I am in Africa.

I...am....in...AFRICA. Holy smokes. So this is it guys... I simply cannot believe it! After everything I have actually arrived.
  The adventure begins in London, Heathrow on Jan 3rd 2013. Saying cya later to the ole boyf was a bit tough but sure how could it not be? After having come to London with me in the first place, I was a little more than sad to say ''see you soon'. Or 'see you in a week' as we decided to say. Walking through security in Heathrow was an experience alright...I was absolutely obliterated by customs what with all of the Malaria tablets and various medications I had so strategically packed in my small rucksack. Of course I had packed all of the important items that had to be checked in the aiport at the bottom...'cause I'm an idiot. So everything was taken out and I was left putting on shoes, holding onto money and trying to pick up packets of tablets while other fliers shouted at me to move elsewhere....my emotional state just did not help. After the drama I found my fellow volunteers (all UK) and we headed for the boarding gate. Not before we thought mental George was buying a CD in HMV before boarding a flight to Africa but no, he was actually buying headphones...maybe mental George isn't as mental as we think...maybe we were just a tad delusional as we dove into the madness. The flight to South Africa was far less painful than I thought it would be. And the deal with airline food is that a turkey stirfry is ACTUALLY a cream of turkey thing. Basically, order vegetarian! :D Sat beside Elvie and Adam and talked about leaving home for seven months...it was hard to think about the length of time but it's great how supportive we are of each other and how we are all in the same boat. Leaving home isn't easy but sure it is all part of the adventure. Anyway, from Johannesburg we flew to Lilongwe, taking three hours. Who was on our flight but Christine Lagarde, president of the IMF and wasn't I sitting beside the travel reporter from the BBC who was about to interview her in Malawi. That was certainly an experience ! I also got chatting to a woman with a wealth of information on Lilongwe and Malawi in general, a teacher from South Africa who worked in a secondary school up the road from Mabuya camp (where our orientation took place). That particular flight was one heck of a culture lesson but we were about to step into our own once we got off that plane...

   From the belt to the bus the seven of us (six UK, one Irish) flew through Lilongwe in a tiny minibus with all of our belongings. I don't even know if it had hit us yet but we were driving through the capital of Malawi, the start of a wonderful and terrifying adventure. We get to Mabuya camp, meet the nine Australians, nine New Zealanders, one American, one Canadian and one Taiwanese. They were all SO lovely (espesh rach omg)! The first thing they noticed was my was my seemingly 'really strong accent'. The AMOUNT of people who would say 'say leprauchan' or 'awwh you're soooo Irish'. Pretty ironic considering I have anything but an Irish accent in Ireland. I guess being the only Paddy in the group made the difference. I never knew the stereotype of only eating potateoes and drinking like a trooper wasn't just a myth! Any word that had the letter 'r' was very entertaining for everyone...especially the word 'farmer'. Classic. :P

   For the next five days we got to know eachother so well, ate extremely starchy food (in Malawi it is important to be as full as possible so rice, nsima and potatoes are BIIIG), had Malawian culture lessons : don't look people in the eye unless you see them as a love interest, don't chew paper suggestively unless you see someone as a love interest, that a chitenje (literally just a large piece of groovy patterned material with SO MANY USES, ones you would never even think of in Ireland) is one of the most important things a woman can own, that all snakes in Malawi are poisonous no matter how small and that you SHOULD NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES pick it up (I got close, but I curled it onto a bin with a stick luckily enough!)...always call 'SNAKE' because everyone wants to be the one to kill the snake... lovely, buses meant for twelve people can always fit in and around thirty-five...never less! There are so many more things, I'll learn about them as I go! As well as that we learned how to speak basic ChiTumbuka (the language of the North) because despite the fact that English is the first language, the numerous tribes in the North of Malawi don't speak it too well. Not only do I have to try and alter my accent but I need to get good at that language if I'm gooing to be teaching little kids! Then came a two day teaching course where we learned how to structure a lesson plan, speak slowly and clearly to a class, different method of teaching and dealing with students. In our ten minute subject demonstrations I taught some Irish culture, as you do. Adding to the stereotype I taught the traditional Irish dance 'The Walls of Limerick' to four of the volunteers. I also threw in some ceili instruments for fun. I must have looked soooo cultural !!! Walking into the old town on the outskirts of Lilongwe we were absolutely stared out of it. I've never heard one heard said over and over again - 'mzungu'. Mzungu, mzungu, mzungu, mzungu, mzungu mzungu mzungu mzungu muzungu mzungu mzungu.... Maybe that will help you to get the idea of  how crazy the namecalling was. To put it simply, we were mildly harrassed by the locals. Not in a violent way but to many of the men in the market, we are walking money, with many of them looking to find a mzungu wife. Many declarations of love were made: asking if we had boyfriends/husbands, asking for numbers....eventually many were bribed to just go away. We will get used to it eventually, we will get used to the way of the Malawi, perhaps even become very like one ourselves! We learned how to top up our Malawian sims, realising that it is SO much easier than in the West, here more things make sense. Lizards in the showers, in the bedroom, on every single wall become the norm. That beer is cheaper than water and that that water is warm, deal with it. That swimming in the rain is much more fun than when it's dry. We met 'Preacher' (Bob Marley)...who happened to want a mzungu experience with Naomi, 'Osmond' (whose favourite phrase is "YO DJ, turn that song UP!" That song being 'Nice to know you' which was played ooover and OOOVER), 'Born Africa', 'Fred' and many more...they were crazy, it was nice. Also that when it rains, it POURS and that a rain jacket is your new best friend. Wow, what else? Being surrounded by other westerners at all times made it difficult to stay completely aware that we were in a developing country, a country where 65% of the population live below the poverty line. Admittedly, as we walked into town we quickly realised that the poeple live by the day, they survive for the day. And this was in the capital city. What would it be like as we moved out into the small villages of the North?

   On the morning we left my alarm decided it would be a great idea not to go off at 5am as I had set it for but instead it went off at 5.45am. As we were leaving at 6am, I threw everything into my rucksack with lightning speed and we were crammed onto a minibus set for the bus station. Now, this minibus could normally fit fifteen people, twenty at a push minus luggage. Not in Malawi ! Twenty-eight teenagers, four adults, sixty bags and three guitars were crammed into this minibus and we chugged along the bumpy Malawian roads towards the bus station moaning and groaning about our sore thi. Now that was certainly new for all of us...immediately after stepping out of the bus we were bombarded by men (Notice how women don't play a massive part in the story so far? That's Malawi!) trying to sell us bus tickets, sweets, samosas, trying to carry our bags...anything and everything! And so we learned fast that in Malawi the bus waits until it is full, NO BUS LEAVES until it is full. We waited for three hours with bread and water as we watched the bus fill with men, women, children, rice, luggage, maize...everything that can be put on a respectable coach. An eight hour trip from Lilongwe to Mzuzu was our fate as we drove past wide, rolling, lush green fields and small rural villages. We gazed out the window as we realised that we were in beautiful Malawi, 'The Warm Heart of Africa'. We made a few stops along the way and further encountered the reality of the poverty of Malawi as we were faced with a hole int he ground for a toilet, no running water and people begging on the streets. We reached Mzuzu by 5pm and met our Southern representative Emmanuel and her daughter. THANK GOD for Emmanuel and her beautiful french accent, she was our saviour as we made our way through the throngs of people who wanted to get the attention of the 'mzungus' and she had taxis arranged for us from the bus station to our hostel. We went for food, went to bed and got ready for our next day of travelling...not forgetting my mild hallucinations from Malarone (which is meant to have minimal side effects but ah well!).
      Another early start and a minibus from Mzuzu headed for Karonga. All those who hadn't been dropped in the central region crammed onto a minibus with all of our luggage as the scenery turned more and more rural and fascinating. We waved to children, bought bananas through the windows and thus were followed by monkeys up a mountainous road, them trying to grab our banana skins and us trying to take as many photos of baby monkeys as possible. After four hours we arrived at Sangilo Village, our in country co-ordinator's lodge beside the lake. At this stage there were four of us, the two who are placed here and Emma and I who are heading for Lukwe Eco Camp with our host tomorrow (Saturday). We walked around the clear, vast lake, walked into the village where we were chased by the most adorable children who all wanted to hold our hand and practise their English on the new mzungus. Already Emma and I were so so excited for our own placements. The atmosphere was startled but friendly and happy as adults stopped us to shake our hads and ask how we were and where we were from. We fell asleep to the loudest night of frogs, crickets and every manner of loud insect while fireflies buzzed brightly above our tightly packed mosquito nets. We are in Africa and as the Malawi's would say to us at every new eventuality 'Welcome to Malawi'.

   Hugs, Jen xo

It's not goodbye, it's see you later.

I know my last post was a good three months ago....I won't make excuses, I just don't think I'm as blog savvy as I would like to think I am ! I admit that I have been a terrible recorder of events but that will all change from here on in! I'm writing this particular post from a hotel lobby in Heathrow, my boyfriend in on my right looking very disappointed at my absolutely poor display in relation to my blog but I think he's over the moon to have me out of his hair for a while, now he can get out there and fulfill his dream of becoming the next housemate in Geordie Shore. My flight to South Africa is in a little over five hours but us Very prepared group of volunteers have decided to meet three hours early to check in together on the plane, complain about how impossible it is to stuff seven months worth of supplies into a rucksack and a baggage allowance of 23kg as well as have a good moan about having to be on a plane for 13 hours...I mean Really, what IS the deal with airline food? Apparently South African Airways have a bad rep, we are in for a treat!

   I presume I haven't told you all what I will be doing over there... I will be in Lukwe EcoCamp & Organic Gardens in the town of Livingstonia  (http://www.lukwe.com/)   in the North of Malawi. Trees, mountains, awwwwh yis. There I will be teaching basic Primary School subjects, working in the organic garden and teaching the locals about nutrition and the importance of environmental conservation. I'll be telling all once I'm there and living it though, after my five days orientation in the capital of Malawi, Lilongwe.


So this is the day and I'm feeling pretty siked....and petrified, sad, confused and downright uegfliughweldkjgqkeuyfieljdbcljfbiwheVBOIRGIYEoieqrogasljcnewhgfoqurhqoj. YAY ! My emotions are in-explainable, simply put. I'm in limbooo.  After months of planning, fundraising, working and worrying I have gathered the malaria tablets, mosquito repellant, colouring pencils, kids books and a million other things. I have put just about everything into this, willingly of course ! We're on our third volunteer co-ordinater, we've been told we can't wear trousers and I've had to remind my mom over and over that YES, I will be coming home and NO I will not 'get in a mad taxi at night alone in Africa'. I have sold cakes (ALOT OF CAKE) , worked 12 hour shifts, waxed a few legs...even a chest, hiked a mountain, wallpapered some walls, painted another few, sold lighters (I'm a scout not a dodgy dealer !), encouraged adults to drink wine, printed my dad out of business and a thousand other things. I'm finally here. It isn't all me though, it's the selfless, unwavering support from my friends, family and everyone I am lucky enough to have in my life that have gotten me this far.

  More posts to come but for now it's see you later. I'll be sending news from Africa. Happy New Year!
Jen xoxox