Final days, is this even possible?

So I guess this may be my last blog in Africa....nah I'll do one before I fly out but as we only have 38 days left in this spectacular place Em and I have decided to stay up the mountain until the end of exams. So no internet until the last two weeks. When my brother comes to Malawi!! :D Every night we throw eachother that look from across the candlelit room "how can we leave this place?"...the thought of saying goodbye is unthinkable, the fact that many of the faces we have grown to love and care for here will no longer be a few metres down the track, the children who have looked up at us in anticipation and eagerness to learn won't be hearing our funny English any more or the volunteers which we have shared and seen so much with won't be squished into a minibus beside us every weekend. It's amazing, what this place has done to us after six months. I'll never understand it but the connection is the strongest I have ever experienced, the effect that Malawi, that Africa has had on us is profound and hopefully unforgettable. Our thoughts, actions, ideas, language. We now speak in a ridiculous ChiTumbucka/English mix: the other day we watched the news in a restaurant and the dude was speaking a million miles a minute! We can no longer understand our own language!! And so the last few weeks are dawning on us in a flurry of goodbyes, hugs that shouldn't have to end and preparing our kids for their end of year exams. It's revision and assessment now, I hardly have any time to think about seeing their faces for the last time ie: I don't want to.

 

It's the 24th of June as I type this on my tablet, the screen has cracked in two places, I don't know how much life it has left in it but it's one sturdy little guy. I'm stuck at the bottom of the mountain on my own right now. Will & Toby are in Lilongwe waiting for Toby's rents to arrive (their teaching has come to an end and they have said goodbye to Livingstonia) and Emma is in Mzuzu sorting out some stuff. I'm staying in the African Teacher's lodge, a rasta sanctuary with a small restaurant and a lovely owner with a glazed look in his eyes and a full head of wonderful dreadlocks. My room is about half the size of a shipping container, maybe the size of a bathroom. My bed is clean and has a net, the ceiling is plastered in black plastic and bottle caps held on with nails. There are bars on the window and a friendly looking lizard is crawling across the wall. I can hear the reggae, something that sounds like 'stop the dettol' but I reckon it's 'stop the death toll'..hopefully. I don't think the rastas cared much for disinfecting toilets. My candle is flickering like mad and the trucks that speed across the main road outside override the music now and again. Carrying everything from tobacco to oil from Cairo to Capetown, Nairobi to Blantyre. It's pitch black outside and as usual the sound of drunkards and crickets add to the music of the night. I feel safe in my mosquito net, full of rice and beans. Tomorrow is my 19th Birthday and I'm thinking about life. Your background really does determine so much. The kind of person you are, the person you will become. Elvie and I were talking about this on the bus today, of how much of a culture shock it was for us not only when it came to Malawians but to eachother. We have Emma and Toby who grew up on big farms and went to boarding school, Will and Ruby who are city slickers, Grace who lives on an island with a population of 600. Your cultural and personal background defines so much of who you are.I And so I was pondering on the fact that many people in Malawi and especially in this area are drunkards, unemployed and altogether a bit dodgy. Mainly men, as women are very much confined to the job of housewife and market seller. But you know what? If I had spent my whole life watching the huge trucks laden with goods from foreign places destined never to reach my home, if overlanders full of  azungus flew past and didn't stop to buy  my bananas that my family needed me to sell, if tourists came and went in their 4x4s and fancy hiking boots to tackle the Gorodi that I walk barefoot with a sack of maize balanced on my head and if I sat watching a world that I would never be apart of blur pass me everyday, my outlook on things woud be very different. If the president of my country rolled around in Land Cruisers and went on four holidays a year, maybe I too would be a drunkard or a thief. Not to say that everyone here is such, I'm just putting my thoughts down...trying to understand. I suppose the same goes for us at home. All we've ever known is choice. We have the services available to us. We live in a developed country. And of course we have our fair share of drunkards and thieves so that's universal I guess.

 

 Honestly it is just unbelievable: the difference.

 

  The sheer volume of facilities we have access to, the quality of our services towers above what I have seen here. It scares me. How a child in primary school will never have an art class where they learn how to use colours and let their imagination run wild, then bring it home to your mom and have it hung on the wall. Few kids here are encouraged and given the chance to use their imaginations. One thing that we are so happy to have done was to share the project of painting Mtende Nursery School with the local kids. Along with Ben and Rachael, we decided that we didn't want it to be another 'donated by the West' project. There are too many buildings, centres and shops that have been constructed with aid from the West, with great big signs hung over them emblazoned with logos and names of those who may not have even helped to build said place but gave the money to do so. And so if nearly every monument, every place of worship that I passed reminded me that my country was unable to provide these services themselves and that there are other people in the world who make enough money in a day to buy my whole township, I too would feel hard done by and just...small. Another big problem with aid that we have found. Yes, having these places is fantastic, yes they may not have come to fruition without donors but will pride ever fill the hearts of these people after seeing their efforts praised? Will they get the chance to paint a bird on a white wall and know that it brightened a child's day? Self-confidence and self-worth is not common here. You are often told that you are a failure, admonished for small mistakes and pitted against others who naturally excel in school, work or domestic tasks. Rarely will a child be told that they have potential, encouraged by their parents to seek greater things or praised for a success when it will pale in comparison to the work of others. It makes me want to cry, honestly I cannot believe the hardship that these people face daily even at the hands of those who are supposed to love them. If it wasn't for the steadfast encouragement and unwavering support given to me by my parents growing up I would not be in Africa, I would not be sharing these experiences with you. That love and hope shaped me. My background shaped me. Therefore if I had experienced the difficulty faced by this community and many others in Malawi and similiar third world countries, I too could be thieving, begging and running away. How else could I handle the life that had been laid down before me?

 

  (Sidenote, I can currently hear Westife playing from the club across the road. I think it's 'A Little Prayer' how I have missed them <3)

 

  And from these difficulties also rise awe-inspiring children and adults who face their hardship with optimism and determination. Still the kids shout and play from 6am outside the school despite the hunger in their bellies and the ragged clothes on their bodies. Well what else can they do? Their happiness radiates, it spreads to everyone they meet. Everyone willing to accept it, that is! Em and I have spent many evenings singing, dancing, whistling, chattering and making animal noises with these children in an effort to make them feel special, to tell them that they are not stupid and that they have potential. Yesterday I sent a boy in my class, Lumbani, to the office for stomoing out of my class in an unexpected rage. He had been talking and disrupting others throughout the whole class, I had had enough. Never did I anticipate that Mr.Saika would slap him across the forehead, call him a stupid failure and admonish him for not being humble as he is an orphan. I ran out of the class shocked and horrified. Lumbani hung his head in shame, not even shedding a tear. I knelt in front of him, looking into him eyes and told him that he was not stupid, that he was a good student and would do great things. A flicker of a smile came but he had been shamed in his community, he was already an orphan and now he was a failure. I dispersed the crowd of kids that had gathered and focused on Lumbani, explaining to him what he had done and how he could improve. Mr.Saika seemed shocked at himself but held together, he is a headteacher with forty years experience, this is how he has been doing things for years. Mr.Saika is a wonderful, generous man who strives to educate children in a community that has long struggled with poverty and development. He is a good man but a man who has been set in his ways. It was not my place to challenge his authority, his actions and so I did what I could do, I encouraged Lumbani instead of further punishing him, I did what I felt was right. No child deserves such treatment but here, it is sadly the norm. I hope that today Lumbani will attend class and will perhaps be the good student that he has the potential to be or the class clown which is expected of him. What will it be?

 

  

  My birthday was a great day. We made ut up the Gorodi by noon, yeeeow! Met with Mr.Saika and his family then went to the Mushroom Farm which is an awesome lodge near to where we now live (more on that later....). We had actual burritos, banana cake and cocktails: such a treat! I got phonecalls and texts from all the home and here crew. A call from Linda made me realise that my best friend and I are just too matched. Together we really could talk the hind legs off a donkey :D it was fabulous to once again talk with someone who shared that passion with me. I miss her so! Mom let me in on the scandal in Ireland, made me a little apprehensive about returning to it all I'm gonna admit! Gracie is in Tanzania doing volunteer work with UCDOV and now that I have her number, we have been texting about everything Africa and how we never want to leave and blahblahblah! Emma and I had a silent disco at the house, our aux cord is missing!! And Vero made me a ginger cake that said 'Jane' :P We ended the night by watching the Incredible's on Emma's laptop. A wonderful birthday in Africa with the best placement partner ever who shouted me lunch and gave me a messed up looking elephant because she knows how much I like strange looking animals :L btw, the no eared goat is the cutest animal ever, I don't care what Emma says!

  I left off our adventures in Lilongwe, we had said the first of our goodbyes. Next was a trip to Kasungu for Australian Walt's 19th in him and Sam's newly constructed volunteer house. Sam and Walt have spent something like one million kwacha on building this house beside the current one which had been falling apart and was voted among us as the worst living conditions out of Lattitude Malawi. Keen to ensure that volunteers do come to work and always have a place to stay at Mbona Cera, they had one heck of a house constructed.They're currently trying to ensure that the headmaster doesn't move in when they leave as it's such a nice house :P We partied it up with a bonfire, beer pong (Australian's are obsessed! but ha my first time and I beat em three out of my first four shots...I have a surprisingly good aim!), chibuku which is a beer drunk by Malawians out of what looks like a milk carton. It is disgusting. It costs 150 kwacha a litre...dirt cheap but eesh, it is vile. I nearly got sick from one cup. After lots of dancing , eating and cake cutting not to mention Walt trying to jump over the fire for some reason...twice, we fell asleep on a very sticky chibuku and fanta laden floor. Spent some lovely (as usual) time at Chimbowe where Uk Mike and NZ Mike are placed, the place I fell in love with after the holiday and then it was back to Mantchewe to continue our work. In that week we reached the five month mark and celebrated the start of the LC in Ireland by moving out of Lukwe and into the Primary school. Will and Toby kept us company for the evening, with such a drafty, big house we certainly needed it! We still had no windows so we endured a very cold night on the floor in layers of clothes and our sleeping bags. Luckily our Country Manager Matt had two spare mattresses in Livingstonia so it was just a matter of going up and getting em!

   Kande Beach was our next hit up for Will and Elvie’s birthday. We played volleyball on the beach, ate a birthday cake fit for a wedding, met so many azungus we realized that there were more white people in the world than us and swam and swam and swam. (: A lovely woman Toby had met on the bus to Mzuzu had told us that she worked in a hostel for the visually impaired for Nkhata Bay and she was keen for us to visit. She organized the bus from Kande and everything! It was amazing. This centre houses the visually impaired and albinos in the area who cannot go to an ordinary school. Albinos have a tough time in Malawi. They always have to be covered with a hat and thick cloth like denim to prevent the sun from burning their sensitive skin. And because suncream in so rare and expensive in Malawi, they have to endure painful days outside. Not to mention when they get confused as azungus and have everyone shouting at them. We learned how the brail machine worked, how this woman trekked it between Mzuzu and Nkhata Bay every week so she could teach these kids. and then the kids! They were just incredible.

 So I guess you ought to know now that Emma and I no longer live and work at Lukwe.Eco Camp. Pretty much we got back Lilongwe to a letter from our host Lieza who had just left for South Africa to say that she was getting another volunteer and needed to accomodate him by June 6th. She was giving us about 9 days to pack up our lukwe life. Having to leave Veronica, Mphatso, Kettie and Prince was going to be so painful especially as we had just cracked the shy barrier and were now considered children of Vero and sisters to the kids. And then there was Kili and Bali (the lukwe dogs) to say goodbye to and all of the lovely staff: Alex, Edward, Thoku, Vushani, Corrida. The thought was too much to bear but it had to be done. When we arrived at Lukwe back in January, Lieza had expected us to be predominantly Lukwe volunteers with a hint of teaching at the primary school. Due to our big involvement in Mtende, we had not left enough time for Lukwe and Lieza and thus she had begun to look elsewhere. Emma and I did not come to Malawi to work for a private enterprise, nor did we want to spend our gap year in Africa serving tourists and being removed from the community in a lodge. Mr.Saika, his kindness and compassion shining through yet again, after discussing with the school board and his family, decided that Emma and I should move into the brand new Primary house on the school grounds. On the 4^th of June Emma and I packed up our little mud hut with Will and Toby and got set for a new kind of experience, one with no family across the road, using bricks as a fire stand and living as just the two of us. It took a while to get used to but now it is simply wonderful. The kids gather around our porch in the evenings, we have

 

So this blog couldn't post when I connected my tablet to a computer in Livingstonia 'cause I think I've dropped this gadget a few too many times but until I can upload it, I'll just continue. This began on around June 20th and goes until the  10th July or so, I apologise for the confusion. Hooray, an extra long blog! I never do them :P Hilarious update, we were painting in the nursery today (July 3rd) and perhaps the funniest moment of my life occurred. There I was happily painting some branches on my Mtende tree when I heard a yelp of surprise behind me. Emma, the genius that she is put the tubs of yellow and pink paint on the unsteady cupboard and turned around, sensing that the paint was about to fall she whipped back around to catch it and the tub went splat right down her front. I jumped off my chair to see her turned towards me with a look of shock and utter confusion on her face. Her feet were covered in yellow and the front of her tshirt and skirt had been severly brightened. Yellow and pink splashes decorated the new cupboards and even our bags. The sight was just too much to bear. I burst into uncontrollable laughter in between utterances of 'awwwwh sorry Em' but I could hardly contain myself. After Peter had wiped what yellow we could salvage off her feet and the floor and after plenty of photos by your's truly she tramped off up the road to the house to get cleaned off amid stares and plenty of 'ohhhh sorry,sorry,sorry,sorry' from everybody in the village; What was that crazy mzungu up to now!?

  Before and after class lately we've been hanging out with a few of the Standard five and six kids on our front porch listening to African tunes and drawing pictures. Today they all drew us one each. This stuff should be making us happy not depressed but we can't help it!! How can we leave the coolest kids ever!??

 

 Sitting on our beds tonight with only 11days left in our new home and we've finally realised how fast six months flew by. Where did it all go? And now that it's so close to the end I'm remembering all of the little things that have made this jouney so special. Like seeing Will and Toby every Monday and Wednesday, they would bring us bread and onions from Livingstonia and we'd do nursery with the crazy kids or paint and end up splattering eachother in it. They would moan at us for not coming to Livingstonia more often and we would moan that they are so lucky to be living there. How every morning and evening on our daily walk through Mantchewe the local children will always run up to us often half naked screaming our names to hold our hands and sing songs with us all the way home. How the mountain has been the biggest pain and would have us late or exhausted every Friday and bartering with every vehicle owner on a Sunday afternoon. That we call Peter's mother Eleysia 'Mama' and we are her sons and daughters, her home is our home, she is the best cook here and she has taught us everything she knows. There has been so much drama among the 28 of us from romances to accidents that every weekend seemed to be filled with a new scandal, we honestly could have been a reality tv show. We all just hit it off from the beginning and have only grown closer in the last six months sharing everything from being at the incredible Vic Falls together to horrific transport and escaping from dogs. We have shared the adventure of a lifetime and I don't think we will ever forget eachother.

 

   One thing I really am looking forward to at home is the chocolate. We are blessed with our Cadbury. In Malawi, Australia, New Zealand; any country that actually gets hot they put anti-melting preservatives in the chocolate which all in all makes it inferior to our stuff. It's just not the same so appreciate the chocolate lads, it's one of a kind.

 

   So this blog has certainly been all over the place, pepanie pepanie. Needed to get something to you all! Feeling all over the place. Will and Toby are gone for good, can’t believe it. We’ll be gone in nine days…. WHHHAH!!?? Peace, love & emotional distress, Jen xo

An insight into the mind of a conflicted volunteer and other stories

Now five months in Malawi and we are still so up and down. Here's hoping it's not pregnancy! I jokes, I jokes ;) No Malawian boyfriends yet Dad, only a few proposals and an actual marriage. I could bring one home yet! I've had plenty of people asking anyway...I may be white but seriously, I don't have the cash to fly you home with me lover boy! Eeeeesh. Anyway, I go from wanting to go home more than anything to neveer wanting to leave. It can still be testing, like when you're getting ready for bed and you nearly set the mosquito net on fire when it comes within inches of the candle, or when we're so wrecked from a day's work that we cave and eat noodles or pb&j sandwiches for dinner, when we are too exhausted to make a lesson plan for class the next day and end up giving a test or just playing games. It’s hard to remain enthusiastic and energetic all the time, as most would expect volunteers to be.

  One really awesome thing is that we can now converse freely in ChiTumbucka with teachers, fellow volunteers at Mtende, randomers we meet on the road. Emma and I took to learning a phrase a day and we've excelled from the normal, everyday greetings to local sayings: expressions of happiness, sadness, surprise. Our favourites being ‘iwe afunta’ (you are crazy!), ‘emma chimponde chane’ (emma is my peanut) and ‘ndine mirendo yie!’ (I am not a tourist!)…so so useful. To be honest I don't even think it's ChiTumbucka at this stage, it's Malawian...we are becoming Malawian. Well, not so much that we have their amazing patience but we're picking up a few keys traits....eating nsima with our hands (the Only way to do it), carrying buckets and bags on our heads, ripping at sugar cane with our teeth, picking up boiling hot pots with our bare hands (no longer have my princess hands!!), scrubbing fire blackened pots with sand. So many things...but we don't have a choice really, it's their way or the highway when you're thrown into the middle of an African community. Speaking of which I haven’t even had the chance to describe to you all who these people I now live with are. The characters, their way of life, their beliefs, fears, routines...there is a lot to tell. So many different stories and experiences to share.

   For starters the village of Mantchewe resides 11km up the Livingstonia Mountain and 4km from the town of Livingstonia itself. Farming is the main source of income for the majority of these rural folk: maize, cassava and bananas being the most prominent crops. For a village so close to the famous and touristy town of Livingstonia, Mantchewe is quite poor, primitive and lacks in services. There is no electricity. Boreholes and communal taps act as water sources and the chiefs (of which there are many) decide who owns what farming land and where. From what I have gathered it is quite easy to attain farming land here but it’s the time that crops take to grow; the length of time which farmers are waiting for the harvest; that results in many months of hunger and near starvation. Luckily at the moment the maize is being harvested (explains why so many of my learners have been absent from class. They are at the maize mill with their mother/brother/sister..never father, men do not do the domestic duties) after the rainy season so the staple food of nsima made from maize flour is much less expensive than before. Those who are not farmers are teachers, builders, carpenters, pastors...unfortunately jobs are scarce in Malawi at the moment, with a decent paying job requiring 5 years experience, and we thought things in Ireland were tough. We certainly have it better than the third world.

  A scary fact for you all; a basic labourer in Malawi receives an average of 8,000 kwacha a month which converts at about 17  euro. A bag of sugar cost 1 euro 50. If you put this into perspective, the rising prices of certain items against this wage has put Malawians in a very difficult position. Many people cannot afford two meals a day let alone clothing, meaning children run around in tattered clothes and men & women work the fields barefoot. The people here live in very basic conditions: red brick or mud houses with black plastic and straw roofs (like ours!) or a tin roof if you are well off. The poverty that these people struggle to survive through every day has only really hit me in the last few weeks. From money raised through the mock wedding back in March we were able to help the poorest orphans and vulnerable people (those who lived with medical conditions such as HIV, the elderly and disabled) in the Mantchewe and surrounding areas. We bought 20 tins of maize at 2,000 kwacha per one 20 litre tin of maize (about 4 euro 50) along with soya pieces, salt, sugar, beans and soap. We had a list of maybe 40 people, those in the most difficulty getting priority. From this organisation we learnt a lot about the lives of people here and how the rising prices of everyday commodities are affecting these rural farmers. A bag of sugar now costs 600 kwacha, about a euro twenty and yet no one here but the pastor and head teacher can afford to buy a bag. It's heartbreaking, knowing just how much accessibility we have in the first world, how easy life is when here, everyday is a never ending strive just to feed and clothe your children.

  I got what I came here for, a reality check. On more levels than I can ever explain.

 The depth of understanding I have gained will simply never be enough to fully relate, I will always be from the West. I will always be the lucky one. The more I think about it the more ridiculous it is...how at home we need aid to bail out our billion busted banks and people here are starving while aid organisations either just give and give to these communities without properly educating them or they use the majority of their money getting here and then don't distribute it properly. Then again, maybe they are the lucky ones. At home we have so much, too much. So much stuff that we break it and replace it, that we waste it and refuse it. Here, the life is simple. The culture may baffle us to no end and have us pulling our hair out but when a Malawian can sit on the side of a road waiting for a lift to drive by at any moment from maybe 6am to 6pm, you have to admire their patience, their calm and collected attitude to everything. Maybe sometimes too calm but as my old sage of a father says "there is always a way". I think that's how the Malawians look at things. Don't freak out, just go with it. TIA and things don't always go to plan but in the end we'll make it through. As Malawians will always say no matter what: feel free. And as for having 'stuff', people here certainly do not have a lot of stuff. You're lucky to have some pots and plates for cooking and a blanket to keep warm at night.
   And despite this the generosity of these people seems to know no bounds. We have been invited to countless lunches and teas by Peter and his family (though at this stage they insist on us calling their house our home :'), random people we have chatted to only a few times will stop us on the road to ask us to share in their dinner, with most of them insisting that we learn how to cook nsima (we already know how to cook it, we just don't ‘cause it's an absolute pain to cook! xD). The teachers at our school will rock up to school with a bag of sweet potato or maize from their own garden under their arm for Emma and Jen. They are so kind and considerate here, they do not have much as regards material items but they have so much experience, love, and kindness to share. From a piece of advice when cooking soya pieces to worrying about us when we head off down the mountain a little later than usual on a weekend, I don't know if I'll ever truly be able to appreciate how much these people care about us already. And then there's how much We will miss Them but that will only make me tear up. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of that at home and without the help and support of those people I would never have made it here but for everything we have in the first world, we are not yet a shining example. Not when you take account of all we have, not when you compare this world and ours, not when you put it all into perspective. How can this be that I already feel like this? Only five months in this crazy continent, this baffling country and I am attached, I am at home. It must be true what the people I have met here say, those who have lived in the West and have decided to shift everything to live here…that everything in Africa is more intense. Deeper emotions, thoughts and ideas that can only come from the fact that humanity began in Africa. The first happiness, love, pain and sadness. It’s as if it is buried deep within the red earth of this continent. Explains why I feel like I have no control over my own emotions but that’s a conversation for another day, we’ll see how my blog posts will change once I return, eh?

   Well, in terms of events and day to day activities, I left you all with fantastical visions of fishermen at night with their lanterns, children with drums and homemade guitars and pinky/red sunsets on the horizon at the beautiful retreat of Cape McClear and then us crazy volunteers trying to capsize each other on the Southern edge of Lake Malawi. We continued our normal routine that week.. continuing the painting of the nursery with the primary school, organizing the distribution of supplies to orphans and vulnerable in the area,  That weekend there was a choir festival at the New Apostolic Church in Mantchewe. While Emma, Toby and Will spent some time relaxing at the lake, I decided it was best for me to stay up the mountain and have some me and the community time. Being someone who frequently needs attention and people around her, this was an invaluable experience for me.
   In only three days, I realized that I actually did enjoy my own company, that I could do being alone and that I was becoming much more independent than I had thought. Friday I visited Joshua’s pregnant wife in hospital (he asked me to predict the sex of the baby…eeesh!), bought the ingredients to make Will a cake (for reasons I owe him a cake) and enjoyed getting lost on the way to the Post Office. A lovely phonecall from the rents the next day and even better finding out that my legend of a brother Derek will be coming to visit me at the end of my placement!! I am too lucky. He is sacrificing a new bicycle to visit his sister, it’s going to be the best adventure bro! The choir festival was absolutely incredible. From 2pm to 5pm the choir succeeded in proving that love for God is one of the major factors in keeping the spirit for life and determination to survive within these people. I was crying with joy and surprise. Two months of training and the members know how to conduct a choir, improve harmonies and just sing their heart out. Imagine every professional choir you have ever heard and double it, double it with the sounds of the Warm Heart of Africa. Don’t worry, I hung around afterwards to get plenty of videos to show the Ballinteer Parish at home how it’s done. I was immediately sold. Unfortunately, despite their attempts to make me sing, my efforts would have seriously paled in comparison. The people appreciated my presence immensely and I was urged to come to church at 8am the next day. After that I was invited to lunch with the apostles. I felt a little more than intimidated as the only female at the table but the men quizzed me throughout the meal. The topics ranged from the comparison of the Irish economy to the Malawian economy, the situation in Syria,the place of religion in the lives of Malawians, democracy in Malawi, living in a third world country. Even though it was me being constantly asked questions, I learned so much about Malawi and how western aid, African and American politics and the poverty effects the overall development on the country. It was exactly the weekend I needed and not only did it allow me to connect even more with the community, it enabled me to see a whole other side of it. The men who have four wives and forty children, the women who work without break to provide for their husband and children, the men who rely on their pastors to guide them in every aspect of life, the people whose only release from the harsh reality of everyday is choir practice every Tuesday. Just, wow.

   The next week we gave out our first distribution of maize to the most impoverished orphans in the area while Will and Toby went to Blantyre to promote Livingstonia honey at a farmer’s market. Emma and I had people kneeling at out feet grabbing out hands in a fit of happiness and disbelief that one fundraising event could feed their family and so many others for a week. We were overwhelmed to say the least. I found out that my favourite student, the one I had wanted to sponsor, Mphatso had been taken from his mother by his father to the Northern town of Karonga and would soon be moving to Britain. That was a sad day… Veronica’s baby Prince has FINALLY accepted us into his hearts and at Permaculture that week we were holding his hand and picking him up no problem, such a breakthrough!! We spent the majority of Permaculture that day chasing the kids around with bamboo and my personal favourite, a giant nsima spoon. I wonder if this game would be accepted at home…. Sad note, one of our fellow volunteers Eloise has been quite sick for the duration of her time in Africa. From malaria to perhaps typhoid, Ellie put up with hospital visits and days in bed with the most inspiring and encouraging optimism of anyone I have ever met. Despite her efforts to stay, Lattitude felt that it was in her best interest to go home and that weekend we headed off to Lilongwe to say goodbye to her, to give her a proper Malawian send off. Emma and I ended up going down the mountain on the Thursday evening, staying at the bottom that night and getting on the fastest minibus we have ever been on in Malawi at 5.30am on Friday morning to catch the 7am bus from Mzuzu bus depot. It was never going under 120km or over 140km at any one time and I can honestly say we feared for our lives as we bombed it along the insane mountain roads from Chitimba to Mzuzu. We got there just as the bus was about to leave and stood between the usual crowds of people, sacks of maize and baskets of bananas on a typical Malawian bus. We soaked up the supermarkets, fast food restaurants and internet cafes as usual, being the typical starved of normal civilization volunteers that we are. I got a bit too excited about the fancy dress party at Mabuya and carrot cake at Serendipity and we celebrated Ellie’s time in Malawi with stories of our time and the sharing of our completely different and yet startlingly similar experiences in Malawi. Saying the first of our goodbyes to just one of the volunteers made us realize just how strange it will be not to be around each other every day or every weekend. We have become so close for a group of young people that only just met each other five months ago. It will be extremely difficult to leave these people, to leave the relationships we have built through the rough and the amazing times but we know they will carry through. Personally there ain’t no way I ain’t seeing Emma Muller again, that girl will be getting a visit from me no matter what.
  And so this concludes another extremely lengthy blog which I have been typing at Kande Beach on the lakeshore for a large proportion of this day but it’s worth it to share these thoughts and moments with those back home. Lots more has happened since Lilongwe but I’m afraid that will have to wait ‘til next time. Jenny is being far too unsociable and Emma wants her laptop back! So long for now everyone, I’ll be back before you know it. How I’ll feel by then, I won’t know until it comes but for now I miss you all terribly and I would do anything to have you here with me. Lots of love, Jen.

Cheeky lil message from dear Elvie, Happy Birthday Elvie!!!:

Thought I should let everyone know one of the most profound messages that jenny has received during her time in Malawi:
No love without fish – creepy drunk Malawian.
Peace and love, Elvie Broom.

 

Volunteers have fun too...maybe too much fun.

It is only at this blog post, this mzuzu weekend, this internet opportunity, this time:  more than four months in to my African experience that I've realised just how much I have changed. I cannot pinpoint these changes, I may not even be able to tell you how I have changed. All I know is that I feel different. That the person I was when I left and the person I am now are two different young women. I am still Jenny: happy, crazy, slow, unpunctual and erratic Jenny but I can imagine only those closest to me would be able to point out the changes that have come about in me. And how could I not change? I have ran through maize fields at sunset chanting songs and getting lost with a hundred or so primary students; I have crammed into trucks, buses, vans, cars, boats to reach any and every destination, I have swam in the beautiful, clear Malawian waters at sunrise, strolled through bustling, baffling African markets, spent hours on hot buses, gospel music blaring, head reeling and still felt happy. I have dealt with crushing homesickness, conflicting emotions, fear for others, desperate worry and intense frustration. I have managed to break down language, cultural and stigmated barriers in order to teach my students. I have walked anxiously with cheetahs, jumped 114 metres in terror, hiked neverending sand dunes, sang/danced in front of strangers and spent evenings talking to people I've only known for ten minutes or maybe ten weeks as if I have known them forever. So many weird and wonderful things. I hope I have changed for the better, I feel better. doing absolutely everything for yourself and in completely new, strange  circumstances certainly makes an impact. More and more lately Emma and I are realising just how difficult it will be to leave this place. The thought that we won't wake up to the sound of the waterfall crashing down the mountain at all times of day or that we won't fall asleep to the crickets singing at night. That we won't hear Prince's little baby laugh, walking up and down the road from school to Mtende with the nursery kids singing 'we are jumping' or that strange buzzing we always hear in the gardens but we have no idea what it is.... Not doing our uphill walk to school everyday..actually, that walk is a royal pain, don't think we'll miss that so much. How can we possibly leave this life behind? How can we leave behind all of those we've worked, lived and shared with; those whom we now care so much about? Just some of the questions that tear at us daily, turning us into emotional wrecks ever since returning from the holiday only a week ago. We don't yet know if it was the seperation in general, the fact that most people had thought we had left for good and were so happy to see us again. Or maybe because we've finally realised how little time we have left here. It's all so conflicting but some great things have come from this mental, emotional drain. We've kicked into volunteering gear seriously this term with so many plans our heads might implode. Us and Will and Toby are in Mzuzu this weekend to not only sort out that disaster of a car we rented (there's more to the story !) but to buy paint, shelving, cushions and toys for the Mtende nursery with donations from home. The kids deserve the attention and a place where they can feel comfortable and happy so we're very happy to do it, we can't wait to see their faces once it's done! Emma and I have introduced a method of monitoring sanitation at the school through records of hygiene and ensuring that every learner will at one stage be in charge of picking up litter, replacing water and soap for handwashing and checking that there is always ash and soil for the compost toilets. We'll also be running hygiene classes with the girls in the community who are stuck in a culture where being on your period is considered unclean and impure, where asking questions about your body is usually wrong and strange, where there are no proper washing facilities and soap is a commodity you simply cannot afford after food. A teaching course with the Mantchewe teachers is underway to finally tackle the problem with English comprehension; speaking, reading....everything really, especially the general teaching methods among teachers in the area. Ben and Rachael will be helping us to encourage the teachers to adopt new practices to benefit them and their learners...I guess this is our chance to leave a lasting impression on this community, and we're going to use it. Emma has started doing more work in the garden and I've been tutoring Manu and Kettie on a Tuesday afternoon in History and Geography - which is insanely interesting for me too! The kid's atlas is hilarious though, Ireland is full of pictures of Guinness, shamrocks and potatoes while Australia is laden with Kangaroos, AFL (Australian football league - I know too much about it now..) and emus. Stereotypes are ridiculous...but very usually true ! So all of those things will fill the rest of our days in Malawi and we are more than determined to make the most of that time. :-)

   I left off the blog in Zambia, I had just jumped off a bridge over a waterfall and had been nearly ambushed by a wild elephant. Hmmm. We had a good sampling of the wild Livingstone nightlife too from touristy to local bars, realising that alcohol is just too cheap, getting lost in taxis and dancing in the street.From there we hopped off to Namibia with two exceptionally lovely people we meet and spent a lot of time with in Livingstone: Tom from Australia and Anna from Russia. After a few too many unfruitful hours trying to convince Michael to come to Namibia (he's a stubborn little yoke!) the car group split and Emma, Toby, Will, Grace, our new friends and I leapt on the bus to Windhoek capital of Namibia on a journey that would last a little under 24 hours. We would be meeting Rosie, Rachael, Ruby, Adam and George there and with that the next part of our journey was underway. The views were exceptional and the bus comfortable but despite being promised that we would reach the Namibian border before closing at 6pm, it was not to me. And no, we were not going to get our $84 back like the nice man at the ticket office had said, of course we weren't. So we waited and waited and we waited for the Zambian border staff to let us out as the Namibian border were nice enough to wait for us but no, it just wasn't happening. The bus company were sweet as and bought us dinner in a border restaurant and we got friendly with the locals over grapetizer and started a bit of a disco in the grocery. Music blaring, we danced our way through our stay at the Namib border, getting stuck there was one of the best things that could have happened! Unfortunately we're pretty sure the music kept the bus awake all night and so getting on at about 4 am, we had a few pissed off Zambians awaiting us. The next day they found out we were volunteer teachers in Malawi, working for seven months in disadvantaged areas and they were more than surprised! Yet they still felt the need to blare the christian tunes and play lots of soul-cleansing videos just to y'know, guide us in the right direction. TIA (this is Africa!). We slept on the bus, a new hobby of our's...sleeping on buses is just the norm. At 6am we passed through the Namibian border, a few stamps on the ole passport that simply couldn't have been done yesterday! We soon got used to Namibian dollars as we discovered that Namibia sold smarties and other western goodies. The views were utterly spectacular, from sand dunes to forests and skyrise cities. 

   Getting to Windhoek was the biggest shock, even in the darkness we could see that it was much more developed than most African capitals. Namibia was colonised by Germany and so the street signs, ingredient lists, newspapers and many of the people are all German. The bus drivers were nice enough to take us all the way to the cardboard box backpackers where we soon found someone to drive us to KFC...up the road. (note to all fellow veggies, KFC doesn't do anything without chicken, simple fact of life). We spent about three days in Windhoek soaking up actual food like Italian canneloni and pizza. We were in a shopping centre, that was a big deal. We went to see a film (Oz the great and powerful) but cracked up the whole way through at how horrific it was, maybe western comforts aren't all they're cracked up to be after three months in Africa... From a night of 8 jagerbombs in 2 hours at happy hour to singing 'You can call me Al' with Will at a German karaoke bar, we thoroughly enjoyed the inexpensive highlife in Windhoek. It was hard to ignore the poverty which so shockingly contrasted with the wealth in Namibia's capital though... Windhoek was like some alternate reality version of Miami, palm trees and long highways but just outside there were neverending sand dunes and people crammed into slums on the edge of town. There are of course these situations in Malawi but the stark contrast here was a little disturbing.    We were keen to see the famous dunes of Namibia and so found a cheap safari to Swakopmund in the west, on the Atlantic coast. It went through sossusvlei where we hiked Dune 45 (SAND DUNES NEVER END BLAAAH!) at sunset, saw the 'highest sand dune in the world' but didn't hike it cause we were ahem, too busy (lazy) ...there was NO TIME!!! We saw deadvlei, the incredibly peaceful and beautiful grey landscape of 900 year old trees that are still standing and got very excited taking photos of us doing human pyramids, we're a bit sad...as you may have noticed. We stayed in desert campsites around Western Namibia, one with scorpians all over the place, one where you could see the Milkyway clear and bright above you, one with a swimming pool and a bar, one where jackals visited you as you slept in your tent. We visited the second largest canyon in the world and headed for Swakopmund to do our sandboarding and quadbiking in the Namib desert. That was certainly an experience alright...I'm thinking quadbiking isn't my thing considering I fell off the yoke on a sharp turn and ended up thinking I had a concussion for a good two days. Sandboarding resulted in a sick amount of sand in the face, ridiculous sand burns and collapsing at the top of the dune after walking back up. Maybe we shouldn't have asked our guide to wax the boards up good and well. Being in Namibia was incredible but I can honestly say we pined for a Malawi more than once, despite how much it frustrates us sometimes...the real Africa isn't shopping centres and getting your food at a reasonable time in a restaurant. Though Namibia WAS pretty crazy and Africa is crazy, simple as. Such as leaving from Swakopmund to Windhoek on a train....this trip takes less than four hours on a bus but interestingly enough it takes 11 hours on a train. If the train wasn't going 50km an hour it was going backwards. Luckily we had box wine, first class had cost only $2 extra, Grace and I had made friends with a cute German couple and they had a few cheeky dvds on the fuzzy tv. Four of the group had decided to head to South Africa with less than two weeks to go, two separate adventures ensued. Multiple bus trips later (some lasting 20 hours) we went from Livingstone to Lusaka and back to Lilongwe. In Livingstone we got to get up close and personal with cheetahs: a baby cheetah rolled onto Grace! And they pulled us along the paths through the forest, licked our hands; just about biting them. George made us lovely stirfrys every night and we happily swam, slept in our cute tent and enjoyed the luxory of Zambian Spar before heading back to Lusaka (leaving the bus depot resulted in a very heated discussion over the use of Mzungu with myself and a Zambian bus driver) and then on to Lilongwe.  We hung out with Sam and Eloise over Indian in the backstreets and decided to end the holiday with a trip to Kasungu (central Malawi, the poorest placement) to visit Mike and Mike (yes, two Mike's have been placed together). The second we arrived we were swarmed by the cutest, most welcoming kids who squeled with joy at our presence, seeing Mzungu girls was too just good to be true. Rosie, Grace and I chased them around the maize fields for hours before the lovely teachers cooked us up a hearty Malawian meal at the front of the mud hut on the charcoal burner while the fireflies buzzed around our heads and we grew ever more shocked by the amount of oil and salt that Malawians use in cooking. We made the trip to Kamuzu Academy (the Eten of Africa in the middle of the poorest area in Malawi...) and were shocked by the swimming pools, tennis courts and beautifully designed halls. It seemed a little bit more than ridiculous when kids in ragged clothing are chasing you down the driveway asking for money. We watched Scooby Doo, ate rice and beans, made great use of the electricity in the guest house and realised that we much prefer the simple mud hut with candles and charcoal burners.
    Since returning to the placement we've realised what's most important about this trip. I miss home intensely, but I love Africa. The spirit of the people, the beautiful views, the thinking space. EVeryday I grow more attached, more frustrated, more confused. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget this journey. Never has any experience in my life made me more aware, concerned and astonished about the world. I'm worried about returning, worried that I might crack and fly right back here but it's the people that will make me stay. My mom has been so supportive, sending me chalk, bombay mix, energy bars like the darling she is! My friends have sent letters, messages of news and memories. I have realised that primary teaching is without a doubt the route for me. I don't know what teaching kids at home will be like but here it's just amazing. Beingcalled Madame will never get old, gifts of suger cane and oranges from children whose parents can't afford to buy plastic for their leaking rooves who always insist that you accept, seeing their improvement, interest and enthusiam grow by the day. It's just fantastic. I wouldn't be surprised if I come back one day. The thought of not seeing Veronica, Thoku, Vushani, Bishop, Peter ever again is heartbreaking. I have grown so attached in admiration and respect for these people. From visiting the most humble people...wanting to help them in buying maize with the money raised from the mock wedding, shaking hands with anyone and everyone and being able to converse in their local language, hopping on a minibus for four euro and making it across a country...I do love this place. It greatly affects your heart, mind, your body (eeesh!). Oh, the phrase eeesh is essential in Malawi. For markets when the price is too high, when someone says something ridiculous, when you make a mistake, fall over, anything. Such a versatile phrase. We have found our new favourite place: BananaCoffeeLovely restaurant where our main lady makes us eggs and beans with rice (always rice...SOMUCHRICE). Em and I spend any free evenings on the porch sewing, having endless discussions about development, about the mystery and apparent magical ways of the 'white man', why we came here and what will happen when we leave, whether we should have come here or not when at the end of the day we will leave. Watching Blood Diamond definitely messed me up a bit too much. I've been listening to lots of Arcade Fire, but that's just lovely.  We're in Cape McClear right now (this blog has spanned over a good three weeks,internet is a mission!) and the people swim with you in the lake, they laugh and you trying to speak Chichewa and the sunset is the most glorious thing I have ever seen.  I've gone a bit mad, I don't think I've ever thought so much in my life but I am happy. I so hope that the time we have left here can be filled with useful lessons for everyone and lasting impressions. I hope I can continue learning and I now know that these people, this country has much more to give me than I ever had to give them. For that, I am truly greatful. 

No, I am not a tourist. I speak ChiTumbucka b@#$H !

The last blog, as long and painful as it was was cut short due to time constraints and my dwindling funds in the high speed internet cafe. Having a blog is so hipster it makes me want to cry  but wow are they handy! I get to offload my thoughts, complaints, observations and realisations while keeping friends and family in the loop, sure isn’t it fab! Despite these essays, I still manage to have so much to say when I get one of those rare phonecalls from home. Mom mostly reminds me to ‘look after yourself’ to not ‘put your safety at risk’ and ‘for god’s sake would you remember to take your malarone!!’ (for the record I always remember...eventually). All you sound mots who’ve thrown me a skype call (gone to my house and called me from there – you know who you are :D) have given me so much to be happy about: I have an abundance of support, my friends are proud of me and want to hear all about this adventure, always reminding me that I need to appreciate and use every minute of the precious time I have here because it’s such an exciting adventure that I won’t ever forget. Homesickness now is for those little things that you can’t help but pine for...drinking tea and watching Adventure Time with Derek, eating cereal and soya milk whenever I want (found soya in Mzuzu a while back but due to lack of refrigeration I’m saving it for a really tough couple of days!). Just being able to give my mom a hug or walking up to Lidl (I just can’t get over that I live so close to this magical place where you can get just about Anything – not only oil, soya pieces, biscuits and lollipops). Never again will I go to the fridge and say ‘there’s no food in the house’ because by God from now on I will find Something to eat Somehow. I can see the beautiful, glorious fridge now, the heart of the kitchen and that wonderful, magnificent ice machine. Wait, WHY do we have an ice machine?!? We live in IRELAND. (side note: Ask mom to send ice machine and solar charger for said machine). Never again will I moan at Dad to buy fruit (“if there’s no fruit in the house I’ll eat chocolate and get fat – do you want that to happen Dad!??) because as long as there are apples; red, green, yellow, brown; I will be happy! Oh apples, I miss you so. To be fair, I’ve found apples in Mzuzu but the flat fee is 150 kwacha (about 30c) – expensive for Malawi when bananas cost less than a cent each.    Continuing this food rant...(Emma and I have concluded that food and weather determine everything, EVERYTHING) the Malawian Cuisine has really grown on me! I’m pretty lucky that meat doesn’t play a huge part in the diet here, it’s too expensive to eat everyday and is saved for guests and special occasions. Unforch it can get a bit awkward at formal dinners too. Before the soccer match a few weeks ago we had a cute lil lunch with the teacher from our school and the opposition’s. When it came for the time for the meat to be served the regular teacher of Standard Six, Bishop (such a legend) offered me chicken. I politely declined several times when he had pushed it to the point of me saying “please Bishop I’m a vegetarian – no meat!” He left confused and amused, giving the chicken’s heart (huge sign of respect but the most disgusting part) to Emma, oh lol her face, pays to be veggie sometimes! I can’t get over how much we take food for granted. The fact that we can walk across the street and buy everything we could ever want baffles me after 18 years of life like that and only three months in Africa. It’s just amazing the accessibility we have.

     We have found some real perks about living and working in the community. Our new bestie Joshua provides us with pumpkin leaves, tomatoes and the occasional bunch of bananas which Emma doesn’t eat so mwahaha more for me! He also washes our clothes (except undies for decency sake) as we are so flippin’ busy now! He manages to make them smell better than they would at home, by hand-washing. He’s a genius. So educated and inventive too. I’ve had countless debates with him over the role of women in society, the impact of the Western World on the Third World and whether I should become a farmer or not. We’re so happy to have met him. He’ll question and quiz you until you have an explanation for everything you say. I love it, he is so keen to learn and share. He doesn’t just accept the poverty like so many others. At a young age he took a chance in business with bricks and kept failing until he found an opening and succeeded.  There are a lot of those people around here, some get lucky I guess.

   Returning back to the placement after a week’s holiday on a beautiful island was difficult but a relief. No surprise we got stranded at the bottom of the mountain again and had to fork out to stay the night. Emma and I, determined to make it up on Monday in time to teach, decided we’d take the leap and walk up the Gorodi road (Toby and Will chickened out). Waking at 4am we began our journey as the sun slowly rose over the lake. Biscuits to keep us motivated and water to keep us alive, we ascended the mountain by foot. The first km or two was a bit tough but as we got higher the real problem was adjusting to the altitude. Your pack would suddenly weigh you down and you’d find it hard to breathe. We had chosen a good time for the four hour hike. The sun was nowhere near its hottest and we had time to stop for a peanut butter sandwich breakfast. Reaching Lukwe was such an achievement , we had ‘survived the Gorodi’ on foot. Booyah. That same week we started Permaculture club, I got my first care package (Malteasers ohhhmmyyyglooob), met Ben and Rachael, realised the value of pens and thought about home a lot. Permaculture club is super cute , it’s held at the school and on our first day there we got our hands dirty with forty of the kids digging swails, cutting Vetteva grass and using A frames. Ben and Rachael have a big involvement as well seeing as they now live on the school grounds. They’re a couple from the UK working in Malawi on environment and community – they’re lovely!        

   I also started ‘part-time’ (extra time) with my students that day. They’ve been asking for a while and I figured they could do with some extra English. It’s going brilliantly. I prepare sentences in English on the board with blanks for their own details. I want them to get really good at speaking and reading so I’ve been doing the generic ‘Myself’, ‘My Family’ and ‘My School’ – it’s going surprisingly well! The kids who want to learn come, so it’s less shushing and more talking, yis. Their answers get me every time... Most have about ten brothers and sisters, they all want to be doctors, teachers, police officers  and their  favourite foods range from bread to rice. Can you imagine hearing that at home? I know, I know, everything is relative but wow, it is just so different. The fact that here bread is even rare, whereas at home it’s pizza and chocolate, no one wants boring ole bread. Shows how much we take for granted... Teaching has opened my eyes to so many new things. I never realised before how much effort  and patience it takes. You really feel the weight of all those eyes, staring at you in the hope of soaking up a bright future. It’s draining and it’s so tough when the majority of the kids can’t understand a word of what you’re saying but you learn to teach just from that alone. I’ve had to completely re-invent lessons through pictures, actions, sounds, anything just so they become enthusiastic about conjunctions and ratio. Anytime I attempt Tumbucka they laugh their heads off so I tend to stick to English. I have a few favourites not for academic reasons but really for their comedic value. Golden always meets us outside Mtende and carries my bag all the way to school (he makes sure it’s him), Mphatso constantly mocks my voice when he speaks in English and Tionge gives me cheeky grins when I catch her talking in class. Her and I are totes Permaculture buddies, always taking turns digging with each other. Sometimes the kids fight over carrying my books  to class, grabbing whatever extra thing they can...I can’t help but think that it originates from me giving a lollipop to Chawanangwa when he finished his exercise first. They do frustrate me, especially when ; for the fifteenth time; I’ve asked “Now, does everyone understand?’ and I get back “yes, Madame” but when it comes to marking tests they just hadn’t had a clue. And the fact that most of them have been passed through Primary school without knowing the alphabet is so unfair. It’s not their fault that they can’t spell or say certain words, they really do try. Teachers that don’t want to put up with them or teach them properly have just pushed them through. Most teachers here seem to think that the only way to teach is to stand at the top of a class,  speak at the information at the students and write it on the board for them to copy but I suppose most teachers think that. And you know, it’s rarely their fault either. They didn’t have the money to finish or even begin teaching college and they’ve been thought to lecture the kids, not teach them: not engage and inspire their minds. Mr.Gondwe sat in my class last week and was amazed that I could teach through games, that I made class fun for the kids. We were playing a spelling game and about twenty of them were crowded around the board fighting for the chalk, I sat there laughing my head off while Gondwe stared in disbelief at the whole situation. Afterwards he said to me “your teaching methods, they are amazing. The learners are all getting involved, they are not shy with you. I hope you can teach me how you do this”. I was dumbstruck to say the least. He could not believe that teaching could be fun for both the students and the teacher but he wanted to understand, to adopt these methods. That was cool.

   Two weeks ago, Emma and I were desperate to get on the internet , so bad. Having nowhere to charge phones during the week we were going a little crazy without the ability to text and call.  Also I get to get to a doctor and find out what was wrong with me. There were plans to go to Cape McClear for the long weekend (Martyr’s Day on the Sunday) but our desire to get contact with the outside world was so great that we decided to get up at 4am on Friday and get a lift to Mzuzu with Mike, who gives lifts down the mountain three times a week at 5am. So we waited, and we waited and we waited but no sign of Will & Toby waving happily from the back of Mike’s truck. The sun rose and the moon disappeared while Emma sat in the middle of the road and I lay under the primary school sign listening to Laura Marling. Three trucks passed, none stopped. We were so confused until Will & Toby rocked up looking pissed, Mike had overbooked and we would have to walk. At least we got to enjoy crazy Chitimba lady trying to steal my mango while we waited for a minibus to Mzuzu. A malaria test proved negative but the doctor was convinced I had sepsis (blood poisoning), I got some antibiotics which sorted me out pretty well. We found an incredible shop that sold spices in buckets, rice krispies, chickpeas and cakes WITH ICING, ahhhhh!!! I was in heaven. We discovered the beauty of bicycle taxis but also how fast they make you lazy. We stayed in the infamous Mzuzoozoo for the night and the only accommodation for Emma and I was the caravan....our own lil caravan of love :P We had been hearing about an Indian restaurant called A1 for too long and wowza, they had paneer! I never thought I’d miss Govinda’s after four months of eating the food everyday but I really would do anything for that food now. Eating Indian: naan bread, cumin rice and all. We drank red wine on our cute lil foursome date and scoffed up one of the most delicious meals in Malawi yet. AND the food came out in under a half hour, it was bliss. The Cape was a 12 hour night bus away and we were keen to have a decent amount of time there so we skipped out and decided we might as well follow Joyce Banda (president of Malawi) to Nkhata Bay for the weekend. Seeing Banda was certainly an unforgettable experience. Thousands of people lined the streets in orange chitenjes celebrating the people’s party and the coming of the president. It was a bit ridiculous to be honest. A country where the majority of people could hardly put food on the table and here was their president being driven in a procession of black land cruisers with hundreds of armed guards. We didn’t know what to think, we felt more alien than ever as we watched from a restaurant across from where people from near and far gathered to see the president of their country. They didn't seem to want us near the crowd and when we retreated to the restaurant we were followed by three armed guards and four fierce looking men in black suits. We were strictly forbidden to take photos and as we strained over the balcony for a good view the men stared us down in suspiscion. To our surprise after about 15 mins of this they turned into the funniest, friendliest guys all keen to hear about our adventures and wanting to find themselves a mzungu wife (of course!). As I was getting married to Peter in two weeks time, I managed to avoid their advances. They kept moving from one of us girls to the other and one of them, very keen on Tegan offered to let us meet Joycey herself if Tegan came to Lilongwe with him...not gonna lie, we considered it. Another asked me for Emma's number and was so set on it that I had to change her number in my contacts so he'd believe the fake one I gave him for her. Luckily her phone had no battery so he couldn't test it xD Another one of them moaned at me for a good hour saying 'get me mine' referring to a mzungu wife. Tried to hitch him with Elvie but she wasn't too keen... We ended up getting a glimpse of Joycey herself despite the crowds and heard a few speeches in Chichewa but we were left baffled. All of this crazy preparation for the president. Never would we put that much effort into a visit from the president at  home.  Correct me if I’m wrong!

    Just to quickly mention a Joyce who we rather love and respect is the dean of academics in the University of Livingstonia: one of three powerful women in the community. Visited Toby and Will in Livingstonia to chill out with some movies and write our exams for the end of term (Emma and I had to handwrite seventy each due to the lack of printing facilities in Primary school) and Joyce asked us to dinner! Man was it a spread! We ate like kings and dinner was followed by coffee and cake: it was just like home! Her husband Moses is the Dean of the University and the two of them really are the power couple of Livingstonia. They help many poor people in the area and are so well educated. We learned a lot that night. The next day we went to the English church service and Emma and I ended up on the male side of the church (even that is segregated!) and we all had to stand in front of the three hundred people and introduce ourselves...Classic Malawi.

   Oh, a few things of mine got robbed from my bedside table while I slept a while back. It was a bad time, it felt like everything was going wrong. The police were drunk and unhelpful, I couldn't get in contact with my insurance, I had no phone to contact my parents...things looked up though. The community were very supportive, even though their main suggestion was the witch doctor who would catch the witch who stole from me. Oh Africa!

   Emma’s parent’s visited us the next week and we enjoyed the luxury of their rental car and showed them around Livingstonia, Manchewe Falls and our various programmes in the village. The kids were so excited to see more mzungus and our classes got extra help during class tests! They got to stay for the wedding and Emma’s mom, being a professional baker, helped us whip up one beautiful wedding cake! So the wedding has come and gone by now and I don’t know whether any of you have seen the photos on Facebook or not but it was one ridiculous event! For weeks we went through dance rehearsals with the youth nearly every evening and planned the buying of rings, formal attire, food, speakers..everything! We put a budget of about $60 together for it all. The community was so excited, asking us questions everyday and wondering what it was for. It was a big deal: a mzungu (white) and a mfhipa (black) getting married...no one in the community had ever heard of such a thing before! The day before I actually put my hair in rollers (yes, my mother packed rollers! Never thought they would come in handy in Africa! xD) and we sat up making paper chains to decorate the hall. My dress had been rented from Mzuzu and honestly, I figured I could have put gypsy weddings to shame. Peter and I had to wait until all of the guests had eaten until we could reveal ourselves. We danced our way up the aisle outside Mtende, flowers thrown at us and cheers coming from every angle. The wedding was spent sitting under a makeshift tenty thing with Emma as my best lady and Toby as Peter's best man on our sides. We collected money by dancing with a bucket, charging people 20/50/100 kwacha per step around the ground, having money thrown at us, selling the cake and through selling food and drinks. We made a good 90'000 kwacha, the equilalent of maybe $270 ! A lot for a small communtiy. We were so proud :D The money will go towards feeding orphans in the area, running our HIV/AIDS awareness and Civic Education projects in the surrounding communities and also to buying medicine for the many sick people in the area. No, Peter and I did NOT kiss! We hugged and he carried me around the crowd and then, of course, I had to carry him! Well, Emma helped me. :P We raced down to the lake that evening for at least soemthing of a Paddy's day experience. A load of Peace Corps were there and they had a crazy amount of Irish get-up and I taught a lot of Irish dancing that night. I missed home quite a bit that night, the only Irish gal in a sea of 'twelfths, eights and quarters' Irish, hearing about all of the plans going down at home. Hopefully I was there in spirit. (:

   Right now we're on holiday, eeeep! Plans to rent a car went swimmingly until a few things messed up :/ We had such a cute group going on. Emma, Toby, Will and I, Grace and Michael (two extra kiwis: the horror!!). We drove successfully from Mzuzu to Lilongwe with ten of us stuffed in the back, only a few potholes along the way! The reunion in Lilongwe was awesome, we hadn't seen eachother in months and all of us were set on heading for Vic falls in Zambia asap. The mechanic at Mabuya lodge in Lilongwe fixed up our breaks and shockies so packing up at 12am rather than 5am like the other suckers without a car we set off for the Zambian boarder. 100 metres down the road Toby was frantically pumping the breaks when we realised that we'd have to return to our Mr.Mechanic. He told us we would have to stay another nigth and head to Zambia the next day while he sorted the leaking break fluid: not worrying at all! Now, just to inform you all....we rented this car off one of the Mtende board members who was giving it to us for $150 for a whole month. We had our police clearance, vehicle registration, accident triangles...everything! Shit just didn't work out. That evening while we were out at a restaurant, one of the volunteers, Walt, who was waiting for his passport to be delivered to Lilongwe called us and let us know that Mr.Mechanic would have to fix the car using a part that wasn't even available in Malawi and he wouldn't get it for a week if it was to be ordered. We there and then made the decision to abandon the car and bus it like the rest. We had some pretty rough transport over about 35 hours to Livingstone, Zambia, home of Vic falls. From being shoved in the back of a boiling minibus to sleeping on a couch in a bus station overnight and breaking down on the side of the road for a few hours. ( a good thing to come from it all was the fact that Irish people don't pay to get into Zambia YEAHLADS!). We eventually reached the modern town of Livingstone which thrives off the natural wonder of Victoria Falls. Without even realising what had happened we were signed up for a safari to Botswana the next day and wow, we were not gonna regret it! It was like being a little kid again... On the boat safari we saw hippos, elephants, crocodiles, fish eagles and then we moved onto a game drive to see Mphala, Tigers, Leopards, more elephants (they were fecking everywhere!), giraffes, buffalo and warthogs. It felt like we were in the Lion King! It was so crazy to see this side of Africa, the side you imagine what it's always like! It was an absolute dream. On the drive back two wild elephants blocked our bus: it was the craziest, coolest experience, I don't think I've ever taken so many photos in my life! The next day was bungee jumping day but after a night on the Livingstone club scene it was gonna be a tough one. I was so terrified but knowing that I'd regret it if I didn't, I had a long chat with Dad who convinced me to just go for it! Surprisingly enough I woke up super hyper and ready to face it head on...literally. The zip line was first but that was more of a scenicbeginning, nothing could have prepared me for that bungee. You're held on by your legs, with a mass of towels between your feet to reduce the painful impact. The rainbow stretched across the water of the Zambezi river below as I tried to concentrate on the beautiful horizon ahead of me. 5-4-3-standing ont hat edge I thought I was going to wet myself-2-oh shit how am I going to dive I CAN'T DIVE -1- bungee! I just went for it, I threw myself off that thing and never in my life have I done something so reckless, so careless and incredible. It was so terrifying free falling 111 metres, the third highest bungee in the world, but man was it amazing. I didn't want it to end. The feeling was indescribable. Emma and I did the 140m drop swing togetehr like cute placement partners do and that was just a tad more scary considering I was less hyped for it but we sang as we swung into the rainbow over the Zambezi and laughed about how freakin' lucky we were to be doing something so awesome. We tented it through our time in Zambia which wasn't always so cosy and we woke up boiling and squished with six of us ina five man but it was full of hilarious nights 'for the boys' (blame kiwi Michael he is insane and likes dancing in the street!). We had some crazy nights on the town, frequenting plenty of local Zambian clubs but with the lads to protect us girls fromt he overly keen local men. We're in Namibia now, the capital of Windhoek is full of white people, fast food chains and landrovers. It's like Miami, or what I imagine Miami to look like... Having internet is freakin' sweet and all of these luxories make it difficult to think that we'll be returning to mud hut living without electricity and water but so is the special nature of holiday aye? Heading on a three day safari tomorrow to the sand dunes for sand boarding, to the secong biggest canyon in the world and some other wonderful spectacles. Who knows where the adventure will go next... It's crazy how cheap it is once you get here, all of the work pays off in the end despite various hardships! (just to add on....If I was to give advice to any volunteer coming to a Third World country it’s to find out exactly what you’ll be doing and what kind of access you will have to certain facilities. Here was naive ole me thinking I’d have Skype and phone reception 24/7 and a fully stocked market close by! At the same time, the surprise can be exciting...sometimes. Bring a ridiculous amount of plastic bags and containers for travel at the weekends and for when things spill and believe me, they will! Bring photos from home and something to comfort you when homesickness chokes you up! Have photocopies of absolutely every necessary document! Copious amounts ofhand sanitizer, baby wipes, underwear, tonnes of pen and paper. Pretty much you will have to spend money replacing shit that gets stolen, wrecked or wet: it happens! A potato peeler, a masher, a sieve and a good set of knives would also be quite nice... xD Also a good camera because you will get fed up with a shit one!)

   A little pievvce from a lovely peace corp I met along the way - Hello. This is Mark Gestwicki, I’m currently Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi. I just met Jenny this evening and asked her if I could contribute something to her blog. I’ve been here for a little over a year now. Malawi is a beautiful country. The lake is fantastic, amazing, and wonderful. Malawians are enthusiastically generous and kind. I am grateful to be living happy and healthy in Malawi.

    And so concludes another ridiculously long blog. Sorry for my overuse of ridiculous, amazing and other annoying words....my vocabulary has turned pretty poor. I've probably left out a few things and put in a few too many but jeez, blogs take time and I gotta go soak up happy hour! I really miss my mom, mom I hope you're reading this (maybe not the soaking up happy hour bit). My family in general. And all of the beautiful people I call my friends at home. The people I have met here are all so brilliant but sometimes I really miss those who just get me, those who are into the same stupid jokes and silly moments that I am. It's the little things. I am safe, I am healthy, I am having the time of my life. Stay cool peeps (: