Parting Shots

Well, I'm sad to report that my placement came to an unexpected and early end. After learning that the work I had come to do in Malawi had already been completed (the books are published!), staff at both MIE and VSO Malawi worked hard to find an alternative, but an appropriate role for me couldn't be identified. So back to the drawing board. I'm hoping that VSO Canada will be able to find a new placement for me soon.

I'm thankful for the experiences I've had in Malawi and am grateful for having met so many wonderful volunteers who are committed to contributing their skills and knowledge in the hopes that this country will prosper.

For those friends who donated to VSO on my behalf, I want you to rest assured that your donations have been put to good use! You donations will continue to support the amazing work of many VSO volunteers -

like my friend Rosy, whose work at Kamuzu Central Hospital fills me with awe and respect;

Dharini who has braved a rabies scare and is volunteering in the remote, far north of Malawi with the Chitipa District AIDS Coordinating Committee; Ling, a wonderful doctor at Rumphi District Hospital; Hanna, an amazing German midwife, who is volunteering in Blantyre; my Scottish pal, Anna, who is volunteering with Zomba Mental Hospital; and Chris and Jennifer Edwards, both doctors from the UK, who are stationed in the 'armpit' of Malawi at Trinity Hospital in Nsanje...and other friends like Rod and Carol who are volunteering to improve school life and access to education in northern Uganda; Jessica in beautiful, northern Thailand; China and Ale, two talented industrial designers helping disabled furniture makers in Kenya....and hundreds of other VSO volunteers around the globe! (click on the volunteer names I've listed above if you'd like to visit their blogs and read about their inspiring work!)

I sincerely want to thank everyone that has been part of this volunteer journey - those of you who financially contributed, friends and family at home and abroad that sent me encouraging messages to keep the homesickness at bay (especially you, Kristin & Tamara!), local volunteers that shared their tips and tricks to help ease the transition into a new country and new culture, the volunteers in my intake group that were able to commiserate and laugh through it all (especially you, Anna!), and VSO Malawi staff for their support. There are so many things that I am grateful to have experienced and so many things that I miss about Malawi such as...

the kindness, patience and humour of my colleagues at the Malawi Institute of Education....

the quirky signs of businesses dotting the landscape that always made me smile no matter how rough my day was...(my favourite was the 'God Willing Beauty Salon')...

the beauty of the landscape around my home...

the smiling faces of the children I'd see each day on campus and how this would put everything into perspective...

the amazing wildlife that left me with wide eyes and open mouth...

the human strength and perseverance I witnessed that humbled me...

the innocence, imagination and innovation of children...

the excitement of exploring new places with new friends...

getting filthy and being okay with it...

and especially the wonderful friends I made...like Caleb, a VSO volunteer from Kenya, who worked with me and helped me in countless ways every day...

Issa, my neighbour, who helped me settle into the community and fed me local Malawian food like nsima...

Grace, who would visit me at my home just to chat...she has three siblings named Ephless, Promise and Bright...she aspires to be a journalist one day...

Vella, a strong and soft-spoken young woman who comes from a family of nine...she volunteers with the Domasi Youth Alive group...

Chimwemwe, a beautiful, painfully shy girl who would visit me and bring mangoes from her family's farm...

and Malawi itself.

All Other Places Are Tame

Africa

The fascination Africa has always held for those who have visited her shores has hitherto been the fascination of Mistress, never of the wife.

She held out no lure, for she was no courtesan. A man came to her in his eager youth, asking, praying that she would give him that which should make life good, and she trusted and opened her arms.

What she had to give she gave freely, generously, and there was no stint, no lack. And he took. Her charm he counted on as a matter of course, her tenderness was hid due, her passion his pleasure, but the fascination he barely admitted could not keep him.

Though she had given all, she had no rights and, when other desires called he left her, left her with words of pity that were an injury, of regret that were an insult.

But all this is changing.

Africa holds. The man who has known Africa longs for her.

In the sordid city street she remembers the might and loneliness of her forests, by the rippling brook he remembers the wide rivers rushing tumultuous from the lakes, in the night when on the roof the rain's splashing drearily he remembers the mellow tropical nights, the sky of velvet far away, the stars like points of gold, the warm moonlight that with its deeper shadows made a fairer world.

Even the languor and the heat he longs for, the white surf on yellow sand of the beaches, the thick jungle growth gently matted, rankly luxuriant, pulsating with the irrepressible life of the tropics.

All other places.... are tame.

- Mary Gaunt 1910

The joy of books!

Well, I’m sure many of you are wondering if I’ve actually done any work while I’ve been here in Malawi. To be honest, other than editing a few documents and a research report, things have been off to a very slow start. This is largely due to the fact that my placement seems to have created a great deal of confusion at MIE, my place of employment – and I think I’m the most confused of all! I’m trying to remain hopeful and waiting patiently for it to get sorted out…but in the meantime, here is some information about the project I came to work on…

The Read Malawi project was created in response to a need in Malawi. The need is for quality learning materials for primary school students. Read Malawi is based on the belief that if learners are to become literate readers and writers, they must have:
- quality materials to read
- an adequate quantity of materials that ensure frequent opportunities for individual and group engagement
- guidance and support in how to become successful in reading
- opportunities to make connection to literacy in their communities
- the chance to envision themselves becoming the authors of future books and texts.

Some quick info about Read Malawi:
- a unique book development program
- USAID sponsored
- Partnerships include Ministry Of Education Science and Technology, Malawi Institute of Education, University of Texas San Antonio, University of Texas, IED, Intel, RealeStudios, and UCB
- distribution of a minimum of 2,500,000 books

The phases of project implementation and roll out include:
- pilot study in Zomba schools (base line data collection)
- workshop for teachers, head teachers and primary education advisors (PEA’s) on Read Aloud
- practice of Read Aloud in schools
- follow up support visits from head teachers, PEA’s and MIE
- full teacher training in the Read Malawi model
- follow up support visits from head teachers, PEA’s and MIE
- full implementation of the model
- more follow up support visits from head teachers, PEA’s and MIE
- pilot study in Zomba school (post data collection)
- revision of model based on feedback
- national role out of program in over 1000 schools
- evaluation study

(I took all of these photos at the primary school on campus for the children of MIE staff.)

Snaps - Senga Bay & Kande

This past week I attended two conferences - first, the VSO Peer Conference at Senga Bay, Lake Malawi. This conference was aimed at bringing volunteers working in the education programme area together to share learnings, challenges and successes. The second conference, the VSO National Conference, was held at Kande Beach, Lake Malawi and was for volunteers in all of the 4 programme areas - education, HIV/AIDS, health, and secure livelihoods. Some photos from the week of conferencing...

Birds at Murande Cottages, venue of the VSO Peer Support Conference. Love the one on the right. Crazy bird.

I love these massive, colourful trees. Not sure what they're called, but the burst of bright orange always takes my breath away. This one is near the bus station in Balaka.

The blooms up close.

Senga Bay fishing boats, early morning.

Sunrise at Senga Bay. It was well worth getting up at 5 am to see this.

Calm waters at Senga Bay.

Bobbles takes in gorgeous sunrise at Senga Bay.

Kande Beach, VSO National Conference. This is the dorm room building.

Inside the dorm room- can you sense the excitement?

Somewhere along the way.

Fishermen setting out for the day, Senga Bay.

Some shops along the way.

The bar at Kande Beach, a good venue for learning. We all got a good laugh when the dog joined us, front and centre.

Fish anyone? At a stop, men try to sell us very fresh fish through the car window.

Bigger Is Not Better

They say everything is bigger in Texas. Well, whoever said that has obviously never been to Malawi. At least when it comes to bugs.

Even though I grew up on a farm and am used to spiders, ants, weevils, and other creepy-crawlies, the bugs of Malawi have united and instilled a fear of epic proportions in me. I’m afraid. Very, very afraid.

It all culminated with The Great Flying Ant Infestation of 2010. Participation (of ants) was high, and the frenzy (of ants and myself) was tangible. This past weekend, I returned from a week away, having attended the VSO Peer Support Conference and the VSO National Conference. After a great week of learning and sharing at Lake Malawi, I was welcomed home by about a million (no exaggeration) massive flying ants that seemed to have had their own conference in my bathroom. A lovely carpet of dead (sleeping? hibernating?) ants covered the entire floor of the bathroom. But not all of them were dead. Some where in mid-flight when I opened the door, and others, sensing an intruder, seemed to immediately take flight and aim directly for me. This infestation was like a plague of biblical proportions. I fled the scene.

After regaining my composure (which I lost during my yelping, flailing retreat) and mustering up some confidence, I returned armed with a can of DOOM. Ah, DOOM insect spray – the savior and trusty companion of many a volunteer. The name says it all. I trusted what I read on the can – “Deadly Killing Action” – and sprayed practically the entire contents of this lethal stuff into my bathroom. It seems that DOOM is highly toxic and somewhat effective. The next morning, when I dared to peek into ant central, I discovered mostly dead ants (a few seemed just disoriented), a dead baby gecko who was an unfortunate casualty, a smattering of some dead bugs that looked like wasps, and some twitching Mother-of-All-Ants. These ones were HUGE. Black, shiny, invincible, and five times the size of the others. They gave DOOM a good run for its money.

James (the housekeeper) arrived soon after and swept up the ant carcasses. Thank god for James. The poor man not only has to come and clean up heaps of dead insects every day, but he also has to contend with me, cowering behind his back, whimpering and pointing to my newest insect discovery.

So, all this makes me wonder – will I eventually overcome my fear after repeated and continuous exposure to insects? Normally, I wouldn’t be so scared – but it’s the sheer size of the bugs that is most unsettling. They all seem monstrous here. I’ve seen spiders that are the size of my hand and look like they’re wearing fur coats. I found a grass-hoppery-thing on my laundry yesterday and I swear it was the length of my hand and looked like it was made of plastic.

Speaking of laundry – that’s the source of another fear. I’ve been ironing all of my laundry. Every article of clothing, every bed sheet, every towel. Yes, I iron my towels. Trust me, when the temperature is a sweltering 36C, ironing is the last thing you want to be doing. But my ironing is a carefully planned pre-emptive attack on the tumbu fly. I fear the little tumbu fly. I hope we never meet, and just to be cautious, I’ve gone on the defensive. The tumbu fly is also called “putsi” and it happily lays its eggs on laundry drying on a line outside or on soil. When the eggs come into contact with human flesh (when you put our clothes on or you lie on your bed sheets), they hatch and the larvae bury themselves under your skin. But wait, it gets better. The larvae under your skin form a crop of ‘boils’ with live maggots inside. So, you have live maggots living in boils in your skin. That’s all. No biggie. Given the alternative, ironing doesn’t seem so bad after all. So, those are my sources of comfort these days – a can of DOOM and an iron.

Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Please leave a comment below! I love comments.

Weekend Getaway

I had an interesting weekend, with a visit to both Zomba and Liwonde National Park.

I thought it was time to try a solo trip into Zomba using the public transportation system. I made plans with Anna to meet in Zomba Town for lunch on Saturday. From my home on the MIE campus, it’s a 30-minute walk to the main road, where public transport runs. I left home later than expected, so by the time I reached the main road, the sun was already high overhead, and I was covered in a film of sweat and a layer of dust. A minibus (a minivan) quickly pulled up to the side of the road and I yelled out “Zomba?” to the driver’s assistant (the guy who scuttles people into the van and collects their money), to which his reply was an enthusiastic “Yes!”

I climbed on board. A word about these minibuses – they are in a state of utter disrepair to say the least. Usually basic things like seatbelts, windows, instrument panel, fuel gage, etc. do not work. Often, widows are missing, and assortments of seats taken from other vehicles are installed. There’s usually 1.5-2 bodies squeezed onto a seat meant for one person, so in the end, roughly 15-20 people are packed in very snuggly. Add in the sacks of flour, suitcases, baskets of vegetables and cages of chickens and you have an authentic Malawian experience.

The 15 km journey on the main road took 30 minutes when I was travelling to Zomba, and more than an hour when I came back home. Why? Well, there’s a fuel crisis in Malawi, so there never seems to be enough fuel in any vehicle. At one point, we ran out of gas, so the driver grabbed what looked to be a one-liter bottle from under his seat and added it to the vehicle. The vehicle then refused to start, so a few of the passengers got out to do a push-start. We were back on the road, but only briefly. We then stopped at a gas station to get more fuel, but they didn’t have any fuel at all, so had to go to a second gas station. And then the driver decided to have one of the tires changed. On the way back home, it was an equally slow trip – with many stops along the way to wait for more passengers to fill up seats. I was shuffled from one vehicle to another twice during the trip, so that vehicles were at full capacity. With the stifling heat, pressing bodies and constant delays, it was a tiring 15 km drive. When I got dropped off in Domasi, it was another 30 minute walk along dusty paths back to the house, and this left me questioning how often I really want to travel into Zomba – though it was lovely to see Anna and I really enjoyed hearing about how she is settling into her placement at Zomba Mental Hospital. She reported that for over 350 patients, there are 2 night nurses and for the 97 patients in the acute ward, there is only one nurse! The understaffing and lack of resources is astounding. I’m very curious to see how her (and Nick’s) work will unfold in the coming months.

I was planning to stay home, relax and read on Sunday, but was unexpectedly invited by the American Read Malawi staff to join them on an excursion to Liwonde National Park. I’ve been very eager to visit one of Malawi’s national parks or wildlife reserves, so I jumped at the opportunity!

Some quick info about Liwonde National Park:
- it’s 548 sq kilometers
- the park has python vines, mopane trees, countless baobab trees, reeds swamp, floodplain grasslands, tall grass savanna and wild flowers, including lilies and orchids
- the most prominent large mammals in the park are elephant (more than 900) and hippo (2000)
- the 2000 hippos live along 40km of the Shire River that cuts through the park and this is one of the densest hippo populations on the African continent
- crocodiles, impala, waterbuck, bushbuck, warthog, vervet monkeys and yellow baboons are very common
- there are some hyenas, leopards, and jackals
- African wild dog and lions have been hunted out but some from Mozambique do pass through the park
- there are 11 black rhinos in a guarded and fenced sanctuary in the park
- there are more than 400 bird species! It’s a birding paradise!

I have a feeling that the visit to this park will be one of the highlights of my time here in Malawi. It was an incredible experience, to see these animals in the wild –and so many of them as well!

The setting is absolutely spectacular – the massive, strangely-shaped baobas, the scorched earth with vein-like cracks, the cartoonish warthogs scurrying around with their tails in the air like antennas, the hippos peeking out of the water, the awe-inspiring stately elephants, the graceful impala bounding through the tall grass, the shockingly bright green, orange and blue birds flitting between leafless trees, the fish eagle diving into the water, and the 10-feet-high termite hills. It was amazing to be surrounded by so much life.

Some photos from Liwonde National Park…

Sign at entrance to Liwonde National Park, Malawi.

Warthog mother with her babies.

From a distance, animals along the bank of the Shire River.

A female impala.

A male sable antelope.

A herd of impala.

Not sure what this is - maybe a waterbuck or kudu? 

These photos were taken with a zoom lens, so we were not as close to the elephants as it appears.

Elephant.

African openbill.

A terrapin.

Malawi has somewhere between 650 to 750 species of birds.  I'm not sure what these ones are!

African fish eagle.

A male greater kudu.

Impala grazing along the river.

Peeking hippos.

Hippos with giant termite hill in the background.