Sunday, February 1, 2009

the end

sorry for the late update. our team finished the last camp yesterday, and it went well.

i am now writing with only a number of hours left for my time in malawi. im so sad that our experience is coming to a close, but i'm also excited to get back to life and catch up with all thats been going on.

i've always been terrible at saying goodbye, and this time is definitely not an exception. although my words, both said and written, may be inadequate, to: scott, katy, daisy, brett, catherine, john, monica, sara, lauren, stephanie, britt, jay, drew, and jess, i hope you all know that i am leaving with the fondest memories of us all. i have never met such dedicated, passionate, and sincere people in my life. i am so glad that we were all able to meet and all work together in order to make this world so much more humane. i hope that we will all be able to meet again someday.

and now, as i pack my clothes, toiletries, and memories, i look forward to what my life will be like with this 4 week experience in the back of my head. i can't wait to share stories with you all. and although the words i use to describe these past weeks will not be enough, i can only tell so much of what i've seen and heard here.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

somewhere in between

as the number of days i have left in malawi is decreasing, i am finding it harder and harder to write blog entries simply because i don't want to leave, but also because i feel like i have written so much about my experience here that it is hard to find something new to write about.

today was a great day for camp. the weather was beautiful, and everything pretty much went according to plan. as a part of the third and last day of every camp, each class puts on a presentation for the entire school, the teachers, and any community members that show up. sometimes they will perform a drama, but more often than not, they will sing a song. it's really great because these kids have amazing voices and are filled with talent. and singing and dancing is such an instrumental part of the malawian culture, and when they do so, the sing with unspeakable joy.

after we came back, a few of us went to the vendor market which is about a 10 minute walk from our home here. the vender market has...everything. clothes, shoes, food, jewelery, toothpaste, belts, accessories; you name it, they have it. when we were walking through the makeshift stands that were tightly packed, many of the venders were ecstatic that white people (plus 1 asian) were walking through and they were trying so hard to sell us stuff, as they shoved their merchandise in our faces.

i wonder more and more the impression that we as white people (plus 1 asian) give off when we walk through the streets. it's so clear that malawians see us and assume our pockets are full with kwacha (malawian currency) and want to spend it. i think it's kind of sad that americans are portrayed as materialistic rich people. especially because i have never met more sincere and earnest people in my life while working with the students in my team. it is definitely hard to think about coming from america, the hodgepodge of nationalities, and working in a country that is mainly one nationality.

many vendors have bad images of americans because we like to eye shop their goods only and never actually buy anything. and i don't want to be seen as someone who is solely here to help, because i don't want to give off any impression that we are better than they are. what is even more frustrating is that i don't know what we can do to further a neutral, if not positive image of us.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

epitomy

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Monday, January 26, 2009

bittersweet

today i was sick so i couldnt make it out to camp. i felt pretty guilty because i couldnt do what i came here to do simply because i was a bit under the weather. so today all i did was sit on my ass pretty much and take momentary naps.

while i was awake, i thought about my time here, and how it is coming to a close. i am very glad that i am here, and am thankful for everything i learned.

i think being here and living with 14 other people makes it difficult for me to have some alone time, which i really value. and i think today was that day for me. i am so glad to have met everyone in our team because i feel that we all play an essential part in this team dynamic.

i am trying to consolidate all my thoughts regarding this trip into one picture and i realized that it is impossible to do so. if there is one word i could use to describe this experience it would be bittersweet. i am unable to gather all my thoughts into one big theme because there is too much that happened in this month. all the happy moments, the sad moments, the heroic moments, the dramatic moments. i think what is best is to not think of this trip in the span of a moment, but to respect it for its volume of knowledge both taught and received.

i can't wait to get back home and continue on with my life and see what i can change based on my experience here, but at the same time, i am sad to leave such a beautiful, yet unreached, country.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

update from yesterday. today was our day of break, but we went to the crisis nursery which is a nursery for orphan babies.

1/24/09

finally learned the name of the school. balongombe full primary school. we finished our third and last day of camp there today. once again, i was working with the teachers. yesterday they were pretty quiet and reserved, but today they were filled with questions and comments and i was happy to do what i could to answer them adequately. i sometimes feel out of place answering questions for the teachers because they are older than i am, and they are also actual teachers, whereas i am but a volunteer who learned all this material in two days.

as a teacher facilitator, we help our coordinators serve lunch to the children, and let me tell you, it is quite an experience. i have never had the experience of being a lunch lady, but this is as close as it gets. first of all, we were overwhelmed with the number of students that showed up that we didnt have enough food for everyone. when the kids get on line for food, we give them a helping of nsima, and a ladel of relish for the nsima.

many times the kids say "give me more" or "more nsima" or "more relish" and that is pretty much the only english phrases they know. and its so easy for me to get pissed and tell them to go away or stare them down. and because of that i am so quick to make generalizations about malawian children, or even malawians as a group.

i hate myself for doing this but it is almost human nature for me. and it's so unfair to all of the malawians that my mind is programmed to judge others so easily. maybe the courtesy of these children exist but is lost in the english translation. maybe that is all they can think of when there is a cooler filled with food and we are only giving them a meager portion. if a kid is living in poverty and he sees a bunch of white people, why wouldnt he beg for food and money?

whats more is that i've met some great people here. all of our translators are amazing. they are dedicated, hardworking, earnest, and fun. and sometimes i wonder what my opinion of them will eventually unfold into.

like i said before, i am learning as much as i am teaching here. and i feel that i am learning even more about myself and my regard to people and cultures.

Friday, January 23, 2009

fishing

shoutout to my man tony and my girl michelle for the awesome video post! this one's for you guys.


we continued our second day today at school whose name i do not know. again, this time, my partner and i are working with the teachers of the school showing them the teaching methods that worldcamp employs and the curriculum that we present to the students.

i am amazed that even the teachers at the schools hold a certain degree of selfishness. i assumed that it was present only among the children and that they would mature and grow out of it, but the teachers that we are working with this time are extremely greedy. today they started asking us for extra pens and then they demanded that they keep the materials that we used to show them how to create a simple solar oven.

it is interesting because they say that it is difficult to teach without the proper resources such as glue, scissors, charts, or diagrams. and so then they ask us if they could keep the diagrams and materials that we bring to show them effective ways to teach. and yet i know that the materials that we use can be created themselves, but they are just not creative enough, or dedicated enough to do so. and i find that the teachers are too materialistic to see our goal for malawi.

worldcamp believes in the saying, "give a man a fish, feed him once, teach him how to fish, feed him forever", or something like that. we press for the importance of education rather than giving gifts. there are plenty of NGO's that come to places like this and just drop off junk and leave. but we want to give them something more valuable. we want to give them the knowledge that can empower the lives of the children to live stronger and healthier lives.

and we know that it works. worldcamp cycles through schools every 3 years and one of the schools that we went to 3 years ago, one of our coordinators got a chance to speak with a student who was participated in our three day camp back then. he said that it is not worth it for him to engage in risky behavior if it can potentially ruin his life by HIV. that is power in education.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

safari +...

update for the week:

01/18-21

so this past week, we traveled to zambia to go on a three day break at Wildlife Camp. we saw lots of animals, enjoyed some time by the pool, and went on a night safari drive and a morning safari drive.

on our way there, we encountered some problems with the dirt road. there was a long stretch of dirt road that made it pretty much impossible to travel via car. plus it since its the rainy season, there were many puddles. we passed by a village and was stuck there for quite some time because there was a huge puddle, or should i say, lake, in the middle of the road.

i learned that the villagers actually dig up the hole in the road to make travelers pay them for "fixing" the road or their car if it breaks. since its the rainy season, all these holes were filled up with water so it became even harder to traverse. long story short, our bus's radiator broke as it was crossing through an extremely bumpy side path which was an alternative to crossing the red sea. we tried to pay the villagers to drive through their village cause there was a path available but they said no. then they asked us for money to help fix the bus and all of us got pretty annoyed. but we got there by making shuttling with our landrover which can pretty much haul through any kind of road.

the break was great. after 2 weeks of hard work, it felt well earned. safari was amazing. we saw a lot of things that people would have to go on like 4 safaris to finally be able to catch. some examples: lion pride, lion pride eating dead giraffe killed on previous day, tons of elephants, elephant young, elephants fighting, giraffes, baboons, impalas, warthogs, tons of hippos, hippos being fat, hippos being lazy, hippos yawning, wild dogs, hyenas...etc. it was great. what made it even better was that this wasnt like a zoo where these animals are behind bars. theyre just chillin out in the open, and we just drive right up next to them. they think that the safari vehicle is a large animal that doesnt threaten them so as long as we stay in the vehicle we are fine. if our internet here wasn't so slow, i would post up pictures.

on our way back, we hired two more landrovers and got back (its a 7hr drive from lilongwe malawi to zambia).

amazing.


1/22/09

today we returned to work and we started our fourth camp at school whose name i dont know. this time it is my partner and my turn to work with the teachers of the school instead of the students. we have a discussion with them about teaching methods, curriculum, situations they are faced with, etc.

we had a very interactive group of teachers and they were very responsive so i am grateful. i think that as we do this, we teach them our teaching methods and curriculum, and at the same time, we are learning a lot about them and the culture that surrounds us currently.

today i've learned that HIV/AIDS education in malawi is difficult because not only is it taboo to speak of such things, but names of genital parts are considered highly offensive. i think this is really weird because these grown adults find it difficult to say medical terms such as penis or vagina, and so i wonder how could they be effectively be teaching to these students about sex education?

i find this hard to understand because the HIV/AIDS epidemic is so preventable and so stoppable. and if these teachers, or even the malawians find it hard to overcome this one wordy problem, i wonder if there will ever be hope for malawi's children.