Malawi Wrap Up

It’s been a ridiculous amount of time since I last posted. But know that it’s only because I’ve been so busy with incredible tasks. Since my last post, we went to the lake, went on safari, went to three more schools, did a one day camp at Dzaleka Refugee Camp (where we went last session too), sent all the volunteers home, finished up the session, and flew to South Africa! Well, the intent was to fly to Botswana but I missed my connection in Joburg and am now spending the night. But that means some unexpected free time to write up a blog! Since so much has happened, I guess I’ll write a few memorable moments.

I went to a meeting at the Ministry of Education with Jesse, one of the founders of World Camp. We met with a few different people, just checking in on what they expect from WC and what direction we can go in the future. I was disgusted at the piles of old computers in the hallways of the Ministry. They were no longer being used in the building and were being saved to be sent to schools. But they weren’t stacked neatly; they were literally thrown on top of each other. It’s amazing none of the screens had broken, or maybe the broken ones had been thrown out. Tires were piled up to the ceiling in another hallway on a lower floor.

Another surprise at the MOE: there’s a new school calendar being implemented in 2011 with a break that spans the three months we’re in country. On first thought, a nationwide break would make it hard to teach classes. But, a new idea is to just run “summer camp” like classes. That way, we have free reign to teach how we want. It might be a little more difficult to get students to come in though. A plus? The new calendar takes farming and religious holidays into account. The harvest season is a break, and days are off if there is a popular religious holiday (both Christian and Muslim).

Safari was, of course, wonderful. We saw elephants, hippos, monkeys galore, giraffes, cervils, hares, lions, and 2 leopards together, which is incredibly rare since they’re normally solitary animals. I was completely frustrated and literally had to bite my tongue when some of the volunteers asked to leave as we were watching the leopards. They were bored and only wanted to see lions. Our guide said we had to stay until another car came and was able to pick up the cats. Once we found the lions, we watched for a few minutes and the volunteers were ready to go again. Why not sit and enjoy looking at such incredible animals for a few minutes? Sunset was incredible. By far one of the best ones I’ve seen. But, since the guide had been pestered so much that we just wanted to see lions, we had our sundowner drinks on the go as we drove on to find the big cats. Then the volunteers complained they hadn’t been able to enjoy the sunset. ARGGG. I just wanted to scream.

The next morning, the six volunteers were going to go on a drive on their own. The plan was for them to make their own breakfasts from the food we’d brought before their drive left at 6. Turns out there was an elephant in front of the room with our food and they couldn’t eat. I would’ve been excited… how many people can say an elephant stood between them and their food? But no, these guys complained. Then they complained because their drive started at 6:30. But that complains legit and completely my fault.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my volunteers. Sometimes I just forget they’re in high school. I certainly hope I was never bored when my parents took us on safari a few years ago!!

Since I was with Y2Y, I only spent one night at the lake this time. That was probably a good thing, because their attention spans are sometimes a little short. I just wanted to relax for the weekend, but they wanted to do stuff. Since they can’t go anywhere without a coordinator, I walked down the beach in both directions. Of course, it was with two different groups because they can never decide to do anything at the same time so it’s only one trip for the coordinators. I also took a small group into the trading center. That was fun, since it’s certainly different than the villages that aren’t close to Lake Malawi. I also went banana boating with three of the girls. Originally, they were going to go on the banana and I was going to ride in the real boat and take pictures, but when one of them was happy after two rides, I happily stepped up. The first night, we preordered a vegetarian meal for all. It was a full loaf of bread. The middle had been cut out and it was stuffed with a delicious bean and vegetable stew. Only one person finished.

And now it’s on to Botswana! I’m still not very sure what to expect. We were all supposed to arrive Aug. 10, but I’m obviously a day late now. I should get in around 7:30 am though, so I don’t think I’ll ruin plans too much. I think we have a few days of orientation in Gaborone (the capital city, pronounced Hab-or-o-nee) before heading out to the village for our first homestay. I think I’ll have internet the first few days while we’re doing orientation, but then don’t expect to be online for at least 5 or 6 weeks. I’ll be getting credit for four classes total: Setswana language intensive, Contemporary Socio-Cultural Issues in Botswana, Field Work Methodology in Botswana, and a final research project.

There’s a Levine family reunion going on in Tahoe this weekend.... Hi to all my family! I know you’ll all have a wonderful time!! Make sure an extra hand of bridge is played for me!

And Grandpa, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Tionana!!!
Karen