another long catchup!

i promised i'd write about the refugee camp, and now i finally will! only 2 weeks later. we didn't bring any of our own field staff because the majority of the refugees we worked with were congolese and didn't speak chichewa. we invited them to come anyway as participants, which turned out to be a wonderful idea. three field staff came and were incredibly involved in our conversations and great resources during discussions. when we first drove in i could see into houses. at first i was glad that most houses were incredibly sturdy and stable. they're made out of bricks with really durable tin roofs. there were beds much nicer than the ones we sleep in during rural homestays during the session (where there often aren't any beds at all so we sleep on reed mats on the floor). then i realized they're so permanent because none of the refugees are expecting to leave anytime soon. we heard later how hard it is to earn money (they're not allowed to hold jobs) and actually get out of the camp. we worked with a church-based group in the camp. and it turns out that the translators they provided spoke a lot of french! i could pick out some of what they were saying. in the morning, we worked with all adults - some members of the church, some hiv+, and some in a care group. we covered the basics. what hiv is, how it's transmitted, what it does to the body, and how to prevent it. we also did both a male and female condom demonstration. during the female condom demo, a woman stood up to ask a question. i've never seen an adult woman ask a question about any sort of condom before. i was so glad she was able to.

we saved the last 45 minutes for a discussion of the camp. we had broken into two groups and my group's discussion was less successful. it morphed into the refugees asking for help. we offered all the information we could, but can't provide jobs or supplies. it's just not what we do. it was heartbreaking to hear them ask for food. the other group of volunteer got a lot more out of their discussion. the refugees in their room told their personal stories of how they had fled their homes and ended up here. i would have loved to have heard the stories, although it would have been incredibly difficult to get through. but i'm almost glad i didn't have the chance to pry into their lives and bring up memories i'm sure they'd like to forget.

jaren, another coordinator, and i also met with five hiv+ women after our discussion was over. it was a very quick meeting - they wanted to thank us for coming and invite us back themselves. they said discrimination is horrible in the camp and asked that next time we come back we fight stigma.

in the afternoon, we were expecting to work with orphans in the camp. it turns out the church is really involved with a village down the road that has a large orphan population. so we all (11 volunteers, 4 coordinators, 3 field staff, about 10 refugees from the church) loaded into our bus and drove about 15 minutes to a nearby malawian village. no one here was a refugee. we sang songs with the kids first. there were way more than we expected. there were also adults who had come to learn from us, although we'd been told there would be kids only. so rachel (another coordinator) and i, talked with the adults. we again went over the very basics of hiv, but they were interested in malaria. they wanted to know if we could bring bed nets and what they could do to stop malaria in their area. we offered all we knew - long clothing, fill in puddles of standing water with dirt - cover windows, but they wanted more. it's frustrating that we did all we could and yet it's not enough.

we're going to go back to the camp next session. we'll expand on what we taught this time and hopefully go a little more in depth. and we'll address stigma. but discrimination is something that we can visit and talk about, but change can't come from us. that's definitely one of the most frustrating things i've had to deal with while being here.

the next week we did homestay one night. rachel and i tented at the school while the volunteers stayed in houses. i tried sugar cane, smashed corn to make nsima, watched volunteers make relish, and carted water. the school planned dances for us that night. they brought out battery powered lights and there was a dance party in the middle of the field under the starts. they made sure all of us got up and danced around the circle.

the next morning, before camp, we played a game of futbol against all the kids we worked with. we lost. but only 1-0. it was a great game and we all really loved playing. i think the students loved watching us try to play too.

last weekend we stayed at the lake. it was super windy the whole time. we had planned on taking a boat out to a little island where there's great cliff jumping, but they wouldn't let us. we went swimming anyway. i went 3 times. the waves were bigger than most i've been in in california. and it was wonderful. we also walked down the beach by all the boats. and we went into town one afternoon. we watched a soccer game for 20 minutes. the men were adults and there were over 100 people watching.

we walked through the market where everyone knew Baker, the founder of world camp. it's amazing that he's literally known throughout malawi.

this week we only did 3 days at the school because volunteers are leaving friday and we wanted to give them a day off (thursday) to pack and hang out. except that an incredibly opportunity came up for tomorrow and it's going to be a packed day anyway. william, a malawian boy who built a windmill from scraps he found in his village and powered his house is dedicating a new windmill to wimbe primary school (where he went) tomorrow. blessings, who was a translator in january who i was very close to, is william's country manager and invited us to come to the ceremony. it starts at 9 and is two hours away, so we're leaving at 7. it'll probably go until around 1ish. then we'll stay and meet william and his family. i also really want to see the first windmill he built for his house. he has an incredible story and i'm excited to meet a real celebrity tomorrow!

other than that, everything has been great. i've been crazy busy organizing stuff and going to camp everyday, but i still love it. i've gotten to go back to the fabric market a few times, as well as the vegetable and wood markets. morning songs at camp everyday are great, and student presentations on day 4 make what we do worthwhile. volunteers start to leave friday and the house will feel so lonely! new volunteers start arriving the 26, and then second session starts! no down time at all!

i finally updated pictures to facebook! check 'em out!