Malawi Malawi Malawi

As expected, my diligent blog posting collapsed upon arrival in Malawi. I’ve been incredibly busy since I landed in Lilongwe on Dec. 30. Bikoko and I arrived the same day, and we immediately hit the ground running because all 4 interns arrived the very next day. We set up the house, updated documents, confirmed schools, and caught up on the past four months before heading to the airport. Two of the January interns are from Colby, so it’s fun to swap stories and recommend restaurants (Foss Fam: we’re going to the Lebanese restaurant asap). The third intern is from Maine but goes to school in North Carolina and the last intern is from Canada. It’s a great group.

So once the whole group was in Malawi, we had our four-day orientation filled with curriculum, city tours, consultations with Lali, our tailor, yummy food prepared by John, early mornings, and errands. Tuesday the 3rd we headed straight into the village for a 4-day 3-night homestay and camp. So far, I love this schedule and the extended homestays. We teach from 9:30am-1:30pm, take a half hour break for lunch, and then do optional creative writing workshops with the kids. It’s great to not have to pack up the car in the morning then drive to the school and drive all the way home and unpack supplies.

So pretty much every morning, I got up early (5:30) to run. I wanted a quiet village but everyone was already up, pumping water and walking to church. Then I’d take my bucket bath, have some breakfast and read on the porch before class started. One morning I went to church, which was just in front of our house. It was a short service, only 40minutes, and completely in Chichewa, but I’m glad I went and got a quick overview from a translator after.

During school, I mostly chatted with the teachers. We sat on my host family’s porch and compared Malawi and the US. Other mornings I’d read or help sweep the house. At 1:30, we’d wrap up classes and walk about 15 minutes to the trading center where the headmaster hosted us for lunch. Two days we had nsima, two days we had rice. She mad a delicious relish with rice. If time allowed, we’d chat for awhile then head back to school where we held the optional creative writing sections for the kids. All the girls and about half the guys showed up everyday.

After school we hung out at the futball field for a few hours, kicking a ball, chatting in either Chichewa or English, walking to watch the sunset, tossing a Frisbee, singing, or any other number of activities. Then it was back to the boys’ host family for dinner altogether. We had nsima, rice, and pasta on various nights with yummy yummy relishes.

One afternoon, I talked with our host dad for close to an hour. He brought out pictures of his wife and two kids because they’re visiting family up north and we couldn’t meet them. We talked about his schooling and teaching and Malawi. His English was great and it was wonderful to be able to just sit and chat.

This weekend, we took a tour of the city where we saw the first president’s burial site, a war memorial featured in the Amazing Race, and Coffin Street. We also went to a soccer game where we rooted for the Civil Servants to beat the army’s Red Lions but were defeated. Dinner out completed a great weekend.

This week, we’re living at the house and working at a city school that’s just a few minutes drive away. After camp today, we went to Baylor AIDS Pediatrics Clinic and the office of Grassroots Soccer, which is an NGO that uses soccer to raise awareness of and promote testing for HIV. Tomorrow we’re going to the Crisis Nursery and Thursday we’ll visit a permiculture site to learn about sustainable gardening and more efficient ways to farm in Malawi.

Also, the interns are keeping their own blog at worldcampforkids.blogspot.com. check it out.