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| Student choir practicing for a performance |
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| sometimes I make visitors (like Chifunilo) practice reading in English |
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| Odi, like any good Jewish kitten, loves matza balls |
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On this, the last day of my 23rd year, I did the following:
-greeted 12 women individually at the borehole on the way to school
-heard about all the school drama of yesterday, resulting in Form 4s boycotting school today
-finished reading Gone with the Wind as I waited to teach, tried not to cry in front of students
-taught Form 2 about tapeworm infection
-taught Form 3 about white blood cells, with a side demonstration about HIV
-talked to my catechist about my again-malfunctioning electricity, walked to the market to buy 90 meters of new wire
-on the way, chatyed with a few students about issues of poverty in America, Sastanism, and Michael Jackson, and if Michael Jackson was a Satanist
-played with my kitten
-cooked dinner using my newly-fixed electricity
-saw around 3 incredibly terrifyingly fast creepy-crawly things (possibly spiders, scorpions, or just weird insects) and decided it just wasn't worth it to stay up
So now I am hiding under my mosquito net, watching Scrubs. Not a bad day in the life of Peace Corps.
I just taught a class of only 27 students, and it was amazing. We should have religious holidays everyday so I only teach half my class at a time.
The topic of the class was properties of substances, and since the students didn't know what a property was, I had them practice by listing 5 properties of me. In case you were wondering, the following are all compliments in Malawi, although the American in me is not so sure about that:
-tall
-fat
-long hair
-very beautiful
-big buttocks
Obviously this exercise contributed a great deal to their understanding of physical and chemical properties.
In other news, I got an email that we are cutting down expenditures because of the government shutdown, so official (reimbursable) travel is limited. I'm just waiting till the shutdown goes long enough that we all have to take an emergency mandatory vacation home. I'm hoping that happens in time for my birthday...
1. If the government is shut down, why do I still have to teach? Guess I really am "reasonably necessary". My students better appreciate this.
2. Last weekend I went to a music festival in Lilongwe called City of Stars, and it was awesome! Tons of bands from all over Africa and the world. Really good food, really cool drums, really cool backup dancers. It was the kind of concert only Malawi would put on.
3. Upon returning to the village, my electricity wasn't working. It has since been discovered that children stole some of the wire (please not this again. Seriously, what is with the kids here and their theivery?). A few days later and I still don't have power back, which is really cutting down on my nap-kitten-cuddle-tv-watching time.
4. We had a few days of unseasonably cold and rainy weather, which was AWESOME. Unfortunately the rain was one excuse the electrician gave for not fixing the wire. Something about sparks. It's dry today, though.
5. Even though I didn't really want to teach, I'm weirdly enjoying my classes. I think I'm a nerd, because who truly enjoys discussong the difference between a molecule and a compound with 50+ uninterested teenagers?
When I meet new Malawians, they always ask what the differences are between America and Malawi. Obviously there are a ton, but one of the biggest is the market, or msika in Chichewa. I know I'm lucky, I live close to a pretty big one, Ntaja, only about a half hour walk from my house.
I can actually get quite a lot there - the market is sort of like the town center, with a couple schools, a department of agriculture office, post office, hardware stores, health center fertilizer distributors, a couple bars I avoid to keep up my reputation, tailors, carpenters, two bakeries, even a Chipiku (the Malawian version of Costco, which sadly does not give out samples or sell hot dogs) and Carlsberg distributor. All of this, of course, in addition to the amayis selling basic produce (tomatoes, onions, greens, beans, rice, any seasonal fruit) laid out on mats on the ground, men selling dried fish that I buy for my cat, the guys in stalls selling blankets and chitenjes, the people hawking heaps of clothes in what's known as the "bend-over boutique". There are even a couple butchers who'll hack of a brick of goat meat for you. And since last year, I've found a few trusty vendors to frequent and rely on for certain things (always know who can get you carrots and green peppers).
Anyhow, the point is I can get pretty much everything I need at the market, and I'm grateful for that. There are plenty of volunteers who can only find onions and tomatoes in their area, whereas I can find okra lretfy regularly, even sometimes green beans and eggplant on "market day" - for us, Saturdays. On Saturday vendors come from all over, increasing the produce of course, but also throwing up racks of chitenjes for sale, displaying mattresses and cookware, offering reed mats. It's awesome.
Yet the market is not always a great place, especially on Saturdays. The market, as the hub pf the community, is where men come to hang out and get drunk, and harass any ladies passing by. Many villages have a crazy person; this is where he hangs out. As an azungu, I often get shouted at, and this often happens on market days, since so many people are around, and many of them don't know me. Most of the people who live close to me don't ask me for money anymore; walking to Ntaja on market day, requests from all age groups toddler through senior are much more likely. Yesterday a teenage girl grabbed my haor as she walked past me with her friends and laughed at me when I tried to ask her why.
It's not particularly terrible, but it can be a frustrating experience to have. It's a little like going to a crowded mall or theme park, with lots of sassy teenagers running around trying to look cool in front of their friends. For some reason to Malawians, when azungus talk they sound like their talking out of their nose, so when I greet children, they often respond by speaking nasally in return. It's befuddling and annoying.
It's silly to complain, because honestly I'm really fortunate that I can get so much so easily. And most people are so kind to me and willing to help me find whatever I need. It's just one of those weird universal truths of Peace Corps that no matter what you do, it will be a roller coaster and you will be a spectacle for everyone to watch.
I can't believe how long it's been since I posted last. I know it's been awhile, but so much has been happening that the idea of updating this blog has been vaguely overwhelming. But here's the rundown of the past month or so:
I finished the summer with several weeks out of site - after Camp GLOW, I headed to another week helping at the training of new PCVs, my own Mid-Service Training (talk about a mind trip, I have been in country now for over a year), and an all-volunteer conference and celebration of PC Malawi's 50th anniversary. It was a pretty bwana event, with the Acting Director of PC present and the celebration itself at the state house. I got to chat with President Joyce Banda for a couple minutes about what the Education sector does. It was a really cool way to celebrate the diversity of work PC does here in Malawi and get to know the multitude of new volunteers present.
And then finally I got back to site! I spent a blissful two weeks before school started cleaning, relaxing, and visiting everything in my area again. I even have a new sort of site mate - she lives pretty far off the road, but she has to pass my house whenever she wants to leave site, so I'm pumped to have someone to hang out with occasionally.
As for school, which started last week, we're still getting in the swing of things. We don't have Forms 1 and 3 yet (they're still wating on their national exam results), so I've only been teaching Form 2 so far. Four girls have dropped out since Form 1 due to pregnancy/marriage, firther fueling my desire to start a girls' club. Lots of them seem to have forgotten English during the break, but I'm hoping they'll pick it up quickly again. No local language in class this year! And I'm woking on getting students to use the library more, read novels in addition to textbooks, and practice their English that way.
As for me, I'm doing pretty well. It's weird to think how normal life seems, even when I'm hitching rides or building a fire to make coffee. I guess that's why I haven't been posting; it all seems mundane at this point. But I guess getting used to the lifestyle is the whole point of the first year of PC. I finally feel like I know my teaching staff well enough to give ideas and argue a little for what I think is right, and confidently initiate projects I want to do. And the integration that comes with living in a community for a year has its benefits - hearing rumors about why the catechist was asked to leave the church, making the children who come to play with me practice reading out loud, knowing I'm not getting ripped off at the market. Things are going well.
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| Milliam crocheting using a paintbrush |
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| Two of my favorite girls, Mervis and Anne, creating their emails |
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| My girls got swag, and this is only half of them |
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| Village kids coming to stare at the bwanas in the car |
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| On the road again |
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| Just your average village home - my house seems super nice in comparison |
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| In case you can't see, this house has an American flag as its curtain |
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| Views like this are the reason I love Liwonde |
Truth time: a few weeks ago was my 1 year anniversary in Malawi and I wimped out of writing a commeorative blog post because I didn't know if I had anything worthy if the occasion to say. Because seriously, for over a year, I have been living in the warm heart of Africa, not eating seafood or cheese or steaks, riding on minibuses, speaking Chichewa, fending off marriage proposals by both drunk and sober men, and finally, at long last, learning to build a fire on charcoal (lots of paraffin is involved). The past year has been exciting and stressful, and I still don't exactly know what's going to happen in the next year of my service.
So for now, here are some recent highlights:
-I was chosen as a resource volunteer to help at the traing of the 2013 PC Malawi Education trainees, participated in a 10 day training involving all technical and language trainers, reconnected with my language trainer and lifestyle guru Chrissy, and went to Week 2 of pre-service training! It was really cool to be a part of this experience, watching the new trainees experience what I was going through exactly a year ago, from village culture shock to amazement at the state of education in the schools they will work in. On a personal level, it was rewarding to see how far I've come - I was able to have spontaneous chats in Chichewa while at the borehole, pump a bucket full of water, and carry it back on my head, so clearly I have at least a couple accomplishments. I go back for week 7, after the trainees will know their sites, lots more local language, and have gained confidence in general living activities in Malawi. They are great, and I think they'll do good things for PCM.
-School is officially out for the summer! Or cold season, as it were. I ended up missing an unseemly amount of class this term, what with all the trainings and vacation, but some learning has at least occured. Plus, I now have a year's worth of teaching experience! I'm looking forward to seeing my students again next year and working on more after school activities with them (reading club perhaps? Girls club? We'll see.)
-Let's talk about cold season. It's awesome. I've been sleeping in my sleeping bag, I wear cardigans or scarves outside, and tomatoes are mad cheap. Plus even at night it generally doesn't dip much below 70 or so, so it's not too crazy. Obviously, my students have been wandering around in puffy jackets for months.
Upcoming events:
-Working on a community organizational mapping project within my district with a few other PCVs and USAID next week
-Working at Camp GLOW (girls leading our world, a girls' leadership and empowerment camp that Health volunteers plan), which I'm super excited for - it's not summerif you're not at a sleepaway camp!
-my group's Mid Service Training, at which point we officially become "old volunteers"
-PC Malawi's 50th anniversary celebration! Rumor has it that President Joyce Banda and some high upa from PC Washington will be present. So you know, hanging out with the bwanas.
-Getting to know the new ed PCTs and future volunteers better, and hopefully getting a new site mate
I'll try to be better at posting more in the upcoming months. Till then, tiwo!
Last Thursday I arrived back in Malawi after a brief but wonderful vacation in France. Since this blog is about my Peace Corps experience I won't go into too much detail about how awesome Paris, chateaux, wine, and my family are, but let's just day it was a much-needed break from life in Malawi. And surprisingly, I sort of missed the village and the country as I flew off. Although I may miss French cheese more now.
Anyhow, somewhat to my surprise, I didn't experience too much culture shock either in France or upon returning back here, although I did notice a couple surprising things:
France seemed really, really clean to me. I don't think I even once saw litter.
When I returned back to Malawi I stayed in Lilongwe for a couple days, at a lodge I've stayed at before. Only now did I wonder about the stacks of tires in the middle of the hallway. No clue why they're there. Before my trip, although I know I saw them, I didn't even think to question them.
Also, as soon as I saw my neighbor, the catechist's wife, she asked what I brought her specifically for masweeties (candy) or mabisketis (cookies). I may have told her there weren't any.
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| Lake Malawi at Christmas - pretty spectacular and serene |
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| The view from the back of a minibus, medium full (not enough of these adults are holding children on their laps, and no one is half-standing half-hunched over towards the front) |
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| The lushness of rainy season |
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| For my family - don't worry, I made a gingerbread house! |
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| Gave some little girls my leftover frosting and they were too adorable not to photograph. |
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| Sorting donated books at the PC Country Director's house |
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| Secret chitenje market in Lilongwe. In case you were worried shopaholics would find Malawi below par. |
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| Making charoset for our Passover seder! |
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| Tea plantation in Mulanje |
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| At Sapitwa! (The peak of Mt Mulanje. Fun fact: I was miserable when this photo was taken but felt like it needed to be done.) |
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| Goats on top of a truck. You see some weird stuff while travelling. |
In other words, here's some stuff I didn't anticipte this time last year. This post goes out to all the future PCM Ed volunteers, leaving for staging in just over a month!
1. I have become extremely dirty. In America, I haaaaated getting dirty. Here I still hate it, but what with all the dirt, you can't help it. Also, sometimes I don't wash my hair 5 days in a row, and I don't feel that bad. Even though I bafa everyday, I don't really think I ever get clean. Yesterday I soaked, scrubbed, and pumiced my feet for the first time in a few months, and realized I'm way less tan than I thought. Last year's me is disgusted.
2. I casually walk by all sorts of creatures - camel spiders, scorpions, crazy giant centipedes - and think to myself, "hmm. That's not good." And then I go under my mosquito net and fall asleep. Seriously, mosquito nets protect you from everything!
3. Hitching. The first time I hitched I was terrified, but it's honestly the best way to travel. The people are usually nice, English speaking, appreciative of the work PC does, and way better drivers than minibus drivers. Not to mention the cars are more spacious, generally not falling apart, and smell better. Plus, it's cheaper and sometimes the driver gives you snacks!
4. Everything is late, and no one follows the schedule. Except for me. I'm still working on this one.
5. Drink beer. I was never a fan of beer, although I respect it as a beverage. But here, although wine and other beverages are usually out of my price range, Carlsbergs still cost the equivalent of a dollar. Apparently I drink them now. My dad should be proud.
6. Survive hot season in a "hot" region. Without air conditioning or a fan or anything. But I did it! The mangoes helped.
7. Eat powdered cheese and velveeta. Past me was such a cheese snob that I actually told my mom I didn't think it was necessary to buy powdered parmesan for my care packages. Thank heavens she knew better! Today, even fake cheese is important. Speaking of, I'm running low on parmesan.
8. Have a "servant". That word still makes me cringe with the guilt of the priviledged, so I end up calling Agnes really long-winded things like "the woman who does my laundry." Is it really necessary to pay someone to wash my dishes and clothes? No, but for the record, she also carried my water until I got a hose. And she's awesome, and a widow who still supports two sons in school and needs income. Plus she keeps me updated in the goings-on of the community, and sometimes she brings me stuff from her garden (ground nuts! Pumpkins! Greens!).
9. Accept that it's the students' jobs to do manual work. It doesn't shock me anymore to see students sweeping or mopping, but it still pisses me off when other teachers pull them out of class to draw water and start a fire for our tea, slash grass as punishment, or run errands at the trading center. Lame, guys. School is for learning.
10. Climb mountains. I'm still pretty bad at this, and I have a relatively significant laziness problem, but it's apparently something I can do.
11. Become besties with my training class. Everything I read about the PC really built up the bond volunteers form during PST, so by the time I got to staging, a bundle of emotion and anxiety, it was bound to be a letdown. Sorry to say I looked around at everyone and thought, "really? These guys are supposed to be my PC family?" Apparently yes. I donn't know when it switched, but there is seriously not one member of my group that I don't care deeply for, or feel comfortable with, or miss at site. They are seriously the best and I am sooo grateful for them.
12. I get up between 5:30 and 6 most days. Even when I try to sleep in it's impressive if I don't wake up till 7. Bizarre.
13. Yell at students. I usually feel bad afterwards, but there is nothing more irritating than a student who is sassing you in Chichewa and purposefully not doing what you ask of them.
14. Call the cops on some kids. Yeah that happened. Read the last post for reference.
15. Anything can be transported on a bicycle. No really, anything! A goat, a basketful of goats, a person, an adult holding two children, pieces of furniture, roofs... The sky is the limit!
16. Shock villagers by not having a laptop at home. My laptop died right when I got electricity, right when everyone, from my head teacher to the community-based organization workers who want my help, started asking if I could do stuff on my computer. Um hello guys, I live in the African bush. I did not bring the best electronics out there. Further, they all ask when I'm getting a new one. Oy. Haha.
Below is the follow up to the village drama of this week, since I'm sure you're all breathless in anticipation of how my escapades concluded.
Friday morning, I headed off to powwow with my head teacher and deputy head, who had both heard the news of the night before. They agreed that the theft was unacceptable, no matter how small, and that we needed to go at once to the catechist to determine how to best handle the situation. (Please note that these complete events occured during school hours, one of the myriacof reasons classes end up not being taught.)
Back at the pastoral center, the catechist and my had teacher engaged in a strange, calm disagreement about what to do. Both wanted the other to take the lead - the HT saying that the house where the theft occurred belongs to the church and the catechist is therefore the landlord, and the catechist saying thay the house was given free of charge to the school so he has no responsibility over it, and he only helped me the night before out of kindness. Additionally, the head teacher wanted to report the matter to the police, while the catechist wanted to speak to the boys and their families, admonishing them privately. Yet both wanted the other to take charge. Eventually, as my frustration ebbed closer to hysteria, I mentioned that I should call the PC and that they were very opinionated about what was being done to fix the security risk. Even though the theft was minor, if the PC was not convinced that the commubity would be able to prevent another, they would remove me and place me at another site. A bit melodramatic perhaps, but with a grain of truth: security issues are one of the few acceptable reasobs for site changes.
Perhaps due to the threat of PC Lilongwe and our very own Mad-Eye Moody (here in the Muggle world he goes by Hector), the arguments subsided and we agreed to meet soon to go to the police and request that the boys be disciplined, not arrested or prosecuted (also the Hector-approved plan). Back at school to retrieve my things, my HT confided that the catechist didn't want to go to the police because he would be seen as a snitch, and his daughter's husband is somehow related to those people. Or he is from that village. Or something. And then my HT, true to form, excused hinself to teach, and sent the deputy with me in his place.
I have to say, talking to the police was much more comforting than the conversation I'd just had. The police chief saw us at once, and went on about how I am a foreigner and a visitor, but they know me, I speak in Chichewa to people, and I should be free to move around unafraid for my possesions. We met back up a few hours later with the addition of the boys, their mothers, and the village headman (local chief). The boys were sternly admonished (in Chichewa), and it came out that they wanted empty bottles and didn't want to get their parents in trouble, so they hid them in the bush. However upon realizing the bottles had stuff in them they were deemed useless. I'm not totally sure what they wanted the bottles for besides to play with, but there you go. The village headman was asked to sensitize the community and urge parents not to let their children climb over my wall into my backyard.
Since Hector wanted to know details on the suspects, I can tell you all now to avoid if at all possible: Charles Gwedeza, age 11, of the Yao tribe, Kapita Village, traditional authority Liwonde, standard 4 student at Kaombe Primary School; and Macdonald Msisya, age 12, Lomwe tribe, Kapita Village, TA Liwonde, standard 3 student at Kaombe Primary. I was also asked for my information but unfortunately didn't know my tribe when asked, so had to substitute my nationality.
And that, as they say, was that. Funny aside: one of the police officers present for the scolding of the boys was a woman, not in uniform, who came up to chat with me before our meeting. I'd never met her before, and didn't realize she was an officer. She asked me, in utter seriousness, the following questions, in order:
Who are you?
Why are you here?
Why are you not having the boys arrested? What if they were older, or broke into your house?
Are you married?
Why not?
Would you marry a Malawian?
You don't like the drunk people who propose to you?
Why don't you marry my brother? He's not a drunkard.
Well, are you a Christian?
What's a Jew?
And then it was time to go inside, and when the officer in charge asked why she hadn't introduced herself to me yet, I explained that we'd been too busy talking about why I wasn't married to her brother yet.
Imagine this: you come home from school one day, hot and tired, ready to relax. Yet when the time comes to take your daily bafa (bucket bath), you realize something is afoot - the shampoo is gone! And so is the facewash!
Strange, you think to yourself. There is no legitimate reason yoh would have removed either of these items from the bafa, as the bafa is the only place around with a drain. Yet you find yourself looking around the house, hoping that for some reason your caffeine-deprived morning self took the toiletries inside the house.
No such luck. Your neighbor, the catechist, your night guard, and the friendly lady you employ to do chores, are all similarly baffled, except that they all agree "some boys" must have climbed over the wall around your backyard and taken these items.
You shrug it off, the bottles were mostly empty anyways, but the next day your closest neighbors (the catechist's oldest daughter and her family) experience a much greater theft: they lose a bicycle, 7000 kwacha, 2 bags of maize, and shoes. A minor catastrophe. You alert the PC safety and security officer, who reminds you, in the manner of Mad-Eye Moody, to remain vigilant. And always to bolt your doors. Done and done. You hope these theives, whoever they are, have realized that you only store boring soaps outside and will find other palaces to plunder.
Yet the next day, you stupidly continue leave your toiletries in the bafa. And you return from school, again, to find a new bottle of facewash missing. Ugh. You text Mad-Eye an alert and go off to the trading center to pick up sweet potatoes and greens.
And then when you come back, your conditioner and soap are also gone.
This time, Mad-Eye gets a call. He advises you to go to the police in the morning. To report the thefts of toiletries. You find yourself hoping that the theives are at least using the products they took,and will be noticeable by their clear skin and clean-smelling hair.
But wait!!! A miracle occurs. As you eat dinner, you receive a phone call from the catechist - his grandchildren, your adorable neighbors, saw children climbing your wall today! So you send your guard off to form a posse with the catechist and his guard, who bring back your missing soaps! It's a miracle! (and apparently unrelated to the actual theft at your neighbor's house)
And so, exhausted by the day's work as well as the waves of emotions, you ready yourself for bed by 9pm, confident that by this time tomorrow, you will have clean hair.
I'm currently singing a little ditty I composed called "Where Has All the Power Gone?" It's sung to the tune of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" and is sure to be a big hit at the trading center closest to you. So today was a fun flashback to 5 months ago when I could only cook one thing at a time, burned everything, and rushed to be done before dark.
Here's hoping this issue gets resolved soon! (the issue is that the electric bill hasn't been paid, so the catechist is switching from post-paid to pre-paid electricity. This strategy probably makes as much sense to you as it does to me. Supposedly we were going to get power back today, but clearly that hasn't happened. So I should probably stop blogging and save the power on my phone, but before I do. . . )
Last week I attended a Student-Friendly Schools workshop with other members of my training group and our head teachers. We talked about gender-based violence and the impact we can have as educators. It went pretty well, although many counterparts sounded like they may have been parroting answers they knew we wanted to hear. We shall see. For instance, at the end of the training while making our individialized action plans for our school, my head teacher asked why I want to form a girls' club. Oy.
After the training I stuck around Lilongwe to do some office work, then headed to my friend's site to visit the lake! It was an area I'd never seen before and totally beautiful. We lounged poolside, ate cheeseburgers, and swam in the clear blue water. Amazing. We also made a few 10 year old friends who wanted to play with our frisbee. I don't feel bad at all for my friend, who also complains about how hot her site is, because when it becomes too much, she can just go take a break at the beach! And what do I have to show for the brutal Machinga hot season?! (Elephants. I have elephats I can visit.)
Anyhow, after a brutal day of travel yesterday (I was called a hule for wearing jeans, and sat in the back of a pickup for over an hour with passengers including a little boy so sick and whimpering he couldn't move on his own), I finally arrived back home. The first day back of teaching again wa surprisingly nice. No matter how much I dread going to school, the best parts of my days are usually in the classroom with my students. Even if they didn't do any of the work I assigned them while I was away.
So that brings you up to speed on the happenings kwa Allison! Fyi - during the writing of this post, the power came back on! And then the catechist called to say it'll be off again tomorrow morning at 5:30. I am still so confused. Such is life in the Peace Corps.
Tiwo!
Sorry for not posting in a while, folks! I guess I got busy with the end of term exams and galavanting around Malawi on break. Fun fact: break was supposed to be 4 weeks long, but during the last week of school, changed it to 2 weeks because there's so little time before the all important JCE and MSCE exams begin for forms 2 and 4. So unfortunately, the resting and relaxation time got cut short, but I still got to have a couple adventures during break, including climbing the formidable Mt Mulanje. (I'll wait while you google that for pictures and details)
Done googling? Done picturing me climbing that? Laughing at the picture in your head yet? Because what you're picturing is exactly what happened.
Mulanje is a completely beautiful massif (I assume that means collection of peaks) surrounded by tea estates, with tons of pineapples growing on it. I was with a group of 7 troupers and 4 porters for a total of 4 days on the mountain, a full day longer than we were told it would take. It was. . . An experience.
I personally am not the mountain-climbing type by nature, preferring to meander while admiring nature from afar, but I was persuaded by my posse of enthusiastic friends that this was an experience not to be missed. And sure, I'm proud of myself for making it to the peak, and I had tons of fun hanging out with a group I don't see a lot of anymore, but it was a hard road to travel. Let's just say that I literally tore the butt off my pants, have giant bruises and scrapes all over my body, and sprained my knee. And I wasn't even the person who tore the soles off my shoes and had to hike in flip flops.
Still, with some blood, sweat, and tears, we all made it - up and down the mountain. (Is there anything more depressing than scaling up a sheet of rock, knowing that in a few hours you'll have to do it again in reverse? To my knowledge, no.) At least I can now say I got some practical usage out of that rock climbing class I took at school! And we had some bomb pizza as soon as we got to the base.
Also, I have firmly decided that I never want to climb a mountain again, and that all future holidays are to be spent at the lake. I just can't handle anything more strenuous.
As for now - going over my tests and doing a little teaching this week before heading off to Lilongwe with my head teacher for a PC workshop on student-friendly schools, with a focus on gender-based violence! Should be an informative and productive next few weeks.
Tiwo!
In case it gets confusing when I drop some Chichewa, here's a cheat sheet for ya:
Chewa - someone belonging to the Chewa tribe, Chichewa is their language
Yao - someone belonging to the Yao tribe, Chiyao is their language (many Yao live in the south/near the lake, aka by me)
Mzungu/Azungu - white person. There's a negative connotation associate with calling someone an azungu, so when little kids do it, I usually ask them not to
Chitenje - large multi-purlose piece of fabric used to wrap around the body as a skirt, tie a baby on one's back, wear as a head scarf, carry a hot pot, etc. Plural is "zitenje"
Mawa - tomorrow
Mmawa - morning
Tiwonana - see you later. Shortened by yours truly to "tiwo"
Zikomo - thank you/excuse me
Chimodzimodzi - one and the same. As in, "California and Malawi are pretty much chimodzimodzi"
Pang'ono pang'ono - slowly, or little by little. As in, "I am learning Chichewa pang'ono pang'ono."
Bwana - boss. Used in a couple ways, both, "the bwana keeps the keys to the school," and,"I live in a pretty bwana house. There are four rooms and electricity!"
Nyumba - house
Takulandirani! - welcome!
And there you have it! All the Chichewa you'll ever need.
If you want to feel worse about your linguistic prowess, when one of my students stopped by to chat yesterday and work on his English, he told me that in addition to Chichewa and English, he also speaks Chiyao, some Chilomwe (language of another minor tribe in the area), some Chitumbuka (spoken by the Timbuka tribe in the north, where his older brother lives), a smattering of Swahili (spoken in Tanzania), and even some Portugese (spoken in Mozambique, not too far to the east). When he mentioned Portugese, he said "como esta, amigo," which means I'm going to start throwing out Spanish at my students.
But still, can you imagine being at least a little proficient in all those languages? My Muslim students also speak some Arabic, at least enough to pray.
A recent conversation I had with a friend back home reminded me that although I've spent the last 8 months learning about the Malawian education system, most of you have not. For instance, why is it a big deal that my school finally got another female teacher? And why do we have organizations giving bursary money (scholarships) specifically to girls, when we teach students of both genders?
So get ready for a blast of Malawian recent history, and feel free to skip this post if you read this for tales of my travels or whatever.
We have to start by looking at the Malawian government - Malawi was an autocracy, ruled by "President for Life", Dr. Hastings Banda, from the time it left Britain's protectorate in the 1960s until its first free elections in 1994. It was during this election that free primary education was established - prior to that, all education cost money. Schools were relatively uncommon and relatively expensive for your average rural villager.
The creation of free primary school (through standard 8, the equivalent of 8th grade) created lots of challenges in Malawi. Suddenly, the Ministry lf Education needed to build hundreds of schools, stock them with resources and teachers, and provide enough teaching so that any Malawian who so desires can pass the primary school exit examination. Needless to say, this was impossible to do effectively. Schools were flooded with students, and through today there is an incredible shortage of trained teachers. Classes routinely include over 100 students, often with no desks, and many schools hold classes outside because there are not enough classrooms for all students.
In primary schools, students often don't begin school until 6 or 7 years of age, and many miss weeks of class every year due to illness or responsibilities at home. Many students, especially girls, are expected to help the family farm, sell goods in the market, fetch water, cook, and care for siblings. Missing school so often can lead to students as old as 14 or 15 still trying to complete standard 8 and pass the exit exam so they can make it to secondary school.
These problems don't end in secondary school, although many students don't make it this far. Students may become discouraged by their inability to pass the primary school exit exam and drop out, especially girls who perceive their only future as being a wife and mother in the village (a realistic, if sad, expectation). Girls as young as 13 or 14 may drop out to get married or have a child. Parents may not see the point in furthering their child's education either.
Even once students pass out of primary school, challenges abound. Secondary school is not free, and school fees of around $10 per term (3000 kwacha three times a year at my school) are a problem, if not impossible, for many families. The old issues of frequent absenteeism, obligations at home, and lack of resources continue, but now students are travelling up to and hour or two a day to get to school.
The sad fact is that many families struggling to make ends meet, when given the option between educating a son or a daughter, will choise the son.
This is the guiding principle behind organizations like Camfed (the Campaign for Female Education), which provides bursary money and supplies for female students at my school who would otherwise be unable to attend school. Additionally, many NGOs, CBOs (community-based organizations), and Malawian government organizations provide school fees to students all over the country.
Here is something to think about: on any given day, I have up to twice as many male students in class as I have girls. At least 3 girls have dropped out of school because of pregnancy this school year (that I know about), and at least one was a form 1 student. Girls often stay home while menstruating because of lack of sanitary items. Last year, of the ten form 4 students who passed the MSCE (secondary school exit exam), none were female.
Because of odds like these, especially at the rural level (things are different at schools in town, and schools of a higher level than a community day secondary school), very few girls go on to further education. Often the girls who do are very smart, have parents who believe in education, and were chosen at a young age to attend a district or national secondary school. It doesn't help to have money, either, or girls looking to finance their further education may enter into risky transactional relationships with older, wealther men.
Even if women (and men) successfully complete their education, many choose to leave Malawi, chasing further aspirations in more developed countries abroad.
At every point along this road, girls are facing cultural and peer pressure to stop, get married, and have a family. So many schools remain, like mine until a few weeks ago, with only one female teacher, or none at all.
Pang'ono pang'ono (slowly, slowly) things are changing, especially in more populated areas. In some schools where other volunteers are posted, there are several female teachers. For now, my school is enlisting the help of organizations like Camfed and utilizing our PTA and Mothers' Support Group to support the needs of all our students, especialky the girls. And of course there's me, hoping that at the very least, I can be proof that a girl can go to a university and end up with a bachelor's degree, even in a science subject.
Hello all! I'm sure you've been wondering, "Gee, what's Allison up to? She got that fancy schmancy smartphone yet still disappears for weeks at a time!"
I guess it's sufficient to say that I've been busy. After I got back from my surprise 2 week trip to Lilongwe, I've been trying to work hard and still be able to visit with friends on the weekends, some of whom are leaving soon. It's part of the PC/volunteer expat culture that there's a constant rotation of people entering and exiting the country (cue "Circle Game"), but it still bums me out that some of my friends are leaving, so I want to see them as much as possible!
Other than that, I've been busy at site. Term 2 is nearly over, which means we are already in a whirlwind of preparing forms 2 and 4 for their national exams in a few months. I've been trying to come up with creative ways to teach such riveting subjects as organic molecules and the phylogeny of organisms to non-English speakers (first step: not using the word phylogeny). Aside from that, I still have the odd Mothers' Support Group and PTA meetings to attend at school, and have been having more meetings to get involved in a local HIV community-based organization and the Catholic Relief Services project in my area. Recently, I've gone over a grant proposal they were preparing to submit and prepped a few activities for a training they want to do with primary school prefects (confidence, effective communication, teamwork). It's nice to get involved in projects I'm interested in after all the stress that comes with working at a school that lacks teachers, resources, and often motivation.
That being said, exciting news at St. Mary's CDSS! We have a new female teacher! The head teacher was so excited to tell me that I won't be alone anymore because there's another lady teacher. So far, she seems very nice and chatty with me, so I hope I can get to know her better.
In other news, it hasn't rained in about a week, and even though it's been sunny, it's slowly starting to get cooler. Amazing! Maybe one day in a few months I'll get a blanket. Also, my local market has been having more and more vegetables, like carrots, green peppers, and green beans! It's amazing. Although I still miss mango season, these veggies, plus avacadoes, guavas, and the occasional pineapple help a lot.
Most exciting, though, is the news that in a few months, I am officially travelling to meet my parents in Paris! I am sososo excited to see them and drink coffee and wine and pretend I remember my high school French. It's mostly been replaced by Chichewaat this point.
For now, I leave you with the following conversation which happened a couple weeks ago in the staff room:
A form 3 student wearing a blazer walks into the staff room and chats with another teacher for a few minutes.
Malawian Teacher: That's a nice jacket. Why are you wearing it?
Student: Because it is swag.
MT: What?
S: Swag. Ask Madame, she knows.
And that's when I nodded and explained the concept of swag to some fellow teachers.
That's right, my students have swag.
Tiwo, nonse!
What's up, readership? It's been a busy past couple weeks, with a trip to Lilongwe that turned from 4 days into 2 weeks. It was fun, expensive, and I got to hang out with lots of important PC staff people (see Mom? I'm schmoozing to improve chances for a better letter of rec in a year. I'm planning for the future!). Unfortunately, the low point was a weekend spent in agony over crippling stomach cramps, followed by the PC dr handing me a cup and requesting a stool sample by 2pm . . . But as they say, it wouldn't be Peace Corps without a rogue bacteria or two.
Anyhow, what's done is done. I realized today that I hadn't done justice to explaining rainy season, so I thought I would try to paint you a picture of it! With words, of course, since I have some serious technological handicaps.
To clarify: during rainy season, it doesn't rain everyday, or all day when it does rain. Some days aill be clear and bright, a blistering memory of hot season. It's always humid, so even when it doesn't rain, your clothes still won't dry.
The following are a collection of 100% true things that have occurred during rainy season:
-The field in front of my house and the church has been transformed into a field of maize. Where there is no maize, grasses grow, until someone like my night watchman cuts them down, because there are snakes. "don't worry," he told me in Chichewa, "I slashed the grass and they all left."
-While this kind-hearted slashing was occurring, my guard left the gate open . . . And my kitten escaped. I miss it and remember ot fondly.
-Even though the area in front ofy house is clear, it still feels like I'm walking on a jungle path when I leave to go to school everyday.
-Planting is growing season, so lots of students stay home from school to help plant and farm. Or they show up an hour or more late. Today in my form 3 class, only about 20 students were present, although there should be about 50 of them.
-Speaking of teaching, have you ever tried to teach while rain is pounding on a tin roof? It's hilarious. Thank goodness I'm loud.
-Today was the first day in about a month I got a sizeable amount of laundry done, due to frequent travels and storms.
-Storms = blackouts. As soon as I hear thunder, I look at my dinner cooking on my hot plate and wonder if I can finish it before the blackout begins.
-Still, that's better than the time there was a blackout all day and I had to put on rainboots before going outside to cook over my little charcoal stove.
-Mangoes, tragically, have left the market, and I miss them astronomically. The current combination of guavas, cucumbers, and avacadoes isn't cutting it, although it's helping.
-I have continued my crusade to be the most casual member of staff at school by teaching in rain boots. Unprofessional? Perhaps, but at least my feet stay dry.
-Everyone at school is sick, teahers and students alike. Most of them sound like they just have nasty colds and coughs, but that's probably because if they have malaria, they're staying home.
-The cockroaches, flies, and mosquitoes that live in my chim swarm out any time I lift the cover. Today I also saw a scorpion there.
-There are more bugs, spiders, and lizards living in my house thab I have ever seen in my life. It's remarkable.
-Bread has gone moldy after about 2 days at my house.
All things considered, though, I think I prefer wet season to hot season. Many nights I now sleep under a sheet and enjoy it!
Sometimes, being at school is frustrating. For instance, when:
-I arrive at 7:15 (and class starts in 15 minutes), and only 2 other teachers and about 5 students are there. Today, I taught biology to 2 Form 1 students for nearly a half hour before other students began to arrive. There should be around 80 students in my class. Sure, it was raining today, but yesterday (when it didn't rain) it wasn't much better.
-Remember when I had my staff meeting the other week, and we resolved to minimize surprise staff meetings during the week so we teach all our classes? My head teacher certainly doesn't. He called meeting during break that continued for another hour and a half, cancelling the next two classes for the whole school.
-At the staff meeting last week, I received the note I've been waiting for for awhile: I don't put enough notes on the board. Come on, Malawi, let's get on the student-centered learning bandwagon! Luckily the parents were really receptive to the ideas that everything on the board counts as notes, even if it doesn't look like the same format they've been taught and even if fellow students are writing the notes on the board. I also encouraged the parents to urge their children to ask me questions on concepts they don't understand, and not to be embarassed by lack of confidence speaking English. After all, I'm so bad at Chichewa I needed another teacher to act as a translator to speak with them! Sl I understand tbe difficulty in learning new languages. Hopefully it helped.
-There's nothing quite like a walk past the seldom-used bulletin board, which now bears the results of a test given to a class, complete with students' names, scores, and a charming heading that reads: "CATASTROPHE".
-I lost my cat. I am a terrible pet owner. I think it escaped my backyard when my night guard was slaahing the grass around my house? I haven't seen it since Saturday and am losing confidence that it will ever return.
On another note, I've decided that my school is like the Malawian version of The Office. My head teacher, the Michael Scott character, really likes to lead meetings and hear himself talk; the students collectively are Toby, always doing something wrong and needing to be called out; the staff room is literred with various characters just trying to do their jobs. I feel like a weird hybrid of Jim (trying not to laugh at everyone), Kelly (as the only female, and the one who uses my special job as an excuse to get out of things I don't want to do), and Angela (who has strange hobbies and frequently disapproves of everyone else).
So thats a lame attempt at bringing the mood back up. Here's some more:
"Our school has a shortage of slashers! We need some more!" No, not to kill students, but to cut the grass! Duh.
-There is a giant cornfield now in front of my house. Lots of the corn is already well over my height. Telling my mother about this the other day, she made an ingenious suggestion: corn maze. (or maize maze? Even better!!)
-Sometimes I just have to think, wow, I'm really in Africa. Like when I'm driving around bar-hopping in a land rover repurposed into a safari vehicle.
-Going into Lilongwe next week for a VAC meeting and a meeting about Camp Sky! I should hopefully also get a chance to chat with the PC IT man about my sad, dying laptop, and upload pictures!
-The best teaching moment of the day, by far, happened during my 2 student private biology lesson in Form 1. We were reviewing a list of things I had assigned the students to classify as "alive", or "not alive", based on a list of characteristics of living things we had studied during the last class. So far, their book had only introduced animals and plants as living things, but I challenged them by putting mushrooms on the list. "Ah! Madam! Mushrooms are not alive!" exclaimed one boy.
"Why not?" I asked in full teacher mode, eager to encourage critical thinking.
"They don't have seeds like maize."
"But how do we get new mushrooms growing, then?"
"God."
In my sorority, come election time, we would repeat the refrain time and again: for every con there is a pro. Here are mine:
Con: last week's staff meeting lasted for 5 and a half hours. After teaching until noon. And we didn't even get through our agenda.
Pro: I like to think I started a mini-revolution when, as our head teacher was disparaging the distinct possibility (probability) that our students won't be ready for exams, I suggested that we actually teach all the classes on our schedule (instead of allowing random staff meetings to take over staff time, cancelling class to practice for sports only a small fraction of our students will actually play, etc). Another teacher totally jumped on board, saying we should come to school early on Mondays (gasp!) and move swiftly through our staff meeting and assembly to ensure that our students miss as few classes as possible. We'll see how this goes.
Pro: I have electricity and running water!
Con: They frequently turn off, randomly, making cooking a slightly stressful experience, as it could be over at any moment.
Pro: it's no longer hot season! Break out your umbrellas, or stand under Rihanna's, because the rains are here!
Con: I now understand why we sleep under mosquito nets, because those bugs are EVERYWHERE. I get many new bites everyday, even wearing repellent.
Pro: I got a kitten!! He/she (I'm not confident of the gender, as I've heard conflicting opinions from locals, and I'm very sensitive to this issue after a certain college experience with a female cat named Arthur) is a big fan of eating lots of cockroaches and spiders.
Con: He/she is also a big fan of keeping me up all night with meowing. Constantly and loudly. Hence banishment to my backyard for nighttime hours.
Pro: I managed to talular my own litter box for said kitten!
Con: apparently you're supposed to change litter really frequently, and to this I have to collect te sandy soil near my house. Meaning once again, I will be seen as an incredibly peculiar mzungu.
Pro: I finally ran into my neighbor, the catechist's wife, having lunch outside yesterday and shared some nsima and vegetables with her! This is called integration, people.
Con: I'm pretty confident that I looked like an awkward idiot eating nsima with my hands after such a long absence. I totally spilled crumbling nsima on myself.
And finally,
Con: I am about to attend a PTA meeting which, as important as I'm sure it is, will be at least 3 hours of people talking really quickly in a language I mostly don't understand. Oy.
Pro: after this I'm done for the week! That's right, I changed up my schedule for this term so I finish teaching on Thursdays, so tomorrow I'm going to vist Liwonde and celebrate my site mate's birthday!
Malawian Teacher: Why don't you like to teach after the second break? (12:15-2 pm)
Me: The students are so tired then! Plus they're hot, and hungry, and thirsty. *mime student falling asleep on a desk*
MT: You really think that affects how they learn?
Me: . . . Yes.
MT: But we have a borehole right here!
Me: But do they ever drink from it?
MT: Yes! . . . No.
Me: Plus they're hungry. They walk from far away to get here by 7:30 and don't eat until after they leave. Don't you think they get hungry? I do.
MT: But they can have lunch when they get home!
Me: I think we should start bringing lunch to school. Or snacks.
MT: Hahaha!
Just me being a crazy azungu. At least hot season is technically over and I finish classes by 12:40 at the latest! Because even if the students are supposed to make it till 2 without lunch, I can't. I am officially packing myself snacks, too, and I'm not sharing with anyone who guffaws at that idea.
"If you have a girlfriend, take her out into the jungle and study there!"
-explaining that only students reegistered at our school should use our classrooms to study
I don't know why, but this kills me: the word for papaya in Chichewa is papaya. Malawians are taught that in English, papaya is paw-paw (thanks, British colonialism). No matter how many times I tell people I say papaya, they persist in calling it paw-paw. Which, naturally, makes me constantly think of the only pop culture reference to paw-paw I know of, in the song "The Bare Necessities" from the Disney classic, The Jungle Book.
Such are my daily thoughts. In other news, my papaya tree fell down, shortly before round 2 of papaya season is supposed to begin. Apparently a papaya disease is going around Malawi killing trees.
Oh, and in other news, I got electricity!!!! It arrived while I was off on Christmastime travels, so we set it up when I got back. Let me tell you, nothing makes you feel like a rich mzungu like 4 or so young men digging a ditch to connect you to the church's electricity, then doing the same thing a day later to connect to water!!! That's right, not only do I get electricity, but I also have my very own hose. It's practically America over here with all these amenities. Yesterday, I just sat on my floor with my fan blowing into my face, eating cheese cracker snacks from a care package. This is bliss, people.
Of course, today I woke up to a blackout, with no clue when power will be back. Oh well.
And now back to my regularly scheduled programming: grading tests and lesson planning for Term 2, which begins on Monday!
