Life as a Minibus
There's room for just ten,
But twenty seven will do,
Old man on your lap.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Highs of last week!
I haven't posted a blog in some time because my phone died, but I recently took it to the witch doctor who brought it back to life... Not. I surprisingly took it to a tech guy who lives 50km from my village! Malawi is full if so many surprises!
Ok, so now for an update as to what I have been doing! In September, all 16 of the environment volunteers in my cohort went to Dedza for 2 weeks of training. The first week we took our counterparts, the person in our village who we have identified as a good leader and a passionate inspiration who will pass on what we teach to them to their fellow community members in the village. Dasha and I both decided to bring women, Happy and Nazbeth, which was good but also posed some challenges, which we hoped would be crushed by the potential benefits!
Both Happy and Nazbeth had NEVER done anything like an official training and they couldn't even remember the last time they had been out of the village for more than a day. Obviously, there was a bit of a "deer in the headlights," like effect, along with the added culture shock from going from being around 1 American in village, to 16! They both also didn't complete high school so they didn't speak English and though translation was provided, I still doubted how much they got out of the whole thing due to the expected communication breakdown! However, after the second week, spent without the counterparts and after I returned to my village, I was surprised and inspired to hear from my counterpart, Happy, how much she learned and how happy she was to have gone with me to Dedza!
All in all,September turned out to be a pretty amazing month and these are a few of the highs from just one of its great weeks!
Highs of the week:
1. Returning to my village after being away for two weeks for training and my neighbor girl running to great me!
2. Twenty-seven women coming to my women's group meeting!
3. The day after returning to village, when sitting at my house, my neighbor kids came to hang out. They saw my water dish for my cat was empty and told me that my kitten was thirsty. Since I didn't have any water and was not feeling motivated to make the 400m trek to go get more, I told them I couldn't give him water. They quickly took the bowl to their house, filled it with water, brought it back and brought Kambuku, my cat, to the bowl to drink!
4. My neighbor, after 4 months of work, finally finishing my chicken coop!
5. Buying a "beautiful chicken" from my neighbor only to find out, it's a rooster.
6. Then buying a "chibwenzi" (girlfriend) for my lone rooster so he has a reason to stay!
7. Being given a little, black, white and brown spotted dog by a random lady while riding my bike.
8. Naming my little dog, Kahlulu, which means rabbit in Chichewa since she's got such large ears!
9. Going to my friend's house, finding out that she was pregnant (Cultural note: in Malawi, when you're pregnant you keep it a secret. If someone notices, it's a bad omen to mention it or touch the woman's stomach) then being asked to name the sweet, new little boy!
10. Despite all of what has limited my village menu so far, such as no electricity, as I essentially cook on a camp stove or over a camp fire, limited ingredients, I live on tomatoes, onions, wheat flour, corn flour, beans, oil, occasionally eggplant and garlic, pumpkin greens bean greens and mustard greens and have no running water, I have finally learned to master the Malawian kitchen and whip out some pretty bomb ass meals, like pumpkin curry, eggplant pasta, and tacos!
11. Writing an excessively enjoyable amount of haikus with a fellow Peace Corps volunteer. At this rate, I'll be a haiku legend by Christmas!
12. The overall feeling of acceptance, trust and friendship I now feel amongst those in my community!
Heck yes! Things are really beginning to feel like they falling into place. I will keep you posted on how October compares, in terms on awesomeness!
Ok, so now for an update as to what I have been doing! In September, all 16 of the environment volunteers in my cohort went to Dedza for 2 weeks of training. The first week we took our counterparts, the person in our village who we have identified as a good leader and a passionate inspiration who will pass on what we teach to them to their fellow community members in the village. Dasha and I both decided to bring women, Happy and Nazbeth, which was good but also posed some challenges, which we hoped would be crushed by the potential benefits!
Both Happy and Nazbeth had NEVER done anything like an official training and they couldn't even remember the last time they had been out of the village for more than a day. Obviously, there was a bit of a "deer in the headlights," like effect, along with the added culture shock from going from being around 1 American in village, to 16! They both also didn't complete high school so they didn't speak English and though translation was provided, I still doubted how much they got out of the whole thing due to the expected communication breakdown! However, after the second week, spent without the counterparts and after I returned to my village, I was surprised and inspired to hear from my counterpart, Happy, how much she learned and how happy she was to have gone with me to Dedza!
All in all,September turned out to be a pretty amazing month and these are a few of the highs from just one of its great weeks!
Highs of the week:
1. Returning to my village after being away for two weeks for training and my neighbor girl running to great me!
2. Twenty-seven women coming to my women's group meeting!
3. The day after returning to village, when sitting at my house, my neighbor kids came to hang out. They saw my water dish for my cat was empty and told me that my kitten was thirsty. Since I didn't have any water and was not feeling motivated to make the 400m trek to go get more, I told them I couldn't give him water. They quickly took the bowl to their house, filled it with water, brought it back and brought Kambuku, my cat, to the bowl to drink!
4. My neighbor, after 4 months of work, finally finishing my chicken coop!
5. Buying a "beautiful chicken" from my neighbor only to find out, it's a rooster.
6. Then buying a "chibwenzi" (girlfriend) for my lone rooster so he has a reason to stay!
7. Being given a little, black, white and brown spotted dog by a random lady while riding my bike.
8. Naming my little dog, Kahlulu, which means rabbit in Chichewa since she's got such large ears!
9. Going to my friend's house, finding out that she was pregnant (Cultural note: in Malawi, when you're pregnant you keep it a secret. If someone notices, it's a bad omen to mention it or touch the woman's stomach) then being asked to name the sweet, new little boy!
10. Despite all of what has limited my village menu so far, such as no electricity, as I essentially cook on a camp stove or over a camp fire, limited ingredients, I live on tomatoes, onions, wheat flour, corn flour, beans, oil, occasionally eggplant and garlic, pumpkin greens bean greens and mustard greens and have no running water, I have finally learned to master the Malawian kitchen and whip out some pretty bomb ass meals, like pumpkin curry, eggplant pasta, and tacos!
11. Writing an excessively enjoyable amount of haikus with a fellow Peace Corps volunteer. At this rate, I'll be a haiku legend by Christmas!
12. The overall feeling of acceptance, trust and friendship I now feel amongst those in my community!
Heck yes! Things are really beginning to feel like they falling into place. I will keep you posted on how October compares, in terms on awesomeness!
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