First order of business:
Our address here (through Catherine) is:
c/o Mrs. C. Gondwe
Community Development Office
PO Box 908
Lilongwe, Malawi
Africa
and our cell phone number is
09 626 260
Calling from out of the country, you dial something like 265 and drop the "0" from the beginning of our number.
Second:
Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
Alexandra grew up in Africa and writes about her crazy childhood in the bush!
Third:
An email from our friend John, who has been living in Tanzania all this year:
I'm really going to miss it here. No more chai and chapatis in the morning, no more jammed daladalas (mini-buses used for transportation), no more of my Tanzanian dad's rants about how bad an idea the East African Union is. I guess I'll have to get used to not being greeted by almost everybody I pass, not being able to see so many stars at night, and not making kids cry just by walking into a room. Most of all, I think I'll just miss my friends. I've spent six and a half months being levelled by the beauty and difficulty of life here. I hope that doesn't sound too cliche or prepared, it's the best I can put it right now.
My time here has been fantastic...I'll see you on the other side.
-Rachel
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
The Crisis Nursery
These pictures are from the very first time we went to the crisis nursery. I cannot remember who the top baby is, but the bottom picture is Fiyuni. Fiyuni is 18 months old and not yet walking. Despite this, he is interactive, playful, and smart! And a physical therapist is working with him. I was a bit worried that maybe babies in such an environment all have trouble with physical milestones like walking, since they do not get as much attention as a family with just one baby. However, there are other babies there who are standing up.
Saturday morning we attended the hospital ground-breaking with Don, Mary, and Willy, a cousin of Marjorie's late husband. Willy is a writer whose experience spans from press secretary for the previous president to published poetry and novels to sports writer for a Malawian newspaper. He was imprisoned for 8 months in the early 1980's for his writing. He offered to take us to a wedding in the fall so we can see more Malawian culture.
His Excellency, Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, the current president, was also in attendance. The hospital is going to be named after his late wife, who died in May. The project is funded by Thom Hunter, a Scottish man who is affiliated with Bill Clinton through Hunter Foundations. The hospital wing is going to be for ob/gyn--the site is very close to Kamuzu Central Hospital, so more women (than now) will be able to be near the main facility when giving birth.
The ceremony was interesting. Groups of women sang and danced. We sat right beside the Malawi Police Band, which played the National Anthem twice. Mr. Hunter, Marjorie (as the Minister of Health), and the president all gave speeches. During His Excellency's address, the women stood up, singing and dancing again. The president thanked the women and continued speaking. Later I asked Willy about the interruption. There were several reasons for it: one, the women were praising the president. Willy said, "Also, when a person speaks for a long time, he might need a break. When those women sang, it gave the president a chance to rest for a bit before resuming his speech." Of course, as Americans, Mary and I both thought perhaps the women were being rude. I think it is fascinating, that cultures can be so different.
After the ceremony, I got to meet Mercedes and her husband, who Adam knows through Bwaila. The US Ambassador was also there, at whose house we celebrated July 4th. And Don met the Minister of Women and Child Development. Don introduced me as a "child development specialist," so the MP suggested (without commitment) that we get together sometime.
The program later in the afternoon was in honor of Nancy Dimmock, who helped found the Crisis Nursery, and Fletcher M, who founded the Ministry of Hope. We sang some songs together and heard testimonies from a young man who attends the feeding program set up by Fletcher, a parent who is fostering (to adopt) a girl from the nursery, and a woman whose orphaned grandchild was taken care of until the grandmother could take care of the child. When Nancy Dimmock spoke, she mentioned that she was merely an aid to Fletcher, stressing that the Ministry of Hope was initiated at the grassroots level by a Malawian, not an expatriate.
After the Ministry of Hope program, I got to talk to William, one of the men who helps out at the Youth Care Center we visited the last day of the Transformational Journey. I am going to the center Monday to see if I can help tutor the boys there. The young men who live there were taken off the street and put into the home (which they keep spotless) to be caught up on schooling so they can attend secondary school. I think that sometimes teaching English seems imperialistic--the more people who speak my language, the better the situation for me. However, in order to go to secondary school, students must know English. So I sincerely feel like I can help these boys a bit, not just barge in and assume that English is the best and most important language.
I wrote that on Sunday.
Monday I went to the Youth Care Ministries. There are eight boys there, ranging from 10 years to 15 years. I just basically observed and hung out with the boys. The way one of them speaks, very deliberately, reminds me of Hannes (Vogl, one of my housemates from Chicago). At two o'clock I went to the after school program which Youth Care Ministries started. There are about sixty kids, and they sing songs, have a Bible lesson, and play games. I think they also eat dinner, but I left before that. A couple of the younger boys from the Youth Care Home went with me to the after school program, and by the time we were playing games, Allan was holding my hand. Okay, I will definitely be going back there.
Today I went to KASO with some of the GAIA people and the doctors who are here to do the palliative care project. (I forgot to update you on that--we are not going to participate in that project.) I stayed at KASO until noon. The kids there are so dirty and ragged and wonderful. I will definitely go back there as well (and now that I know how to find it via minibus!). I took a minibus away from KASO and got in the front seat--ahh, that was comfortable!
Tonight is a dinner in honor of Dr. Grigsby (with the pain care project) and Marjorie. I think it will be huge--Don and Mary have invited a lot of people.
We have been able to speak to three out of our four parents for a respectable amount of time (and a couple of times I had a one or two minute conversation with my mom). We also got to talk to Jing, the almost-four-year-old! We miss you guys! Do you want to come visit for the weekend?
-Rachel
His Excellency, Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, the current president, was also in attendance. The hospital is going to be named after his late wife, who died in May. The project is funded by Thom Hunter, a Scottish man who is affiliated with Bill Clinton through Hunter Foundations. The hospital wing is going to be for ob/gyn--the site is very close to Kamuzu Central Hospital, so more women (than now) will be able to be near the main facility when giving birth.
The ceremony was interesting. Groups of women sang and danced. We sat right beside the Malawi Police Band, which played the National Anthem twice. Mr. Hunter, Marjorie (as the Minister of Health), and the president all gave speeches. During His Excellency's address, the women stood up, singing and dancing again. The president thanked the women and continued speaking. Later I asked Willy about the interruption. There were several reasons for it: one, the women were praising the president. Willy said, "Also, when a person speaks for a long time, he might need a break. When those women sang, it gave the president a chance to rest for a bit before resuming his speech." Of course, as Americans, Mary and I both thought perhaps the women were being rude. I think it is fascinating, that cultures can be so different.
After the ceremony, I got to meet Mercedes and her husband, who Adam knows through Bwaila. The US Ambassador was also there, at whose house we celebrated July 4th. And Don met the Minister of Women and Child Development. Don introduced me as a "child development specialist," so the MP suggested (without commitment) that we get together sometime.
The program later in the afternoon was in honor of Nancy Dimmock, who helped found the Crisis Nursery, and Fletcher M, who founded the Ministry of Hope. We sang some songs together and heard testimonies from a young man who attends the feeding program set up by Fletcher, a parent who is fostering (to adopt) a girl from the nursery, and a woman whose orphaned grandchild was taken care of until the grandmother could take care of the child. When Nancy Dimmock spoke, she mentioned that she was merely an aid to Fletcher, stressing that the Ministry of Hope was initiated at the grassroots level by a Malawian, not an expatriate.
After the Ministry of Hope program, I got to talk to William, one of the men who helps out at the Youth Care Center we visited the last day of the Transformational Journey. I am going to the center Monday to see if I can help tutor the boys there. The young men who live there were taken off the street and put into the home (which they keep spotless) to be caught up on schooling so they can attend secondary school. I think that sometimes teaching English seems imperialistic--the more people who speak my language, the better the situation for me. However, in order to go to secondary school, students must know English. So I sincerely feel like I can help these boys a bit, not just barge in and assume that English is the best and most important language.
I wrote that on Sunday.
Monday I went to the Youth Care Ministries. There are eight boys there, ranging from 10 years to 15 years. I just basically observed and hung out with the boys. The way one of them speaks, very deliberately, reminds me of Hannes (Vogl, one of my housemates from Chicago). At two o'clock I went to the after school program which Youth Care Ministries started. There are about sixty kids, and they sing songs, have a Bible lesson, and play games. I think they also eat dinner, but I left before that. A couple of the younger boys from the Youth Care Home went with me to the after school program, and by the time we were playing games, Allan was holding my hand. Okay, I will definitely be going back there.
Today I went to KASO with some of the GAIA people and the doctors who are here to do the palliative care project. (I forgot to update you on that--we are not going to participate in that project.) I stayed at KASO until noon. The kids there are so dirty and ragged and wonderful. I will definitely go back there as well (and now that I know how to find it via minibus!). I took a minibus away from KASO and got in the front seat--ahh, that was comfortable!
Tonight is a dinner in honor of Dr. Grigsby (with the pain care project) and Marjorie. I think it will be huge--Don and Mary have invited a lot of people.
We have been able to speak to three out of our four parents for a respectable amount of time (and a couple of times I had a one or two minute conversation with my mom). We also got to talk to Jing, the almost-four-year-old! We miss you guys! Do you want to come visit for the weekend?
-Rachel
Friday, July 20, 2007
The first picture is Edward. Is he not beautiful?! The second is the Gondwe family: Jessie (sp?)--Luzu's older sister, Joseph--nephew, Luzu, Charity, and Catherine. Doris was already at school when we took the picture. The third is Catherine making us donuts for breakfast--yum! That was a week ago or so, but we had donuts today as well. The next picture is Catherine making peanut flour for a delicious dish, the name of which I cannot remember. The last one is me at SASO.
I do not know if any of my Oyster family reads this, but Happy Birthday to my Grandma Lois! I know that my mom can pass on the greeting for me! (hint, hint)
This weekend we have some events planned through Don and Mary (of course). Tomorrow is a ground-breaking ceremony for a hospital, to which the Minister of Health invited us all. I am pretty sure the Malawian president will be there. The other thing, the event about which I know more, is a program honoring Nancy Dimmock, the woman who started the Crisis Nursery where I have been volunteering. The times of the events might conflict, so maybe we will go to just one of them.
I love going to the Crisis Nursery. I even had a dream about some of them Wednesday night! I did not get to go yesterday (Thursday), and I really missed the babies. There is a baby named Chinsinsi (Cheen-seen-see) with whom I have bonded a bit. Today I got to hold Miriam (whose twin brother is Moses)--she was so content and lovely!
-Rachel
PS Sorry if this post turns out looking really weird--I had some issues while copying the pictures and typing!
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
I cannot remember exactly what I wrote in the last post--we are at an internet cafe in Lilongwe. So you might read some information I have already provided.
Let's see. We are indeed staying at Luzu's house until we leave Malawi in September. The Gondwes live in an area called Likuni, which is 7 or 8K (or so) outside of the city. We walked the trek with Charity one day last week and treated ourselves to lunch at Mamma Mia's (an Italian restaurant) afterward. It took us two hours to walk into the heart of the city! Fortunately the sky was overcast that day, so the weather was cool. And Charity was great company. She left Sunday to go back to boarding school.
On Friday (July 13th) we renewed our visas. The immigration officer extended our visas until September (!)...13th and 15th (for Adam and me, respectively). Our planned departure date? September 20th! So we have to write a letter to the immigration office pleading for them to extend our visas for one more week. Don and Mary's visas were extended for a month, which is what they need.
Saturday we went back to Salima AIDS Support Organization (SASO) with Don and Mary. We were there exactly four weeks earlier with the transformational journey group. This time we met a four-and-a-half-year old named Edward who is dear to the hearts of some Americans who visited two years ago. Edward is a simply radiant child who is HIV+. His parents died in 2002 and 2003, so he currently lives with his aunt. He is so sweet and charming! The American lady who met him two years ago was concerned that he was not getting ARVs due to the distance from Lilongwe to Salima (100k, about 60 miles). This woman's church raises money to bring the required staff members and medicine to Salima from Lilongwe.
Yesterday we tried to take a minibus to KASO, where I can volunteer in the mornings. However, we did not recognize where to get off of the minibus, so we rode the route all the way back to town--squished in a van with 18 other people. It feels good to walk after being in a minibus for an hour or more! After that we ran into Don and Mary, who drove us to the Crisis Nursery. There was a group of people there from California, so every baby was taken care of! Adam and I shared a baby and talked with Leah, a girl from North Carolina, whose father is an old friend of Nancy Demmick (sp?), an American who started the crisis nursery.
Today we are also going back to the crisis nursery. Adam will go to Bwaila Hospital tomorrow, but I will let him write about that!
-Rachel
Let's see. We are indeed staying at Luzu's house until we leave Malawi in September. The Gondwes live in an area called Likuni, which is 7 or 8K (or so) outside of the city. We walked the trek with Charity one day last week and treated ourselves to lunch at Mamma Mia's (an Italian restaurant) afterward. It took us two hours to walk into the heart of the city! Fortunately the sky was overcast that day, so the weather was cool. And Charity was great company. She left Sunday to go back to boarding school.
On Friday (July 13th) we renewed our visas. The immigration officer extended our visas until September (!)...13th and 15th (for Adam and me, respectively). Our planned departure date? September 20th! So we have to write a letter to the immigration office pleading for them to extend our visas for one more week. Don and Mary's visas were extended for a month, which is what they need.
Saturday we went back to Salima AIDS Support Organization (SASO) with Don and Mary. We were there exactly four weeks earlier with the transformational journey group. This time we met a four-and-a-half-year old named Edward who is dear to the hearts of some Americans who visited two years ago. Edward is a simply radiant child who is HIV+. His parents died in 2002 and 2003, so he currently lives with his aunt. He is so sweet and charming! The American lady who met him two years ago was concerned that he was not getting ARVs due to the distance from Lilongwe to Salima (100k, about 60 miles). This woman's church raises money to bring the required staff members and medicine to Salima from Lilongwe.
Yesterday we tried to take a minibus to KASO, where I can volunteer in the mornings. However, we did not recognize where to get off of the minibus, so we rode the route all the way back to town--squished in a van with 18 other people. It feels good to walk after being in a minibus for an hour or more! After that we ran into Don and Mary, who drove us to the Crisis Nursery. There was a group of people there from California, so every baby was taken care of! Adam and I shared a baby and talked with Leah, a girl from North Carolina, whose father is an old friend of Nancy Demmick (sp?), an American who started the crisis nursery.
Today we are also going back to the crisis nursery. Adam will go to Bwaila Hospital tomorrow, but I will let him write about that!
-Rachel
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Independence Day
Last night we ate dinner at Huts, an amazing Indian restaurant, with Don, Mary, Dr. Meguid, Grace Ngaunje (the Minister of Health's daughter), and Grace's friend Oliver. It was Grace's 25th birthday. And Oliver's birthday is Saturday, which is 07-07-07!
Adam and I realized that we were in the minority--at one point, the owners of the place were chatting with our table, so there were two Malawians, one European/Egyptian, two Indians, then the four Americans. It was nice:).
We moved out of the hostel this morning and will stay at Luzu's for at least a little bit, if not for the long haul.
We discussed potential volunteering opportunities at Bwaila Hospital, where Dr. Meguid works as an OB/GYN. He will check with the Matron there and will get back to us. We mostly hope that Adam can help there, and if I can help out with the babies, I will be grateul for that chance. The Babycatching blog is written by someone who worked at Bwaila Hospital.
Happy 4th of July, all you Americans. We are going to eat lunch with the Minister of Health and the American Ambassador today.
Adam and I realized that we were in the minority--at one point, the owners of the place were chatting with our table, so there were two Malawians, one European/Egyptian, two Indians, then the four Americans. It was nice:).
We moved out of the hostel this morning and will stay at Luzu's for at least a little bit, if not for the long haul.
We discussed potential volunteering opportunities at Bwaila Hospital, where Dr. Meguid works as an OB/GYN. He will check with the Matron there and will get back to us. We mostly hope that Adam can help there, and if I can help out with the babies, I will be grateul for that chance. The Babycatching blog is written by someone who worked at Bwaila Hospital.
Happy 4th of July, all you Americans. We are going to eat lunch with the Minister of Health and the American Ambassador today.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Links
Some other blogs you might find interesting:
Random Ramblings--our friend Tyler, who just got back to the U.S. after being in Malawi on the Transformational Journey with us. There some details about our trip and pictures as well.
Stephanie--another friend who went on the Transformational Journey with us. She is an American who has been living in South Africa since the fall of 2005 (or sometime around there). As I post this, she has not updated about our Malawi trip, but she might, so you could get her perspective on the trip as well.
Babycatcher--an American nurse/midwife who lived in Malawi until just recently.
Oh, and I also want to encourage you to read about The Simple Way, a community in Philadelphia which was recently ravaged by a fire. They are doing good things, and I feel the more people who know about them and their work, the more who can help them during this distressing time.
-Rachel
Random Ramblings--our friend Tyler, who just got back to the U.S. after being in Malawi on the Transformational Journey with us. There some details about our trip and pictures as well.
Stephanie--another friend who went on the Transformational Journey with us. She is an American who has been living in South Africa since the fall of 2005 (or sometime around there). As I post this, she has not updated about our Malawi trip, but she might, so you could get her perspective on the trip as well.
Babycatcher--an American nurse/midwife who lived in Malawi until just recently.
Oh, and I also want to encourage you to read about The Simple Way, a community in Philadelphia which was recently ravaged by a fire. They are doing good things, and I feel the more people who know about them and their work, the more who can help them during this distressing time.
-Rachel
Spectrum
Written Monday night:
We have continued to have a relaxed schedule. Two things were reiterated on Sunday:
1) Don and Mary are amazing networkers. Impressive
2) Malawians are the most hospitable people. Also impressive
Sunday we attended to Capital City Baptist Church. We sang praise songs, and an elder gave the lesson on marriage. At that point we realized that our 6-month anniversary was Saturday. **Half a year down, many years to go!** After church we met John and Merry Johnson (an American couple from Oklahoma), the elder who spoke and his wife, and another elder and his wife. The Johnsons offered to look for a place for us to live, and both of the other couples offered us a place at their own house!
We followed the first couple to their house, where we were given Fantas and nuts and a tour of their guest house. It is great, spacious and complete with a kitchen and bathroom and private entrance. It is also a bit more money than we were expecting to pay (although not much by American standards).
We left that house (nice neighborhood, too) to eat lunch with some friends of a friend of Don and Mary. The wife teaches Chichewa and the husband works for the Catholic Commission of Justice and Peace. At one point the husband said, "We would give you a room in our own house if our family was not staying there!" Yet he did mention that one of his coworkers might have a room to rent to us.
Today we met with that friend--turns out they do not have an extra room....When we asked about it, she told us that we could have HER room, and she would move in with her sister! At this place we would be sharing the space (bathroom, kitchen, living room) with this woman and her two siblings.
We called the other Malawian couple from church yesterday. It turns out they do not have a room for us to rent, but they are going to continue to look.
Isn't that great? The Malawians are so wonderful with hospitality. We have met several young women who live with their younger siblings because their parents have died. There are no nursing homes here. The Malawians' perspective allows for people to accommodate for their family members, whether widows or orphans or the elderly or whomever needs it!
Of course, not everyone is always taken care of. We have heard stories about widows whose husband's family took everything from them, leaving the woman and her children with nothing. Also, there are so many orphans (with one or both parents dead) due to HIV/AIDS...sometimes their extended families just do not have the resources to take care of them. Some people, like B's husband, are simply human and crack under pressure, leaving their sick family members to fend for themselves or die.
Turns out that the amount we are offering to pay for a room might not be enough...Mrs. Johnson laughed when Adam quoted the number we had discussed. We are meeting with her this afternoon (Tuesday) to look at a couple of places.
I forgot to mention that Luzu also offered for us to stay at his house. Right now that is looking better and better, actually. We are keeping our options open, though.
-Rachel
We have continued to have a relaxed schedule. Two things were reiterated on Sunday:
1) Don and Mary are amazing networkers. Impressive
2) Malawians are the most hospitable people. Also impressive
Sunday we attended to Capital City Baptist Church. We sang praise songs, and an elder gave the lesson on marriage. At that point we realized that our 6-month anniversary was Saturday. **Half a year down, many years to go!** After church we met John and Merry Johnson (an American couple from Oklahoma), the elder who spoke and his wife, and another elder and his wife. The Johnsons offered to look for a place for us to live, and both of the other couples offered us a place at their own house!
We followed the first couple to their house, where we were given Fantas and nuts and a tour of their guest house. It is great, spacious and complete with a kitchen and bathroom and private entrance. It is also a bit more money than we were expecting to pay (although not much by American standards).
We left that house (nice neighborhood, too) to eat lunch with some friends of a friend of Don and Mary. The wife teaches Chichewa and the husband works for the Catholic Commission of Justice and Peace. At one point the husband said, "We would give you a room in our own house if our family was not staying there!" Yet he did mention that one of his coworkers might have a room to rent to us.
Today we met with that friend--turns out they do not have an extra room....When we asked about it, she told us that we could have HER room, and she would move in with her sister! At this place we would be sharing the space (bathroom, kitchen, living room) with this woman and her two siblings.
We called the other Malawian couple from church yesterday. It turns out they do not have a room for us to rent, but they are going to continue to look.
Isn't that great? The Malawians are so wonderful with hospitality. We have met several young women who live with their younger siblings because their parents have died. There are no nursing homes here. The Malawians' perspective allows for people to accommodate for their family members, whether widows or orphans or the elderly or whomever needs it!
Of course, not everyone is always taken care of. We have heard stories about widows whose husband's family took everything from them, leaving the woman and her children with nothing. Also, there are so many orphans (with one or both parents dead) due to HIV/AIDS...sometimes their extended families just do not have the resources to take care of them. Some people, like B's husband, are simply human and crack under pressure, leaving their sick family members to fend for themselves or die.
Turns out that the amount we are offering to pay for a room might not be enough...Mrs. Johnson laughed when Adam quoted the number we had discussed. We are meeting with her this afternoon (Tuesday) to look at a couple of places.
I forgot to mention that Luzu also offered for us to stay at his house. Right now that is looking better and better, actually. We are keeping our options open, though.
-Rachel
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