March 2010
8 posts
From Developing to Developed
I found it so fitting to have read this excerpt from Morality for Beautiful Girls, the third book in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, a collection of which was a perfect read for the trip home.
“M Ramotswe saw the cart and the family retreating in the rearview mirror, as if they were going back into the past, getting smaller and smaller. One day, people would no longer do this; they...
Sometime during 28 hours of travel
For as long as my battery lasts, I am writing this entry from the plane. I’ve changed my watch to NY time and the several cups of tea I drank are keeping me bright-eyed and awake until enough time passes and it becomes a normal NY hour for sleep. It’s almost 5:00pm there. We have 15 hours to go. We left for the airport in Lilongwe at 11:00am for a 1:00 flight that took us to Johannesburg,...
And Then We Said Goodbye
It was heart breaking. But, it was inevitable. And, it was the end. For now.
I hear Mama saying she loves us and with arms open wide, I feel her warmth and her hugs. I hear Papa telling us it was an honor to have us and the only sad time he had was when I got sick and he was worried about me. I feel Bertha’s embrace as she cried in my arms, I am picturing Kevin’s confused look and worried...
Pictures Really Do Tell 1,000 Words
My camera, which has been so good to me this whole trip, gave up during our last week. Luckily, we shared Deena’s camera and took as many pictures as her dying battery would allow. We wanted to get photos with everyone, with the children, our family and the community. I want to remember every detail of this experience, capturing as much as possible through my written reflections and through the...
A Few of Our Favorite Things
Every last that we had in the village was so memorable. Our last dance circle with the girls, our last supper, the last prayer we said before eating, the last game of cards we played, our last lunch, the last time I heard the children screaming, “JOANNA!” as I walked by, all of it is so vivid in my mind.
One of the things I am bringing home is the way Malawians treat their guests. The Benesi’s,...
A Ceremonial Send-Off
We walked to the center, dressed in our matching chitenges with our “asis” (sister) Diana and before we got to the door, Mama came out to say they needed time. We walked a couple of feet away and a few moments later, all of the women came outside, dancing and singing while making their way over to us to escort us inside. While we didn’t understand all the words to the song they sang, we did make...
February 2010
35 posts
Small Tokens of Gratitude
Diana pulled out two wooden carved key chains from her bag. One said “Joana,” the other, “Dinah.” She told us she wasn’t sure she had the spelling correct, but it didn’t matter. We were so touched. Later, we gave the family the little tokens of appreciation we bought for them, a copy of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind for Papa, necklaces for Mama, Diana, and Bertha, and matching bracelets for...
How are the children?
On the Monday of our final week, we were told the next day would be our last day of school, as this marked the children’s last day before a 2 week break and Wednesday was reserved for a function at the center, planned in our honor. I wasn’t sure which piece of this information was most jolting, that we learned at the last minute that we had one less day than expected with the children, the fact...
To the Market
The outdoor market in the center of the city has become our favorite place to buy vegetables. We bring an array to the Benesi’s each week and cook all of our meals over the weekends. Unintentionally, we keep finding ourselves making many of the recipes, sans so much oil, that Diana and Mama have made for us in the village.
When we pull up to this outdoor space, we are immediately approached by...
Lake Luxury
There is nothing fancy about Malawi. As far as I can tell, this is not a country where people seeking 5 star hotels and restaurants venture to visit. On our second weekend at the lake, we decided to indulge a bit and stay at what we heard was “the nicest hotel” in Salima. Livingstonia Beach, conveniently enough, was right next door to the Safari Beach Lodge where we stayed on our first weekend...
How Policy is Made
During one of our daily walks from the center back home, we stopped at the sound of our names. Normally, children’s voices scream to us as we walk by, but this time it was an older voice calling to us. Sure enough, Chief Mkongamira was there, motioning for us to come over to where he was seated, under a tree, with a group of others.
This man, who we’ve interacted with so many times before, has...
A Tearoom Culture
Tearooms are all over Malawi and in the village is no exception. Inside these little dark huts, men congregate to “take their tea” and socialize in this space. And there is a stigma attached to them. Those who have tea at home and spend the rest of their days working, look down upon the men who spend hours of daylight in these dark spaces spending money on tea rather than saving it for their...
Redefining Comfort
Waking up, at least once in the middle of the night, and stumbling outside to use the latrine has become routine. This walk at odd hours in the dark used to scare me enough to keep me in bed until the sun came out. But something changed. I’ve become more comfortable with the lifestyle. In fact, this little home in this Malawian village feels like one of the safest places I know.
(I HAD to...
Snow, I mean, Rain Days
We were scheduled to visit the Mphanda School on Monday and Tuesday. When we woke up on Tuesday to a torrential downpour, which apparently is quite common during the rainy season, though we saw none of it during the first half of our trip, we decided to spend Tuesday at the center with the plan to go to Mphanda on Wednesday. We weren’t sure, given the fragile structure, whether or not the...
Thinking Outside the Box in a Little Hut
A colorful little sign that read, “We most welcome you at Mphanda Nursery School” hung above the front entrance of this tiny school made of bamboo. This is the site of the 3rd nursery school connected to Tiyambe Nawo. We visited after our meeting with all of the teachers, and it was the only one of the 3 we hadn’t already seen. This little school, smaller than even the Orphan Care School we...
It really takes a village...
Two extra nights off from the village felt like an eternity. The quiet orphanage is no longer so quiet. We have a new roommate who asks a lot of questions. Aside from a trip to town we’ve planned to buy for gifts for the Benesi’s and a have a dinner out, we’ve been at that place where nothing surrounds it. Two days there each week, I know, is more than enough. I am itching to get back to the...
What you've got when it's gone
Up until this point, Deena and I have both been so fortunate to stay pretty healthy. We take good care of ourselves (and each other) to sustain the energy we need to do this work. On Tuesday, however, I must have caught some kind of stomach bug, one that didn’t pass after an hour but stayed with me for longer. Reaching a point of discomfort and probably with a fever, Deena suggested we leave...
On Human Nature
We talk about human tendencies as though they are universal. It’s the explanation for so many toxic behaviors. “It’s just human nature to want more and more.” But in a different part of the world, a group of simple, hard-working, honest and loving people are teaching me otherwise.
I’ve considered this during countless moments here. When we walked through the planting fields with Diana, we...
A television in the village...whhhhat?
Since we arrived I’ve been wondering why there is a tiny television in the main room of our village home. There is no electricity, after all. On several occasions, Patso unsuccessfully attempted to connect its wires to a large battery sitting on the floor. Last week, Papa had two technicians come from town to fix the broken television. Sure enough, we now have a black and white, battery...
Poetry
Eddie, the one who is the first in his village to go to college, wanted to see us before he started school. As it turned out, however, he had to go earlier than expected and won’t be able to see us again before we leave. So regretful of this change of plan, he made sure to go to visit Diana last weekend to drop off copies of a small booklet full of his own original poems with the names “Sunge,”...
A little straw school with a very big heart
Now that we are in the midst of this work and see how closely connected villagers are to each other despite vast distances between them separated by miles of planting fields, we decided to devote two days each to the two other nursery schools connected to Tiyambe Nawo, a community based organization which ties thousands of people together.
On Monday and Tuesday we visited an Orphan Care school,...
Lake Malawi
If you ever find yourself in Malawi for whatever reason, go to the lake. It is exquisite. Deena and I spent a much needed restful weekend at a very rustic lodge in Salima. We felt like we were on vacation, sleeping in a simple room with a hut next door housing the toilet and outdoor shower, which I love, and spending hours on what felt like our own private beach. We woke up to a magnificent...
A Walk of Fame
To rally up a group of children at any time, any day, all we need to do is walk along the dirt path that runs through the village in the afternoon. It’s as though they can smell our footsteps because before we even see their smiling faces and hands waving to us, we now here them shout “DeenaJoanna!” or just “Joanna!” or just “Deena!” They call both of us by any of those names, often combing our...
Teaching For Malawi Updates
I am proud of what we’ve done so far, pleased with the structure, the way the classroom looks (it’s so colorful and full of print), and with how the teachers are beginning to respond to and execute our efforts. We really took a step back from leading the day to give the teachers the stage, so to speak, and to set up a time to meet with them to discuss where we are, how we are feeling, and what...
Kwa Benesi, aka The Central Office
In Mkongamira, the Benesi’s home has come to feel just like that, like a central office. People congregate there all the time. In the mornings, afternoons and evenings, the doors are always opened. It’s pretty incredible. This past week, we saw secondary students sitting on a bamboo mat outside of the house with their advisor, Kathy, and Mr. Benesi, writing thank you letters to their sponsors...
Running to Greet
Bright and early Monday morning we headed back to our family. Though we’ve gotten into the full swing of life here and built our routines, it was a bit of a bumpy ride there. And by bumpy, I mean that literally. About 20 minutes away from the dirt path, Deena looked at me with a ghostly complexion and said, “We have to pull over. Now.” There was such panic in her voice. I yelled,...
January 2010
38 posts
Our Own Personal Everest
I am reading a beautiful book, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and a mere 130 pages into it; I am so taken by the author’s way with words. It is especially speaking to me during this journey. “…so we have to surpass ourselves every day, make every day undying. Climb our own personal Everest and do it in such a way that every step is a little bit of eternity. That’s what the future is for: to...
Glee for Malawi
Living at the orphanage on the weekends gives me the chance to hear the girls singing and praying. We attended their Rosary ceremony last weekend, and ever since then, I have wanted to attend a church service. I imagined it would be full of life, packed with spiritual people so grateful for the little that they have.
So today, Sunday, January 31, Raphael brought us to his church. He picked us...