In the Field

This week I'm participating in a very unusual activity for a Peace Corps Volunteer and living the life of your average international development/aid worker.  A PCV who lives in Lilongwe (the capital of Malawi) is partnering with USAID on an institutional mapping project in a few districts in Malawi, and this week they're working in Machinga, my home district.  The goal of the project is to find out what organizations are in the area - who they are, who they're funded by, how many people are involved, etc - including everyone from international NGOs like Save the Children who have offices here to local CBOs (Community Based Organizations) that meet on a reed mat in front of churches.  The end goal of the project is to compile all the information we collect into a database that will be left at the District Commissioner's office for all to have access to, with the idea that organizations can see who else is doing similar work and learn from each other, hopefully reducing redundancies in projects in the area.  Additionally, we're using GPS to create a map of exactly where these organizations are, since probably half our day is spent driving around in the bush trying to find the right location.

Anyhow, thanks to USAID I and and a few other lucky Machinga-based PCVs are currently living like bwanas, staying atop the Zomba plateau (Zomba is the district which borders Machinga, and its main city is much larger and nicer than anywhere in Machinga) in the nicest hotel I've stayed in while in country.  It's funny to be one of those people I see all the time while hitching; when aid workers go out into "the field", what PCVs call home, it's this big production of getting the village-appropriate clothes, packing water and snacks, and piling into a big SUV.  I'm definitely seeing how the other half lives this week.

For your perusal, here are a few highlights of today:

Village kids coming to stare at the bwanas in the car

On the road again

Just your average village home - my house seems super nice in comparison

In case you can't see, this house has an American flag as its curtain

Views like this are the reason I love Liwonde

The State of My Service

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!