Hello and Happy New Year friends and family! It has been a long time since I’ve had the opportunity to update this blog and in the meantime, a lot of life has happened. I apologize for the delay; it seems like life is just flying by and my time remaining here is coming to an end. Over the past four months I’ve had some great adventures and will try to catch you up on my life here in Malawi as best as I can remember. Lately my responsibilities have drawn me out of my village, but I still love my home in Misomali village and always look forward to returning. So here is a cursory overview of the last four months.

We left off last when I was on my way to one of the Northern most districts in Malawi, Karonga. I was invited to intend a week long gender development camp called ‘Women to Women’. The camp was coordinated by another volunteer, Monica, and seven other facilitators including myself. The idea of the camp was to invite girls from the local secondary schools and teach them about their health and education and encourage them to make smart choices for their futures. The camp began with sessions on Human Rights as outlined in international covenants. It is amazing that many girls here don’t know that it’s their right to marry whom and when they choose; to have babies when they choose, that they have the same rights to education as boys. I led sessions on Nutrition and Moringa cultivation as well as gender roles and how they are affected by culture. There were sessions on self defense, sexual health, public speaking, self esteem, business training and lectures from successful Malawian women in the local community. There was even a night session called “the sex bucket”, where the girls were allowed to write any questions they had about their bodies and sex and then have them answered. I was not allowed to attend this session as we wanted the girls to feel as comfortable as possible. All in all it was one of the most amazing and rewarding things I have done and probably will do as a volunteer. It was just incredible on so many different levels to see women slowly start to believe in themselves.

The next major event was my close friend Mel’s 30^th birthday party. Her site is right on the beach so a ton of volunteers came from around Malawi and we had some amazing days on the beach drinking, eating, and celebrating life. Mixed in with the birthday extravaganza was a trade and resource fair she decided to organize for her entire community. At a community center near her house, about 20 volunteers set up various exhibits and demonstrated to her community all the different projects we do in our village that could financially benefit them. There were exhibits on soap & jam making, sewing, bee keeping and honey, small businesses information, information on health, beneficial trees they could plant, tree grafting and so on. It was a ton of fun and I had a station demonstrating how to make cooking oil from peanuts. We put this fair together quickly but it turned out extremely well and it was a blast to be a part of. A one day event like that can make a big impact long term and really open the eyes of villagers to the many opportunities they may not have known existed.

In early October I had 3 guys from my group come visit me in my village before we headed down to the game count in Liwonde National Park. I would not normally mention visitors, but I had an extremely funny Malawian moment I will never forget. Here is the abbreviated version: I bought a chicken from the Chief’s son to feed to my guests. On the way to deliver the chicken to be cooked, a village friend noticed the chicken and thought he recognized it as his own. He asked me to wait until nightfall to see if the chicken came back to his house to sleep, as all chickens here do. By evening it was determined the chicken was his, so he, my neighbor who always translates for me, and I all went to the Chief’s house to confront the son. By the time we arrived many of the household members including the Chief and his son were drunk. After ten minutes of yelling, threats of going to the police, and other banter the accused finally confessed. One of the Chief’s other sons who is my friend and does not drink, become extremely embarrassed over the incident and challenged his brother to a fight. So, it was on but……… this is Malawi. They watch tons of kung fu movies and believe it is the optimal way to fight. I proceeded to sit there over the next five minutes and watch a hilarious and pathetic attempt at a fight that included round house kicks, karate chops, and whatever else they could remember from Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and other martial arts masters. At one point I looked at my neighbor sitting next to me with a look of general disbelief and asked him “is this f@#king real?” He just shook his head and smiled at me, clearly in as much disbelief as I was in. After the great battle ended with little damage done to either party, the Chief agreed to give the chicken back to its rightful owner and pay me back the money I spent. To this day the Chief has never paid me my money, but ultimately, the money owed to me was worth the price of admission for such a bizarre and funny moment here in Malawi.

After a good visit with friends we headed to Liwonde National Park to help the park service do an annual game census. It was just amazing. We got to stay inside the park for three days and go on two different game walks with a scout and do a grid transect walk to get an estimate of the number of animals in the park. I was able to get up close and personal with warthogs, elephants, hippos, impala, sable, water bucks, and so on. It was amazing to be moving by foot through the park with only a ranger and an AK-47 through the bush. I got to see such beautiful animals and landscapes. We found bones, traps set up by poachers, and crops planted near the border of the park by encroaching villages. At night we hung out and camped near lodges inside the park. As with most parks here the game moves freely through the lodges at night. In the middle of the first night I was there, a few of our tent `s became surrounded by elephants. It was so exciting and insanely terrifying at the same time. You cannot move or make a sound, no lights can be turned on, and all you can do is sit and hope they do not trample your tent. We just sat and listened to them eat tree leaves around us and tried to contain all the emotions of fear and excitement inside us. Seeing the elephants and other game in their natural habitat was beyond amazing and provided me with memories I will never forget.

At site things are rolling along as well as ever. I have gone through another hot season here and this year was much hotter than last. I guess I have acclimated as much as possible because day after day of 100 plus degree heat really did not wear me out that much. At times you just laugh about it. You work when you can and you sweat constantly. When I ate lunch with my neighbors it was comedic how much we would sweat once we put hot food in our mouths. I generally like the challenge of the hot season, and personally, I would always rather be hot than cold. The hottest days come during the dry season which makes water was very difficult to come by. Not impossible, but difficult and time consuming. At times I would dream about water. As I think I’ve said before, my concept of water and its importance to daily life has changed dramatically after living in Malawi and especially my notoriously dry district.

I had yet another adventure with a baby goat. Once again a young goat fell in my pit latrine, but this time no one was around to help me. Once again I found a long piece of wire and made a noose. I spent minutes fishing for the goat’s neck and at last was able to hook the little guy. I pulled the young goat up, slightly choking it in the process. Once again it was saved. After bathing the young chap he was free to be and I was left covered in shit, all over my clothes, skin, and of course in my beautiful beard. All I can say is that I just laugh in those moments and oddly enough cherish them. Soon I will be back in the states and little adventures like these will be fond memories I will always enjoy.

As for my work back at site, it’s the tree season. The height of the hot season is when my counterpart and I encourage villages and villagers to plant tree nurseries so seedlings will be ready when the rains come. This year we have been working with villages to try and replant trees along seasonal river banks. In the past these rivers ran year round but due to deforestation, the water in the rivers dries up as soon as the rains stop. I have also been growing many tree seedlings at my house. I have already planted many, but soon I plan on just being a crazy man who roams around my village and digs holes and plants trees. Most people value trees, but not the actual planting of them or the concept of reforestation. So I’m sure I will be viewed as a crazy man but planting trees is my job here and I will try and help any way that I can. It is a real challenge to get villagers to grow and plant trees. They take so long to mature and in a culture where so many live day to day, preaching the benefits of something that will take 10-15 years before it can be used is as challenging as one would imagine. Outside of my work with trees, I continue to work with my women’s group. I have recently taught them to make cooking oil from peanuts as a small business, but the whole ordeal is taking quite some time to get off the ground. I also wrote a grant and received money to get my village properly trained on our roller coaster of a bore hole. After a week of training, I can finally say that my village has the knowledge to fix and maintain our bore hole without my help. The only problem now is the bore hole is producing little water because of poor rains last year and a low water table. Hopefully, this rainy season will be better.

This year I rented a plot of land to cultivate food so I am trying my hand at being a small scale farmer. I am trying to intercrop my food crops with a plant that fixes nitrogen. I am growing corn but also other crops with higher nutritional value. I’m not sure how things will turn out but I wanted to at least try one season as a farmer. With any luck, I will have some success and maybe convince some farmers of different agricultural practices that are more beneficial to soil than the ones currently being used.

The rainy season has officially begun. After so many hot and dry days, the coming of rain is welcomed with enthusiasm by all. The country is becoming green and beautiful once again, the water tables are starting to rise and the sweet relief of water is finally here. Life has returned to Malawi and at night you can hear frogs and insects aplenty. With so many insects in abundance now, we have extra food options available. I have enjoyed a few good meals of termites.

For Christmas and New Years I went on a 3 week vacation to Zambia and Botswana with some friends. I will post pictures and stories soon. I also just attended what we call a COS (Close of Service) conference and I found out that April 6^th will be my last day as a Peace Corps volunteer. The end is near with still a lot to do and a ton of emotion building as I near the end of this adventure. To my friends and family I miss and love you all and hope the holiday season was kind and that life is good.