. We were able to make another
significant contribution for the next year.

When we arrived at the school, some of the children were playing and
waiting for their breakfast. Each child brought a cup to school to be
served. The women of the village started working at 6 a.m. on a large
container of porridge for the students. The container was the size of
a large metal trashcan you might see at a carnival or fair. They made
the porridge with maize flour, sugar, salt, water and a little milk.
We found out later that to make the porridge nutritious for the
students, the women MUST put milk or groundnut flour in the mix. They
did not put enough milk in the mix today, so our professors had to
talk to the head of the program to make sure it's more nutritious.

After working on the porridge for about 4 hours, it was about ready.
The women poured a portion into two separate smaller containers for
distribution. The children started to line up with their cups and
spoons. They started with Standard 1, and then they called each class
one by one. Some children did not have spoons, so they used leaves,
sticks and their fingers. Others did not have cups, so they shared
cups with their classmates. Teachers provided some cups.

I took some footage of the process on my camera and of the women hard
at work. It was great seeing the children's faces as they received
their porridge. This is one of the poorest schools in the area, and
the majority of the children were malnourished. I did see some
children with enlarged stomachs (a sign of malnutrition). As I taped
the morning's events, I found Sarah with a young girl. I didn't
realize why she was sitting with her until I really looked closer. I
came up to ask what was wrong, but the child was very upset. Tears
were streaming down her eyes, and she tried to cover her face. Neither
one of them spoke a word, but you could tell they both understood each
other. Sarah had realized the child did not have a cup, and the child
spoke little English to tell her what was wrong. Sarah was comforting
her without saying a word, but it really upset her as well. It was
like a child in America forgetting a P.E. uniform or lunch money, but
this child was going to miss out on a warm meal she desperately
needed. You could see that Sarah had really connected with this child,
and it really got to her. I wasn't even involved in the situation and
it upset me. I can't imagine what she was feeling at the time. She was
showing such compassion towards the child, and in the moment there was
nothing she could do. Luckily, a teacher nearby had a cup, and the
problem was solved.

We helped the children line up to get them fed quickly. The women
would scoop a cup at a time per child, and then the children would go
around the corner to eat. Sarah and I sat in circles with the
children. I felt bad because I didn't want to distract them from
eating their food while it was warm, but I think they enjoyed the
company. I encouraged them to sit and relax while eating. I just wish
we could have given each of them a full meal. They were so happy to
have a small come of hot porridge, but it's just not enough. With the
contribution this year, they should be able to have the feeding
program every day.

We spent the next couple hours celebrating with the students and the
local villagers that were passing through the schoolyard. A couple of
the Radford students asked Innocent, one of the teachers, to make them
a drum. He brought them to help celebrate. While some of us were
playing with the kids and helping serve, others got a hands-on lesson
in drumming! Lexi and Brittany also joined in with some of the older
boys. They started off slow, but then they were able to make some
great music for our celebration! I got a lot of it on tape and
continued to dance and play with the children. Each one of them is so
special, and one of my goals has been to make each one really feel
special in the little time we spend together. Even if I'm unable to
give them anything, just smiling or giving a high five goes a long way.

It seemed like we danced for hours, and those kids can dance! I try my
best to imitate their dancing, and the village women seem to love it!
We danced around the circle, clapped, sang and tried to catch our
breath at the same time. It was so much fun! The children love to
include you in the dancing and make you feel welcome. I don't believe
any teaching was done on Friday, but at least the children had a great
day!

After celebrating for a while, we headed into the office to collect
our things and say goodbye for the day. Some of Vandy's (a student
from Radford) girls from her class were being measured for uniforms.
Dr. Kelly and Vandy are funding the uniforms for these girls to reward
them for staying in school and encourage them for the future. If
anyone needs help, these girls do, and I'm sure it'll be a great
surprise. They'll be distributing them on Tuesday, our last day.

As we left Malemia, some of the village women were still gathered
around the drums and children celebrating. We said goodbye to some of
the children and danced a little more. One of the older women (A go-go
for grandma) came up and danced with me, and the ladies formed a
little circle. It was great! She showed me some good moves, and the
village women thought it was hysterical watching me dance like her. I
thanked her (Zikomo) and gave her a hug before leaving. She definitely
made my day.

We started to make the trek toward Domasi. It's about a 30-45 minute
walk. The Radford students walk to our school from Malemia every day.
Some of the children followed us for a while and kept us company. As
we crossed the main road, we saw a lot of people gathered on the road.
There was a band in the back of the truck coming down the street. It
was really neat! I felt like we were in the Caribbean. We continued on
toward Domasi, our school, and crossed the soccer field and river
along the way.

We passed through our schoolyard and saw our teachers standing
outside. School was out for the day, but they were having a meeting.
We talked to our teachers, and I apologized to Macdonald for not being
at school for part of the day. I told him to anticipate us at school
for about an hour, but we didn't make it in time. He's so
understanding, and said it was o.k. He did say that the children were
so sad that we did not come, and they anxiously peaked out the window
all day looking for us. I felt so bad! I told him we were very sorry
and we would make it up to them on Monday. He also reminded me that we
were invited to his home on Tuesday to meet his children. Lexi and I
are excited, and we're bringing lots of goodies for his family!

We spent the rest of the afternoon before we left outside eating
lunch, chatting, journaling and making bracelets with materials Heidi
and Amber had brought. It was relaxing, but we were restless after a
while. Our professors met with the "head" of the school district to
discuss our work and plans for the future. Specifically, they
discussed the contribution to Malemia for the feeding program, our
chalkboard renovations at Domasi, Vandy's uniforms for her class and
other individual progress. She was very pleased!

We headed to town for the afternoon and picked up pictures for our
class. About a week and half ago, we took an individual picture of
each child with a disposable camera. We had them developed, and we
can't wait to see their reaction when they get them! We know they'll
be so excited because many of them do not have an individual picture
of themselves. We also stopped by the grocery store for water and the
fabric store for some fabric to take home. I picked out two more
patterns- one for mom to make a skirt if she'd like (I hope you like
the fabric, mom!) and the other for a tablecloth for my Malawi table
setting pieces. They're beautiful! Sarah and Lauren looked through the
market for oranges, but there were not any for sale. We headed towards
the vendors to look around.

I now have a friend named Martin, and he's my jewelry guy. I bought
this great necklace and bracelet from him last week, and he said he'd
make me more. I bought earrings today, and he said he'd have more for
me on Monday to buy before I leave. I'm excited! It's good to get
close with a vendor so they'll "make you good price". Our last stop of
the day was Tasty Bites, of course! We ordered beef samosas, Fanta,
and chocolate cake! We're completely hooked on the samosas, and
they're so bad for you! But when you crave them, you crave them! Ben
and Johnny, our Canadian friends who run Africycle, stopped by and
visited.

We had a relaxing night, and tomorrow we're going to Peter's orphanage
and with Annie to a few places. Tomorrow night is Annie's big party
where we get to show off our Malawian dresses, so that should be fun!

I can't believe we're leaving in a week! I have so much left to enjoy
here…

T.A.L.U.L.A.R.

2008-07-11T20:31:00.002+02:00

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

This morning was really sad for all of us. Dr. Barber (Liz from NC
A&T) had to abruptly leave for Lilongwe to catch a flight to the
States. Her husband recently had a kidney transplant, and for the past
two weeks, he's been having severe health issues. She's been worried
about him everyday, and she constantly has to call or Email to see how
he's doing. She wanted to go home before, but she was waiting for
someone to tell her that she needed to. A family friend called this
morning and told her to come home because he's rejected the kidney.
We're so sad to see her go because she's so much fun and brings so
much enthusiasm to the group. We'll miss you Liz and hope your husband
is better soon!

When we got to school today, a lot of the children were outside (as
usual), so Lexi and I headed up to our classroom. The children in our
class greeted us with "Good morning, Madam." It never gets old.
Macdonald wasn't in our classroom, but we quickly found him to find
what out what the children were working on. It's interesting because
you never know if the teachers will be present or what children will
show up. As Patty (Dr. Talbot) said, "Schools here seem to be four
walls with children." Everything else seems to vary.

We helped the students with Math for the first 45 minutes. They were
working on writing out inequalities from sentences. A lot of students
mixed up the symbols for "add" and "subtract". It's interesting to see
how the students make a lot of the same mistakes. Some students at a
table gave Lexi and I a little note with Chichewa words for us to
learn. We're afraid they're going to quiz us! Some of the phrases are
very hard to pronounce, but I guess we can try!

Lauren and Sarah (two students from Virginia Tech) let us borrow some
books they brought to donate to share with our class today. A lot of
them were classics- Amelia Bedelia, Dr. Seuss, etc. The students in
Standard 6 are truly at about a first grade reading level from what we
can tell. Most still look at just the pictures or are slow to sound
out the words. Some are very proficient in reading, but the majority
struggle. We let them read and share the books for about 30 minutes,
and they seemed to love it! All of their exercise books for school are
black and white with no pictures. They really have no access to
reading books for pleasure in or outside the classroom.

For break, we headed out to the play field for some games. Before we
could instruct them in a game, they started their own "Champion Game."
It was similar to a basic running long jump, but the children set out
three sticks. They had to run and only jump once in between each
stick. If you step in between the sticks more than once, you're out.
Each round, they moved the sticks farther apart, and wow, they could
jump! During the last round, the sticks were separated about 8-9 feet.
A couple children could still make it! They really enjoyed the game,
and we could definitely see their great physical ability. Lexi and I
were afraid that they would ask us to try. I probably would have fallen…

Following that game, we found a stick nearby to teach them limbo. Some
of them had played before, and they knew a song to sing. They had so
much fun trying to master each level. I feel bad though; we always
exhaust them during their break! They do love learning games! Lexi and
I commented that we were glad that Wednesday is the day for washing
uniforms because their mothers would probably want to kill us after
all the dirt that ended up on them today. We ended break time by
teaching them some relay races. They love to compete!

We walked back to the classroom with Macdonald and our students. We've
really come to love our teacher. He seems to care so much about his
students and works so well with us. He's so enthusiastic in all that
he does, and he always compliments our work. He even invited us to
come to his home next week! Lexi and I are going to meet his family on
Monday or Tuesday. He said he has four children (Lucy, Vincent,
Godbless, and I can't remember the other name). The oldest child is
13, and he has two young twin boys. We can't wait to meet them!

Before we left for the day, Macdonald gave us a watermelon! We had one
at Jean's mother's house yesterday, but we love getting fruit! There
are few fruits we can eat here, so it's always a treat. Some of the
children also brought groundnuts, sugar can and popcorn. They're
always so generous to give us things. We gave Macdonald his invitation
to the dinner we're hosting Tuesday night at MIE. Every year it's
hosted for the three schools and all of the teachers from each school.
Each teacher is allowed to bring one guest, and it's supposed to be a
great night for everyone. We'll get to recognize our teacher, and
we'll be recognized for the work we've done.

Lexi and I walked over to MIE for class with all of our goodies. I
thought we're supposed to take more to school than what we go home
with, but that's usually not the case. We enjoyed our lunches for a
few minutes. Today I ate my last pack of tuna for lunch… Sadly, I'm
going to have to make PB&J for the last three days of school.

Today was my day to discuss a chapter from the book. Each day, one of
us has taken a chapter from our book, The Democracy of Chameleons, and
discussed it with our Virginia Tech group. My chapter discussed the
changing status of human rights for people in Malawi, especially
women. With the fairly new multiparty system and democracy (only since
1964), government agencies are demanding human rights and freedom from
oppression for everyone. The issue is that culture has denied a lot of
human rights for women, and the people believe the new mandates are
"ruining" Malawi's culture. The actions within the culture are what
cause the most problems. Women are objected to initiations that
sexually violate them against their will. Men in the villages are
violent towards women without just reasoning. More men are able to
leave for a liberalizing education, but women must remain in the
village. Times are changing, but in almost all of the rural areas,
nothing is different. The Western connotations with human rights are
also a factor that deters people's opinion. Although human rights and
the multiparty system are a national campaign, the local
interpretations of "rights" are so different, and this is what is
slowing progress for women. It was a really interesting chapter with
many examples of field research in Malawi, and I'm sure that I can
find more examples at home.

We had a shortened class today so we could meet with the MIE professor
who is an expert in T.A.L.U.L.AR. T.A.L.U.L.A.R. stands for "Teaching
and learning using locally-available resources." The basic idea is to
use supplies that are available locally with little to no costs. I got
some of his explanations on video, so it will be a great lesson to
share at home. They use everything from old light bulbs, matchboxes
and cans to plastic bags and toilet paper rolls. One of the best
examples he gave us was a "television" made from a box with a roll of
paper inside and two sticks. It's basically a scroll inside the box
that a teacher can draw a story to explain a concept without
electricity. He told us a great story with it. He gave us a tour
around the room showing us a lot of the teaching materials. We got
some really great ideas to use in the classroom. The concepts are not
only resourceful for teachers in Africa, but teachers all around the
world can also use them!

Following his explanations and tour, we headed to town to get water
and exchange money. I feel like Zomba has become our home! We always
ask each other what we need to do in town, and we respond with "Oh, I
need to go to the tailor" or "I need to get some fruit from the
market." It's great. Charles waited for us, and then we headed back to
Annie's.

A lot of us ordered dinner right away because we were very hungry from
the day. If we order about an hour before we know we'll be starving,
it usually works out all right. Tonight, I had the Chambo Curry.
Chambo is a very popular fish in Malawi, and it's delicious. They
serve it with rice, greens and green beans. It might be my new favorite.

Lexi and I are in the room now catching up on our blogs and packing
for the safari in Liwonde tomorrow. It's supposed to be amazing there,
and we can't wait! There's an afternoon Jeep safari, an evening
safari, a night safari, and a sunrise safari. We'll be safari'ed out
before it's over, but it'll make for some great pictures!

I can't believe we'll be home in a week and a half! This trip has
really flown by, but it feels like we've been in Malawi for months.
Can't wait to share all my experiences when I get home…

Good night from Zomba…

Teddy's Village

2008-07-11T17:59:00.002+02:00

July 3 (Thursday):

Lexi and I decided to focus on English/ language development today.
She brought in a poster of the alphabet and I brought a set of phonics
cards that help with vowel sounds and the acquisition of vocabulary
for students. They sang the ABC's (somewhat similar to ours- but part
of the tune was different), and Macdonald said they learn it in
Standard 1. He enjoyed our lesson and said it would be useful for the
students because they have access to similar materials in their lesson
book, but there is no explanation or reinforcement.

We started to teach them hangman before their "break", but they got so
into it, that they never took their break outside! They basically got
the concept, but they sometimes had issues with how to play the game
and fill in the letters. Some of their phrases included, " Krista and
Lexi are our new teachers" and "I love Lexi and Krista." If that
doesn't melt your heart, I'm not sure what will.

Lexi and I brought 4 disposable cameras to take pictures of the
children (remember when we bought those Dad?). There's a place in town
to take the cameras to have them developed. We decided we want to give
each child a picture of him or herself. Lexi took the children outside
group by group to take their picture. They love it! Most children have
never seen a picture of themselves, so it will be a nice surprise!
While she did this, I taught the rest of the class "Heads up, Seven
Up" from elementary school. They loved it! I would repeat to the
children "No peaking", and he would reiterate it or tell a child to
sit down if they "Sneak a peep." They got the hang of the game right
away, and I think it's something they'll continue to play in the future.

You know, even if some children don't learn a thing while we're here-
at least they have a wonderful time at school. They each have
differing home lives, but some are much harder than others. Despite it
all, I hope school remains a safe and happy place to come to escape
any hardships.

We gave our class a treat with a piece of candy (gum, lollipops,
jawbreakers, Sweetarts- all from home) before we left for the day.
Overall, it was very eventful, and we were exhausted by the time we
left!

Today, the children brought us sugar cane and cassava (root of plant
with thick skin like a potato when boiled). We were so surprised! It
seems gift-giving for the guest teachers has become daily event.
Macdonald took out his 35mm camera to capture the moment. We were so
grateful to the children, especially when we know they could enjoy the
treats themselves.

We met for class for just a bit this afternoon. Teddy, Katie Brogan's
teacher from last year (Katie is a student from Virginia Tech who was
in my Human Development class and is a friend of Lexi's) met us at
MIE. He was about an hour early, arriving at 1, so we talked with him
for a bit. Lexi had to do most of the talking since Katie had given
him her information and he seemed most comfortable with her. After
about an hour, Charles picked us up to take us to Teddy's village.

Teddy's village was a few kilometers away. Charles drove us all the
way to the village, which included some narrow and rocky paths.
Somehow that bus can make it through just about anything- it's amazing.

Teddy showed us all around his village. We met some of his children,
saw his home, the village gardens, and met some people living there.
In total there are 70 homes in his village with families, and Teddy is
the only one who has an outside paying job. We had a quick tour, and
Teddy told us about the renovations for his new home. It was very
nice, but probably not much bigger than a standard living room size.
The walls are made of bricks and mud, and the roof had metal
shingling. It had a few windows. Chickens and goats surrounded the
area, and women were washing clothes and hanging them out to dry.

We got back on the bus, and Teddy took us to where his gardens are
located. They were just a couple minutes down the street, but they're
hidden from the road. Charles parked the bus on the side of the dirt
road, and Teddy showed us the way through the brush and dried plants.
It was a narrow path, and the dry plants make a lot of noise. If we
were going to see a snake on the trip, I swore it was going to be
then. I'm still dying to see a Black Mambo!

We finally came upon his gardens, and they were beautiful! He was
growing Mustard lettuce and tomatoes, and he was preparing another
small plot for other vegetables soon. He's done a fantastic job with
creating trenches surrounding the plots for irrigation. His gardens
were a village-style Freedom Gardens. He uses similar practices to
pump water from a nearby river to irrigate his sunken crops. We walked
done near the river, and he showed us the pump that he uses. It was
disassembled and hidden under some plants, so it took him a few
minutes to assemble. When it was finally assembled, he showed us how
it works and explained how often he uses it. The pump was positioned
like a bicycle, so Teddy has to stand up on it and pump for about 3
hours twice a week. It seems like a lot of work, but Teddy keeps it up
all year along with teaching.

Charles picked us up, and we headed back to town. We saw Teddy's wife
coming back from the market on our way out. He told Charles to stop
the bus so we could meet her. She came on and was very shy, but she
seemed happy to meet us. We thanked Teddy for inviting us to his
village, and then he discretely invited himself to the annual
teacher's party before we leave. Although he is not a teacher from our
current schools, he remembered from last year. Dr. Kelly said it was
fine, but it was funny how he was so bold.

We had to stop at Tasty Bites today! It's our favorite place to go in
town, and it's a nice break from Annie's Lodge food. We ordered 22
Samosas for 5 of us with spicy rice, Fanta and the amazing chocolate
cake. They brought the cake out first, and you better believe we ate
it first! It was delicious.

While we were talking, a woman a few years older than us from Canada
and her guy friend came in and asked us what to order. Of course we
said Samosas, but then we struck up a conversation. She's living in
Mzuzu, which is a couple hours north of Lilongwe. She said she had
hitchhiked all the way down and wasn't sure where she'd be going next.
We asked her why she was in Malawi, and she said she was doing
research on sustainable agriculture. The first words out of our mouths
were "Freedom Gardens!" We told her all about our experience there and
how she just HAD to go there. I gave her Mrs. Chinkhutha's card, so I
hope she makes it there!

We walked the mile back up to Annie's, and on the way, we stopped by
the tailor's house right next to Annie's to see if our dresses were
ready. We got to try them on and tell them if we needed alterations.
Some people had more issues than others, but overall they were great!
We really liked how they turned out. The tailor's house is so nice!
Especially for this area, it's surprising to see such a nice place. We
realized she must get a lot of business. We're not sure how much work
she actually does, but she has three men working for her. They make
everything so quickly, and I'm sure she makes a huge profit.

We're always exhausted by the end of the day, so we had dinner and
planned for Friday's class. Our whole week of classes is almost over!

I Survived the Safari!!!

2008-07-11T13:55:00.002+02:00

Moni (Hello) Everyone...

It was AMAZZZZZZING!!!!! I know I use that word a lot, but it was the coolest thing I've ever done. !

We drove about 2 hours and then 16 kilometers along this dirt road with lots of villages. We weren't sure what we would see at the end of the road, but when we got there, we were pleasantly surprised. We had to take a boat over to Mvuu Camp where we were staying. It goes out over the Shire (Sher-ah) River and it was so picturesque. It reminded me of the Everglades in Florida. The Palms were hugh and there were lots of grasses surrounding the water. Apparently, it has about the most crocodiles in the world in this single river. Scary, no? The river spans the entire country and all the way through Lake Malawi.

When we got to Mvuu Camp, which by the way was hardly a camp like I'm used to in my girl scouting days, it was like a resort. They served us juice in the lobby immediately which overlooks the water. I've never been to Animal Kingdom at Disney World, but someone said it was pretty similar, but this was the "real deal".

We went on a river safari and saws tons (get it tons!) of elephants, crocodiles, and hippos! It's so peaceful out there! I've never been that close in a zoo. We took a jeep back and saw lots of warthogs, waterbuck, baboons, monkeys and so much more.

We ate a nice buffet-style lunch with chicken, rice, and vegetables with scrumptious dessert! We were in heaven! We were assigned our chalets for the night, so we headed over to them - look on line to view them. Lexi and I had two beds right overlooking the water. This was high class camping! We on an evening Safari and even saw Zebra!!!! It ended with probably the prettiest sunset I've ever seen over the waterhole. Then, we went on a night Safari. We didn't see a lot of animals, but it was a neat experience to wrap up in blankets and view the clear pristine sky with stars. Another unforgettable experience. Our night ended with dinner - chambo, vegetables and more dessert! What a treat. Oh, have I mentioned we never have

dessert in Zomba?

We headed to our Chalet to relax and you could already hear the hippos on the shore! It started to get chilly but we had warm blankets. We each had a canopy bed with a mosquito net, and all night we heard hippos right outside! They were no more than 30 feet from our chalet.

We woke up at 5:30 a.m. for a morning walk. We headed up to the lobby for tea/coffee and an elephant was walking around outside of the outdoor building. It was phenomenal! They ended up shooing it away for safety, but not before we got some good pictures. It was cold for a while, but we enjoyed the brisk weather and walk. Our guide, Danger, pointed out neat birds, trees and we got right up close to the Warthogs. W had to take a guy with a rifle with us for protection. Danger was very good at pointing out animal dung. We used it to track what the animals were eating and where they were headed. At first it was nasty, but piles of poop later, we thought it was such a cool learning experience.

We came back for breakfast - omelet bar, o.j., ham and muffins! We packed and were ready to leave. I could have stayed for week! Brian said an elephant was literally a foot away from his screen window last night - there were no fences!!! The morning river Safari was a continuation of our breathtaking eventful journey. It was so peaceful on the river and we got SO CLOSE to elephants. We were about 15 feet away from them. Little hippo heads pop up and out of the water - they were hard to catch! Crocodiles were scary up close - as they almost don't look real! So many great pictures and footage to share.

That was just a little summary of the Safari - so many details to add. Overall, it was indescribable!! Can't wait to share with you later.

On our way back to Liwonde, we stopped at a big craft market. This was our biggest shopping stop for the trip. We planed to spend 20 minutes shopping around, and we each bought a few things. Then, we got back on the bus. That's when the bargaining started! Charles, our adorable bus driver, knows how to help our bargaining power - he would start the engine and slowly pull away, then the prices would really drop with Charles laughing the whole time, but it worked!! I got so many bowls, figurines, spoon sets, a basket, candlesticks, and much more! Hope it all fits on the way home. I even traded a Yankees hat I brought from Wal Mart for a bracelet I loved. I got a picture of the guy and he loved it too.

It took about two hours to get home and we were exhausted!! It was well worth the trip, and I'd definitely go again. We all had to lug our souvenirs up the hill to our room, but I always

love the view here. Sarah, Lexi and I enjoyed the watermelon that our teacher Macdonald brought to us on Monday. Another great treat!

Tomorrow we're going to the school where Radford College works tomorrow (Malemia) to help them run a feeding program. We'll probably only be at our school for about 30 minutes. In the afternoon, we won't be having class. Part of our work in the schools is to also do a maintenance project. We'll work filling in some of the blackboards, re-painting and sealing them. It will be a lot of work, but we adore these children so much and fortunate to have the opportunity to help improve their classroom.

I'm now see how effective independent donors and projects can aid a country like Malawi. I wish more people had the opportunity to come over , do work or donate funds to the right people. All too often, donations to NGO's and World Organizations never make it to the people who need it the most. Here, we're living the effects of our work. I wish I could do even more.

Thanks for reading! Miss and love you all. I'll be home before you know it on July 19 and I can't wait to see you all.

Good night from Zomba,

Krista

July 2, (Wednesday) Malika Church

2008-07-11T05:18:00.004+02:00

The mornings here are incredible as we usually have perfect weather. Sometimes it's overcast, but it never rains. Even if it appears it will rain, the clouds clear and the sun shines for the remainder of the day.

There are other Americans here now at Annie's Lodge, and our first reaction is the food going to taker longer to prepare! We've gotten used to the lengthy dinner, but any longer and we may get hostile. It's actually enabled us to get better acquainted while waiting for dinner.

Today our focus in class was on the body and when we entered the classroom, Macdonald was conducting a lesson on self-esteem. It seemed the class was in much discussion. As we listened, we realized the students were reading off the board. The points were very valid and we're hoping they got a lot out of it, but we don't really know how much they actually knew.

Lexi and I started off with stretches. We wanted them to learn the importance of this before playing sports. They really enjoyed them. We taught them "head, shoulders, knees & toes". They loved it!! It's so wonderful to see their faces light up when they learn something new. Then we taught them all the bones from the Cranium down to the Phalanges. The best part of our lesson was the "Hokey Pokey" when we went outside. FYI...VT does the HP at all the football games. It took a little while for them to catch on, but they love to see us move around in so many different ways.

We also went over to the other Standard 6 class to teach them the same lesson. The other teacher is not as involved as Macdonald, but he seems to appreciate our teaching.

Two of our students brought us nuts today. There was a lesson in English the day before that included the term "groundnuts" and we had never heard that term. Macdonald asked them to bring in the nuts and we had our pictures taken with them. It made me feel like a real teacher!

We headed over to MIE at 12. Instead of having our regular class, we visited Malika Church, a Catholic Church in the center of Malika Village. Being Catholic, I was so excited to see if there would be similarities in our traditions at home. It took about 40 minutes to walk there, and two choir members met us to lead the way. We passed the Domasi prison on the way and Dr. Kelly pointed out the water reserves and gardens they tend to. It was a very long walk, but the scenery is never a disappointment in all of Malawi. Along the way, we seemed to pick up some children. They were so inquisitive as to where we were going and followed us all the way there. I met a boy named "Patrick", and I was still wearing my name tag "Krista Patrick". I tore off the "Patrick" part and gave it to him. He was so happy!

We passed through a few villages on the way with beautiful views, fields, villages and mountains surrounding in the distance to Malika. It's never boring to take a walk here!

The choir performed several incredible pieces. The females in the choir wore chitingis(sp) around their waist (wrap skirts) that had Catholic insignia on them. Dancers also performed during some of the pieces. I got a lot of it on tape, and I can't wait to share the video of the dancing when I get home. All of the singing and dancing is so spirited-it makes you want to move along with them. Despite the fact that most of the songs were in Chichewa, I felt like I could understand what they were saying from their enthusiasm and "acting" from the dancing. The "MC" for the performance did a great job of explaining some of the meanings behind the dances and like all Malawians, truly welcomed us with open arms. Our three professors made generous donations to the church before we left, and of course they were very grateful.

The children that had followed us stayed too. They sat around us and joined in on the excitement as we did. There was such a sense of a community here. Malika village women also joined the crowd to listen to the singing and added their own applause of "noisemaking". It's impossible to replicate the sound -we tried. It was almost like a bird call.

The walk back to MIE for the bus was exhausting! It wasn't too bad on the way to Makika, but the sun had come out, and it made us overheated. We headed to the teachers' commons room at MIE for water. They actually have a bar there! We just wanted cold water, but teachers are able to order beer during the day. We were quite surprised. I was so happy just to have a cold bottle of water. We've been drinking bottled water since we got here, but it's never cold because we can't have ice. It was probably the best water I've ever had. I'm so dramatic.

Charles drove us back to town, but most of us were just too tired to stay in town, then walk back. I headed back to Annie's for the night. We stopped at the Tailor's house, which is next to Annie's to see if our dresses were ready. Most of them were finished, but we have to go back tomorrow for alterations. We were sooooo excited to see how they turned out!!

Dinner was pretty amazing and we've come to realize what we eat isn't that incredible, but to us it's the most glorious food we've ever seen. I tried the chicken curry with rice and green beans, and it was delicious. When you see the pictures of the food at home, it probably won't seem that appealing. Just know we're eating decent food now. Typical courses include chicken/fish/beef/with rice/potatoes.

The Internet still isn't working, but hopefully Peter will fix it soon. We're all having withdrawal! No other complaints though. I can't believe we've been here almost two weeks!

GOOD NIGHT FROM MALAWI, Krista

Please note: I am still transferring from e-mail to her blog. Will continue to bring you up to date daily, even though the dates do conflict.

July 2, (Wednesday) Malika Church

2008-07-11T05:18:00.003+02:00

Something happened to tonight's blog entitled "Malika Church". I lost is somewhere and will try and re-post tomorrow.

Brenda

June 30 and July 1 (Monday & Tuesday): School Days

2008-07-10T04:02:00.005+02:00

On behalf of Krista, here goes....

I received an e-mail yesterday and they went on their Safari. Hopefully we'll get the extraordinary details soon.

The first two days of teaching went so well. The students seem to understand more and more, and they're happy to welcome us into their classroom.

We spent the past two days in the first 30 minutes working on their English lessons. Sometimes its really hard to tell if they really understand our lessons or if they just say "yes" to everything because that's the way they have been taught. Most of what they're currently learning deals with word choice and sentence agreement. I've found that if you can repeatedly quiz them, they start to see the pattern with the correct answers. I'll point to one student

and say, "He say or he says," and they answer. Then I'll point to a group of students and say, "They says or they say." and they answer. It really works with all the word choices they have, and they seem to understand it! Lexi and I try to praise them for correct answers so they will know they answered correctly and did a good job.

Yesterday we did a lesson on the water cycle. We taught them hand motions for each step: precipitation, collection, evaporation and condensation. By the end of the day, they could recite it with the hand motions I used as examples. Lexi also brought paper-like examples of the water cycle so the students were able to see color and see the water moving through each step. They really enjoyed the hands on lessons and showed extreme interest.

Today we taught our students about the world, i.e., types of maps, the continents, the revolution of the Earth and some of the facts about certain continents. They had fund finding Malawi and using the blow-up globes we brought them. We distributed each table a map, globe, or continent puzzle. Again, "hands on" is so critical to this level of learning. Macdonald Sherrif (Cher-eef)their Malawian teacher, commented, "They will be champions in Standard 8!" Remember, they are Standard 6 and do not learn the geography we taught until Standard 8. For a country with such a high dropout rate for primary school, most students only learn about Afri-central and not other areas of the world.

Each day, we spend break time outside with the students. Macdonald asked us to take them to the field away from the play yard. This was a great idea because there are literally hundreds of students playing, running and fighting with one another. There is too much commotion to play an organized game in the area. Yesterday, we played Frisbee and it was interesting to see how they naturally segregate themselves. All the girls came to one side and the boys went to the other. They loved the Frisbee! I made up games to play as we went along to show them different ways to use it. Then, we decided to play netball using the frisbee. It's a game similar to basketball or soccer where girls throw the ball to each other and then into a goal. They seemed to have a blast!!

Today, Lexi asked one of the students to get a drum from the class to take to break time outside. They love to sing and dance with the drum! One boy started to make a beat, and they all joined in to dance. It was so much fun to dance with it! They don't need ipods, television or CD's. They have fun being creative with what they have and they're so good at it. Later, I just started making a beat with my hands, and the girls instantly started to sing song that matched a beat. They have beautiful voices and the fact they can create dances and songs on a whim says a lot about their creativity and intelligence. Some people are so quick to judge them for their lack of education or knowledge, but their simple use of music in creative ways is a testament to the intelligence they innately possess. The students never cease to impress me.

Macdonald and I chat a great deal while we're outside. He's very interested in learning about our country. It's funny now because the first day of teaching, I told the students "sushi" was one of my favorite foods. Today he asked me if I was unhappy because Malawi does not have sushi. I explained to him " of course not" and let him know how much I loved Malawi. Malawians always seem so surprised that we like it here! It's incredible, and we have very few complaints.

Macdonald and I started to discuss politics. I asked if he likes his country's government? He likes the multi-party system, but didn't elaborate. He asked me the same and I replied "yes". It made me realize that I'd never been asked that before. In the U.S. we discuss political parties and issues in the government, but at my age, do we ever reflect on the overall quality of our government? We have the best government in the world. Here, the government will not take care of you if you are dying of AIDS or starving. Our government offers welfare even if we are still making the bare minimum. Medical aid is available in the U.S. I've never felt more like a democrat wanting my government to provide programming for me if I need it. They pay very minimum taxes here because there's just no way to collect them. There's a 17.5% tax for food, but other than government-issued paychecks, it's hard to collect. Without these taxes, there is really no cash flow for the government to institute significant programs. I actually like the concept of taxes now. I'm not preaching that I love our everything about our government, but I've never been prouder to be an American with a highly functioning government. I know we need some reform in the U.S, but when the main issues for this election are changing our fuel situation and global warming, I'm thankful our vote for president doesn't determine if we'll get medical assistance or transportation laws changed that make drunk driving illegal. We live in the best country in the world.

I also explained to Macdonald about Barack Obama as a candidate for the Democratic Party. I told him that he is the first black person to be in the race for president. Macdonald asked me if we do not like black people in our country and it was hard for me to find the words to explain our long history of oppressing blacks in our country. How could I tell him that some people in the U.S. are still very racist and hateful toward black people? All in all I just explained that the U.S. has more white people running the country and we have yet to have a black president. I'm not sure if he fully understood, but I suspect that he believes that people in the U.S. may be against black people, but I really hope not.

I really enjoy the conversations and Macdonald he always tells us how much his students enjoy our lessons. He's so grateful and this makes it all worthwhile.

The school system is interesting. At any one time, random students will be out of class watching our class or out playing, but their is no control. (In comparison, I suppose it's like skipping class or not having a signed hall pass.) With so many students, the average of 70 per class, there's not enough teachers to control them. Alicia's class at Malemia has about 170! They sit in about 10 rows, on laps, against the wall or anywhere they will fit. And, we think we're over crowded!

We've really made friends with "Gift" a student in our class. He speaks English so well and is so incredibly friendly. There are so few articulate students and we can already pin point their strengths from their participation in class.

We met for our class discussion at MIE at 12, and we spent the first hour discussing a chapter on "hate speech" in our book. A Democracy of Chameleons. At first, I didn't like this text. The reason was probably due to our lack of previous knowledge of Malawian culture - everything is difficult to read. At least when we read other history texts, we have some prior knowledge or pre-requesite to assist in reading. Now, I don't feel the book is as hard to comprehend because we've constructed so much knowledge of Malawi during our time here. I know we're not experts, but I really feel like I know worlds more than I did before. The chapter on hate speech was very interesting. It discussed a lot of how Malawi's constitution is similar to the United States with our civil liberties. I was really unaware of this, but I think we're able to express more of our rights freely.

We also met three students being sponsored by Virginia Tech, Radford, & NC A&T. In Malawi there are limited spaces for college. At the Domasi Teacher's College, there are 30 spots. They accept more men than women because it's what their sleeping arrangements are able to accommodate. College attendance is almost limited because the government pays for it. If you don't make the cut for higher education it's also because of limited space. Our three colleges decided to sponsor these students to become teacher educators through "day school". Rather than paying for their entire education (tuition, fees, housing, etc.), we are paying for tuition. The goal is to not only pay for their tuition, but also to start to change some of the culture of Malawi. Many students drop out of school because they know there's no money for higher education later. The intention is to teach them to help pay and work your way through school, then more people would take the initiative to pursue higher education.

We learned a lot about their background in education and plans for the future. Towina, Virginia Tech sponsored student, has been a teacher and has three children. She's focusing on Science, so Dr. Kelly thought sponsoring science would correlate well with VT. The sponsored students shared their joy of this wonderful opportunity and very grateful for what they have been given; but, they did list a number of areas their needs are unmet. It was hard for us to listen to their needs, although some were valid. We explained we can't do any more than tuition and the money comes from private funds, individual donors, Dr. Barber, Dr. Kelly and Dr. Jones and with help of some of our fees for this trip. The students did not totally understand the purpose of the sponsorship which is to give funds for tuition to students who otherwise would not be able to attend school with the intention that they will work to meet their other needs. It was hard for Dr. Kelly to explain to the, and I'm sure it was hard for the to understand this.

Charles picked us up at 3 and we headed to town. I dropped off some postcards at the post office and then headed for the bus. Some days, Charles waits for about 20 minutes for us in town to do a water run, but other days he just drops us off. This day, there were a lot of vendors waiting and trying to make deals for those of us sitting on the bus. I actually like talking to them on the bus because if you want to talk and make a deal, you open the window. If you don't want to talk or deal, you can just ignore them. Sarah, Mandy, Dr. Jones and I were very interested in these carved figurines of Mary and baby Jesus. So Sarah and I talked to Steve, the vendor. At first he wanted l,500 Kwacha for two. We said too much and ignored him. Sarah was very good at talking him down, and he finally settled for 2,000 Kwacha. What a deal! We were definitely happy after that.

I've had vegetable soup and rice for dinner the past two nights and really enjoyed it. It's similar to cream of mushroom and anything with vegetables is amazing right now. I haven't had a salad in two weeks, and I'm dying for some greens. We can't eat any uncooked vegetables here - it's just not safe.

Everyone's Internet access is going out, and it's starting to get frustrating. We went down to see Cameron to ask when Peter will be back to help us out. Within the hour, Peter stopped by our room. It's always a pleasure to see him around; he takes such good care of us all! He surprised each of us with a bottle of Amarulla which is similar to Baileys at home. It's made from the Marulla fruit found in Southern Africa. Elephants eat the fruit and actually become intoxicated. It's very popular here. Peter also told us he'd fix the Internet by tomorrow. Good news all around.

Goodnight from Malawi.....

June 29, 2008; Sundays in Zomba

2008-07-09T06:19:00.005+02:00

Today is our first Sunday in Zomba, so we attended a local church. It was an earlier morning than usual. In fact, I woke up at the crack of dawn, literally. I meant to wake up at 6:00, but I woke up at 5:00 to the sound of a rooster right outside our room. Needless to say, I wasn't happy, so I stayed in be another hour. Lexi and I got ready despite the fact that we had no warm water - I really needed a shower! We headed to breakfast and then off to a Presbyterian Church not too far down the hill. But not without seeing lots of monkeys!! These black faced monkeys really like to come out early in the morning, and we were finally able to see them instead of just hearing them on our roof each morning. They jump from tree to tree, run across the road, stop and look at you, play with each other and aren't afraid of people. I swear if I had a banana in my hand, one would run right up to me and take it. The zoo will never be the same again.

We've come to realize Malawian time is "adjustable". When someone says the service is @ 800, it could be about a half an hour to an hour in either direction. It's the same with arrival and departure times. Culturally, Americans are very different (which is not hard to explain), but here there is no need to stress about time. What a relief! We'd be so much less stressed in our day-to-day lives if time weren't an issue.

We arrived at church about 8:15, but the first service (completely in Chichewa) started at 6:30 and had not ended. We conversed outside while waiting for the English service at 8:30. Most people get dressed up for church, (similar to the U.S.), and they carry their hymnal books with them. None are offered in the church. There was really no break between services. As the first service ended, the song being played was the cue for our entrance, and it continued until everyone entered.

Besides the music, much of the service was exactly the same as other Christian faith services at home. A few in our group commented that the lyrics from some of the music were also similar. About a third of the way, the pastor called upon our group and others present that were visiting for the first time. He asked us to come to the front and introduce ourselves to the congregation. There were two other women from the United States visiting too. They were young, like us, and had come from Pennsylvania on a mission trip. Dr. Jones introduced our group and explained the reason for our trip. The congregation was very welcoming (most welcoming: as Malawians say) and the pastor invited us to tea following the service.

One of the most interesting parts, was the announcements and the timing. In the U.S., they come at the end of the service, but a women read them aloud about the middle - which about a half were upcoming weddings. Instead of announcing and wishing them well, she said "If anyone knows if John has another wife, or Sarah has another husband, please come forward before they wed on Weds, July 5. A whole new interpretation to "speak now or forever hold your peace."

In lieu of passing baskets around for collections, the announcer calls us each "district" to place our offering in the basket at the alter. (We were called at the end and I'm glad we had something to donate.) It seems it was expected and I guess this way they know who is giving and who is not. Overall, we realized the caliber of people attending and their average home life is drastically differently from the majority of the people we've encountered in the streets and within our schools. Their dress, demeanor, appearance, and eloquence (even in slight ways) separate them from the typical Malawian. While I don't want to generalize the general population, this is what we observed.

The choir women prepared us tea in various mugs belonging to the church, and we sat in a small building adjacent to the church to enjoy, teach and visit with them. If you've never tried Chambe tea, it's excellent! It's a Malawian tea that is not exported. I'll definitely try to bring some home. While visiting with some of the church members, we met a man who works at Chancellor College in Zomba. I commented on his lapel pin because I knew one of the flags it had was Malawian, but I was unaware of the other. He explained that it's a Scottish flag from a man he worked with who taught him technology for teaching the blind. He now teaches other teachers at Chancellor College who can teach children in secondary school who are blind. They have speciality programs that incorporate software to help these children learn. His work seemed incredible, and his hospitality on behalf of his church was so inviting.

Following church, we headed for Tasty Bites, a favorite restaurant of past study abroad students and a good place in town to eat for about half the price of Annie's. It's not as tasty as Annie's, but apparently their chocolate cake is to die for! We ordered one for Heidi and Liz's birthday (today and tomorrow), so we'll get to try it really soon. (dessert is rare) I predict we'll spend many afternoons after school eating there. We headed home with a scrumptious cake. We're beginning to get used to walking up the hill, as I'm sure we'll have some pretty toned calves before it's all over!

Once we arrived at Annie's, Lexi and I asked Cameron (front desk) to see if we could switch rooms. He's so sweet and willing to take care of everything we need. A room opened up next to Brian and a little ways up the hill on the Annie's Lodge property. It was quite a hike, but Lexi and I thought the exercise would be worth it. Cameron showed us the room with just one bed. We took one look at the view from the porch, and decided that sharing a bed would not be that bad. We also have more space up there, and the bathroom is nicer. It's like we're in a whole new place in Zomba! He asked for us to visit him if we had any spare time at the front desk. Many people that work here are bored during the day when there are few guests around, so they really enjoy the company.

Cameron and Henry (who also works here) helped us pack and lug all of our things up the hill to our new room. They were so helpful! Especially when we have over 200 pounds of things. The three trips exhausted us, but we were excited to finally unpack. We were expected to meet @ 2:00 and thought Dr. Kelly would come and get us since were are only a few doors down from her. Needless to say, we rested and it was 3:00 when Amber knocked on our door wondering where we were? Oh well, we needed the rest. It was only an introduction, but we'll catch up. Just sitting down there for 30 minutes of what was left of the meeting, I realized how much we can learn from Dr. Kelly's knowledge and experience. She really knows her stuff!!

I'm watching the sunset form our porch over Zomba, Lake Chilwa and even farther in the distance of Malawi. This view is second to none of I've ever seen. With little pollution in the air, you can see for miles and the colors of the sky are exquisite. I didn't realize how far we could see in the distance from Annie's Lodge until we moved rooms today.

I headed down to dinner a little while ago. Alicia and I ordered at 5:50; Dr. Barber and Jones joined us a few minutes later. The power went out and we had dinner about 7:30 followed by Liz's birthday cake we surprised her with. It's also Heidi's 21st birthday tomorrow, and she's so excited!! We had them put her name on the cake too. What a great way to remember your birthday in Malawi.

Cameron, just dropped off towels for us. He's such an adorable friend. We always like to say hi to him now, and he makes sure we get taken care of. He just ran all the way up here to just give us fresh towels. The showers up here are so much better and we're very happy about that. Can't wait to see the view in the morning.

Lexi and I are busy planning for tomorrow! We're very excited about our first real day of teaching.

Malawi Update

2008-07-09T04:50:00.000+02:00

Our Day at Mulanje!

2008-07-05T20:34:00.002+02:00

"Moni" from Malawi! All is well. The internet has been down for several days now. The server is back up, but some of our access cards are not working. Peter gave Lexi and I each an hour, so I wanted to add a quick update!

We had an incredible week in Zomba (more updates to come later). It was exhausting and it flew by, but each of us is working hard to try and get through to our students. It's already a challenge to teach, but with a language barrier, it's much harder than you can imagine. We've enjoyed teaching science lessons like the water cycle and the life cycle of butterflies, helping with English proficiency, and assisting the children with their math lessons. They're really a joy to be around, and with a class of 70, there's never a dull moment. Even with our language and culture barrier, it seems we can do no wrong. The children even bring us gifts each day! Their teacher, Macdonald (who we adore) has asked them to bring traditional Malawian foods for us to try. It's really special because the children are bringing things from home that they could indeed use themselves. We've been given nuts, eggs, sugar cane, casava, and tomatoes. While we wish we could enjoy all of these items (especially the chicken eggs), we just don't want to risk anything. We've re-gifted all of these items to our bus driver, Charles and Tennison, our housekeeper. They're both so kind and generous, and we know their families will enjoy these items.

Today, we left at 8:00 sharp to travel 2.5 hours to Mt. Mulanje, the third tallest mountain in Africa. We were all tired after a fun "poker" night (there was never poker, it was just an excuse for Peter to throw us a little get together), and it was a long drive. We passed lots of little towns along the way (including Blantyre, another happening spot in Malawi). We also saw some very wealthy areas with beautiful homes similar to home.

Charles took us a special way where we could see a lot of the tea plantations of Malawi. The tea crops went on for miles with rolling hills of lush green in every direction. It was beautiful and truly a different site than the dry brush of most of Malawi. Dr. Kelly said that the majority of the plantations are owned by British tea companies who export the tea to Britain. This is yet another example of the continuing British presence in Malawi despite their independence. We took a lot of pictures along the way, but Dr. Kelly said if we were to pull over it's apparently illegal because of child labor laws for the children working on the plantations. It's really sad to hear to things like that. We didn't see too many people working, but those that we did see were hard at work.

A lot of the buildings along the way were surrounded by bricks with sharp pieces of glass on the perimeter rather than barbed wire. I thought this was a great idea rather than buying expensive materials.

About an hour out, we started to see Mulanje in the distance. At first, it didn't seem that tall at all. But as we got closer, it was massive. It's truly incredible to see it up close. It was a little hazy at first, but the trees surrounding it were beautiful. It took us about 30 minutes from the main road to get to where we could begin our hike. The roads were not very smooth. Apparently, they've been working on the same construction project for the past year, but Dr. Kelly said it looked exactly the same as last year. Throughout the day, we saw lots of girls carrying piles and piles of sticks and wood down the hill, and it looked exhausting. They spend all day gathering wood for fire for the night.

About half way down the road, we saw a group of men blocking our path. Apparently the main road was out from that point, but they were also offering a guide service. You really need a guide up the mountain (even though we were just going up to the falls). A man named Samuel got on the bus to be our guide. At first we were leery of this stranger (you just never know), but he did a terrific job for us, and knew everything!

A little ways up the road before the hike, vendors were selling walking sticks for the trip. They were hand carved, but most of us decided it was too much of a hassle to take with us!

The hike started off pretty fast-paced, so Dr. Barber decided not to head up. At first, I didn't blame her! Let me just say that today's hike was the most physically exhausting experience of my life. Mom and Dad, you thought the Cascades in Virginia were a hike? Try hiking Mulanje ( and we didn't even go to the top!) We were all a little dramatic about it, but it was more like climbing than hiking. It took a little over an hour to get up the waterfall, but we saw so many beautiful views along the way. I took a lot of pictures to remember it! The altitude also made it challenging. Today was also one of the hottest days we've had. Samuel pointed out a lot of interesting sites on the way up.

After about an hour, we made it! The falls were beautiful, and it was well worth the hike! We rested and enjoyed our lunch which by then we really needed. We climbed out on a few rocks to take pictures and video, and it was really a perfect day. The water was ice cold! Brian actually dropped his tuna pack in, but Samuel jumped in to get it for him! It was so nice, especially when the water was freezing. After our rest and enjoyment at the falls, we headed back. Samuel told us about the annual race to the top that although it takes 1.5 days to slowly hike up to the very top (with resting), it took him 3.5 hours last year! It was incredible! Apparently, it's next weekend, but he said he'd never do it again! I'd probably die before I'd make it up there!

The way down was much easier! We enjoyed this part! We stopped at a beautiful lodge on the way down for restrooms and cold sodas. What a beautiful place to live and work! Charles was there waiting!

We had fun bargaining with the vendors for some great Cedar products before we left. I found some very nice things!

The trip back was somewhat long but very scenic- more to update later! Sorry this was so quick!

2 more weeks in Malawi!

All Is Going Well, Except Internet Is Down

2008-07-05T15:06:00.003+02:00

It's Krista's Mom (Brenda) and I'm writing on her behalf. She wants to assure you that she and all her fellow "mphuzitsi) are amazing! (Sounds like her doesn't it.) The internet is down, and she hasn't been able to update. Annie's Lodge is working on trying to correct this important means of communication.

We called to her on Thursday, July 3. I had trouble getting through on the pre-paid international card, therefore I dialed direct from our landline. When you call, they ask you to call back in 5 minutes so they can get her. It was around 11:00 p.m. their time. When I called back, the lodge receptionist said she was sleeping and to call back tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. their time which would be 12 noon our time.

I then immediately called verizon to see how much the 2-3 minutes cost me. (Tom was tapping his foot a lot while I was dialing). Anyway, it was $3.91 per minute. I asked about an international plan and they put me on a $4.00 per month and .50 cents per minute. (Tom's blood pressure went back to almost normal after that.)

So, on to what you've all been waiting for!!!

We called the next day and she was right near the phone. She sounded "amazing"....she's rubbing off. So clear as though she was right in the room. We were so glad to talk with her and hear of her updated "verbal blog".

She and Lexi have a class of 70 students each day. They travel about 30 minutes each day and arrive at school at 9:30 p.m. The children are so happy each day to see them. They are teaching games, math and some science. (Please read Lexi's blog updated by her mom too for the lessons they teach daily.)

Once they return from school, they walk into town, shop, eat and socialize. She has found the food of choice have been chips (potatoes like fries), vegetables and curried chicken. So far she has not gotten ill from the food or water as she drinks bottled. She and others selected fabric from the fabric shop and had outfits made. They were to pick them up this week. She promised to bring me some material to have a skirt made. Other things purchased have been some pottery which she had mailed home. I have been checking her VISA to assure charges haven't been compromised.

Once they are back from town, always before dark @5:30, she orders her dinner. It takes a while for preparation, but is very good. I think she's eating a lot of chicken and vegetables. Her evening consists of watching some television in the commons room with the others and doing lesson plans for the next day. There's 5 television stations available in english which consists of english speaking, various older american movies and a soccer channel. Each american teacher works closely with the African teacher and I imagine they have had to re-group while planning with the language difference and customs. Lexi and she have standard 6th grade, in which they able to communicate better because they are middle school age.

After planning, she is tired and retreats for bed at 9:00 p.m. The evenings are chilly in the 50's. She said they have lots of blankets to keep warm. Daily, and part of their wake up call, includes monkeys from the mountain trees making a scratching noise on the roof of their room. It seems their room is in the back of Annie's Lodge and closest to the mountains.

They are hiking in the mountains today, Saturday, July 5. It's about 45 minutes to a waterfall. Monday is their Independence Day and it's a school holiday. No fireworks though. My guess is they will sleep in and go to town for their daily shopping and exercise.

She feels very safe and find the people of Malawi helpful and friendly. She is very intrigued with all she sees. She can't believe her wonderful experience will end in two weeks.

She is hopeful the internet will be up soon, and she and others will be able to update you all very soon. Comments and questions are welcomed. She wants to thank everyone for thinking of her and was so pleased her friends and family friends are reading her blog and can't wait for the updates; and, a hello to everyone.

Sincerely,

Brenda Patrick

Mphunzitsi!

2008-06-28T22:36:00.002+02:00

June 26, 2008:

Today was filled with probably one of the most incredible moments of my life. As we approached the first school, children from hundreds of yards away came running towards our bus shouting “mphunzitsi” and “muzungu” which mean teacher and white person. We continued towards the school, and there were hundreds of children crowding around the door of the bus jumping, clapping, yelling and smiling with some of the most beautiful beaming smiles I’ve ever seen. They were excited to greet us, and they all want to shake our hands. We greeted them in return and were delighted in their excitement. I almost felt I had presidential popularity. The students make you feel like royalty with their welcoming faces and kind greetings. The teachers and head master greeted us and showed us to many of the classrooms. In each of the classrooms, the children stood to greet us. They’ve memorized basic English greetings:

The Class: “Good morning madam and sirs, how are you?”
Us: “We’re fine. How are you?”
The Class: “Fine. Thank you madam.”

Sometimes we would go in and say good morning first or how are you, but they would respond with the memorized words they knew in sequence. Their language acquisition is much different from ours. Instead of learning different words and phrases and what they mean, they learn to memorize phrases in response to prompts from teachers. This explains a lot of their difficulties in learning English. Many are never able to master it.

In a single day, I’ve come to the realization that key to survival for the majority of the people here is education. Statistics have shown that those who receive a full education or stay in school the longest have far less diseases and avert the chances of HIV/AIDS. English is the key. English. Our native language is the key to their success. Basically, if you cannot pass the English examination, you cannot move on. If you cannot communicate, you will not get a decent job.

We also visited two other schools. We visited the Domasi Demonstration School where Brian and Nikki will be doing their graduate research and some teaching. Again, the children came running to greet us. Their smiles and cheering was so heartwarming. The government uses this school for teachers from the Malawi Institute of Education. Here, they are able to fill “student teacher” requirements. This school was dramatically different from the first school we visited (Malemia). Many of these students had warmer clothes, shoes and were cleaner. We learned that many of the students are children of teachers, and their parents pay 40 Kwacha a month, so that the girls will not have to clean the toilets.

That’s something I have not mentioned. The girls at each school are required to regularly clean the toilets. Most have no sanitary gloves, and they spend hours on their hands and knees scrubbing. This also contributes to the dropout rate for girls because they’d rather stay home than be forced to clean in such conditions.

Following our trip to the Demonstration School, we finally made it to our group’s (Virginia Tech) school- the Domasi Government School. I was so excited! The children were again so welcoming, but this school already felt like home. The head teacher was eager to greet us, and she welcomed us to her school. We got a quick tour of a few of the classrooms, and the teachers were so friendly. We decided to work mostly in pairs- Lexi and I in Standard 6, Lauren and Sarah in Standard 3, Heidi and Amber in Standard 7, and Brittany is working alone. We thanked the head teacher for her welcoming and told her we’d be ready to teach tomorrow.

We headed to the college, just a few hundred feet away, for our first “class” time. Typically, we’ll congregate as an individual school group at our school locations (Malemia, Demonstration, and Domasi) for about an hour and then the Radford and NC A&T groups will walk to our classroom at MIE. Today, we met as whole group the entire time period. We didn’t do a lot of discussing, but a few really valid points were brought up. Brian, our grad student from NC A&T, really made us all think. So often in our trip, we’ve been generalizing the children we meet as “them” and how “they” reacted, but he reminded us that each is an individual just as we are. He also wanted us to realize that this trip is not or should not be intended to be about how much we can get out of it, but about what we can do and learn with those we meet. He challenged us to cultivate the relationships of those we meet and those within our group. He really made complete sense. The things we can learn from each other are ultimately the greatest lessons. I also didn’t intend on learning from the students I meet, but I really think we learn a lot from them.

We all had nothing but positive things to discuss with one another. Overall, this experience has been incredible. Dr. Barber commented on the validity of biophilia, our affinity to Africa. I agree. Besides home and Virginia Tech, I’ve never felt so drawn to a place. The welcoming attitude of the people and beautiful surroundings just make you fall in love with the country. How could you not? I really could visit here again for a while. Maybe I’ll be able to…

After both a physically and emotionally draining day, Charles drove us back to the center of town in Zomba. We needed to get some water and start to get acclimated to our stomping grounds for the next three weeks. It reminded me somewhat of Zomba. We exchanged some USD for Kwacha, but I still haven’t spent my first 14,800 Kwacha ($100). We weren’t surprised to see vendors approaching us right away even before everyone was out of the money exchange store. Dr. Kelly was right in advising us to buy little or nothing in Lilongwe because they have all of the same items at cheaper costs in Zomba. The only issue is that we’re still new in town, and they think we don’t understand Kwacha yet… oh and that we’re rich. For example, this Noah’s ark today was over 8,000 Kwacha aka over 60 American dollars. It should sell for about $15- $20 after some strong negotiations. Dr. Kelly also explained that if one of us buys a hot item at a certain price, none of us will ever be able to get it any lower. So, the plan is to look through the vendors items each days and in the stores and wait until our last few days to talk down prices, barter and most of all BARGAIN. I can’t wait.

Dr. K pointed out the Internet café, the fabric shop where we can buy beautiful Malawian fabric to have clothes made before we leave, the food market and other places. We stopped in a cheaper grocery store to pick up fresh water. We do have fresh water at Annie’s Lodge, but it is not drinkable. Well, it is if you want to deal with certain side effects… no details necessary. Did you know that you could buy single bottles of beer and single shots of liquor at the checkout in the grocery store? The actually package single shots and put them where you’d normally see mints/gum. I’ve seen some signs trying to prevent people from drinking and driving, but I’m sure this does not exactly help the problem.

As we left the store, I saw the first signs of severe malnutrition. Men with nothing more than skin on their bones and legs skinnier than our arms sat outside the door begging for food. It’s heartbreaking because it’s just too difficult to hand out money to these people. We’ve learned that if you give one Kwacha or even a Tambala (coin that is half a kwacha) to one person, you must give it to the other fifty that’ll swarm around you. Surprisingly enough, I expected more to beg because Malawians are known for their warm hearts but habitual begging. Most people are friendly and content sitting in the street visiting with friends and greeting those passing by.

The fabric store is overwhelming! There are so many choices of fabric to choose from, and knowing my indecisions in the past, this may take a few visits to decide. As soon as we decide, we can buy fabric in increments of 4 meters (plenty for a full outfit) and order whatever type of outfit we’d like. Any suggests? I’m thinking some kind of dress. Peter throws a big party for us on the last night, and we’ll get to wear our new outfits to that.

It was going on 4:45, and we were exhausted! We were going to buy post cards on the way back to Annie’s Lodge (about a mile or so uphill), but we ran into Charles when he was buying some goods. So, Dr. K convinced him to drive us back to Annie’s, and he was glad to do it. We all cheered; we were that exhausted. How are we going to walk back other days with that water? It gets heavy, but I guess we’ll tone up a little.

It was only about 5 when we got back, and the sun was well on its way to setting, so we headed into the dining room to order dinner. Now, Annie’s Lodge dinners are actually very good, but we learned after one night that the cooking takes a very long time. We’re talking an hour or more, but we enjoyed each other’s company waiting for dinner. Oh, and Peter’s grand entrance… He brought us each a Malawi map and told us he’s setting up a movie night tomorrow night. Should be a fun time…

Want to hear some juicy Malawian gossip? Well, to make a long story short, Peter is Annie’s son. She’s a former member of Malawian Parliament, and his father was British. They lived in London for years (hence the knee-bending adorable accent) until Peter’s father died and they moved back to Malawi. Peter basically runs the lodge for Annie, and to everyone’s knowledge, until last year, was happily married to a beautiful European woman and a father of two. So, at the party last year, Dr. Jones told the students that they’d get to meet Peter’s beautiful blonde wife. A little while later, this beautiful blonde woman walks, so the girls go up to her and say it’s so nice to meet Peter’s wife. She responds by saying she’s his girlfriend. They’re confused, but they make small talk and then go dance. Then, another blonde woman walked in, but they decided to wait to talk to her. So in passing they asked, “Oh, how do you know Peter?” She said, “I’m his girlfriend.” Now, they’re really confused. A little later, another blonde woman walks in, and Dr. Jones says that she is his wife. To sum it up, he has two girlfriends, a wife and two children. They all know about one another and are all in agreement with the arrangement. Apparently, it’s an old school Malawian way, but all of these women and Peter are European and Canadian, so it seems strange. No one knows why it’s working out like this, but it sure makes for great gossip!

Dinner was great! We each had different things. They love to serve “chips” (French fries) with a lot. Lots of encima, rice, and vegetables are always served. I had chicken with chips and vegetables. Apparently, the vegetable curry is excellent. We devoured our food tonight!

After dinner, we headed back to the room, and Lexi and I talked about some initial plans for tomorrow’s first lesson. We’re so excited for our first day of teaching! I took a shower to get the day’s dirt and grime off me, and we’ve all been journaling for a couple hours.

I’m not sure how this trip could get any better, but I just know some wonderful surprises are in store for us- the kind of wonderful experiences that we’ll remember for a lifetime.

Finally in Zomba, our Malawian Home!

2008-06-28T00:32:00.001+02:00

June 25, 2008:

We woke up early this morning to get ready to leave. Charles and the staff at Korea Garden Lodge packed our little bus full of stuff while we had breakfast, and we headed out. We said bye to Isaac, our incredibly friendly waiter, and took some pictures of the gardens and pool. I wish I could post pictures (the internet is just not fast enough) of the bus packed from floor to ceiling about three rows from the back. It’s funny to see how much luggage we actually have, but considering how many supplies we’ve brought and souvenirs we’ll want to bring home, it makes sense.

We made our way through town, over the river and down the main road towards Zomba. The mountains we saw on the trip were amazing. Who would think that Malawi could have such beautiful mountains? I thought mountains in the Western U.S. were beautiful, but these are the most incredible mountains I’ve ever seen. They’re very different from our mountains. We’ll be driving along the road and not see any for miles, but then suddenly in the distance a few rocky ones shoot up from the ground. They’re all different sizes and shapes, and each one is exciting to see.

It took us about an hour and a half on the bus to get to Dedza. We loved seeing all the beautiful scenery along the way. When we arrived at Dedza Pottery, the flowers and gardens were very inviting. The pottery buildings and café are made of very sturdy brick and secure roofs. We entered the shop and were immediately overwhelmed with the selection! There was too much to choose from, and there was very little organization to it all. I had so much fun looking at everything, but my indecision hindered me from making decisions quickly. I ended up picking out and creating a mini tea set, and I bought a few separate items. A lot of people bought their items and took them with us on the bus, but some of us shipped them. The person that I checked out with gave me a discount, so I definitely decided to ship it home. I asked him why I got a discount, and he responded, “Because you are my customer!” Reason enough for me! Apparently, it may not get there until October, but I took a picture, and it will be well worth the wait. They receive and ship orders from all around the world. I can’t wait for a surprise from Dedza at home!

We all stopped to enjoy lunch right next door at the café. They had excellent food! We sat outside on the patio and had fun discussing our pottery selections and taking pictures of the mountains in the distance. We had to hurry though because we still had to make it to one last stop in Dedza.

Our last stop in Dedza was this man’s recycled paper making place and small shop. We had to rush here, so we could see a demonstration and buy some souvenirs. Dr. Kelly did and overview for us of how he makes his products. Basically, he is able to make a living by collecting trash and used paper products, cutting them up into little pieces, soaking them in water and making a “porridge” of the materials, spreading them out on a flat wired surface and them letting the pieces air dry. He also makes paper out of elephant dung in the same way. What a creative man! He uses what he has and what he can find to make a living. We bought all sorts of gifts created from the paper, and he was even disappointed that we arrived so soon because he didn’t have time to create as much as he wanted! His wife also hand makes dolls. I was able to buy one of them, and I think it’ll make a great souvenir to remember our time there.

As I left the shop, others were still inside and some of us were talking with the children outside. They love to play football (soccer) here, but many children are unable to afford or find real balls. They are creative and make them from tied up plastic bags. I watched one child kick his around for a while. Then I thought, “Wow, I wish I could get to my bag.” I’ve brought about 15 plastic globes to blow up that help teach about the countries of the world and make great balls. I went on the bus to see if I could search through the suitcases to find my bag. Well, I didn’t even have to do that. Mine was the first one I saw. I don’t know if I truly believe in “signs”, but if this weren’t a sign, I’m not sure what is. The globes were right on the top of my opened suitcase. Dr. Jones saw what I was doing and was just as delighted as I was to find one. She commented that many of these children do no attend school and rarely are given anything for pleasure or even survival from outsiders. I took the ball outside and began to blow it up at the excitement of the children that were now surrounding me. To be honest, I could barely breath. My heart was beating so fast, and I was filled with such emotion that it was difficult to blow up the ball. After a few seconds, they began to realize what this flat plastic was becoming- a ball. I then showed them where Malawi is located on the map and how they can play with it just like a football (soccer ball) that they already have. It was definitely one of the best moments of my life. Something that simple meant so much to them, and I hope they’ll remember that day forever because I surely will.

We all loaded back on the bus, and one child asked Heidi for a pen for school. She had one in her pocket and was happy to give it to him. We all waved goodbye and some even wanted to get on the bus. We would have loved to take them with us, but that’s obviously something we couldn’t do. Down the road, Charles pointed out that the road is actually the border between Malawi and Mozambique. Basically, we were in limbo between the two. It was really neat, but then again there’s little security that way. We stopped at this market that is half way on the Malawi side and half way on the Mozambique side. It was overwhelming! There were people and goods coming from all sides, and we didn’t know how to react. The people from Mozambique seemed different from the Malawians, but many of them acted similarly. I videotaped what I saw for a bit, but then a few minutes later, Alicia ran up to us and said to put our cameras away. We were confused. Charles had told them that if you take a picture on the Mozambique side, they’d arrest you and take you to jail. You better believe we put our cameras away! We continued to look around, but just hearing that turned me off. That had all sorts of goods, and medicines packaged in small plastic bags also seemed popular.

We all came back to the bus in about 20 minutes and the women on the Malawi side were crowed near the door trying to teach us some Chichewa words. We responded in English. It’s surprising how much you can learn from someone who speaks nothing of your language.

As we continued on to Zomba from the Market, the mountains continued to glow in the sunlight, and the varying angles made for some incredible pictures. I can’t wait to share later. Along the way, Charles pulled off the road to show us a traditional Malawian village. The children came running up from the village to greet us on a higher level than them on the road. They were excited and some spoke a few Chichewa words with us. As we were stopped on the side of the road, a few cars passed by. Despite the fact that the speed limit is 50 in some areas, cars tend to well exceed this speed. You also have to be careful to look both ways because they don’t stop! Mandy played a game with the children before we had to leave, but their excitement quickly turned to anger when we did not give them any money. It was if the game was them “working” for a “dollar” as they said. But to us, we were trying to be friendly and enjoy a moment with them. They became hostile and we quickly got back on the bus. Even the sweetest girl during the game had the angriest face when we left without giving them money.

Across the road, we were able to take some pictures of the mountains on the Mozambique side. I can’t wait to show Polanah, my African Studies professor, the pictures when we return to school. He’ll probably act disgusted that I’d take pictures of his Mozambique, but I know he’ll be delighted deep down inside. He just will not give me the gratification of knowing so.

Zomba was still about two hours away from this area, so we had to continue on. It was a lot to pack in before dark, but Charles always makes sure we get places when we need to. As we traveled through a busier area along the road, we came across a very sad sight. The car in front of us had hit a dog, but it didn’t die on impact. Its companion dog ran out to see it and they both were yelping in the road. I’m not sure if I became emotional at the sight of the hurt dog or at the sight of not one person going to help this animal. I’ve come to realize it’s not the culture. Animals are food, and there is little that anyone could really do for it. We drove on, but I wonder what happened to him.

About an hour down the road, we drove past the end of the Mozambique line. There was very little “border control” but we did have to stop. We saw similar small towns and villages. There were even a few markets off the side of the road.

We made it to Liwonde where a Malawian National Park is located. We didn’t stop, but this is where our safari night will be. It sits right on the edge of the Shire River (which we passed) that feeds into Lake Malawi. Many people were on the banks of this beautiful sight fishing, washing, and visiting. Within Liwonde National Park is Mvuu Camp where our safari will be. “Mvuu” is Chichewa for hippo.

It was almost dark, and we finally arrived at Annie’s Lodge. We cut it very close, and it gets dark around here with little warning. Apparently, the unspoken word is to be in no later than 6 EVER. It’s just not safe.

Annie’s Lodge is the idyllic place to stay in Zomba. The pictures online do not do this place justice. Basically, Zomba sits at the foot of the Zomba plateau and Annie’s Lodge is a little ways up the hill of the plateau. The grounds are on different levels with beautiful foliage, trees, colonial-style buildings, and excellent accommodations. I feel like I need to re-write the content on their website. I honestly feel like there is no way I’m in Africa. I feel as though I’m in the mountains of a European country. It also gets chilly very early, so we’re wearing sweatshirts by dark. It’s the perfect temperature after a warmer day.

So, we’re supposed to be in Africa right? Well, we all thought we’d died and gone to British heaven when we got off the bus. One word: Peter, a name that I predict will continue to come up in conversations for weeks to come. This man is beautiful. Brian told us later that night that he was the last one of the bus and he and Peter had a “moment” where they realized without speaking that all of us were schoolgirl giggling at Peter, and he just knew it. Peter knew we were smitten with him, but he continued to beam and welcome us to our home away from home. The funniest part was seeing Dr. Jones (the youngest and probably most precious professor from Radford here with us) falling all over herself with excitement to see him. Dr. Kelly, more than a few years her senior, was right there with her. They love Peter and even admitting to taking pictures of “scenery” on grounds last year that just “happen” to have him in it as well.

We walked down to our room which is a somewhat separated from many of the other students, but Peter assured us we could move this weekend once this government conference leaves. “Brilliant”: my new favorite word.

Amber and Heidi do not have a room until Saturday, so Amber is staying with us. We haven’t been able to unpack anything, but it won’t be much longer until we move and really get settled. As Amber, Lexi and I started to relax on the beds in our room, the power went out. If you think it’s scary when the power goes out a home, try being in an area that has NO outside light at all. Because we just got there, we had no idea where our flashlights were, and it took a lot of commotion and scared shrieks before we found one. All was well after this. It didn’t come back on right away, so we decided to head out. We headed towards the dining room, but we didn’t see anyone there, so we started to walk around in the dark and saw some of the light from the backup generator.

We walked toward the bar and found Dr. Kelly, so we decided to chat with her while we waited for others. She said that Peter had looked for her to get her first drink at Annie’s this year, but she beat him to it. Before we could order, Peter came up and said everyone’s first drinks were on him. “Cheers”. It was the perfect time to try the Kuche Kuche, Malawian beer found only in Malawi and our new favorite catchphrase. Don’t worry, we got a picture. The three of us sat with Dr. Kelly for a while and just reflected on the day and how unexpectedly beautiful Annie’s Lodge and Zomba really are. She told us about some of her past experiences, a grant she’s working on for work in Ethiopia on a new five-year teacher education program and the history of Annie’s lodge. She said how hospitable Annie and Peter have been over the years and why she keeps coming back. She went into some detail of Annie’s political background as a former member of parliament and how she planned to run again this past year. Apparently, Annie’s church members advised her not run because they were afraid that she’d be killed. Despite the fact that she is a former member of parliament, it’s still a huge risk for a woman to run for such a position. Dr. K also went into detail about how Annie runs and owns an orphanage and how she wants to have a whole day with us to let us visit. Peter also wants to plan a Jazz night. We have so many activities planned, it’s almost overwhelming!

Liz (Dr. Barber from NC A&T) then showed up at the bar, as others approached and said, “Now this is graduate school: learning at the bar.” We all laughed. Most of her comments and insights are meaningful but always with a bit of humor or pizzazz- just like Liz. She’s wonderful. The five of us continued to talk, especially about Dr. Kelly’s background and how she has really inspired the following of herself and Dr. Jones. They talked about their other trips and we said how cool and exciting this one has been in just a few short days. Dr. Liz replied, “Pat Kelly wrote the book of cool.” We have so much to learn from her.

Eventually everyone showed up and enjoyed a Kuche Kuche on Peter. It was really great despite the fact we didn’t have electricity. We headed down to the dining room really enjoying each other’s company and proceeded to order dinner by candlelight. They will cook food with the generator or over hot coals when the power goes out. It takes a while, but it’s all about the experience. We continued to chat already reminiscing about the first few days (especially Ethiopia), and she filled us in a little more about the schools and the safari. I really want to see a Black Mambo. Apparently, they’re the most dangerous snakes in the world, but I’m dying to see one. Everyone thinks I’m crazy, but if I were at a safe distance, I’d totally be worth it. She said we could even hear hippos outside our tents munching all night and get fairly close to elephants. I’m so excited!!!

So far Zomba is greater than we ever expected it to be, and I can’t wait to see what else is in store!

Our own Garden of Eden...

2008-06-24T23:29:00.000+02:00

Day 3:

This morning started off fantastic. Lexi and I had showers (it was my first since home… finally) and we had decent water temperature/pressure. We got ready for the day and headed down to breakfast. Breakfast was great! We had toast/jam, fruit, juice, and I even made myself an egg with tomatoes. We all were warned to eat a lot just in case we did not like the food from the Freedom Gardens (traditional Malawian food). We also took toilet paper and some bread.

The drive to Freedom Gardens was about an hour. We enjoyed driving along the dirt roads and waving to the children and adults passing by. The landscape, as I mentioned before, is breathtaking. There are random mountains everywhere in the distance, and despite the fact that it’s the dry season, much of the vegetation is beautiful. Imagine what it must be like in the rainy season.

When we arrived at Freedom Gardens, we were greeted by Mrs. Chinkhuntha, the wife of the late honorary Dr. Chickhuntha, who started the garden project in 1982. What started as “madman’s” project to onlookers and a 10X10 meter plot of land with surrounding swamp, is now a 20-acre property with endless variations of vegetation. It’s completely sustainable with dammed fresh water from the rainy season, irrigation throughout the varying crops, no wasted space and a plan for the future. The best way to describe the philosophy of the creators is that they have their own Garden of Eden- they use only what God has given them and the land that is there. They have learned irrigation and how to use EVERYTHING they have to create a sustainable lifestyle. Their property and the sustainability they’ve maintained were incredible. If everyone in the world could live like that, we could eliminate so much hunger and the need for pesticides and chemical fertilizers used could be reduced on so many of our foods leading to health issues. I may be going Organic when we get back!

The honorary Dr. Chickhuntha died two weeks after the group left last year, but his son Daniel has taken over since then. Daniel was adorable! We all wanted to take him with us. He was so hospitable and very proficient in all of his explanations. He greeted us with saying that Freedom Gardens is our new home in Africa and we could even make it our home before our real homes if we wanted. He gave us a complete tour of all of the gardens. This took a couple hours, but it was well worth it. Even in the dry season, they continue to harvest all that they can. Some of the crops included bananas, sugar cane, maize, cabbage, lettuce, cucumbers, curry, papaya, lemons, onions, limes, chamomile, and much more. I told Daniel as we were walking that I really liked chamomile tea, so he picked the flower buds off the top of a bunch of them and gave them to me to keep. He said, “Here you are- nice and fresh to keep.” They smelled amazing, and I pressed them into a book for safekeeping. He also gave each of us a cucumber. We all questioned eating them straight off the ground, but we knew that due to the fertile land and complete absence of pesticides, they’d be perfectly fine. They were delicious, and it was a great snack before lunch.

We saw the many crops, two of the six ponds they created, the dammed river, all of the irrigation systems, storage units, and their one pump for drinking water. This is the only pump on the 20 ACRES of farmland. Incredible. The most intriguing part of it all is that with little to no technology in use, the basics of farming dating back to even Egyptian times can be used for little to no cost. Just think of how much farmers in the U.S. pay for water usage, pesticides, etc. We’d have more money for stupid gasoline, and we could stop importing so many food products from all over the world. Just think of the jobs it would create and how we could become less dependent on foreign goods. Daniel kept referring to how these ideas could change the face of African starvation, but really they’re lessons to teach the world. They challenged us to take these ideas and share them with many others.

Dad, you’ll get a kick out of this: Your favorite plant and the one mom strongly dislikes, the “elephant ears” were widespread below a lot of the banana trees. Apparently, its real name is Paro (sp?) and the root is supposed to be very tasty if you’re interested in digging up a piece from the garden outside. Can’t wait to show you pictures- they look just like yours.

We asked Daniel about how often stealing occurred from neighboring villages. He said that in the past, his father would forgive the people and not severely punish them. Instead, he would say instead of stealing, come work the land and receive food in return. They hire different people that are able to work for food or for money, whatever they may need. Mrs. Chinkhuntha said they also have children show up to work during the day work. They send the children away if it’s during the time they should be in school with some sugar cane, and then they are allowed to return following the end of the school day. The farm has about 18 people employed regularly. Children receive 10 Kwacha a day for working (remember 148 Kwacha is one dollar) and adult workers receive 100 Kwacha (a very good amount for Malawi). And I complain about $8.40 an hour…

We were able to try some sugar cane when we got back to the home of the Chinkhuntha’s. Daniel’s nephew, Gift, showed us how to do it. If you haven’t tried sugar cane, I’d suggest getting iron teeth before trying to strip it. It’s very tough, and you have to use your canine teeth to strip it. Needless to say it’s hard to do, but if you can do it, the treat is a sweet juice that you get from chewing the inside pieces and then spitting them out. It’s a treat for children there.

The women workers there even spent all day cooking food for us- it was actually pretty good too! We had rice, maize porridge (encima), chicken, and fruit. We spent all day at the gardens, and we learned so much.

Mrs. Chinkhuntha asked three people to follow her to the bathrooms so they could tell us about them and where to go. As expected, they were all porta-potty style. There were three bathroom stalls- brick outsides with tin/straw roofs. I was fortunate enough to get to use them twice (sarcasm?)! The first time, I played it safe with your standard latrine style- toilet seat over a hole (and the smell is free!). The second time, I felt a little adventurous and decided to use a different bathroom stall with simply a whole in the ground. When you go in, there is a concrete plug of sorts with a handle covering the varying substances below. You can use your imagination as to how one uses this type of toilet… The Girl Scout in me said go for it, and I’m pretty sure I’m the only one that did use it. Ah, the memories of Malawian latrines…

We all finished visiting with our hosts and signed the guest book to receive more information from Daniel in the future. We were so grateful for the wonderful day they had provided for us and all their hospitality. We didn’t want to leave Daniel, but we had to get back to town. They waved us on, and wished us well in our studies. Mrs. Chinkhuntha even gave us her business card that she recently made and gives to vendors in town. What an incredible day! In total we spent over three hours touring the gardens and another three visiting, eating and traveling. I never knew I could enjoy learning about agriculture so much.

After leaving, we drove the hour back to town. Again, we saw many different peoples, huts, stands, children, and fires along the way. The children are precious. It lights up my life every time they smile and wave. Many of them love to pose for the camera and dance around for attention. Not so different from American kids really… We also saw some animals along the way. Goats are found often and some cows, chickens and dogs.

Charles, our bus driver, dropped some of us off in town (the 7 VT ladies) at the post office near the craft market before taking the rest of the group back to our lodge. I went into the post office and bought 40 stamps (2 stamps per post card, 40 Kwacha each). The total came to 1,600 Kwacha= about 10 dollars. Stamps are expensive in every country! But look forward to some post cards once I get to Zomba tomorrow.

We then proceeded to the craft market where the dozens of vendors were quick to whisk us away to their sales plots. Some remembered us from yesterday. It’s interesting how they do it. They’ll be four or five of them coming in really close with their goods; they’ll never touch you, but they definitely invade your space to get your attention. Most of us just looked around, joked with the vendors, and responded with many “oh yes, I’m just looking” or “I have to talk to my friend about it first.” With just too days in Lilongwe we’re already getting good at bargaining and talking down outrageous prices. Just because we’re American doesn’t mean we’re stupid. My favorite part of our “window shopping” was when Lauren and Sarah were talking to this one vendor about theses beaded Zebras. We learned the best technique is to seem somewhat interested, ask the price, respond with disgust that the product could possibly be that expensive, say you’re not interested and then walk away. I swear- I would have died to get this act on tape; it was so funny! So these proceedings shortly lead to dramatic negotiations. What went for 6.000 Kwacha originally ended up selling for 1,500. Great job girls!

Heidi and I got interested in a small item to start out. They were making key chains with one side carved with an African animal, and they could put your name on the other side. So for 200 Kwacha (basically $1), we agreed to purchase two giraffe key chains and the vendors said they would be ready soon. We said “ok” and continued to look around. Well, after a while we needed to leave in time to get back before dark. Where the key chains ready? Oh definitely not- despite the fact that they insisted on how quickly they could make them. Good thing we didn’t pay for them… We couldn’t even find our vendors when we left, so who even knows at this point…

We walked back in a group to the lodge, discussing our purchases/ experiences with vendors and our goodbyes with “James Bond” and “Chicken Legs”. A group of teenaged school girls were walking behind us, and I heard them talking/whispering, so I turned around and greeted them with a simple “hello.” They responded in chorus with “hello” and beautiful beaming smiles. I tried to strike up a conversation with one, and she was trying very hard to use perfect English she had been taught. It was great, and she was so friendly.

We returned to the lodge, and this is where one of the best moments of the day happened! I got my ichat with VIDEO to work from the dining area and in my room. Stephen, my brother was online and we were able to get the video chat to work from half way across the world. It was incredible… Thanks for being online, Stephen! I was so excited, and Lauren also got hers to work with her family at home. Then Stephen called my dad and he came home to chat as well! I was so happy to talk to and see them! Sorry you weren’t home, Mom and Aunt Diana. My Internet will probably not be as fast in Zomba, so it may not work there.

Dinner was great, again. The Tech crew sat outside with laptops typing/im’ing/using the Internet while we waited for dinner. We’re already starting to get pretty close. It’s been great experiencing everything with everyone. We all have so much in common while retaining our differences. We’ve even started a list of inside jokes and phrases we’ve had so far. For dinner, I ate lighter than last night with just small dumplings and spring rolls and some fried rice. We all stuck to the chicken-based dishes that we ordered last night because we knew they were good. We just decided to choose another dish someone else had ordered the night before. There are a lot of Europeans staying at the lodge. It must be a popular place for Lilongwe. They don’t exactly speak to us though… problem the American vibe we send from about a mile away. The Malawians are great though!

Lexi and I spent some time before bed documenting our day and returning some emails. We won’t have Internet access as frequently in Zomba as here, but we’ll try to update a few times a week.

So far so good in Malawi… I can’t believe it’s only been three days. I’ve already gotten so comfortable here, and I hope it continues to be this way. We’re leaving in the morning and traveling about 5 hours on our bus to Zomba. We’ll be stopping at Dedza Pottery on the way, and I’m excited to see all the different products they produce. I’ll definitely be shipping some home! Mom, I thought it’d be there in a month, but Dr. Jones from Radford said she didn’t get hers until OCTOBER last year. So, don’t get too excited yet! We’ll also be traveling to a paper-making place where they conserve and recycle by making paper from elephant dung! Should be interesting… can’t wait to share this experience!

Good night from Lilongwe…

Am I Really in Africa?

2008-06-24T20:05:00.003+02:00

Dates: June 21- June 23

June 21 finally came, and our trip began at 5:30 PM in Washington, D.C. I couldn't believe it!

Day 1:

Checking in at Dulles seemed very chaotic with 18 people and 36 bags to check, but we did it and got through security with no problems. It was so hard to say goodbye in the airport (Dad, I love you!), but it was reassuring when I looked around to a lot of tear-filled faces. It's not that any of us were having trouble leaving, but it was just hard not knowing when we'll talk again. We were all so excited though! Our Malawi 2008 shirts made a great impression on those that surrounded us, as many onlookers asked where we were traveling and for what reason.

We've learned from the beginning how savvy our director, Dr. Pat Kelly, is with finagling and talking her way through stuff to what we need (aka getting us to walk through Customs in Malawi in about 2 minutes)! We started to board at 7:45, but we didn't take off until almost 10:00! It was frustrating, but they were good at distracting us with "goodies" from Ethiopian Airlines. We switched our seats around a little bit so we could sit with people we knew, so Sarah, Lauren, and I ended up with the seats that are right at the split between sections where we had about triple the leg space! It made the 8 hour flight to Rome, layover on the plane, and 6 hours to Addis Ababa so much easier! I really enjoyed chatting with this Ethiopian woman and her daughter who were traveling from their home in Maryland to Addis to visit family. They were my translators when I couldn't understand the language from the crew on board over the loudspeaker. I've never felt like such a foreigner!

As soon as we reached cruising altitude, we had our first meal. It was surprisingly good, and it was the best meal we had from Dulles until now in Malawi. Oh, and alcohol was included- what a difference from the high prices of U.S. in flight costs. So, I enjoyed an individual bottle of red wine from France with my beef, vegetables, salad, crackers, bread, cheese, and delicious cheesecake! They took great care of us on the plane. We all tried to relax and sleep some following dinner, but it was hard.

I was surprised by the route we took to Rome. It seemed to me that we would take a direct route across the Atlantic, but we actually traveled all the way past Maine, up to Canada, over to Greenland, and then made a descent down. While I loved looking down over Europe, it was upsetting that I was finally so close but I couldn't visit there! One of the cool features on the plane included overhead and personal television screens to track our flight altitude, temperature, time, and route as we crossed across the map. We all chatted on the plane and started to get to know the people from Radford and North Carolina A&T. A few laps around the plane every couple hours also helped with the length of time. We also received a nice breakfast onboard and lunch later ( a similar beef meal but not as good as before).

Rome was beautiful! I must admit we were unable to see any major landmarks or even leave the plane, but it was breathtaking flying into the area. With villas, fields, hills and red roof homes, it was picturesque. More than ever I wish I could have spent a day or two there! Maybe someday... We had a layover on the plane for close to two hours, and we even got to see some Italian airline workers on board.

The Ethiopian children were so beautiful and well behaved on the plane. Their parents let them roam all around, but it provided some adorable entertainment. Of 6 lavatories, 2 worked by the end of the flight, so the lines were long!

We flew over the Sahara for hours. I had no comprehension of how large it actually is! We also flew over the Nile River and other landmarks, and the flight tracker on the plane television showed us our exact flight path.

Aunt Diana, you'd be so proud of me and my newly acquired traveling skills! You know those big bottles of water they use to pour into cups for individual passengers? Well instead of paying for water in the airport/ hotel at a hefty price, I waltzed right back to the airline attendants and basically persuaded this man to give me a whole 1.5 liter water bottle. Everyone was envious of this idea, but it was too late to haggle for some more! Lexi and I shared it at the hotel as toothbrushing and face washing water.

We had a six hour flight to Addis Ababa (which they pronounced as Ahh-dehs Ah-beh-bah). We continued to chat with everyone around us, but I know we were all ready to just land! Flying into Ethiopia was so pretty at sunset, but we got into Addis at dark just in time to go through Customs in about two hours time. We were all EXHAUSTED, and we didn't get to leave the airport til after 10:00 PM. One of the funniest moments was watching the Ethiopians entering the country move right in the middle of our group to cut and then pointing and laughing at us. Dr. Kelly was not going to take this so she figured a way to get us in a separate line to then go through customs muck quicker. I got my first stamp on my passport! After we went through customs, we had to wait around for about 45 more minutes for our bus to the hotel. Little did we know how... interesting.... Addis Ababa would be after dark.

Have you ever felt like you were a spectacle? That's what it seemed as we walked through the airport to our bus. We traveled for about 30 minutes all over Addis until we reached Semen Hotel for the evening. We met a couple from Minnesota visiting family in Djabouti and a man from Chad traveling to Egypt. We were all overnight transit passengers staying at hotel waiting for our next flight out of Addis the following morning. With few street lights, tons of people on the sidewalks and rundown buildings everywhere, the best way to describe the capital city is to compare it to the worst part of NYC times about 3. While I understand it's a third world country, it was truly shocking and somewhat nerve-racking to travel through this area. Safe and sound, we arrived at our hotel for the night at about 11:00 PM. It was quaint and definitely a high class place for Westerners, but it was also very different an older than we're used to. The lights went off twice when we checked in, and of course Lexi and I were prepared with flashlights in hand right away! Thanks for the Girl Scout preparedness, Mom- it helped! Dad, your LED Christmas flashlight came to good use...

We were all assigned to the fifth floor, but with the power going out, the elevator was a big "no." We were exhausted walking up those stairs! Not a good sign... haha

We had a very late dinner. Well, make that a very late snack due to the nature of the food. We had orange soda ( I saved the really neat bottle) and we were able to get various meats and rice. To be honest, the smell of curry and interesting meats was not appealing, but that's were granola bars came in handy! Lexi and I headed up to our shared double bed, and we chatted for a few hours. Funny part of the night- I apparently was having a crazy dream, woke up yelled to Lexi, "Oh my God, oh my God", and dived off the bed and down onto the floor. All I remember was thinking/dreaming that a plane was going to land on us. WEIRD.... Guess I should warn people of the random occurrences that may occur while sleeping with me.

There was music and noise outside into all hours of the night. It was really different. You could see city lights for miles, and the windows were so thin that I felt we were actually outside. We had a solid four hours of sleep, and it was glorious! We woke up freezing though, as temperatures fell into the low 50's.

Day 2:

Morning in Addis was breathtaking. The fog rolling out in front of the mountains, the crisp air and the beautiful colors gave us a great start to the morning. As we stared to get ready, our wake up "call" came with a pounding on the door. When we packed our maid came in, and we talked to her for a little bit. She said she was also 20 years old and a lifelong resident of Addis Ababa. She was very sweet and helpful in getting us out the door. I told her if we forgot anything to just keep it! I also took some video off the balcony of the morning and the call to prayer from the nearby Mosque.

We had light eggs and toast with jam for breakfast. Orange juice was different, but it was satisfying. We left Semen Hotel at 6:30 and went through security at the airport by 7. You can take whatever liquids and shoes you want straight through. I guess their concern is weapons. We went through departure customs, and that took a few minutes. We've gotten accustomed to filling out the entrance/exit slips for each country.

We waited for about an hour for the plane to arrive. We took two airport busses out to the plane. Heidi, Amber and I were the last ones of the first bus to board the plane, so we struck up conversation with an ground attendant. Believe me, if we had all day, we'd still be there talking to him. He individually introduced himself to each of us, and told us all about how we should return to his country with great hospitality. He even did somewhat of a bow for us. Then he took a picture of us before we boarded. We wished him well and said maybe we'd see him soon.

The plane was pretty full. I sat in a center seat in the middle of Brian and Vandy. Brian is the grad student from NC A&T and Vandy is an education major from Radford. Vandy and Lauren had not been feeling well all morning, and we think it was due to the high altitude. A large group of students and teachers from the Lusako Italian School in Zambia boarded shortly after us. The final destination of our flight was Lusako, Zambia. The other group from New York on mission trip was also on the plane. We chatted with them and they also showed us pictures of freshwater wells their fellow Presbyterian Church members had created. The children in the pictures looked so joyful!

The flight was only three hours long, but it felt like forever! As we left Addis, the surrounding mountains were BEAUTIFUL! I couldn't believe they were real. About an hour into the flight, I started to feel nauseated, but I think it was due to the frequently changing altitude and lack of food. Then came "breakfast". Brian and I decided that the questionable look, texture and taste of the quiche-like substance was not worth the trip to the bathroom that might incur from consumption nor was the lime green watery pudding. So we stuck to the roll, muffin and ginger ale.

I moved up to sit with Lexi for a while, and I showed her some tips on changing the settings of her mom's camera for taking better pictures in Malawi.

Flying into Lilongwe (the capital of Malawi) was so exhilarating! As we descended, we could see a lot of the surrounding areas, and we finally felt like we were in Africa. We were welcomed with warm faces and smiles as we entered the airport. Luckily all of our baggage arrived on time! I don't know what I would have done if something didn't get there. Especially after all that work packing the essentials... We finally made it!

Customs in Lilongwe was a breeze thanks to Dr. Kelly. She is such a whiz at all of this- it's great! We all just walked straight through customs with no problem. We do have three other fabulous professors with us, and it's been great getting to know them so far and learning from their previous experiences. We waited outside for our bus to the Korea Garden Lodge, and it arrived shortly. During that time, Dr. Kelly and Dr. Barber (from NC A&T) were reunited with a couple of their friends from Malawi. One was our bus driver, Charles, whom they greeted with hugs and kisses remembering how helpful and spirited he had been on previous trips. He arrived in the Malawi Institute of Education bus we'll be traveling on throughout our trip. The other man present was another friend who actually received a PhD from Tech.

Let me just remind you of how much luggage we have: 18 people, 36 checked bags, 36 or more carry on items= more than 72 articles total!!!! So, imagine a 22 passenger bus arriving with limited space and all of that luggage and all of us having to fit on it. Needless to say it took a while to fit it all in, but we made it.

We traveled about 30 minutes from the airport to the Korea Garden Lodge. Charles got us there safely! Along the way, we saw so many different people sitting, walking and sleeping along the road. Some had things for sale right off road and others were burning some of the brush. I asked Patty, one of our professors, why they did that, and Dr. Jones nearby said it's to kill off some of the bugs that ruin the plants. The landscape is beautiful. The roads are filled with trash and so are the outskirts, but the surrounding areas with trees, fields, some housing and distant mountains were pretty. We passed groups of children, and they waved with excitement. We traveled into the outskirts of Lilongwe seeing some of the newer government buildings and lots of people.

We arrived at the Korea Garden Lodge which is surrounded by concrete barrier walls and barbed wire. The front metal gate is guarded and only opened for guests. After we got settled in our rooms, we grabbed cameras and tightened money belts before walking about a mile into town. I had to get accustomed to the cars driving on the opposite side of the road. We were surprised to see so many different cars.

As we walked, we took in the sites of different lodges, lots of trash surrounding the roads and people out and about. As we entered town, we were immediately greeted by venders of the Lilongwe market. We needed to exchange money first! I exchanged $100 at an exchange rate of 148 Kwacha to 1 USD. So, I ended up with 14,800 Kwacha. I felt so rich with all those bills!!! The Kwacha are significantly larger than American dollars, but they fit great in our money belts.

After we all exchanged money, we were of course greeted by venders and young children asking for money, but as Dr. Kelly advised us, you just act friendly and explain that "you're looking" or " will think about it." It was a lot of fun. One man introduced himself as "James Bond" and another as "Chicken Legs." We played along, and they were good at striking up conversation.

On our way out of town, we looked through this huge craft market at the corner of the street. Mom, the book you gave me had such great tips for this area- it explained (and Dr. Kelly expanded) that the prices of this craft market is about 8-10 times the true price of the products. They have so many different types of carvings- it's incredible. The good thing is that we should be able to find almost all of the items in Zomba (where we're staying for 3 weeks of our time), and if we do not find what we want, we can buy it on our way out of Lilongwe when we leave in July. Some of the items included carved masks, Nativity scenes, Noah's arks, frames, spoons, bowls, figurines, animals... basically the possibilities were endless. They were so good at trying to suck you in by introducing themselves, getting your name, then saying, "Krista, I'll see you tomorrow, ok? What's my name again, Krista? You come see me tomorrow, Krista- we'll talk." While they were somewhat pushy, they were all friendly and we had fun looking through their items.

We made our way back right at dark. The sun sets at 5:30. It got cooler outside, but it's so pleasant.

Dinner was delicious! We hadn't eaten for about six hours, so anything sounded good. We had traditional Korean food, and most of us ordered spring rolls, fried rice, and chicken dishes. I had a bottled Coke to drink. Some people ordered bottles of beer at just one dollar a piece. Beer is cheaper than soda! My total cost was 1,648.66 Kwacha (not dollars!) which amounted to about eleven US dollars. All our meals here are covered, but we have to pay for dinner. Dr. Kelly said that these would be our more expensive dinners. We had to wait a while for food, but the dining area is outside under a huge canopy by the pool with really neat lamps and decorations, so we really enjoyed it. During dinner, Brian our lone male from North Carolina A&T (who happens to be African American) went to his room for a bit, and when he came back he said that a woman who worked there asked him in Chichewa to take a guest's bag to their room right away thinking he was a Malawian who worked at the lodge. We all thought it was hysterical.

After dinner, Lexi and I used our free 5 minute wireless internet to check email and send a quick update out. Then I figure out that if you chose the other wireless option, you could get another 5 minutes on the internet. After that, you have to pay per hour. It's 600 Kwacha per hour aka about 4 USD. Lexi and I are sharing our first card.

So that's all for my first update! I know it was long, I just have so much I want to share and remember. It's been incredible so far, and we've just been traveling! I'll update soon...

Miss and Love You All,

Krista

adios america

2008-06-21T04:31:00.003+02:00

Tonight's my last night in the U.S. I drove up to D.C. with my dad and grandma this afternoon. We're staying at the Navy Lodge near Bolling Air Force base. We had dinner in Alexandria- Italian seemed like a perfect "last supper". Wow, I act like I'm never coming back or something haha... but who knows I may just love it!

We're spending the day sightseeing tomorrow. Grandma hasn't been here in about 40 years she said! Dad's excited to see a few things, and I think I'll be getting a dose of Americanism before I leave. Wish you were here mom!

Lexi and I talked today, and we're both so excited! Hopefully we have everything now, but I guess I'll get there and find out. I'm actually looking forward to the 18 hour flight, so we can catch up and do some planning for our teaching.

We're meeting Dr. Kelly and the Malawi crew at Dulles at 5:30, and our flight leaves at 8:30! Next stop: Addis Ababa then Malawi!

Last Day in Virginia Beach

2008-06-19T16:10:00.003+02:00

Today is my last day in Virginia Beach before we drive up to D.C. tomorrow. My dad and grandma (who is still in town from my brother's high school graduation) are going up with me, and we're going to spend part of the weekend in D.C. sightseeing before I leave. My flight leaves out of Dulles International Saturday night! We're flying on Ethiopian Airlines... sound sketchy? It might be. I'll let you know.

I'm starting to get nervous about our trip, but I think my excitement is outweighing it. I'm basically packed, and by basically packed, I mean I'm sure I'll take things out and move them around about five more times before I leave. We're allowed to take two suitcases of 50 pounds each, but we have to reserve 25 pounds and half of a bag for these backpacks from the National Conference on Social Studies for the Mwanje School in Malawi. We're also taking children's books from a Blacksburg church. As far as we know, everything we're bringing will be put to good use in Zomba at the schools!

I still need to do some more lesson planning and reading before I leave, but I'm basically set to go. I also need to stop by my bank and get money for the trip. Just to give you an idea of the exchange rate: Malawi uses Kwacha (see the picture above). The current exchange rate is 143 Malawian Kwacha to $1 U.S. dollar. Total, I'm bringing $400, and this should be plenty of money for all of my food and lots of souvenirs! If you want anything specific (Malawi is well known for tea, nuts, pottery, carvings, paintings, etc.) let me know! I'll have lots of room on the trip back.

I had dinner at P.F. Changs last night with Curtis (thanks babe!), and I think my fortune was accurate for once:

"Your eyes will soon be opened to a world full of beauty, charm and adventure."

He commented that he didn't think it would be beautiful, but I disagree. While some of the elements we may encounter may not appear to be beautiful, from what we know of Malawi, the people and their warm hearts I believe will be beautiful.

9 days to go!

2008-06-13T06:41:00.003+02:00

Our trip to Malawi is quickly approaching! I'm getting so excited and anxious, but I still feel like I have a million things to do before I leave plus working everyday. Packing will probably be the worst part because I can only take two suitcases of 50 pounds exactly in each. Yes, I know I'm traveling to Africa and I do not need to over pack, but I am also bringing an entire suitcase of supplies for the school where we will be teaching. It's definitely going to be hard to decide what goes and what stays!

Here is the basic itinerary for our month stay in Malawi. Most days will be spent in Zomba where we will be teaching students in the morning and studying in the afternoon at the Malawi Institute of Education.

June 21: Leave Dulles Airport on Ethiopian Airlines at 8:30 PM. Arrive in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on June 22 at 7:40 PM (7 hours difference in time). Overnight in Addis Ababa.

June 23: Leave Addis Ababa at 9:30 AM. Arrive in Lilongwe, Malawi at 12:10 noon (capital of Malawi). Sightseeing in the capital city. Korea Garden Lodge for the night.

June 24: Freedom Gardens (sustainable village setting, an experimental project)

June 25: Travel to Zomba. Dedza Pottery. Paper Making Facility (makes art paper from elephant dung) Village Trips. Annie's Lodge

June 26: Travel to Domasi for classes at Malawi Institute of Education (MIE). Orientation at teaching sites (Domasi Government School, Domasi Demonstration School, Malemia Primary School)

June 27: School assignment (First day of teaching!) MIE classes in the afternoon.

June 28: Orientation to Zomba, town exploration, etc.

June 29: Annie's Lodge, Zomba town, local church, studying and class meeting

June 30: School assignment. MIE classes in the afternoon and project work.

July 1: School assignment. MIE classes in the afternoon and project work.

July 2: School assignment. MIE classes in the afternoon and project work.

July 3: School assignment. MIE classes in the afternoon and project work.

July 4: School assignment. MIE classes in the afternoon and project work.

July 5: Travel south to Mt. Mulanje. Tea Plantation. Hiking on Mt. Mulanje (the third highest mountain in Africa!) Annie's Lodge and other sightseeing.

July 6: Local church and surrounding towns. Studying/Planning.

July 7: School assignment. MIE classes in the afternoon and project work.

July 8: School assignment. MIE classes in the afternoon and project work.

July 9: Travel to Mvuu Camp for safari. Overnight at camp. River safari, afternoon and evening safari.

July 10: Morning guided walk. Liwonde wood carvers. Return to Annie's Lodge in Zomba.

July 11: School assignment. MIE classes in the afternoon and project work.

July 12: Orphanage visit. Annie's Lodge/Zomba.

July 13: Local church. Studying.

July 14: School assignment. MIE classes in the afternoon and project work.

July 15: School assignment. MIE classes in the afternoon. Farewell Dinner for teachers.

July 16: Leave for Mangochi. Village visit. Club Makokola on Lake Malawi. Village dancing.

July 17: Departure after breakfast. Mua Mission. Korea Gardens in Lilongwe.

July 18: Leave Lilongwe on Ethiopian Airlines at 1:50 PM. Arrive in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at 8:10 PM. Flight to Dulles at 10:15 PM.

July 19: Arrive in Dulles at 7:20 AM.

9 days until we leave!

Trip to Malawi!

2008-05-28T05:58:00.001+02:00

I'll be traveling to Malawi on June 21st. I'll update soon with an itinerary and travel information!