More to come but maybe you can help

Greetings and salutations from Africa. I hope life is well and good for all my family and friends back in the good old U.S.A. and as for me life is wonderful as always. First off my trip to Mozambique was amazing and when I head into the capital for our 4^th of July celebration at the U.S. Ambassador’s home I will have a nice update with some pictures telling about my adventures. I have less then 10 months to go and I am starting to feel a little time crunch for all I want to do. I am working on a few grants one for a youth community center, a tree project, and also I am getting a bunch of oil presses to start small businesses around my area. Lots to do and so little time. That is where I am hoping some of you can help.

My local school here had new headmaster come in about 3 months ago. In a short time we have become good friends and his energy and excitement for students and education is really admirable to see. He , along with the school staff , has been pushing the students extremely hard for their upcoming exams. He is adding teachers, opening up the school in the evenings so children can study with proper lighting (the school has some units which have electricity), along with other initiatives that will have a positive effect for the short and long term . He is also reaching out to the local church and community leaders to help raise money for repairs that are much needed. Some money has been raised and given to allow for some upkeep , but there are limitations as you would assume due to the poverty levels here. The headmaster is also trying to get money from the district and petition the ministry of education , but money is once again scarce.

He has never asked for my help , but this is something I really want to do. I fully believe in the value of education and money for schools. I am applying for grants and I am in the process of writing three as we speak. The school year ends in the next few months which is the optimal time for maintenance projects to be done.

So what I am asking my friends and family that can afford it is to donate what you can to help the cause. I know times are tough in the States but a little can go along way here in Africa. I am going to have my parents collect the money with the intentions of wiring it to me sometime in August. For those of you who are local you know where my parents are and how to find them. Those of you that are not located in the Millville area of New Jersey can send my parents a check. You can make it out to either Oscar or Bernice Phillips and send it to the following address.

1202 Pleasant Dr.

Millviile, New Jersey 08332

If you do plan on mailing my parents a check please send them an e-mail so they can know it is coming and verify with you once they get it. Their e-mail is bernblade@msn.com

Thanks in advance for those who help out. I promise the money will be put to good use and I will keep everyone updated with progress as well as pictures. The school is littered with holes in roofs, floors, lack of proper seating, broken windows, etc. Also certain students board at the school and their dorms are in poor condition, So much can be done on many levels. As I said above I will be in the capital in a few weeks so I will give a proper update on my life in Malawi. As for today I am in the city of Blantyre for a trip to the bank as well as other errands including internet time and reading about my beloved Flyers losing the Stanley Cup in six games.

Cheers to all and a good day to you,

Pat

Opinions expressed in this blog are representational of my own thoughts and not those of the Peace Corps or the Government of the United States


Hello everyone back in the U.S. I hope life is well and good. Things are great and I am enjoying life as always here in Africa. I just finished my mid service training and it is wild to think that I have less than 12 months of my service left. Five other volunteers and myself are getting ready to take a 2 week trip to Mozambique which should be amazing. I leave on the 8th of May and I am in the capital now preparing for the trip. The plan is to go to the southern coast and do the beach life on the Indian Ocean. Speaking of water, word among the American community here has been circulating about the huge oil spill back in the States. It has been a bit sad to read and hear about the amount of pollution occurring and the long term environmental and economic ramifications. Hopefully some kind of damage control can be done to help the situation. As for this post, I wanted to take some time to talk about the women of Malawi and their roles and responsibilities in their day to day lives here. Keep in mind what I’m about to say is not the same for every woman and man in Malawi, but you can certainly make some generalizations. There are good situations here too, but I can also say that what you are about to read is an honest portrayal of what life is like for many women plain and simple.












Women in Malawi are in charge of many if not all of the daily chores around the house, in the village, and in the fields. They do lean a bit on their children to help, primarily girls and young women, but they ultimately bear the brunt of most duties. Families are typically large here in Malawi with most women having an average of 5-7 children and a few families having more or less (yes more). So remember when I write about certain chores like cooking and drawing water for drinking and bathing, we are talking about a huge undertaking because of the large family size. Also consider that many women are caring for additional children, usually their orphaned nieces and nephews. Most women here wake up at the crack of dawn anywhere between three to five o’clock A.M. First thing they do is sweep the inside of their homes, outside of the home (which has some large environmental impacts as I’ve mentioned) and then they sweep the outdoor kitchen. Other daily chores include getting water for the family, cooking, getting the wood needed for cooking, cleaning the inside and outside of the home, hand washing the families clothes, working in the fields, getting the children ready for school and many other jobs. Chores like drawing water can be quite a long process as well as strenuous work. Women carry all this water on their head of course and most buckets fall in between 20-40 liters. They start doing this at such a young age that they develop super strong neck and back muscles but this tendency to carry everything on their heads from such an early age leads to many neck and back problems throughout life. Similar situations occur when women go and collect firewood. Most cannot afford to buy illegal charcoal so they are responsible for going out into the African bush to cut trees which can be extremely far and then carry them back to the village. This can be very dangerous for women for the following reasons: poisonous snakes are prevalent, injuries due to the heavy load and distance back to the village, and rape which is very common, because of the isolated and distant areas they have to travel in order to find firewood. It is also common for women to be raped while working alone in their fields.















Women do all the cooking and cleaning for the whole family. Some women are smart and cook in the open air but many use kitchens with small windows and little to no ventilation. They either use wood or charcoal (the latter being illegal in Malawi but available everywhere). Cooking like this meal after meal and day after day makes respiratory illnesses extremely common and in the top five leading causes of death for women in the developing world. All laundry is washed by hand here, which is not only extremely difficult, but requires a lot of water. In my area at certain times of the year we have seasonal rivers which the women can utilize to wash clothes and dishes and save themselves time and energy. It should be noted that while performing all chores, including chopping firewood, most women have babies strapped to their backs, which is how babies are almost always carried here.


Rape and domestic violence are unfortunately very rampant here in Malawi just like in the States. The only difference is that women here have little recourse to take legal action or get community support of any kind. Physical abuse and rape is technically illegal by law in Malawi but culturally it is very acceptable. There is a huge gender inequality in this country and many men believe that the woman’s role is to serve the man. Most men believe that it is a women’s duty to have sex with her husband whenever he wants and sadly many women believe they don’t have the right to say no or the courage to challenge the status quo. Few women have any say in such things as birth control (even when they know their husbands to be unfaithful) or family planning or birth spacing. Sex for women is also very unpleasant. Many men and women both believe that the dryer the vagina the better and men try to ejaculate as quickly as possible which they believe is the manly thing to do. Women get little pleasure from sex and most women do not understand that a normal thing like masturbation is OK and can be enjoyable for their own pleasure


Women do attend school but most fathers view educating males as a much higher priority. By secondary school the percentage of women who drop out is astronomical. The major problem is that once women start to menstruate they often get married and start having children at a young age which means school ends. Little value is seen in an educated woman as opposed to a woman who can help in the house, fields, and etc. Also it is not that uncommon to hear of adult male teachers sleeping with students and similar horror stories.


For me and many male and female volunteers we struggle at times with the treatment and thoughts about women in this culture. On many days I argue in a friendly thought provoking way about the perception of women in this culture and their roles. I challenge them all the time and tell many of my male friends that they are lazy and have no idea how to take care of a woman. I tell them they would not be considered a man in my culture for forcing and asking women to do extremely physical chores. I am one of the few men who actually goes to the bore hole and draws water and the women in my village it love it and respect me a lot for it. I always try and encourage the girls at school and around my village to go to school and to make sure they finish. The government is trying to do certain programs to encourage gender equality but it takes a long time to change culture but I hope with time and education things will go in the right direction for the women of Malawi many of whom are amazing people who never get the chance to reach their full potential due to cultural practices.
















I have two women in my village who are a big part of my life. The first being my neighbor Lucy whom I spend lots of time with. Men and women usually are not friends in this culture but we are breaking the norm which is good for people to see. We chat about everything and I eat lunch and dinner with her family every day. They are my family here and I enjoy sharing my life here with her and her husband and their two children. She takes good care of me and we help each other all the time. Her husband is my friend but has a bad drinking problem so he disappears most days to drink whatever he can find. He works for the government but spends all the money for the family on alcohol. Lucy runs a preschool from her house and uses the money she makes to support the family, and often has to hide her money from him. She teaches preschool kids just like we would in the states, teaching things like the alphabet, counting, songs, and she teaches mostly in Chichewa but also basic English to the kids. All her students come to me and greet me in English which is funny. She dropped out of the equivalent of 12th grade because her father died and her uncle’s would not pay for her to continue school. However, she is very smart and an independent thinker which is not something you find everyday here. She talks about going back to finish and I always encourage her and offer to pay for her schooling. She never stops moving from dusk till dawn. She does all the aforementioned chores and also conducts school from 7:30 AM until 11:30 every day dealing with 20 young children. She is truly an amazing woman who I want to try and help as much as possible while I am here. I recently got her trained by a friend on how to use female condoms so she can teach other women in the community. We both give out male and female condoms at our homes and with her help, we are getting lots more people using protection (some people are intimated to come to me because I am a male and white). I could say more but you are getting my point about the respect I have for her.


My other great relationship is with a young girl named Kamboyua. First off she is deaf. Some in the village have developed a basic system of sign language with her but she has never had much of an education of any kind. I know a few of the signs but not many. She helps my neighbor at her preschool and also helps me around my home with small chores. I tend to over pay her but her family is not all that kind to her so she uses my money to buy soap and necessities. Also if she gets sick at times I will pay for her to get medicine and go to a health clinic. She comes over and hangs out with me. We obviously communicate little but she likes to look at my magazines and books, pictures on my wall, and other oddities which a westerner has at their home. She really wants children and to be married but a deaf woman is viewed and treated negatively by society here. They think of her disability as being a heritable genetic disorder, which it’s not. She was impregnated by some man before I got here who would not take responsibility for the baby, which she later miscarried. She is a wonderful person full of laughs and smiles and I enjoy our relationship of silence.


There is hope for a better future for women in Malawi. In the city where education is more prevalent and western influence is apparent you can see a big difference in the role of women and how they are treated. Malawi just needs those ideas to spread to the poorer rural areas but the ultimate key is education and specifically women being educated and becoming financially independent.










Lastly on a personal note about a month ago I climbed to the peak of a place called Mount Mulanje here in Malawi. It is the tallest mountain here in country and beautiful. I went with another volunteer and his girlfriend who was visiting from the states. They are both amazing people and we spent three days hiking and staying in cabins along the mountain with our guide. The conversations were amazing it was one of my best experiences in the country. Funny thing though she asked my friend and I a lot about our lives here and she commented on how much she enjoyed hanging out with such hard core feminist. Africa changes you in ways you never expected and although I have always been respectful of women my eyes have been opened significantly here about the struggles women in other parts of the world face.


















Cheers to you all and I miss and love everybody


Opinions expressed in this blog are representational of my own thoughts and not those of the Peace Corps or the Government of the United States

Pictures

1-Me with my neighbor Lucy and her children Maggie and Hop

2-Women in my village carrying babies on their backs as usual

3-My deaf friend carrying water

4-Me at my bore whole drawing water

5-Young girls carrying firewood

6-A picture on Mount Mulanje

Peace Corps or the United States Government

Greetings
Well it has been quite some time since I last updated this blog and for those of you who enjoy reading this I send my sincerest apologies. Life has been flying by here and good times have been aplenty. I just recently finished spending 2 weeks in our training hub in Dedza. Myself along with 3 other volunteers helped prepare training for the 21 new environment volunteers that arrived from the states and we also got to spend the first week with them. We answered hundreds of questions and just sat back and enjoyed seeing their excitement and amazement as they took in the new world around them. The energy new volunteers bring in is intoxicating to be around. To think I was just in that position not that long ago and on February 22nd I celebrated my one year anniversary in country and have a little less than 13 months left. The only sad part is with a new group coming in it means soon the old environment group will be leaving. I have some good friends in that group that I will miss but with the new group I will find new people to share in this adventure here in Africa. So many amazing people I have meet here that come and go and all you can do is enjoy your moments in time with them and take those memories with you.

So since my last update was October and it is now almost April I will try to sum my life up these last 5 months as best I can. I will get to my work last and start off with good old fashion American holidays. For Thanksgiving almost all the volunteers gathered in the capital Lilongwe to celebrate the holiday at the ambassador’s house along with a few other ex-pats. The ambassador roasts a few pigs for us and the volunteers are in charge of bringing all the sides, other main courses, and desserts. I serve on a committee here which is in charge of organizing the buying of all foods and cooking of them and myself along with my friend Scott volunteered to take on all the preparation. I can tell you buying and preparing food for a 100 plus people was quite a task. He and I round around for 3 days buying all the ingredients for an abundant of recipes. Along with that we had 3 houses we went with groups of around 10 people at each house who were in charge of cooking the food. I was in charge of the group cooking at the ambassadors house which I can say is beautiful and the kitchen was amazing. The ambassador here is a gentleman named Peter Bodde and he has also been the ambassador in Germany and Pakistan. This is his 3rd and most likely last assignment and he says it is by far his favorite. He is a real down to earth guy who thoroughly believes in the Peace Corps and really helps support us a lot. We ran out of eggs during our cooking and he offered to drive me to get more and we just chatted away about his life and service. His years in Foreign Service and his rank as an ambassador make him equivalent to a four star general and here he is driving me for eggs talking about threats against his life in Germany and Pakistan along with his other life experiences. I was just laughing to myself taking it all in but I really enjoyed our conversation. As for the Thanksgiving event my buddy and I Scott pulled it off with some help from our friends and we did a dam good job. We got toasted at the dinner by a friend as well as a standing ovation from all. It was great but I hope do not have to prepare a dinner like that any time soon again.

As for Christmas about 12 volunteers met up my good friend Mel’s site which is on the lake that lucky gal. We had a fun Christmas Eve just catching up with each other and drinking some beers. As for Christmas day that was a blast. Mel prepared stockings for all in attendance which was super cool and the day just flowed from there. We started drinking beers early and of course swam in the lake. We then cooked a giant feast which chicken was the main course. We had to get the 2 chicken from her neighbor which meant catching them which was an adventure. I had already had a few beers and proceeded with her neighbor’s kids to run around for almost 10 minutes to catch the first one. It was great just running around in my bare foot with the kids laughing like crazy and we tried to catch that dam bird. It was a great African moment for me and I felt free and alive. After we got the first one my buddy John worked on the getting the second one. I carried the first one back with me and John soon joined me with the second one. He and I each killed our respective chicken which entailed my sawing the neck off with a knife I wish was a bit sharper. I was curious to how it would be but it went OK. It was a little weird to be holding his head with eyes blinking while the rest of the chicken was on the ground flapping its wings for maybe 30 seconds. I removed all the feathers and watched a friend gut it for cooking (I had no idea how to do so it was suggested I watch and give it a try at a later date) but I can say I was proud for once to actually kill my food once instead of just waiting for the end product or buy it packaged looking pretty. The feast was great and the day was very festive and although we all missed family it was a blast and a Christmas I will never forget.

Post Christmas 8 of us continued our adventure by taking a little holiday to a place called Ruarwe along the Lake Shore. We left the following morning in the rain and after taking a few buses which took the almost the entire day (transport there is always an interesting adventure in its own) we arrived a small village near the lake in the northern part of the country on a district called Mzuzu. We had no place to stay and it was still raining so we went to a police station and with his help the local minister let us stay at his church. The following morning we set off on a 50 kilometer hike along the lake shore. The hike took 3 days with a lot of pit stops for pictures and swims in the lake. It was beautiful coastal line that had small mountains and reminded me a little of the California. We would just mosey all day and sleep on the beaches at night and cook out. The villages along this area are some of the most remote in country with accessibility only by boat. I can say the Malawians in this are seemed very healthy and obviously even through agriculture is limited in the area they get to enjoy fresh fish everyday which has its benefits. On the 3rd day we were close and the group was moving at different paces my friend Mel and I decided to take a boat the last 15k instead of camping out another night. It was amazing we were on a traditional canoe made out of trees which was extremely heavy and 3 people were paddling. The sun was going down and all along the coastline while lightning bugs were everywhere giving us a show and it was amazing. We made it to the lodge and enjoyed a fine meal and some beers. I stayed for 3 days some stayed for 4 but it was just amazing there. Beautiful beyond words and the lodge owned all the in the cove so it was secluded and so relaxing. There was probably about 20 other ex-pats there from all over Europe and they were all great people. Over the course of the next few days everyone just swam, played on rock slides, jumped off decks and giant rocks in the water which were probably 30 and 40 feet respectively. On New Year’s Eve everyone at the lodge had a giant dinner together and followed by festivities of drinking, dancing, amongst other things. At midnight the bar was cleared and people where doing traditional dances from their European countries on top of it. A few of us stayed up extremely late shed our clothes and went swimming by the moon light (it was a full moon). This also included climbing up that 40 foot rock and having no sense to think twice about any of it as we descended into the water. A new year’s to remember and one of the great trips I have taken in my young life, truly amazing times. The only bummer was at the lodge my IPOD got stolen by a Malawian boy and was never recovered and on the way back down south to my village my camera was stolen and I had such amazing pictures starting from Thanksgiving which I will never get to share with you all. I am trying to recover some of them from friends but I by far took the most pictures of anyone. But what can you do life is too short to worry about little things like but for only a few minutes.

In terms of my everyday life at my village I have been plugging along the past 5 months. This is the farming season so it is a bit harder to get people to spare time for certain projects so the key is to remain patient. Our rain season here in my district as well as the last district in the country south of me has had little rains and too much sun. The farmers have been a bit sad and their yields this year will be smaller than anticipated. This could mean problems this time next year but we shall see. The last 2 to 3 months is considered the hunger season. Most people have finished most of the food from the previous harvest and are awaiting the new crops which will be harvested soon. Money is scarce and food as well so people manage to get by on what little they have which is little to begin with. However their resolve is great and attitudes and demeanor still remain high and people are still smiling everywhere. That is something about Malawians I love is their positive attitude through most things.

I continue to work with my group of women making peanut butter and we have gone through multiple business cycles which is a positive sign. They will never make millions but the money helps and I hope to expand their business to oil making soon. I have started making cooking oil at my home with a boy Joseph who helps me do some work and light chores. I am mastering the machine so I will be able to teach it soon to my ladies. I have been sharing the oil with my neighbor whom I eat lunch and dinner with her and the family. She seems to like it and says it will be marketable in the village so I am hoping for good things soon. I have also taught a second group of women to make peanut butter and a third group has requested the same from me which I will be happy to oblige.

I finally planted my trees with my village sort of. Before I get to the planting part I should say I started by making a fence from thorns. It needed to be 100 meters by 100 meters so it took some time to build. About half I built myself which required going into the bush and cutting limps from thorn trees and dragging them back to the village and stacking them to reach around 3 feet. The second half I had a few friends help me and can say by the time I was done I had scratches all over my legs and arms from the thorns but it was worth it. Getting back to plating the trees I asked for the chief’s help which he assured me would be no problem. The holes which to plant the trees require one to dig 60 centimeters in diameter and likewise in depth. The chief however failed so my neighbor and went out day after day digging a few holes here and there. With little rain the ground was tough and it was hard work lots of blisters etc. After a few days my neighbor went back to his routine of drinking all day and I went at it alone. People started to finally notice me working alone to plant trees for the community and they helped me finish. Since that time I have been manually watering all the trees once a week which means quite of bit of pumping water and transporting it but I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process and these trees are like my babies now. Goats and cows are always trying to find a way in since they like to eat the leaves so I am constantly chasing away them away but unfortunately a few trees have been eaten and needed to be replaced. The grazing of animals in most parts of Africa only adds to the problem of deforestation which is already a huge issue. The either kill or stunt the growth of so many seedlings and it would be avoidable if people would monitor where their livestock go but they just let them loose in the morning and they are everywhere all day. Another notes on trees I got a neighboring chief interested in a certain tree which actually helps raise yields in fields. The term used is agro forestry for trees beneficial fir crops for those who do not know. The tree has nitrogen rich roots and leaves so soon enough I plan on going out with some farmers in their fields after they harvest and plant some trees with them and teach them the benefits among other techniques with the tree that will help.

I continue to give out condoms and just recently hit the 1000 mark which I was somewhat excited about. They have females condoms available here in Africa so I am working on getting a female volunteer to come up and give a training on the soon. My neighbor Lucy has also agreed to distribute them from her house which I am excited about. I would do it myself but women are way too shy in this culture to come see me about such things.

Lastly work wise I fixed the bore hole in my village which had not worked in over five years. It required 2 or 3 trips to Blantyre and me spending a decent amount of my food money to get it going but it was a success. The village was excited and I was stoked to say the least. It will really help our area quite a bit and save a lot of time for the women. We were all going to surrounding villages and the wait was a bit much at times. Now I may wait five minutes at the most which is so very nice you cannot imagine. The agreement I made with the village is that I fix it with my money and soon when people start getting money again from harvesting we are going to institute a tax for those who use it and keep the money towards parts when old ones go bad. Hopefully with this system it can stay operable for years to come even after I am gone.

That pretty much sums up my life. A few quick notes I saw my first snake in my yard but as soon as I got near it slithered away so I have no idea what kind it was. Also my good friend had a baby and asked me to name it. I wanted to name him after my father but they could not pronounce the name Oscar for some reason. It just does not roll off their tongues so we settled on Christopher which is my brother’s name and a fine one at that. I did learn with however that here I in Malawi men do not even escort their wives to the hospital they have a friend take them and once born they are notified and they proceed to go and visit mother and child. Also for the first few days after the women comes home which is usual the next day or same day she is not allowed to bathe in the families bafa(which is where you bathe obviously). My friends wife want to an abandon house and used that bafa until an appropriate time passed and went back to bathing at her home. I asked what the reason was but no one really could give me an answer. Finally they usually do not bring the baby outside once it arrives home for the first week once again no one could explain why but in this case they did break custom and bring young Christopher out so I could see him. Finally my cat died. I am not sure why but he came home and he looked like he lost a cat fight one day but after that he stopped eating. He drank water and managed to hold on for 4 or 5 days before he finally died. I wanted to euthanize him but they really there is no vets here so I thought of drowning him (which other volunteers have done with pets who are suffering because of no other options) but I could not bring myself to do it. I miss the my cat but I now the year I had him he got feed and pet better than he had his entire life so that is about all I can say about that,

I know I wrote a lot and I appreciate everyone who took the time to read this. I will not let this happen again so future entries will be shorter I promise. In May FYI I am taking a 2 week trip with some friends to Mozambique which I am excited for and April 22nd will mark my one year of services for Peace Corps. I hope all is well state sides with everyone and I want to give me Pops a big Happy 64th birthday greeting from Africa. The 26th of March is his big day. I miss you Pops and love you much.
Take care all

Pat

I managed to scrounge up a few pictures and Mom there are a few of me because I know you have requested multiple times that you want to see what I look at
1. The rock slide we played on in Ruware
2. The 4 volunteers who trained the new volunteers for the first week
3. Here you go Mom me in all my glory

The opinions expressed in the blog are solely mine and not representational of the Peace Corps or the United States Government

Happy Thanksgiving

The opinions expressed in the blog are solely mine and not representational of the Peace Corps or the United States Government

Greetings form Malawi everyone and a Happy Thanksgiving to you. Life keeps rolling by here in Africa and it is hard to believe I have been here over 9 months already. I have 17 months left of service and I imagine it will go buy before I know it but as you get older it seems like days and weeks end up being months and years well at least for me that is. So it has been a few months since I last updated you on my life here. I am in the Capital for about a week and a in a few days all the Peace Corps volunteers in the country are assembling at the U.S. Ambassadors house for a thanksgiving cookout. It should be good fun and lots of food. Since my last post which was almost 2 or 3 months back I have been working just trying to get projects rolling along here. I have learned quickly that patience is the key and success comes little by little or as we say here pang’ono by pang’ono. My counterpart and I have been working hard with surrounding villages to try and get tree nursery established in villages. The Malawi Department of Forestry is constantly promoting villages to plant trees since deforestation is such a huge issue here. It is an uphill battle since most Malawians have no electricity and wood is essential for cooking among other things. We have maybe 5 villages right now that I feel confident we can make some progress with. On the average of community tree lot will house between 2000-5000 seedlings which grow in tubes and are transplanted to a permanent field when the rains come in the next month or less. I so far have been given a small plot of land by my chief to plant some trees. I had about a 125 tree seedlings growing in my yard but goats busted through my fence the other day and ate some of them so I am scrambling to get some need seedlings up and going before I miss the rains. That is my main goal with the Department of Forestry but I also am doing things on the side also.

I will soon be starting a condom distribution out of my house with the aim to help prevent the transmission of HIV and unwanted pregnancies. Government hospitals give out free condoms but the closest hospital to me is a private Catholic one which for religious beliefs does not allow contraceptives to be given out. For the record when I say hospitals it is very basic and services are limited. We have local health workers who work for the government but they are a bit apprehensive to give out condoms like they usually do around the country because they work often hand in hand with the Catholic Hospital. So as for me I have no allegiances to the Catholic Church or fear for that matter so I plan on giving out as many condoms as possible 24 hours day 7 days a week. No offense to the Catholics of the world but I finding myself wanting to go on a rant about these types of beliefs in a Third World country which suffers a massive HIV problem and food security issues due to huge populations. I digress now but in my opinion one should never take sex advice from one who does not participate in sex no disrespect to the Pope. We all know condoms suck but they serve a purpose to all of humanity.

I also have been working with a women’s group teaching them to make peanut butter. It has been a fun process and I have enjoyed working with the women. They have great energy and laugh a lot. They have been very appreciative towards me and often sing songs for me and dance after we are done meetings or making peanut butter. I hope to work with these women on a few different projects in the next 18 months. The sales of peanut butter can give them small profit margins but the extra money may allow for a healthier diet or even help go towards their children’s school fees. Up to 8th grade is free here and after that they must pay for the final 4 years which unfortunately a lot of families cannot afford. In the coming weeks I am going to teach them how to make cooking oil out of local seeds such as sesame and sunflowers along with peanut oil which should be fun.

My last big project I am working on for the time being is to fix the bore hole in my village which has been broken for years now. Most all of us go to a neighboring villages bore hole to water or during the rainy season people go to the river to get water. Lately the water is coming out at a very slow rate due to the dry season water table and at times I need to wait 45-60 minutes for a bucket or two of water but I just sit in the shade under nearby trees and read while I wait. It actually is nice at times and relaxing. Hopefully however all that will change if I can get grant money to fix our village bore hole I am keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

In October I got a do a game count at a park called Lengwe National Park which is about a 2.5 hour bike ride from my village (I try and ride my bike everywhere). It was a fun 3 days of camping and each day I was paired with people who work with the park for two three hours shifts of counting game in small shacks by watering holes in the park. The game at this park is not like one would expect in Africa. No lions, elephants, zebras, and etc. but it did have baboons, impala, wart hogs, nyala, and some other beautiful creatures. It was great times and very relaxing and when we were on breaks we got to swim in a pool at the park which is nice. It was in the dead of summer and the temperatures near or above 100 daily in my area. The only hiccup I had was one I first got there I put down a few bags to go and say hi to friends and some monkeys stole some of my food but I actually thought that was kind of funny.

Recently I took for my first and second trip to Lake Malawi to visit some friends who live near the lake. It was great I got there late in the evening the first night and a few of us drank a couple of beers and they showed me the lake and we did a little night swimming minus our clothes and I felt as free as could be. I spent a few days with different friends and the lake life is nice. You swim all the time, you take your soap and wash in the lake, you do your laundry in the lake, clean your dishes, and I am sure you get the idea. The lake is beautiful and I look forward to many more adventure along the way. The second trip was near Halloween and I was at a beautiful little rustic and remote lodge that had an island near it that was swimmable and uninhabited. The only bummer was I had a nasty foot infection that I am still dealing with. A beautiful German doctor happened to be staying and took a look at my foot and did some impromptu work for me. She wanted to cut me open but we did not have a scalpel available fortunately but she cleaned me up good and gave me a nifty pair of socks to wear over my bad foot. She was 31 beautiful and unmarried but I was too concerned about my foot to realize what I had in front of me. I could not swim that weekend but my friends pushed me on a tube to the island which you will see in my pictures. It was a blast and I do not think I could ever get tired of the lake. A group of us are already planning to spend Christmas up at the lake which should be a blast.

Culturally I have also learned some more about Malawi. I recently was with a friend and a good size snake had gotten into his chicken coup. A group flushed the snake out and beat it to death which I knew had to be done but I felt bad for the snake. After it was dead I was picking it up and examining it and trying to see what kind of snake it was and they thought I was weird for picking it up. I never did figure out what it was and they did not know either. However they told me they always have to chop a snakes head off after killing it because if they did not it would come back to life and return to the place where it was killed. I could not stop laughing but they kept telling me it was true. Anyhow I am told once the rains start I should be prepared to see snakes a lot more often which to me seems exciting even though we do have some very poisonous snakes around us. I am also told by many people that witch craft is real and is very prevalent in Malawi. I even ask very educated people and they believe the same it is crazy. They claim witches (men or women) can fly, change people into crocodiles and hyenas, cast spells, among many other things. I tell my close friends that they are nuts and I have told them if they know any witches I openly challenge them to cast a spell on me or turn me into a crocodile. If someone is accused of being a witch it can be very difficult for that person. They police or village will search their homes and if evidence is found they can be arrested, beat, or even banned from the village. It has not happened in my area and I only know of one volunteer who has seen a trial of some sorts so it does not happen often. I however cannot help but laugh a bit because whenever it is talked about I think to the scenes from Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail. I should probably be more culturally sensitive. I also become aware that Malawians have no sense of time. Whenever I have a meeting I bring a book or something to read. If you say 8 a.m. people if you are lucky may show up at half 8, maybe 9, or even 10 this is just the way it goes here in Africa. I have always been very punctual thanks to my Dad (sorry Mom you are always late) but I have just learned to roll with it hear. Other cultural notes o interests are that when you shake hands a good amount of people will grab their right wrist with their right hand. This goes way back to early tribal days and it is to let the person know you come in peace and carry no weapon in hand.

Lastly we finally got our first rain storm in months here. It was beautiful and many of the children in the village got naked and ran around and played in it. It was so much fun just watching them but after the rain left humidity game and we had 3 or 4 days which were incredibly hot. In the morning I would have salt on my sheets from sweating so much and it was quite a bit of fun. The real rains are due soon and with them some relief in our triple digit temperatures. I am told by mid December the daily rains will be here and the world of green will start to come to life.
So once again I hope all is well with everyone in the states if anyone has any exciting news from their lives please e-mail me so I can keep up on major life events. I am unhappy to also say the my Phillies lost in world series do the Evil Empire of New York Yanks but two years in a row in the series is pretty impressive. I love and miss everyone. Take care your friend Pat

Pictures
The monkeys eating my rice at Lengwe
The view from our game count hut
Me with my killer socks floating in Lake Malawi
The women's group I am working with near my village
Taking a walk with my friends as they show me their dimba gardens


The opinions expressed in the blog are solely mine and not representational of the Peace Corps or the United States Government

Life is good

The opinions expressed in the blog are solely mine and not representational of the Peace Corps or the United States Government

Hello all,
I hope all is well with everyone in the states. Life here in Malawi is quite fine. I have just finished up our IST training. As I have mentioned before the first 3 months is all about community integration but now post training is when they want us to start working on project in our village and surrounding areas. The IST training was 2 weeks but we learned a lot of great things and our counterparts also come for five days. Some of the things I learned was how to make peanut oil, peanut butter, making soap, we built a mushroom and were taught how to grow mushrooms, jam making, HIV training, safe water training, and how to graft different species of trees to reduce the time fruit trees take to bud. We also went to one of the few museums the country has which was amazing. It was all about the cultures of the different tribes in Malawi. Everyone is excited and ready to go back and see what we can do to help our community members.

Also I am extremely happy that after going 2 months without a place to go the bathroom due to my previous hole in the ground collapsing I have a new chim as we call it. It was interesting going 2 months with no chim and using friends and some other interesting means when nature called. My neighbor and I upgraded to a cement floor which is nice but the actual structure is made from mud bricks and we used mud to secure the bricks in place. Right now it has no roof we are still working on that but it is the dry season and I enjoy the free feeling of having no roof and staring up into the sky while I do my business. Our summer is coming soon and October is the hottest time of year but supposedly I will start to feel the effects of living in the hottest are of Malawi any day now. I am preparing a place outside to sleep for the next 3 to 4 months and trying to figure out how to hang a mosquito net using whatever means possible. I have officially lost 10 pounds already. I have an active life, low fat diet, and do not par take in my normal joy of drinking fine beers so I am feeling very healthy for the most part. I think soon after I get back to site I am going to get a few baby hens and raise them and enjoy their eggs when they get to that point. Also now that my fence is built I have been working on beds where I will be planting vegetables once the rains come. I have been working hard on nursing my soil back to health by setting up compost piles all around my yard.

Other than that I am just enjoying day to day life. When I leave my village for training and other reasons it is to the point now where I miss my village and I get excited to go back. My house and village are really starting to feel like home which is a nice thing by all means. So I put just a few cultural notes down below and as I lean more I will keep updating everyone. Take care all good times to you all

PS-I have changed my e-mail address and I now can be reached at patrickseanphillips@gmail.com I still will check my old one at times but please try and use this when contacting me in the future

Cultural notes
· Nose picking is completely accepted here and public. Many times I will be talking to people and they just start digging away. It is hilarious but I respect their openness about it
· Men and women do not show any signs of public affection at all but women and men who are friends hold hands often. It is a sign of friendship and a few people who I have gotten to be good friends with will take my hand at times when we are walking together. It is just the culture of Malawi and was no big deal for me but it is very different.
· Once a women has a child her breast are considered public. Women are always dressed from the top up here but they breast feed anywhere at any time. I will be in the middle of conversation with a woman, buying vegetables, or anything and they just expose their breast and go for it. They often forget to put said breast away when done. I am also impressed at how they can do it while multi tasking. I have seen them riding bikes while doing it, carrying a 15 pound bail of water on their head, picking vegetables, or just about anything.
· Dress wise men almost always wear collared shirts even when they do manual labor like farming. Women always wear a skirt like thing called a chitenje which they tie around their waste. It was illegal for women to wear pants in Malawi until the law was changed in 1994 but you rarely see women wear pants only in large cities.
· Also everyone here thinks grass is dirty so they sweep their front yards everyday so it results in compact dirt yards with no vegetation. It is terrible for soil erosion and makes things dusty.
· Monogamy seems to be a foreign concept in the country for the most parts. Going along with that polygamy is legal and there are a decent percentage of men with multiple wives
· Homosexuality is illegal


Pictures
The first one is me making peanut butter
The second one is my buddy John in the process of making soap
A carving I saw one day roaming around
My neighbor Haswell working on our chim

The opinions expressed in the blog are solely mine and not representational of the Peace Corps or the United States Government

GREETINGS FROM EARTH

The opinions expressed in the blog are solely mine and not representational of the Peace Corps or the United States Government
Greetings from earth everyone,
I am in writing again as I make my way back from Lilongwe (the Capital) from a week long trip. Every able bodied American was invited to the Ambassador’s home for a 4th of July barbecue (Malawi’s independence days is July 6th for the record). His home, for the record, is unbelievable and it felt like I was back in America for a few hours. We got to eat hot dogs and hamburgers, drink beer, and be Americans for a day. The ambassador read Obama’s 4th speech which got the crowd really excited especially the Peace Corps crowd since he is very supportive of our organization. It is the first time in a few months that I got to see all my friends that I went through training with and I had a chance to meet almost all Peace Corps volunteers in country along with other Americans in country doing different types of work. Also I hitched back to Blantyre with 2 friends on Sunday the 5th. Hitching here is pretty common and every time it seems to be a new adventure. This particular ride scored me a bunch of African music I downloaded from the driver and also a sing-along of Michael Jackson’s ‘It doesn’t matter if you are black or white ‘. I have officially been at my village Misomali (which I found out translates to "small nails" for 2 months.
It has been a pretty good few first months. First off Malawi had a successful and peaceful election and the current president was reelected in a fairly convincing fashion. It was fun to be around to see another country go through the process. The president reelect has really re energized the nation with development and the Malawi’s people seem really positive about the future or at least the next five years which is how long his term will last. So as for me the Peace Corps does not really want us initiating any projects until after our 90 day training session which is next month. So the first few months I have been moving around with my assigned counterpart for the Malawi forestry department Mr. Phillimon getting a tour of all the villages in the area we will be working with. I have been introduced to many Chiefs and other village leaders who will hopefully being doing different projects with. I have been only working with him a few hours each morning and afterwards the rest of the day I have been meeting and chatting with many people in the village and just exploring. My Chichewa is slowly getting better, but many people speak English so I am always able to get by in one language or another. I have read a ton of books the Peace Corps has given me and on quite a few books other books for personal entertainment. With no TV or many other entertainment reading books has become something I have come to enjoy more than ever.
I enjoy the day to day life here. I get up between 5 and 6 a.m. everyday and I am in bed by 8 p.m. every night. I am exhausted by the day’s end and with no electricity to give me mindless entertainment such as TV or movies combined with all the movement and exercise I get all day I am staying up until 8 p.m. is about all I can manage. The village has been very good to me and I have made a good many friends. I have joined a men’s soccer team which practices a few time a week and plays games against other villages every 2 or 3 weeks. It has been a ton of fun but the training is a lot of hard work. I have never been a big soccer fan, but I am finding I really enjoy playing. In the first game I played about 20 minutes and when I entered the game people watching went crazy yelling Azungu. That is a name I am called many times a day and it is what they many people call white people in the country. It is not negative by any means and I have learned to get used to it very quick but many people do call me by Pat or Patrick. The second game I got knocked out by an elbow and fore arm to the jaw and temple. I was down for about 20-30 seconds before they pulled me up off the ground and slapped my head and face to get me to come to. After I got my bearings I was told I saved us from being scored on. I was dazed and my ears were ringing, but I refused to come out until it was halftime. My ears rang for hours, my jaw hurt for a week, and I trouble eating the first few days after but I earned my teams respect that day which made it all worth it.
I also went to my first funeral. Culturally everyone goes to funerals for people in their villages. It was quite a day. It started with me going with a friend to give condolences to the family as well as a financial donation to help with the cost of the burial. Men and women sit in separate areas at the family’s home and the body is in the home. Only close family and all women go and view the body. After we spoke to the family we went to the graveyard (which is sacred and not gone into without permission from the Chief) where a good many men chat and dig the hole together where the body will be laid to rest per say. After we watched the hole get dug (I did not help even though if I wanted I am sure I could have) everyone goes back to the family’s home so the coffin can be taken to the grave site. This was a sad day indeed and the person who died was only a 25 year old young man who was HIV positive and died from such complications but…….as everyone assembled and the body was getting ready to be brought out so a people could say some words before we walked the coffin to the graveyard. I happened to be one a few people who was given a chair and I was sitting with all the chiefs from my own and other local villages I happened to move to greet a friend and I was partially on a hill and the chair was not in good shape and lo and behold I fell over. I had on nice clothes and they were very dirty and everyone was trying to clean me off. All eyes were staring at me and I could not help but smile and laugh a bit even though it was in appropriate. As I was giggling at myself I looked over at all the chiefs and they were laughing at and with me. We all quickly regained our composer and things continued. It was a unique experience but a funeral is still a funeral and to be at a funeral with where a 25 year old is being buried is a sad.
I have been trying to do everything possible like going to funerals among other things to let people know I want to be a part or their culture here in Malawi. I also have been attending 3 different denominations of Christianity Catholic, Presbyterian, and Seventh Day Adventist. For those of you who know me this is probably a bit shocking. I am not a very religious person to put it kindly. But as Richard Dawkins may say it is tribal and for me it is a good way to meet a greet many people (by coincidence I just finished his book the God Theory). The Catholic service has live drumming during hymns which I enjoy a lot. The first time I went to the Catholic service the priest in mid service introduced me to the entire congregation and switched over to English for about 10 minutes to give me a brief synopsis of the sermon that day. I appreciated the nice gesture but I was a bit embarrassed to the say the least. Overall I do not mind going for a few hours every Sunday. I enjoy the music and since I am still learning the language I understand little of what is going on so I just go inside my head for a few hours and just relax (for the record women sit on one side and men the other at all 3 churches). Also to note I recently had lunch with the 2 Catholic priests who live in my village and they served me goat intestines and goats blood (they cook it in some way to solidify the blood). That is my only new food adventure since my last post. I keep being asked by people to try mice which they say is very good so I imagine it is only a matter of time.
Other parts of my spare time have been spent working on my home. I hired so 2 men to build me a fence so I can grow some food and plant some tree seedlings. Without a fence, goats and cows which roam free often in my village would eat everything. I wanted to help so I worked with them on most days. It was quite a job. It required the 3 of us to go twice a day about 1 kilometer from my home to where there is a river to cut reeds down. They grow in the moist soil where the river has receded due to the dry season. We would cut reeds for a few hours which may seem simple but they are covered with thorns. I got cut, scratched, and pricked more times that I could count. The 2 men I worked with spoke little English and since I speak little Chichewa our conversations were limited. However, by the end I learned the Chichewa word for thorn is mwina and by my constant use of a four letter word that begins with the letter F they think the English word for thorn is well you can figure it out. So needless to say after we bundled up the reeds into three bundles we carried them back on our head which is the common way to carry things here. They weighed somewhere between 25-35 pounds and it was quite a journey twice a day. People were shocked to see me doing such work but they were impressed. It is funny most people here think Americans never do hard labor but I try and convince them we do such things in the U.S. but I am not sure they believe me. On that note also my neighbor and I just finished digging a fairly big hole to build our new toilet. Recently on a trip out to my pit latrine I stepped inside and the floor gave. Luckily I pulled back in time or I would have fell 2 meters into a pool of foul unpleasantness.
Things are well and I am enjoying and having fun. I look forward to starting my real work soon but for now I am enjoying my spare time and trying to take advantage. Also the 4th of July was the first time I had a beer in two months. People do drink local beer at the village but I do not want to get involved with beer unless I am with other volunteers at a major city. It has felt great to not drink and my body I feel has been thanking me and I have lost 6 pounds. I eat a good bit at sight but it is low fat and high in carbohydrates so I burn them pretty quick. I am curious to see what my weight will be after 2 years. I have also started taking care of a cat my neighbor owns. I have named him Karl in honor of the volunteer I have replaced. Animals here in Malawi are not treated to well. The dogs will not even come near me. Most are not fed to well and people kick them, throw rocks, and etc. It is hard for me to get used to but it is something I will have to learn to live with. I do however enjoy seeing all the goats, cows, chickens, and guinea fowls around my village. They often hang outside my house and I just sit and watch them and my neighbors and friends think I am crazy. All the animals hear get along well for some reason and never bother each other.
Well I feel I am rambling so I bid you a fond farewell. I wish all a happy 4th of July to everyone in the states. Take care all and my good times and smiles be upon you Also for those of you who have asked about my number it is 011 265 884932509
Explanations of pictures
Malawian’s in line for voting
A typical view from my window
Some of the reeds we cut and carried on our heads. We ended up needing over 40 bundles
Working on the fence
Karl the cat hanging out with a chicken
The opinions expressed in the blog are solely mine and not representational of the Peace Corps or the United States Government