no man is an island

two-day update into one blog entry:


today we returned to namitete full primary school to complete our second day of camp curriculum. everything went well overall and the main part of today was at night when we went to our homestay families.

there is a homestay program at world camp, where during one of the camps, we stay at the village nearby the school and we stay with families chosen by the headmaster. we all stayed at the Chisikwa II village and me and three other dudes stayed with henry and his family.

we walked aroun the village checking out the scene and what life is like around there. there is no electricty, no running water, no heat. pretty much just buildings made of handmade bricks. and its not like one big house. its many many small brick structures along with crops and outdoor brick walled "toilets". its clearly far from comfort.

i am noticing that these villages are comprised of one or two big families and they all live together, the children and relatives. all the kids play with each other, the older folks all help out with chores, cook food together and work the crops. as i watch the villagers, i am overwhelmed with a sense of community. everybody seems to have a function or a job that they have. either sweeping the floor, or cooking the food, taking care of the children, etc. eating together with the family is valued. additionally, i have learned that malawian villagers value their wealth by the amount of children they have, which is an answer to the large families here.

in america, the dream is for people to be independent and be able to support themselves. many people in the states refuse to help the homeless because they feel like it won't teach them to stand up on their own two feet. america is all about me, me, and me. it is about learning how to take care of yourself.

there are many times while i am here where i can use the phrase " the grass is greener on the other side" and this is definitely one of those times. and i find that i cannot always bash on where i'm from because there are obviously things that i love about living in new york. but the key is finding the balance between what i can learn from living here and what i know is important about living in new york.


short entry tonight folks, but i need my sleep because tomorrow we're traveling to zambia for a 4 day safari trip!