MALAWI: YEAR 2

I want to thank you for all of the support, prayers, encouragement, cards and emails I received while I volunteered for my second year in Malawi. Also for all your support for my parents when I over stayed my year and wasn’t sure when I was coming home. Running around barefoot, swimming in the lake, and talking with strangers…all things we are told not to do but which make the world the amazing place that it is…well, at least I took my anti-malaria pills!

THE PLAN When I returned to Malawi I was planning to help start and implement a girls program through the Synod. This began with an intensive language course…I spent a little less than 2 weeks with a missionary from South Africa who had been in Malawi for over 40 years. Mornings were spent one-on-one learning grammar…I know lots of rules (though I still have trouble putting them into practice). In the afternoons I went to a nearby village with Amai Chigaga and took part in their day-to-day work from cooking to harvesting to prayer meeting to carrying water. A wonderful experience that helped to jumpstart my Chichewa…However, my contacts with the Youth Department of the Synod were fired and I got redirected—>

EBENEZER SCHOOL After realizing that my days in the Youth Department were over, I went back to the school where I worked during my first year. As the curriculum is mostly American, there were things that I could help decipher and explain. I helped in the second grade class with math and with reading in the other classes. I also helped in the office with the computer, laminator, copy machine, etc…and for a few months was even headmistress! When the third term began I was asked to take the second grade class as that teacher had moved away, so I was back to teaching mostly full time.

HOSPITAL I also helped at the Mission hospital about 2 days a week. I began by helping keep notes for the epilepsy clinic on Tuesday mornings. Africa Burn Relief (American organization) pays for all of the burn patients and, as epilepsy is the largest cause of burns in third world countries, they also pay for the epilepsy treatment. They wanted to know if patients were coming back, if the treatment was helping, if they were taking their medication, etc...I also helped to put patient files together (all the paper work for the doctors to fill in for the patients) and do computer entry for some of the government programs that pay for health care.

COMMUNITY I made some wonderful friends in the Nkhoma community: long term volunteers, missionaries, medical students from other countries, and Malawians at the school and at the hospital. It was a great time to be there and to feel that I was helping and useful. Though I felt at a loss in the beginning when my proposed plan fell to the wayside, it was an amazing year and a half. With the support that I received (from here and there) I felt that I was in God’s hands and I am so grateful for that.

TRAVEL While there I did some traveling… this time mostly in private cars instead of public transport. Many weekends were spent at Lake Malawi relaxing, swimming and eating fish dinners. Over Christmas I traveled with Ute (eye doctor in Nkhoma from Germany) to Mozambique to swim in the Indian Ocean and try out my nonexistent Portuguese and to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls, go on safari, and admire the astonishingly beautiful and varied landscape we found. People everywhere were extremely helpful, positive, friendly and hopeful for a better future.
Once again it was hard to leave Malawi, but I'm glad to be home.

Zikomo kwambiri (thanks a lot).

beach

Then off to the beach (I can’t stay away from the water) with mom, dad, aunt Liz, and family friends Mike and Diane. Beautiful weather, wonderful food (I’ve missed shrimp!) good waves and plenty of down time to read, chat, watch the democratic convention, and US open and to play some tennis our selves.

housesitting

Can’t get away from it! though this is a much shorter timespan to house sit (just the weekend), here I am in the mountains of NC with an amazing view of a valley, beautiful sunsets and a big black dog named Cokie. I was asked to walk Cokie only if I felt like it but that was no problem. the first night I waited until after dinner as it was a hot day…went out to find her, put her leash on as she was in the driveway (ready I thought) and then she turned around and went in the house…no walk on her schedule. But we walked both of the next days (but she only wanted one a day—as I tried for a second one and she refused)…some of the views I got…perks of housesitting: television, internet, air conditioning…although there is really nothing on television worth watching even with 800 channels!—well we did find “the princess bride” though the tv cut took out some important (in my opinion) scenes.

signs of the times

so i went shopping the other day with mom. just running errands and picking up this and that. we went into one store and this was outside...


seemed all natural to me until i realized it was still august...the end of august but still august...and halloween isn't until the end of october...2 months away. i knew/know that we start christmas too early...i have to try very hard not to listen to the christmas music on the radio before december but this was a new one that i noticed...

it took me a few minutes to realize that the timing was off and i put that partially down to having spent so much time in the southern hemisphere where the seasons are opposite from here...in new zealand the trees were changing color in april but when i saw them i just assumed it was sept/october as my wanderings didn't really have me dealing with the date each day

shock...or not

i really don't know where or how to start...so here goes

coming home hasn't been nearly as hard as i thought it would be. i don't know if it is that i've done it enough times now that i know what to expect and have braced myself for it or if i'm still in denial and it is coming or if it really was time to come home.

i found the time difference easier to deal with than i thought i would. that i think has to do with being in NYC for the transition time--staying up later and having no plans so no rush to get up in the mornings (until we had to get the moving van and wanted to do that early). though trying to keep in touch with everyone in the other time zone takes some juggling...

i still expected power cuts in the evenings and as yet haven't had any which has been very nice...occasionally something happens and i forget where i am and expect another one (this is over a month out)

internet: home is still dial up so i visit the coffee shop or hotel lobby to do any of my online stuff. last week i was trying to skype and it worked for a while and then would randomly cut me off...after 3 times it was decided that it was kind of like i was still in malawi!