Another old letter

This is another old letter but slightly more recent....

I hope this letter finds you well. I’m settling into my Malawi life quite nicely. I’ve been in my home in Msuzi for 2 months now and the time seems to be flying. My home is slowly becoming more comfortable. I now have a wicker love seat and chair of my own. I need to get cushions made for it b/c it gets hard quickly. I also plan to paint walls and doors very soon. I have a wooden bed frame and foam mattress, a wood table w/ 2 chairs that I eat and work at, two sets of shelves for clothes and kitchen items, and a table for my handwashing bucket and water filter. All of this furniture was made in the village without any power tools.

I plan to have an extra bed frame made so I can have guests and that should make my furniture collection complete.

My typical day starts between 5:30 and 6:30. I rarely set an alarm b/c the roosters usually wake me up. I get up and do some exercises then start a fire for breakfast. Some days I have a hot fire within 20 minutes, other days it takes an hour. I never take a good fire for granted. I make breakfast – usually coffee or hot cocoa and oatmeal. Some times I’ll make eggs or French toast if I have bread. While waiting for the fire to get going, I do the dishes from the night before and get my things ready for the day. After breakfast I make sure my cat is outside and then I leave for the health centre or community based organization. I work until noon then go home and have lunch. I don’t start a fire for lunch; I eat leftovers from the night before. After lunch I go to the community based organization or the school. Some days I don’t have anything planned in the afternoon and I spend the time reading and cleaning my house. Around 5pm I start another fire and make tea, then heat bath water, then make dinner. I have to heat bath water b/c I don’t have running water to take a shower. I mix the hot water w/ cold water in a bucket until the temperature is right, then I bathe in a cement room with a drain in my backyard. My dinner is usually vegetables (eggplant, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, peas, green beans, or cabbage, whatever I can find) and rice, lentils, or pasta. I make enough for that night and lunch the next day. I put the leftovers in a bowl with another bowl on top as a lid. This is my routine Monday through Friday. On Saturday’s I spend the day at the community based organization working with a physical therapist to give therapy to handicap children. Sunday’s are usually spent doing laundry and relaxing with my cat, Peppers.

 I occasionally go to the district capital, or boma, to buy vegetables or other supplies I need. I either bike 22kilometres to the paved road and take a mini-bus the rest of the way or I go with a friend in the neighboring village that has a truck. There is no public transport from my village to the paved road but if I don’t want to bike I can pay the equivalent of $2.00 and go on a bike taxi – a bike with a padded rack on the back that you sit on and a man pedals. It’s a nice way to get around if you have the money.

At the health centre I help weigh children or pregnant women, take the blood pressure of pregnant women, help with reports, or anything else they need. I’m not allowed to vaccinate people but I update the health records of those that receive vaccines. The health centre serves about 30,000 people and does so with limited staff and frequently without medications, but they do have electricity. They primarily treat malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia. They also treat tuberculosis, rabies from dog bites, and an occasional measles outbreak. Two nurse/mid-wives work 24/7 shifts (alternating weeks) and deliver over 100 babies every month. There are frequent delivery emergencies and in these cases the ambulance is called from the district capital (about 30 miles away) and on a good day the ambulance arrives within 3 hours of being called. When a woman delivers at the health centre, she brings her own bucket, plastic sheet, and towels. She walks home the same day she delivers and can take the equivalent of Tylenol for pain if her finances allow.

Malawians do not have an easy life but they rarely complain. They are welcoming and always eager to feed a guest. I enjoy the Malawian lifestyle and I am humbled daily.

Old Letter

This is a letter that I sent to a few people...

By time you receive this letter I will have been in Malawi for about 3 months. The time has gone quickly but I’m sure it will slow down at some point soon once I get into my routine. I spent the first 8 weeks in Dedza for training. I lived w/ a host family, the Rabson Laurenti family, and went to language and technical training in health 6 days/week. In Malawi I speak Chichewa, a Bantu language spoken in Malawi, Zambia, and parts of Mozambique.  I’m not very good at learning new languages and I was very thankful that I already spoke Chichewa from my 2 years spent in Zambia.

After 5 weeks with my host family, I went to see my new home, Msuzi Village, in Mchinji District. I spent one week in Msuzi, where I met my work counterparts, my neighbors, and the patients at the clinic I now work at. I stayed in my new home and slept in my sleeping bag on a reed mat on the floor. My home has 2 bedrooms, a sitting room, and a separate building that contains the kitchen, storage, bathing room, and chimbudzi (toilet). I have a privacy fence all the way around my house and a small backyard where I’d like to start a garden. The home is made of mud bricks and has cement floors. It’s very nice by Malawian standards. I do not have electricity or running water but there is a well very close to my house so getting water isn’t too much work.

And now a bit about my work….my title is Community Health Advisor. Most Peace Corps Volunteers in this position live and work at community health centres and some even have electricity but my situation is a bit unique. I live in a village about 2 kilometers from the health centre and while I work at the health centre, I also work at a Community Based Organization, Chimteka Children Support, about 1 kilometer from my house. At the health centre, I help with growth monitoring of children under 5 years of age, and I also help with the supplementary feeding program for malnourished children under 5. I also go out into villages and help with community outreach for the villages that are far from the health centre. I ride my bike to these villages and people come from miles to get their children weighed and vaccinated.

Chimteka Children Support offers many programs but I will primarily be helping with the HIV/AIDS support group and the developmentally/physically disabled children group. The disabled children come for therapy every week and I will help with that and teach about nutrition.

My main focus during my service is going to be nutrition and malaria (spread by mosquitoes) prevention. Both are major problems here. The main cash crops are maize and tobacco so many people are lacking protein and vitamins in their daily diets. I plan to do some work in fish farming to diversify the diet and increase income for small scale farmers. This part of the world is rife with malaria and while it is highly preventable, it is difficult to encourage people to take the necessary steps. The main way to prevent malaria is to sleep under a mosquito net at night. The government gives nets to pregnant women and children under 5 but unfortunately many of the nets are used as fishing nets and therefore provide no malaria prevention. I have a lot of work ahead of me but I have to remain realistic that I will not save everyone and will not impact everyone. In Africa, you have to measure small victories.

Moving Right Along

Somehow June is almost over (or maybe it's already finished depending on when I post). Time flies when you're having fun...and staying really busy. Programs at the health centre are being developed. I'm focusing on encouraging youth friendly health services by working with nurse/mid-wife & visiting with the students at the secondary school. We are also working on a career planning program with those interested youths. I'm still hoping to develop a nutrition program through the health centre to educate mothers.

The work at the CBO is also coming together. I'm really enjoying the therapy program with the handicap youth and will possibly help expand the program to increase the efficacy. I'm also working with the handicap adult group to develop their income generating garden. This is partly self serving because it's difficult for me to get vegetables so I'm encouraging them to grow vegetables I like. I'll do cooking demonstrations with those vegetables to encourage the group to add them to their own diet. It's a win-win: I'll be a loyal buyer and they might find some new vegetables they like.

I hope to start working with a few fish farmers soon. Other than that, I'm planning a couple big programs for late 2011/early 2012. All of these current and future projects keep me hopping 6 days almost every week. Busy...just the way I like it! And thankfully I'm working with some wonderful and equally motivated people. Staying focused is my only challenge when the needs are as great as they are.
In house developments, I own a love seat and chair. I plan to get cushions made so I can take an occasional nap :) I'm also planning to paint my bedrooms, doors, and windows for a bit more color in my life.