tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1198729449729164552024-03-12T21:31:17.708-04:00BIG HAT NEWSupdates from a chick with a big hatRENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-16345009915667483152013-03-30T05:29:00.001-04:002013-03-30T05:29:29.198-04:00Maji Zuwa & Me
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My mama sent a text this week saying “People want blogs!
Love you!” so I figured I may as well write to meet demand <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span> I apologize for
basically being the worst blogger ever these past two years. Soon I’ll be home
and you guys will wish I’d just shut up about Malawi so figure I’d best take
advantage while everyone is still interested, haha.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So I wrote a <a href="http://peacecorpsrenee.blogspot.com/2012/07/vwirani-maji-zuwa.html" target="_blank">pretty brief post </a>about Maji Zuwa in the
past- but now I want to write the whole story Maji Zuwa has had a huge impact
on my service and is a place I’ll be in touch with for the rest of my life. And
you should all hear why.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Back in July 2011, I went to <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Maji-Zuwa-Water-Sun-Resort/327531220677106?fref=ts" target="_blank">Maji Zuwa [Water & Sun Resort]</a> for the first time with my former sitemate Meg and my BFF Jay. I knew
nothing about the place, except that it was kind of new. In the lakeshore area
where I live, there a lot of picturesque lodges- many of which have crabby,
curmudgeon old expat owners-not to judge. I mean if you want to be a crabby old
lodge owner, great- but I’m not going to be very inclined to visit your place.
On this day for the first time, I met Matt Maroon- the American, very young owner
(December 2012 turned 29). He hung out us for the day as we enjoyed some
Carlsberg and the menu specialty, chapati tacos. We learned from reading the
back of the menu that Matt (in addition to being the owner of Maji Zuwa) is a
professor at nearby Univeristy of Livingstonia, and founder of the <a href="http://www.determinedtodevelop.org/" target="_blank">non-profit Determined to Develop</a>, which sponsors dozens of kids’ school fees. We were all
suitably impressed. We got Matt’s phone number, and he quickly became our
friend and Maji Zuwa became great getaway from our lives in the village.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Over the coming months, over many shared meals and beers
with Matt, we learned a lot more about him. He came to Malawi in 2006 as a (non-Peace
Corps) volunteer, teaching at a school in Karonga. He was so moved by his
experience here, making many friends and Malawian family members along the way,
he wanted to stay. Over the coming years, living between Malawi and getting his
Master’s in Anthropology in the USA, he found investors to build Maji Zuwa.
Maji Zuwa is more than a lodge. Besides being tied to Matt’s non-profit, which
does sustainable community development projects in the area, a dozen or so
orphaned boys live here with Matt. Some of these boys literally helped build
Maji Zuwa from the ground up. And all of them now help to continue to improve
Maji Zuwa’s continuing construction projects, while also attending the local
secondary school. Matt had experience working with underprivileged youth in the
USA and that, along with his warm and friendly personality have provided a
safe, wonderful environment for these boys to grow and succeed. The boys and
Matt are like family to me- and I’ve shared many “family dinners” with them;
every Saturday night is ‘family dinner’, where all the boys and all the Maji
Zuwa guests eat meat and rice together (a real treat of a meal!).<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve had so many great memories with my Maji Zuwa family.
After a particularly trying Friday in the village, I texted Matt about my woes
and he invited to treat me and Jay at Maji Zuwa (covering my food and lodging
costs) to talk it all over. Me, Jay, and Ross spent Cheesemas ’11 here at Maji
Zuwa. I had my amazing 25<sup>th</sup> birthday/4<sup>th</sup> of July party
here- where more than 40 other Peace Corps volunteers attended! And Matt had
bought fireworks in the capital. It was a very memorable birthday. In 2012, I
spent, Halloween, Thanksgiving weekend, Christmas and New Years Eve here at
Maji Zuwa with my family and friends. I’ll never forget those holiday!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Maji Zuwa also attracts “voluntourism” in that it hosts
visitors and gives them opportunity to experience Malawian culture and help
with one of Determined to Develop’s projects. Matt also helps hosts long-term
volunteers at the local secondary school where the boys attend- volunteers who
serve as teachers for at least one term. Some of these volunteers have become
lifelong friends to me! In addition, every summer Matt hosts college students
from his alma mater University of Dayton thru the ETHOS program- a program that
sends undergraduate engineering students to destinations around the world to
complete a summer project. Those students who get to come to Malawi and Maji
Zuwa definitely realize how lucky they are! (and last year they got to attend
my amazing birthday party <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>
). So many out of country visitors have been just as moved by their Maji Zuwa
experience as I have, being here for two years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When I first came to Maji Zuwa- there was no electricity,
one ‘summer hut’ (a covered, sandy area to sit and enjoy drinks and food) and
the main open air bar. Workers would have to go to the local trading center to
get us cold drinks! Now, there are two cement floored summer huts, electricity
and huge TV in the bar, multiple refrigerators and freezers, and a stove/oven
(back in the day everything was just cooked over fire). The bridges to the
chalets are being rebuilt, dorm lodging is being built and most importantly- a
spacious house is being built for Matt and the resident boys (they currently
have been living in the office area of the main/bar building, they are killing
for space!). It’s been amazing to see all these wonderful changes over the past
two years- providing tons of work for local community members to benefit from.
I can’t believe all that has changed, I love this place more and more as time
passes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As you might guess, Matt is a pretty special person and no
blog post could ever do justice to his story or the Maji Zuwa story. Luckily
for you, you will be able to learn about the whole thing in a documentary about
him that is currently being made. As I wrote previously, Director Ben Blair has
been on the ground in Malawi since November, recording the story for a not for
profit documentary. Ben will be here until August, where he will then return to
USA to put together the whole thing for your viewing pleasure. You can <u><a href="http://www.facebook.com/MajiZuwaMovie?fref=ts" target="_blank">learn more about the documentary here</a></u>, and I hope when it is released everyone I
know will be able to see it, so they might experience a little bit of what I
have (and you just might see an interview with yours truly!).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To wrap up, I want to tell a story. Back in July of 2011, I
helped run the Gender and Development Camp in Mzuzu- I believe I wrote a big
long post about it back in the day. One of our first icebreaker games was a name
learning game- everyone stood in a circle. The first person says their name and
does a motion (such as a spin or something) and the second person, says the
first person’s name, does their motion, says their name, and does a motion.
This continues around the circle until everyone is saying a lot of names and
doing a lot of motions! It was the boy’s next to me turn, where he introduced
himself as Frackson and did his motion- a good old fashion hip thrust. I was
floored by this moment of quiet hilarity that I delayed in beginning my turn.
Frackson, along with the rest of our campers, had an enjoyable week of learning
and fun that I will never forget.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Flash forward/back to my first visit to Maji Zuwa. As I’m
sitting at the table with just Meg and Jay, who approaches us but Frackson,
from camp! As it turned out, Frackson is one of the boys who lives at Maji Zuwa
with Matt. So I got to see Frackson grow, succeed in school, and become part of
my family. I remember back when there was no electricity, Matt shared a story
with me about Frackson. Frackson had been looking grumpy for a few days, so
Matt asked what was wrong. Initially, Frackson resisted telling Matt. But a few
days later Matt was like, you must tell me! And Frackson’s response was, “I’m
not reading enough!”. At the time there was only light bulb (powered by solar
power). So Matt permitted Frackson to use the light bulb for an extra hour each
night. I love this story- a child so earnest to learn and getting the
opportunity to. Frackson was first in his class in secondary school and held
the honorable title of Head Boy! It has been great to see.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just in January, Matt announced at family dinner that
Frackson would be moving to Livingstonia to attend University of Livingstonia.
I was so so thrilled to hear this! I asked Matt who would be paying for
Frackson’s education and he said “me”, meaning, out of Matt’s own pocket. I
told him that I wanted to help with Frackson’s education- having gotten to know
him over the last two years, I know he is very deserving of the opportunity and
will be a great success. I am hoping that my family and friends out there
reading this will help me over the years to put Frackson thru university. This
is an opportunity to really change someone’s life, and by extension, help him
to develop his country. When I come home I will have more information on how
you can help, but please feel free to contact me about it. I consider Frackson
to be a family member, and thereby, he is now your family member too!!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I sit here writing this post from the newest summer hut at
Maji Zuwa, on a beautiful lakeshore morning. I am so happy to finally share
this tale with you, that have been such an important part of my time in Malawi
and my life. I hope my family here in Malawi can count on your support in the
future.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-15687570574976501632013-02-10T06:34:00.001-05:002013-02-10T06:34:48.788-05:00THE COUNTDOWN BEGINSI know that I still haven't finished writing about my trip across Malawi with Mike. Trust me that one day, I will finish writing about it (hint- today is not that day). It was an unforgettable trip so I know I'll always be able to write about it!<br />
<br />
The end of my Peace Corps service is upon me. I can't believe it's reached this point. The last 3 months at site is when we're supposed to close out all of our work (so it remains in the hands of the community and continues when we're gone) and to enjoy the end of our village experiences. This last 3 months began with our COS (close of service) Conference with my health group, on the southern Malawi lakeshore. I got to spend 4 days and 3 nights with the group I came to Malawi with. We got advice for our readjustment to America, learned how we will close out our service (bureaucratically, pooping in cups for the doctor, etc), and got to spend some quality time together. It was wonderful! We were at a beautiful resort on the lake, the weather was surprisingly wonderful (for rainy season!), and the food was delicious. On our last night, we had a braai (the Malawian version of a barbecue), a lovefest for the incredibly supportive John and Irene (Peace Corps Malawi staff that ran our conference) and an amazing dance party, DJ'd by yours truly. It was one of the most memorable nights of my service, and made me so thankful for my group. The love and friendship I feel for my training group has made my service so special. I think we all wouldn't have made it if we didn't have each other! I look forward to having these relationships to rely on when I'm back in America freaking out at grocery stores and stuff.<br />
<br />
At conference, I found out that my Peace Corps service will officially be over on April 25. I will no longer be a Peace Corps volunteer midday on that day. Crazy to think! When my service is over, my friend Jay and I will be driving around Malawi on an advertising trip for <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Maji-Zuwa-Water-Sun-Resort/327531220677106?fref=ts" target="_blank">Maji Zuwa</a>, the lodge owned by my friend Matt. I believe I have spoken about <a href="http://www.majizuwa.com/" target="_blank">Maji Zuwa</a> ALL THE TIME? (<i>I promise to write a separate post about Maji Zuwa's impact on me another time.</i>) But anyway, we are going to be visiting lodges and resorts all over Malawi to drop of posters and talk with lodge managers about promoting Maji Zuwa! It's going to be so fun, I am very excited. And then, on May 10th, I begin my journey home on the aeroplane!!<br />
<br />
When I get home, I will begin my immediate participation in my sister Kara getting hitched on June 2! I believe this includes getting a dress fitted, getting my hair styled, going to a bachelorette party- I am ready to finally step us as belated maid of honor. The rest of the summer I plan on doing some traveling around the US of A- surprisingly, I have not seen very much of it. I plan on hitting up NYC, Florida, the west coast for the FIRST TIME, and more! Potentially even Cape Cod for a Peace Corps reunion! In addition, my amazing parents are taking me and my sister Dana on the Disney Cruise to ALASKA!! I have never been so excited for a vacation!! It should be a pretty fun summer.<br />
<br />
In the fall I plan on buckling down and getting my job hunt on. I'm going to take the GRE and apply for enrollment to graduate school in 2014, probably for a Master's in Social Work. I'm looking forward to the next step in my career.<br />
<br />
So that's the 411 on me! Anyone out there with any job contacts, in need of a babysitter/petsitter/house sitter, or selling a used hybrid car, please gimme a shout! All friends and family, please contact me so I can begin to fill up social calendar :) I miss you guys and can't wait to see you SOON! >89days!RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-60808901825026162102012-11-05T14:53:00.001-05:002012-11-05T14:53:46.023-05:00Malawi Trip - Part II
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I left you hanging with the beginning of my encounter with
the hippos of Liwonde during our canoe safari… we were so close to them! We
just quietly canoed on by, and although we got some seemingly dirty looks (but
who can really read a hippos face?) we passed by safely. It was a beautiful
view of the river and the park from where we were canoeing. Mike, photog
extraordinaire, took a billion pictures which will hopefully be updated to
facebook soon for your viewing pleasure. I couldn’t even name all the animals
we saw (and that Mike has pictures of), we saw a lot of the smaller type of
animals.<o:p></o:p></div>
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UNTIL… we turn our canoes around and begin to head back the
direction we came, when we see, a small herd of elephants feeding themselves in
a field. We have to stop our canoes, because the path we need to go thru is too
close to the elephants- and the facts are, although elephants are beautiful and
majestic creatures (my personal favorites) they will stomp the shit out of you
if you bother them. And I guess they’ve earned it, being the biggest land
mammal on Earth and all. So we sit in our canoes, watching the elephants eat…
for awhile. More than a half hour passes, and our canoe guides take some safe
efforts to force the elephants to leave- namely, tapping the side of our canoes
with the oars. [Ideally] just bothersome enough to send the elephants away, but
not so bothersome that they will desire to stomp us. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Another half hour passes with our subtle oar tapping.
Elephants show no sign of moving. Our guides start talking amongst themselves
between our canoes, apparently discussing what we should do. They decide… to
move on,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and head toward camp. We’ve
been stopped in our canoes for more than an hour, so I guess it’s just time to
move on… much to Kate and I’s fear. Mike was desensitized to the danger of
elephants as he had just ridden a domesticated one in Zambia. Kate and I on the
other hand, were quite fearful. As quietly as we could possibly be, our guides
paddle our boats forward as Kate and I duck down into our boats, in pathetic
attempts to hide/keep an eye on the elephants, should they decide to head
towards us to stomp us. We moved very, very slowly, but eventually, we’re in
the clear, out of view of the elephants and we can begin to chat again. Mike
asks his canoe guide if he can paddle back the rest of the way, as we are
nearby now. Mike takes over paddling when his guide says “There might be
elephants around the corner” and my canoe’s guide says “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">alipo</i>”, which means, “it’s there”, and we look up, and see in the near
distance a baby elephant. Cue Kate and I’s desperate ducking, we paddle by, and
make it back to camp before a full on panic attack is induce. Whew!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was a very exciting safari that was TOTALLY worth the
money ($20!!!). We were exhausted from all the sun exposure (even with our
awesome hats) so we went to get lunch in town, and have some drinks by the
river (where we could watch the hippos have their meetings at a safe distance).
It was a really wonderful stop on our trip and Kate was a wonderful host!!
Thank you Kate!!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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The next day we headed to Zomba- the former capital of
Malawi. It is a very developed area, with a big university, lots of NGOs,
businesses, and the famous Zomba Plateau. My friend Gibran lives in Zomba town
and hosted us for the night most comfortably in his very fancy loft apartment.
We had brownies and watched tv!! The plan was for Mike and I the next day to
head to the plateau to camp the next night, so it was nice to live it up fancy
style before our overnight camping trip.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The next morning we repacked our bags and shopped for some
food supplies to take with us camping. We headed to the base of the Zomba
plateau and began the walk up.. it’s a paved road all the way up (there are
less developed paths, but we knew the road would take us to our camp site). We
walked for a bit of it but then we were easily able to hitch a ride all the way
to our camp site, the Trout Farm- the site of a fish farming operation in
progress. The ride was beautiful. Zomba plateau houses a very full and green
forest reserve, and a beautiful dam. Again, Mike gladly took pictures. We set
up camp and then set out to hike some more- there is a big loop of a hiking
path around the top of the plateau, supposedly 7 hours. Mike and I packed some
bread and peanut butter to take with us to eat on our long hike. Using Mike’s
impeccable sense of direction we were able to just wing it- although our hike
had no big “end point” or destination, we stopped at some beautiful sites and
enjoyed the exercise. We also may or may not have left our initials carved in a
tree stump somewhere.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We got back to camp to find someone selling fresh
raspberries harvested from the plateau- we gladly bought the whole bowl and
destroyed them immediately. Delicious!! So yummy!!! I’ve never really
considered myself a berry person but these were delicious. As the sun began to
set, we met some fellow campers- a swiss couple with an AMAZING truck that
turned into a residence. It looked much more comfortable and warm than our
dinky (yet awesome) tent. We started a big fire to cook and for warmth- and
enjoyed a dinner of delicious ramen noodles and soya pieces. It was a wonderful
evening of chatting around a campfire, who doesn’t love that? Unfortunately,
when we headed to bed, we found we weren’t as prepared for the drop in
temperature that comes with being on top of the plateau. We were quite cold,
the difference in temperature between the plateau and town was astounding.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But we survived!!! We were tired from our not so great
sleep, but we packed up and headed down the mountain. We did not luck out so
much on the way down- we had to walk the entire way, which was a little rough
(but made me appreciate the ride we got up that much more). On our way down we
stopped at Casa Rosa, a new Italian restaurant, where we had chocolate crepes
and fruit salad. It was random, and delicious. We headed back to Gibran’s to
get our things together and for a rest, and that afternoon, we set off to
Blantyre- the biggest city in Malawi, located in the southern region.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-54288415936911460322012-10-06T04:23:00.001-04:002012-10-06T04:23:13.979-04:00Malawi Trip - Part I
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(I am publishing this in parts, as I find it difficult to write so much in one sitting. Enjoy Part I!)</div>
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in August/September I was fortunate enough to be able to take
two weeks vacation to finally, travel around Malawi. And I was even more, extra
super duper fortunate that my best friend Mike was going to be travelling with
me! If you ever followed my old blog updates from my time in The Gambia, you
may remember Mike as that guy I hung around with constantly during my first
trip there. It was in The Gambia that Mike and I actually decided that we would
do the Peace Corps. Mike was sent to serve in Lesotho in June 2010, and
completed his service in August 2012. Upon completion of his service, Mike
travelled from Lesotho to Malawi, taking time to see some of the cool sites along
the way (i.e. Victoria Falls), and arrived in Malawi towards the end of August.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I hadn’t seen Mike since we said goodbye in May 2010, so it
was truly thrilling to see him when he arrived. I know I am so crazy lucky to
have been able to go home this past April/May, so I wouldn’t have to wait so
long to see my friends and family. Lucky me! The poor guy had been travelling
for 22 hours on a bus to get to Lilongwe (capital of Malawi) where we were
meeting, so we happily ate and passed out- our big journey began the next day!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">DEDZA</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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From Lilongwe we went to Dedza- to the Chongoni Training
Center, where I received my anamed training this past April (hope you remember
my blog post). The founder of anamed, Dr. Hans Martin, was visiting from
Germany, and a few of us volunteers (and Mike) got the chance to meet him. For
me, it was truly inspiring to meet Dr. Martin. Anamed has had endless
influences on my work in Malawi and my perspective about nature’s role in our
lives. To meet the founder of an organization that works to help so many people
in need in tropical regions across the world, in a way that is compatible with
nature, is something I could have only dreamed of. It was anamed coming full
circle for me! <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">MANGOCHI<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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My friend Carolyn was also in Dedza meeting Dr. Martin with
me, so from Dedza, Carolyn, Mike, and myself headed to Mangochi where Carolyn
lives. Mangochi is a southern, lakeshore district. We had a hell of a time
travelling there- hitching rides and not spending too much on transport,
laughing all the way. It’s great to travel with Carolyn as her language skills
are crazy awesome (and by now we’re in a region of Malawi that does not speak
the language I know). It was a pretty full day of travelling, but we arrived at
Carolyn’s cozy house with ELECTRICITY for dinner and sleepytime.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The next day, Carolyn took us to Club Makokola- probably one
of THE nicest hotels on Lake Malawi. There was a beautiful pool (that cost
about $2 just to get in the pool) just yards from beautiful Lake Malawi! It was
also the first place I’ve been to on Lake Malawi with actual, cushioned, lounge
chairs. Having lived a cushy life filled with lots of parent-sponsored
vacations, I appreciate a good lounge chair. It was an amazing day. Having seen
a place so ritzy, it convinced me to work on maybe convincing the Angelos to
make a trip to Malawi… should you speak to my parents, be sure to give them
encouragement!<o:p></o:p></div>
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That night back at Carolyn’s, being the wonderful host she
was, made us fish tacos!! Even though I live on the lake, I rarely eat fish-
mostly because I don’t cook it myself, and I don’t cook it because I don’t go
to the lake at 5am to go buy it. But Carolyn lives near her district capital,
so lots of vendors are around selling fish and other foodstuffs. Pretty
awesome.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The next morning we visited Carolyn’s health center, in my
attempt to still feel connected to work (even on vacation, a PCV never rests!).
Carolyn works at a government health center (whereas I work at a church
sponsored health center) that is BRAND NEW to her area. It is small, but very
very nice, and just getting started from I can tell. It seems to be filled with
motivated health workers, and Carlyn clearly has a great relationship with the
staff there. It’s got to be a neat experience working at a brand new health
center in an area where there was none, and really working to create the
positive relationship between the health center and their catchment area. All
volunteers’ experiences are different!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">LIWONDE</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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From Mangochi we hitched a ride to Liwonde. First we
embarked on a matola (pick up truck) that promptly broke down not long into the
ride. I was not having this, so while we were on the side of the road and
people were attempting to fix the matola, I flagged down another car, and we
made a run for it! It was a quick and pleasant driver, going further south,
from the lake to the Shire River. We arrived mid-late afternoon, and met up
with Kate at a local bar that overlooks the river- which is full of hippos!
It’s quite the view to say the least <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>
Kate lived in my homestay village and was in my language class during PST, so
we are close friends- that never get to see each other because of the great
distance between our sites! Kate is a nurse and has her master’s in Public
Health, and here in Malawi she is working on a project sponsored by the CDC-
she is helping with very important malaria research- testing the effectiveness
of medicine, mosquito nets, and more. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The next morning, we headed to Liwonde Game Park- “game” as
in wild animals!! Kate had looked up some things for us to do and we decided to
take a canoe safari in the river that was run by a lodge in the game park
called Bushman’s Baobabs. The lodge was beautiful! I highly recommend it to
anyone travelling thru the area. We arrived and signed up for our canoe safari.
They were packing a cooler for our canoes so we even got to bring some
Carlsberg refreshments along for the ride <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>
With our two guys, complementary hats (just for the ride) and our cooler, we
loaded our canoes and headed out!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Almost as soon as we got to where the river gets really
wide, we saw a bunch of hippos! It looked like they were having a meeting of
some sort, and I swear one of them was giving me the eye like I was
interrupting... (leaving you hanging! keep a lookout for Part II, coming so soon!)<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-1189021660767645192012-09-07T01:07:00.001-04:002012-09-07T01:07:17.365-04:00seeing Malawi for the first time!I try not to start every blog post with an apology about not posting very recently, so I won't... but you get my drift right? I haven't blogged in awhile. I've been on holiday with my best friend Mike, whom I first visited The Gambia with in 2007, traveling around Malawi- and I mean really traveling. Until this trip, I had never been south of the my Peace Corps training site, Dedza- in the central region. Now, I've been to the southern region!! Hit up all the hot spots- Mangochi, Liwonde, Zomba, and the biggest city in Malawi, Blantyre. I'm glad that I won't feel like I've missed out on parts of Malawi by the time I go home. It's hard living in such a remote corner of the country- it takes awhile to get places, to say the least.<br />
<br />
I plan to expand further on my trip for you guys, but I hope a lot of you have been keeping up with me on Facebook too, as I've tried to keep everyone posted on my findings and post some pictures along the way. Somehow, at every stop we've made, my little internet USB stick has had 3G. If only my site did!! But expect a more detailed post in the coming weeks for sure.<br />
<br />
Hope you are all well. Love to you all!RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-92011836545310952932012-07-11T03:34:00.002-04:002012-07-11T03:34:43.229-04:00VWIRANI MAJI ZUWAGreetings family and friends. I am sure that numerous times on here I have mentioned "that lodge my friend Matt owns". This phrase doesn't do justice to a lot of things- the lodge, what really goes on there, and Matt. So let me be more clear, so you might learn more about a really special place where I like to spend my free time.<br />
<br />
The lodge I am constantly referring to is "<a href="http://majizuwa.com/">Maji Zuwa</a>", which means water and sun, in Chitumbuka. It was founded by my now dear friend, Matt Maroon. Matt was a (non-Peace Corps) volunteer in Malawi in 2006-2008, and was so moved much by his experience that he wanted to come to Malawi to stay. And so he founded Maji Zuwa- a beautiful, lakeshore lodge (about 50kilometers north of where I live), that is more than just that. Matt and his non-profit, <a href="http://www.determinedtodevelop.org/">Determined to Develop</a>, do projects in the area to support the needs of the local villagers, and to help people help themselves. Matt also hosts about a dozen local orphaned boys at Maji Zuwa- providing housing, food, school fees, and the boys help out with work around the lodge. Matt had experience working with troubled youth in America and is a great role model for these young boys in need. If you go to Maji Zuwa and ask who works here or who doesn't, Matt will reply "We're all family here".<br />
<br />
Clearly Maji Zuwa pretty special place- and Matt is a pretty special person, to have accomplished all of this by age 28. Now, it's time to get the word out about what's going on here so people can learn more about the plight of people in Malawi and to hopefully inspire people with Matt's story. Ben Blair is raising funds to produce a documentary about Matt and Maji Zuwa. I know that bringing Matt's story to the masses in the form of a documentary could inspire so many people, so I'm hoping you will be willing to contribute and pass along this information so people might be able to pledge.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/majizuwa">Donate Here</a> & learn more about the documentary project<br />
<a href="http://majizuwa.com/">Learn more about Maji Zuwa</a><br />
<a href="http://www.determinedtodevelop.org/">Learn more about Determined to Develop</a><br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Determined-to-Develop/96619663969?ref=ts&v=wall">Like Determined to Develop on Facebook</a><br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/JourneyToMajiZuwa">Like the documentary 'Maji Zuwa' on Facebook</a>RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-48184748219063185692012-06-22T06:32:00.003-04:002012-06-22T06:32:52.480-04:00I WENT TO AMERICA AND CAME BACK!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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It’s been a month or so since I left America and it’s hard
to believe it was so long ago now. Or is a month very long at all? Not really I
guess, especially since I have less than a year in Malawi now- everything is
month to month! As I’ve mentioned briefly before and declared on facebook and
in person to most of you, I had a truly wonderful time on my trip home, and I
am writing this blog to elaborate <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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I think my trip home was perfectly timed. They say it’s hard
for everyone when they hit the one year mark (one year in country, one year at
site- two different one year marks) and I found that mostly to be true. I
didn’t really have doubts about my being here but things were getting tough. I
think it was good that I knew when I left for Peace Corps that I would be
coming home this year- and basically since I swore in last year that I knew I
would be coming home at the time that I did. It gave me something to look
forward to and I never had to wonder whether or not I would see my family and
friends during my service.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Travelling home went pretty well. My flight from Malawi left
like 20 minutes late, but I got to Johannesburg with enough time to get to my next
flight- but not enough time to find the mythical pizza vending machine (which I
have yet to research whether that is real or not). I have to say, travelling
alone is pretty boring though- and not ideal, because you can’t leave your
luggage alone anywhere to go get a snack! But I did end up getting a snack in
Johannesburg- mostly for the novelty that was the Johannesburg airport, the
most modern thing I had seen in more than a year! It’s pretty impressive. The
flight from Johannesburg<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></span>Dakar<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></span>DC was pretty
uneventful. I tried to sleep and maybe got a few hours, but probably less. I
watched a lot of movies, and was most happy to watch THE MUPPETS movie (which I
later watched again while I was home, because it was so awesome). I found
myself laughing out loud a lot on the plane probably because I haven’t seen any
new television or movies in so long. It was a fun transition.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The trip home was long (about 24 hours between when I left
for the airport in Malawi and my arrival to DC) and it was so long that I found
that I kind of felt like I had forgotten everything that had happened since I
left America for Peace Corps. It just all felt so far away, like a distant
memory. Of course that turned out to not really be the case as plenty of you
heard me blab about Peace Corps during my trip. But that’s what it felt like.
Going thru customs and waiting for my luggage on the way back also felt like an
ETERNITY. I was very anxious to see my family (and make sure they arrived, as I
realized I didn’t have a cell phone to contact them should they not show up).
Thankfully, all my luggage turned up (no damages) and I dragged it out to see
my parents, my sister Kara, and my baby Bernard!! It was a great reunion.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All of my family members will be quick to tell you that
Bernard didn’t really seem to give a crap when he saw me, but you gotta give
the pup a break- he got up at like 4:30am to come to the airport and had to
wait like another 3 hours before I showed. Considering how carefree his life is
I’m sure this was a great strain on him. Anyway Bernard did sit with me the
whole way home, where I also enjoyed some pretzel rods my mom brought, the
first pretzels I had tasted in a year! (There are no pretzels in Malawi, what
is the deal with that?!? Please send pretzels!) We had a great pancake
breakfast upon my arrival home and I quickly spent the day jumping back to
America-ness – reactivating my cell phone, going shopping, using fast internet,
etc.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was quite exciting for me that the first weekend I was
home I got to go to my cousin Kristen’s college graduation party at our
favorite place, Ralph’s Italian Restaurant (Philadelphia). It was so wonderful
to see my dad’s side of the family, and be able to catch up with them. And of
course, almost equally enjoyable was the delicious food and the yummy wine
(wine that was not made by Peace Corps volunteers in buckets, what a change!).
I did lots of story sharing, especially with my cousins Mark and Tana- and I am
certain now that they loved hearing about the hole I get to poop in everyday
and how hard it is to make fires to cook on. Love you family!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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About a week and a half after my arrival home my friend Mike
(so generously) threw me a party in his apartment complex’s courtyard in which
SO MANY of my friends were able to show up and hang out all at once. It was a
night of epic reunions, particularly myself and Bob Manzo’s exaggerated
reunion, which involved me jumping into Bob’s arms and excessive yelling. It’s
just how we do. Mike also made a touching toast that I wish we’d gotten on film
since I’m sure none of us remember it with great clarity. We also played wiffle
ball! Where it was clear to me yet again, that I should not participate in team
sports. It was a beautiful evening, and I want to thank everyone who was able
to go! That party ia a memory that will stick with me for a long, long time.
After being away for so long- to come home to such a warm welcome is so
reassuring and heartwarming. Thanks again to Mike for hosting; I’m going to owe
you a long time for that one! And thanky thanks to Leelee for picking me up in
Bel Air, taking me to Starbucks where I got to embarrass myself ordering tea,
eating my first and only McDonald’s with me, and then later stopping again at
Sheetz for cheese fries, where I proceeded to embarrass myself yet again
dealing with American coins (they are SO SMALL!). Love you guys so terribly!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Also during my trip home I got to go on a mini-Angelo family
vacation to Colonial Williamsburg!! I love Williamsburg so much, every time I
go there I love it more! Probably because my penchant for nerdiness just increases
as I age. It was wonderful to have some just family time too (and we also ate
some really delicious food!). I am hoping to go back to Williamsburg with
friends next year when I return home! Great vacation family <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The rest of my trip was just as wonderful, it was great to
spend whatever time I could with people I missed so very much. Thank you to
everyone who was able to meet up with me- and often pick my ass up to do so- I
appreciate it endlessly. I know I missed some folks during my trip- I STILL
MISS YOU, please keep in touch! Otherwise, my trip was just completely sublime.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Any regrets about my trip home? Not eating Chipotle. What
was I thinking?!? Also I really wanted to bake some molten chocolate lava cakes
but I never got my shit together. Sigh. Soon enough I’ll be there until further
notice!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I know a lot of Peace Corps Volunteers have a lot of trouble
coming back to service after trips home (and this dissuades a lot of volunteers
from making trips home during service) but for me, I am so happy to say that
the opposite has been true. I feel happier than ever- in Malawi, in life, just
complete and total happiness. I would never say Peace Corps is easy, of course
it’s hard. But my perspective now is better than ever, and it just seems no
problem to let the annoying or bad things roll of my back. I am feeling that
this positivity and good outlook are going to last a long long time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I want to thank everyone again for spending time with me on
my trip home. And of course, the major thanks go to my wonderful parents Rich
and Mary Ann Angelo for financing my plane ticket and plenty of other things
during the trip. Thank you Mama and Daddy!! I love you all so much, and I hope
we all can continue to stay in touch until I return in May 2013!!<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-51973207238204820942012-06-22T06:27:00.000-04:002012-06-22T06:27:38.397-04:00action for natural medicine<br />
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<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya;">I’ve been meaning to
write this blog for so long. I only hope that some of you heard me talk about
anamed during my visit home (or here in Malawi, since I tend to bring up anamed
daily) because I feel so passionately about the cause. What is anamed you ask?
Anamed stands for ACTION FOR NATURAL MEDICINE, an organization based in Germany
founded by Dr. Hans Martin-Hirt and Bindanda M’Pia. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anamed aims to enable people in the Tropics to develop the greatest
possible degree of self-reliance, particularly with regard to their health. To
this end, anamed runs seminars and conducts research into medicinal plants and
the preparation of medicines. Anamed seeks to work in complete harmony with the
environment</i>”. Maybe I’m a sucker or an idealist- but have you ever HEARD of
a greater mission statement?? I couldn’t think of a better one myself for any
cause- anamed is where it’s at!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya;">Over the past year, Peace
Corps Malawi has been connecting PCVs with anamed- namely thru natural medicine
trainings, where volunteers bring their Malawian counterparts to receive the
training, so that they might bring the knowledge of natural medicine back to
their sites. The director of anamed Malawi, Nelson Moyo, runs these trainings-
and there is now a volunteer whose site IS the training center, and works with
Nelson Moyo for the cause!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya;">The knowledge that I
gained during that week of training is innumerable- and incredibly valuable.
Although I work at a health center, we are often short of the services and
medicines people need. Beyond that, natural medicine really shines in how it
can be used as preventative care- keeping people healthy by incorporating
medicinal plants into their lifestyles. And when prevention is too late, for
those already suffering from HIV/AIDS, incorporating medicinal plants into
their daily lives can boost immunity, prevent opportunistic illnesses, and
things as simple as helping to increase appetite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya;">One thing that became
especially clear to me during anamed training (although I had a basic idea of
this before) with the help of Nelson Moyo is that living as close to nature as
possible is what will make us the healthiest. It’s like the plants knew we
would need them- passionflower to help us sleep, artemisia to clean our blood,
moringa to give us all the essential amino acid proteins we need. It’s amazing!
The knowledge of how to use these plants appropriately has become out of touch
with the advances of modern medicine (which often use extracts of these plants
as is) and anamed aims to bring this knowledge back to popularity through its
own research.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya;">With the knowledge myself
and my anamed counterpart Dennis gained from the training, we have brought back
to Mlowe Health Center, namely with the creation of our anamed garden, which is
partnered with the local People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) group. We have a
great artemisia plant growing from which we hope to propagate many more plants,
moringa seeds planted, garlic, ginger, aloe, cassia spectablis, and more! We’re
a work in progress and I am thrilled to be laying the foundation for anamed to
be spread throughout the catchment area of Mlowe Health Center.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya;">Now you might be saying,
“Hey Renee, this natural medicine stuff sounds pretty cool, I’d like to see
what I can try for myself back here in USA”. If you are really super
interested, email or facebook me and I can try to get some anamed literature to
you. Otherwise, some basic tips? Incorporating as much raw garlic into your
daily diet will provide you numerous benefits (because of its anti-viral and
anti-fungal properties). In addition note that you can straight up EAT the sap
inside your aloe plant’s leaves (as well as of course rubbing it on skin wounds
and rashes) for immuno-modulating effects. Maybe you’re not yet at the point
where you want to suck on an aloe plant leaf- note that delicious ALOE JUICE is
commercially prepared and probably available at your local health store. While
I was in America I had some and it was DELICIOUS! Floating in it are little
pockets of the sap to give you all the medicinal benefits. Try it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya;">I hope you are interested
in learning more about anamed. For me, I feel this is just the beginning of a
lifelong passion in my quest for the ultimate healthy living! Contact me for
more information or check out (anamed.net).<o:p></o:p></span></div>RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-52095857383066309642012-05-17T22:35:00.002-04:002012-05-17T22:40:38.147-04:00IT'S BEEN GREAT!Although you can see I have changed the format of my blog (hope you enjoy the new look) this is not the opening post for Big Hat News yet- first I want to thank everyone as I am preparing to leave home and head back to Malawi until I finish service in April.<br />
<div>
My trip home has been so so wonderful, and I owe it to my wonderful family and amazing amazing friends. Thank you family especially for scheduling soooo much fun times with me and driving my ass places and continuing to take care of the wonderful Nard Dog. We shared so many laughs that will get me thru the next year!</div>
<div>
To my beautiful friends- it was so wonderful to see you all again and I am so thankful that I have such loyal friends that have kept up with me for so many years, no matter where I am in the world. You have no idea how much I appreciate it! Thank you Mike for hosting my bombass party that I was able to see so many people at, and to all the attendees to making it. You all mean so much to me and I hope to keep better in touch with you all over the next year, so expect a letter (and send one too!)! Love you guys!</div>
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So to close this quick little blog, I have just a few pics of the highlights of my trip:<br />
(click to view larger)</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--AxpAshbptM/T7W0OyWgssI/AAAAAAAAAEs/y0r7ZhmvlcU/s1600/Image+7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--AxpAshbptM/T7W0OyWgssI/AAAAAAAAAEs/y0r7ZhmvlcU/s400/Image+7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WQ5YD7K79LY/T7W0XxsF41I/AAAAAAAAAE0/BuIKvempkjw/s1600/Image+16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WQ5YD7K79LY/T7W0XxsF41I/AAAAAAAAAE0/BuIKvempkjw/s400/Image+16.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IDaJQf1bViE/T7W0e_cP0-I/AAAAAAAAAE8/biw7KaL1Qc0/s1600/Image+69.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IDaJQf1bViE/T7W0e_cP0-I/AAAAAAAAAE8/biw7KaL1Qc0/s400/Image+69.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z8LH8xio64Y/T7W0iedkK2I/AAAAAAAAAFE/MtjvfIwN3NU/s1600/Image+42.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z8LH8xio64Y/T7W0iedkK2I/AAAAAAAAAFE/MtjvfIwN3NU/s640/Image+42.jpg" width="380" /></a></div>
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Congrats to my sister Kara and Mike on their engagement!!!</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oEQeE-n5l3I/T7W1D_hrn0I/AAAAAAAAAFM/gka60QagqUE/s1600/528539_10101138634643849_827596_62408897_1620213108_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oEQeE-n5l3I/T7W1D_hrn0I/AAAAAAAAAFM/gka60QagqUE/s400/528539_10101138634643849_827596_62408897_1620213108_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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(that's me in the mask)</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HIY6lWwV-08/T7W1GvSm1fI/AAAAAAAAAFU/UdkrA_3qgHs/s1600/556846_610205462353_115202190_32395287_1834359942_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HIY6lWwV-08/T7W1GvSm1fI/AAAAAAAAAFU/UdkrA_3qgHs/s400/556846_610205462353_115202190_32395287_1834359942_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Cheers until next time...</i></div>
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<br /></div>RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-61745786363581685152012-05-13T10:51:00.004-04:002012-05-13T10:51:36.425-04:00COMING SOON...First, I'd like to apologize for not writing more. I definitely owe you some posts and trust that they are slowly but surely in the works. But something that I think is going to help is that I'm going to reformat my blog and give it a new look, and I hope you will stick with me in the transition for PC & Me & Malawi to...<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i><u>BIG HAT NEWS</u>!</i></b></span><br />
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<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Stay tuned!</span></i></b>RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-34370073763927477162012-02-10T04:15:00.001-05:002012-02-10T04:15:55.034-05:00Belated Happy New Year!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> 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mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"">I realize it has been quite awhile since I have written a real blog, and for that I apologize. I guess even in Malawi you can get lost in the holiday shuffle… or at least that is what I will claim as the reason I have not written. But I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are starting off 2012 awesomely!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"">I thought it would be harder to miss the holidays then it actually was. Of course, I would have preferred to have been with my family fulfilling all of our family traditions that I am so stringent about each year, but since Christmas is more subdued around here, it wasn’t like I was lost and lonely amongst Christmas cheer. It was kind of just like any other day- except throughout December there were many more goats tied up around my village, which I presume were all consumed for the holiday. Yum!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"">My friends Ross and Jay came to my house for Christmas- we made delicious food, <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>put our presents around my Charlie Brown Christmas Tree (care of K.E. Angelo, thank you sis!), and watched Batman and Twin Peaks. Christmas morning I retrieved (from a friend’s freezer, thank you Nurse Anna) our ingredients for mimosas, and we opened presents (mostly mine, thank you family) and drank mimosas. We spent the rest of Christmas day swimming in the lake and getting sunburned, and then recovering from our sunburn by not moving for several hours. I should mention that Jay and Ross are MUCH more pale than I, and even I was suffering from some sun pain. Ouch. But we survived, and on Boxing Day we moved our celebration onward to Maji Zuwa, a lodge in Karonga- the owner is a great friend of ours. Here at Maji Zuwa, we proceeded to celebrate CHEESEMAS, as we had pooled our money to buy a giant block of cheese. Our dinner consisted of several courses of cheese-centric food- grilled cheese, mac and cheese, bruschetta, etc. It was amazing, and damn, did my stomach hurt. That night we also decorated the table with fake snow from my parents, and proceeded to play an epic game of beer pong, our first in country. It was a wonderful Cheesemas, and I hope we will all celebrate again next year.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"">For new years I celebrated by making a short trip to Nkahta Bay where there were TONS of Peace Corps volunteers- volunteers from all over Malawi, and even volunteers from Zambia and Mozambique! (See how alluring Lake Malawi is?? You should come check it out for yourself!!) We did lots of lake swimming and went to a pretty kickin’ DJ’ed new year’s party, where there were actually fireworks!! I don’t even think I’ve been anywhere in my past few new years’ in America where there was fireworks, so yeah, it was pretty cool!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"">School has started up again, and boy, it is neverending work. I need to say this for the written record- teachers have the hardest job, anywhere in the world- and in no way am I lumping myself under the ‘teacher’ umbrella, since I teach two classes on a subject some might consider ‘fluff’. Teachers everywhere have their work cut out for them and their job is so important! So teachers of the world, I salute you. Anyhoo, most of my students, at least on the Malawi grading scale, passed my exam at the end of last term in December. I am still pretty happy about this- a few of my students even got “Distinction” marks, meaning, pretty flipping good marks. At the same time, I think my students are capable of more, and I’m really pushing them this term to prove it- an effort I do not think they are enjoying, as it has ended with me not being that fun and punishing students who do not comply. Sigh. Tough love I guess, still figuring it all out. It is hard work!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"">My beekeepers have voiced that they are definitely interested in the training for top bar beekeeping, and I promised I would pay half the training cost if they come up with the rest, so they are working on collecting that money. I hope it works out! Otherwise, here at the health center we have planted 15 plots of moringa seeds. The moringa tree is basically a miracle tree, with numerous benefits to consuming the leaves and other parts of the tree. At the end of an ideal rainy season, our seeds should have grown into small bushes, but our rainy season seems to be not so rainy, so I am a little worried. Nevertheless, I have a million more seeds and we will try try again! An HSA (health surveillance assistant) at my health center, Dennis, is going to be attending natural medicine training with me the first week of March. We are going to learn much more about the uses and benefits of moringa, along with numerous other plants here in Malawi. I am really really excited about what we are going to learn, and I know Dennis is looking forward to learning new things too and sharing them with the community here in Mlowe. My previously mentioned lodge owner friend Matt, is also the head of a non-profit called Determined to Develop, and after we have our training, Dennis and I are going to plan a training thru the non-profit to benefit some of the people in that area, about 50kilometers north of Mlowe. I am so excited that there were will be so many beneficiaries of the training beyond Dennis and I- it’s a beautiful thing about the work we try to do here!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"">As many of you have heard, Patti the puppy, has had puppies- which I guess means Patti is no longer a puppy, and instead, is a teenage mother. But yes! Patti gave birth to 4 healthy puppies while I was in Lilongwe in January- I left my very pregnant dog on a Wednesday, came home on Tuesday to 4 little pups. They are EXTREMELY cute, and although I know nothing about pups, I think they are pretty fat, which is a feat here for sure. There are two boys and two girls, and both of the boys have already been claimed- meaning, there are two little sweet girl puppies looking for homes people!! Any volunteers (or friends of volunteers) interested in a puppy, you can have one of these grade-A pups FO FREE with FREE DELIVERY!! By me!! What more could you ask for?? If you are interested contact me ASAP!! Pups will be ready beginning in March!!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif";">As many of you know, I will be returning to America for a visit soon soon- I fly out of Malawi on April 24<sup>th</sup>, arrive back in Malawi on May 21<sup>st</sup>. For now my for-sure plans include speaking to the sociology department at my alma mater, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and going on a short vacation to Williamsburg, Virginia. I’m also hoping to speak at my old high school. Besides also planning on eating pizza every single day, I hope to see all you people out there!! So please be in touch with me so we can make some awesome plans!! There are so many things I want to do while I am home, people I want to see, and foods I want to eat. It should be a pretty amazing trip.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"">Hope you all are doing great! Miss you tons!<br /></span></p>RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-16147401259067752972012-01-17T02:05:00.001-05:002012-01-17T02:07:35.249-05:00Pehpani (sorry)Hey Everyone, I know I haven't done any interesting or reflective posts recently- I have been really busy and even when I'm moving thru internet-accessy areas, I haven't had a lot of time to post. But I'll be in the city again in less than a month, with blogging an important part of my agenda. Going to work on some blogs back at my site. Thanks for keeping up with me, don't give up on me yet! Love you guys!RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-49691855110054014432012-01-16T03:11:00.002-05:002012-01-16T03:27:30.085-05:00Calling All Bwanas!Bwana means boss, and all my readers out there, whom I believe are mostly American, that means you. You are boss and wealthy because you live in America, hooray! Now I need your help so I can help my Malawian friends.<br /><br />As most of you should know by now, I am coming to visit America soon- like in 3 months!!! Hello, let's start making plans!! But anyhoo, a few of my Malawian friends are interested in upgrading the technology (or lack of technology) in their lives and are looking for laptops. I am wondering if any of you might be selling your old ones. This is what my friends are looking for:<br /><br />Friend 1: netbook (ideally), main uses will be word processing and the internet, and needs USB ports.<br />Friends 2&3: looking for laptops with all of the above but also, a cd player/burner.<br /><br />And that's really it. I'd be willing to do the computer hardrive wiping and uploading of software myself (I'm pretty sure anyway that I can ask the PC IT guy to help me with that). If you are interested in selling your computer for a fair price, please let me know! Then I can start my own mini computer class with my buds.<br /><br />Oh yes, and Friend 3 is looking for an iPhone. An old one will clearly suffice, and I know all you bwanas who are upgrading to iPhone98257928475 might have an old one to sell for cheaps. Let me know!<br /><br />Thanks everyone!RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-27264633330464996292011-12-14T01:25:00.006-05:002011-12-16T04:10:18.413-05:00How I Know My Dog Is Malawian (story time)At last, the long anticipated story post about everyone’s favorite Malawian, my dog, Patti Mayonnaise.<span style=""> </span>Once upon a time, I was a newly sworn in Peace Corps Volunteer, dealing with the typical loneliness that sets in during our first few months at site. It wasn’t that bad, but adjusting definitely played a part in my heart when I saw a few little puppies roaming around my health center one day. I was sitting around with the nurse when I was the TINIEST puppies roaming around, staying close to their mama. They were so small!!! And of course, as what I am finding to be typically American, my response was ‘OH MY GAH PUPPIES!!!!’ My nurse asked if I liked them, and I said ‘OF COURSE!!!’, to which she responded that they were hers, and I could have one. YEAY!! They were so small so I knew I had to wait for awhile, but I was very exciting, anticipating the eventual arrival of the puppy to Casa de Renee. <p class="MsoNormal">My nurse went on vacation, but the puppies stayed around. Only a little time passed when I realized that the puppies’ mom was no longer anywhere to be seen. I brought this up to Laston (my now counterpart) and he suggested that yes, maybe I should take the puppy now, because no one had any food to feed it. That morning he said “Today, we capture the puppy.” I wasn’t totally psyched by the use of the word ‘capture’, but oh well. I went home, got a scrap piece of chitenje (fabric) to carry the puppy home in. My counterpart did indeed capture the puppy, and the puppy squealed as she wasn’t totally into humans (or being capture), and he put her in my chitenje covered arms and I carried her home.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I was mildly prepared in that I shelled out some extra dough to buy real dog food, hoping this would be the lure to keep the puppy at my house. This did not initially work, as I put the puppy down, she ignored the food, and immediately proceeded out the back door to escape. I caught her before she escaped thru my holey fence, and she cried which made me sad. ‘Why doesn’t she like me??’ I wondered. I liked her already, but probably only because she was a puppy. Puppies are so cute!! Anyway, I then decided to keep her inside the house with the door shut, taking whatever pee or poop came with it, until she was ready to commit to me.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The puppy never touched the food that night, which of course extremely offended my puppy sensitive heart. Eventually I was cooking dinner outside and came in to eat, and subsequently forgot to close the door. By the time I realized, the puppy was gone. The sun was setting, and she was so small I knew it would be hard to look for her. Also, it seemed like she didn’t like me (again, I was being extremely sensitive), so I decided to let her go. Not long after a neighbor came to my door and said ‘is that your puppy?’ pointing not too far in front of my house, where the puppy was snooping around. I said yes, and that it would probably come back for food, and I wasn’t worried. Of course, I was completely frontin’ and extremely worried, but I figured maybe she’d come back, so oh well.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I texted my friends who had been in touch with me about how the first day with the pup was going, and I said “the puppy ran away. I will wait to find a puppy who wants to live with me’. Seriously, Renee? I know, but I was hurt. I mean, the puppy was soooo cute!!!! When it got dark that night, there was a knock at my door- extremely strange, since no one ever knocks on my door (the Malawian way of getting the attention of someone inside a house is to say ‘Odi!!!’), but I answered and a group of kids were standing on my porch (also strange, few people come up the stairs to my porch). The big kid in the group said ‘Dog.’ And pointed at the pup, who was leaning against my house, looking sad, and as if she had run out of choices (she had, of course). I said thanks, picked up the puppy, and brought her inside.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I decided to keep her inside that night, and I cracked the back door just enough so she could slip out to pee if she wanted. Instead, while I was in bed, I heard her squeak- I got up and went to my living room, where I discovered she peed under my bike (where she was still hiding from me). I finally decided to stand up for myself, and put the puppy outside on the chitenje that I had carried her home in. If she stuck around, she stuck around. And so began me and Patti’s life together.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Patti was actually named on that first dramatic day- via text. I had been thinking of puppy names for a few days before getting the puppy, and I was planning on sticking with the Angelo family tradition of having pets with B names. I was planning on naming her ‘Bwana’, which in Chitumbuka means ‘boss’. My thinking was that if people called me a bwana (which many Malawians often call white people because they believe us to be rich) I could be like ‘No, I’m not a bwana, that’s Bwana’. I thought this was extremely punny. But I couldn’t commit, and then the idea struck me- one of my best pals, Stacey, had gotten a puppy the first week she moved to site. His name was Doug, which I just think is one of the best possible names for a dog ever. That’s when I realized… Doug… loves… PATTI MAYONNAISE!!! I texted Stacey about my brilliant idea, to which she enthusiastically agreed about its awesomeness, and then I proceeded to text my friends about my puppy’s clever name. Go me.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Anyway, as you know, and as I have told many of you, Patti is the best. We live a very happy life together, and although I think she should really get a job if she wants to eat fish all the time, things are going extremely well. Yes, I love my dog, and this leads many people to ask me if I am bringing Patti back to the USA. My answer (and my plan has always been) NO. ‘Why?’ you might ask. Or, ‘it’s clear you love her so much, how could you leave her?’ you might say. To which I say, I can’t take Patti to the USA because she is a Malawian, and she will never be as happy as she could possibly be here in Malawi. And below, are the following reasons why Patti the puppy is a Malawian (raised by an American, me).</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">#1 PATTI WAS BOPA’D AS A PUPPY</b><br />Kubopa- is the verb that describes how women tie babies to their backs. When it was my birthday, only a month after getting Patti, I was travelling to meet friends in Nkhata Bay to celebrate, but I didn’t want to leave Patti behind. She was so small… and therefore, quite easy to tie to me with a chitenje. I was travelling to Nkhata bay with my friend Jay, who helped tie Patti to me that morning. It wasn’t that easy, but we got it done- and as we left my house, we prepared for what would sure be a lot of attention being thrown at us. And that is exactly what happened. As it turns out, bopa-ing a puppy is not that common, and also,totally hilarious. During our long journey from my place to Mzuzu and then to Nkhata Bay, people were constantly pointing out that indeed, there was a puppy tied to me. My favorite thing that I heard repeatedly that day (in Chitumbuka) was “That is not a baby. That is a dog”. So insightful. Anyway, like any true Malawian baby, Patti was a champ. She rode in two matolas on her way to Nkhata Bay, and two minibuses on her way home, without complaint. Actually let’s be real, she complained even less than a Malawian baby, because she never cried once. Way to go Patti, the best behaved Malawian baby around.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">#2 IF IT’S TOO HOT OR RAINING, SHE AIN’T DOIN’ NOTHIN’</b><br />As you know, it gets very very hot here in Mlowe during hot season (and other times throughout the year of course). This past hot season, when I was slowly [unintentionally] progressing into serious heat exhaustion, Patti pretty much never ever moved. The pup who used to follow me everywhere, all over our catchment area, never left the house, the yard, nothing. And whenever I was in the house with her, she was napping (and panting). This is not so different from how many of the people of my village react to hot season as well- taking a near constant break from any activity. And let’s be real, I probably should have been taking more breaks from activity, instead of continuing to be active and contributing to my severe dehydration. So clearly, Patti’s got it right, the Malawian way- hot season, take a break. Now that rainy season has begun, Patti is in tune with the people of Mlowe yet again. It rained all night last night and into the late morning. Patti spent the night and morning in her bed (I left the backdoor open last night; I’m not so cruel that she needs to be stuck in the rain). But I mean seriously, she never ever moved. And my little ‘hood (as I like to call it) didn’t move or make a sound as well. It was amazing (and extremely Malawian). I however, began to get restless (and the book I was reading began to get less interesting) so I indulged the American in me, waiting until the rain wasn’t SO terrible, and headed to the health center. Patti stayed home. Just one of our many cultural differences.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">#3 LOOKING FOR A BIT OF SHADE? PATTI’S FOUND IT</b><br />Shade is hard to come by here in Mlowe, mostly due to deforestation (gotta make room for cassava planting) and well, I don’t know why, but there’s just not that many trees. The few trees that are around (mango trees! Hella!) are all surrounded by houses. It’s just the Malawian sensibility to have your house near a mango tree- I mean, you gotta sit under something that provides shade, or else... or else you wouldn’t be Malawian. As I previously said, Patti wasn’t moving during hot season, but now that it’s cooled down just a bit, she is back to following me on my journeys. When I make my walks around the village, there is no shade for me to hide under basically- maybe some straggling trees on the side of the road or some bushes. But Patti, as she follows, makes sure she hits every spot of shade created by trees, bushes, buildings, etc. She will speed up to hit the shadey spots, wait for me, etc. It is a very serious effort on her part, and a very Malawian trait of hers. Here’s a picture of Patti sitting on the porch of a stranger’s house as I was walking (in that great hot African sun) home from school. You can barely see her because she went so far off the road to get to that shade. Oh Patti.<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8lQUyvb8-Zg/TuhDNTAI7LI/AAAAAAAAADE/hXEU5QxU2UY/s1600/11302011271.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8lQUyvb8-Zg/TuhDNTAI7LI/AAAAAAAAADE/hXEU5QxU2UY/s320/11302011271.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685868425273470130" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">#4 CAN'T EAT DAT SIMA WITHOUT DAT DENDE</span><br />I believe I have discussed sima before- the staple of Malawian food, a mush patty? Dende, which I think translates to something like 'relish', doesn't really mean relish, in America terms it means more like a side, usually greens. Anyway, one time when I was away, I guess Patti's food ran out (I believe she is putting in a concerted effort for me to go broke feeding her) so my neighbor made her some sima. But apparently, Patti would not take just the sima. She would not eat sima without some dende. Just like any good Malawian.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">#5 PATTI LOVES USIPA</span><br />Usipa, are these tiny tiny fish that are usually served with sima after being dried in the sun. I haven't met many PCVs who are fans of usipa... but it is very popular with the Malawians, and of course, the Patti.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Okay, these are just a few reasons as to why Patti is Malawian, and believe me, there are numerous more. And maybe you still think I should bring Patti home, but you gotta trust me- Patti is better off here. She lives life without a leash, can come and go as she pleases, has lots of people who know her and care about her well being, and of course, she gets to chase chickens and goats all day. What more could a dog want?<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p>RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-8212937204095211002011-11-23T06:22:00.004-05:002011-11-23T06:45:53.055-05:00Catching Up + Story Time<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> 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0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">It has been a long, long time. Please trust that I definite plans to update long before now, but have been thwarted for various reasons. I’m sure a lot of you heard that I recently fell ill. I decided to spend my hot season by spending 6 straight weeks at my site… which is a hot site already as it is the lakeshore after all. I was getting busy walking to school 5 days a week (a 40 minute walk one way) and following my counterpart just about everywhere- meetings with my youth network, etc. Well, sweating away a few pounds, I started to not feel well, and then never started to feel better... so I had to get down to the Peace Corps Office in Lilongwe to see our doctor, the brave Dr. Max. Turns out I had some heat exhaustion and dehydration- got 3 bags of IV, and got to rest in the capital for several days. It definitely made me feel better. On my way home I got to visit my friend Willie's site, Nchenachena, and it was extremely beautiful!! Maybe almost as beautiful as mine (he has no lake, but he is in the mountain and valleys and things so it's pretty nice). It was nice to see another Peace Corps site, and was a good transition to getting back to my own site.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">My paternal grandmother passed away while I was sick in Lilongwe. It was hard because my maternal grandmother just passed away two months before this. Somehow, I was lucky enough to be with friends both times that these things have happened. I had wonderful support from the Peace Corps Office and my Peace Corps friends, and I was in touch with my family as best as possible. It's hard not to be there for them when I know they are hurting, and I'm hurting too. I love you family, miss you so much. Wish I could have been there with you guys.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Anyway. Things at my site are going well. It's almost the end of the school term, so me and the kids have a lot of work to do to wrap up and prepare for exams. All of my other projects are in progress, more details coming (as they get more interesting to write about). I'm going to be a counselor at an upcoming girls' camp during school break, exciting! One thing that is also coming up soon that I am excited about is World AIDS Day, which is December 1st! My health center and one of our CBO's (Community Based Organization) is cohosting a little celebration. We are luring people to our celebration by the promise of a chance to win a FOOTBALL (soccer ball) if you get an HIV test! This is quite the pull for the local youngin's, and basically anything really, because a good football is hard to come by. So, if you come to our celebration, and get your confidential HIV test, you get a raffle ticket to win. In addition to testing, we're going to have different informational sessions for people to learn more about HIV and how to support their friends who are positive, or help their friends make healthy choices. There will hopefully be a lot of learning and positive discussion going on- and even if there's only a little it will be an improvement, as HIV/AIDS is still a very quietly discussed subject in my area. It's my dream that at least 100 people get tested... wish us luck!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Now I'd like to introduce a little "story time" segment that I wrote awhile ago- it's about transport in Malawi. Future story time topics will include "How I Know My Dog Is Malawian", etc. So enjoy! (and check out my updated wishlist! love you guys!)<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I should be clear before beginning, that I don’t like any form of transportation in ANY country. I hate driving, I’d always rather tag along in someone else’s car. I do not like trains. I don’t enjoy the time spent on planes, I find them wildly uncomfortable. When I was volunteering in DC and had the ride the metro for a half hour each way once a week, it was okay I guess, but also quite expensive. When I lived in my apartment in St. Mary’s I used to ride my bike to the grocery store sometimes, which I enjoyed, however many people looked at me like I was crazy (I’m going to assume they were jealous of the extremely large basket on the back of my bike). So yeah. I don’t like transportation. I like to walk! I really like walking. Maybe one day I will walk a marathon.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Back to business. Transportation overall in Malawi is not the best, to put it lightly. There are few privately owned vehicles, and they are owned by Malawian bwanas (bwana means boss, and when said it means rich person). Occasionally a Malawian bwana will pick you up, which is nice, but it’s not a way to rely on for getting around the country. Many of the NGO’s and other national organizations (i.e. the Peace Corps) have white Toyota jeepy like things… they go really fast, and you’ll be lucky if one can pick one up. Otherwise maybe you can catch a ride on a big rig. They go slower than some other transportation, but they rarely stop and go long distances if you’re trying to get somewhere far. I haven’t had much luck trying to get sweet rides like this, but it happens every now and then. Many volunteers depend on these kind of transport because of the hassles of public transportation.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Most transportation in Malawi is public- in the form of minibuses (large vans with rows of seats), matolas (open air flatbed trucks), and big buses (like greyhounds… but generally not as nice). The big buses are the cheapest generally, but unless you’re leaving from their start destination, it’s hard to guess when they might be arriving near you. They are often overloaded with people (a common theme in Malawian transporation). I was riding from Mzuzu to my friend Robert’s house in Nkhata Bay and I got on the bus an hour before it left and I still had to stand. However, a nice Malawian who saw me falling asleep while standing up gave me his seat. I like that the buses are cheap and generally, don’t stop as much as other forms of transportation. When I went to IST, I took one of the bwana big buses (the nicer big bus… more expensive ticket) and the bus actually left at the time it said it would, the seats were comfortable (I had a seat!!), and there was a TV on the bus playing music videos; and it was about time for me to catch up on my American 1980’s music videos, and my Malawian music videos as well. We stopped very few times and it was an enjoyable ride. If I was going to travel alone a long distance, I would shell out the dough for the bwana bus.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Next, we have matolas. Nothing about matolas seems official- there’s no notion that it’s a taxi service or anything of that nature. There’s two people working the matola- the driver, and a ‘conductor’ who sits in the back with us laypeople, collecting money. I find that many people who work on matolas (and minibuses) aren’t the friendliest, but hey, we gotta get around somehow. Many volunteer prefer matolas because it is an open air situation, and it’s better than being crammed in a hot minibus. I have had both positive and negative matola experiences. I do appreciate the open air experience of the matola and getting to see the beautiful view of Malawi. However, I have also been extremely crammed with tons of people and their kuthundu (kuthundu means stuff… could be anything, but especially near me, it often means USIPA… giant baskets loaded with these tiny little fish… nice and smelly), weighing down the matola so you can barely hit a good speed. I would say matolas are often most likely to be in the worst shape, and to stop the most along the road. I’ve tried to make the point to different matola drivers that people would pay more for a more enjoyable ride with less stops (at least I would anyway) but that idea hasn’t seemed to have gotten across yet. For me to get out of my village and to the tarmac road (the M1, which can get me almost anywhere), it is almost exclusively matolas. The road in my village isn’t the best for a matola ride, but the view is the best in the country, I guarantee it!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Last but not least, we have the minibuses. Many volunteers vow never to ride minibuses. I do, because once I’m on the tarmac road I like to get somewhere, and often a minibus is the first thing that arrives. A minibus is the equivalent of what we would have called a bush taxi in The Gambia. Minibuses are often extremely overcrowded, depending where you are- I heard from someone who lived down south that they actually enforce only letting a certain amount of people on a minibus. I’ll believe this when I see it, I honestly hope it’s true. But near me, it’s usually myself and what feels like a million other people, and again, all of their kuthundu, crammed on a minibus. It’d be hard to travel in Malawi if you had serious personal space issues.<span style=""> </span>Every possible space on the bus is taken up by people or kuthundu, and we’re going beyond the seats here. Empty space is lost money, and as much as I appreciate this savvy business idea, again, I would pay more to be more comfortable. Minibuses also stop a lot, which is probably one of the most annoying things about transport, cuz once you’re finally in it, you just wanna get to where you’re going!! When Patti came with to my birthday, on our way home from Mzuzu we took a minibus, and I felt like a jerk taking up space with my puppy, since Malawians don’t all love dogs as much as we Americans generally do. But then a few months after that, I was on a minibus sitting next to a Malawian who was holding a puppy! So, I know that I must be fitting in pretty well at least.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Another thing I should address- I live at the bottom of THE escarpment. Emphasis on THE, because that is how we describe it, as if it’s the only one (it’s not). I don’t think I had even heard of the word escarpment before coming here, but what it basically means to me here is that I live at the bottom of a mountain, and the windy scary road that goes down it. We volunteers feel very divided by this escarpment, constantly trying to lure our friends to what we believe is the cool side of the escarpment (and it is cooler on our side, because we’re there and so is the northern lakeshore of Malawi). But our many rejected invitations can be understood, because the escarpment road is probably one of the most frightening roads I’ve ever been on. It is incredibly steep, and WINDY. And when you’re in a packed minibus, trying to chug your way up the steepest hill ever, sometimes you just think that you might not make it. Going up the escarpment is scary cuz it puts a lot of stress on whatever vehicle in to chug up it. Going DOWN the escarpment is probably equally if not a little more scary, as your driver has to ride the brake the whole time and the windy-ness is known to make people sick. On that same minibus where I was sitting next to the Malawian with the puppy, several people on my bus got sick. I was sitting in the back and there was a lot of noisy commotion, when the man next to me said “People are vomiting!” and laughed. That’s when I noticed that people had their heads out the windows. Lovely! One of the coolest things about the escarpment that is that you are almost always guaranteed to see baboons on the side of the road, and since many people won’t see baboons outside a zoo in their lifetime… then yeah, it’s pretty cool. Also, if you’re not too scared to keep your eyes open, the view of the lake is amazing!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">As I previously mentioned, the rides to get out of my village are almost exclusively matolas. Unfortunately, there is no rhyme or reason to finding a ride out at whatever time you’re wishing to leave. After 5 months or so of living in Mlowe, I would say it’s probably easiest to leave early in the morning… but sometimes you still might end up waiting for awhile for a ride. Leaving any other time of the day is a gamble, and I have on occasion walked the 10 kilometers to the tarmac when transport was not available. I would say the hardest transport day is Sunday, and I try not to take too many chances on that day since I’m not trying to make a habit of walking 10 kilometers in the heat with all of my kuthundu. But at the same time, as I try to make all these notions on how easy or hard it is to get transport out of Mlowe, anything can happen. Sometimes I’ll be waiting for just 10 minutes and find a ride, and other times upwards of two hours. 10K is not that far, but it’s not a paved road, and… it’s hot people! It’s hot! The ride cost 200kwacha, which is about $1. Many of the drivers know me now and they will drop me right by the turn off to my house w/o my saying anything, which is pretty nice. I would say getting into Mlowe is much more annoying than getting out, because you have to wait for your matola to fill up (and then overfill, and then some) and the time it takes for that to happen is long and arbitrary. Few times I’ve lucked out and arrived at Chiweta (the point on the tarmac where you get onto Mlowe road) with a full matola ready to leave, and those days are great moments in time. But we can’t always be so lucky! But again, it’s all not SO bad. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">One of my favorite things about travelling though is STREET FOOD! I have been a fan of street food since my time in The Gambia, where my friend Mike and I used to go to the market every Sunday evening to walk thru the market and buy our dinner bit by bit. We also would often by frozen juices thru the windows of our bush taxis while travelling (I miss wonjo juice!). Here in Malawi, whenever your bus makes a stop near a trading center, people are at your windows trying to sell you food! For cheap! My absolute favorite thing to buy on the road is hardboiled eggs! I can never get eggs in Mlowe, so to be able to buy an egg (or 2 or 3) from the side of the road, with my own little packet of salt is greatly appreciated. I also love the boiled maize, which is only 20kwacha! And it’s delicious! Chippies (French fries basically) are a PCV staple, but some chippies stands are better than others. Sometimes you get a little salad of cabbage and tomato with your chippies, which is sweet. Mendazi (fried dough) and scones (not actually scones, more like… a biscuit? Or a roll?) are classic and cheap cheap. Samosas are one of the best finds- it is rolled out dough that is wrapped around something delicious and fried. If you’re lucky, you can find a meat one (gotta get that protein!) which cost 50kwacha, and other vegetarian versions (maybe filled with rice or potatoes) for 10kwacha. We know that anything fried is delicious, and I like to buy my fried things while sitting in a vehicle, thru a window. The number one road food for hot season is MAFREEZIES!; Which is frozen juice or soda in little baggies. How refreshing! And at big trading centers you can buy even more- bags of potato chips, rolls of cookies, FRIED CHICKEN, all types of things. I always try to indulge on the road, it’s the cheapest way to eat! Although the first thing anyone in a position of authority will tell you when travelling is to NOT eat street food, I have to disagree. Get out there and try something! You just have to be open to having some GI difficulties every now and then. Bring some Tums! I’m lucky that I’m pretty sure I have a stomach of steel and have had probably the least amount of GI problems than other other volunteer I know in country. Lucky me!</span></p>RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-82050898241970322932011-09-29T05:06:00.001-04:002011-09-29T05:08:31.495-04:00IST, and on to home!<!--[if !mso]> <style> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> 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{mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Wingdings;"><span style=""></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">Greetings friends and family! I am still on my way home from In-Service Training (IST). After training I decided to travel with my best friend Kathi, who lives in Dwambazi, in north Nkhotakota district. Kathi lives and works at Dwambazi Rural Hospital, which is a bit different than the health center I work at. Her catchment area is much larger, and they have more staff (both curative and community medical workers) to cover so many people. And they speak Chitonga! Luckily, most people around have been able to appreciate my Chitumbuka. Kathi has been a wonderful host, and it’s nice to finally visit a volunteer in my group’s site to see what everyone is up to.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">I just spent 2 weeks in Dedza at the College of Forestry, which is where Peace Corps hosts all the trainings volunteers go thru- pre-service training, in-service training, etc. It was nice to see the old stomping grounds again. For the first week of training, both the environment group and health group were there (all 43 of us!) and it was wonderful to see everyone again. We are lucky that we are such a friendly and fun group and all really get along. It was awesome to hear what everyone was up to; Malawi varies so much by location! I can’t wait to see more of the country when I am able to travel some more.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">During the big group first week, we had some basic sessions with office staff about general Peace Corps issues- administrative, safety & security, medical, etc. I am proud to say that I am an alternate warden for the northern region of Malawi- that means myself, the other alternate wardens, and the head warden, will be taking the lead should the volunteers need to consolidate for safety and security reasons. Of course, I hope that never happens, but you never know. We also spent 3 days of that first week with all HIV/AIDS sessions lead by our PEPFAR Coordinator, the incredibly inspiring Irene! Irene was a PCV in Lesotho (where my friend Mike is currently serving) and did Peace Corps Response in Malawi. She is now the liason for PEPFAR funding in Peace Corps Malawi, and for Peace Corps Response Malawi. Irene is the bomb, and incredibly supportive of volunteer’s works. We got the extensive training we needed on how to deal with HIV/AIDS in our communities, and many many guides and resources to help us along the way.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">During that first week of training, I heard from home that my grandmother, Concetta Ursini, had passed away. It was sudden news, and extremely hard to be away from my family at that time. I was lucky in that I was with everyone I knew best in Peace Corps Malawi- my amazing group of 43. The night I heard the news, we went to our local watering hole, Ed’s, to toast my grandmother’s memory. It was a really special night filled with an outpouring of support from all of my fellow volunteers. I just want to say to them how much I appreciate the being there for me, and I know everyone at home is looking out for my family as well. I love you all!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">The Sunday we spent at training we were able to go visit the families we lived with for the 5 weeks of homestay. I have to say it was really emotional! As my village crew was driving to Mkonkera we were pretty quiet, unsure what emotions would hit us when we saw our families again. When the Peace Corps vehicle dropped us off, people finally heard the word that we were in town and they came running into the street! I saw my agogo (grandmother) running towards me with my baby brother Haroldie!! I gave then a great big hug when I saw my amayi (mama) running towards with me with her beautiful smile!! They escorted me back home, where I saw my bambo (father) and we sat and had a Fanta and biscuits. Haroldie was a little hesitant with me, having not seen me in so long, but he was pretty willing to share biscuits with me. I really loved my homestay family, they are a beautiful family and I am grateful to having been able to spend my homestay experience with them. Sadly we didn’t have too long to spend with them, but for good measure, and in true Dedza style, my amayi sent me off with a sack of potatoes. Love them!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">Eventually, the environment group headed home, and our counterparts came for their week of training with us. My poor counterpart, who had one of the longest distances to travel to training, had a rough time getting there- his bus from Mzuzu to Dedza broke down several times along the way, but luckily he was able to arrive by 7:30pm that night. A late hot meal (and ice cream!) was hopefully enough to soothe the troubles that is transportation around Malawi.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">The week of training with the counterparts was very inspiring. We all did presentations on our sites, and it was great to see what everyone and their counterparts are up to at their respective sites. All of the counterparts were incredibly engaged, and brought new perspectives to our hopes for our sites. We definitely learned how to utilize our counterpart-volunteer relationship to the greatest benefit of our communities. One of the most important things we learned about were Income Generating Activities (IGA) that we hope to implement in our villages. IGAs often fund Community Based Organizations (CBO), HIV/AIDS support groups (PLWHA), youth groups, etc. We learned how to make soap, peanut butter, healthy biscuits, and more. We also had a session on beekeeping! Apparently, my site is a good place for beekeeping, so I will be looking towards the experts in my area to help start beekeeping in Mlowe. I am hoping that many community groups in my areas will be willing to receive training in IGAs and put their profits to great use. My counterpart definitely benefitted a lot from training, and I am really excited to get to work for these next 19 months in Mlowe with Laston.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">Things are going great and I am really happy here. I have tons and tons of work to do, and I am so happy to have the opportunity to live and work in Mlowe! I believe my trip to America may be scheduled around the very end of April/beginning of May… so fear not, you will see me soon enough and for a few weeks at that! </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">Oh yes, and I wanted to brag about some amazing cooking that Kathi and I did when I visited her site (you probably saw the pictures on facebook, but I’m going to brag anyway). One night we made PIEROGIES!!! We stuffed our pierogies with mashed potatoes, cooked greens and boiled carrots- we fried a few for an appetizer, and then boiled the rest- which we topped with an Italian seasoned tomato sauce. It was amazing!!! Kathi is the dough expert, and now I am an expert by association, and I will soon be wrapping all my meals in dough, just because it’s damn delicious. Another night we made tacos!! Homemade tortillas, green beans, zucchini, onions, pepper, and taco seasoned mince soya/tomato as the meat!! It was flipping delicious!!! Of course we miss tacos with ALL the fixin’s- guacamole (avocadoes are out of season), sour cream, cheese… but they were pretty damn good. I’m hoping to become more adventurous with my cooking, even though the selection of food in my village is limited. I loved cooking in America and it’s time to translate that love to my charcoal stove here in Malawi!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">P.S. I reorganized my wishlist- I’ve been meaning to for awhile, and now it is much more organized for your viewing and carepackage sending pleasure.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">P.P.S. I believe I mentioned this in my previous post, but does anyone have any contacts with a t-shirt screening company looking to “give back” to benefit the works of GAD Malawi? Please let me know!!!</span></p>RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-4301826025650112362011-09-10T08:12:00.005-04:002011-09-10T08:30:44.276-04:00On the Way to ISTGreetings! I am spending the night in Mzuzu on my way to IST in Dedza. I get to catch a 7am bus for a 6 hour ride (at least) to Dedza tomorrow... I'm glad at the end of the road will be many familiar faces, free food, and many new things.<br /><br />We have a new Peace Corps Response volunteer (the mini-Peace Corps you can do after you complete regular Peace Corps) that lives in Mzuzu, and she was a volunteer in The Gambia- and we definitely knew each other there! We just had lunch and its great to have a friend who experienced the specialness that is The Gambia around. Especially that lives in Mzuzu, since I am here about once a month. It will be exciting to continue to hang out and reminisce.<br /><br />Things at site have been going well. I feel like there is so much to do and so much I need to do, which of course is a good thing, and is why I'm there. However, it is a lot of work that I can't do all on my own, and I'm trying to find the right people (and the motivation on all of our parts) to get to work. But my counterpart is great, and I know we will both get a lot out of IST and will help us focus on how to go about addressing everything we need to.<br /><br />I start teaching Life Skills at the local CDSS when I am home from IST. Unfortunately the old Life Skills teacher got transferred and hasn't been replaced, so there is only me- and unfortunately again, I don't have enough time to teach more than two classes, so I am only able to teach Form 3 and Form 4. However, I'm hoping this will be an opportunity for me to train some Peer Educators, so at least they will be a resource to the Form 1 and Form 2 students.<br /><br />The East Rumphi Youth Network is still in the beginning stages, but it looks like my old youth group in America wants to be a counterpart to the youth network here. This is really really exciting, and could be a lifetime lasting relationship between kids in Malawi and the USA. It's exciting to be apart of it all!<br /><br />Hopefully we're going to be hosting a GAD meeting at IST, to reflect on GAD camp, discuss new ideas, talk about going national (we're currently based in the north), and of course, money money money. I'll let you know how it goes! Also- do any of you Americans out there know a t-shirt screening company that would be willing to donate some t-shirts to our GAD committee? If you do, please get in touch with me via facebook message or email!<br /><br />Patti recently received a pink collar and bejeweled name tag in the mail from my family. Needless to say, she's the hottest pup in town. She is truly too cool- I'm almost concerned about the crowd she is running with, she's been coming home late, haha. Patti is doing great and I miss her already, and she will be excited when I finally get back home in a few weeks. Thank you family for the amazing packages!! I don't want to reveal how quickly I ate all the m&m's... also this is the best watch I have ever owned, THANK YOU!!<br /><br />Hope everyone is doing well. Just a reminder to please send all mail to my address in Mlowe, since I am basically never in Lilongwe-<br />Renee Angelo, PCV<br />P.O. Box 2<br />Mlowe, Rumphi, Malawi<br /><br />Keep in touch!! Love you all!RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-74715188426568968242011-08-25T03:12:00.002-04:002011-08-25T03:16:57.620-04:00Just Checking InHey everyone! I unfortunately didn't prepare a blog this time around as I had other work emails and things I needed to do, but everything is still going well and I will post a blog on my way to IST in two weeks.
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<br />My wishlist is now actually on my page- for whatever reason I was editing it but it wasn't publishing to my page, but<a href="http://peacecorpsrenee.blogspot.com/p/wish-list.html"> it is there</a> now!! So thank you in advance :)
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<br />Love you all!
<br />RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-35140721337450966622011-08-11T08:52:00.001-04:002011-08-11T08:55:42.838-04:00A Day In The Life...<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> 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mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">Greetings friends & family! I have to give a shout out to everyone whom I’ve received mail and packages from recently- (letters) Gina, The Beckers, Ben, Nard Dog, James, Ryan, and (packages) the Kings, the Dorrs, and my family! (and thanks to my sister Kara for the amazing birthday presents!) You guys have no idea how exciting it is to go to the post office and there actually be something there waiting for me. I feel like every time I’m just as surprised as the previous time that stuff actually shows up. The postal system is amazing, and I’m pretty sure just about everything everyone has sent has actually reached me. I feel like packages always show up at the best time- i.e. when I’m sooooo tired of cooking or happen to be very hungry at the moment I open a package and there are oreos inside, haha. Patti seems to be receiving just as many presents as me... she is making such a good impression on all you guys, and unfortunately, you guys will probably never meet her. Do not worry though- she appreciates the presents just as much as me. She has no idea how lucky she is!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">So I’m totally ripping this blog post idea off of my best friend Kathi, who did a little “average day in the life” post, so… here is what I might do on an average day.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">I get out of bed by 6am, I often wake up before then and maybe read or surf facebook on my phone before getting up. I get out of bed, open all my windows (they’re closed at night to keep out mosquitoes… and robbers). I open my back door to go to my chimbudzi (local toilet), and Patti (anxiously waiting for me to feed her) sits outside my chimbudzi waiting. I grab a big handful of usipa (these tiny fish dried in the sun, they are the main staple of protein here in Mlowe… I’m not a big fan, but Patti loves them) and put them in Patti’s bowl out back. Then I eat breakfast- if I’m lucky, I made a boiled egg the night before to eat, or I have hot water in my thermos to make oats if I have them. Otherwise I may eat something from a package (thank you everyone who has ever sent me granola bars!!). I don’t drink coffee or anything, so I feel no need to make a fire in the morning. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">So yeah, I eat my breakfast, read a little bit, and I get to my health center by 7:30am. My health center is funded/run by the CCAP (Church of Central Africa Presbyterian) so we do prayers and hymns every morning. After prayers, I do whatever the HSA’s (Health Survelliance Assistants) are doing- which could be an outreach growth monitoring clinic (where we weigh children under 5years to monitor malnutrition) or it might be a day where people come for the Supplementary Feeding Program, or an immunization campaign. If nothing particular is going on, I talk with the HSA’s talk about what’s going on in the village, health issues, etc. I’m lucky that my HSA’s are pretty awesome, and we share a lot of information with each other. I ask about Malawi, and they ask about America- it’s an equal exchange (and directly address the 2<sup>nd</sup> and 3<sup>rd</sup> goal of the Peace Corps, woot woot). I should note that Patti is present for all of this- she follows me to the hospital to play with all the dogs that live here, and everyone knows her, she is very famous.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">At noon everyone goes home for lunch, so I head home. Give Patti some more usipa. If I’ve planned well, I have some leftovers from dinner the night before- which I may have eaten for breakfast- if so, then I eat breakfast food (eggs, oats, granola bar) for lunch. I’ve always felt that food has no certain time of day, its just food, it’s for whenever you’re hungry. Oh, sometimes I make a salad as well (which is often just tomatoes, but hey, its salad like). I often take a nap after lunch, or just lay in bed and read for a while, because it’s really really hot at this time and nobody is doing anything anyway, so I’m not missing out. After that, I take care of my chores for the day- picking up some tomatoes for dinner, doing dishes or laundry or bathing in the river, stop at the post office, chatting with people all along the way (and Patti following). </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">Late afternoon/early evening (4:30-5) I start to light my (new!) bawula, which is a charcoal stove. You put charcoal in the top and start a fire underneath until the charcoal gets hot- it takes awhile, but it stays hot for a really long time, so I can do a bunch of cooking in a row. I’ll probably make myself some rice and beans or soya and pasta, making extra to eat the next day. I have this porridge that’s for babies that I give to Patti to supplement her usipa diet, so I make that when I’m done with my food, and Patti stares at the pot the whole time as she knows its almost her dinner time (6pm). When Patti is fed, that’s when I boil eggs or water for my thermos, as the bawula is now super duper hot and perfect for boiling. The bawula has made cooking so much easier, and helps me organize my meals, which is great. While I eat dinner I either listen to music (if my phone or kindle is charged) or read. After dinner, I write letters, or journal (by candlelight). Or I workout! I made a workout mix on my phone, so I listen to that, do some resistance bands, dance around, etc. Patti is not amused by this, so she usually takes this as an opportunity to sneak off to my bed for a snooze.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">By 7pm its totally dark, so usually I’m in bed- of course, after I’ve lured Patti out of my bed and the house with a treat, because even though I love her terribly, I still want her to sleep outside. I read in bed or (if I was able to charge my computer at the health center that day) watch some TV or movies on my computer. Then I fall asleep. I probably haven’t willingly fallen asleep this early since I was in elementary school, but I mean, it’s dark. I don’t have electricity, and you can only do so much by candlelight anyway (and hey, candles cost money too). It’s better to wake up early and take advantage of all the daylight than stay up at night, so oh well.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">So now that I write that all out, it doesn’t seem that interesting, haha. But it is my most average day. It might not seem like much, but everything just takes so much time here. I like the slow pace of life- I’m never bored, there’s always something to get done or someone to talk to. I’ve also read like more than 30 books since being here, haha. Sometimes I have meetings during the week with community groups in the afternoon, and I’m meeting new people all the time in my village (still! There are a lot of people… and only one me). Then I have days that are totally not average- which are the days that I usually write about in here. Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this little glimpse in the life.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">Next time I’ll write a blog on the fun and stress that is Renee trying to get out of her remote village to the city. That’s some work!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">I’m in Mzuzu right now, doing some banking and errands on my way to my friend Robert’s in Nkhata Bay to see friends for the weekend. I’m excited! I got into Mzuzu yesterday, after I went to Rumphi boma (boma kinda means like the “city” party of your district- its where all the government offices are- Rumphi is my district) to meet the District Health Officer with my counterpart. The district hospital is not directly charge of my hospital, but only the Health Survelliance Assistants, as they are still funded by the government. The main hospital that oversees my health center, is the CCAP Synod of Livingstonia, and will be celebrating 100 years in August! There’s going to be a celebration and I am excited to go.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">So things are going well. In-service training next month- it will be the first time that I’ve travelled south of Nkhata bay (which isn’t even south, its still the northern region) so I’m not looking forward to travelling all the way to Dedza in the central region (it will probably take 2 days). They partially combined our training- so the first week of training my entire training group (environment and health, all 44 of us) will be at Dedza together. It will really be a trip to be with the whole group again back at our old stomping grounds (Dedza College of Forestry, where we had PST). It will be great to hear from everyone and exchange ideas.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. I updated my wishlist as well, for anyone who may be planning to send me some treats </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="">J</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";"> I mean hey, Christmas is just around the corner- at least, when you consider that it could take 1 or 2 months for a package to get here, haha. Everyone else, keep in touch! I love getting your letters and writing. I hope you all are doing great, and I’m sorry that summer will soon be over for you guys at home. Hot season is on its way here, and I gotta say I only keep hearing terrible things about it. We’ll see how my average day changes come hot season!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></p> RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-81981215975383378872011-07-30T09:22:00.003-04:002011-07-30T09:38:49.455-04:00Hello Everyone!The more I spend time with Patti, the more she reminds me of Bernard - which is a little strange, since they are completely different kinds of dogs, and different genders. They remind me of each other because they are A) weird B) they love me. Patti has decided that she wants a bed (how does she even know that dog beds exist?) so she tries to lay on mine. However, mine is surrounded by a mosquito net, and going under the mosquito net continues to elude Patti. Therefore, she lays on top of the net, on the bed. It is extremely silly. She still sleeps outside, but occasionally I let her in the bed during naptime (naptimes are important in Malawi). If anyone wants to send a bed to Patti, she would really appreciate it. Thank you to Mary Ann & Rich for sending Patti some treats, flea meds, and bones!<br /><br />In other news, the last day I was in Mzuzu after the end of GAD camp, I shaved my head. I had been thinking about it for awhile, and was [maybe] planning to wait until IST (there is a girl in my group w/a shaved head so I figured hey, leave it to the experts) but my hair was driving me crazy all week at camp so I finally committed. It cost me $2. I have pictures but my phone network hasn't been working, but as soon as they do, they'll be online. I have to say that it looks really good, and it is way easier to manage- especially considering that I bathe in a river.<br /><br />My first three months are over! So now I am an even more real volunteer. I feel like I am about to get really busy... I have been meeting with community based organizations in my village, and other various committees. I am on the Board of Trustees of the East Rumphi Youth Network (which is going to be AMAZING) and there is going to be a lot of work to get it off the ground. And one of my environment volunteer friends should be visiting my site soon so we can get my health center's garden underway. Then IST (in-service training) with my counterpart, and it will be great to see my training group again and make a 6 month action plan with Laston. I am really excited with how things are going. I will keep you in the loop everytime I have internet access!<br /><br />Thanks to everyone whom I have received letters and packages from recently, you have no idea how much they mean to me!! My post office is so small (smaller than my house) that sometimes I suspect that I am the only person getting mail there, but whatever it takes to give Isaac (the postmaster) a job. We both thank you!! Keep in touch!!RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-30358520030270559452011-07-15T03:46:00.004-04:002011-07-15T03:48:44.881-04:00Quick Pic & WishlistI just updated my wishlist- I am receiving packages at my site address in Mlowe which is under my "Keep in Touch" page and is on my facebook. Thank you in advance :)<br /><br />My friend Kathi just posted this amazing picture of GAD camp- we were playing BINGO which teh kids were insanely into, and I was in charge of giving out the prizes (glowsticks I brought from America) and getting the crowd pumped!!<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BpeOBGY97a4/Th_wvegsoNI/AAAAAAAAAC8/JY4pc_FErSo/s1600/264796_566075624479_172800014_31656868_3055809_n.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BpeOBGY97a4/Th_wvegsoNI/AAAAAAAAAC8/JY4pc_FErSo/s320/264796_566075624479_172800014_31656868_3055809_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629482757671133394" border="0" /></a>RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-81561606240368839182011-07-15T02:30:00.004-04:002011-07-15T03:09:38.905-04:00Blog Post for GAD!!!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> 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mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">Greetings friends and family from home! In a short time I will be hitting the 5 month mark in Malawi, which I can hardly believe. I feel like hitting the 5 month mark is significant since that is the longest amount of time I have spent away from USA. I’m so happy to have the support system I do here in Malawi and to know that I have all you guys at home. I hope you know that I think about you a lot, and appreciate you reading this and being in touch with me.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">As I have previously mentioned, I was recently elected as the new president of the Gender and Development Committee (GAD) for Peace Corps Malawi. However, I am just the president-elect because the old executive board is still here, and hosting the first major project by the committee right now in Mzuzu. We are hosting our first camp in Mzuzu for 25 secondary school students. The students come from all over the northern region, and spending the week in Mzuzu shadowing Malawian professionals to get a glimpse of the possibilities for them once they are beyond secondary school.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Each morning the students spend 4 hours with a Malawian professional- doctor, nurse, mechanic, businessman, businesswoman, legal aid, broadcaster, etc, of their own gender. It is quite the opportunity for them, and it is wonderful seeing the students inspired by the potential opportunities that await them through hard work. I have been dropping three boys off every morning at the mechanic, and it is so rewarding to hear from them how much they are enjoying it and seeing that they are trying to learn as much as possible from the experience.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the afternoon we PCVs host the activities- we have been playing tons of classic camp games that have gone over really well with the students. We all definitely love to have fun and are laughing a lot. Before we start a game sometimes we wonder if it will translate, over culture and language boundaries, but they have enjoyed every game so much (and so have we volunteers). It’s so neat to see kids play these games for the first time and really enjoy them- camp is not an average opportunity here in Malawi (unlike in America, where many of us have served as camp counselors) so it’s so fun to play with them. We played BINGO one night and I wish I could explain how exciting it was for them to play- even to play before they realized there were prizes (glowsticks, which I brought… they are a hit). My BFF Kathi has some great pictures of game time which I will hopefully share on my facebook wall or here.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">One day we were able to take an afternoon field trip to the courthouse where we met the chief judge of Mzuzu. He was incredibly inspiring and talked with the kids for a long time. The kids had some really wonderful questions as well, which was exciting for us to know that they are taking advantage of the experience. I think us volunteers were equally if not more inspired by the judge as well- maybe a law career isn’t totally ruled out for my future.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Since this is the first time that a camp like this has been hosted by the GAD committee, we are working thru a few kinks and it’s a great experience to be here to see what works and what might not be working so well. Myself and the rest of the executive board and committee members are really excited to see what we can do for GAD camp next year. There is so much potential for a project like this and I am really excited to see where we will be able to take the GAD committee over the course of the next year. I am hoping that when I go to America next year that I will be able to raise some funds to supplement the camp funds and other future activities of GAD.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I think I previously mentioned that I am hoping to write a proposal to fund a penpal program between the students in my Life Skills class and the youth center I worked at in America. Two of the goals in Peace Corps relate to educating the people of our host country about Americans, and to educate Americans about the people of our host country. This project would address both and I think it would be a wonderful experience for the youth on both ends. It’s hard to try to do this without reliable electricity and costly access to internet, but I am hoping to get it done before the fall term of school starts. I will keep you posted!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am looking forward to spending some time in village until further notice since I have been travelling a lot since the beginning of July. Oh I forgot to talk about my amazing holiday! My friend Christian hooked about 15 of us up with a deal to spend a few days in Nkhata Bay, which is a more “touristy” area of Malawi, and incredibly beautiful. We were at a lodge right on the lake, and spend the weekend swimming, dancing, and eating wonderful wonderful food! My BFFs Kathi & Stacey made a pin the tail on the donkey game for my birthday, and a homemade piñata!! Yes, they are incredibly resourceful! The lodge provided free chocolate cake for my birthday, which we all shared around a big bonfire that night. On the 4<sup>th</sup> of July we spent a lot of time hanging out on a big rock in lake, and just before evening set in Stacey, Meredith, Trason & I set off some small fireworks (like roman candles & such) off the rock, just as a little tribute to America. We had amazing BBQ food for dinner and danced the night away. It was an incredible holiday.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>We were all thinking about what our friends and families were doing in America and I was definitely thinking of home. I was so happy to talk to my family and BFF Kdo on my birthday, thank you for calling!! The next big holiday for Peace Corps Malawi is Halloween, when we will be attending the traditional PC celebration in Chitipa district. My friends and I already have our Halloween costume idea worked out so I am really excited about it.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Come mid-September my heath sector training group will be heading back to Dedza for In-Service Training. We will spend a week with just the trainers and the next week our counterparts will come so we can make an action plan. My counterpart is named Laston, he is a Health Surveillance Assistant at my health center and he is awesome. I feel like there is a lot of potential in my village with the help of Laston, so I am looking forward to our work over the next two years. And I know he will gain as much as I from the experience, so he will be a valuable asset to our community even when I am eventually gone.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Anyway, life is good. Patti is awesome. She traveled with me to my birthday and was a total champ- I'm sure you have the image in your head of African women tying babies to their back and such? To travel with Patt I tied Patti in a sling around me like the mamas do around here. We were quite the sight. People were constantly talking about us as we passed by. My favorite thing that was said to me was "That is not a baby, that is a dog!" (in Chitumbuka). Haha. All the PCVs loved Patti and she had a great time on the holiday as well. She is not at GAD camp, but at home being taken care of by Laston. I miss her!</p><p class="MsoNormal">Well I miss you all and hope to continue to be in touch with you all thru here, facebook, phone, and letters! Thank you for being in touch, and I look forward to your support as my work and projects come to be!<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p>RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-71682828561931858732011-06-03T03:55:00.005-04:002011-06-03T04:22:37.716-04:00So I happen to be in the city twice in two weeks which is highly unusual- but since I don't know when I'll be back in the city I figured I would holler at you guys.<br /><br />It's been kind of a tough week. When I came home from <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Mzuzu</span> last week I was at my table (just one table in my house... its all you need) when I noticed that there were a lot of little kids sitting outside my house- and not the usual little kids (we <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">PCVs</span> like to refer to these little kids as "<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">iwes</span>", <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">iwe</span> means "you" informally, and Malawians call the kids and each other "<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">iwe</span>" as well) who are my neighbors, but weird <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">iwes</span> who were staring at my house. I mean, I am pretty famous for what I like to call my "neighborhood" but never have random people just come to stare. That's when I heard the sound of my neighbors crying (wailing, loudly) and I thought to myself uh oh.... someone has passed away. I wasn't sure what to do, so I <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">texted</span> my counterpart telling him I think someone died near me and what should I do to be respectful. As soon as I sent that text one of my <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">neighbors</span> came to my door and let me know that she was sorry for the noise, and that their aunt died. I told them not to be sorry at all, and that I was sorry for their loss. My counterpart called me minutes later to let me know that I shouldn't go to work tomorrow, and I should just be around for support.<br /><br />I slept terribly that night- not just because I was really sad about my neighbor (my first big cry in country) but because I was getting sick. I woke up feeling terrible, and stayed in bed until my counterpart let me know that he was in my neighborhood sitting w/the men. I went outside for the first time since the death, greeted the group village headman, my counterpart, and my friend Mr. Dina. I told them I was sick (and I was, and I looked and sounded like crap) so they told me to rest and they would pass the message onto the family. So on behalf of the funeral and the mourning (which lasts several days) I spent a lot of the weekend inside, and all of it just in my neighborhood.<br /><br />My neighbor passed away from HIV. This is my first dealing with an HIV related death- and it took just a month at my site for it to happen. It was really hard, and I'm not sure if this is something that will ever get easier. How could it? It's a person's life. Its not something I want to deal with again soon, but I would be naive to think that there won't be more loss near me in this next two years. I'm proud and happy to be a health volunteer in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Mlowe</span>- a sweet, beautiful village full of wonderful people who are happy to have me there.<br /><br />On the flip side, a new life will be joining me at my <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">nyumba</span> (house) this upcoming Monday. The nurse at my health center had puppies, and she is giving me one. This puppy will be a Malawi puppy and live forever in Malawi, a happy life, being passed down from <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">PCV</span> to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">PCV</span>- this puppy is in no way competing with the pup of my life Bernard, of course! My Malawi puppy is really to protect my house and to keep little kids away (this is only a half a joke). I haven't named the puppy yet, but I'm sure it will be a B name, and it will be happy to eat fish and rice with me everyday.<br /><br />I received my first mail at my village post office! Thank you, Emmy Z!! It was so exciting- I went in doubting that I would have any mail, but I was going to buy chippies and it was open so I thought I'd check. WIN! So, now that I know it works, please send me mail :) I am working on a Wish List here on the blog- and of course it is not exhaustive and I will completely appreciate anything that may come my way in the mail. Also, my unnamed Malawian puppy is expecting mail too- it told me last week.<br /><br />I hope you all are great, please continue to keep in touch, I am doing my best to keep in touch as well! Love you all!RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-4858972007255794182011-05-25T08:42:00.005-04:002011-05-25T09:02:37.133-04:00THE LONG AWAITED UPDATE!Firstly, I updated my "Keep In Touch" page with my new mailing address at site and my cell phone number- there are directions there on how to call from a phone or from skype. Letters and texts and calls are wonderful! I really miss you guys but only have access to things like internet every-so-not-often, so letters and my phone are generally the best way to contact me.<br /><br />Well, it has been 3 months since I came to Malawi, and I can't believe I'm a real volunteer already. I really loved training, I love my site now, and I am loving getting to know my community and what it is like to be a volunteer. I happen to be in the northern city of Mzuzu right now as I just finished an HIV/AIDS training with other volunteers in my region, so I knew I had to update while I had the chance.<br /><br />Training was a wonderful experience. Each week was numbered and extremely different. The week we arrived was "Week Zero", where it was just about getting to know each other (my training group of 44, half health trainees and half environment), our amazing amazing staff, and the country of Malawi. This is where we were introduced to the concept of PCVs of the Week- 4 current health/environment PCVs joined us for the week as peer support and to let us know what its like out there in the field. The PCVs, our trainers, and my fellow trainees would prove to be an support group throughout training and now.<br /><br />Week 1-5 we moved to our host-villages. We were split into 4 villages (2 health, 2 environment), and I lived in the village of Mkonkera with my host dad (John), host mom (Louisa), and their baby Harold, and bagogo (grandma) and my cousin Stazio. Although initially this was a hard transition (living in country for one week and then suddenly living with a family that I can hardly communicate with) is a lot, but I really loved my host family and we had a wonderful time together. However at the end of Week Zero I found out that I would be learning Chitumbuka (a language of the northern region of Malawi) and we were living in Chichewa speaking villages, so even though the language barrier stayed, we were still somehow able to get by and communicate. We really had fun! I really miss them and will hopefully visit them next time I am in the area.<br /><br />So myself and 9 other trainees (across 3 of the host villages) were assigned to learn Chitumbuka. We had daily language class and I really enjoyed the language learning experience. My class was the best (shoutout to Michelle, Ilana, & Kate) and our teacher Geoffrey was amazing, we are all truly indebted to our amazing language trainers. I think all of the Chitumbukas in our group are totally awesome, and that pride is indicate of us northerners, who tend to be a very proud people. Hey, we're awesome, what can I say.<br /><br />Also during these Weeks 1-5 we had daily technical training about the health sector in Malawi. Our host villages hosted a current health volunteer each week so they could lend their expertise to our topic of the week. I of course think that my village hosted the coolest and best volunteers, and I really appreciated the volunteers taking time out of their schedule to contribute to our training. I also obviously have to shoutout to my amazing technical training Grace, who is a nurse here in Malawi, and truly a pioneering in working for the public good in the health field here.<br /><br />Week 6-7 we hit the road! The first week all the northerners (The Chitumbuka speaking trainees and Chitonga speaking trainees) headed to Mzuzu for a meetup with current volunteers in the northern region. Then the volunteers had us shadow them at their sites, and then we got to visit our own sites! Yes, the sites we're living at for two years! Health volunteers are generally assigend to health centers, so I got to meet my health center staff and spend two nights there in the village. My village is Mlowe and it IS the most beautiful place in Malawi (pictures on facebook). Week 6 was a great week- it was awesome to meet all of the volunteers, get to know the region, and see our sites!<br /><br />Week 7 we left our site visit and headed to Ekwendeni for the Chitumbuka Language Intensive Week. We stayed for a week with all of our language trainers for what else- a week of intensive language, our final preparation for our language test and for moving to village! It really was a fun week, and especially fruitful in working on our language skills. Our trainers and the Chitumbuka trainees are awesome, how many times can I say this? We all passed our langauge test with flying colors!<br /><br />Week 8 was just the last minute preparations before swearing in. Swearing in was held at the ambassador's house and it was a beautiful day and I have to say we then-trainees cleaned up pretty well. One of the trainees and friend of mine Matt wrote a speech on behalf of the trainees. The language trainers broke it up and translated it into the 3 languages we learned (Chichewa, Chitonga, Chitumbuka) and I was selected to read the Chitumbuka portion. It was great to be apart of the ceremony. The speeches by our trainers were really heartfelt and it was a wonderful day. And finally, we were volunteers! And yes, I momentarily cried after finishing swearing in- I was just REALLY excited and sitting next to my best friends Stacey & Kathi and I was overwhelmed with joy to say the least. Way to go, me.<br /><br />So now I live in my way too big house in Mlowe, cook my meals over fire, shit in a hole, sleep under a mosquito net, and work! My first 3 months at site are supposed to be focused on community integration and a community needs assessment, and I'm just getting started. It's an undertaking to say the least, but I love Mlowe and wouldn't want to be anywhere else.<br /><br />I don't know when I'll be able to update again- I actually will be in Mzuzu again next week for a Gender & Development meeting, so I write a post at site and translate it here so you can get a better picture of my daily life. I really miss you guys and want to thank everyone who has been in touch with me so far, it has really meant a lot! Plenty of you I do NOT have your addresses or phone numbers, and the best way to get that to me is thru a letter, so please send one! I always write! I love you, <a href="http://peacecorpsrenee.blogspot.com/p/keep-in-touch.html">keep in touch</a>!<br /><br />Renee Angelo, PCV<br />P.O. Box 2<br />Mlowe, Rumphi, Malawi<br />Central AfricaRENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119872944972916455.post-40441227114244264712011-04-27T01:31:00.004-04:002011-04-27T01:48:41.088-04:00I live in Malawi.Hello Everyone! It has been a long time. This is the first time I've been connected to internet since getting to Malawi, and as I had expected, it wasn't until swearing in! I just saw the Peace Corps Malawi office for the first time yesterday- my swearing in day. I am an official volunteer!<br /><br />Training has been a whirlwind- 8 solid weeks, and it was an extremely wonderful experience. I am very grateful to the program staff here in Malawi. I feel extremely confident to move to my site and begin work. I visited my site about two weeks ago, and I am pretty sure it is the most beautiful place in the world. It's paradise! The name of my village is Mlowe, and I am excited to start work.<br /><br />I'll update again (soon, hopefully) with more expanded reflections, but your support throughout training has meant the world to me and it has been great to hear from you. Please continue to keep in touch! I love you all!!RENEE!http://www.blogger.com/profile/13784842388397605207noreply@blogger.com2