Lexi's Malawi Trip

Wishing I could go back!

2009-06-21T18:25:00.011-04:00

I remember how helpful it was to get tips/suggestions from the group who went the year before us, so I wanted to do the same for the group going this summer. The '08 VT group compiled a list of hints/tips for them. Everything from packing hints, traveling tips, what to expect while you are there, health suggestions, teaching tips, cultural FYI, info about the internet access, and our own words of wisdom. I sure hope it helps them and it will be a great reference if I am able to go back in my future!!

Two students from our group last year are going back this summer on their own for 3 weeks! Amy (RU) and Brian (NC A&T) bought plane tickets and they are planning on meeting up with Peter while in Malawi. I am so jealous!! Brian is coming to VT in the fall for a doctorate program! He came to Blacksburg in the spring and we were able to grab coffee and catch up. I can't wait to hear the stories about their trip!

The study abroad group left this morning at 10am for Africa. Many of them set up blogs and these are the ones I know of:

http://www.malawistudyabroad09.blogspot.com/ (Rachel)

http://toddmalawi.blogspot.com/ (Todd)

http://africaabroad.blogspot.com/ (Kacey)

http://www.malawistudyabroad.blogspot.com/ (Dr. Kelly)

http://utkelizabeth.blogspot.com/ (Carolyn)

http://hacklerhash.blogspot.com/ (DeAnna)

http://annmaryroberts.wordpress.com/ (Ann Roberts)

http://bethdickey.blogspot.com/ (Beth)

http://www.kkelsa.blogspot.com/ (Kelsey)

I am anxiously awaiting to hear that they arrived safely. I can't wait to follow these blogs and re-live my trip. I cannot believe it's been a year since I left for Malawi. I remember it like it was yesterday!

Articles, movies and more

2009-06-21T11:55:00.016-04:00

As you can tell, anything and everything African related perks my interest. I wanted to share some of the articles/movies/TV shows that I have recently come across.

Virginia Tech won a grant to work with two universities in Sudan to develop and strengthen agriculture and natural resources programs! Way to go VT!!!

http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2009&itemno=381

A New York Times journalist published an article about Malawi in the Travel section. He went to Zomba, Lake Malawi, Mvuu Camp and even more of the same places as us. The article captures him experiencing the sights and sounds of Malawi for the first time and encourages tourism. Warms my heart to read such a great article about Malawi!

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/travel/10explorer.html?emc=eta1

Since I was going to Africa, my mom encouraged me to read The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (I have yet to read it...oops!) because it takes place in Botswana. Now HBO has started a TV series based on the novel. http://www.hbo.com/no1ladiesdetectiveagency/

We just got HBO a few weeks ago, so I'm excited to follow the show!

ABC aired a two night special, Diamonds. It's very similar to Blood Diamonds and follows 5 storylines about the global diamond trade business. My dad and I loved it, it kept us on the edge of our seats!

Another friend told me about the documentary, God Grew Tired Of Us. I only watched the trailer, and I started to get emotional! It documents the story of Sudan refugees coming to America and getting a fresh start.

Another friend sent me this article about 60 elephants being evacuated, starting in Malawi. Apparently farmers get violent to protect their crops from the elephants so the International Animal Welfare got involved.

June 20th was World Refugee Day. Angelina Jolie released this video to raise awareness to refugees all around the world. Angelina was in DC making speeches and attending events for World Refugee Day. (I should have gone to DC to try and find her! haha) I volunteer with refugees in Blacksburg, so I am able to put a face the stories. I am so impressed with everything Angelina has done for the UNHCR!

E! Online reported that Madonna's appeal has been approved and she is now allowed to adopt Mercy James from Malawi. Mercy is on her way to meet Madonna and her family in London. Here's the article: Mercy leaves Malawi to meet Madonna in London Here's the CNN article on the appeal approval: Madonna wins adoption appeal in Malawi

ABC's World News reports on a "Person of the Week" each week (obvi). This week a little 7 year old girl from Kansas was named person of the week for her philanthropic efforts to sell greeting cards with her artwork on the cover. She has raised thousands of dollars and was able to build an orphanage in Haiti. She is continuing to sell artwork and her next orphanage will be in Malawi!!

Check it out:

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8056275

NBC's got a new TV series called The Philanthropist on Wednesday nights at 10pm. I watched the pilot a couple weeks ago and it reminded me of my time in Malawi last summer. The scenery, the people, the dancing, the children, the outfits all brought back so many memories. And most of all I completely related with the main characters desire to help the people suffering. It's a show worth tuning into!

Gosh, I am such an African/Malawi nerd!

Gifts for Macdonald

2009-06-20T17:33:00.001-04:00

Krista and I knew we wanted to send gifts with the group going this summer for our teacher, Macdonald. Relationships are SO important in Malawi. And I understand I am representing America. I want Macdonald and his family to know we care about him and value our friendship. It would be very rude to "forget" about him and that would look bad for Americans! So over the last few weeks we have been gathering things for him and his family.

Macdonald sent us a letter asking for money and a camera. Krista was able to find a film camera that would be easy for him to use. Many of the teachers in Malawi have been given VT apparel so we wanted Macdonald to have some too! We got him a hat and shirt.

I thought it would be nice to give him the pictures I took from our trip last summer. I put together a Snapfish mini photobook with pictures from our visit with Macdonald and his family. I got some lollipops and little ball toys for the kids as a special treat!

Finally, Krista and I both wrote letters and sent some money for his education and his family.

As you may remember, Macdonald asked us for money to further his education. I asked Dr. Kelly what program he was doing and she was going to figure it out for me. A VT alumni from Malawi, Ndalapa, emailed us to explain:

"Of course many people especially teachers go to night schools for upgrading so that they can have better chances of doing a diploma or degree. However, the fees are not that expensive unless the night school is privately owned. Many Malawian teachers fail to go to even such cheap schools because their salaries are extremely low. So, I should imagine he is only asking very little so that his meagre salary remains intact for other day to day life activities. But, sometimes people here exeggerate their poverty. You give him what he will needs, but goes on to ask for more! I am not sure how much a public night school would cost these days. Sometimes it varies from one school to another, but its generally very low; possibly not exceeding $100 a year (this is on the higher side)."

One of the students going this summer was nice enough to pack it in his luggage and deliver it for me!

Malawi Elections

2009-05-21T16:27:00.000-04:00

Tues May 19th was Malawi's Presidential Election day. This was a huge deal... Macdonald talked about it in his letter, Daniel from Freedom Gardens was talking about it on Facebook and many of the blogs I read were anxious about hoping the elections remained peaceful. From everything I read, it went very well and stayed peaceful. The current president, Bingu Wa Mutharika was elected for another 5 year term.

Check out this BCC article about the election. Take a look at the polling stations picture. The article also mentions the huge turnout, people were exercising their right to vote! Way to go!

I asked Dr. Kelly's input on the election and here are her thoughts:

"Yes, the election was good news. Perhaps Malawians are finally accepting a democratic government. I wrote the students in this summer's Study Abroad, explaining the significance of having the first peaceful election. I'm really happy that Mutarika won. He's a good man but had strong opposition from the former two regimes. My friends there say that it's evident people voted for candidates rather than the party. There were surprise wins. And that's good."

I stole this picture from another blog:

The sign says "Be proud of Malawi. Peaceful Elections. YES WE CAN!" Who does that sound like? Oh yes, Malawians love Obama! (Daniel became a fan of Obama on Facebook!) Apparently they even sell fabric with Obama's head picture on it.

Here is the BCC article about Mutharika's inauguration. I am so happy for Malawi! A peaceful election is a big deal!

Media Kit Completed!

2009-05-05T13:23:00.003-04:00

For my Advanced Media Writing class each student had to choose a client and complete a media kit throughout the semester for the client. I chose the Malawi Chibale Project. It was very challenging since the organization is so new, I had very little to work with. Here is a picture of all the components:

-Title Page

-Title of Contents

-Fact Sheet

-Backgrounder

-Press Release

-Feature Article

-Public Service Announcement

-Brochure

-4 Page Newsletter

-Blog

-Powerpoint Presentation

I am very proud of the final product. I think we will be able to actually use some of the documents I created. At least it will give us something to work with!

Invisible Children

2009-05-01T11:34:00.002-04:00

Website: INVISIBLE CHILDREN

Ever heard of it? You can watch the documentary on YouTube. There are 6 parts, so here's thelink to the beginning. For some reason part 5 is missing, but the other parts are all up.

The story is not over, Watch this movie to find out the latest news in the mission to end the war in Africa. I find the website very confusing, but they are promoting the "rescue" that was on April 25th.

My friend who studied abroad in South Africa last semester told me about this website. I never heard of it so I checked it out and watched the movie. I am so embarrassed that I had no idea this was going on. I knew parts of Africa were considered dangerous, but I never took the time to find out why. Basically 3 guys went on a trip to Africa and learned about a war going on and the thousands (30,000 to be exact) of children being kidnapped and turned into child soldiers. These 3 guys were determined to do something about it. They have created documentaries and a movement to end Africa's longest war (23 years) and rescue the children. This has been a 6 year long mission and they haven't given up. The invisible children are counting on them.

I am not one to go to a rally or protest (I'm not a political person at all) but after watching this video I am more than willing to do anything I can to help. I can't stop thinking about these children and I feel so guilty that so few people know this is going on right now... today...every day for the last 15 years. Do we ignore it because we don't want to know these awful things are going on? Why is there so little international attention? The evil man who is leading the troops is Joseph Kony. He is just as, if not more evil than Hitler. The world just doesn't hear about it because its Africa? Innocent people are being killed, tortured, and suffering. It's just as wrong to know about it and not do anything.

Okay, I need to calm down. There are thousands of awful things going on in the USA and all around the world that very few people know about. Who wants to watch the news and watch all awful stories... its to depressing. I am obviously bias to Africa and children. Just puts life in perspective and makes me so thankful for everything I have. I will continue to think twice before I complain about a so called "bad day."

The Rescue on April 25th- The rescue is a symbolic way to raise awareness about the war and bring Kony (bad guy) to justice. Over 100 cities across the world came together to camp out and wait until two things happen:

1. Media must cover the event

2. The city must arrange for the attendance of at least one political leader

During the camp, participants will be writing letters to political representatives asking for support in rescuing Kony's child soldiers.

I followed the "rescue" carefully and sure enough, they caught Oprah's attention and made it on The Oprah Show! Check out their appearance here.

Student International Service Activity Showcase-April 27th

2009-04-27T16:43:00.012-04:00

I am so glad I have found ways to keep up with this blog even though my trip is over. (Is anyone even reading this since I'm not in Malawi anymore?) Malawi has become a part of me and I am always finding Malawi related things to write about! I read bits and pieces of my daily blogs and I just love re-living my trip... day by day!!

Okay, so I received an email inviting international student service organizations to apply to participate in a showcase on April 27th in conjunction with Dr. Paul Farmer's visit to VT and presentation that evening. It sounded like a great opportunity and I figured I would enter the Malawi Chibale Project.

A couple days later I got an email saying we were one of 21 organizations to be selected to participate! We were asked to provide a 200 word description of our organization to be included in a document to be distributed to Dr. Farmer, university officials and journalists.

(Dr. Farmer is an American anthropologist and physician from Harvard University. Dr. Farmer is one of the founders of Partners In Health, which is an international health and social justice organization. He is the feature of a 2003 book called Mountain Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Could Cure the World.)

We were asked to be in Burruss from 1:30pm until 4:30pm and then again at 6:30 as people arrived for Dr. Farmers presentation at 8pm. It was going to be a long day but thankfully I don't have classes on Mondays. Krista, Lauren, Sarah and Amber came to help! This is our booth:

The majority of the organizations were doing projects in Haiti and some of them had some very official posters. There were also booths with homemade presentations just like ours! But we had the best artifacts!!! Patti Talbot brought me the Chibale Project t-shirts to put on display and possibly sell at the booth. We made friends with the booths next to us and enjoyed their company throughout the day.

We were encouraged to come promptly at 1:30pm because Dr. Farmer would be arriving to come by and visit each booth. As we were setting up a photographer from the Roanoke Times asked to take our pictures. Of course we agreed! We began to explain our project to him and he brought over the reporter to talk with us more. We ended up talking for about 10 minutes as they were jotting down notes. They were very nice, but asked questions like "What was it like to go to Malawi?" Thats very hard to answer/explain in a short sentence!

Turns out the reporter and photographer really liked our project because we were selected to be in the article the next morning! Check out Tech students show off their passions

Next Paul Farmer came by our booth. I'm embarrassed that I had never heard of him until I found out he was coming to Virginia Tech. Here's the news release on his visit. He sounds like a really cool guy. He co-founded Partners In Hope !

He was running late so he didn't talk for long. He had been to Zomba but couldn't remember where he stayed. I didn't really continue the conversation with him because I didn't know anything about him and didn't want to sound stupid. (Especially with his entourage standing right there listening to our conversation!)

The provost came by to visit and a man tried to buy my wooden globe... sorry its not for sale!!

I was on a Malawi adrenaline rush!!! I was so excited to talk to the Roanoke Times because they were so interested in our project. The booth looked great and we were getting donations. This was all so wonderful and the evening shift hadn't even begun.

I came back to be at the booth while people were coming to Burruss for Dr. Farmers presentation at 8pm. I was surprised how many community members came to this event. Over half of Burruss was adults and just a handful of students.

I met a man who has been to Malawi 8 times through World Camp! That is the program I'm looking into for next summer. He was impressed I knew all about World Camp.

I met a lady who goes to Blacksburg Presbyterian Church and was at the Moni, Malawi Celebration. She knows Patti Talbot and many of the other people who work with Malawi.

A VT student who is going to Malawi came by the booth to chat. Amber and I tried to give her all the advise we could in 10 minutes.

We met a lady who teaches at Prices Fork Elementary and went to Malawi a couple years ago before it was a study abroad program. She actually made a PBS short documentary that Dr. Kelly showed us before we went on our trip. When she came up to our booth, we recognized her voice from the video! We absolutely loved talking to her! She knew many of the same people from Malawi and went to many of the same places. It was so great to talk to her and now she knows about our project.

Dr. Farmers presentation began. I enjoyed listening to his work and hearing his passion but a lot of what he said was jargon and over my head. Maybe thats because I haven't read his book yet.

The evening ended with people slowly walking out and looking at the booths. Many people are blown away at the sign on our poster " $2 feeds a child for an entire year". Many people got our their pocket books and donated every coin they had. We appreciate it soo much and know it will go such a long way in Malawi. We raised over $40 throughout the day!!

This event was very helpful with raising awareness about our organization. I am so glad the first real event was a great success! This is just the beginning of many more Chibale Project booths! I had such a wonderful day meeting so many people who share the same passion as I do.

Be Hope 2 Her

2009-04-23T23:27:00.012-04:00

I'm copying the Be Hope to Her blurb from Facebook to explain the program:

BH2O+ is an experiential event that Nuru is bringing to educational campuses across the United States on April 23, 2009. The name BH2O+ is an acronym that stands for “Be Hope to Her.”

The purpose of BH2O+ is three-fold:
To bring awareness to the need for clean drinking water in Africa
To educate individuals on the plight of women in Africa created by the lack of accessible clean drinking water
To raise funds that will be donated to organizations that have the infrastructure and technology to provide clean drinking water to African communities, specifically through drilling wells

Less than half of the 700 million people living in Africa have safe drinking water. Drinking water contaminated with human and animal waste is a reality for most Africans and it’s killing them – 2.2 million people die each year from water-borne diseases, primarily children in developing countries.

In Africa, the burden of water collection falls on women and girls, and their daily lives revolve around it. They often have to walk long distances to reach the water sources and when sources dry up during drought seasons, they often have to wait in line for water for several hours. The long routes to the water sources present safety concerns for the girls making them vulnerable to sexual assault or even rape.The daily time commitment to fetch water keeps African girls out of school and women from income-generating work; further perpetuating the cycle of extreme poverty.

BH2O+ is designed to be a day of solidarity as students become advocates for those living without access to clean water in the developing world. During the event, ladies on campus will step into the daily experience of women in Africa by walking to a water source and carrying a bucket of water on their heads back to the rally point; simultaneously, guys will sweep the campus, inviting every student to embrace awareness and attend the rally following the solidarity walk.

www.bhope2her.org

Lauren told me about this program coming to VT on April 23rd. I donated but was unable to participate because I had class. I went to the drillfield after my class and caught the end of the walk!

The idea was to walk in the shoes of African women by carrying water on their heads. These girls walked across the drillfield with a bucket full of water on their head.

Way to go Lauren!

The walk ended at the chapel. This man did a short inspirational speech. The event made the 5:30pm news! Anything and everything Africa related catches my eye. I would have never been interested in this program before I went to Malawi.

Moni, Malawi!

2009-04-19T19:40:00.011-04:00

Dr. Kelly has worked on many grants and many of them have provided scholarships for Malawians to come get an education at Virginia Tech. Over the years, many of the Malawians belonged to Blacksburg Presbyterian Church (BPC) while they were students at Virginia Tech. This started BPC sponsoring many projects in Malawi including hospitals, sponsorships and educational trips. Patti Talbot is a member of BPC and is involved in the Malawi committee. Once a year, the church has a big celebration called "Moni, Malawi" which means "Hello, Malawi." All the upcoming and past study abroad students, the international students from Malawi who attend VT and the church supporters are invited to attend this Malawi Celebration on April 19th.

The '08 group was so excited to have another reunion! Another great reason to dress up in our chitenji's! It was a potluck luncheon right after church. Here is the program:

I was excited to catch up with the advisors and students from the trip. The biggest news of the day is Dr. Jones is engaged!! We are all so excited for her! Jenny is in the process of graduating grad school and buying her first house! After spending a month with these people they really became like family. So it was great to see everyone again!

I talked to Dr. Kelly about Madonna's adoption controversy, and she brought up some interesting points. She said it's unreasonable to require people to live in Malawi for 18 months before they can adopt. She also said Madonna made two mistakes. 1. she wants to adopt a girl and girls are not valuable in Malawi, so they have no problem refusing her adoption. 2. Dr. Kelly pointed out that Madonna was inappropriately dressed during her visit to Malawi. She didn't wear clothes that showed she was taking this seriously. Dr. Kelly believes Madonna just has to donate more funds/programs to Malawi and that its only a matter of time before they will allow the adoption.

I also showed Dr. Kelly Macdonald's letter. She said she has never heard of night school in Malawi. Dr. Kelly emailed her credible friends in Malawi to research Macdonald's program and is going to let me know what he finds out.

Dr. Kelly told us about the group going this summer. 6 VT students, 5 Radford students and 4 NC A & T students. 4 students are boys! We just had one boy last summer, so that will be very different. Dr. Jones and Dr. Talbot (Radford advisors) will not be going this summer. A new advisor from Radford will be going to Malawi for the first time. I am so excited and jealous for the group going this summer... I would love to go back!

I met 3 of the students going to Malawi this summer. Two of them are actually adults teaching in Grayson County. They heard about the program and wanted to take advantage of this opportunity because going to Africa has been on their bucket list of things to do in life. I just kept rambling on and on about it and I gave them my contact to ask me any questions! I highly recommended keeping a blog! haha

After visiting with Dr. Kelly, we got lunch and the program began. The room was decorated with beautiful Malawian fabric and displays. I honestly felt like I was in Malawi again. There were about 100 people there and almost everyone had to stand and be introduced if they had a connection to Malawi. It took forever! But it was great to see how many people in Blacksburg care about Malawi.

The church members presented a slideshow of all the programs they started in Malawi. They have done an incredible about of work! They sponsored so many students and trips to Malawi over the years. Read more about BPC Malawi Partnerships.

Next a Malawian attending Virginia Tech, Daniel, took the stage to teach us about the Malawian culture. He explained the proper way to greet people, how laid back the culture is (afternoon could mean 1pm or 5pm) and explained the meaning of the flag. The black represents the people of Malawi, the red represents fighting for their independence, the green represents the land and the rising sun represents the dawn of freedom and hope for Africa.

At the end of the event we took a Malawi 2008 reunion picture!! Daniel is in the middle. We actually saw him in Malawi last summer. He met us one day to exchange paperwork with Dr. Kelly. When we told him we remembered seeing him in Malawi, he got really excited! I never meet anyone with that kind of excitement in the US, so it really made me miss Malawi.

By the end of the day, my heart was aching to go back to Malawi. Jenny brought a video camera to Malawi and put together a DVD for everyone of all her footage. I watched it as soon as I got home. It reminded me I really need to start making a movie with all of my tapes. That will be my summer project.

Mail from Macdonald!

2009-04-10T00:14:00.002-04:00

I got a letter in the mail from Macdonald last week! It was in a sealed envelope. I had heard that was impossible to send mail out or in the country because people will steal it hoping for money. So I was very surprised a letter made it! Krista got one too! Here it is:

Back in the Fall I sent him a postcard from snapfish.com. I made a postcard with the picture of his family on one side, and a short note on the other. I only send one because I didn't know if it would even make it. Now that I know it did, I can continue to send him pictures through the postcards. I also attached a photo of Krista and I in the snow to an email. I wasn't sure if the computer he uses would be able to see it, but he says it worked! I'm really excited I have multiple ways to keep in touch with him and send him pictures.

But the real reason he wrote was to ask for money... of course! He also asked me for a camera? That is a luxury item, not a necessity! In Krista's letter, he asked for money and a camera too. He's trying to get two cameras out of us? But then again, what is the harm in asking.

Macdonald is very well off in Malawi standards. He has a brick house, all members of his family have clothes and shoes, he has electricity, a sink, TV (doesn't work), radio, furniture, and two incomes since his wife is a teacher also. He has four of his own children, and is also taking care of two family members who have lost their parents.

I think it is great that he wants to further his career, I think he has so much potential. Out of all the teachers at his school, I noticed he was the most dedicated to his students. I wanted to send money for him with the group going this summer, but since he is so well off, I was hesitant. However, I would love to help him with his education. I'm assuming he is trying to become a teachers educator.... teach teachers how to teach. Helping him achieve that would truly be a gift that keeps on giving in Malawi!

I emailed Dr. Kelly to ask her insight about his request. I honestly have no idea how much his tuition would cost. Dr. Kelly is going to talk to her friends in Malawi to verify he is in a program and find out the details. She will get back to us.

MADONNA UPDATE BBC Article

Madonna left Malawi last week without Mercy. Malawi rejected her application to adopt a 2nd child. Malawi's law to adopt requires you to live in Malawi for 18 months. Since Madonna hasn't done that, they wouldn't allow her to adopt.

I honestly don't know what to think about this whole situation. I see Madonna's side, but then again, I have to respect the Malawi government for following their own laws. It sure is a mess. I'll ask Macdonald what he thinks about it and let you know. :)

More rambling about Malawi

2009-03-14T22:31:00.009-04:00

WORLD CAMP

Yet again, I found myself searching for Malawi related things online late one night. I came across a World Camp program based in Malawi. There is a 5 week summer program based in Lilongwe were volunteers travel to different villages and set up camp. The camps include activities and classroom structure were HIV/AIDS curriculum is taught. I would love to do back to Malawi but I don't want to do the exact same study abroad trip I already did. This program seems perfect. I'm saving my money to try and go the summer after I graduate.

Anyone reading this ever heard of World Camp? Does it have a good reputation? I need to find out more about this program before I set my heart on it. If anyone has other suggestions of programs in Malawi, I'd love to hear from you!

MALAWI NEWS

Krista sent me an article about the Ex- Malawian president being accused of stealing $11 million worth of donor money. Their government is very corrupt and Krista pointed out that this is a reason why privately funded programs like the Chibale Project are so much better for Malawi. The poor villages will never see the money if you donate to the government. I remember seeing Jaguar cars in the capital of Malawi. The money stays in the capital and those people get richer and the villages get poorer.

I'm a huge Jack Bauer fan, and in November they aired a special 2 hour "24 Redemption". The storyline relates to Africa and set up the plot for season 7. I haven't watched the 2 hour special yet, but I'd like to download it online sometime. I'm am watching season 7 episodes now and it doesn't exactly put a positive image on Africa- since the terrorists trying to attack America are from Africa. However, it doesn't necessarily put a positive image of the US government either. I guess I shouldn't be so sensitive, its just good TV. I can't imagine what my African Studies professor would have to say about this show relating to Africa. He would have a fit. But I do love watching Jack Bauer save the world!

MADONNA ADOPTING

This weekend Madonna will be in Malawi! She is going to adopt a 4 year old girl, Mercy (picture below). This will be her second child she has adopted from Malawi. Madonna has raised to much awareness about Malawi and done so many great things. Many people have never heard of Malawi, but after I tell them its the country Madonna adopted her child from, everyone goes "ohhh yeah!"

I know Madonna has adopted two children from Malawi, set up an orphanage there, co-founded www.raisingmalawi.org, published a book and a documentary, hosted hundreds of fundraisers and I'm sure she has done lots more. I know it can have its risks and drawbacks, but I think its a good thing that Madonna is using her platform to raise awareness about Malawi.

AFRICAN REFUGEE

My friend told me about this African Refugee in Roanoke, VA. Here's the blurb about it:

Pilot Street Project is a partnership with Refugee and Immigration Services. Together RIS and the Service-Learning Center rent an apartment at Maple Grove Apartments in Roanoke that serves as a community school for the families living there. The Pilot Street Project provides a range of programming for children and adults with the goal of building English language proficiency and assisting the families (90% of which are recent refugees, currently from various countries in Africa) in successfully resettling into their new culture.

Needless to say, I was very interested to learn more. The program arranges a van to come to campus every afternoon (Monday though Thursday) around 4pm to pick up volunteers. The van drives us to Roanoke and we spend about 1.5 hours helping the kids with their homework. I've gone about 3 times so far and I've had a blast. Sometimes we work with the kids at a community center, other times we go to their home. Each family has a different story, but most of the children speak English, not necessarily the adults. Although it is very different, just being with the kids reminds me so much of Malawi. My friend goes with me sometimes and we tell everyone we are going to "little Africa"!

Back at School

2009-03-13T17:23:00.025-04:00

SCHOOL PROJECTS

One of my sorority sisters was taking an International class and had to select a country for a project. She knew 3 friends who had been to Malawi, so we could provide her with a wealth of knowledge and even some props for her presentation.

At the end of our trip, Dr. Kelly talked about how we become ambassadors for the country of Malawi in our day to day lives. We are raising awareness and educating people about Malawi by simply talking about it. Many people have never heard of the country, and I know her class wouldn't have learned about Malawi if it wasn't for the connection to us. I feel like we are doing our part!

I'm in a media writing class that requires us to work with a client for the semester. The client can be any business or organization that needs Public Relations. Of course, I wanted to do The Chibale Project because of my passion for Malawi, but also because the project is so new, it would give me great experience starting from scratch. Throughout the semester I will have to write press releases, fact sheets, backgrounders, public service announcements, brochures and newsletters. I have already talked to Dr. Kelly and she has helped me get a head start.

MEETINGS-MALAWIAN STYLE

Our sorority has formal meetings once a month where we have to dress up instead of the normal sweatpants. Since Sarah, Krista and I are all in the same sorority, we wanted to formally dress up Malawian style! So the three of us wore our chitenjes (African outfits) to the formal meeting. haha Our sorority sisters thought we were ridiculous! We all got very sentimental wearing the outfits again, we really do miss Malawi!

This year I live in the sorority house with my roommate, Krista and Sarah just lives across the hall. Its so great living with them because we can talk about Malawi anytime we want and we actually understand one another. I couldn't imagine living without them, I need people who share the Malawi passion!

Our sorority house has a daily housekeeper. She is a delight but sometimes you could get caught up in a very long conversation and not be able to get out of it....she is very chatty! We have a bus schedule so if we knew our housekeeper was in the hallway we would leave a few minutes earlier to "chat" with her and still have time to catch the bus. Krista and I realized that it was just like in Malawi!! We left our rooms early each morning to have enough time to talk to Tenison!!

FACEBOOK IN MALAWI

Daniel Chinkhuntha from Freedom Gardens has joined facebook! During our visit, I remember him talking about getting internet at his home for emails, but I didn't know he even knew about facebook! All of us were surprised, but I just love reading his status updates about farming! Its a great way to keep in touch. We get tickled every time he writes on our walls and sends us messages!

Remember when we went to the bar with Annie and we met the police officer and her daughters? Well the two daughters joined facebook too! Sarah had given her information to them and they friended her!

I guess Africa isn't as technologically behind as most people would assume.

REUNIONS

The 7 VT girls wanted to have a reunion and reminisce about Malawi. One night we met for dinner! We talked about Peter, craving Malawian food (vegetable curry and somosas) and how we think about Malawi all the time. Oh, such fond memories we have!

(The VT girls at El Rods for our Malawi reunion!)

Patti arranged a reunion for the whole group in the fall. She invited everyone to her house in Blacksburg for pizza. The North Carolina gang couldn't come, but almost everyone else came. It was great to see everyone in "real life" and catch up. I was shocked to realize that most of the group experienced some type of illness after they returned. Mostly digestive/eatting issues that ended up lasting a couple weeks. How did I get so lucky to not experience anything?? I wish I knew my secret, but its a mystery.

Patti and the Radford group did a presentation to a group of professors and they showed us their powerpoint with some of Patti's videos and pictures. Seeing/watching Malawi things never gets old!

Patti also got "Malawi Chibale Project" t-shirts made for us! I had a great afternoon catching up with the study abroad group!

CHIBALE PROJECT

I am community service chair for my sorority. Part of my responsibility is to plan a holiday service party with a fraternity in December. This year we made blankets for the women's shelter and other service activities. I set up a Chibale Project table for people to donate and we were able to raise over $65!

I AM BECAUSE WE ARE

December 1st is World's Aid Day. Madonna's documentary I Am Because We Are had a special showing on the Sundance channel on Dec 1st. Luckily Amber has the Sundance channel and Tivo'ed it for us. The 7 VT girls went to Amber's one night for another reunion and to watch the documentary. I had been looking for this movie everywhere since before I went to Malawi, so I was glad to finally be able to watch it. Now it is finally online. If you would like to watch the entire documentary, you can see it at Hulu- I Am Because We Are. It's about an hour in a half. I recommend you not multitasking while you watch it. Stop what you're doing and pay attention to these stories. It's beautiful and heartbreaking.

There is also a photography book that I purchased that goes hand in hand with the documentary. The photos do a great job at showing the beautiful land and the people of Malawi. I kept saying " This is exactly what it looks like!" duh... its a photograph! However, I look at the pictures completely different after being to Malawi. Before, all the children would blended in but now I notice each child individually and wonder what their story is. I also notice little details that I wouldn't have picked up on if I had never visited. Things like nsima in the background, the types of trees, the clothing etc.

I thought the documentary & book did a very good job at showing the issues Malawi has, but I just wish they would show some images of how grateful and happy the people are. I know they are suffering and trying to raise money by showing the suffering. But I still wish they would show the dancing and celebrations! Despite their troubles, they are positive people and I think thats worth reporting about.

DID MALAWI CHANGE ME?

I was concerned that after I got back from Africa, I might get one of those stereotypical "there are people starving in Africa" attitudes. I know no one likes listening to people preach about that and I didn't want to annoy people with my "African expertise". Katie (she studied abroad the summer before me) told me... you will tell yourself you won't ask for anything for Christmas and that you will not buy name brands, but the reality is that probably won't last. It's very easy to get back sucked into American/college culture.

I will admit I still splurge on Coach purses (on sale of course), pedicures, and lots of things I really don't "need". I feel guilty about it every time I purchase something. I know that if I sent that money to Malawi, it would go so much farther and help so many people. I am saving money to send over with the group this summer. I want to contribute to Jean's project, the Chibale Project and of course give some money to Macdonald and his family.

I took a Marketing Management Course last semester and I'm taking Advertising this semester. I surprised myself that I was so disgusted with these classes. I didn't want to pay attention because I felt that in life's big picture, this material didn't really matter. The PhD professor spent her career researching advertising/marketing. So much money is spent in the advertising business and I couldn't help but wonder if my professor had focused her research on some type of issue in Africa and the difference her research could have made. I know that is not her interest, so its unreasonable for me to want her to study that. I couldn't believe my reaction to this class. I am becoming one of those "There are starving people in Africa".

I think about Malawi all the time. College life is full of tests and papers. After going to Malawi, I didn't really care as much about a test or paper like I used to. I wanted to focus on raising money for the Chibale Project because I felt like that was more worth my time- it has become my passion. However, I keep telling myself how fortunate I am to be in college and getting an education...unlike so many Malawians.

So yes, Malawi has changed me. And I'm glad it has. I wouldn't want to go to Africa and come back the same person I was before I left. Its very important for me to stay involved and I hope to continue to contribute somehow throughout my life. However, I do have to make a conscious effort around my friends not to bring up Africa stories/facts to the point where I annoy them. Even though it runs through my head all the time!

Malawi This, Malawi That

2009-03-13T15:48:00.006-04:00

MALAWI IN THE NEWS

In November, Nightly News reported on Malawi! The government provided a food subsidy program which helped produce record high harvests and reduce starvation. Although this was very good news, the clip gives the impression that no one is still starving in Malawi, but that is very far from the truth.

Subsidies stave off hunger in Malawi

OUR SOUVENIRS WORTH HUNDREDS??

My mom came across an interior design magazine with an African theme. There was tons of zebra print, and beaded animals that looked just like ours! Except they cost $328!! I examined them and they are identical. If we had known they would be so expensive over here, we would have filled up our suitcase! haha just kidding!

And then I saw them again on Oprah.com Oprah Store- Beaded Animals

My beaded elephant is mini, and I got him for 550 Kwacha which is less than $5. I know girls got the large zebras for less than 1000 Kwacha. We got a bargain!

MALAWI BOOK

Author, Shana Burg contacted Krista (my roommate in Malawi and close friend) after reading her blog. Apparently she is doing research for her next book that is going to be somehow related to Malawi and/or Africa. She spoke on the phone with Krista one afternoon and asked her tons of questions. Shana Burg promised to cite Krista in her book and offered to put an ad in the book for The Chibale Project to help us raise money. Shana sent Krista a copy of her 1st book to read and encouraged feedback. The book is in the beginning stages, but I'll continue to post any updates I hear from Krista!

MORE MALAWI BLOGS

I find myself online searching for anything and everything related to Malawi on a weekly basis. I came across some blogs of families who are currently in Malawi teaching at African Bible College. I really enjoy following their blog and reading about their daily life in Malawi. I miss Malawi, so I live vicariously though them! Robbins Abroad and The Stauffacher Family are my favorite!

MALAWI HOTEL ROOM

Our friends know about our obsession with Malawi so one of our friends told us about a Malawi Hotel Room they learned about in one of their hospitality classes. The hotel is in Floyd, VA and each room is decorated differently with a theme about an important person, organization or place in Floyd. I'm going to have to check it out before I graduate!

Summer Update

2009-03-13T13:30:00.007-04:00

I don’t usually have time to update the blog during the school year, so I’m using my spring break week to catch up!

I’ve finally uploaded all the pictures to the blog! It took me forever, and believe it or not, that’s just the modified version. If you would like to look around at all the pictures, you can search through the group room I made on Snapfish. http://malawi2008.snapfish.com/snapfish

I came home and did absolutely nothing but sleep, watch TV and unpack for about a week. I went to my beach house in Ocean City, MD because I needed a vacation for myself. I’m not an extremely social person so after spending a month with 18 people, I needed to sit on the beach and just listen to the ocean for a few days. I found myself wondering “What would Macdonald think of this?” all the time. What would he think of Ocean City, the beach, the grocery store, parasailing? I can only imagine his priceless reactions!

It was time I started tackling the long list of things I wanted to get done before I went back to school. I uploaded all my pictures to Snapfish and created the group room for everyone on the trip. That way we can share pictures. We took pictures of all of our students using a disposable camera. I kept the negatives and got them put onto a CD so I could upload them digitally. Little did I know that uploading those pictures would fill up my hard drive and cause my operating system to stop working. (You have to have at least 10 GB available to run your operating system)

This was my worst nightmare. I panicked and rushed my computer to the Apple “Emergency Room”. They told me I could get my computer back, I just needed to purchase more hard drive and make an appointment. Well, when I went back a few days later, they told me they couldn’t get to my hard drive and I needed the experts help at Mac Heaven in Chantilly. Anyways, long story short, I spent the summer getting a new hard drive, new memory, transferring my life and getting an external hard drive. On the plus, I learned a lot about computer’s hard drives and now I am always checking my hard drive space and backing up my data. Had to learn that the hard way! Thankfully I had most of my stuff on my dad’s network and my Africa pictures were all on Snapfish. I only lost a semesters worth of work. 1000+ African pictures was to much for my hard drive to handle and that was before the 5 hours of video. So a tip to students going on big trips...check your hard drive space before you upload all your pictures!

Between my computer troubles and babysitting, before I knew it, it was time to go back to school and I hadn’t gotten any scrapbooking done! So that is the reason it took me months to upload the pictures to this blog. I had to download them from snapfish back onto my computer and organize them. It’s a very tedious job and I hadn’t gotten around to it until this week.

My mom was nice enough to go back through my blog and edit for grammar and punctuation. Thank you mom! It was a daunting task because I wrote so darn much, but she was happy to do it for me! I actually have never gone through and read my blog word for word after I got back. I have read parts to help me remember certain days but I wrote so much...who would ever read all this! haha I am so glad I took the time to be so detailed. It was a pain and probably seemed pointless, but it is more of a memory for me. I just happened to publish it for others to read.

Over the summer, I did write my final paper and turned it into Dr. Kelly to earn my undergraduate research credit. I basically compiled all the conversations, advice and observations I experienced before and during my trip to write how I came to my own conclusion about Americans involved with Africa. I talked about how torn I was and what persuaded me to form my own opinions. I included many of the topics and encounters I wrote about in this blog. I got an “A” on the paper and this was Dr. Kelly’s comments:

Lexi: I liked the personal analysis you did that was based on not only research (gathering information from a variety of sources) but also observation. What you discuss is very complex, but you weighed evidence and came to conclusions for yourself. The "story" of your journey to those decisions was thoughtful and well organized. You were a super member of the Tech Team on Study Abroad. It wouldn't have been the same without you. Dr. K

OLYMPICS

I knew Malawi would be participating in the Olympics, but I didn’t know what sport or how many athletics. I watched the opening ceremony and literally jumped out of my seat and cheered with excitement! There were about 10 people representing Malawi! I found myself cheering for all the African countries throughout the Olympics, I felt like they needed some more fans!

There were 4 Malawian Athletes participating in the 2008 Olympics. Two for Track & Field and two for swimming. They didn’t make any records, but I’m glad Malawi was represented! Malawi first participated in the Olympic Games in 1972 and has had 6 appearances since.

Emails from Macdonald!

2009-03-10T23:35:00.008-04:00

We gave Macdonald our email addresses and he promised to write us. Well he did! I was thrilled to hear from him! He also wrote to Krista and we have been emailing him back but our lives are so busy, its hard to keep in touch. To give you an idea of how he speaks English, I'll post his emails. Its just fun to read! He says things a little different, but you can usually figure out the meaning.

#1: Lexi,

Muli bwanji? (How are you?)

Sorry for taking a long time without any correnspondence of letters. I hope from now onwards I will keep my promise of writing letters. How was your journey back to your homeland? As for me here, I am just miss you and your friend Krista. I write to appreciate for the wonderful and perfect gifts which you gave to my family together with Krista during your visit to Malawi especially to my house.My son Vincent up to now is crying to see you again as you promised to take him there. He usually asks where are the Azungu? meaning you and your friend Krista. He is ready to give you a garden to grow maize and land to build a house. Greet your parents, boy friend if any, brothers and sisters, and lastly not forgetting your teacher Patricia. Yours, Macdonald

#2: Thank you very much for your email it has kept to be smile.Am glad also to hear that you had a nice journey back to US.Here every thing is good only that we are experiencing hot summer had it been you came this time you would have not enjoyed.I heard that you are busy with your school keep it up.My family wish you all good luck in your studies.My students are enjoying the materials left and the are also happy to hear that if possible and God allows we shall see you coming again to Malawi.Vincent says he will still keep the land for since you said you try keep money to use for transport.He was very to hear that you will come again hoping that you coming to take him.This my mail address: Macdonald Sheriff.C/o.Domasi Govt.School.P.O. Box 1.Domasi.Malawi.Greet krista and Patricia. Lastly I say miss you .Bye!Macdonald

He wrote these emails to Krista:

#1:Krista,

Muli bwanji? ( How are you?)

Sorry for taking such a long time without saying hi to you. I was just thinking you were around then you will come again. But to my surprise you are nowhere to be seen.

Then I realised that you have gone back to your motherland. Krista I really misse you. I write just to appreciat the wonderful things that you didd while you were here in Malawi. I learnt many from you during your stay here in Malawi.

My family really appreciat your wonderful and perfect gifts which you left to us while you were leaving back to your homeland. They say I should wish you and Lexi a good health and nice stay in your country. They also continued to say that if you come again they will give you a land to build a house and the garden to grow maize so that you should have your own maize to grind ready for nsima. Though I know that you really love your country.

Greet your parents Lexi, brother, sister, Patricia your teacher and lastly your boy friend. Say I love them.

#2 :Krista! I received yours and I enjoyed reading it.My family together with your students they are all happy to hear about your journey .You asked about the materials you left with me I used them already teaching your students..Krista thank you very much for photos which gave me when I have on it realy makes to remember you with your perfect job you did together with Lexi. Please keep on responding to my letters.But how is Lexi? Say hello to her.Greet everyone.Bye! Have nice studies. yours macDonald

#3:Hello krista! Thank very much for your email.Everyone here is fine including the std6 students. But now we are closure to the rain season ready to grow our stapple which is nsima.Sorry for taking such along time .Idid that just not disturb you concentrating your lessons.How is LEXI? Tel her that am still forwad to receive her post card .May be it is on my and it gets me soo.When are you closing your semister?Here were closing on 7 november.Greet everyone fine who knows me.

Okay, I promise not to post all of the emails he sends us, but I just think they are so cute and I thought someone else might enjoy reading them. "Greet everyone fine who knows me" haha he knows he's a celebrity here!

PICS- Home Sweet Home!

2009-03-09T18:58:00.007-04:00

We arrived off the plane and kept saying "God Bless America!" After finding our luggage and going through customs, we could finally see our parents!

Krista's mom had her students make us a sign! Thanks Mrs. Patrick!
The parents got to know each other since our plane was delayed and they were waiting for hours.
My dad made these picture frames for everyone on the trip! I passed them out at the airport.
I took a picture of all my supplies I was bringing to Malawi, and here's a picture of all the souvenirs I brought back.
The Chief Chair!
While I was gone, my dad carved a "VT" out of the stump in our front yard. Before I left, I jokingly ask him to try it. We are big Hokie fans, so we like to make everything a "VT"! I didn't think he would/could actually do it. This was the perfect welcome home present!

To read the blog that goes along with these pictures, see The Forever Flight

PICS- Leaving Malawi

2009-03-09T18:04:00.007-04:00

Home was so close, yet so far. We had a couple stops to make before we left.

This is where we bought our Chief Chairs
Hundreds of choices, no one chair alike. It was a very hard decision!
We went to Mua Mission on the way back to Lilongwe. Mua Mission explains the history of rituals and traditions of different tribes. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but I got a couple of the buildings.
beautiful painted buildings

Back at Korea Gardens for our last night before we left Africa the next morning.
We got lots of stamps
And we are off!

To read the blog that goes along with these pictures, see Mua Mission and traveling back to Lilongwe

PICS- Club Mak at Lake Malawi

2009-03-09T13:49:00.008-04:00

Part of the partnership between VT & Malawi allows for Malawians to come to VT to get their Doctoral Degree. Endalipa earned his degree a couple years ago and is now back in Malawi. He was so helpful setting up the Chibale Project and during our entire trip. On our way to Club Mak, we went with Endalipa to see the village where he grew up.

Endalipa showed us how he used to climb to the top of the coconut tree to get the coconuts.
I was lucky enough to always be by a flushing toilet whenever I needed to go to the bathroom for most of the trip. On the second to last day... I wasn't so lucky. A group of us went, and we conquered the hole in the ground.
Thats the outhouse. Don't worry, it has instructions! It shows you where to place your feet.
We meet Endalipa's father.
Inside Endalipa's childhood house, I found this letter. Its small, but you should be able to read it.
The village kids followed us.
This little girl has my fabric! I got my Malawian dress made out of this tan and green fabric. I was excited to see Malawians wearing it.
After we visited Endalipa's father, Endalipa wanted to show us a village that has been severally hit by HIV/AIDS. We just stopped by for a visit and there were just hundreds of children, but no adults to be seen. This picture is a great example of children taking care of children, we saw this often in Malawi.
I love these type of trees! They are called Baobab trees.
Village children. Notice the albino on the left.
We finally made it to Club Mak!
We were greeted with tropical drinks
Paradise....But don't you dare go in that water...parasites!
The venders come to the shore by canoe to sell things to us.
Sarah and Lauren outside their cottage
Inside our room. Notice all the hotels we stayed at have mosquito nets for the beds.
Sarah, me, Lauren & Krista enjoying the sunset

We explored outside the guarded gates and came across these kids. We played with them for a hour or so and we thought they might leave that baby with us. She tried to give it to us multiple times.
Sunset on Lake Malawi
A delicious buffet. Don't be fouled by the good looking fruits & veggies.... you can't eat them.
Some of the group at dinner.
Dessert
We had entertainment after dinner

A great way to end our last night!

To read the blog to go along with these pictures, see Club Mak at Lake Malawi

PICS- Visiting Macdonald's Family

2009-03-09T12:34:00.008-04:00

Macdonald lived in walking distance from the school (duh, you walk everywhere in Malawi) so after school one day, we went to visit his family. Macdonald's wife wasn't expecting us until 1pm, so we were sure not to come early.

Macdonald knocking on the door to his house! haha
He showered them with gifts! The family was very excited with anything and everything we gave them!
Krista brought silly toys for the kids
Macdonald, his wife and their twin sons- Vincient & God Bless
Vincent and I just clicked! We spent the afternoon playing together...He's precious!
The Malawian meal Macdonald's wife cooked for us. Nsima, pigon, & pumpkin leaves. By this time I had been in Malawi for almost a month and was more comfortable with Malawian food, so this meal was actually very good!
Silly hat
The Sheriff Family

Good News- Tall boy to the left

Miriam- The mom in the pink

Macdonald- In the yellow

Lucy- In the orange on the right

God Bless- twin boy to the left

Vincent- twin boy to the right

The other two children are relatives. They live with Macdonald's family now because they both lost their parents to HIV/AIDS.

I fit right in with the family! haha They have a beautiful brick house with plants! Inside has furniture, electricity, TV, sink, photos, their children have clothes and shoes .... they are very well off. Macdonald and his wife are both teachers. We were the first Americans to visit their home!
Vinny and I are BFF! The only thing stopping me from bringing him home with me was knowing that he was well cared for here in Malawi. If he was malnourished and didn't have a family, I would have taken him in a heartbeat.
Vincent had a break down when he had to say goodbye to me. Broke my heart.

To read the blog that goes along with these pictures, see Have a Nice Journey

PICS- Farewell Celebrations

2009-03-08T23:16:00.010-04:00

This was our last day at our schools so we had to say goodbye to our teachers and students. Macdonald gave us chitenjes (skirts) as a goodbye present.

Our favorite Malawian, Macdonald!
Whats so special about this picture? Look at the girl SMILING! This is very rare, most Malawians don't smile for pictures.
After Macdonald gave us his present, all the teachers and VT students met in a classroom for a farewell ceremony. The school presented us with another gift.... A Malawian outfit!
Someone drew a beautiful design on the chalkboard wishing us a safe journey back to America. They got flowers, table cloth and chairs... this was a big deal! Notice this classroom has educational diagrams painted on the walls!
Dr. Kelly speaking
Sarah and Lauren with their teacher, Gertrud!

After the ceremony, we went to say goodbye to our class. We handed out little goodies and made friendship bracelets!

Krista helping students make their friendship bracelets.
I went around and helped cut the extra pipe cleaners.
Macdonald made one too!
It was very important to me to hug every student goodbye. I wanted each and every one of them to know how special they are to us. We told them how smart they are, to stay in school, how much we will miss them and how much we loved Malawi. Macdonald took some pictures of us hugging the children goodbye.

This is the little girl who wrote me a letter! Her smile lights up a room and I just loved her laugh. A delightful child and I miss her very much.

Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Krista showing off our Malawians outfits in the MIE courtyard
Okay, this is so funny! I really wanted a group picture with everyone, so I asked the man on the left with the tie to take a picture, so he jumped right in. Oops.. miscommunication! So I took this picture with him in it, and then asked him to take another picture of us!
The whole group (minus Liz who went home early)
Radford got chitenjes from their school too
The VT group

We had a teachers dinner that night at MIE. All the teachers from all 3 schools we worked at were invited to the dinner and allowed to bring a guest. We wanted to thank them for welcoming us to their country. This was a very big deal. Everyone got in their best clothes and made an entrance!

I scanned a copy of the invitation that was given to all the Malawian teachers
Another funny moment. Teddie hand crafted these wooden animals for Dr. Kelly, Patti and me. He insisted I take "snaps" of him presenting the gift! Oh Teddy, he is such a character!

I scanned a copy of the letter Teddie gave us with our gift. In case you can't read it, this is what it says: "Hi Lexi, We would like to express our gratitude to you for sparing that time to visit our home and the vegetable garden on 3rd July, 2008. Indeed you really honored us (the entire family) we hope and ask you to be visiting us whenever you come again so that you encourage our garden work. I with wife Juliet and the children wish you a nice journey back to American and try to remember us in your day to day life. Indeed we shall never forget you. Also, lastly, receive this small piece of gift of a guinea fowl portrait bearing you name. We really thank and wish you all the best. Never forget to email us so that we know about your journey. Teddie, Juliet and children"

Krista and I at dinner
I'm sure I have gotten the point across that Malawians take a lot of time to introduce people and show hospitality. So of course everyone at the dinner (50+ people) had to stand up and introduce themselves to the group. Most people simply stood up and said their name and what they taught. Of course, our Macdonald stood up and made a grand appearance!! His wife (in the front of this picture) was cheering him on! Its complete luck that I took this picture at the perfect time! I miss him so much!
The people around us talked Krista into eating the Malawian way (with your fingers). I'm proud of Krista for being a good sport, but I would have never done that! The germs we had on our hands on a daily basis were gross, but she survived!

Macdonalds wife, me, the other standard 6 teacher, Macdonald, & Krista
We introduced the Malawi Chibale Project to the teachers.

To read the blog that goes along with these pictures, see Have a Nice Journey

PICS- Annie's Lodge

2009-03-08T21:32:00.009-04:00

Our Bus driver, Charles
This bus took us everywhere

Monkeys were just everywhere. They woke us up every morning when they came down the mountain and trampled on top of the roof.

Jean came by to visit me. Turns out she is good friends with Annie.
Around Annie's lodge
Beautiful scenery
Our first room. We moved up the hill after the first week.

This is our room at the top of the hill. Much nicer! At you can tell, we were not "roughing it" at all.

Sorry the room is a mess- we were packing.

This is outside our room. We had a beautiful porch!

Right outside our room

Breakfast bar
Some of our favorite servers

This is the dining room

Macdonald gave us a watermelon. We were REALLY excited!
This is where we ate breakfast and dinner every day.
Our favorite, chicken curry. Believe it or not, we miss this meal!

We celebrated Liz and Heidi's birthday in Malawi!

One night, Krista revealed a bag of candy she packed. It was like a gold mine for us!
Our shoes after Tenison hand cleaned them.
Sarah, me and Krista
The view outside our room
Dr. Kelly with her VT girls at the bar
Dr. Kelly, Patti and Jennifer
Peter is such a ladies man
The beer in Malawi is called "Kuche Kuche"
Peter and Brian
The DJ's
The two Canadian boys from Africycle
Peter's wife, Peter's mom (Annie), and Annie's boyfriend
Brian and the girls
This is the seamstress's house. The seamstress lived right next to Annie's Lodge. She made our Malawian outfits, skirts, bags etc.

PICS- Zomba Town

2009-03-08T20:16:00.008-04:00

Our hotel was on a mountain. The town was at the bottom of the mountain. Every afternoon/ weekend we could go to town to get our errands done and explore. These pictures give you an idea of what "town" really meant.

The first Sunday we were there, we walked to this church. Beautiful building!
Lauren, Sarah, Amber and Krista. We were waiting for the service to begin. Malawian time teaches you to be patient.
The church invited us to tea after the service.
This is where we exchanged our money. We went here often.

I scanned the money I kept as a souvenir. This is what kwacha looks like! Only the large bills were clean and fresh. They didn't give bills higher than 500 kwacha. So we could go in with a 100 US bill and come out with wads of kwacha.

The grocery store.... we went here often too!
This is where I developed my pictures
Fegs- Its like a stationary store. They have postcards, paper and office supplies.
A good pictures to show you the landscape
Krista made friends with one of the vendors, Martin.
Post Office
They put a picture of their president on a pole with flowers around it! ha
This is Malawians version of Price Club- everything in bulk!
While we were in town, we ran into one of the bartenders at the lodge, Joe. He was buying a birthday gift for his daughter. He helped us navigate through town.
This picture cracks me up! The vendors never leave us alone. This is Sarah working her magic and haggling through the windows. When the price was to high, she closed the window on them until they lowered it.
The market was quite a site. I love how the food was arranged, presentation is key.

YUCK! piles of fish for sale. You cannot imagine the smell going through the fish isle.
Tasty Bites!
We were such fans of Tasty Bites, we got their t-shirts! haha
Inside Tasty Bites. Brittany, Amber, Lauren and Sarah.

To read some of the blogs that go along with these pictures, see African Church

PICS-Painting the Chalkboards

2009-03-08T19:37:00.005-04:00

Every year Dr. Kelly arranges a service project that our tuition pays for and the VT students usually help work on it. This year we were going to paint the chalkboards in about 1/2 the classrooms at our school. On the second to last day before we left, students got to leave early so we could paint the chalkboards.

Once a week the older girls stay after school and have to hand clean the classrooms.

First we had to stir, and stir and stir the paint.
Krista and Sarah painting
Many of the kids stayed after school to watch us. We gave them gloves to play with. This little boy is in my class, can you tell he is the class clown?

Kids peaking through the window to see what we were up too.
These kids were dismissed from this classroom, but many of them didn't want to leave. We had an audience watch us paint!

The younger standards (grades) don't have furniture. They sit on the floor in rows.
This is what most of the floors look like. The kids sit in holes all morning.

The teachers and students never complained about these poor learning environment conditions. No pencils, holes in roofs and floors, broken glass, minimal light, dirt, no materials.... all that is just a way of life for them. The teachers were thrilled to use their brand new chalkboards!

To read the blog that goes along with these pictures, see Painting the Chalkboards

PICS-Africycle

2009-03-08T00:47:00.007-05:00

I never visited Africycle, but many of the VT and Radford girls went, so I'm stealing their pictures. I talked about it a couple times in my blog, so I thought I'd show some pictures.

We found out about Africycle from the two Canadians who work there. They are friends with Peter and would often come by the lodge for Peter's parties.

Check out more information about Africycle at their website: www.africycle.org.

Africycle billboard
Their logo
This is their workshop. My understanding is they use parts of bikes to build complete bikes and sell them for cheaper than a brand new bike. That way typical Malawians can afford them. They are currently teaching Malawians how to run the business and the skills required so that eventually it can be a completely Malawian run business. That is the right way to help this country out...teach them skills so they can be self-sufficient!
Inside

The money raised is then used to build this building. I think its going to be some type of orphanage or educational building.

PICS- Around the World on July 12, 2008

2009-03-07T21:16:00.009-05:00

Our family friends have one daughter who was in Australia (Leah) and one that was in Germany (Anna) while I was in Africa. We thought it would be so neat to get pictures from around the world on the same day. We found out our neighbors would be in Japan during the same time. Everyone took pictures on July 12th and the family who stayed home all got together for dinner to take the North American picture. We got 5 out of the 7 continents in one day!

Our neighbors, Hiroki and his mom in Japan. They go to Japan every summer and visit relatives.

My mom and dad on the left. Hiroki's dad in the blue shirt. The pfeiffer's on the right. They are standing around the "VT" my dad chain-sawed!! haha
Me in Africa at Peter's Orphanage
Leah and her friend in Australia. Leah was in Australia for World Youth Day.

This is Anna in Germany with her host family. She spent a year in Germany!

PICS-A Day w/ Annie & Peter

2009-03-07T20:47:00.008-05:00

July 12th- We spent the morning with Annie and the afternoon with Peter. They wanted to show us around town.

Our first stop was the market. Annie needed food for the big party that night. Annie definitely buys in bulk!
Apparently in Malawi, after you go to the market, you always stop at a bar and have a beer. So we went along and did whatever Annie did! We hung out here for awhile since it wasn't lunch time yet.
This was a bar/nightclub. Look at those walls!

Annie's friend was nice enough to cook all 18 of us lunch. This is Charles (our bus driver) and Dr. Jones waiting for lunch.
Annie and her friend who cooked us lunch.

It looked like it was going to rain and sure enough it did. As soon as we arrived at Peter's orphanage, it just poured.
The rain didn't stop the celebration!
One of Peter's friend was nice enough to have bread and sodas for us at his home. We all crowded in this small room. Another great example about how much Malawians care about good hospitality.

Peter passed out blankets to some children/families. He called out their name and they came up to accept their blanket. We call it Peter's orphanage, but there isn't actually a orphanage. Many of the children have lost their parents and they live with relatives. The relatives have lots of children and Peter helps them care for the children. He is building an educational building and brings them supplies.

We left the orphanage in a hurry because it was getting late. We needed to get home before dark! The big Farewell Party was that night.
Every year Annie throws our group a farewell party and its a tradition to dress up in our Malawian dresses and dance the night away. This year Peter wanted to have a party for us too. So Annie had her party at one end of the lodge, and Peter had his on the other. We ran back and forth all night long!
Krista and I wanted a picture with our favorite front desk man, Cameron!
Annie's party had food!
Peter's party had drinks! Me, Heidi, Amber and Krista
Annie and Dr. Kelly. Annie reminds me of Tina Turner!
We had a great night!
My favorite boys, Brian and Peter

To read the blog that goes along with these pictures, see Morning with Annie and afternoon with Peter

PICS- Malemia Feeding Program

2009-03-07T19:07:00.005-05:00

On July 11th, instead of going to our classrooms the teach, the advisors thought it was really important for us to go to Malemia Primary School (where the Radford students teach) to witness the 1st day of the Feeding Program. Money raised from the Chibale Project goes to this program which allows about 1,000 students to get 1 cup of porridge every school day. For many students, this is their only meal of the day. We heard all about this, but it was great to spend the day at Malemia and learn more about it.

This is the porridge before its cooked
The village women start cooking around 5am so that it can be ready for the kids by around 10am.
This picture breaks my heart
The kids are lining up for the porridge
All the kids knew to bring their cups to school. Since attendance is so low to begin with, encouraging kids to come to school so they will get food is great motivation!
Getting their porridge
One of the VT students took this picture. I was going through pictures with Sarah one day and she explained to me that there is no porridge in this boys cup. He knew someone had a camera and that they would want a picture with him eating the porridge, so he posed for the picture.

So many pictures show poverty and sadness, but once you go there you realize that despite their troubles, these kids are so happy and can be so silly!
I had a blast with these kids!
As the morning went on, it got very crowded and was very chaotic. Happy kids all over the place!
This is "innocent" he works at Malemia and is a great drum teacher.
While students were getting their food, I was busy learning how to play the drums! Innocent had a drum lesson under the trees.
I was not very good, but I learned some basic skills. Between all of us, we got some rhythm going and the kids danced in a circle around us!
It was an absolute great day!
Dr. Jones walking back with her kids.
We passed this house every morning on the way to Malemia. I just love it! Cute porch, plants, and painted windows.
Walking back we ran into a moving band on the back of a truck!
These boys escorted me back. They are in secondary school (high school) and I enjoyed talking to them... they are very interested in coming to America.
This is a little snack bar for the kids by Domasi Govt School

To read the blog that goes along with these pictures, see Feeding Program at Malemia

PICS- Safari at Liwonde National Park

2009-03-06T22:47:00.012-05:00

This is the road leading to Mvuu Camp!
The landscape and jeeps reminded me so much of Jurassic Park
Alicia, Amy, Brian and Amber waiting on the dock
The camp is on an island, so we needed a boat to cross the river
I was so excited to see palm trees, they are my favorite!
We were greeted by these warning signs.
Our first event was a river boat ride. It didn't take long to find some animals. Within minutes we got very close to some very big crocs!
Hippos were popping up everywhere
We found LOTS of elephants! This reminds me of the Lion King...lots of animals surrounding a big tree by the river. So cool!
Look at the baby elephant in the middle
Hokie girls! Sarah, Lauren and Krista

After seeing probably hundreds of hippos, I started to think they are the cutest animals. Love those ears!
Umm, maybe not so cute. Very large and very dangerous.
We got on the jeeps for an evening land safari
The seat in the front is for the guide to shine a light and to protect us if we encountered trouble.
Radford group
We paid extra so we could go inside the Black Rhino Sanctuary. There is only one Rhino inside so it was doubtful we would see it, but we were really hoping to see some Zebras!
Not really sure what this is but its pretty cool looking!
We found Zebras!!!
Beautiful sunset
I love this picture. Its such a desktop background photo.
Dinner was amazing!
Our chalets! We had a roof but the walls were just curtains and nets.

We didn't realize we would be sharing our room with tons of lizards.
Our chalet was so close to the water. The guide told us its located on "hippo highway" and we learned why it was called that as the night went on....we heard hippos jumping into the water ALL night long.
Monkeys everywhere!
We woke up early for a walking safari. "Danger" was our guides name. We had a man with a gun follow us because you never know what you will run into. I stayed close to the man with the gun!
We woke up to come to breakfast and this elephant was wondering around our food area. He was taking down trees with one tug from his trunk!
It was the dry season, but we saw this little burst of color!
Pumba!! They were just wondering around the playground. It really is the wild, there was no fences or anything.. the animals were just everywhere.
A whole family
They look cute from far away, but they really aren't the most attractive things.
After the morning walk, we got another river safari. Krista took this picture, I was just taking it all in and enjoying the scenery.
Elephants! Did you know they spend 18 hours of the day just eating?

We got SO close to the elephants!
National Geographic has nothing on me

To read the blogs that go along with these pictures, see Mvuu Safari Camp and Safari Day 2

PICS-Visiting Jean's Project & lunch w/ her family

2008-11-27T19:12:00.022-05:00

First Jean drove us by the local college.
The college had just about everything including a basketball court.
Residence halls and one dining hall.
The college's office buildings. I was surprised to see an Asian style building in Africa!

This is Jean's Project. She has helped fund and build this school for the local village. Preschool is an unknown concept in Malawi but this school is primarily for young children to set them up to be successful in school. Since the schools are so far away, this is much closer for the little ones. Its by far the nicest building I saw in any of the villages in Malawi.

This is a poster in the schools office. The picture is a lady who Jean randomly met on an airplane flight and has been helping Jean fund her project.

The teachers office.

One of the classrooms. There is light, the chalkboards work, no holes in the floor or ceiling, color on the walls and locks on the doors!

I brought the toothbrushes and toothpaste to these children. :)
We had to get a ZTA picture to send to nationals. Jean is on the far left. Her nephew is wearing a red shirt with his hands crossed.

The kids were getting carried away with the stickers we brought. This little girl on the left is wearing fabric tied around her shoulder because she doesn't have any other clothes to wear.

Precious!

In addition to the school house, Jean has also built this round building right next to the school. Its perfect for outside activities and to get some shade.

These two little girls held my arms the whole morning. They never said a word but they never left my side.

Weights made out of clay! They are SOO resourceful.

Jean is also building a clinic for the village. She is really making a difference!
Walking down a dirt road...

A swing!

Jean brought us to a ladies house who takes care of all her grandchildren. Her children have died from AIDS/HIV and how the grandmother is left to care for all these children. This is her tiny house.

Jean told me there isn't enough maize in here to feed all of the kids for a whole year. They will run out and starve.

This is Jeans mothers house!

This is Jeans brother and his son. Jean brought him a whole new outfit and we called him the "JC Penny baby" He's adorable!

Inside Jeans mothers house. Radio, bathroom, electricity, furniture....very nice!

A feast! The best meal I had in Malawi!

Jeans mother!

Jeans aunt and her mother with all of us

A wonderful family

To read the blog that goes along with these pictures, see Visiting Jean's Project

PICS-Mount Mulanje

2008-11-27T00:04:00.013-05:00

On our way to Mt. Mulanje, we drove by Malawi's tea plantations.

Beautiful land!

Approaching Mt. Mulanje

Waving to the Malawians

The paved road ended and we followed this long dirt road to the mountain.

Mountain, trees and tea!

This is our tour guide, Sam, who we literally picked up from the side of the road. At the time we thought this was outrageous, but we learned thats just the way you get tour guides!

Our hike begins. The path starts off very wide...

Sam telling us stories about the mountain

me, Lauren and Sarah

Malawians go into the mountain to get sticks and carry them down the mountain on their heads. Most of them didn't wear shoes and some didn't even use their hands. Many smiled and waved at us. Needless to say, we let them have the right of way!

Sarah, Heidi, Krista, Lauren, Vandy, me, Mandy, Brittany

The path was very intense

This is such a typical picture for me. I was ALWAYS writing notes so I would remember what to write about in my blog! haha

Brian and Brittany taking a break

We finally made it to the waterfall! This is the platform where we stopped to have lunch and take pictures.

VT group

After lunch we climbed down the platform to play on the rocks.

Back down...

After we got back, we stopped to shop at the vendors. This picture is a great example of how the vendors come to the window of the bus and most of our purchases are usually as the bus pulls away. Thats when we get the best deals. The vendors literally shove things in your face-Its quite an event!

To read the blog that goes along these pictures, see Hiking Mount Mulanje

PICS-Visiting Teddy's Garden

2008-10-25T22:59:00.009-04:00

This is Teddy and some of the kids are his own, but some are the neighborhood kids.

This is Teddys house. Its considered very nice because of the brick, glass windows and curtains. Since his wife wasn't there, we weren't allowed to see inside.

He takes care of a lot of children. He is the only one who works in his whole village.

I think this is where they cook.

This is Teddy's neighbors garden. Teddy's garden is far away from his house.

This is where they store the maize throughout the year.

So cute!

The kids didn't want us to leave.

We got on the bus and drove down to Teddy's garden. This is Amber, Vandy and Amy.

Teddy uses the Freedom Gardens technique. He gets on this machine (kinda like a elliptical) to pump the water from the river up the hill to the garden.
Teddy is explaining to us how it works.

Teddy hides his machine under the hay so no one steals it.

To read the blog that goes along with these pictures, see Visiting Teddy's Village

PICS- MIE Students & Catholic Church Choir

2008-10-25T17:13:00.002-04:00

On July 1st, we met some college students who we are sponsoring. They go to MIE (Malawi Institute of Education) and are earning a degree to teach teachers. They wouldn't have this opportunity if we weren't helping them. We are paying for their tuition, but they are responsible for rent and food.

Radford is sponsoring the man on the left, VT is sponsoring the women and NC A & T is sponsoring the man on the right who is focusing on math.
The VT group with the student we are sponsoring. She is focusing on Science.
This is the Radford group with the student they are sponsoring. He is focusing on literacy.

On July 2nd after school, we walked to a local Catholic Church because they had planned a performance for us!
Inside the church
Catholic Church Choir performing
Locals from all around came to watch
So resourceful with their costume materials. They are dressed up as the military
Precious

Cute kid!
I love those drums!
Kinda scary costumes!

Brian & Liz got their picture with the choir
Everyone came to watch. The lady in the front right taught us how to do the tongue cheer!
The professors were thanking them and giving them $

The kids are amused by anything and everything we do
Starting the walk back
beautiful path & scenery
These were my two buddies that walked back with me. Such smart and polite boys. I gave them some goodies from my backpack.

To read the blog that goes along with the pictures of the MIE students, see the July 1st Blog

To read the blog that goes along with the pictures from the church choir, see July 2nd Blog

PICS-Krista & Lexi's Class

2008-10-25T16:09:00.018-04:00

Our class picture!

This is what would happen every time you pulled out a camera in the schoolyard

crabwalk

Sharks & Minnows

Dancing circle- We did this a lot!

Hokey Pokey

Gift (far left) wanted his picture taken with his friends

Limbo

Macdonald running a game of twister

This is the girl that wrote me the note-She is showing the shark symbol from the game

I scanned a copy of the note- this is the front side

This is the inside. I can't really understand all of it but its still very special!

This was the long jump activity they showed us-very impressive

Just hanging out with the kids

I scanned a copy of the "study guide" the children made for me. One day they were trying to teach me Chichewa, so they wrote down basic words in Chichewa and English to help me learn.

Macdonald teaching. Notice the paper hanging from the string. Each paper has one of the 9 subjects they study hanging from the ceiling.

The students wrote information about themselves so we could get to know them

We brought books for the students to read

They made paper butterflies

They really enjoyed using the rulers to measure!

I taught a game of hangman- They snap their fingers when they want to be called on

Teaching!

Showing off their new pencils and eraser tops

Krista is teaching them about their body parts

Each table showed us they could do the Hokey Pokey

We took pictures of each student and gave them a copy- They made borders and decorated the paper

We were dancing of course!

At the end of every day, the students would present us with gifts from their garden

PICS-Delivering Backpacks

2008-07-24T21:45:00.006-04:00

The kids came to greet us and had no idea why we were even there.
It was a celebration!

We danced and danced!

Such a cute picture!

The children watched us drive away :(

The boy in the middle is the boy who I ran into the next week at a church.

To read the blog that goes along with these pictures, see Delivering Backpacks

PICS-Vising the 3 schools and the Dance Competition

2008-07-24T17:32:00.010-04:00

Patti getting off the bus. This was our rock star entrance every day!

They lined up and patiently waited to shake our hands

Malemia Primary (standards 1-8)

Happy kids!

Amy playing with the kids
The teacher is making the kids move away from the bus

This picture shows how we were always "performing." Crowds of kids would just watch us waiting for us to do something. We rotated between Hokey Pokey and head, shoulders, knees & Toes!

DANCE COMPETITION

The kids who sat behind me during the dance competition

To read the blog that goes along with these pictures, see Visiting the Schools!

PICS-Lilongwe & Dedza

2008-07-23T21:55:00.013-04:00

This vendor introduced himself as "chicken legs"
On our computers at Korea GardensKrista & Lexi's room at Korea Gardens
The view out of the window of the bus in Lilongwe Dedza Pottery

Dedza Pottery had the coolest bathroom sinks....zebras!

Krista took a picture of the pottery she bought. This is just one of the hundreds of designs they had!

Beautiful scenery

Mandy with the man who makes and sells the recycled paper
Dedza Kids

Market! To the left of the road is Malawi and to the right is Mozambique

A little baby at the market
We pulled over to look at this village. The kids came up to play with us (and ask for money)

To read the blog that goes along with these pictures, see June 25th

PICS-Freedom Gardens

2008-07-23T19:53:00.017-04:00

The have an awesome system. They create canals for the water to reach the entire garden!
Daniel passing out cucumbers for us to try

If you want to move the water to another direction, simply put mud there to stop it and direct it another way. Depending on what crops are in season, the water goes different places throughout the farm.

The Kenyan to the left and Epilson on the right (VT graduate)

banana tree

One of the nephews teaching us how to chew on sugarcane

The ladies who cooked our lunch. This is how most Malawian women dress.
Our Malawian lunch. Yum?

Daniel and his mother (Mrs. Chinkhuntha)

Mrs. Chinkhuntha's home

To read the blog that goes along with these pictures, see Freedom Gardens

PICS-Traveling/Ethiopia

2008-07-22T23:11:00.004-04:00

I have over 700 pictures and for the sake of my valuable time I'll just upload the cliffnotes version of the pictures. I'll post a link to the webpage that has pictures from all 18 of us if anyone is interested.

Sarah and Lauren sleeping on the plane

It's a very uncomfortable plane ride, but we made do

On our personal TV screens we could follow all the flight details

Sarah & Krista walking off the plane in Ethiopia
Ethiopian Airport View outside our room in Ethiopia
The 4 advisors at breakfast

Malawian airport

We didn't do a good job at packing lightly

The group and the luggage packed in the bus

A typical village in Lilongwe

To read the blogs that go along with these pictures, see Travel Day 1 and Travel Day 2

Vision Gardens in Kenya

2008-07-22T20:48:00.003-04:00

While we were visiting Freedom Gardens in Lilongwe, there was a man from Kenya staying for about 12 days to learn about the garden and try to bring the concept to his home in Kenya. This man had been to VT this past semester for some type of program and worked with Dr. Kelly. I enjoyed talking to him about VT and his stay in Lilongwe. He collected everyones email address and promised to keep in touch. A couple weeks after we left Lilongwe we all got the following email. Promising to keep in touch meant he would be asking for money. Typical Malawian way!

"Dear All,

Greetings from Kenya. Just to let you know that I am back in Nairobi. Already doing some thinking and planning about the garden project. I intend to call it-Vision Gardens. As I had promised when we met at the Freedom Gardens, Lilongwe, Malawi, I will always keep in touch and in me you have a great friend in Kenya. I also intend to make you founding friends of vision gardens although I will need your confirmation. As a founder friend, your names will be inscribed on the foundation blocks and bricks of Vision Gardens and will form an integral component of the gardens history. But for one to become a founding friend of the garden one is expected to make some financial contribution which will go into the initial investments of making the garden the best of its kind. This will be an immense contribution in building lives of the rural folk in Kenya. Incase of further information or enquiries, kindly let me know. I hope you are enjoying your stay in Malawi. My stay was excellent and very enriching indeed. Best wishes always & please keep in touch."

June 18-19: The Forever Flight

2008-07-21T16:06:00.005-04:00

Friday we woke up early to go into town and spend any money we had left. We left for town at 8am and didn’t need to leave for the airport until 11am. I had planned on going to the Girl Guide headquarters today but I didn’t have any idea where they were and only had a telephone number to contact them, no address and I didn’t have a phone. Our hotel was near town with shops and venders but there weren’t any businesses so I had a feeling it wasn’t close. I decided it wasn’t worth finding a way to get there and with home so close, I didn’t want to get caught in a potential mess because everything in Malawi takes a long time and I didn’t want to miss my flight. I was disappointed because I was looking forward to meeting them but it will just give me another reason to go back!

Quite a few of us were in search of an African/Malawi shot glass. The advisors said our best bet would be at the airport or at an African store in town. We stopped at the store and it had basically everything we had seen during our entire trip but it was 4 times more expensive. They had flags, T-shirts, jewelry and lots of carvings. We didn’t end up finding shot glasses at this store or at the airport.

We had learned at Mua Mission that beadwork was traditionally done in Malawi but has recently died out except for one vender in Lilongwe who sells bead art. Since I learned how significant the artwork is, I really wanted to get a piece of beadwork. I had my heart set on a zebra but the guys were trying to charge us 4,000 kwacha. No way! They were very stubborn and unpleasant to work with so I decided a wooden Zebra would be just fine. Later on I did end up getting a adorable little beaded elephant. I was willing to pay 550 kwacha for the little elephant and the man told me that its very hard to make a smaller animal because of the detail, so then I said, “okay then give me a bigger animal for 550 since they must be easier to make.” I wasn’t trying to be smart; I just wanted a beaded animal! Well, that definitely shut him up and he gave in, giving me the little elephant for 550 kwacha!

My brother, Chris really wanted a real rhino but I told him a wooden one would have to do. So I searched through the venders and found one I liked and I liked the man selling it too. There are some very unpleasant venders so it's not worth buying from them. Thankfully Lilongwe has plenty of venders to choose from. He really wanted 400 kwacha for a rhino but I stood firm at 200 kwacha and stood there waiting patiently for him to go down in price. He was very nice and I enjoyed talking to him. I had brought some items to bargain with and I told him I’d give him lotion and mouthwash if he went down to 200 kwacha. He thought about it for a while but after I showed him the lotion and mouthwash I could tell he really wanted it. We made the deal and he was already taking the lotion out and putting it on his arms. He seemed very excited about the lotion. I explained to him how to properly use mouthwash. I didn’t want him to poison himself.

I also brought my backpack and intended on bargaining with it. I had used it this entire trip and it was just filthy so I didn’t want to bring it home. It was in great condition, no rips and the zippers worked perfectly. Word got out that I was willing to give away my backpack so all the venders were asking for it. If you ask one vender for an animal, every vender you talk to for the rest of the day will show you that animal. They all know what you’re looking for. So I found a man that was willing to give me a salad bowl and tongs for the backpack. I figured that was a good deal and made the trade. He was thrilled with the backpack.

I ran into my friend, James Bond 008 and he was glad to see us back! Unfortunately I didn’t see anything I liked at his stand and I was buying from other venders. He wasn’t happy with me and I think he took it personally because he seemed a little hurt.

The last thing I brought was a Malawian newspaper for 70 kwacha. I spent most of my money because I only had 170 kwacha left and $40 I didn’t exchange. I felt like I did a good job at budgeting my money! I had a lot of fun this morning walking around shopping with the venders. I felt like I got some good deals and I’m happy with my last minute purchases. It was a great way to end our trip. Lilongwe definitely has the best selection and the most venders but since Lilongwe has the most tourists, you have to be good at bargaining to get a good deal. They would try to sell items for insane prices and once we told them we have been here a month and we know that’s a ridiculous price, they were willing to drop the price by at least 50%. I lived in a different currency for an entire month. Now when I go home and get a manicure for $25 I’ll be trying to figure out how much kwacha that is. It’s about 3,675 kwacha which is way too much. I like kwacha because it makes me feel like I have more money and it goes a lot farther than a dollar. I’ll miss kwachas!

Finally it was time to go so Krista and I headed back to the lodge to finish packing and change our clothes for the plane ride. Charles drove us to the Airport and then he was off. I think he was happy to see us go because now he will have more time with his family. We sure do take up a lot of his time but we also give him enough money to last him a very long time. I will miss Charles very much, he is a very fun Malawian!

We got in line and I weighed my bags. Of course, both of them were over 50 pounds. Thankfully Amber had space in one of her suitcases so I shoved some things in her extra bag.

Amber asked if I had an extra book she could read and I pulled out a book my mom gave me to read, The #1 Ladies Detective Agency. I hadn’t had the chance to read it yet, but the advisors all just raved about the book. Amber didn’t read it, but I read the 1st chapter at the end of the flight and it kept my attention for a while!

We weren’t sure if they would freak out about the chief chairs being too long so we decided not to point them out. Three of us had big ones so we basically hid them from the people behind the counter as we checked in. We thought that if we got past them we would be safe and just say we were told they were okay. Since we already have 2 checked bags, we would have to pay extra if they made us check the chief chair. We paid our $30 Malawian exit fee and made it past check in with our chairs.

When we arrived the sign said our flight was leaving at 1pm instead of 1:50pm. We didn’t think they would be able to check in our entire group that fast since it was already 12noon. However we liked the idea of leaving earlier because that would get us to Ethiopia faster and give us time to catch our 2nd fight. The security line was rushing to get us all though the line. Except there literally was no line but as I went through the medal detector, the buzzer went off but the guard told me to keep going. There were no liquid restrictions, and they didn’t make us take out our laptops or take off our shoes. Ethiopia was very relaxed as well. It was a little upsetting if you ask me. As soon as all of us were in the waiting room, they got the bus and took us over to the airplane. As I showed them my boarding ticket, they insisted on taking my chief chair. We figured they would take it at some point because it’s considered a weapon. They tagged it and promised I would see it at Dulles. I would have preferred to give it to them right when I got on the plane, but they took it before I even got on the bus to drive to the plane. So I was doubtful it would make it to the plane and I was worried the entire trip.

Turns out we didn’t actually leave until the regularly scheduled time (1:50pm) because things just take time around here. Good thing they were trying to leave at 1pm because it they were trying to leave at 1:50pm we probably wouldn’t have left until 3pm.

The reason they wanted to leave at 1pm was because our plane had to fly to Zambia to fuel up before we headed to Addis Ababa. There aren’t very many planes at this airport so I’m guessing its not a very heavily traveled airport. We ran into a Canadian who has an ongoing project here in Malawi. He talked about some of the work he does but he said he mostly just fundraises and designs projects but he lets the Malawians do the work. His organization doesn’t build anything because that would be taking a Malawian's job. Very true. We told him about our layover and he said not to worry he was sure they would wait for us. He always flies Ethiopian Airlines and is happy with the service. I’ve talked to people who hate it and who love it. I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I’m very happy with Ethiopian Airlines.

I sat by Heidi and Amber and I was lucky enough to get a window seat! We left and as Amber says, “ Goodbye Malawi until we meet again!”

We flew through the clouds and it was just awesome to be in the air! We stopped at Zambia and just sat in the plane for about an hour. I slept though the landing but apparently it was a student pilot and the landing was a little rough. No one had lunch so it was almost 3pm and we were really needing some food. They gave us Ethiopian Jet crackers and during the hour break we went to the back and took as many packs as we could to share with our group. Finally we left for Addis Ababa and this was the shorter part of the trip. My plan was to stay awake until we got on the 2nd plane in Addis. (That didn’t work out because I fell asleep before we even got to Zambia) I didn’t want to take any pills until after Addis but I ended up not taking any Bendaryl. I was so tired from the past couple of days I had no trouble sleeping.

I didn’t remember consciously asking for no ice during the fight over here, but I made sure not to get ice with my drinks. They finally offered us a meal on the way to Addis and we had chicken as an option this time! Chicken, beef or fish. I went for the chicken. It was good! Well, we were all so hungry we would have eaten anything. We ate breakfast at 7:30am and we didn’t get anything until 5:30pm. It was a long day.

The night before we left Heidi started a countdown until we got to America. It started at 29 hours and now it was less than 20 hours. This whole time concept confuses the heck out of me when we are traveling. I was trying to keep track of Malawian time, American time, and the time of the zone we were currently in. Plus I was trying to add and subtract hours as we were on the plane. It was too hard for me to keep track. I only knew that we were on that plane forever and it was miserable.

I really wish I had brought Airborne for the flights. On the way here and back I have felt really sick on the plane. I get pineapple on the plane each time because the juice tastes good and I feel like I’m getting a sore throat and have cold like symptoms. I brought all kinds of medicine for getting an upset stomach but nothing for an everyday cold from all these airplane germs.

We made it to Ethiopia with time to spare! As we got off the plane and went to the airport we realized our connecting flight had been delayed an hour. That would put us behind an hour but we hoped they would be able to make the time up in the air. We were just glad we didn’t have to worry about missing the flight. The extra hour worked out perfectly because we were able to walk around the airport and look in the little Ethiopian shops. It was nice to stretch and have different scenery. I hate to generalize about groups but the Ethiopians we had contact with in the airport were exceptionally rude. On the way here we experienced many people cutting in the customs line and as we boarded the flight in Ethiopia we had people just shove their way through us. Malawians are not like that at all.

We boarded the next flight and I was really excited to see leather seats with head cushions! Well that came with a price because there weren’t personal TV’s on the seats in front of you. Bummer! The isle TV’s were small and far away. By this time it was 10pm in Malawi and past our normal bedtime. In order to try to change to American time some people were going to try and stay awake until 2am Malawian time. I didn’t care; I was going to sleep whenever I needed to just to make the flight go by quicker. There were two people on either side of the plane and 3 seats set up in the middle. I was sitting in an isle seat in a 2 person section. The person sitting next to me in the window seat was a stranger-not someone from our group. She was nice and pleasant to talk to but she slept the entire time and curled up her feet onto the chair and rested them on my thigh. I HATE feet. I tried to remain calm and put a pillow in-between my leg and her feet and that seemed to help most of the time. Later she stretched her legs out into my area and put her bare feet on top of my carry-on bag. She even put some of her trash on my tray when she didn’t want to hold it. I was very annoyed.

There were quite a few families on our flight that were bringing home babies and children they adopted from Ethiopia. It was fun to see the families. One family already had an Ethiopian child at home and was bringing home an Ethiopian brother and sister. How cute! Our flight was full of children and we had lots of crying and screaming babies almost the entire time. We also had happy ones run up and down the isle for hours. I didn’t mind, it was someone to entertain me and take up time.

I slept almost the entire way to Rome and then we waited for an hour in the plane. The group stretched and compared sleeping positions to see if anyone had a really comfortable position they wanted to share. We came to the conclusion no position was very comfortable. It was miserable and it was far from over. The flight from Rome to Dulles was the longest stretch of all.

We went through either 3 or 4 different flight crews and had 3 meals and one breakfast served to us during our 25 hour long flight. Most of us weren’t hungry at all of the meal times but since we literally had nothing else to do, we just picked around and ate to fill time. Like I said, I couldn’t keep up with the time confusion because whatever time it was supposed to be, the light outside would be different. After we left Rome, it was light outside for the rest of the flight even though it was still night time at home. The countdown was making process! We were less than 10 hours away! However all of us felt like we had been in this darn plane forever and I was getting anxious. It is torture to stay in a plane that long.

We thought we would be able to make up the lost time from the delay in the air but because of the wind, our estimated time of arrival wasn’t until 9am instead of 7:20am. So when 7:20am rolled around we had mentally prepared ourselves to think that was the end, so the last hour and a half was probably the worst part of it all. None of us had showered or “freshened up” so I felt gross and just wanted to change and take a shower since we had spent more than an entire day just on an airplane. The airplane smell is nauseating and makes you feel gross. I also had to remember to adjust my Malaria pill to take it in the morning at home time instead of Malawian time. I checked my ankles and sure enough, they were as swollen as elephant feet. I like the idea of not stopping to sleep in Ethiopia because it gets you to your destination quicker but at the same time the flight is just so miserable I think a break to split it up is worth it.

I didn’t know if my parents would check the arrival time before they came to the airport. Since we were going to be so much later and it would take an hour to get through customs, I was nervous they would be there way too early and be waiting forever. Krista is from VA beach, so her parents were staying at my house so I was hoping between the 4 of them they would be able to figure out that our plane was delayed before they left for the airport.

Well, we finally made it and landed on American soil. We cheered for the pilot and I had an overwhelming sigh of relief. I wasn’t nervous in Malawi but something is so comforting about being in America.

A handful of us immediately turned on our cell phones and I texted my dad to tell him we just landed. My mom got the text and called me! She told me she had been waiting for at least an hour and had been talking with many of the other moms and parents. Lauren's mom told her that someone had made a welcome home sign for the group. For some reason the group put bets that it was my mom. I assured them I didn’t think my mom would do that, but they knew how prepared I was for the trip so they insisted my mom would do something like that even though most of them never met her! Haha

We made it off the plane and rushed onto the trolley. We waited for the trolley to take us to the other building and the trolley didn’t leave for almost 5-10 minutes but all of us were so anxious that those 5-10 minutes seemed longer than the 25 hour flight. We just couldn’t get there fast enough!

We got in line for customs and I first saw the “Welcome to the U.S.A” sign and then I saw officials escorting us into the correct line, and watched a video with subtitles explaining the step by step process of going through customs. I had not had that detailed of an explanation about anything since I left America a month ago. It sure did feel good to be here!

The line was long but it was efficient so it went by quickly. I got yet another stamp in my passport and went to the next room to collect my bags. Believe it or not, my chief chair made it and so did both of my bags! Hooray!!!

I turned in my customs form and they let me pass without looking through my bags. Out of our entire group Brittany was the only one that got her bags searched. She was the first one to go through and she had written “wooden carvings” so they wanted to check her bags. They let her go with no problems.

Originally Krista and I had talked about changing into our jatinjis before we walked out to meet our parents. I had planned on doing it and packed my jatinji in my carry-on but after 25 hours in a plane I just wasn’t in the mood to do anything fun and cute. Plus I didn’t want my parents to see me in an African outfit and think they had “lost me” and I was trying to become a Malawian.

I walked out the doors and my mom and dad were the first people I saw! They were standing there cheering me on! Kristas mom was the one who had the sign! She was standing right next to them holding a very colorful and cute welcome home sign. I remember watching people coming off airplanes in movies and I always wanted a sign to greet me just like in the movies… so Zikomo kwambiri Mrs. Patrick!

My dad has a relatively new toy, a laser engraver. So a couple days after I left he began working on making wooden frames, designing the template and engraving 18 pictures frames. He brought them to the airport for me to pass out to my fellow travel buddies as gifts! Everyone seemed thrilled and shocked that my dad made them!!

Since before I left my mom was talking about putting together a breakfast/brunch for the group since we live so close to Dulles. Almost everyone else had at least a 2-4 hour trip ahead of them. So she wanted to invite everyone and their families to our house for some American food before they hit the road. I invited everyone in Malawi and about 20 people said they would like to come. At the airport we said our goodbyes and passed out directions to our house.

It sure is nice to be back, however it's very hot and humid outside. I was really excited to enjoy a nice fresh smell outside! I don’t have to wear a money belt 24/7 anymore! Don’t get me wrong, I had an amazing time in Malawi and I would go back there in a heartbeat but being so far away from home and living a different lifestyle really makes me appreciate so many more things once I got home. Safe and clean water is probably #1. With all the health concerns in Malawi that was probably my biggest concern and while I am not 100% out of the clear yet, I am so thankful that I stayed healthy on the trip. I don’t have to wipe my hands every moment, I can use ice, drink water, brush my teeth in the sink, I can pet dogs and show my knees! However, I can’t forget to continue to take my malaria pills for the next couple of weeks because technically I’m still at risk.

I made it to my house and the dining room was exploding with delicious food. My mom had outdone herself! It looked scrumptious! We could eat all the fruit and salad we wanted! We met our friend’s families and it was cute to see everyone’s parents because they were just like their kids. We sat for a few minutes and shared stories and Dr. Kelly stood up and thanked the parents for letting us go on this journey. It was a perfect way to end the trip.

My dad had two presents for me when I got home. The 1st one I drove right past and didn’t even realize. He took me out to the driveway to point out a stump in our yard and he had carved a “VT” out of the stump! It was way cool!!! My dad got me a new bed in my room and it was the perfect “welcome home” gift because I was exhausted and looking forward to a comfortable bed. The bed is super high, I have to jump up to get on but It’s a lot nicer then my previous one.

I sat down with my family and opened my suitcases. Everyone sat around as I opened everything and it reminded us of Christmas. Dad is tickled with his chief chair (he is the chief so you have to ask permission to sit in his chair) and Chris named his Rhino “Willis”. I began showing my parents all my pictures (I have over 800) and they feel asleep!!! Can you believe that? Apparently they both stayed up late cooking and woke up early to come to the airport so they were exhausted. I could relate and decided Sunday would be a better day to show them pictures. My dad kept asking me all these questions that I had addressed in the blog- he obviously didn’t read it. But that’s okay because I can tell him stories and it will all be new to him. My mom on the other hand talks about Macdonald like she knows him!! I have showed her pictures and she can already name everyone in the group!

My goal was to stay awake all day Saturday to adjust to home time. I felt like I got a lot of rest on the plane and didn’t have any trouble staying awake on Saturday. I have managed to adjust to the time just fine. I think I was just so confused by 25 hours in the plane, my body honestly didn’t know what time it was supposed to be so it was easy for me to accept the time here.

I uploaded some of my videos and re-lived my trip for the entire afternoon. I briefly read through some of my blogs (I apologize because I really need to edit them-the errors are just glaring) but I had already forgotten some of the details I wrote about. Some nights I dreaded writing because I was just so tired but I am so thankful I took the time to write and include so much detail. It is the by far the best memory of this trip and I couldn’t recommend it more. However I am glad to be home and go back to “normal” life. I’m excited to not have anything worth blogging about. I need a break!

I intentionally cleared my schedule for the next two weeks because I had no idea what condition I would be in. Besides my still swollen legs I am already well rested and feeling just fine. I’m going to my beach house this weekend to relax and get some sun! But other than that I’ll just be working on post-Malawi things. Please feel free to come by and visit! I can teach you how to play the drums and if you lucky the chief might let you sit in the chief chair. ☺ Or call me if you need a babysitter!

I’ll update soon with pictures/videos and in the future I’ll write about the progress of the Malawi Chibale Project. I also have my final paper that I’ll probably share on this site. Malawi is participating in the Olympics, so I’ll definitely be cheering them on! My mom and I have already talked about going to Malawi together in a couple years!

Thank you for reading my blog and following me on this amazing experience. I really do appreciate it more than you know. I am so sad it is over, but my mind is already racing with ideas and supplies to bring on my next trip.

Thurs July 17-Mua Mission and traveling back to Lilongwe

2008-07-17T18:06:00.002-04:00

This morning we packed up our stuff but didn’t find a baby on our doorstep. Our wake up call was a knock at the door since they don’t have phones. BTW, apparently Club Mak has free Internet if you bring your own computer and go to a special room but I didn’t try it so I’m not sure how successful it is.

As expected, breakfast was amazing. Cereals, oats, yogurt, fruit, bread and pastries, cheeses, ham, omelets, and potatoes. Yesterday a bunch of us ordered custom key chains from the vendors in the canoes so we headed to the shore to see if they were ready with our souvenirs. They said they stayed up all night carving and were still finishing them as we waited. Some of my orders were wrong animals, but I was okay with that. Very handmade! Ha We quickly purchased our key chains and ran to the bus. We needed to leave promptly at 8:30am.

The ride was quiet and uneventful. I think everyone has had enough of each other and is ready to be at home. It's hard because after leaving Annie’s we felt like we were going home, but its actually 3 days before we get home. So these 3 days seem like they are dragging. We had goodbye dinners and celebrations days ago but we are still in Malawi. We quickly stopped at Liwonde to get gas and some girls bought some items out of the window. Dr. Kelly met the man who will be coming to VT in August to study. His name is Dennis and I would love to have lunch with him on campus to make sure he feels “most welcome”. We would have lots to talk about since I lived in his country for a month.

For most of this trip, our conversations all seem to revolve around food. We aren’t being deprived of anything, but we enjoy talking about food. Between our whole group, someone works at an Italian restaurant, Mexican restaurant, seafood place, and a steakhouse.

We arrived at Mvu Mission around 12noon and since were suppose to arrive at 11 we had to ask the man to take a short break and give us a tour ASAP so we didn’t run too late. Thankfully, he agreed. This place was really neat, it had a really nice museum, hospital and church. There were very few village children running around. The gift shop had some unique carvings but they were insanely priced so we just looked with our eyes. The tour started and was supposed to last an hour. There was 3 circular rooms placed in a circle. The first room explained the religious history; the second room explained some of the dancing and mask traditions in the center but the walls talked about the coming of age rituals. First showed pictures of birth, girls puberty rituals, boys rituals, marriage, chieftainship, 1st shaving, funerals, and how they remember the dead. It was very interesting but it was very hard to take it all in… information overload. The last room had a lot of artwork and showed a different type of dancing and costumes. Beadwork used to be a very popular art form and native to the tribes here but it has since gone away and we mostly see only carvings. There is one man in Lilongwe who does bead art. Only some of the rituals still take place today. The guide showed us a chameleon and explained it can look forward with one eye and behind them with another. The guide told us the chameleon represents that it’s important to remember to look into your future but never forget your past.

The tour finished and It was 2pm so everyone was ready to leave. We stopped outside of Mvu at the vendors for 20 minutes to shop/barter. They had some of the same stuff at the gift shop but it was much cheaper here. For the most part vendors really want bags and shoes. So those are good things to barter with instead of lotion and soap.

Last year they took a different road and apparently it was very rough and difficult on the bus. The bus ended up breaking down right by Mvu Mission and they were stranded for about 10 hours. The villagers all came to the rescue and built a fire to keep the students warm. There was an elaborate plan to get a mechanic from town to come fix the bus but somehow they managed. One of the girls went in the woods to go to the bathroom and she dropped her passport but didn’t even realize it since it was dark. This was right before they were leaving so it was awful timing. This one boy found the passport and arranged for it to get to the airport in time. What an amazing young man! I think he was very helpful in assisting them during their breakdown as well. Dr. Jones was very grateful and she said she gave him a significant amount of money last summer for all his help.

While our bus was stopped for people to shop, that same boy came up to our bus and Dr. Kelly and Dr. Jones remembered him! They hugged and introduced him as the person who saved them last summer. He showed Dr. Jones his entire house, built for his family from the money she gave him. What a great story!

After we left the vendors, around 2:30pm, we drove straight through to Lilongwe and made it there by 5pm. I put my ipod in and slept the entire way. We stopped once at a gas station and some basket vendors came to sell them for very cheap out of the windows. Almost everyone got a basket but no one has any space. Uh oh! Traveling makes me so sleepy. As we pulled into Lilongwe we recognized all the roads and buildings, it kinda felt like we were home.

We arrived at Korea Garden Lodge and got our room assignments. Our room was in a building on the opposite side from our room during the last stay and it is definitely an upgrade, we are in the “executive” rooms!! There is tile instead of carpet and its much more spacious. It even has a mini fridge!! The bathroom is large and even has a tub! Everyone was pleasantly surprised. Don’t worry, as always, we still saw lizards on the wall.

Thankfully Korea Gardens has free Internet so I opened my computer to check my email. The finish on the edge of my computer where my wrists sits has been eaten away. I realized that I put deet on my wrists last night and it must have eaten up the outside layer of my computer. Thankfully it’s just the outside finish. That deet is powerful stuff.

We went to the dining area to order dinner. Eight of us had fried rice, egg rolls and samosas. We didn’t realize they had samosas here. Now that we are obsessed with them, we notice them on menus and we are going to realize that they are everywhere. They weren’t as good as Tasty Bites and we are realizing that we will probably end up craving tasty bite samosas and Annie’s vegetable curry.

We spent the night online arranging to meet our families at the airport and also repacking our luggage. Everyone is terrified of the weight limit. I’m almost positive I’m overweight but 3 people have extra bags so I’ll have to shove some things in their luggage. Mona Lisa Smile was on TV, so I watched that and caught up on my blog. Lets hope that next time I post I’ll be at home and not stuck in Ethiopia.

We have a long flight ahead of us but I plan on taking Benadryl and I know I’ll be able to sleep just fine. This will be my last day to relax because once I get home I will have to start scrapbooking, movie making, editing this blog and writing my final paper. No shortage of things to do after the trip. As sad as I am to leave, there is no question in my mind…I know that I will be back to this country sometime in my future.

Wed July 16- Club Mak at Lake Malawi

2008-07-17T17:53:00.005-04:00

I had planned to wake up early to finish packing but I slept until 7am and our bags were supposed to be at the bottom of the hill by 7:45pm. So I rushed and basically shoved everything in and hoped I didn’t forget anything. Peter was all dressed up and came by our room to help/chat. He asked if I had my passport and I would have forgotten it if he hadn’t reminded me! After I took it out of the safe I hid it in a drawer and forgot I didn’t have it with me. That could have been really bad. Peter saves the day yet again. I gave Peter a bag full of supplies for his orphanage that I didn’t want. Inside were pipe cleaners and he was very interested in what they were. A simple craft supply we take for granted.

Multiple people have been told that it’s perfectly safe to go into the water at Lake Malawi, but the advisors explained about the parasite in the water. Apparently you will think you are fine for days, months and even years to come but in about 7 years the parasite will destroy your organs. Every piece of literature from the USA advises Americans not to go in the water even though you will see other tourists in the water. So our group had a discussion about not being fooled into thinking its safe to swim.

We said our goodbyes to the workers at Annie’s Lodge. It was very, very sad for us and especially for them. They knew things would quickly go back to normal and wouldn’t be as exciting without us. Krista and I delivered our goodie bags to some of our favorite workers.

We were on our way! We picked up Endalipa on our way to the lake. He is from Malawi but came to get his PhD at Virginia Tech. He wanted to show us his father’s house that he grew up in and also a typical village that has been severely affected by HIV/AIDS and over 30% of the population has died. The stops were only about 20 KM away from our resort so we drove the majority of the way first. The drive was quiet and uneventful. Most of us were very tired and just relaxed. We saw hundreds of Baobab trees and Dr. Kelly said this area has the most Baobob trees in all of Africa. I would hate to say that we are used to seeing Malawi and nothing excites/interests us but I think its about the time of the trip where everyone has felt like we have experienced this adventure and we are ready to go home.

We first stopped at a village close to Endalipa's home and as we were driving around, the bus got stuck in the sand. Yikes. We all got out and some of the men pushed and it was out in a hot second. Endalipa walked us around and showed us some of the crops and even the coconut trees. We all commented how nice it was to talk to someone who has been to our country and knows what’s different about Malawi. The village kids all came over and we saw an albino child who was about 7-8 years old. There were very few adults, only children and a handful of grandmothers. Endalipa thought it was very important for us to see this and we were glad he was willing to take us. However you can tell the difference from the first village we stopped at in the beginning of the trip, we play with the kids for almost 30 minutes, take pictures and hand out stickers. This is probably our last village and we just waved and smiled. Our energy level is just not as high as it used to be.

I really had to go to the bathroom but I was prepared to hold it. Amy, Krista, Lauren and Sarah all expressed how badly they had to go to the bathroom as well. So we decided to tough it out and go together. Endalipa showed us the “bathroom”(hole) and we each took turns. It was an experience. There was a hole, toilet paper and little outlines of where your feet go inside a little hut. Haha.

Our next stop was Endalipa's fathers house. The village ladies came out to greet us and the children followed. His father is the one has 60 children. So Endalipa had brothers and sisters all over the place. We all came to the porch and greeted his father and then went inside his house. Endalipa showed us his bedrooms and how he lived as a child growing up. We knew how much this meant to him to show us how he lived so we were glad we could arrange it in our schedule.

Endalipa was going to catch a bus back to Domasi College as we continued to Club Mak. The main road was being worked on so we had what Malawi calls a “road diversion” and drove next to the main road for the entire way.

We arrived at Club Mak around 1pm. The entire morning it was very cloudy and we really wanted some sun while we were at the lake. Around 12noon the sun came out so everyone was getting anxious to arrive.

I know I have said this about every place we stayed (except Ethiopia) but this place truly is paradise! The gardens and landscaping have such beautiful flowers and plants! Plus the structures and walkways are so artistic. Of course, this resort had its own runway and even a golf course, tennis court and 2 swimming pools. We got off and were greeted with fresh juice and thought we were assigned to room 16. A man escorted us to the room but then Krista looked at the key and realized it said 46 not 16. So we turned around and went the opposite direction. We were bummed because room 16 is on the beach in its own little chalet. 46 is near the gate and in a shared building. However 46 is very spacious! It has 2 bunk beds in the front, closet and bathroom then the main room in the back with a patio. There is Dedza pottery here! We like our room but still vote Mvuu to be our favorite.

We quickly changed to our bathing suits and headed to the beach! Palm trees, sand, chairs and sun… what more can college girls ask for? There is another large mission group here who is from Thailand and they are doing some type of medical trip here. Their group was out in the water playing, canoeing and paddling. Thankfully it wasn't hot so we didn't even wish we could go in the water. We sat on the beach and just soaked in as much sun as we could. Unfortunately it wasn’t as sunny as we had hoped but we knew we could still get a tan in the clouds so we held out for a while. At the lake, vendors come to the shore in a canoe to sell you their stuff. We chatted with a 3 men and they seemed very nice and willing to bargain.

We didn’t have lunch and that isn’t included in our meals so Krista and I split a mini pizza. It was excellent! We were very satisfied and ready to take a little walk to look at the venders outside the gates. As we walked we had 4 little kids follow us. We smiled and waved but continued on. The venders here get tourists all the time so they are not willing to bargain like some of the other places. We hear their prices and laugh because we have been here for a month and we’d like to think we know a good deal when we hear one. Yet Charles is the only one who’s actually gotten a good deal. So we decided there wasn’t much worth getting here since they weren’t willing to go down on their prices.

As we walked back the little kids followed us. One little girl was holding a small baby on her back. Sarah and I tried to interact with her to see if she would show us how to put the baby wrap on but we don’t think she understood. We continued to walk and made it back to the resort so we said goodbye but they kept following us. We went to our room and the kids wouldn’t leave. We closed the door and they stood outside. Lauren peaked out and their eyes were right there watching us. They giggled at us from outside and we were laughing inside. They were beginning to scare us. The baby was off the little girls back and I was beginning to think she was going to leave the baby on the doorsteps for us to take. We needed to leave these kids so we turned on the TV so they would think we were still in the room and tried to escape out the front since they were at our backdoor. The plan didn’t work because one little boy chased after us. We made it to the reception and the kids knew they couldn’t go that far so we were safe. We aren’t really sure what they wanted. Around here if they want money, they put their hand out and ask, they aren’t shy about it, but these kids didn’t do that. So maybe they just wanted company and someone to play with?

It was time to watch the sunset on the beach! I got my camera ready and we managed to get a glimpse of it before a huge cloud blocked out view.

Although this trip is hardly a vacation, we still do many of the same tourists things. Taking pictures, videos and buying souvenirs for a month long is really getting exhausting. For a two week vacation it's all fun but after 4 weeks of documenting everything and bargaining, I am looking forward to “everyday life.”

We went back to our room to clean up before dinner. Dinner was at 7pm and it was a buffet. Traditional Dancing was going to follow dinner. We went early to get a good seat. The dining area is outside and I love that! The moon was out and the evening was just so pleasant. Dinner was ready early and it was such a treat to have a huge variety of foods! We acted like we have never seen real food and everyone was practically drooling with excitement. Pizza bites, rolls, chicken, avocados, cooked vegetables, rice, sweet and sour pork, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and catfish. And dessert too!

After dinner the village dancers performed. I was ready: camcorder and tripod ready to go! They don’t do this every night, only if we request it and Dr. Kelly called this morning to make sure they were planning on it. So it was a great treat. Three ladies clapped and sang in the back while the men played the drums. Different people dressed up in rags and masks came out to dance. Well they didn’t really dance they just flopped around looking in the donation box asking for money. They were actually really scary looking and got very close. We had seen dances similar to this one but these men had the most impressive costumes.

The Thailand people were sitting on one side and we sat on the other. Each sides had a donation box. Sometime they would look in the Thialands box and it would be empty so we told them to look in ours and it would be full so then they would try to fill their box. It was like Americans vs. Thialands… but all in good fun!

After the village dancers it was time for the acrobats to perform. This is something new, Dr. Kelly had never seen this before. WOW! It kept our attention for a long time. They would stack themselves 3 people high and then jump down. No pads, nets or anything. They jumped, flipped, and summer saulted in the air. They did all kinds of cool juggling and balancing tricks. It was a lot of fun and I got it all on tape!

It was past 9pm so everyone headed to bed. Our group is not used to late nights. Even though everyone was overstuffed, we were already talking about the morning breakfast buffet.

I’m sitting in my bed under the mosquito net typing and I’m getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. We didn’t use the nets anywhere but Mvuu, but here they came and put them over the bed while we were at dinner but it doesn’t seem to be working. I’ve never had a major issue with them until tonight. I’m going to get some Deet out and see if that helps because this is really unpleasant. What’s the point of these nets?

Heidi told us about the history of the museum that we are visiting tomorrow. She said a man came to the village and wanted to document their rituals and the village agreed but the deal was the pictures could never leave their land. So he set up a museum with all of the photographs and information about their rituals but no photographs are allowed because it can’t leave this land. I think it’s a really cool concept and I’m looking forward to not being able to take pictures.