Scary title, hilarious story.
So there was what can only be described as a 'big ass wasp nest' in my chim (outhouse). I was just letting it be for now, not paying any attention to these roommates. I decided there was enough room in there for me to perform my morning rituals, and them to breed more baby wasps to built nest in other inconvenient places. Not that I was opposed to killing them, but if I killed every insect that invaded any part of my property, I wouldn't get much done.
This morning, I was mostly done with my work, and was in the processes of making everything nice and clean, when apparently my decision to stand made one wasp upset. Not upset enough to actually sting me, just enough to repeatedly charge at my face. I attempted to ignore this show of dominance, however it finally got annoying enough to merit a non-fatal swat.
Interesting behavior among wasps that I was not taught to me in entomology: like bees, there is a hive mentality. I'm not certain if I just so happened to strike an important member of their society, or if they are this protective of all there friends and family, but this form of battery was enough to rally all 20 wasps that were previously peacefully coexisting with me.
At this point I must remind you, I was in the process of cleaning when this set of events occurred, so shorts and underwear around the ankles in some form of self-inflicted bondage.
So as I watched 20 very angry wasps (don't ask how I knew they were angry, I could just tell) take flight and form attack pattern alpha, I quickly determined that an immediate retreat was in order. As I go to run out of this quite small structure, I am given a firm reminder of my limited mobility. This reminder comes in the form of me falling, head first, into the wall (don't worry, light hit and didn't really feel it), yet somehow in a very cartoon-like manner, I never stop running. Right out of the door into my back yard, where thankfully the wasps called off the attack and returned to base.
I feel like I lost this battle with the wasps, because while I did not suffer and stings from their abdomens, I did get the emotional sting of being a butt-naked, white guy diving out of my chim. After an immediate decent-ization, and a scan of the surroundings, I believe I may have survived without exposing myself to my village, a small miracle since normally at that time, there are several women working the neighboring field.
Needless to say, the wasps declared war, and I am not above the use of chemical warfare. They may have chased off a few of my attacks, but I did eventually catch them off guard and the entire colony has been eliminated. I guess man and wasp were never meant to coexist.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
What Is the Deadliest Creature in Africa?
Answer: the mosquito.
Malaria is still a huge health concern in this part of the world. Today is World Malaria Day. If you already knew this, or don't care, feel free to skip this post (it's more of an informercial than a update about me).
The World Health Organization recorded about 219 million cases of Malaria in 2010, with fatalities estimated between 660,000 and 1.2 million. Many of those deaths were children in sub-Saharan Africa (Nayyar et al, 2012).
It is easy to forget about this disease living in a country where the disease has been eliminated, but living in rural Africa we see the results of this horrible disease every day. Young children suffer brain damage from the high fevers. Teachers and workers are kept at home while sick. Elderly people with the wisdom of a village pass away. Infants are never given the chance to live.
A fellow teacher and I have recently been affording the opportunity to go to a week long training hosted by Anamed, Action For Natural Medicine. This training largely focused on preventing a treating Malaria using plants that can be grown locally for free. If you would like to learn more, or would be interested in donating to this cause, you can visit their website at http://www.anamed.net/English_Home/english_home.html .
We will now return you to your normal programming.
Nayyar GML, Breman JG, Newton PN, Herrington J (2012). "Poor-quality antimalarial drugs in southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa". Lancet Infectious Diseases 12 (6): 488–96.
Malaria is still a huge health concern in this part of the world. Today is World Malaria Day. If you already knew this, or don't care, feel free to skip this post (it's more of an informercial than a update about me).
The World Health Organization recorded about 219 million cases of Malaria in 2010, with fatalities estimated between 660,000 and 1.2 million. Many of those deaths were children in sub-Saharan Africa (Nayyar et al, 2012).
It is easy to forget about this disease living in a country where the disease has been eliminated, but living in rural Africa we see the results of this horrible disease every day. Young children suffer brain damage from the high fevers. Teachers and workers are kept at home while sick. Elderly people with the wisdom of a village pass away. Infants are never given the chance to live.
A fellow teacher and I have recently been affording the opportunity to go to a week long training hosted by Anamed, Action For Natural Medicine. This training largely focused on preventing a treating Malaria using plants that can be grown locally for free. If you would like to learn more, or would be interested in donating to this cause, you can visit their website at http://www.anamed.net/English_Home/english_home.html .
We will now return you to your normal programming.
Nayyar GML, Breman JG, Newton PN, Herrington J (2012). "Poor-quality antimalarial drugs in southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa". Lancet Infectious Diseases 12 (6): 488–96.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
My Top Three Challenges in Malawi
I was recently (about a minute ago) asked what my top challenges serving as a education PCV in Malawi. Here they are, with short explanations. If any Ed13 invitees are reading this, don't fear, the good far outweighs the bad.
Teaching students of a different culture - You think you get blank looks from students in an American classroom? Try having twice as many students. Most of those students are afraid to ask questions because they haven't realized that, unlike most their teachers, you won't yell at them for doing so. To top it off, critical thinking is not only lacking, it's nonexistent.
Isolation from people of a similar culture - Other ex-pats, even Americans, rarely come from the same type of background as me. You could gather my closest friends in Malawi into a room, ask them what the SEC is, and 3 out of 5 will probably say the Securities and Exchange Commission, one will know but not care, with the last one will saying "Roll Tide." I hate it when the last one does that, yet sadly I have more in common with her than the other four.
Staying hydrated - Believe it or not, this is the one I struggle with most. When it's 130F out, and there are no fans, let alone A/C, you can't physically drink enough water to keep up with it. That's coming from a Floridian that grew up without air, and spent 6 months living in North Queensland, where the asphalt melts. Nothing is quite like waking up in the middle of the night, realizing you're not sweating, chugging a litter of water, then feeling the sweat glands start back up.
Teaching students of a different culture - You think you get blank looks from students in an American classroom? Try having twice as many students. Most of those students are afraid to ask questions because they haven't realized that, unlike most their teachers, you won't yell at them for doing so. To top it off, critical thinking is not only lacking, it's nonexistent.
Isolation from people of a similar culture - Other ex-pats, even Americans, rarely come from the same type of background as me. You could gather my closest friends in Malawi into a room, ask them what the SEC is, and 3 out of 5 will probably say the Securities and Exchange Commission, one will know but not care, with the last one will saying "Roll Tide." I hate it when the last one does that, yet sadly I have more in common with her than the other four.
Staying hydrated - Believe it or not, this is the one I struggle with most. When it's 130F out, and there are no fans, let alone A/C, you can't physically drink enough water to keep up with it. That's coming from a Floridian that grew up without air, and spent 6 months living in North Queensland, where the asphalt melts. Nothing is quite like waking up in the middle of the night, realizing you're not sweating, chugging a litter of water, then feeling the sweat glands start back up.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
In one month...
In one month, I have spent about 100 hours on transport from as far south as Dedza to as far north as Zanzibar. I have had my passport inspected and stamped 5 times, receiving two visas. I have made calls from 4 different phone numbers, all my own. I have traveled by bike, bike taxi, car, land cruiser, minibus, coaster, big bus, train, dhow, ferry, and rickshaw. I've made transactions in 4 different forms of currency. What a great month!
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The Adventures of Two Vacationing PCVs in Tanzania
What a trip! For those of you that didn't know, Aaron and I took a vacation to Tanzania. We visited Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. The following is the riveting short story summarizing that adventure. Pictures to be uploaded when I can.
It was a beautiful morning, another glorious Wednesday morning in Thunduti. However, this Wednesday was no ordinary day. This day marked the beginning of an incredible journey for two friends. Aaron and Nick, friends brought together through their villages proximity mixed with both being employed by the US Peace Corps.
Before the sun managed to rise, these two PCVs were finishing their last minute preparations to hit the road and embark on a journey across the Serengeti to the 'Haven of Peace' and then to the nearby archipelago.
This journey involved riding a mini-bus to Karonga, a taxi to Songwe, walking across the "Long Bridge" (which wasn't really that long), leaving the familiar land of Malawi, and entering the exciting, new land of Tanzania. After crossing that threshold, and another 2km walking, they boarded a dalla-dalla for Mbeya. In Mbeya, these two adventurers were nervous, because they had asperations to board a train, but the train was supposed to leave a couple hours earlier. Luckily, upon arriving at the train station, they discovered the train itself was running 6 hours late. More problems though, it was a 25 hour journey and no cabins with a bed were open. Once again, the fates smiled upon them, and this was no issue. This train was operated by people from the nation of Zambia, and Zambians speaks a very similar language to these Malawian residents, so some short conversing with the conductor, and they were able to upgrade to a first class cabin.
The train ride was quite incredible. Food was brought straight to the cabin, along with liquid refreshments. Both of our travelers slept quite well, and in the morning saw elephants, antelope, warthogs, and other Serengeti wildlife while passing through a couple of Tanzania's game preserves.
Upon arrival in Dar es Salaam, a large metropolitan on scale with a counterpart city in the developed world, they immediately sought accommodation. The next day, they walked around the downtown area of the city, visiting the National Museum, botanical gardens, a cathedral, and finally ended up at a bar called "Florida Pub."
Saturday was the day that they were to travel to Zanzibar. With fast ferry (2 hour ride) tickets in hand, they boarded a boat. Upon boarding this boat, they met another traveler, an Australian living in Uganda. These three spent the day walking around Stone Town, enjoying the famous food and spiced coffee, and then touring the grounds of the former slave market. For supper, they went to a daily fish eating faire in a Stone Town garden where fish, mollusks, and shellfish were consumed. (Interesting note, as far as fish went, blue marlin was in the cheapest category with barracuda, while tuna and snapper enjoy a more prestigious price.)
The next day, poor Alison had to return to the mainland, but Aaron and Nick went on a tour of the other parts of the island that included a spice farm (one of the major exports from Zanzibar), a cave where slaves were hid and smuggled out to the Middle East after the sale of slaves from this country had became illegal, and a visit to the beach. Upon returning to Stone Town, it was time to get cleaned up and enjoy sunset, a few adult beverages, and a wonderful seafood dinner from a local establishment.
On their last day on Zanzibar, it was time to adventure out to sea. A dhow (small boat) took them to Prison Island to see the tortoise population there, then just offshore the island to snorkel the coral reef there, populated by a large variety of beautifully colored fish (including Nick's favorite ornamental fish, the Moorish Idol). That evening, they once again enjoyed seafood and a sunset, but this time they had to set off on an overnight ferry ride back to mainland Tanganika. A boat ride that normally takes 3 hours was modified to an 8 hour ride to allow the passengers to enjoy a full night's sleep and arrive in the morning daylight.
That morning of their return to Tanganika (mainland Tanzania) marked the beginning of their return trip back to Malawi. The train was scheduled to depart Dar at 2;30pm, but upon arriving in the train station (reached via motorized rickshaw), they discovered that the train wasn't going to run until Friday. That day being Tuesday, this was an unacceptable delay, so after some researching, they caught a taxi with two fellow travelers, Italians that were on their way to Malawi for a month of work at a school and clinic there, and managed to book a nice bus (4 passengers wide). They found a place to stay, rested there, had a very good and quite reasonably priced meal, and went to bed, ready to catch their 5:30am bus.
The fates seemed to have another twist in store for them. The nice bus that was going to take them had not arrived (or never existed), so instead they were forced to board a not-so-luxerious bus (5 passengers wide). Oh, Africa! The good part is that they were on the correct side of the bus going through a national park to see giraffes, elephants, zebras, and antelope.
After arriving into Mbeya, these four weary travelers (our PCVs and the Italians), found a place to stay, a meal to eat, and most importantly, a cold beer.
The next morning, the new Italian friends left early in the morning, but our protagonists of this story slept in very late (9:00am), and set off a short time later. They boarded a dalla-dalla for the boarder and to reach their villages and homes, hoping to share the tale of their adventures.
The End
Pictures can be found at:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10103443563328301.1073741829.2036002&type=1&l=500528862d
It was a beautiful morning, another glorious Wednesday morning in Thunduti. However, this Wednesday was no ordinary day. This day marked the beginning of an incredible journey for two friends. Aaron and Nick, friends brought together through their villages proximity mixed with both being employed by the US Peace Corps.
Before the sun managed to rise, these two PCVs were finishing their last minute preparations to hit the road and embark on a journey across the Serengeti to the 'Haven of Peace' and then to the nearby archipelago.
This journey involved riding a mini-bus to Karonga, a taxi to Songwe, walking across the "Long Bridge" (which wasn't really that long), leaving the familiar land of Malawi, and entering the exciting, new land of Tanzania. After crossing that threshold, and another 2km walking, they boarded a dalla-dalla for Mbeya. In Mbeya, these two adventurers were nervous, because they had asperations to board a train, but the train was supposed to leave a couple hours earlier. Luckily, upon arriving at the train station, they discovered the train itself was running 6 hours late. More problems though, it was a 25 hour journey and no cabins with a bed were open. Once again, the fates smiled upon them, and this was no issue. This train was operated by people from the nation of Zambia, and Zambians speaks a very similar language to these Malawian residents, so some short conversing with the conductor, and they were able to upgrade to a first class cabin.
The train ride was quite incredible. Food was brought straight to the cabin, along with liquid refreshments. Both of our travelers slept quite well, and in the morning saw elephants, antelope, warthogs, and other Serengeti wildlife while passing through a couple of Tanzania's game preserves.
Upon arrival in Dar es Salaam, a large metropolitan on scale with a counterpart city in the developed world, they immediately sought accommodation. The next day, they walked around the downtown area of the city, visiting the National Museum, botanical gardens, a cathedral, and finally ended up at a bar called "Florida Pub."
Saturday was the day that they were to travel to Zanzibar. With fast ferry (2 hour ride) tickets in hand, they boarded a boat. Upon boarding this boat, they met another traveler, an Australian living in Uganda. These three spent the day walking around Stone Town, enjoying the famous food and spiced coffee, and then touring the grounds of the former slave market. For supper, they went to a daily fish eating faire in a Stone Town garden where fish, mollusks, and shellfish were consumed. (Interesting note, as far as fish went, blue marlin was in the cheapest category with barracuda, while tuna and snapper enjoy a more prestigious price.)
The next day, poor Alison had to return to the mainland, but Aaron and Nick went on a tour of the other parts of the island that included a spice farm (one of the major exports from Zanzibar), a cave where slaves were hid and smuggled out to the Middle East after the sale of slaves from this country had became illegal, and a visit to the beach. Upon returning to Stone Town, it was time to get cleaned up and enjoy sunset, a few adult beverages, and a wonderful seafood dinner from a local establishment.
On their last day on Zanzibar, it was time to adventure out to sea. A dhow (small boat) took them to Prison Island to see the tortoise population there, then just offshore the island to snorkel the coral reef there, populated by a large variety of beautifully colored fish (including Nick's favorite ornamental fish, the Moorish Idol). That evening, they once again enjoyed seafood and a sunset, but this time they had to set off on an overnight ferry ride back to mainland Tanganika. A boat ride that normally takes 3 hours was modified to an 8 hour ride to allow the passengers to enjoy a full night's sleep and arrive in the morning daylight.
That morning of their return to Tanganika (mainland Tanzania) marked the beginning of their return trip back to Malawi. The train was scheduled to depart Dar at 2;30pm, but upon arriving in the train station (reached via motorized rickshaw), they discovered that the train wasn't going to run until Friday. That day being Tuesday, this was an unacceptable delay, so after some researching, they caught a taxi with two fellow travelers, Italians that were on their way to Malawi for a month of work at a school and clinic there, and managed to book a nice bus (4 passengers wide). They found a place to stay, rested there, had a very good and quite reasonably priced meal, and went to bed, ready to catch their 5:30am bus.
The fates seemed to have another twist in store for them. The nice bus that was going to take them had not arrived (or never existed), so instead they were forced to board a not-so-luxerious bus (5 passengers wide). Oh, Africa! The good part is that they were on the correct side of the bus going through a national park to see giraffes, elephants, zebras, and antelope.
After arriving into Mbeya, these four weary travelers (our PCVs and the Italians), found a place to stay, a meal to eat, and most importantly, a cold beer.
The next morning, the new Italian friends left early in the morning, but our protagonists of this story slept in very late (9:00am), and set off a short time later. They boarded a dalla-dalla for the boarder and to reach their villages and homes, hoping to share the tale of their adventures.
The End
Pictures can be found at:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10103443563328301.1073741829.2036002&type=1&l=500528862d
Friday, April 05, 2013
Tazara Train Trip
So Aaron (one of my sitemates) and I are on vacation to Dar es Salaam and Zanzabar. We took the train from Mbeya to Dar and it was incredible. We saw a lot of Tanzanian country-side and a wide variety of wildlife including many elephants. Posted pictures to follow sometime in the future (when I'm not burning valuable vacation time), but here's a picture of Aaron in our train cabin.
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