Peace Corps Malawi Reading List

Just like Peace Corps Zambia, I spent a lot of time reading. This time most of the books were on my Kindle and that is a technology I could not do without. It will be years before I read everything I have on my Kindle. I finished the following books in 16 months:

   
    1.  Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
    2. The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
    3. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Fleming
    4. The Man Who Loved Books too Much by Allison Hoover Bartless
    5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
    6. Girl on Fire by Suzanne Collins
    7. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
    8. The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr
    9. The Hades Project by Robert Ludlum
   10. 28. Stories of AIDS in Africa by Stephanie Nolen
   11. The Winner by David Baldacci
   12. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
   13. Catch Me if You Can by Frank W. Abagnale, Jr.
   14. Dark Fire by CJ Sansom
   15. Dissolution by CJ Sanson
   16. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
   17. Lie Down with Lions by Ken Follett
   18. The Man Who Smiled by Henning Mankel
   19. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
   20. The Book of Murder by Guillermo Martinez
   21. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
   22. Lifted by Evan Ratliff
   23. The Minority Report by Philip K. Dick
   24. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
   25. A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett
   26. The Last Resort by Douglas Rogers
   27. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
   28. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson
   29. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson
   30. The Places in Between by Rory Stewart
   31. Code to Zero by Ken Follett
   32. The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer
   33. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
   34. Avenger by Frederick Forsyth
   35. The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
   36. The Listerdale Mystery by Agatha Christie
   37. Dispatches From the Edge by Anderson Cooper
   38. In the Still of the Night by Ann Rule
   39. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
   40. Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell
   41. The Gunslinger by Stephen King
   42. Thunderstruck by Eric Larson
   43. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
   44. Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn
   45. To a God Unknown by John Steinbeck
   46. The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
   47. The Cobra by Fredrick Forsyth
   48. The Phantom of Manhattan by Frederick Forsyth
   49. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
   50. Echo Park by Michael Connelly
   51. The Janson Directive by Robert Ludlum
   52. Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
   53. The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie
   54. The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz by Denis Avey
   55. The Shack by Wm. Paul Young
   56. Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain by Portia de Rossi
   57. Term Limits by Vince Flynn
   58. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
   59. The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
   60. War by Sebastian Junger
   61. The Stranger by Albert Camus
   62. Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox
   63. The Man from St. Petersburg by Ken Follett
   64. Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
   65. The Fever by Sonia Shah
   66. Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
   67. A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie
   68. Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern
   69. Pathologies of Power by Paul Farmer
   70. Memorial Day by Vince Flynn
   71. Murder of the Centure by Paul Collins
   72. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
   73. Diary of a Public Radio Slave by Kerri Wood Thomson
   74. The One You Love by Paul Pilkington

Final Malawi Update

I’m home. There isn’t much else I want to say but I think a few people want more of an explanation.

I left Malawi mid-June after thinking about leaving for 6 months. It was not a decision I made overnight or without much thought. I was full of hope and optimism when I came to Malawi. I spent 2+ years in neighboring Zambia learning the culture and language of my neighbors. I felt I had a successful Peace Corps Zambia service. I came to Malawi with the intention of learning about public health and passing on skills I’ve learned through my previous jobs. I learned very little about public health and a whole lot about foreign aid. It was not a failed service; it just didn’t take 26 months to learn these lessons. 

I learned that foreign aid has created a dependency cycle for Malawi as a whole. Malawi doesn’t have much fuel, medicine, medical supplies, or other necessities unless someone else donates it. How do you break the cycle? I don’t know. I naively thought I could make a difference but when a country is accustomed to hand outs and failure, I lost hope. I also feel strongly that there are several members of Peace Corps Malawi staff that do not believe in the program. It’s hard to feel hope when your supervisor clearly doesn’t care. I tried to work in a non-traditional Peace Corps position improving the supply chain of an NGO but Peace Corps Malawi did not want to think outside the box. That was the beginning of the end for me.

Until the majority of Malawians truly want a better Malawi, it won’t happen. But remember, wanting it doesn’t make it so.  America didn’t become the country it is just because people wanted it. It became successful through hard work, sacrifice, and ingenuity. Ok, there’s more to it than that but the point is Americans and our government didn’t sit around waiting for someone else to make it better. How does a country with little to offer the outside world move up the economic ladder? I don’t know and I’m a long way from even offering a solution.

I miss my friends in Chioshya/Chimteka and volunteers within and outside of Peace Corps (especially Michaelo) but I’m happy I came home when I did. I’ve been given opportunities I would not have otherwise had if I came home next year. I’ve been able to spend invaluable time with family and friends and I’m thankful for these moments.

Until next time…..