Mon July 7th- Visiting Jeans Project and lunch with her family

Waking up and walking outside to the bright sun, and beautiful view each morning never gets old. I sure will miss it each morning. It’s impossible to have a bad day when you wake up to this every morning.

Jean came to pick us up in a car she rents while she’s in Zomba. The car comes with a driver! We got gas and I was impressed that they have people who work at the pumps so you don’t have to get out of your car.

Jean drove us around Chancellor College in Zomba. It was very neat to see a college campus in Malawi. Students were outside studying and playing sports just like any campus at home. There were random desks that just sit outside under trees for anyone to use. I’m sure its so miserable in the resident halls that they prefer to study outside. Jean pointed out that most of the students were wearing “normal” American clothes instead of traditional Malawian clothes. College campuses are the only place that anyone can get away with wearing shorts and spaghetti straps. Most of the students come from other parts of Malawi and very few people from Zomba go to Chancellor College. Jean's sister said about 1,000 students attend the college but there are many students who do not live on campus and rent from surrounding houses.

We drove to Jean's sister's house who lives right outside the college with most of the professors. Jean said that Zomba is the only place in Malawi were you do not have to guard your house and property. You will never find open houses anywhere else in Malawi. Jean thinks its because Zomba used to be the capital and so there were lots of police and so no one ever tried to bother other peoples property.

The house was very large and beautiful. She said it’s a typical house for a professor. There was a fireplace, TV and video games. They were watching Power Rangers! She showed us family pictures of the 9 siblings and I was able to pick out Jean! Jean’s sister, brother and nephews were all there and we were picking them up to come along with us. The boys all game inside to greet us. They were well dressed, clean and looked like any American we would see at home. The older boys go to boarding school in Lilongwe and it’s the best in the country. It was originally run by only British teachers but they are slowly allowing Malawians to teach there. They are on vacation until September. The younger boys go to school in Blantyre and when they are old enough they will go to boarding school as well. They are visiting family in Zomba until Thursday. The second youngest boy said he didn’t want to stay with the boys so he asked to come along with us!! Jean drove with Lauren, Sarah, Krista and the driver and I drove with Jeans brother, sister and little nephew.

We stopped at Jeans mothers house to drop off the food and then drove down the long road to Jeans project. This is the area that Jean grew up in and so she is giving back by building school facilities and clinics for the community.

AID/HIV is killing out an entire generation leaving the grandmothers to care for their grandchildren. The grandmothers are the silent victims of HIV. Jean has built a school building with two classrooms, a large office and a porch. All of the maintenance problems we talked about at Domasi Government school do not exist at this school. There are no holes in the floor and there are locks on the doors. It’s the ideal learning environment for these children. I call it a school but it’s really only for 2-5 year old children to be able to learn before they go to school. This school sets the children up for success because they only teach English. If it weren’t for this school, they wouldn’t have any type of pre-school education. The building is used for 13 villages and has about 100 children. Some are orphans and some aren’t but they welcome all children.

The children welcomed us and we were all blown away at how well they spoke English. It was clear that the children were more educated then the majority of the other kids we have met. However, their hygiene was just as poor as the other villages we have visited. As I was sitting with a little girl, Jean and her sister came up to talk to her and they were speaking Chichewa but I knew something was wrong. I asked Jean and she said the girl was wearing a traditional cloth around her body because she didn’t have any other clothes. You don’t wear that type of clothing anymore. I could tell she was shy from the attention of everyone noticing she didn’t have any clothes. Jean said she would bring her clothes next time she came. I gave her a hug and told her she looked beautiful in her outfit.

Inside the office were pictures of the building from beginning to end. There was a picture of a lady who has also contributed to project. Jean said she met the lady sitting next to her on an airplane and told her about her project and she wanted to help. She has provided funds for many of the buildings and supplies. I think she is involved with UNICEF.

My understanding is that this building is also used as a location for a support group. Many of these grandmothers are caring for so many children it is exhausting them financially and physically. I think she said there are about 8 grandmothers who are in this situation in the villages.

We brought stickers for the kids and before you could blink, the kids had stickers all over their bodies. (Always have stickers with you if you come to Africa!) Krista and I packed a bag full of toothpaste, toothbrushes, flashlights, Advil, pencils and school supplies to donate. It was perfect to give to the school! Jean was beyond thrilled!!! We took pictures and documented the donations. We also signed the guest book.

Next we walked over to a building that was in construction. It started in February and should be done by August. It was a clinic that had a reception area, consultation rooms and a pharmacy window. All of these buildings are some of the best quality I’ve seen here. The plan is for a doctor to come periodically (maybe once a week) and use the building for classes or activities when the doctors aren’t there. The lady from the airplane is going to help supply the clinic and the clinic is going to be named after her.

There was a little girl that latched on to my arm and wouldn’t let go. She never said a word but she was holding me so tight. I walked with her over to the clinic and over to the grandmothers home. If I would have let her I think she would have stayed attached to me forever.

Jeans brother and sister are also very involved in the project. Jean said the government asked her to build a school there because the children desperately need a closer school but Jean said that is their job to provide schools. She can’t do everything but there are future plans to have a school for just standards 1-3. The hike to the nearest school takes a long time and it’s too difficult for the little ones. She would also like to have a multipurpose/performing building to hold dances and singing. That way the villages can have performances and make money.

Jean said she didn’t have gray hair until she started this project. It has stressed her out enormously. It costs a lot financially and she can’t do it herself. I told her about getting Girl Scouts, VT or Fairfax Hospital involved in the clinic and the school and she said she could use all the help she can get. She also hopes this sets an example to other villages to show them that they can do something like this too. It is possible!

Next we walked to one of the grandmothers of the village and saw where she lived. Her oldest grandchild is 17 and she had a baby less than a year old on her back. This woman was probably 70+ years old. We didn’t get to meet the grandchildren because they were at the river taking a bath. This is one of the poorest village houses but its very typical. They have no blankets to sleep with and Jean showed me the corn harvest she has for the year and Jean said that will be no where near enough for all the children. They only have one meal a day. It was very important for Jean to show me how this grandmother is living and I really appreciated her taking the time to explain their situation to me.

Jean said they will build a better house for this grandmother and her grandchildren soon. Tomorrow ladies from the Grandmothers Club are coming to bring them blankets.

We drove by lots of chickens and I don’t know why this didn’t dawn on me since I see them running around all over the place but I didn’t realize that someone has to chase the chicken when your getting ready to eat it. That must be a difficult job! Jean's sister said that the chickens are like dogs and they just come back to their home each night.

We left the villages and headed to Jeans mom’s for lunch. At the road they have a sign that will advertise the clinic for locals to know about the facility.

Jean's youngest brother lives in a separate house next to his mothers. He has one son who is about a year old. Jean brought him clothes from JCPennys and he was dressed head to toe in a brand new outfit. ADORABLE!!!!!

Jean's mom has a house on her property that she rents to a family. She also has some pigs and a garden.

Jean's uncle lives close by and saw us come by so he came over to see the company! We also met Jean's aunt who helped prepare lunch. Jean was disappointed that her mother couldn’t talk to us in English because she was so excited for our visit.

I walked around and looked at pictures and toured the house. It looks just like a grandmother's house should! We talked with the nephew and were so impressed with how smart he is! He speaks Chichewa, English and a little French! They brought out warm peanuts (groundnuts) from their garden and we about died and went to heaven! They were great!

Lunch was finally ready and it was a feast! She had vegetables and meat, chicken, nsima, rice, pumpkin leaves, beans, and many more veggies. It was delicious; all 4 of us cleaned our plate. We honestly haven’t had that good of a meal since we have been here.

As we ate we told them funny stories about our miscommunication, (pancake not pound cake) and Lauren and Sarah’s adventure at their teachers house and seeing the black mambo. Jean said even though she grew up here she still has to be very careful about what she eats. Villages will try to cook food for her and she has to make up stuff and sometimes says she’s diabetic. Her daughters are very familiar with Malawi but since they grew up in America they are an outcast when they come here. They don’t speak with the same accent and they dress differently. Jeans sister said they are very Americanized.

We were ecstatic about having a good meal and when they pulled out the watermelon for dessert we got even more excited! They also introduced a different type of banana that is very sweet. I tried it and it has the same texture as a regular banana but I could tell it was much more sweet. Very yummy!

I could have chatted with the family all afternoon but it was getting late and I think the girls were ready to go back. So we got some group pictures and then said our goodbyes.

Jean and the driver took us back to Annie’s Lodge. We thanked her so much for all the time and effort she went into preparing today for us. I’m so glad it worked out that we were both free today. While all of my days here have been great, this is one of my favorites! I loved that it was a smaller group of us and I didn’t feel like we were on a group tour like most days.

Jean's project is amazing and a wonderful example of how to give back. We told Jean and her sister about Freedom Gardens and they are going to visit it next time they are in Lilongwe.

It was past 4pm, so we all sat outside for class and to talk about our day. Heidi went to Africycle which is a program that the Canadians are working on. These Canadian boys are staying here working on their program but they visit us every couple of days because they are bored and we are the only ones in town. They said next Sunday they can take more of us to show us their program. I’d love to go! Basically they collect bike parts and ship them here. Once they arrive the boys put them together and sell them for a much cheaper price than a brand new one at the market. The money from the bikes goes to an orphanage set up by the Canadians as well. It sounds like a great program and I’ve love to learn more about it.

Brittany has been sick all day. She can’t keep anything down but she seems to be doing better this afternoon. No one knows what could have happened because she didn’t eat or drink anything different than anyone else. After being here for as long as we have, its very easy to get comfortable and forget about the precautions we were all so paranoid about the first couple of days. I’m trying very hard to make sure I keep everything in mind and not get too comfortable.

We told the group about our day then Amber talked about the AIDS/HIV chapter in our book. AIDS arrived in Malawi in 1977 but it took the Malawi government a long time to acknowledge the existence of AIDS. Malawi people blamed America for aids and said it standed for “Americans Inventing Depriving Sex.” It’s a very complex topic and I feel like I need to do a lot more research on it to understand it better. It was getting chilly so we left class and went to our rooms.

Cameron called us tonight just to see how our day was! What a sweet guy! He calls Krista and I twins even though we look nothing alike. Haha. Krista asked him for a water heater and he said, “I will provide for you”. Shortly after he came up and chatted with us. He is 27 years old and the oldest of 6 siblings. He went to school until form 4 (equivalent to graduating high school) but he talked about how he has many financial issues. His family is from Liwonde and he rents in Zomba because of this job. He knows we are going to Liwonde for the safari this week so he wrote down the names of his 3 brothers and 1 uncle who are wood carvers and he said they will give us good deals. He already called to tell them we are coming!

Krista and I talked about how much work it is to talk with the workers. We knew he would want to talk for a while and we always have to lead the conversation by asking questions. We know guests come all year long but its obvious how excited everyone gets when our group comes. EVERYONE knows us and they all stop to chat and even wave to us at the market. We are guessing no one is as friendly as us and we probably stay a very long time too. Joe came by and told Krista he found a Malawian jersey and he was able to bargain it down to 1000 kwacha so he is going to get it for her tomorrow. Joe also brought pictures to show us of his daughter! It’s going to be really hard to leave; I really am going to miss all the friendships I’ve made here.