This string is how the builders keep the bricks even... Crazy...

The original builder... The new main builder is the guy in the blue shirt... And... here are some more pictures!!! I'm absolutely amazed at the building process in this country. Its fascinating to watch construction. When my neighbor was building his house, I'd literally sit there and stare at him... taking pictures. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with me... Anyways... We've had a few setbacks in construction. First, we lost our original builder to tuberculosis. He had been sick for quite awhile and relapsed about 2 weeks ago. He was transferred to the main district hospital, but unfortunately, the intervention was too late. Myself, my counterpart Alex, and some members of the school staff, management committee, and library committee attended his funeral. It was far more difficult for me emotionally to attend since he had a daughter in Standard (Grade) 6 that was very emotional, plus I recognized her as one of the girls who attended the field trip to Mulanje, so I knew her. Thankfully, his partner is also a very good builder, so he agreed to continue the project.

Another setback has been costs of materials. Prices have gone up quite significantly in the last few months. Also, additional items/cost keep getting added unexpectedly from the original budget. That's been pretty frustrating. But, because of a donation from a 3rd party (huge thanks to Hayon and her class at Deira International), we managed to cover all the cost increases. Additionally, we've been able to use some of the additional money to cover a training for all 10 library committee members at Muloza instead of either not having the training at all or sending only 1 person to Blantyre to get training. Pretty exciting!

Otherwise... things are moving along fast! The walls are constructed, roof is on, and as of today, walls should be all plastered! Tomorrow starts the floor leveling and cementing. If things go as scheduled, the wall should be limed by the end of the week!! I'm hoping by the end of the training on Friday, we can start moving the library from the classroom into the new building!!!

In other news... we welcomed 39 new trainees that will be replacing my group and then the COS-ing health in August. Its awesome to see some new faces and I hope that they will love being here. Attended my last Volunteers supporting volunteers (VSV) meeting last week as well. It's nice to see the group moving into a positive direction. I think that this committee has a ton of potential and definitely think its on the roll to achieving it.

Anyways... here's a few more pictures from the library... they are about 1.5 weeks old, so its much farther along than this... And also the trainees as they got to the airport! Sorry folks, the picture isn't zoomed in... and we didn't get time for more due to rainy season drizzle... :( Pepani!

Halfway thru constructing the walls.. with home-made scaffolding!

A view from the inside! Sort of...

Trainees!!! Wahoo!!! We welcome you with two hands! (Takulandilani ndi manja awiri!)

Hey all!! As promised, here is an update of the building progress! The grant money was deposited early last week, and since then, Alex (my counterpart with forestry) and I have been running around like CRAZY!!! Cement, lime, and roofing wire have been recently purchased and transported to the school to be stored with the iron roof sheets and nails that the school had previously purchased! The builder started working on Friday, and I'm amazed at how fast he's working! Don't worry, he knows what he's doing; he's also built the storage room for the World Food Program at the school and the building is really nice. Friday he finished digging the trench for the foundation and by tuesday, he had completely finished the foundation bricks and started on the walls. You can see from the pictures posted the progress he's made up until last night (Wednesday). It hasn't even been a week, and he's so far along! Alex and I have been busy this week buying 20,000 bricks and making transport arrangements for it, as well as for the dambo sand to be used as mortar. Additionally, we've gotten a new library committee together and are working on revising the old library's guidelines and by-laws. Anyways... I've been fighting with federal job websites and have developed quite the headache... so off I go! Thanks guys for the continuing support!

So... I just got confirmation today that the PCPP grant to build a school library for the Muloza L. E. A. Primary School has been FULLY FUNDED!!!

A huge, heartfelt thank you to EVERYONE who helped by getting the word out, donating to the project, or who helped with both!!!! I will keep everyone updated on the project, hopefully with pictures if the internet cooperates. Thanks again!

A very lovely Malawian proverb... And let me tell you... we've finally gotten the rain we've all been praying for, and with it has come A LOT of mud. So trying really hard not to complain. But its everywhere. We had a late start to the rainy season... There was this weird 2.5 weeks in October, usually one of the hottest and driest months of the year, when we had really cool temperatures and a ton of rain. Then nothing... until the beginning of January. And now... 3 days this past week I was basically trapped in my very small house because of torrential downpours. I haven't seen the sun for more than 30 minutes in over a week (SAD in the tropics anyone?). I've been the cause of much amusement with neighbors and friends; I had several severe cases of cabin fever and started wandering around in the late afternoon when the rain became a drizzle. "Mutowe mvula" or "You should run from the rain" they all yelled at me... Either way. Its nice to not worry about crops failing because of too little or too late rain.

So... Merry late Christmas and a Happy New Years to everyone who reads this! I hope the holidays were family and fun filled. A bunch of us went north to the lake and then to the tropical island paradises of Likoma and Chizumulu Islands. We relaxed, ate delicious food, were visited by Santa (actually the amazing and thoughtful Miss Sara Lane... thanks again!), hung out at one of the coolest bars I've ever seen (a series of decks and patios placed among boulders right by the lake... the owner claims that decks disappear and appear as the water level changes over the years... crazy!)... New Years was also at the lake... dance party funness. While I was up in my second favorite region of Malawi (sorry... the South still rocks), I got to hang out at some other volunteers sites as well... Which is always a great way to see other parts of the country.

Our COS (Close of Service) conference was a blast as well... I have an official date: April 13th is my last "official" day as a PCV. From there, I'll be heading on a "COS trip" which will include Vic falls, Zanzibar, and hopefully a climb up Kilamanjaro. Then flying home!!!!

In village life.... I'm super glad to be back. I really missed my house... my friends... my neighbors... my work... my routine... everything. First couple days back got to hang out with my awesome site mates. We had a sushi themed dinner that was absolutely amazing. Discovered that when you haven't ridden your bike more than 10k in over 6 months, going longer distances and then climbing up half a mountain will take more out of you than expected. Also, attended my first funeral in Malawi of an older gentleman who lives next to my borehole. The man, Mr. Mbisa, was super friendly, and never failed to say hello when I passed every day. He was a Jehovah's witness, and somehow managed to procure English (as opposed to Chichewa) versions of the Watchtower magazine most months to give me. Since cell network at my site sucks, I usually sat at this tea shed in the same area as the borehole and his house to check messages and have family phone call day on Sundays. He always sent one of the neighborhood kids over with the magazine, and while I wasn't necessarily interested in reading them, the fact that he thought of me really touched me. He passed away this past Tuesday; he had been sick with malaria and when treatment at our health center wasn't working, they transferred him to the boma, but he didn't respond to the treatment there either. The funeral was a very moving experience. In some ways, it was very similar to ones I've attended in the US, but in other ways, very different. For instance, women sit inside with the deceased one throughout the morning while the men sit outside. Often close family members are crying or wailing, but people don't physically comfort them. Instead they simply sit close by and silently offer their support. When you come to pay your respects, it is customary to show your respect by contributing money to assist with the funeral expenses (they actually record who and how much was contributed and then read it later as a sign of gratitude). Around noon, the service starts.; people are still segregated by gender. Then things begin to be more similar to American funeral- people sing hymns, read eulogies, read bible passages, etc. Suffice to say, it was a very moving experience...

Finally, a huge thank you to all of you that have helped my library projected by contributing money, getting the word out or both!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! As of today, the project has "disappeared" from the Peace Corps website... that hopefully means its fully funded (I'm being cautiously optimistic) and we can get started on it. I'll know for sure on Monday (the Program assistant in charge of the grant is in the field today so won't know till then). Please keep your fingers crossed that this is the case (and not that something weird has happened)! If so, I have just enough time to complete this project before I leave... so Yippie!! Until next time... lots of love and hugs to everyone out there!!

Hello all! It's been a lllllloooooonnnnnnng time since i've updated this... but... lots of news!!!

For starters, I've only got about 6 months to go!!! I've been sort of feeling conflicted about this. I really do love Malawi, and I'd love to come back, whether its to visit or to work again, but I'm at that point where I'm beginning to feel a bit burned out to say the least. I definitely will be ready to go home in April. In addition to that, I'm realizing how little time I have left for working in my village, seeing the sites of Malawi, and seeing friends. Its going to require a careful balance between travel and staying at home... I have a lot of smaller project ideas that I think will be perfect for my last few months. For instance, tree nurseries are ongoing. Plus I helped with a business training early this month, which means I can help my groups utilize the information. The CBO, or community based organization near me is now active and I'd like to help them with a few projects, particularly with the HIV/AIDs support groups they are connected with... So... should be a busy 1/2 year....

Last week I turned 28. Not much to say on that besides, no... I don't feel any different! It was a lovely birthday though. Thanks for all the wishes.

Last week I was also a volunteer at the water hole count in the rhino sanctuary at Liwonde National Park. The sanctuary is a fairly large area inside the park that is fenced in to keep re-introduced animals, such as black rhino and zebra, protected from poachers and the issues related to the high human population density surrounding the park. Because the sanctuary has no natural permanent water source inside the fence, the park has created 4 artificial water holes... so... the program was to get an estimated count of animals inside the sanctuary... so we took 4 hour shift in hides (think a little shack to keep animals from seeing you) and literally counted whatever came. I saw a ton of elephants (which I'm still secretly thrilled by whenever I see them!), bush buck and impala, sable (which are kind of shady... just kind of creep around), eland (think an antelope the size of a small horse), buffalo, ZEBRA (apparently my African spirit animal...), and a bunch of other random stuff. Plus.... RHINOS!!! Saw 4 (2 pairs: m/f and then mom and baby) total... at about 1:30a... but the moon was out and I was boring some really really nice high powered binoculars from a friend. Suffice to say, the whole experience was amazing.

Biggest accomplishment for me in the last few months has been this business trainng for my mushroom and peanut butter group. It has been soo frustrating to teach these women business concepts. First, we have a pretty significant language barrier. I'm pretty good at Chichewa, but obviously not a native speaker. There are just some concepts I have difficulties explaining. On top of that, I have repeatedly gone over some easy business strategies and they seem interested, but actual implementation is not happening... So... I approached Mobi+lise, an NGO in my area about providing some support and training... They found funding to pay trainers plus to provide a communal meal for a 4 day (2 days/group) training on business. It was awesome! We'd had extensive discussions about the strengths and weaknesses of these two groups, and I'd say that everything that was important was covered in depth and as long as we keep the momentum going, I think they will actually use what they learned.

My borehole is now functioning... another frustrating situation to get it working again... but more on that another day... or not...

And last but not least... Time to ask for help. My primary school has a library that was started a few years ago by the volunteer I replaced. Its small, but definitely has the potential to grow, and the school community really supports its continuation. The problem is, the library is currently housed inside a classroom, and because of security of the library books, the classroom is not being used to teach. With over 2400 students, and 23 (hopefully this is increasing to closer to 30) teachers, resources are already really scarce, and that includes classrooms (only 12 are able to be used now). We want to build a small, separate building to but the library in, and then provide training to at least 3 teachers so they can properly manage the library. I know times are tough in America... but please consider helping out this much deserving community. If you are unable to donate money, please help by spreading the word to people who might be able to contribute! One advantage to a project with Peace Corps is that you know every cent donated is going to be used for the project... no overhead costs, no salaries... just to get this done (heck, I can send you the budget and original proposal if you ask!). Anyways... donations can be done thru the Peace Corps website. I'm pretty positive they are also tax deductable... The link is:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=614-233

If you have any questions or want to see pictures, please contact me at reed16@gmail.com. Your help is greatly appreciated!!!

And that, my friends, is a true story. Ganizani was his name. Kuganiza is the infinitive form "to think." Add onto that the suffix -ni, and there you go... Hope you enjoyed today's lesson of the Chichewa language!

Anyways... To the few (and by that I mean 3) people who actually read this blog, I wish to say “pepani” or sorry for neglecting you! It has been far too long since I’ve updated this. I wish I had a great excuse, but unfortunately, laziness is by far the biggest factor. In fact, I’m only overcoming this obstacle by the fact that I need to be doing something while my iPod is charging on my computer so it doesn’t go into standby and since I’ve run out of work to do otherwise, the blog it is. J I have to say… its sort of odd to be typing this by the light of a kerosene hurricane lamp and candles (I should be more stingy with the candles, but I can’t stand sitting in the dark).

So officially at the beginning of the month (well, 29 April to be precise), I’ve been a volunteer for 1 year. That realization has been met with a variety of mixed feelings… ranging from relief that I only have one more year to go, to anxiety that I won’t get everything I wanted to get accomplished done, to depression over the fact that I’m only half-way to when I can see friends and family again, to a lot of anger and bitterness and disillusionment and generally too much bitching to friends here about pretty much everything (hopefully stopping soon)... So, in brief, an emotional rollercoaster. The last two months haven’t really helped since I’ve been travelling a great deal, but not for fun-mostly “work” related stuff. And travelling in this country involves a lot of waiting and a need for the patience of a saint. On top of that, my site-mate Amy, thru a series of unfortunate events and irrational decision making by certain Peace Corps staff (and that’s all I’ll say on the matter) has moved out of our district to the nearby but not an hour’s bike ride district of Chiridzulu. Thankfully, at her new site, she’ll be working her dream job, but still, it sucks.

On some positive notes, we’ve welcomed a new group of volunteers (congrats for making it thru training!) in both health and environment, said good-bye to an amazing group of volunteers (you’ll be missed but we’re happy for you!), and I’ve gotten some work done. And I’ve managed to stay in my village for a solid 2 weeks (looking at 3 shortly). Which is wonderful. I’ve missed my house and my cat and my neighbors and the Phundumas, and pretty much everything about my village. And on a literary note, I’ve discovered the amazing-ness of Sherlock Holmes. Thanks to my new site mate, Leith, for leaving that book at my house!

Currently, the big project is bore holes… Just got funding for 3 (see appropriate water projects page), and working on another grant to replace missing parts for the one I (and about a million other people) used to go to before some bastard decided that he was more important than the 100+ families in my area that now have to walk 1+ KM to get to a safe water source. Not that I’m bitter or anything. So, Alex (my counterpart) and I have talked to most of the water committee members and parts are ordered. A few other projects are in the works, but waiting on feedback from community/PC.

This week should be pretty busy, but in a good way. A few meetings… hopefully not as far as the ones I went to on Saturday (2 ½ hrs on bike… on really bad roads!! Beautiful though!). Need to get some laundry done. And visit with some friends I’ve been too busy to actually sit down and chat with (and then eat nsima… because it’s not proper chatting until you’ve left someone’s house so full of food you can’t eat till the next day J). Anyways… that’s it for now. Love and miss you folks back home and thanks for reading. Till next time!

That's right. One year in Malawi. And that means what? Only 13.5 months to go!!! Ok... I'm not really counting down the months... or days... but its kind of nice to realize that in another year I'll be back home annoying family and friends for the first time in 2 years!

Currently still on Med hold till Wednesday. Advantages: good medical care, Evelyn's hug, free internet, hanging out with people I never see! Disadvantages: missing out on meetings back at site, Lilongwe's expensive... and there are so many tempting places to eat, no personal space.

Particularly of concern is that this week I was demonstrating how to construct fuel efficient mud stoves for two of my groups. Now I'm not going to be able to do this till next week... maybe... if I have time. Argh. I miss site so much! But, my skin rash thingy, while no longer septic, is spreading. So, leaving now is not a good plan. Currently sporting a blue circle around it to see if the prednasone helps or if it gets worse. Max will take a look tomorrow... I absolutely love the med staff here. They are amazing and really look out for us...

Yesterday, to break up the monotony of just working at my computer for 8 hours, went with a bunch of volunteers to see the arrival of the new environment and health trainees! It was awesome. We have 45 new volunteers total. We've been following their pre-arrival funness on Facebook and I can't wait to actually chat with everyone in a few weeks (like 2). A good sign: plane arrived on time, and no luggage was lost! Current volunteers were on best behavior unlike when I arrived, so overall a success I think. We did the introductions and pictures and off they went to Dedza to hopefully get a good night's sleep!

So... going to spend the next few days working on a Food Security Taskforce assignment with Jackie and then getting started on Tilipo updates and revisions with Chloe. At least I won't be bored! If any folks want to Skype, I'll be able to if the internet here cooperates. FB message me or email me to let me know.

The thing I hate about Lilongwe is that its ridiculously stressful to get here, and when I do arrive, I feel like all I do is run around getting even more stressed out and yet not actually getting anything done. At all. Arrived Wednesday night after getting a ridiculously wonderful hitch a little north of Blantyre. I'm staying at Mufasa's and the last few days have been training for Volunteers Supporting Volunteers. Its been pretty interesting for the most part and people in VSV have some cool ideas for things the group can do here to welcome new volunteers to their regions and stuff. I'm really excited anyways to be a part of the group.

Even more fun is I have a skin infection on my foot! Its pretty awesome... And by that I mean gross... :) Apparently it was infected so now I'm on med hold until Monday in case it takes a turn for the worse! Right now it seems to be getting less infected, but the rashy part seems to be spreading... And its ITCHY. Ridiculously so. And those of you who know me realize that itchy is a huge problem... Not scratching is a constant struggle.

Work is busy now. I should be doing stuff for VSV, like edits for the volunteer directory thing, or getting stuff written up for the food security task force thingy I'm on (did actually do some of that), but the lure of free internet is so much easier to accept. So instead, I've been spending my afternoon on facebook, looking up graduate programs (hey... only 14 months left), and random other things. Oh well.. I'll be back to business soon enough. Like tomorrow.

So a long time ago... in a land called Nittany Valley... a girl named Brianna got ridiculously pissed off at her former roommate (Mark Risso) for insulting her favorite genre of book. I believe he said something along the lines of: "If they can't tell the story in less than 300 pages, they just can't write" and used Kurt Vonnegut as a prime example. (Ok... it was actually a much more heated discussion... much more heated... in which Kurt Vonnegut was held up as the epitome of writers while all fantasy and science fiction writers, with the notable exception of Tolkien, were tramped upon... ) Thus, the girl... who in her defense was very young at the time, held a huge grudge against said author. Fast forward to the future. In the land of Mulanje, Malawi, where free time seems to be abundant and the sources of books scarce, this girl decided to give it a try since Vonnegut seems to just pop up everywhere (thank you peace corps library!). After reading... said girl is forced to say, although she still holds fantasy and sci fi in high esteem, Kurt Vonnegut is FREAKING amazing. For sure... Read him if you haven't... I suggest starting with Bluebeard

In other news... xmas and new years were spent lounging on the beach. A much needed (although didn't realize it at the time) vacation. Lake Malawi is beautiful! While I definitely missed the presence of snow (its amazing how much we associate that time of year with snow... it really didn't feel like xmas/new years without it and with temperatures above 80F), it was nice. Also, not having family around was a super bummer. I didn't realize how much time I spent with my family this time of year... putting up the tree, cooking food... getting yelled at by dad for not cleaning the house :) cranberry sauce... cookies... xmas eve at dad's... driving to NJ to see mom's family... and one more year of that :( but I know that when I get home, I'll really appreciate the holiday season even more.

In Water project news... After a slight miscommunication, in which the village chief at namwera wanted to change the project to a different, more expensive one at last minute (he understood we have a limited budget and we went back to the original program), we are rolling! The community found volunteers to dig trenches and finished Wednesday. Yesterday, myself, the local plumber Mr. Gologoda, and about 7 volunteers, including the Village Headman Namwera, went to the trading center by me to buy all the supplies and transport them back. Hopefully they'll have everything done in the next few days! Otherwise, waiting to hear about some funding for a school library, trying to get some more funding for a few more water projects, and helping with some training for village savings and loans groups I work with now. So... busy busy busy. :)

That's right! Approved! My first project, extending the water pipeline from my village to Maliera has been approved! I was a little worried. The cut-off for funding is US$500 and I was at $492... But all is good! I was getting a little nervous because the village chief had said they'd already started digging for the pipes they already had despite my adamant "I'm not promising this is getting funded... but I'm trying" statements over and over... But now the work can begin in earnest!!!! WAHOO! In addition to this being my first "real" project I've planned here, its super important that the people living in Namwera have access to clean water asap. Most women go to the river for drinking water now b/c the borehole is too far away... and they're at risk for a lot of waterborne illnesses here... like cholera... not a fun time I've heard. Anyways... if anyone is looking for a cause to donate to during the holiday season, please check out my project at: http://appropriateprojects.com/node/466

On other news... don't think I've mentioned that actually did get a cat. Her name is Toco... which is the informal version of grateful or thankful... Its a commonish name here and my counterpart's wife (and good friend here) Lucy picked it so its extra special. She really pretty... orangish... born in august. Really like her, but she's much more high maintenance than anticipated. She's really whiny... like all the time. Which is good bc the mice hear her and flee in terror (Yippie!), but really annoying, at say 3am. Its gotten a little better since she started sleeping on the bed with me... Except her favorite place to sleep is on my chest...

Sort of annoying for me is that for whatever reason... maybe the honeymoon is over at site... but I've had a ton of people, mostly women I work with in the mushroom group, ask me to give them or their kids food (or occasionally money) when I'm walking around and wanting to just chat with people. Which puts me into a pickle: if I want to continue working with them, I can't be too bitchy, but I really just want to flip out on them. One or two is not a huge deal... I usually calmly explain to them a few times that I'm a volunteer... I don't have enough food/money to give them, or if I did I'd have everyone in the village coming up to me for the same thing (word travels fast here... gossip is spread like fire), plus I came to Malawi to help with development and environmental projects, not to hand out shit. But 4-5 people in a matter of 2 days, especially when I just got back from travelling and was looking forward to just hanging out with my friends in the village and working on projects is frustrating. What's also frustrating with the mushroom group is that I've also already given them ~$30 to get them started on their mushroom growing (which is going well fyi!), plus every suggestion I give them to increase business they say "oh ok..." then don't do it. So, Wednesday's meeting is going to be interesting...

Anyways... looking forward to getting the water project started... and for christmas. Going to the lake to camp with a bunch of friends... Should be fun and relaxing!

So HAPPY LATE TURKEY DAY!!! I hope everyone was ridiculously stuffed with turkey and mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce and apple/pumpkin pie!!! I was definitely missing everyone in the US the last few days... especially family. (Love you guys!). My Thanksgiving here was pretty fabulous... Spent this past Thursday in Blantyre. VSV in the south had a welcome/orientation for the new education and health volunteers that arrived in July. Technically they've been stuck at site for the last 3 months and are "officially" able to travel, so it was supposed to be the first time we all got together. Definitely a fun time... we all stayed at Doogle's, the backpacker's lodge there. We pretty much just hung out and chatted... and drank... probably a little too much, but that's ok. And ate really yummy food. Amy and I also had a good time shopping and hanging out with Mary, a girl from University of South Carolina (I think...) who's doing research for her Ph.D in Mulanje district...

Friday was an exciting travel day. And by that I mean we got on a bus at 630 am, and didn't move from our seats until 11. Got some stuff done at the Peace Corps office in Lilongwe... and by that I mean I played with my new computer for about 4 hours! Its absolutely beautiful! Its a burgundy & black on the outside and has a pretty largish keyboard for a net book, and has an amazing battery life (very important when you don't have electric... :), and there's a digital camera thing that might mean if I can get a high speed internet connection I can try skype! Super excited because I've already used it a ton to write these two grants that I will explain soon...

Saturday was the official Peace Corps Thanksgiving dinner! It was delicious! The needed a few additional volunteers to help cook, so went to that... It was insane and awesome! Feeding 100 people is a ton of work but we all had fun. Main course was a roast pig (turkey is way too impractical...). Also had mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, mango pie (almost like apple!), green bean cassarole, salad... you get the idea... yumminess... And there was lots of dancing! Vic, our country directer provided music and has a really good collection of random stuff... Afterward... we just all hung out... then went to Chez Ntemba, a night club... I'm constantly amazed at night clubs here... and how much more comfortable I am dancing... Until a dance-off went down, followed by a techno rendition of Jingle Bells that I was just not feeling. So a bunch of us went home...

So... grants... A village right by me called Namwera is currently having a major water problem. They have 2 boreholes (think giant hand pump) for getting water, but one has no parts... a problem you can imagine, and the other is in need of replacement parts, so right now its operational, but takes about 2x as long to fill up a bucket as one that's in good condition and the hand pump part sounds like its going to fall apart at any moment. In addition to this, the "working" one is at the bottom of a hill, while the majority of the village is at the top... And this is a steep hill. For those of you who know my Dad's house, imagine walking up the hill my driveway is off of (Grapevine Rd), to the top, with a 20L bucket of water on your head. Not a fun time. Which means either more work for the women and girls here, or they drink untreated stream water. So, I'm writing 2 grants. One is to fix these 2 boreholes, plus one in my village that hasn't been working for awhile... Also, when I went to go talk to the village chief about the boreholes, he asked for help with another project. There's a pipeline system running from my village... an intake pipe takes water from a nearby stream, treats it with chlorine (when available), and then pipes take the water to parts of my village and a few others south of Maliera... Namwera's Village Development committee managed to raise ~US$200 to get some pipes to extend the system, but were struggling with the rest (~US$500). So, that's the second grant. Anyways... keep your fingers crossed that they get approved! The grants are through a really cool organization called appropriate projects that is all about water projects under US$500. They fund projects upfront so it gets finished asap, and then they ask people to sponsor the projects and donate the money for it. So... if anyone is interested in helping out... check out appropriateprojects.com

So... thought I'd take a moment to describe the joys of the legal system here in Malawi. For those of you who don't know, my camera was stolen from my backpack Oct 31st... I was getting off a bus, realized people could see my camera sticking out of my bag, so closed it. Started walking away from the bus stop to a different place to board a different minibus, and as usual, was crowded by bus conducters, drunks, and random people who "just want to be friends." When I boarded the 2nd minibus, realized that my camera was gone, and that one of the people crowding me had probably taken it. Amy, who was with me at the time, and I went back and started asking people for help, and finally some guy took us to the police station to make a report. At the time, was seriously unimpressed with the police service, but to my great surprise, got a call the following week that my camera had been found!! Ecstatic, I went back to Limbe, thinking I'd only be there a few hours, identified my camera (minus 1 memory card and flashdrive and transfer cable thing... plus all pics on the 2nd card were deleted...), and was told I should stick around till the next day... so I did... and the guy who stole my camera plead not guilty (claimed he found it on the street). So, was then informed I'd have to talk in court the next day.

After getting prepped on court procedure by Hector, Peace Corps' amazing safety and security officer, who also was super patient in answering my questions and getting the police to speed up the process so I wasn't hanging out in Blantyre/Limbe forever, I met the prosecuter for my case. At the courtroom, sat on a very uncomfortable bench for a very long time... Malawian court is really interesting. The defendent doesn't have a lawyer (at least in the cases I saw) and the court doesn't provide one when they can't afford one. So, the prosecuter asks questions of witnesses they call, and then afterwards the defendant can cross examine. There's a clerk that interprets English (which most of the proceedings are in) into Chichewa (but not the other way around). Also, the magistrate (referred to as "your worship") records all the dialouge himself and then asks more questions to clarify. Was super nervous at first, but then I watched a ton of cases before mine was heard, so had the whole process down.

Anyways... then had to wait 2 more days to get my camera... went all the way to Limbe (its expensive!) found out that I couldn't take it yet... then arranged through some awesome people who live in Blantyre to get my camera through a friend of theirs and they'd bring it with them the following week to my village. Worked out pretty well... EXCEPT... the friend had to wait 4-5 hours because she refused to pay a bribe (after I called the prosecuter to ask if the arrangement was ok AND wrote a letter giving her permission) and sometime between the trial and getting it last week, it was dropped... and while it still works, its annoying.

Either way... I'm incredibly thankful that it was found! Overall, minus the last bit, the Limbe police were absolutely amazing. I have a working camera... and that means I can continue to take pictures instead of not being able to at all! Anyways... more on some projects I have later...

AND HAPPY TURKEY DAY TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So... Peace Corps policy requires all volunteers to take medications that keep us from getting malaria. Good policy for sure. Malaria, as I've observed from people in my village, just sucks. And has the potential to kill you or put you on dialysis for the rest of your life. So definitely not complaining. Since arriving in Malawi, I've been on Mephlaquine, the cheapest and easiest medication available. Once a week you take it, and then no worries. However... side effects are numerous, generally fall into the mental health altering category, and sometimes sneak up on you without warning See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mefloquine for more info. For example, you think everything is fine and dandy... and then your bike tire won't separate from the tube and suddenly its the end of the world and your trying to hold back tears while explaining to your counterpart that, yes, everything is in fact ok when you actually want to curl up in the fetal position or tear out grass from the ground while contemplating calling your boss to say you're leaving. True story. Anyways... after that little episode, it was suggested by my amazing and very patient site mate that I should call and get my medicine switched. Turns out, its ridiculously easy to do, and starting next week, I'll be joining the crowd of volunteers in my group switching to Doxycycline. Doxy has much fewer scary side effects. My main concern now is that sun sensistivity increases. Not a good thing for someone who consistently forgets to apply sunscreen on a daily basis, is currently living in a sub tropical country in the middle of its "summer", and has no hat. Also a concern... doxy is an antibiotic. And increases frequency of yeast infections... So... while definitly more manageable, is still just the lesser of two evils. But at least I won't get malaria (for which I'm super thankful! Thank you PC!)

On happier notes... things are moving along at site. The mushrooms my women's group "planted" are coming along slowly, but doing well! And the PB group, which is also the natural resource management committee, are taking a break from peanut butter to build a tree nursery. The structure was completed last week and this past week, they've been filling pots and started getting seeds planted. Also, had a really good meeting with the chair of my village's Development Committee, and have some really cool ideas that I want to start working on. For instance, a large scale irrigation system for the community so they can still farm during the dry season (which is right now... and let me tell you... in addition to being dry... its HOT!! Days usually in the upper 90s but still humid, and nights, I'm lucky if it fall to the low 80s... and I have a iron sheet roof... and my water is never cool... its grossly warm... and I sweat... a lot... and while its certainly not chickwawa (district aka devil's asshole b/c so freaking hot)... it still sucks...). The village directly north of me has one already... and its the most BEAUTIFUL thing ever. Lush, healthy green maize EVERYWHERE... near the system that is... so super excited to start finding out about that...

So lots of excitement the last few weeks! First of all, saw ELEPHANTS at Liwonde!!! It was spectacular. Its completely different than being at the zoo. The game count consisted of 2 days at Liwonde. One day was a transect walk. Quite simply, walking about 13k across the park, which is basically the bush... Of course we went with some protection. 2 scouts with the park accompanied us (Amy and I) brandishing some very impressive semi-automatic rifles. And they were ridiculously casual with where they were pointing them at times... But thankfully, no accidents. On the transect walk we saw a rather impressive elephant skeleton torn apart by hyenas. The skull was HUGE! As for live animals, we saw impala, sable, bushbuck, waterbuck, bushpig, hartbeast, and warthogs (just like Pumba!). Plus a ton of monkeys and baboons were hanging outside the youth hostel we stayed at. The other day of the game count was a hide/blind... Literally parked it on a 10 ft termite mound on the Shire River flood plain with a little shelter built over it for shade and sat there for 4 hours. The last 2 hours we watched elephants going for water! It was awesome! There was nothing between us and them but grass and space. It was cool b/c they had a "scout" who kept going ahead and checking things out. Then she'd wait for the rest to catch up and off she went again. There were two groups we watch, one with 10ish members and the other with 13-14. All different ages. Also saw some water buffalo too.

In other news, Sara Lane from Ntchisi came to Amy's so I crashed there for a few days. It was a really nice visit, just hanging out and chatting. Best of all, Sara made Amy and I a birthday cake!!! Not a small thing when you only have a kerosene stove at your disposal! And it was absolutely delicious!!

Also, my women's mushroom group started mushroom farming Thursday! I'm really excited, but also a little nervous. It's really time consuming and also a little tricky to get a good harvest since there are so many ways to contaminate or loose the mushrooms. but... keeping my fingers tied.

Last but not least... its my birthday! 27 today! Traditional midnight birthday call from Caitlin and Jan was amazing. Also hanging out with Amy is great. Best site mate EVER! She shared ranch packets and candy in honor of the day. Well... times up. Miss you all...

Currently hanging out in Lilongwe. Just finished IST... the training we are supposed to get after 3 months living at site, but in fact got after 4.5 months. I'm absolutely exhausted. It was absolutely wonderful to see everyone that came to country in Feb. Some people I'd not seen in a couple months... so... good to catch up. Honestly don't remember much of what we did the first week, except a bunch of stuff in the classroom... a little bit of medical stuff. And on Saturday met 2 RPCV that finished thier service and just decided to stay in Malawi and work on nutrition and food security. They do a lot with permagardening/permaculture, and composting toilets... some really neat stuff. Also went to thier house today. Its BEAUTIFUL! and is kind of inspiring. Hopefully will get a project going related to that.

This past week has been interesting. Each of us picked a member of the community we are in to attend some workshops with us as our counterparts. I picked Alex, the forestry extension worker I'm "officially" assigned to attend. This probably wasn't the best choice seeing as he's come to this portion of IST with the 2 previous volunteers... but... seeing as i'm passive aggressive and non-confrontational... it just sort of worked out that way. Really think I should have brought a woman though. Only 2 of the counterparts were women. Additionally, we had a little tension thru the week between counterparts and volunteers based on women's empowerment/development issues that occured in group discussions. Back in the US, I never really thought about those issuse. In fact, I avoided them b/c I think most feminists take themselves WAY too seriously. But here... wow... new focus. The environment girls in the south (including me) are going to get GAD (Gender & Development committee) started in the south... and probably as a part of that get at least one camp started for girls...

Learned a bunch of cool things otherwise... Jam making... another way to make PB... some oil pressing info. Went to Ed's way too often... Kicked Tom and Sam's ass in pool with Amy... 3x. Read the Lorax by Dr. Seuss and thought of Erin :) Read the letters from Kim, Becky, and Jess... and realized I really need to write back (Sorry... working on it!!!!!!).. Was elected to be the south's VSV rep... which is volunteers supporting volunteers. Really excited about that. Realized I'm going to be 27 in 2 weeks... and sold all but 2 of my peanut butter... to answer comments... I eat PB almost everyday... after 4.5 months... no problem... in 2 years... I dunno... could get interesting. But, just found out you can make jam with BANANAS!! so... perfect combo might make things ok :)

So, survived Mulanje if anyone was wondering. Its a really, really, REALLY tall mountain! The most physically challenging thing I've EVER done. Decided that its ok to be the last person as long as you make it up! Anyways... its absolutely beautiful. The way we went up is this really cool forest. Its on the rainer side of the mountain, so super green and very picteresque. There were some areas at the beginning of the trail where encroachers had cleared land to farm... lots of PINEAPPLES! which grow from a bush! It sucks, but with the huge increase in population over the last few decades, plus the tea companies buying more community land, space for farming is limited... One of those situations where its hard to be mad at people for encroaching on forest reserve land when its how they can grow food and get money for thier families... Anyways... top of the plateau was completely different. Lots of super grassy open areas and a few smaller forested places. And the infamous MULANGE CEDAR! Its beautiful in a really wierd way. They are very unique looking trees. And the wood smells great.

The past couple of weeks have been super busy with actual work. I'm "financing" mushroom farming for my women's mushroom group. They have only been able to get one batch of spawn to produce mushrooms under the previous volunteer, Jenni. But, everyone assures me they have the technique down and if it does work, the condition is that they pay me back (if they make a profit), and they have to put aside the same amount of money for the next batch. Theoretically, they should be able to do both and make a few thousand kwatcha. If not, I'm only out ~$30.

I've also been scrambling to get supplies together for a few tree nurseries in my area. Two village Natural Resource Management Commmittees (VNRMC) have started construction. And, last but not least... the Phwera peanut butter group has made a shit ton of peanut butter!!!! They are such a fun group. The chairwoman is AWESOME and kind of intimidates me. I don't think she likes me much at times... or she's just annoyed that I don't speak Chichewa well yet. Dunno... either way, she is really cool and also is on the VNRMC for the my village and under my TA. So, she rocks.

Off to Mzuzu and then the lake. Mel, a PCV, has a tradefair going on Saturday... so I'm selling the PB. A lot of it. When i told Phwera I'd sell it for them, they were excited and said they'd make a ton. Did not anticipate how much that would be. They sent me with 69 bottles (typical batch is 18). And my box is falling apart. Literally being held together with duct tape. But I've sold a bunch already (which is good b/c the box is also slowly getting lighter)! Maybe I should have gone into business! :) And for the record. Jelly is actually pretty expensive here. So just peanut butter sandwiches. :)

Got back to my house from Blantyre on Sunday to discover that I now have a resident RAT! Not cool... Had a really bad experience from homestay in Dedza during training where a rat decided to hang out in my room at night... and then go through my backpack... for about a week. And on top of that had a probably Mefloquine induced dream of it crawling on my while sleeping... So, in short, I was not excited to discover that my peanuts were half eaten or to wake up at 2am to the sound of bottles falling from shelves and something rummaging through my trash... Need to get something to take care of that... And for future rat problems, thankfully Amayi Rose, one of my friends in Maliera (my village), has 2 kittens for sale!!! So, I'll be buying one for K350. Which amounts to a little less than US$2. And will say good bye to Mr. Rat...

Also, super excited because Sunday I'll be climbing Mulanje for the first time! Also kind of scared. This mountain is HUGE!!! I'm used to little mountains... The Appalachians and the mountains of the Allegheny Plateau near me are babies compared to Mulanje... So, to say I'm a bit intimidated is an understatement. Also, Amy (my site mate with a lot more climbing experience) scared me because she was going on about how everything I own clothes-wise is not appropriate for this... I guess we'll see. I'll be on the top for only 3 days, so I'll survive. That is if I make it to the top in the first place... :)

Anyways... things are picking up work wise... Trying to get information on an oil press for the peanut butter group by me... and getting materials together for a tree nursery... and getting some boreholes (where we get water) back to working condition... So... yup...

Oh yeah... that's right... I've joined the dark side. Actually, the more I thought about it, and the more I realized the mass emails I told random people I'd send out was never going to happen, the more this seemed like a good idea. So... let the blogging begin...

Thank you Mary Clare for the fabulous URL. And for just being fabulous in general.

So... For those of you who have not heard... I'm currently living in Malawi (that's in southern Africa) and working as a Peace Corps volunteer... I live in Mulanje district, pretty much at the Mozambique border. My official job is a community based natural resource management extension worker... or something like that... I forget... I'll clarify in the future as I figure this thing out. Anyways...