q's & a's

i have been asked some of the same questions in emails i have received from people in states and, my future mother-in-law (sheshe) suggested that i should incorporate these questions and answers in my blog...

q's

Where do the bright  fabrics come from, do they have sewing machines?
Do the women always wear long skirts, do they every wear shorts?

Do all of the children speak English?

What kind of food are you eating?

a's

i'm not sure where they get the fabric from...i think Tanzania because all of the skirts say "Tanzania" on the bottom of them...no, you don't see women here in shorts or even pants, all skirts that go to their shins...they always have a slip like skirt underneath the top skirt because they always use the top skirt to put a child on their back to carry them or to comfort them...i make at least 3 kids a day cry because they have never seen a white person before and they are scared of me...at two different preschools the teachers thought i was a man until i took off my hat because i always wear long pants, long sleeve shirts and, a hat to work during the week...the morning sun is very hot and strong!! but, the women just don't understand why i don't have on a skirt...so i bought one of the skirts from town for the teachers training day "they aren't really skirts, they are wraps" and they are hard to keep on!

it's funny because there are actually sewing machines in the city "Blantyre" that's like an hour from here, and they will make you an african dress right there on the spot...you can usually find them in-front of fabric shops...i may get one made when it gets closer to time for me to head home...the children are learning english...they can say their abc's and sing a few songs but it's a little hard to understand them because they all speak with a British accent...so with my southern drawl i know i'm confusing them a little...

the food is so so....i'm still eating at the school for breakfast, lunch and dinner but i have to start cooking for myself at the end of the month...kind of looking forward to it though, so i can know what im eating....they serve white rice for lunch and dinner, they sometimes have chicken or dark meat with it and always have some type of veggies...but i stay away from any meat here because they eat a lot of goat!!  they say it's beef but i dont know what it is so i chose not to eat it...it could most definitely be beef but, i'm just picky and i wont eat it unless i see it being cooked...you can always see a skinned goat hanging-up in the villages for sale and in the city!! i was riding to town last week and this guys had a live goat strapped to the back of his motorcycle taking it to town to sale...it was really sad!!

i eat a lot of peanut butter and honey sandwiches that i make myself... i get a refrigerator in my room at the end of the month so then i can start getting fruits and veggies to cook from the market...now i just have peanut butter, bread and honey in one of those vacuum bags in my room.

good day

I just got back from Blessings preschool; this was one of the first preschools I went to. While I was there I noticed that one of the students had flies on her head…these flies weren’t swarming her head they seemed to be biting her and causing these awful looking sores…and more flies seemed to be feasting on the  sores….it was tough to look at…but the little girl was energetic and had a huge smile on her face…the children here amaze me every day with their positive  carefree attitude’s…I abruptly grabbed my supervisor and asked him what in the world was going on and why was she in school and not at the doctors. The other students and the two teachers didn’t seem to think anything of it…he explained to me that the other children in the class had already had treatment for these flies and this girls parents didn’t have the money to get her the medicine for this treatment…it was really hard to hear and visually to stomach…I asked the supervisor where I could get the medicine and how much it was…”it was 300 MK which is equal to a few US dollars” He brought me a little jar of the medicine the next day that he had for his family but the name had rubbed-off the side of the container and he didn’t know what it was called….that afternoon I took the truck into Lunzu and went to two pharmacies trying to find the medication. The pharmacist didn’t know what I was talking about when I was trying to explain to them the symptoms this little girl had…  So while we were in Lunzu this past Thursday I had the supervisor with me and was determined to find the medicine this little girl needed for treatment. So after we finished shopping for our TTD he and I went to the pharmacy that I had visited a week ago and he was able to talk to her in Chichewa and explain what we were looking for. We went to a few different places and then found ourselves at a clinic in Lunzu. We walked-in and explained to a nurse what we needed and she was able to sale me the medication. …

I told the supervisor last week that I wanted to return to Blessings first thing Monday morning and have the teachers apply this medication on this little girl’s head.  He seemed delighted that I wanted to help; at TTD he told the teacher from Blessings what our plan was for Monday. The teacher then relayed the news to the little girl’s parents.  The little girl’s parents made sure to have her head shaved for this morning so we could apply the medication. All of the children here have shaved or close to shaved heads, because it’s easier for the parents to treat them when needed. We got to the school this morning and I had noticed there were two other little kids that had fresh shaved heads and had the same sores the little girl did…but I didn’t see the little girl…I got nervous and asked where she was…and they said not to worry she would be there shortly…she came in a few minutes later with the same big smile she had had a week ago…so I gave the medication to the teacher and she got a few cotton balls from a first aid kit that they  had received from a previous DI  and she began to apply it to the children’s heads…my supervisor asked me if they could keep the medication and I asked him if he trusted that the medicine would remain at the school and that they wouldn’t use it for their personal use…he assured me that they would, so I gladly added the medication to the first aid box…we then watched the teachers teach the kids the lesson that I had previously taught them last time I was there…I was pleased to see that they had obviously been practicing this lesson with the children…the supervisor and I also brought a bar of soap for the preschool…we are teaching hygiene this week and have used some of the money we have received for the preschools to purchase soap for all of the schools…it’s VERY important to teach these kids at a young age about washing their hands…I felt as a team the supervisors and I accomplished a lot today  !!

weekend

“beyond borders” is a must see and a grrreat love story!! This weekend went by at a snail pace…I didn’t have much to do and have a slight case of sun poising on my shins from not applying enough sunscreen. so I tried to stay out of the sun as best I could to give my skin time to heal…luckily there is an aloe plant in a garden in front of where I live; so I applied aloe to my shins every hour and they are much better today!! Since I restricted myself to my room, I was very bored because I have already read every book I brought with me and the internet wasn’t really working and I didn’t bring any dvds with me…so I became a little homesick and was thinking of my loved ones back home…and how far from home I am…to make them not seem so far away I started looking at a photo album I had created in picasa before I left…the photos lifted my spirits and at that moment I realized I’d  been gone from the states for almost a month now…it will be a month on Wednesday…recognizing this made me also think of the amount of time I have left here "which isn't much"…then I started looking at the pictures I have taken while I’ve been here and all of the smiles on the children that I have met, melted my heart once again…the homesick feeling swiftly blew-out my window…

Yesterday’s TTD went pretty well…there were a few areas that need to be reevaluated…it was difficult at times for me because I’m use to following steps in a chronological order when hosting an event and the supervisors were all over the place yesterday. I went over our agenda about 5 different times and thought the three of them understood what we were going to do and the order we were going to do things in…also, it’s a huge differences from the way things run here compared to what I’m use to in the states…things run a lot SLOWER here…I also wasn’t expecting mother’s to bring their small children or babies with them…I was sitting at the registration table checking-in all of the teachers and the plus 30 teachers we weren’t planning on hosting and a woman walks-up to the table nursing her baby…

The training part of the day, I was super pleased with and to me that was the most important part!! We had a student (Hyson) from the Teacher’s Training College come and teach the first lesson.He also comes to our Tuesday meetings when he isn’t busy studying or assisting with other projects on the campus.

"this has nothing to do with the TTD but I'm presently sitting up at the common area on the campus and there are two different meetings being held right now; one in a classroom  in-front of me and one in a classroom behind me. Since i have been sitting here i have had the privilege of hearing each class room singing at least one song a piece. I love how song and dance is incorporated into everything here in Africa!! I have no idea what they were singing about but it's just something about hearing them sing that makes me smile...it's hard to explain but it also brings a smile to my face every time! "

We had the teachers break into groups after he taught a lesson on early childhood development. We wanted the teachers to  also interact with other teachers from different schools.

they seemed to like the activity i taught them

We then had a break for tea and bread with either butter or peanut butter. Unfortunately, the teachers started complaining about not having a bigger glass of tea and then we ran-out of tea because we weren't planning on the extra 30 teachers that showed-up. After tea, I taught an HIV/AIDS interactive game and one of the supervisors "Shake"  was translating what i was saying. I was very satisfied to see that the Shake had studied the lesson we translated earlier in the week and, was able to translate to the teachers what i was saying right after i said it without any hesitation. After I taught my lesson then it was followed by a supervisors telling a foke story. The teachers then sang a few songs that they sing in their preschools.

the most beautiful version of "row-row-row-your boat i have ever heard"

like always the songs then turned into dancing

We then served the teachers lunch and while we were serving them lunch i started to have a lot of mixed feelings about what was going on... Even though all of the food was free for them, they seemed not to be happy with the amount of food they were given. To me it seemed they were being ungrateful, but in reality they were just hungry. A lot of the teachers had walked many miles that morning to get to the TTD... many of them were barefoot too...

 but, since we weren't planning-on having that many teachers we ran out of food and not every teacher was able to have lunch. the supervisors told me that this happens every time because there are some of the teachers who don't teacher anymore but still come to TTD for a free lunch. I was happy to meet all of the teachers i will be working with and, it was nice to see some familiar faces. We provided transportation home for the 72 teachers who attended TTD. I told the supervisor they had done a great job and we cleaned-up the area we were using and, all went our separate ways for the weekend. As i walked back to my room, i was trying to wrap my head around the day. I was content on the teaching aspect but, the shortage of food and reactions from the teachers on portion size left be feeling bewildered.  I plan on discussion TTD at our meeting on tuesday and I hope to try as a team to find a way to:  following the agenda in chronological order, not running-out of food and, have the teacher's happy with their portions. (the portion part i may never be able to understand because i dont know how much food they all get everyday) but i hope as a team to try and find a way for them to appreciate what we are giving them rather than being disappointed.  well, it's saturday here and not much going-on, the weather feels nice, there's a cool breeze coming from the west and it's very overcast. I'm secretly hoping for an afternoon shower so i wont feel guilty about laying in my bed watching a dvd i borrowed from a  di "beyond borders" with one of my fav's  angelina jolie and it's about her being in africa...kind of perfect "i know" :)

having a cold coke with two of the preschool supervisors after a long morning of shopping for our TTD

The preschool supervisor’s and I have been planning a big teachers training day (TTD) that is coming-up on Friday.  We are giving a small amount of money each month for the preschools and a small amount to use for a TTD every month.  We have a weekly meeting every Tuesday at 2:00pm; we discuss any problems or issues that any of us may have and we make a plan for our upcoming week. At the meeting last Tuesday, together we plotted what we will need to do for the TTD to be a success.  First, we made a budget for TTD and wrote-out what everything was going to cost. Then we made our shopping list for the materials we will need to get from Lunzu; then made a separate check-list and put the items in chronological order. So this week we have been following our check-list and everything is going according to our plan. After we all returned from the preschools today we had a meeting and, I discussed again to them what I was planning on teaching on Friday. I gave them a synopsis on what I was going to teach at our meeting on Tuesday but, I felt the need to revisit my lesson with them. I wanted to make sure they had a clear understanding of the HIV/AIDS interactive game that I was going to teach the teachers. It is very important that they comprehend the metaphors in this game so they will be able to help me explain the game to the teachers.  So today I wrote out in English my whole lesson plan and one of the supervisors who speaks the best English out of the three translated it into their language “Chichewa”. The translation took a little bit longer than I had planned; so I decided to walk to one of the houses that’s 2 min’s away from where I live and buy us all a cold coke, in a glass bottle of course!!  We all drank our cokes while looking over the translation and maybe even admiring what we had accomplished as a team.

Add caption

Patiently

waiting outside for his preschool to open

it's very common to see women carrying heavy things on their heads

it's moments like these that take your breath away...

I just returned from a preschool that was about 1 1/2 hours away and I’m beat…The sun here is no joke, it can wear you down super quick so it’s very important to drink as much water as you can every day…I have never been a big fan of drinking a lot of water “I just don’t like it” and I know that’s strange!  At first, it was a little hard making myself drink large amounts everyday but now I can feel a difference in my body when it is not hydrated …

the preschool I visited today had three teachers, this is the first preschool I have encountered with this many teachers and strangely the kids seemed to be less educated…I have started to notice a trend here, it seems the schools that have more supplies like “learning materials, porridge for the kids, a school building, and three teachers” seem to not be on the educational level they should be…this is just my opinion and it’s not a fact…I haven’t visited all of the preschools here yet  so this is just what I have gathered from the few school’s I have visited.  So today I noticed one of the kids was covered in bumps all of his face; they all varied in size and none of them were open wounds. But, I couldn’t take my eyes off of him because he completely turned around and faced me and was just gazing at me with such a blissful smile.  He had some type of cracker in his hand and he kept exchanging looks from me to the cracker, then all of a sudden he got up and started walking towards me. Then with his tiny precious hand, he reached for my hand that was on my leg and turned my hand over so my palm was facing-up. He stared at my white palm for a second and then placed his cracker in my hand.  He then looked-up at my with a smile that would melt the Lambert Glacier in a second. I was fighting back the tears as best I could but one managed to slip down my cheek.  I smiled back at him and pretended to eat the cracker and rub my belly…he then let out the sweetest giggle and went and sat back down like this event never happened…then it was my turn to teach the class.

 It was hard for me to focus on my lesson at first because I was just so blown away by this little boy…but after my lesson I reached in my pocket and grabbed the cracker he had given me and walked up to him and bent down to his level and gave it back to him. He reacted like he didn’t have the cracker earlier that day and took the cracker and started skipping away.  I then started to skim over the class to see if any of the other children had something similar to what this little boy had…and I noticed one other boy did…I went to the teacher and pointed out my new little friend and had my supervisor translate my concerns for him. She promised me that she was going to inform the parents to take him to the doctor…I pray that she keeps her word!!  This is definitely the hardest part about being here “not being able to do something for all of these sick children.” Yes, I am here to help educate them but it’s moments like this that really pull on your heart.”

Such a grand weekend!!

Two other DI’s had a trip planned to cycle to the Michiru Mountain with one of the guards for Saturday. I can see this gigantic mountain from my bedroom and, I have been admiring it every day since I had arrived. The DI’s are a couple from Czech Republic and I asked them if they minded if I tagged along with them; they said they would be pleased to have my company.  We made a plan to take a ride in the truck and go to the market and get some food so we could pack a lunch for ourselves and the guard that would be accompanying us.  When we got to the market we looked at all the fresh vegetables and fruits that they had. Lucky for us avocados are in season right now…I have never seen such mammoth avocados before, they were super cheap too. They were 50 (MK) which would be equivalent to a little more than $0.25 US. So we bought a few of them and some small red onions and small tomatoes. Then we proceeded to go into one of the stores that resembled what I would call a grocery store but sold lots of different things that you normally wouldn’t find in grocery stores in the states. We bought two loafs of bread from the store and a bag of cookies. The girl from Czech wanted to make guacamole for us to take on our 2 ½ hour bike ride to the mountain and then put it on the bread when we got there…I was thinking it may be better to just take the vegetables with us and slice them there and just put them on the bread. But, since I had invited myself on this trip I figured it would be best to keep my opinion to myself. Through my travels I have learned it’s best to kind of just “roll with the punches” sometimes and even though you may know what you’re thinking would be a better choice it’s best to just keep it to yourself. Also, sometimes you will find that what you were thinking was wrong all along and, you can learn a new way of doing something “that to me is the beauty of meeting people from different parts of the world and learning new things about them and they culture” in this case I already had learned how to make guacamole from my friend Cara when I lived in Costa Rica but, I was just worried it wasn’t going to taste good by time we got there.

So we made a plan for us to all meet at 7am and, we would leave the compound and ride our bikes to the mountain.  I woke-up early that morning because I was anxious to get to the mountain and had high hopes of seeing some wild baboons. The bike ride was a little traitorous at times because we have been getting a lot of rain in the afternoons and this has made the red clay road very difficult to ride a bike on. (The bikes here have super skinny tires). When we finally reached the bottom of the mountain we still had about 3 kilometers to go before we would reach the area with the guide. Those last 3 kilometers were the hardest part of our day. The road was very rock and steep; at times we couldn’t possibly ride our bikes and had to get off and walk with the bikes. We finally reach the point where there was a guide and a nice visitors center (I was wondering how in the world they got all of the supplies to build the visitor center up there.)  I was very excited to finally be there and to see that the guide was wearing “I love NYC t-shirt” that was defiantly the last thing I was expecting to see at that moment. 

We decided to take the short trail because it had taken us so long to get there and we were worried about the weather. As I mentioned before, we have been getting a respectable amount of rain in the afternoons and the thought of getting caught in that on the way home was something none of us wanted to experience!  The hike was amazing and we saw a lot of vegetation and some really cool hyena rocks. The guide enlightened us that the hyenas were actually sleeping right under us at that moment…it was very cool but a little scary! 

hurry-up and take this pic before they wake-up and eat me!

We ended our hike without seeing any baboons but, the bike ride there and the hike was an awesome experience. We ended our hike by having lunch in the visitor’s center. The guacamole that my friend made had turned to pure liquid by this time. But, to be completely honest with you, after the long trek there and the hike I was starving so the liquid guacamole tasted remarkable!!! I think I may have eaten three sandwiches!! The bike ride home was very refreshing; I had a full belly and the road was all downhill,so I could enjoy the cool breeze and the surrounding scenery.  I had a great feeling of satisfaction for what we had accomplished and, felt even child-like by erecting my feet off the pedals and allowing my legs to hang freely. It was a great day!

a picture i took earlier in the week at one of the preschools

I am feeling much much much better!! my stomach is still a little so so, but i feel completely normal again!! i rested all day yesterday besides teaching english for an hour at the youth center "which was an awesome experience" i'm going to start teaching english there on thursday's in the afternoon and playing soccer with them  on wedenesdays. it's friday morning here and im getting ready to go to work, i woke-up to some african children giggling and playing not far from my window; i could feel the corners of my cheeks rising as a smile  covered my face...today is going to be a good day!

my first and i hope last 7 letter word scare

 my first and i hope last malaria scare yesterday…

 i woke-up the night before last night in a pool of sweat and was shivering a little bit. i then spent the rest of the early morning in the bathroom; i was feeling a little dizzy and like i may be getting sick.  i then took a cold shower  "well i haven't had a hot shower in 10 days and won’t have another one for 78 more days, but who’s counting ? "  i usually wait to take one in the afternoon after being in the sun all morning because it’s very refreshing.  i was praying the cold water  was going to miraculously  make me feel better…but it didn’t! also, I didn’t want to think about the seven letter word that has been embedded into my head for the last 6 months from my boss, co-worker and the teachers at IICD.… when I first arrived here I had an introduction meeting with all of the supervisors and was given a packet of information. they went into great detail about my program and health and safety issues. We spent a good amount of time going over malaria and its symptoms. I arrived at the end of the rainy season and the mosquito's are at their worst during this time.

 

so i dried off and ran into my room pulling out all of the medical information that I had collected in the USA; on the possible diseases that I could contract while being in Malawi. I was giving factual information from Travelers Passport “where I got my immunization shots for this trip” from IICD “the school I went to for two weeks to prepare me for this journey” and information that I found on my own, online. “the internet is usually very beneficial but there will always be things I don’t know a lot about and I think  there is a reason for that…I flipped through pages and pages of information avoiding all of the literate that could be accompanied by the 7 letter word…after reading all of the symptoms for the diseases I knew I didn’t have, i finally pulled out the MALARIA information.  I already knew I had the symptoms for malaria because it’s a very deadly disease and people can die quick from it, if they aren’t treating in time.  malaria is very common in Malawi so I made sure to know all of these symptoms before my departure. I had witnessed a few children who had it in the local preschools last week and that same day.so I did as I had been instructed to do; I got dressed and went and knock on a supervisor’s door that lives across from me. I was a little hesitant to wake her up at 6am even though they STRESSED at my intro meeting to come find one of them no matter what time it was if I wasn’t feeling well. She jumped right-up, and we woke-up another di because we are supposed to have another di with us when going to the hospital in-case our symptoms get worse on the hour ride to the hospital and we are unable to communicate with the doctors. “it’s also nice to just have someone with you too; being in a foreign country you always need to be aware of your surroundings and when you aren’t feeling well that’s the last thing you want to worry about!”   

so the three of us go and get the headmaster on campus and she is quick to review the insurance with me and gets on the phone and in a matter of minutes I’m in a car on the way to the hospital. On the car ride there and try and keep my mind occupied on the children at the preschools and thinking of fun lessons I can teach them. But, the only thing at this point that could make me feel any better was to be with my fiancé “james”.  I started thinking what he would say to me in this situation “megan everything will be ok and you will be fine” so I started repeating that in my head and we then arrived at the hospital. We went inside and the di that was with me “who is GREAT” took care of everything and I had a blood test done for the 7 letter word and blood drawn to check for bacteria. I was still repeating in my head what james would say to me while waiting on the results…it was a grueling 15 minutes waiting for my results. I got the results and they both read NEGATIVE!!! I exhaled and a wave of relief came over me!!!! I talked with the doctor who was from South Africa and she explained it could be a number of things since I had only been in Malawi for ten days: heat exhaustion, food, water, or just my body getting use to my new surroundings. I told her I felt a little embarrassed for getting myself so worked-up over all of this and she told me not to be, because if it had been something serious and I had waited to go to the hospital it could have gotten a lot worse. Soooo  an extremely important lesson to learn from this is “ if you don’t feel good don’t hesitate to go get checked-out!!!!” 

  the di and I then went across the street to a bakery and I ordered cheese cake, chocolate cake, a cream soda, a dozen cookies and ate and drank the soda like my palate had never experienced these goodies before.  I had lost a few lbs from spending the early morning in the bathroom so I was determined to get them all back!!  They didn’t stay in my system long but I deff enjoyed consuming them.  On my way back to the school I still wasn’t feeling well …i rolled the window down and allowed myself to be engulfed by the morning sun and cool breeze.   When we got closer to chilangoma; I started thinking of the children I had seen laying in a corner or on a seed bag at their schools…knowing their 7 letter word test wouldn’t have read negative like mine did…and who didn’t have the leisure to hop in a car and go to the hospital as I did…and then I was overcome by guilt from my gluttons’ actions at the bakery… I returned to my room and laid in my bed the remainder of the day; I couldn’t help but to think of how unfair it was for all of these sick children in chilangoma…i then I reminded myself why I was here…

yesterday was quite the adventure!! i needed to go into one of the little towns "Lunzu" outside of chilangoma to get a few items. there is only one kind of  transportation from the college and that is by one of the two trucks that are on the campus. the trucks usually are leaving everyday from the campus at 7am & 9am & 4pm. you have to coordinated with the drivers a day before you need to go to town. the truck sits out in front of the common area around the designated time; it's smart to get there early and try to get a seat inside of the truck in the cab area otherwise you will be stuck sitting in the back of the truck and, the Malawians will cram around 20 people on some days...and yesterday happened to be one of those days.

here is a pic of the people piling into the truck to go to Lunzu

 i was sitting in the back of the truck with two di's (development instructors) from England and we had our backs up against the glass of the truck and everyone proceeded to jump into the truck...in my mind i was thinking "there is no way in hell all of these people are going to fit in here" and i was astonished the way they started maneuvering themselves to create space. it was a very bumpy ride but the scenery was beautiful. when we arrived "Lunzu" we jumped out and started to scatter in different directions through the market.

Lunzu

mini buses (they are taxis here, but they cram 20 people in these things and live chickens too)

the truck parks right outside a little restaurant and it will be departing from that spot in an hour. it's very important to let your supervisor back at the campus know before you leave where you are going...it may sounds childish but for safety reasons it makes perfect sense! i was a little scared because i had never been to Lunzu before and everyone was starring at me but, i started walking around with the other di's and realize there was nothing to be scared of. All of these new faces were starring at me because they were just as curious about me as i was of them. we walked around through the market and i was able to get some of the things i needed. then we sat down in this little restaurant type place and had a COLD coca cola; i must say there is something very refreshing about drinking a really cold coca cola out of a very old glass coke bottle. i sat there and enjoyed every drop of my coke and, just studied my surroundings. i wanted to make sure that i knew exactly what stores had what in them so the next time i came i wouldn't need anyone's assistants.

here are some pictures i took at the preschool i went to today...

this is one of the many balls that passback donated

riding my bike to the preschool with my guard "Fredison" in front of me

first day at two of the preschools

i'm speechless after leaving two of the preschools today... the kids look just like they do on the really sad tv commercials... the first school the kids were all very happy, sang, danced and, played games, they all wanted to shake my hand or touch me...i cant put into words the emotions that over came me...i was so happy but at the same time so sad...they wouldn't take their eyes off of me...their preschool was a little brick room with dirt floors and nothing inside. the teacher was using a leaf from outside: a piece of a black garbage bag, and a red water bottle top, to teach the children colors. while i was observing the the teacher teach these kids, i was looking around the room at all of the black olive eyes thinking "im so glad im here to help and i hope i can make an impact on each and everyone of you." the second preschool i went to didnt have the happy vibe of the first school, a lot of the kids had malaria..runny noises / coughing / and just didnt seem to be as exultant as the other students. the preschool unlike the first one was in a little hut and had benches made out of clay in  rows of six on each side. a lot of the kids didnt have shoes, and at the front of the class room there was a little girl about 5 i think, out cold on a rice bag "because she was running a fever from malaria." and had flies swarming around her. On my bike ride back to the TTC me and my guard cut through the soccer field and there was a huge cow and a group of guys with it. they had the cow on a rope and then began to kill it for its meat and sale to the local villages...needless to say i skipped lunch today...


so i have my work cut out for me here "FA SURE"  all i wanted to do was take all of the kids to get some  pizza and to the doctors....this definitely has been an experience that i will never forget and this was my first day at the schools... the Malawians also say "fa sure or sure" after just about everything they say in english when they are agreeing with what someone has said...kind of like when in the states we are listening to someone else talk and we respond "yeah" so the other person knows that we are listening to them. they also say "thank you" after they get up from a table or are just leaving your presence" which i like...

packing list

i wanted to provide a packing list of items that you should buy before your departure; i had a hard time trying to find a specific list for my trip. so i decided it would be a good idea to purchase the missoni notebook from target and assemble my own packing list. i started researching malawi online and speaking with my boss (sam) and co-worker (jon) whom have both been to malawi for volunteer work.

first on my list was donations for the kids...

i started racking my brain on what i could bring to some of the preschools and the youth center in chilangoma; while fancying it to be something that i enjoyed as a child too. playing soccer was a huge part of my childhood and something i loved and still do today. so i started emailing local soccer companies/stores in my area "raleigh, nc, usa" asking for a few donated kid soccer balls.  i emailed about five of the companies/stores before i received a response. one of the companies that i emailed "eurosport" was a company that i had been ordering soccer equipment from since my youth years and continued to do so through college. i heard back from the president of eurosport and she commended me on my up coming trip and explained how eurosport had a program through US Soccer Foundation called (PASSBACK) that donates new and used soccer equipment all over the world. she gave me the link to the program

http://www.ussoccerfoundation.org/site/c.ipIQKXOvFoG/b.5438463/k.CC62/Passback.htm

 and, i filled-out an application and my boss and i were very surprised and pleased when we heard that they approved my application. they were willing to donated all of the kids soccer equipment that i could carry. "I cant thank PASSBACK enough for their generosity. so i would find something that has a meaning to you that you remember from your childhood that you could share with the kids in your local area where you will be volunteering.


 second on my list was medications...

-medicine for malaria which is no joke in a lot of the african countries (malarone)
-med's for uti infections or bacteria infections (metronidazore)
-med's for travelers diarrhea (ciprofloxacn)
-med's for anxiety for your flight and while you are in africa (xanax)
-pain med's  (ibuprofen or advil)
-a personal water purifier that you can use for your drinking water and to brush your teeth with (steripen)
-a first aid kit (look on the rei website and read what is in there traveling first aid kit and custom one to your personal needs) it's cheaper to do it this way and you dont end-up with a bunch of stuff you wont need
-it's good to know your blood type before you go
-1 or 2 syringes (in case you need some type of injection while you are traveling)

other med's...

vitmain c / airborne / iron pills / water purifying tablets / thermometer / lots of sunscreen (get 50 or 70  for your face and 30 - 50 for your arms and legs because the sun is unforgiving here) / lots of insect repellent (the highest deet i would use is 40) / PERMETHRIN  is a MUST buy!! you apply this to all of your clothing and mosquito net and pillow case the day before you leave (read the directions on the bottle) / mosquito net / 3 or 4 sting ease


toiletry items...


-tampons / body lotion, deodorant  (no scent) / face wash / body soap and shampoo and conditioner (Dr. Bommer) / 2 toothbrushes / razor and blades (3 months worth)  / fingernail clippers and file / toothpaste / hand sanitizers (liquid and wipes) / tweezers / hand mirror (there are hardly any mirrors here) / lip balm

general clothing...put PERMETHRIN on all of your clothing besides your underwear!




-rain jacket / fleece / 2 bandannas / 3 pairs of convertible pants (north face) / 3 long sleeve button up sun shirts (patogonia has some great ones) / 7 pairs of smart wool socks / sunhat / umbrella  ( for sun and rain) / lots of underwear and sports bras / mosquito socks "sounds funny i know" i got a pair from rei and i sleep better at night know they are one my feet (TRUST ME) / one bathing suit / 7 t-shirts / 1 long sleeve shirts to sleep in / 2 pairs of scrubs to sleep in /

shoes...


-flip flops ( havaianas & rainbows) you need to wear them while you are in the shower "for sure" / rain boots and boots to protect you from any creature in the bush (hunter boots) / hiking boots



miscellaneous items...

-water bottle (nalgene) / swiss army knife / converter (same as british converter) / vacuum bags in all sizes (they are great for packing and very useful while you are in africa, they help keep insects/bugs out of your stuff and helps to keep any food you brought fresh) / cheap watch / ipod / kendell / lots of batteries (lithium) / headlamp / camera / flash light / flash drive /  2 large quick drying towels / sun glasses and croakies / cards / a backpack and a cover (osprey makes good ones) / camel pack /sharpies / pillow case / one single set of sheets / headphones / 2 small traveling fans (they help you fall asleep at night) / lots of cliff or power bars ( i have a bad sweet truth and they hit the spot while  keeping me full of protein) / ID belt  / duffel bag luggage that rolls (LL BEAN)

i hope this list can help with your packing....