The opinions expressed in the blog are solely mine and not representational of the Peace Corps or the United States Government
Hello all and greetings from Africa. Sorry I have taken so long to update this blog but it has not been my fault. The first 2 months is intense training and we were kept away from phones and the internet. We (19 of us) arrived on February 22, 2009 and were swept away to a District called Dedza and we spent the first week at a college for forestry and wildlife. We had a ton of fun getting to know each other, being introduced to the food, culture, and people of Malawi. We have a really good group of diverse people from all over. I have enjoyed getting to know everyone and hearing their life stories. I am sure as time goes on I will talk about them individually a bit more. After the initial week of training they split the group in half and we were taken to 2 villages where we were each adopted by a host family which we lived with for a month. During the days we trained from dusk till dawn and nights we spent sharing life and culture with our families. When we arrived at the host village all the host families were singing traditional songs and dancing which was incredible and for many of us took our breath away. The village my half of the group stayed in was name was Mzengereza (which translates in English to village of dilly dallying) and my family’s name was the Kambatata’s (which translates to small potatoes). My amayi and abambo which means mom and dad were amazing people and they had 5 kids who were all great. The youngest which you will see in my pictures was terrified of me at first since she had never seen a white person before but by the end loved being held and played with me. I played with my brothers and sisters all the time. We climbed trees, I taught them how to do handstands, played frisbee, and taught them to throw an American football (both Frisbee and an American football were the first time they had seen or played with them). My Amayi was the Chiefs daughter and the Chief himself was always over to chat with me. He spoke English and helped me to learn some Chichewa along with everyone else in the village. Life in the village was just amazing. Everyone in the village was great to us and we treated like family by all. The village was right by mountains and you take paths to walk everywhere. The entire village farms so fields are everywhere and cows, goats, chickens, and whatever roam free all the time. I walked around smiling constantly. People love kung fu movies in this country and I have been called Chuck Norris so many times by kids and adults. It makes me laugh every time. Besides language/culture training we were also given training in technical things such as making stoves from mud, irrigation projects, and my favorite bee keeping. I got to put on a suit and help to harvest honey. What an experience having hundreds of bees all around. The only bad part was my ankle got exposed and I got stung four times but it really did not hurt that much at all. All the trainers here for the Peace Corps are amazing. They work so hard to help us and without them I have no idea how are transition would have been. After a month with our families we were sent to visit our sites but before we left the village threw a farewell celebration. It was AMAZING with all the traditional singing and dancing. A secret society of dancers even showed up in custom. The spirits were summoned before they game and their arrival was just crazy to see. I felt as if I were watching the National Geographic channel but this time I experienced it live and direct. The dancers took a particular liking to 2 of us including me and keep getting very close to us. We were both red haired guys so maybe we are exotic to them more than the usual white person. We were all sad to leave but it is just part of the training experience. So as said we went and visited our sites for a week. I am going to be located in the Chikwawa district and in the village of Misomali. This area is in the deep southwest portion of Malawi. Only one other volunteer besides me is heading south and the rest are going to be in the central and north. My village is between Lengwe National Park and Majete Game Reserve and I will be working with the forestry department for 2 years. I am excited for my site but I will be living in one of the hottest areas of Malawi and I have been told I will most likely sleep outside for around 8 months out of the year it is so hot with temperatures getting as high as 110-115 often in the summer. I am excited it should be a wild experience. After site visit we were shipped off for a week straight of language intensive training and on the last Saturday the 18th we all had to take a test. It is called the LPI (Language Proficiency Interview) which was set up by the US Government to evaluate language skills across many different government organizations. You get 2 chances to pass it in the Peace Corps and supposedly if you do not pass you are sent home. I am not sure if they would really do it but no matter I scored at the level of advance mid which I was stoked about. After testing we are all back in Lilongwe which is the capital and on April 22nd Earth Day we swore in as volunteers. The ambassador of the U.S. along with many other important people in the country was in attendance. We were all so excited and after a mighty feast and that nigh all the environmental volunteers in country got to celebrate which included the countries only beer really available which is Carlsberg. The next day we were driven to our sites and are dropped off and now we are on our own and we have 2 years to try and institute some positive change. It has been quite a 2 month whirlwind but it has been amazing. Malawi is a beautiful country and its people are some of the nicest I have ever met. They call this place the Warm Heart of Africa and it is not a tourist slogan it is the truth. I have felt comfortable since the moment I have landed. I know this is one of the poorest countries in the world but it does not seem like it. People spirits are high and I could not imagine myself anywhere else in the world right now. Some days when I am walking around I kind of have to pinch myself to realize I am living in a village in Africa. It seems crazy when I think about it and when I don’t it just seems like everyday life just somewhere new. I miss friends and family but that is to be expected. On a food note for you are curious I have eaten some fun stuff since I have been here. I have eaten a dove, lots of goat (which I am not too crazy about), guinea fowl, termites, caterpillars, and leaves from just about every tree and plat it seems like. From this point forward I will be updated things about once a month so I hope you find these posts somewhat interesting. I hope all is well for everyone back in the states. I still have so much I want to say but time is limited so I will hopefully sometime soon I can do this again. I hope life is well for everyone it surely is hear for me. Next time around I will talk about my village, show you some pictures of my house, and just give some cultural notes of things I have observed which should hopefully be of interest to you all. I miss all of you but like I said I could not imagine being anywhere else at this time.
Pat
Explanation of pictures in order
1. The 19 of us along with the U.S. Ambassador in Malawi. He is really great down to earth man.
2. A view of my homes stay village Mzengereza
3. My friend Joel and I suited up for honey harvesting
4. A dancer from the secret society I mentioned in his traditional custom
5. My host family including the family dog Tiger
6. A small monkey from one of the two parks I am sandwiched in between Lengwe National Park
7. Me learning to rock climb. One of the guys I have gotten close to is the one they sent South with me and he is teaching me to rock climb. His name is John and he is about 2 hours from me and is located at the base of Malawi’s biggest mountain Mulanje. Should be some fun adventures ahead for the two of us.
The opinions expressed in the blog are solely mine and not representational of the Peace Corps or the United States Government
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