Malawi Wowi

Malawi Education Project

2010-07-02T13:31:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Austin and I started a website to promote our project dedicated to assisting our two Malawian counterparts to pursue their lifelong dream of a college education. Please check it out!

malawieducation.blogspot.com

Thank you so much for your consideration and amazing support!

Austin & Sarah

There's No Place Like Home

2010-04-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

After saying goodbye to our friends and family in our village and completing all the necessary Peace Corps paperwork, we are finally home, safe and sound. To say the least, Peace Corps has been a life-changing experience for us. We will always carry a piece of Malawi in our hearts and use our experience as a lesson in all faucets of our lives.

In the fall, we will both return to school to obtain Master's Degrees in public policy. We'll be making the big decision about location within the next couple of weeks. Wish us luck!

Thanks for following us these past two years. It's been a long and winding road.

On to the next adventure....

Austella

It's a Small World

2010-02-17T00:26:00.000-08:00

To teach about different countries and regions around the world and to beautify our community center, we recently completed a world map project with our local youth group. The project, which has been done for many years around the world by different Peace Corps volunteers, consists of drawing and painting a world map. Our map which is 7 by 3.5 feet took us about four days from start to finish. It was a great way to bond with our youth group, to teach about other places around the world and to empower their creative sides!

Holiday! Celebrate!

2010-01-08T00:43:00.000-08:00

Hi all! We are back, safe and refreshed, from our vacation to Tanzania and Kenya. To say the least, we had an amazing time! We spent the majority of our six-week vacation in Kenya with friends (Jill, Kristal & Anna) from back home. It was wonderful to spend time with our friends and share the holidays together. Our first stop was Lamu Island off the coast of Kenya which was absolutely beautiful. The island and its people, mostly Muslim, are rich with culture and spirit. The only form of transportation on the island is donkeys! The "streets" are narrow corridors busy with women going to mosque, donkeys carrying goods and men selling fresh fruits and vegetables. We spent our time swimming, reading, drinking fresh fruit juice and eating delicious seafood. The view from our apartment (picture #2) was breathtaking. After Lamu, we traveled to Nairobi for a night before heading to Isaac's village. Isaac is a dear friend of Jill's. We spent ten days in their village relaxing, speaking Swahili, meeting friends and family and enjoying the beautiful Kenyan countryside. Isaac and his family were so welcoming to all of us and made our trip to Kenya genuinely special. After the village, we relaxed by the hippos of Lake Naivasha for a few days. We spent one day in Hell's Gate National Park on a bike safari. What an experience to be riding bicycles next to giraffes, zebras, warthogs and buffaloes! In the park, we also hiked (and rock climbed!) through a gorge to a place called "the devil's bedroom" where they filmed movies such as Tomb Raider 2. We shared our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the magnificent wildlife of the Masai Mara. We saw elephants, lions, hippos, giraffes, cheetahs, and many more animals. After safari, we headed back to Nairobi where we spent two days exploring the city. We saw "Avatar" and "Christmas Carol" in the theatre. We ate popcorn and drank fountain soda with big smiles on our faces! We also visited an elephant orphanage and a giraffe center. After saying the sad goodbye to our friends in Nairobi, we traveled to Arusha, Tanzania. We spent three days simply relaxing and enjoying the fresh mountain air. After Arusha we took the 18 hour bus ride back to the border town of Tanzania then back down to Malawi. Home sweet home. It feels good to be home. We're ready to get back to our village to spend the last 2 1/2 months hanging with our friends and family and enjoying our peaceful life in Chipelera.

Mulanje

2009-11-23T00:52:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Mount Mulanje

Tea Fields and Jacaranda Trees

Waterfall on Mount Mulanje

picture update

2009-10-16T01:16:00.000-07:00

shelling peanuts with women's group

pressing oil with women's group

teaching record keeping for women's group oil press business

phase one of fish pond project with Grace

checking records of CBO's cell phone charging business

baking oven built by women's group

women's group with bakery business

crossing the river to leave our site

our hot season bedroom!

our thermometer: the farther down the bats, the hotter it is!

Irrigation Farming

2009-10-03T06:15:00.000-07:00

With dry season in full swing we have been very pleased with the irrigation projects in our area. Starting in September and October the temperature is in the mid 90's then continues to rise up to at least 120 degrees in November. Needless to say, not much survives this kind of weather without a little help. This is where some irrigation technology comes in. Pictured is Catherine using her treadle pump to water her maize.

Sarah and our friend Smith gave it a try as well.

She has also planted tomatoes and onions which she is proudly showing off.

In addition to Catherine's irrigation we continue to be amazed by our friend Grace's ability to pursue innovative farming and make things grow. She has recently installed a drip-irrigation system which is less work than the treadle pump and conserves more water.

Also, we had given Grace a bunch of American seeds that we had of some of our favorite vegetables and without fail we have been going home each time we visit with a bag full of veggies. First it was cucumbers and now it is green beans. It looks like soon it will be watermelon.

Read All About It!

2009-10-03T05:51:00.000-07:00

Our community library is open!

Books! Books! Books!

Our friend reading about HIV/AIDS

Crisher, one of our librarians

Rule 1: Wash your hands before touching books

9-month old Newsweek is better than no Newsweek at all!

Last Family Visit

2009-09-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

Well, the last of our family visitors have come and gone. My dad and my sister visited Sarah and I for almost two weeks. It was a nice trip and as always wonderful to see family. Dad and Sarah arrived at Kamuzu International Airport and we headed directly to Ntchisi Forest Lodge for some much needed rest and relaxation after their long flights. We had a nice time enjoying the cool rainforest air and catching up while over looking the lowlands where we live. The next day we did some hiking and then headed to our village. We went and visited Smith and his family and ate lunch together. They enjoyed meeting baby Adam Scott and getting to know some of our closest friends. We then took them to our home. We got comfy and they enjoyed seeing where we have been spending our last year and a half. The next day we had a busy day exploring the village. We went and toured the community center and saw the cell phone charging business. We had lunch with another friend and the fam got the nsima experience. After lunch we headed to Grace’s to check out all of her innovative farming and then visited our landlord on the way home. We were tired after our long day and were looking forward to seeing some more of Malawi.

The next day we headed to Nkhotakota Pottery to enjoy the lake and see some more of our area. After a night of good food we were ready to head down south. We arrive at the southern part of the lake in time for our boat transfer to Domwe Island. We arrived on our secluded and beautiful island and got comfy in our safari tent accommodations. We then went kayaking on the crystal clear water of Lake Malawi. Our chef prepared us fresh fish for dinner and we enjoyed watching the sunset over the water and the sounds of nature. The next morning we relaxed and enjoyed the pristine and unspoiled environment of Lake Malawi National Park. After lunch we kayaked and snorkeled and for the sundown we climbed up to sunset rock and watched the bright red sun set over the water. Unfortunately the next morning it was time to head back to the mainland. We drove to Lilongwe and checked into our hotel. We got a good nights rest before our next adventure the following morning.

We loaded up in the Safari company vehicles and headed off to Zambia. After crossing the border with only some minor confusion as to why there would be two Sarah Pedersens we were off to South Luangwa National Park. After settling in we had a cold drink on the bank of the Luangwa River watching hippos and other game. When we returned for dinner a family of elephants was traveling through our camp for the first time of many. The next morning we were up with the sun and soon we were on our first game drive. We saw giraffes, zebras, buffalos, and loads of elephants as well as many other animals. We had to afternoon to relax and for our evening game drive we got to see our first pride of lions. We also followed a leopard as it hunted for its dinner. It was a good day of game viewing and we were looking forward to the next morning. On our next drive we came up on a pride of 17 lions who decided to travel right past our safari vehicle. One stopped to sniff our tire and contemplate if the hood would be a good place to lay. As our hearts were beating a million miles per hour our guide yelled, “what are you doing take a picture”. We did get some great photos and after watching these magnificent beasts for a good amount of time continued our drive. It wasn’t until that night however when the real action began. After tracking down a few leopards and watching them we saw a pride of lions running across the plain. We followed in hot pursuit and came up on them devouring an impala. We could hear the flesh ripping and the bones being crunched and within a matter of moments there was nothing left of the animal. It was absolutely incredible and was a great way to end our safari experience.

The next morning we traveled back to Malawi. We then spent the next few days in Lilongwe. After all our adventures Lilongwe wasn’t the most exciting place but it gave us some quality family time and we found some good restaurants. Dad and Sarah’s trip then came to an end as fast as it had began. We were very sad to see them go but were so thankful for the wonderful experiences and memories. It is now back to work for Sarah and I.

IGA Camp

2009-08-20T03:30:00.000-07:00

At the end of July, the two of us along with five other Peace Corps volunteers from our area held a week long camp designed to teach school leavers (young adults who have finished secondary school but are currently unable to pursue their future goals because of financial obstacles) about business and income-generation. Overall, the camp was a great success and an incredible opportunity for these individuals to acquire skills that will assist them for the rest of their lives. The seven of us taught about various business skills such as break-even and profit/loss analysis, book keeping, marketing and customer service. We also spent time on "practicals" such as teaching about oil pressing, fish farming and dry-season irrigation. The last afternoon and evening together we took the twenty trainees to the lake (many had never seen Lake Malawi before!) and after dinner, had a dance party. It was a blast and a great way to celebrate a successful week and a lot of hard work. The two of us brought three individuals from our village to attend the camp. After talking with them these past couple of weeks, it seems as though they learned so much and are incredibly grateful for the experience and are looking forward to putting their new skills to work!

Welcome to the CHOCASO Community Center & Library

2009-07-22T23:39:00.000-07:00

After 4 months of blood, sweat and tears (of frustration and joy) our community center and library project is done! We had a beautiful opening ceremony on July 7th with members of our community, members of our community-based organization, the Program Assistant of the Environment sector and funding facilitator of the grant used to build the center and the Peace Corps Director of Malawi. Now that the center is open, we are focusing much of our time on training librarians, organizing the library committee and developing ideas and plans for programming at the center.

This is the larger of the two buildings which houses the meeting hall, storage room for CBO materials such as wheelchairs, sewing machines and bicycle ambulances and an office for the director of the CBO

This is the two of us with the smaller building which houses two offices for members of the CBO and the library.

Inside the meeting hall

Our opening ceremony

Children's view of the ceremony!

Austin and I thanking the community for their hard work

Passing of the keys from Austin & I to Vic (PC Country Director) to our head chief

Austin, Me, Andrew & Vic

achemwali anga abwera ku malawi

2009-07-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

I had been waiting for this moment since my arrival in Malawi... the moment Miss Abby stepped off the plane and into my world here in the Warm Heart of Africa! And it was all worth the waiting. We had a blast and it was wonderful to see my sister, to catch up on the last year and to share our life here with her. While she was here, we kept her busy. We spent over one week at site. As you can imagine, life can be exhausting in the village; greeting everyone you see, cooking over a fire, walking/biking long distances, eating way too much nsima and trying to speak a new language. But Abby (or Abba as our village calls her!) was an amazing guest and our community will remember her for a lifetime. The two of us taught a women's group about nutrition and she helped me train a women's group how to use a groundnut sheller and oil press and about basic business skills. All the women loved her and learned so much from her knowledge.

Next, we headed up the lakeshore to a lodge to do some relaxing and swimming. The beach was beautiful and we ate delicious food which was a real treat. The next day we travelled to Mzuzu to spend some time there shopping in the Kenyan market and preparing for our next adventure. After some relaxing in Mzuzu, Abba, Austin, three other PC volunteers and I took the "death matola" for about 4 hours to a small village along the northern lakeshore. The death matola is a large truck packed with about 40 to 50 people, at least 20 cases of soda/beer, many other commodities, luggage and often chickens (sometimes pigs or goats) which travels on unpaved, one-way roads through mountains. It was terrifying but we survived! That night we stayed at an abandoned resthouse. The next morning we left for our 8 hour hike along the coast to a beautiful lodge in northern Malawi. When we arrived, we were exhausted, sweaty and ready to spend the next couple of days eating, swimming and reading lots of books under the sun which is just what we did. This place was amazing. Our tent was next to a huge waterfall so at night we fell asleep to the sound of rushing water. During the day we snorkeled, swam and enjoyed the warm sun. From Ruarwe, we took the Ilala, an old-time steamer given to Malawi from the British I think in the 50's, to Nkhata Bay. From the lake we headed back to Mzuzu for the night to catch the next morning's bus to Balaka. Our next stop was Liwonde National Park to see some hippos, elephants and warthogs. We had a great time on our safaris and had the opportunity to see some awesome wildlife. After Liwonde, we travelled back to Lilongwe to prepare for Abba's departure. It was incredibly difficult to say good-bye but I know she was looking forward to getting back home to see family and friends and after two full months of visitors, we were ready to get back home.

I am utterly grateful to have had the opportunity to share our life and family here my Abba and can't wait to see her again soon!

Global Service Learning in Malawi

2009-06-02T02:07:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I was a member of Wesleyan’s Global Service Learning group while in school and had the opportunity to perform service in Vietnam, Panama, and Swaziland. Those experiences had a major impact on me as a person and were a major motivator for me to join the Peace Corps. So about a year ago, when we had settled into our new home, we began thinking about a possible GSL trip to Malawi and invited the group to come and serve in our community. A year passed with much time spent planning and preparing, and on May 20th, eleven students and two advisors arrived at Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe.

The first day was spent orienting the students to Malawi and buying supplies for their stay in the village. We also visited our friend Smith at the Natural Resources College who was recently selected into the Food Security and Nutrition program. Back in Nebraska, GSL worked to raise $1000 to start a scholarship fund for villagers seeking to obtain a higher education and Smith was one of the lucky recipients. With Smith, we toured the campus and sat down to a roundtable discussion with students from the university about life in Malawi and the United States.

The next morning we headed for our home. The students all stayed in one house in our village and the advisors and Sarah and I stayed next door in another house. They received a warm welcome from the entire village and there was much excitement surrounding their visit. It was evident nothing quite like this had ever happened before. They spent time with the families who were assisting us learning about Malawian culture. The women taught them how to wear the traditional chitenje, how to cook and eat nsima, and how to prepare certain delicacies such as thobwa.

Soon it was time for them to get to work. On the first and second days of service they assisted us with our community center project. They helped by carrying sand from the river and loading it into a truck to transport. Altogether they moved six tons of sand, hand-in-hand with members of our community-based organization. They also began liming the walls in preparation for painting and moved bricks for the base of the floor. On the third day, they assisted staff at our local health clinic by weighing babies, distributing nutritional supplements, and providing malaria medicine to pregnant women. They also visited a friend of ours, Catherine. Catherine is HIV positive and a new mother. The group chatted with her about her story and provided her with baby formula to help ensure that baby Ella remains HIV negative. The last two days of service were dedicated to visiting our primary and secondary schools, meeting members of our community-based organization, and interacting with one of Sarah’s women’s groups.

Upon their departure we had a large village farewell ceremony. We ate lots of traditional food and watched traditional dances, including the Guli Wamkulu or spirit dancers. The chiefs thanked them for all their assistance and the group thanked the community for their wonderful hospitality. Malawi really lived up to its reputation as the “Warm Heart of Africa”. It was then time to leave the village and it was a sad goodbye. Many relationships had been established and friendships made that will not be forgotten. It was fascinating to watch these students grow and to see how this experience truly changed their lives.

These developments became evident during the last leg of their journey. After leaving the village, we went to the lake to spend a day reflecting upon their service. Ethical reflection is a vital part of service learning and although we reflected nightly in the village, having finished their service allowed us to delve deeper into the bigger issues surrounding their visit. They also got to enjoy some of Malawi’s natural beauty in the form of sand, sun, and waves. The last adventure the students experienced was an African safari at Liwonde Game Reserve. The students saw impala, warthogs, elephants, and hippos on an evening drive safari and a boat safari.

This trip truly served all who were involved. It provided our community with additional support beyond what we are already providing. It bolstered our relationship with our community and added new energy to our projects. It provided students a learning opportunity unlike any they will find in the classroom. However, it is truly the interaction between two peoples from different walks of life that provided a life changing experience for both our fellow villagers in Malawi and our friends from back home.

Trip of a Lifetime!

2009-05-17T04:54:00.000-07:00

We were very fortune to have two special visitors come all the way to Malawi this month. Austin's mom and stepfather arrived in early May with big smiles and warm hugs. It was an incredible experience for us to share our lives and our home with them. Although they were here for only 9 days, we did and saw a lot. First we took them to our village where we stayed for three days. They learned how to cook and eat nsima, pound maize in a life-size pestle and mortar, what it means to be on "Malawian time" and the meaning of friends and family in the warm heart of Africa. Austin's mom was treated like a queen! Everyone wanted to meet her and several goats and chickens were slaughtered in her honor. I think she felt a bit like Madonna! After spending time in the village, we traveled to the lake. We spent two days relaxing to the sounds of fresh water waves and enjoyed beautiful sunrises as we caught up on the past year. We then traveled south to Malawi's biggest and best game reserve, Liwonde National Park. It was amazing! We saw many warthogs, impala, baboons, monkeys, bushbuck, waterbuck, kudu and ELEPHANTS! We stayed in beautiful, elegant rooms, ate lunch with hippos and hung out with monkeys on our porch. Seriously, it was amazing! After spending several days in the bush, we traveled further south to Zomba Plateau. We stayed in a lodge about half way up the mountain. We ate delicious food and drank red wine by the fire. Next, we headed back up north, via Dedza, to Lilongwe for one last night together. We went to a fantastic Indian restaurant and spent the rest of the evening chatting by the fire at our hotel. It was sad to say goodbye but I know all of us had an amazing time together, something we'll never forget.

Constructing a Community Center

2009-04-15T01:29:00.000-07:00

As you can imagine, there are needs everywhere in the villages of Malawi. From clean water to food security to poor education to overall poverty, communities face personal and communal hardships that affect the health and livelihoods of each person in the village. So how, as Peace Corps Volunteers and members of these communities, do we affect them the most? How do we give them skills and knowledge they need to assist themselves? Through many discussions with local leaders and the greater community, Austin and I decided to tackle a large-scale project in our area to address some very grassroots issues. With funding through USAID and Peace Corps, we are currently constructing a community center that will house a library, meeting hall, CBO offices and a storage room for CBO equipment such as bicycle ambulances and sewing machines. We began the project in early March hoping to complete the center in early June. The community has shown amazing support to the project and the local chiefs have been nothing but dedicated to assisting us in any way possible. We have been inspired by the power of the collective community and the deep desire for change. The community center will be a place to acquire information through the library and study for national exams, a place to hold local meetings for women's groups, men's groups and youth groups, a place to conduct community-based nursery schools and a place to promote and address issues such as HIV/AIDS, environment conservation and food security. Once the center is open, we are hoping to focus our time and energy on beginning various programs to better assist the community. It's been a lot of work but the end result will be life changing!

when it was merely a dream...

planning the foundation

laying the foundation

finishing the foundation

mixing cement

moving bricks

walls are up!

It's A Boy!

2009-04-15T01:07:00.000-07:00

In Malawi, it's tradition that a close friend or relative will name a newborn baby. So on February 26th, the day our best friend and his beautiful wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy, we had a large mission ahead of us... to name the newest member of our family! After many hours of discussion and debating, we chose a name that would honor two men in our lives that have inspired us to have this opportunity in the first place. We chose Adam Scott. (Barack was a close second!) Adam in honor of Austin's older (wiser!) brother and Scott in honor of my father. It's been such an incredible experience to be a part of Adam Scott's life so far and to watch him quickly grow into a large personality and healthy little guy.

Adam Scott

(he's still getting used to the camera... & the two white people who are always around!)

Daddy Smith & Adam Scott

Us & the beautiful boy

Maize Management

2009-04-15T00:43:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before, harvest is quickly approaching so we have been focusing our efforts on addressing issues that pertain to efficient harvest, food security and financial planning. One of the issues we have addressed through women's groups and local leaders is the important issue of maize management and planning. As we've mentioned in past posts, most villagers are unaware of the amount of maize they need to save at harvest so that in January and February they are able to feed their families. Most families harvest their crop in May or June and quickly sell a large amount for instant cash. At this time, prices are very low. Consequently, because they sold too much maize at harvest, they find themselves buying back the maize they previously sold at a much higher price. To combat these problems, Austin and I have been teaching different groups and individuals to better plan for their futures. We have been discussing ways in which to efficiently store and harvest maize, how much each person in a family needs per year and when to sell. I think these discussions have been helpful. People often comment that they never knew how much maize to save in order to feed their families the entire year so these lessons give them a start to helping themselves.

Oil Pressin'

2009-04-15T00:26:00.001-07:00

With harvest quickly approaching, Austin and I have been busy at site doing some experimenting! Through funding provided by Peace Corps, we acquired an oil press that we have been using to press different types of seeds such as groundnuts, sunflower seeds and seaseme seeds. Once harvest is in motion, one of the women's groups I'm assisting will buy the machine to press groundnuts as an income-generating activity. The goal is to sell groundnut oil to villagers to earn an income to help support their families. Here are some photos of us in action!

One Year and Counting

2009-03-01T00:22:00.000-08:00

It is has been awhile since we updated our blog. First we wanted to include a few new photos from our garden. Things have really grown a lot and we are pleased with our first year’s rainy season. Our sunflowers have done well and have attracted a lot of bees and other beneficial insects into our garden, as well as, curious villagers.

We have been out of our site for a bit over a week now. We came into Lilongwe to take the GRE or the standardized test needed to apply to graduate school. We had been studying throughout the rainy season and spent many mornings in the village tutoring each other and taking practice tests. We both feel that we did well, although we are waiting for our scores, and that our performance adequately represented our level of preparedness. We are very happy it is over however and not disappointed that we have taken what should be our last standardized test in our educational career. We will now begin the more interesting and exciting process of applying for graduate schools.

The next day we were fortunate enough to go to the airport and welcome nineteen new Environment Peace Corps Trainees. We remember the warm and boisterous welcome that we received upon arrival like it was yesterday and wanted to provide an even better welcome to this new group. Sarah and I were asked to accompany the new group to the training site in Dedza. We spent the next week answering all of their questions about Malawi and the Peace Corps. We also showed them pictures from our site and explained the projects we have undertaken. Our positive attitude and enthusiasm for our community, Malawi, and Peace Corps did a lot to reassure the group that they were in the right place.

Also during that week Sarah and I celebrated our one year in country anniversary. It feels like quite an accomplishment and certainly marks a significant landmark in our service. We will officially become second year volunteers and enter our second year of service when this new group swears in at the end of April. We were very grateful for the opportunity to attend training and to see just how far we have come here. We are comfortable and confident about our language skills and cultural knowledge and were able to see the impact that we have had on our community by looking back over our service so far. These factors have provided a great motivation to make the most out of our remaining year of service. We have a lot of projects in the pipeline at site and will be moving forward with them shortly.

We will spend the next few days organizing visits for the many guests that will be visiting us here and attending meetings in town. We will then return to Dedza to do some training on agriculture in Malawi and some of the new techniques and technologies we are promoting. We are looking forward to it and will update again soon.

In Loving Memory

2009-01-28T21:40:00.000-08:00

We regret to inform you that Madame Baka and Mr. Quacksworth, residents of Chipelera village under chief Austella, have left this cold world to join generations of fellow feathered friends. On the warm African morning of January 7th, Madame Baka's white feathers were discovered on the ground near her residence. Neighbors of the deceased, Morin (age 8), Hilida (age 6) and Precious (age 4), say that a village predator, perhaps a hungry dog or curious monkey, attacked Madame in the early hours of the 7th. The only remnants of the unfortunate attack were scattered white feathers and a mourning husband. Without his lifetime partner and friend by his side, Mr. Quacksworth persistently searched the property for signs of Madame but finally gave up and solemnly sat near their little home waiting for her return. With this, a decision was made. In the words of Mr. Phiri, a close friend and visitor, "It's the only solution." On the afternoon of January 10th, 2009, Mr. Quacksworth was released from the heartbreak of losing his lifelong friend and was thoroughly enjoyed as a main dish to a birthday celebration of Mr. Phiri, himself. The surviving members of the family want to thank you for your thoughts and condolences during this time.

Healthy Living & HIV/AIDS

2009-01-28T20:35:00.000-08:00

With funding through CONCERN WorldWide, a non-profit donor organization working in our area, our CBO recently conducted a three-day nutrition and food preparation training in which women throughout the community, including my seven women's groups, came to learn about the food groups, how to better prepare meals, how to eat every day foods in different ways and how what we eat affects our health, growth and development. A health extension worker at the local health clinic, who is also our good friend and counterpart, conducted the training. Overall, I think the women learned a lot about the importance of eating healthy, diverse food. Throughout April and May while everyone is busying harvesting their crops and enjoying the fruits of their labor, I'm planning to take the information I learned at the training and present the material to my women's groups. As we've mentioned before, January, February and March are known as the "hunger" months and this is no exaggeration. So to help women and their families begin to think ahead and make choices to alleviate some of the despair during the hunger season, I want to teach women to logically think about their food intake during the early months of harvest so that come January, February and March, they can have enough maize rationed to eat and survive on. I also want to teach them about the food groups, how to eat a balanced diet and how to prepare various foods in order to eat more nutritiously. When I started meeting the women's groups and asked them what they wanted to accomplish, all of them said they wanted to learn how to cook differently and learn what and how I cook at home. So I think I'll be able to take the fun of cooking together and teach them about the concept of food as fuel.

Another training Austin and I were apart of this month was a training we conducted, along with our counterparts Andrew and Smith, about HIV/AIDS prevention and personal empowerment. With funding through PEPFAR and Peace Corps, we trained trainers including members of the CBO and members of 5 local youth groups to use the Hope Kit, a tool designed by the Bridge Project, to teach about HIV/AIDS prevention, how HIV/AIDS is and is not spread, the stereotypes we hold of those who do and do not have HIV/AIDS, how to make healthy decisions in order to live healthy lives and how to support those in our community who are living with HIV/AIDS. The response was great! The group really enjoyed themselves and learned creative ways in which to address HIV/AIDS in the community and teach about positive choices. Through training evaluations collected at the end of the day, we discovered that for many members of the youth groups this was the first time to get accurate information about HIV/AIDS so with remaining money from the Hope Kit training, we will be holding a one-day training in February for the youth group members. We will teach them more about HIV/AIDS, mostly about the biology of the epidemic, to empower them to think about their actions and how, as youth, they can inform their peers and families about HIV/AIDS. We are looking forward to conducting this training and working more closely with the youth groups to address this overwhelming issue.

Before & After

2009-01-17T22:53:00.000-08:00

Now that we've been living in our village for 9 months and the rains have painted our lives green, we wanted to share some "before & after" photos so that you can see the changes that have shaped our world in Chipelera Village. As you can see, things have really changed and our house is now a home.

Christmas in an African Wonderland

2009-01-04T22:52:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy 2009!

This year, Austin and I wanted to share the holidays with our friends and "family" in the village learning about their traditions and experiencing their Christmas spirit, and that's just what we did! Our counterpart, Andrew, and his family invited us to share in their celebrations in Chadewa Village. When we arrived Christmas morning, his family had cut down a banana tree and decorated their sparsely-furnished home just for us with paper chains and a bauquet of local flowers and plants. A few days before the holidays, we were talking with them about our traditions in America, so when we arrived to a American-Malawian fusion of Christmas, we were overjoyed and so grateful for their effort to make our holidays as "homey" as possible. After enjoying each other's company during the morning hours, we ate a huge Christmas feast of vegetables, chicken, fish, nsima and rice (the most elaborate meal we've had yet here in Malawi!). For dessert, Austin and I brought green speariment and red peppermint hard candy to share. To our surprise, everyone loved it! After lunch, a group of young girls in the village performed traditional dances for us while we relaxed, eating candy and drinking juice. It was such a beautiful day. Maybe we didn't have snow. Or hot chocolate. Or cheesy mashed potatoes. Or apple pie. Or presents underneath the tree. But we did have each other and a family who made our Christmas one to remember for a lifetime.

Picture 1: Andrew and his wife Neema with their children Natasha and Valentine
Picture 2: Our Christmas tree!
Picture 3: Valentine
Picture 4: Austin and Andrew on Andrew's porch
Picture 5 & 6: Traditional dances

2009-01-04T08:27:00.001-08:00

Going Green!

2009-01-04T07:52:00.000-08:00

Finally, FINALLY, the rain has arrived in Chipelera Village! And everything is green once again. But, of course, with the rains, comes many different challenges we didn't plan for... biking 15 miles to buy vegetables in the mud, killing scorpions each night that find their way into our house seeking shelter from the storms, watching the rain flood our yard even the hallway in our house, discovering that the only place our roof leaks is conveniently above our bed, being caught in a down pour miles from home. Oh, the challenges! But we have discovered such beauty in the coming of the rains... the earth seems to breathe once again, we have grass, REAL grass, our yard is full of green growing things, we can relax in our home drinking coffee and reading books with the nice sound of the rain on our tin roof AND we can now grow our own veggies without biking a mile to draw water. Our yard has changed a lot within the last month. We have created 3 demo gardens including permaculture and bio-intensive beds and a peanut demonstration field, all of which are organic. Austin has been busy teaching many people about these concepts. Farmers have been blown away by these different growing methods. There's one woman in particular who we are helping to create a permaculture-type area around her home. She's very enthusiastic about our work especially the idea of not using fertilizer and chemicals. We hope that her enthusiasm and work will help others understand the importance of these methods and ideas.

kudzala ndi kupatsa

2009-01-04T06:57:00.000-08:00

Chichewa is a language full of proverbs; inspiring messages passed down from generation to generation to help guide, heal and teach. "Kudzala ndi kupatsa" is a Chichewa proverb that means "to plant is to give." Nothing strikes me as more appropriate to describe our service in Malawi than this proverb. It has inspired my work. My relationships. My life as a volunteer and comminty member. In Malawi, the months of January through March are known as the "hunger" months; a time when families have eaten or lost, due to poor storage conditions, last year's harvest and are left to eat what they can find, often insects or other creatures we would consider "gross." As a volunteer, to see our friends and neighbors eating very little food each day, if any at all, is disheartening. We are always discussing with one another... what can we do as volunteers? From now until harvest in April and May, we will be teaching about food rationing, kitchen gardening, saving money, nutrition and behavior change so that maybe next year at this time people will still have maize left in their grain sacks. We will be using my women's groups to teach about these various concepts so that they can initiate the community change and development that needs to occur in order to provide something better for the future. One project we recently started was a very simple one to address these problems... a children's garden in our yard under our dish drying rack, a space that would not otherwise be used. We hope to plant the "seed" of creative thinking in home gardening in order to provide food for our neighbor children. We planned the garden with them, let them choose the seeds, and finally let them plant. It was a fun experience and I hope one that will begin to allow these children to think about their lives in a different way. To understand that they can grow food, not in a field, but near their home using space that would be left empty. And (maybe you can't tell it by their expressions) they also had a good time learning and creating. We are still working on the "SMILE" aspect of picture-taking... a "seed" that might take all two years to plant!

Peace & Love

All In A (Ground)nut Shell

2008-11-23T23:27:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned before, we've been busy at site starting new projects and organizing our community. We have been focusing a lot of our attention on starting a groundnut (peanut) cooperative. In our area, groundnuts are sold as cash crops, however, because our area lacks a quality market, farmers often don't receive a fair price for their crop. Also, because farmers lack planning and management skills, they often sell their entire crops at harvest when prices are low. So we are planning to form a cooperative in order to bulk the crop and negotiate a better price. Farmers seem to be very enthusiastic about this potential opportunity for development. It's also in our plan to incorporate an oil press into the coop so that any extra groundnuts can be processed into a value-added product. Currently, people bike 20 kilometers to purchase groundnut oil for their families so this would be more convenient and help generate income for the group.

In addition to forming the coop, we've been providing technical assistance to CHOCASO, our are community-based organization. We are in the process of writing and rewriting a proposal to begin two income-generating activities and begin agroforestry projects within our surrounding area. The IGA's we are proposing to begin are irrigation farming (winter cropping) and beekeeping. Both of these projects have the potential to be highly successful in our area and most importantly, these projects will help provide not only food throughout the year but nutritious food. We are both looking forward to helping the CBO with business skills and technical advice to begin these IGA's and establish new projects in the area.

With assistance from our country director's wife and the Rotary Club, we were able to donate two wheelchairs to our health center. We held a small ceremony at the health center to present the wheelchairs and offer our thanks to all of the staff's work and commitment. The board members and staff were elated with the gift. I posted some pictures below of the ceremony.

A couple of weeks ago, I was approached by a group of women in a neighboring village who wanted me to help them form a women's group. This is a project I have been wanting to begin but haven't had the time or chance to do so so upon hearing this news, I quickly jumped on the opportunity to work and collaborate with this group of women to begin a large-scale women empowerment project. In a matter of one week, I now have four women's groups consisting of a total of 75 women! I held various meetings this past week to discuss each group's goals and objectives and talk about problems women face on a daily basis. The two largest concerns of the women were insufficient food and lack of money to buy soap, cooking oil, salt and other household goods. We discussed solutions to these problems and collectively decided that beginning a business would best address the above issues. So for the next several weeks, I will be working with each group to formulate specific goals, discuss possible business ideas and conduct business management trainings. It's been wonderful so far working along side these women and providing them with opportunities and ideas to better manage their lives. If anything, these groups will give women a chance to share ideas, learn from one another and begin a dialogue to address community development.

Other than these projects, we have been working around the house. With the rains fast approaching, we have been working on our gardens in preparation to plant. Our garden looks quite sad now. It's difficult to keep anything alive since the average temperature is 115 degrees in the sun! Currently, we do have a watermelon plant that is doing wonderfully so we hope to enjoy some fresh watermelon soon, maybe even some watermelon wine! So, needless to say, we are anxiously awaiting the rains and the chance to grow veggies again. So please do a rain dance for us!

Up North

2008-11-23T22:55:00.000-08:00

Hello All!

It's been a couple of months since we've posted, so we apologize and will get you up-to-date. As always, we have been busy both in site and traveling around Malawi. To beat the heat of Nkhotakota District (it gets up to 118 degrees in our house!), we decided to take a journey up north to visit some PC friends of ours, see northern Malawi and relax in cooler weather. We first traveled to Mzuzu, the third largest city in Malawi. We really enjoyed Mzuzu and it's smaller city feel. It's amazing how different the various regions of Malawi are from each other. The northern region is mountainous with many trees and vegetation, this is mainly because the population is relatively smaller compared to the central and southern regions so deforestation isn't happening as quickly. The northern region is mainly populated by the Timbuka tribe, so we learned some Chitimbuka during our travels. After spending a day in Mzuzu, we took a bus up to Rumphi District where we stayed with a married volunteer couple. Because they are education volunteers, we were able to get a different perspective on education in Malawi and Peace Corps service in Malawi. We visited their school and helped them prepare for an environmental camp they were planning to host the following week. We also had an opportunity to do some hiking on the outskirts of Nyika Plateau and learn about gravity-fed irrigation schemes they were using in the area. It's simply amazing how having water available throughout the year can improve the quality of life. Using these irrigation schemes, families are able to grow crops even in the dry season such as coffee, tomatoes and maize. We also had the opportunity to visit a small-scale coffee factory. We were constantly in awe of the natural beauty of the area. We have to say, the mountainous terrain was exhausting compared to the flatlands of Nkhotakota. Even in Malawi, we're plains people! After our visit with Pace and Laura, we headed back to Lilongwe to finish up on a proposal we have been writing then headed back to site. Also while in Lilongwe, we stayed up all night to watch the election coverage live and were enthused to witness such a historical moment. The response here was overwhelming. People on the streets were yelling "yeah Obama" at us for days and people in our village are still congratulating us. It's been wonderful to educate Malawians on the American political process and hear their opinions about our government and democracy.

Below are some pictures from our trip to Rumphi including natural irrigation schemes and Lake Malawi. Enjoy!

But What About Work?

2008-09-27T00:54:00.000-07:00

We have also been doing a number of different work activities. Currently we are working on another funding proposal with our CBO to create some new and sustainable income generating activities to support their programs for vulnerable groups in our community. We are planning on doing beekeeping, poultry farming, and irrigated winter cropping. Our main focus with these projects is food security and nutrition.

In addition we have started assisting our health extension worker friend with under-five clinics. This is where all the children under five in the area come and get weighed and vaccinated. Sarah helped out a lot by hooking babies to the scale and making the mothers task easier.

We are also working on forming both HIV/AIDS groups and womens groups in our area. We will continue to update on our work as there is an ever growing number of project possibilities. We are definitely staying busy!

Home Improvements

2008-09-26T23:43:00.000-07:00

We have done a lot of work on our house recently and thought some photos might be nice. First, it has become increasingly hot here and so we had to have a shade built so we can spend the hot afternoons at least a few degrees cooler.

We also built ourselves what we call a village fridge so we can have cold (or cooler) water. This is simply a grain sack filled with sand with a clay pot inside. The sand acts as insulation and the water inside the pot is then a refreshing few degrees cooler than room temperature.

We have done a lot of work on our yard in preperations of the rainy season which should begin in a few months. We have begun making additional garden beds and mulching certain areas of our yard. The picture featured is of our two orange trees, our duck house, and compost pile.

In the meantime until the rains come we are still maintaining our garden with a drip irrigation kit. We are doing our best to use water as efficiently as possible especially considering it is so much effort to get water on a daily basis. The heat adds a lot to this burden because we are drinking more and more water and taking cold baths to keep oursevles as cool as possible.

Our ducks also are taking a lot of baths as shown here. They are growing in size everyday and keep us company as well as entertained.

We have also been making our front porch more colorful with the help of our neighbor kids and some sidewalk chalk sent from home. They always have a good time and we use the opportunity to teach them even though they don't know they are learning. We have them write 123 and ABC and because they have chalk in their hand it is so much fun for them. Our friends in the village joke that we have started a nursery school or a head-start program at our house. They of course get the chalk everywhere as you can see.

6 Months and Counting

2008-09-01T00:25:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

It has been a couple of weeks since we posted last and, as always, we have been really busy learning and traveling. For the past two weeks, we have been in Dedza at our In-Service Training (can you believe we've been in Malawi for 6 months?!). We spent the first week visiting a permaculture farm and a mushroom growing group. We also constructed a solar dryer and mud stoves. These types of simple technologies are capable of having a large impact on the lives of villagers. A solar dryer allows for fruit to be available outside of its regular growing season and mud stoves greatly decrease the amount of firewood needed to cook while increasing the efficiency of the typical 3-stone fire that most women and families cook on. We even tested two different types of groundnut shellers. In our village, we have two women's groups using groundnut shellers as a way to generate income for their families and it is amazing how quickly they can shell a 50 kg bag of peanuts compared to shelling them by hand. We are very excited about introducing some of these simple technologies into our village particularly the mud stoves and solar dryers. Our first order of business once we return home later this week will be to construct our own stove and dryer so that we can demonstrate to our friends and neighbors the benefit and simplicity of these household "appliances." We are also planning on incorporating permaculture techniques into our village life such as designing our gardens and yard to not only provide us with food, such as vegetables, fruit, and herbs, but to feed the soil and sustainably utilize the environment in our daily living. Permaculture is an incredible tool to research and use... we strongly suggest exploring this way of living.

The second week of training we were joined by our counterparts to investigate these IGA’s further and to learn the business skills needed to run a small business successfully. We also had several training sessions on health issues plaguing Malawi such as HIV/AIDS, Malaria and child mortality. We received training on safe water clubs to teach about the importance of cleaning and protecting water, listening clubs for high school students to learn about the ABC's (Abstinence, Be faithful, and wear a Condom) and to discuss the impact and seriousness of HIV/AIDS and the Hope Kit - a training tool to teach about HIV/AIDS and provide hope for those infected and affected. Andrew from our community-based organization, CHOCASO, came with us and learned a vast amount of information to assist in his personal life and work with the CBO. We also had a great time with our fellow volunteers sharing our experiences after having been in Malawi for over six months now. Although we enjoyed our time at training, we are really looking forward to getting back to the village and beginning some of these new projects we have learned about. We are really ready to get our hands dirty!

Hope all is well back home and everyone is enjoying their last few weeks of summer. As you are preparing for fall and winter, we will be preparing for 110+ degrees heat and lots and lots of rain! No snow for us (there's not even a word in Chichewa for snow)! Love and miss you all.

Lengwe National Park and Wildlife Reserve, Christmas Village, and the unmet World Challenge

2008-08-16T23:39:00.000-07:00

From Blantyre, we headed further south into the Lower Shire. This is the area where our fellow Peace Corps volunteer and friend Ross lives. We visited the national park and game reserve where he works and spotted Nyalla, Bush Pigs, Water Buffalo, and lots of Monkeys as we overlooked their watering hole from a hidden overhead viewing area. It was very relaxing to sit in the silence of the park and to watch the movements of the animals.

Our purpose for traveling to the south was to assist in a project in a village named Christmas. As part of the UK World Challenge, students were to come to the village and assist the community in constructing a new school block for the local primary school. One group had previously come and began the work and a second was supposed to come and help finish it. However, the second group did not arrive and has not been heard from. Needless to say, this left little for us to do at the site as our job was to assist the students so we spent the week reading and relaxing (I think Sarah read a total of 3 books during our 5 day stay!). The lower shire sits in a big valley where in the hot season it regularly gets up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit! The hot season is quickly approaching and we did our best to stay out of the heat. With temperatures that high, we are glad that we live on the lake shore. When the week was over we returned to Blantyre and then to Lilongwe where our In-Service Training will begin. So for the next 2 weeks we will be in Dedza District once more for technical training where we will enjoy DAILY hot showers and abundant, delicious food. We will also get the opportunity to visit our home-stay families at our home-stay villages and share with them all we've done and learned over these past 4 months.

Hope all is well back home. Keep the letters coming!

Blantyre and the Magical Brewery Tour

2008-08-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

On our first trip to Southern Malawi, we spent some time in Malawi’s biggest city and its oldest settlement, Blantyre. Started by missionaries, Blantyre was built in the European fashion, unlike Lilongwe, which wasn’t created until the 1970's when Kamuzu Banda, father and founder of Malawi, established the capital there. The feel of the two cities are entirely different and we are continually amazed at how much a small country like Malawi varies from north to south. We really enjoyed more conventional city life while in Blantyre but the highlight of the visit was a tour of the Carlsberg brewery.

Carlsberg is the only beer available in Malawi due to incredibly high tariffs on any imported beverage and the Carlsberg brewery was operating before these laws where passed and was thus grandfathered in. Imagine Austin’s surprise, after spenting a year studying in Denmark when he was 16, to find the only beer in Malawi to be a Danish beer! The brewery was fascinating and we really enjoyed learning about the brewing process. An extra bonus was that as the brewery approaches its 40 year anniversary they will be having a promotional where a new beer will be added to those available. We were allowed to taste all three of the contenders, which happen to be classic Carlsberg varieties in Denmark but aren’t available in Malawi. Needless to say we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Blantyre and look forward to returning in the future.

We send our love.

Bringin' NE to MW!

2008-07-24T23:41:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

We just spent the last week relaxing and hanging out with three of the coolest girls to ever cross the deep blue sea! Jill, Megan and Lauren came all the way from Nebraska to travel around Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Malawi. We met them up north in Nkhata Bay for a couple of days where we spent our time catching up, reading in the sun, swimming in Lake Malawi and eating yummy Malawian food. From N Bay we travelled down to our site where we spent four days living in our village. Our friends in the village welcomed them with open arms and plenty of traditional Malawian cuisine. We played with the kids, washed clothes at the bore hole, visited irrigation schemes, toured the local nursery school and even had the chance to see traditional dancers. After all this, we made our way to Nkhotakota Pottery, a little resort on the beach, to relax and unwind. Lauren had the chance to create some beautiful pottery on the wheel while we read and swam. It was incredible to show our friends our lives here and invite them into our home. It was hard to say goodbye but we're looking forward to more people joining us here! Here are some pics from our adventures. We love and miss you all!

Kuti Wildlife Community Game Ranch

2008-07-15T01:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of Kuti Game Ranch where we spent one week learning Chichewa during training and another three days this past week at language reconnect. They have about 25 zebras that roam around the park. In the early morning, they graze at the campground which is a great opportunity to get close. They also have the only two giraffes in Malawi and we were fortunate enough to see them! The sunset deck overlooking the Kuti Lake is an incredible place to catch the sun setting and watch fishermen. We had a great time learning the language and relaxing with friends.

Our Area

2008-07-15T00:44:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos taken of our house and surrounding area. Enjoy!

Front of our house

Primary School & Playground

Primary School

Drawing Water at the Bore Hole

Taking our water back to the house (about 1 mile)

Our Trading Center
(Starbucks is on the left!)

Cotton Field

Dirt Road

Mountain View

From Sunny Malawi

2008-07-14T00:42:00.000-07:00

Hello once again! We’ve been busy bee’s this last month since we’ve last posted so lots to share. First, we are happy to announce the arrival of two new members to our Malawian family…. Quacksworth and Madame Bakha! Our new ducks are very cute but we’ve already encountered some dramatic experiences. Being the scholarly intellectuals we are, we began our quest for new pets with much research but despite our findings that ducks are ideal permaculture animals, our hypothesis failed miserably. The morning after we received them, we opened the door to their home and instantly they went straight for our beautiful, beloved garden! So being the precise planners we are, we decided that it would be best to move them outside our fence so that they may roam freely as all animals do here. It was a grand idea until we heard suffering cries for help. A pack of ten pigs had Quacksworth pinned down to the ground seconds from ripping him apart! We ran to the scene of the crime, began throwing rocks at the pigs and saved poor Quacksworth from an early demise. Not knowing what to do, we opened the door to our house and let them in. So once again, being the incredible inventors we are, we made a bed sheet fence around our garden until a more permanent solution could be found and moved them back into the fenced in backyard. It was quite a dramatic day for us and our pets but no worries because they are now safe and sound at their new home and eating lots of yummy leftover rice dishes.

We have been spending a lot of our time working on a grant with our local community-based organization. The CBO is dedicated to assisting orphans, vulnerable children, the elderly, people living with disabilities, and people affected and infected with HIV/AIDS. From the start, we have been nothing but impressed with their motivation to the community and organization of projects and ideas. Members of the executive committee are very educated, upstanding and active members of the community so it’s been a pleasure working together. We’ll share more about this group as we work on projects together with them over the next two years.

Malawi is nicknamed the “Warm Heart of Africa” and if any nickname is accurate, it would be this one. From the moment we moved into our village, our community has welcomed us with open arms always helpful and wanting to share the little they have. One individual in particular has inspired us. Grace is very active in conservation agriculture and is always sharing her knowledge with other farmers. Her dedication to progressive agriculture and holistic ways of looking at the environment is incredible. Recently, she dug herself her own fishpond which is 20 square meters! (or 60 sq. ft.) She’s incredible. Although she doesn’t speak a word of English, she has taught us so much about Malawi, the environment and the true spirit of friendship. I’m sure we’ll have more to say about her over the next two years as she is a large part of our lives here.
Now that our larger fence around our house is nearing completion, we will begin planning PHASE II of our home garden. We have acquired a drip kit system (subsidized by the organization, Total Land Care, so the system is very inexpensive for a villager!) and will soon begin making beds and starting new seeds. The goal is to create a permaculture demonstration at our home with fruit trees, a nutritional kitchen garden, rainwater collection and of course, our ducks (natural fertilizers!) Our small garden is doing great and getting close to bearing fruit. We’re looking forward to enjoying fresh veggies all year round with our rice dishes now that we have 200 kgs! of rice stored in our house for the entire year. We plan on washing these delicacies down with a refreshing glass of home-made fruit wine. Our orange wine will be ready for tasting once we get home this week!

Wednesday we will be heading up to Nkhata Bay on the lakeshore to pick up our friends, Jill, Megan and Lauren who are visiting us all the way from Nebraska. As you can imagine, we are thrilled to share our home, community and life with them here in Malawi. Our plan is to pick them up on Wednesday, then take them down to our site on Thursday where they will stay with us in the village for about a week. We have a lot planned for them to see and do including a field trip to the nursery school, primary school, health clinic, local irrigation projects and market. We also will be indulging in many local meals of nsima and greens prepared by our friends in the community.

Update: We have now acquired new names. Instead of calling us both Stella, the children have created an incredible metamorphosis of our names. Austella! We’ll be relaxing in our backyard and suddenly our neighbor kids will begin yelling Austelllaaa Austelllaaaaa over the fence at us until we finally respond. The community has also given us a traditional tribal name. We are Abambo (father) and Amayi (mother) Phiri. So we are now officially members of the Chewa tribe. We’re telling you… everyday is an adventure.

Some photos!

Austin hangin' with the neighbor boys

Our garden!

Morin pounding our rice

Precious!

PS: Don't be alarmed if we walk off the plane with him (he cleans up nice, we promise!)

Hope things are well back home. We send everyone our love.

Austella

A Day in the Life...

2008-06-07T23:29:00.001-07:00

Since we're sure you've all been wondering what in the world we do all day without electricity, running water or any form of transportation (other than our sweet Gary Fisher's), we thought we might enlighten you on the ways of village life in the depths of Malawi...

Around 5:00 am, we are awoken by a crying child, angry goat or, on a good day, a crowing rooster. After attempting to get just a few more minutes of sleep, we eventually give up. We get out of bed between 6:30 and 7:00, if we are sleeping in. First order of business is always a cup of warm coffee or tea, sometimes the highlight of our day. We typically eat either rice porridge with cinnamon, sugar (or as a Malawian would say "shuga"), and vanilla (yummm!) or bread with jam (never been a big fan of jam but if it's the only sweet treat you've got, you'll take it!) After breakfast, and now that we have chairs and an end table, after breakfast as civilized beings, we go to the bore hole to draw water. Now Malawian women carry 25+ liter buckets on their heads, but neither one of us is that hard core, so we use our bike instead, balancing two 20 liter buckets on each handle bar (this is talent in and of itself!) From 8:30 to 11ish, we work on our house or garden since the sun gets too hot to even breath after 11 (and this is winter!!). Or if it's Saturday, we wash our clothes which requires another trip to the bore hole and some vigorous scrubbing (Mom, you have no right in the world now to complain about "doing" laundry... sticking some clothes and soap into a machine is nothing compared to the labor that goes into one shirt!) At about 11, we start lunch usually consisting of rice and fresh veggies (cabbage, tomatoes, onions, beans). Our area is known for its delicious rice so we eat rice for almost every meal. After lunch, we typically do something in our community like go to a meeting, ceremony, tutoring lessons, spend time at a friend's house or garden or sit on our porch and play with the kids. At about 5:00, we start dinner; again rice and veggies or if we're really feeling adventurous, we'll substitute potatoes for rice. While we're preparing dinner, we'll take turns "showering" which really means dunking our head and feet into a freezing cold bucket of water. After dinner (about 6:30 pm), it's dark and we're exhausted so we read and write in bed by candle light until we can't read and write anymore. On a typical night, we blow out the candle by 8 but on a wild night, 8:30 or 9! (So Abby, when you visit, you'll fit right it!)

Even though it might appear this way, life is never dull in the village. From the lizards that live on our ceiling and walls, to the many, many animals that leave us "presents" on our porch, to the children teaching us new songs, games and words, we're never without a good laugh. Oh, this is pretty humorous... so when we first arrived in the village, all the children would yell "azungu" at us as we walked or rode our bikes down the road (azungu means wanderer or traveller but in other words, white person). But we have constantly been stopping at all the children we meet to tell them that we're not azungu, that we live with them in the village, that we're now Malawians and that our names are Sarah and Austin. Well, the children must have thought we were giving them a new word to say other than azungu so now they call both of us "Sarah." Actually, they call both of us "Stella" since no one can pronounce Sarah correctly. As we said, we're never without a good laugh.

Hope all is well at home. Everyone, keep saving your money... we have lots to share here with you. We love and miss you all!

Stella & Stella

Update From Site

2008-06-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

Now that we are officially PCV's and have been living at site for over a month now, we have a lot to share. First, our house is really coming together. We finally got some furniture last week so no more eating on the floor! We are having a bed and dining set built by a carpenter in our village as well. A few weeks ago, our landlord finished our backyard fence so we have started a small garden of tomatoes, sweet corn, and beans. We also have a starter bed with lettuce, chives, onions, and peppers. So with the fence we can finally keep all the goats, pigs, and chickens out of our yard. Hopefully our plants will still be alive after a week in the big city. This past week we also prepared a couple of flower beds where we hope to plant sunflowers, zinnias, marigolds and other wild flowers. Its been a conforting to plan and make our new house feel more like "home."

Since moving into our village we have spent a lot of time getting to know our community. We have made several friends so far who have been very active in getting us integrated and involved in community activities. We have been invited by many families to eat nsima and spend time with them and their families which has been the best way to meet and get to know people. We've also been given so many gifts of groundnuts, rice, and even a chicken as a sign of their appreciation for us.

We have attended a number of ceremonies including a ceremony hosted by a community-based organization in our area working with AIDS and orphan care. At the event, the CBO was donating two goats to 26 different orphans in our area. We feel very fortunate to have such inspiring motivation and commitment in our community and greatly looking forward to spending the next two years working and learning together.

We have included a photo of the front of our house and some of our favorite neighbor kids. We will update again soon and will have more pictures as well. We miss you all very much and hope everything is going well.

Swearing In

2008-04-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we will swear in as Peace Corps volunteers! It has been a long training period and we are very excited to begin our two years of service. A few weeks ago we found our site which is along the lake shore south of Nkhotakota. We then went for a site visit and saw our house and met with the NGO we will be working with, Total Land Care. They teach conservation agriculture and we are very excited about working with them.

We are also excited about moving into our house which should be beautiful with just a bit or work. After our site visit we went to intensive language week at a game park in the area. While there we saw lots of Zebra and two Giraffe. It was a good week and we soon found ourselves taking our final language exam and now we are finished with our training. We both did extremely well on our language test and look forward to using our new language skills in our new community. We will be in Lilongwe until we swear in and then we will be off to our site.

Last Week of Homestay

2008-04-01T03:11:00.000-07:00

So we are in our last week of homestay and we are currently visiting the Peace Corps office in Lilongwe. We wanted to post a quick update to express that we are having a great time so far and that all is well in the Warm Heart of Africa. This Friday we will move out of homestay and find out our site placements! We will then do a site visit and shadow our site mate volunteer. Then we will have one more week of language and we will officially be sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers.

We also received our cell phones today! So, feel free to call or text us. If you use skype online it will be much cheaper than a regular international call. (go to skype.com and download to program and purchase minutes) Our phones will not be on very much while we are in the village but starting Friday we will have electricity for a short time so plan on texting or calling us over the weekend. Our numbers are: Sarah 265 9 121419 and Austin 265 9 120872. You may have to dial 011 before 265 and then the number. You might want to find out before you place the call so it isnt too expensive.

We will update again soon and we miss you all. Thank you for the letters! Keep them coming.

Austin and Sarah

And We're Off!

2008-02-18T22:25:00.000-08:00

First, thanks to everyone whom we were fortunate enough to see the past few weeks and for making our going away party a huge success. To those we did not get to say goodbye to, we will miss you while we are away and hope you will come visit us!

We are very close to being ready to leave on Thursday, but despite our excitement, we are already missing our friends and family. Unfortunately, we won't be able to update our blog while we are in training, so if you don't hear from us for awhile, we are OK. We hope to be able to post again in mid-April.

Thursday morning we take off for Washington D.C. where we will begin our adventure! In D.C., we will meet the other Peace Corps volunteers and attend several pre-departure training sessions to learn the basics about Malawi and the Peace Corps. Saturday evening, our group will then board the plane for a 16 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. We will spend the night in the city before departing for Malawi on Monday morning. During in-country training, we will be spending our time learning the local language, Chichewa and important skills for our assignments at an Agro-forestry College about one hour south of the capital, Lilongwe. We will also be learning cultural lessons as well as safety precautions and bicycle maintanence since this will be our only mode of transportation. During this time, we will be living with a host family in the local community.

Feel free to send us letters to the address posted. We look forward to hearing from all of you and know that your letters will be greatly needed as we'll be missing every one of you.

Tionana! ("see you later" in chichewa)

Austin & Sarah

The How-to Guide to Mail in Africa

2008-02-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

Update: Packages and regular envelopes are fine to send through regular mail and seem to get here just fine. Please keep sending us mail and we will post a wants list soon.

Family & Friends,

Welcome to our Malawi adventure! As we are sure you will all want to send us mail while we are away, the following are our suggestions to assure delivery.

For regular letters and small items, use our Peace Corps address:

Austin & Sarah Pedersen, PCV
Peace Corps/Malawi
Box 208
Lilongwe
Malawi, Africa

It is best to put letters and packages in padded envelopes and avoid sending boxes.

For important or valuable items, you might want to consider sending items through DHL. If you choose to use DHL, you must address the package to:

Austin & Sarah Pedersen, PCV
C/O U.S. Peace Corps Malawi
Area 4 Plot 70
Across from Oilcom Depot
Lilongwe
Malawi, Africa

You'll also need to include the Peace Corps/Malawi phone number: 265-1-757-157.

We hope this is helpful and that we hear from you often!