Welcoming in Ed13

As I have mentioned, I was honored to be selected as a Resource PCV (RPCV) for the Education 2013 (Ed13) group.  This is a large commitment, involving for a Training of Trainers (ToT) for a week and a half plus the time you spend with the trainees during training.  I was happy and proud to give this time to help this new group become the best PCVs they can.

If I were to describe ToT and Pre-Service Training (PST) in one word, it would be "enlightening." The ToT was very interesting because I got to see all the hard work that goes into making PST great. It's fascinating being on that side of the operation. I found that I was really enjoying it; it reminded me of RA training as a GHD.


Jaime and I were honored to be the Week 0 and Week 1 RPCVs. That means we met the group at the airport, and helped them in their first week and a half in Malawi, involving countless questions (which we were thrilled to answer), their initial acclimation to life in Peace Corps, moving them to homestay, and their first few nights living in a rural, Malawian village.  A few other RPCVs also came to the airport with us, but they had to go back to work in their own villages awaiting their week with this group.

The airport was fun.  There is a mystical cheeseburger sold at the airport restaurant that we have all heard about as the “best burger in Malawi,” which granted there isn’t a long list of competitors, but there are some good ones out there.  We got to the airport in time to order burgers and eat them before the new group arrived (it was quite good, but not the best).  There is an observation deck on the second floor of the airport where you can normally pay mk300 to watch your friends arrive, or you can do what I did, walk up to the guy with a small posse behind you, and say, “We are Peace Corps here to welcome the new volunteers,” which gets you in for free.  We really started getting excited as we watched their plane landing.

I stole Jaime’s camera and took lots of pictures.  We were told by the boss not to make too much noise, so we did just the opposite and cheered them on as they blinking, stepped into the sun.

 The first few days they spent at the Malawi Institute of Management (MIM), where they had private rooms, hot showers, 5 catered meals a day, and WiFi (basically, they were a little coddled, but I think every group would say this about the newer groups).  I was amazed at the amount of technology they had brought, best seen when they were all taking in the WiFi which was only available in a few areas.
 

After this vacation period of a few days, they moved to homestay and began the adventure as proper Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs).  Jaime and I spent the next four days with them in the village as they adjusted to the real Malawi that they would call home for the next two years, and learn to love more than they could ever imagine at this point.

It was so interesting seeing these experiences for the first time through the eyes of someone else. It's odd to say it, but we've been here so long that it's easy to forget that so many of these things are different from life in a developed country. The reactions of the trainees made it apparent that we have come a long ways in this past year at integrating into our country's culture.  Welcome to Malawi Ed13!  I hope your own experiences are unique but as rewarding as mine has been!

 

My Greatest Moments of My First Year

Today makes one year of my life in Malawi. I have been celebrating this occasion by serving a a resource volunteer for the new Ed13 group.

One of the new trainees asked me what the best part of my service so at was. I was floored. I expected questions like what my biggest challenges were, and of course a demand for war stories, or what life in Malawi is like, but for some reason I wasn't ready for my greatest moments.

Well, since today is a celebration, I guess I should have a happy post and come up with a few. I can't promise these are all my greatest moments, but they are some of my favorites. Sorry to Peace Corps, but they don't all have to do with my job. 

1) First, we will start early, at swearing in. While the swearing in ceremony was a disappointment (we barely got snacks and the ambassador wasn't even there), as I took that oath, I felt a pride that can never me beaten. My greatest dream, to be a Peace Corps Volunteer, serving my country and my planet by helping those who need and deserve it, had come to fruition.

2) Once I was at site, I had a rough time. That was largely due to a drug induced depression (Mefloquine side-effects), and partly due to an unfurnished house. It is also a time when it's hard to feel wanted or loved. You are disconnected from your family and friends in the states, and your friendships with people here are still new. Even those from your own training group still feel a little like forced friendships. However, I had a couple of what I considered better friends at the time come by my house for a visit before joining a much bigger party nearby. Even though there was a much better party with lot of fun to be had, they chose to visit me. One of them was actually ill and still felt the visit was a good idea. That feeling of being wanted was exactly what I needed, and is probably the biggest turning point in my service. It wouldn't have happened if they hadn't taken the effort to show me I was important to them. Since then, they have become my two closest friends in this country, friends I'm certain I will keep for life. Thank you Donald and Melissa. 

3) I can't put my finger on the exact moment, because I think it was gradual, but somewhere around November I realized that I was happy with my life here. I know this sounds bad, like I wasn't happy before that, and there is some truth to that. However, at some point it just clicked that this was not only where I needed to be, a fact that I have not denied at any point in my service, but it was where I wanted to be. I had a great house, two wonderful daughters, friends in my village, wine in a bucket, and a fulfilling job. That is a combination that I don't think many people, ex-pat or otherwise, ever truly feel. It is the realization of self-actualization. Wow.

4) For the last one, I honestly have to say it is this moment. I was selected not only to help train this new group, but I was hand picked to be their first impression of the organization that I have literally bled for. I don't know that I am worthy of such an honor, but if not, I'm glad they made the mistake. The trainees spending hours after dinner just asking questions and being completely engrossed in my answers is an honor that I don't know I will ever match again in my life. Apparently, I actually have some nugget of wisdom to offer. While I still fail to believe that I am in fact a second year volunteer now, and I have an even harder time believing that I somehow am a better adjusted person than anyone else, I can look at what I'm doing and be proud to be a small part of making their Peace Corps experience something amazing. I know my week zero volunteers will always be a very important part of my service, and maybe Jaime and I will be honored in the same way. 

"The South Will Rise Again!"

Finally, after almost a year in Malawi, I have ‘gone further south than I’ve ever been,’ crossing past the Dedza district.  I went as far south as Blantyre, the southern region capital, where their motto is “The South Will Rise Again!”

So first, I visited a couple friends in Domasi, which is just outside of Zomba.  Domasi is the site of the major teaching college in Malawi.  Zomba was the colonial capital of Malawi, and is an absolutely beautiful boma.  Both were great places to visit.  My friends that I visited, Shawn and Christina, are both based out of Domasi Teachers’ College and have a sweet house with electricity, running water, and an actual stove/oven.  (I know those things don’t sound that exciting to those of you living in the states, but to us, that’s super bwana).  Besides the awesomeness of hanging out with two of the coolest people in Peace Corps Malawi, it turns out that they are amazing cooks.  We ate great meals such as fried egg sandwiches with cheese, a beef roast, cauliflower curry, and really good soup.  To top it all off, they have a little projector so we watched movies projected on a giant wall (True Lies, Enemy at the Gates, and The Hunt for Red October).

After leaving their house, I went to Zomba, ate chocolate cake and drank coffee.  Then, I met up with Rita, another volunteer from the Ed12 group, and we had lunch in Zomba at a pizza place called Domino (no ‘s’).  Then, we hitched our way to Blantyre, where we met up with Pat, Ryan, (both PCVs) and Sara (an American friend of mine that lives in Malawi).  The super exciting part was the next day, when we went to Kamuzu Stadium to watch the Malawi Flames play Namibia in a FIFA World Cup Qualifier Match.  The Flames played really well, much better than Namibia, but sadly they didn’t win.  It was a 0-0 draw.

I was supposed to run back to the north the day after the game, but due to some logistical problems beyond our control, the workshop was canceled.  Due to this fact, I decided to stay in Blantyre for a few more days.  Sara was also able to negotiate with her boss to remain in the south through the weekend. 

What wonderful opportunities did this afford us?  I’m glad you asked.  We got to tour the Carlsburg Brewery, where what is Probably the Best Beer in the World is brewed.  It was actually the first international Carlsburg brewery in the world, and is the only commercial brewery in Malawi.  The best part was the tasting afterwards.

We also had time to go the KFC.  Nope, that doesn’t stand for something different here, but is in fact Kentucky Fried Chicken.  While other fast food chains shy away from opening branches in Malawi, the colonel marched into Blantyre and planted his flag.  Now, it is the only American fast food chain in the country.  No clowns here.

The first night we were there, I was happily sleeping without my mosquito net down, thinking “it is far too cold and there are screens on the windows, so I’ll be just ok.”  Well, around 2:00am, I heard some rustling in a plastic bag nearby.  Of course, I had forgotten to keep my flashlight next to me on this of all nights.  I looked at the crack between the door and the floor, and could see the hallway light pouring in, obstructed by a couple of small silhouettes, silhouettes of the fury variety, which had long naked tails.  Yup, our room was being overrun by rats, and not just any rats, but rats that were not afraid of the humans in this room.  I tried clapping my hands, hissing, and making other noises, sure that I would wake up my roommate in the process (surprisingly, this didn’t happen), but these rodents were not to be dissuaded.  They persisted.  I immediately lowered and tucked in my mosquito net, knowing that this was not a full proof plan as I have heard of the ability of rodents to enter even the best tucked nets (see: No More Saying Someday: The Jungle Pit), but hoped beyond hope that I would make it through the night without any cuddle-buddies.  In the morning, we found that they had consumed an entire apple, some cookies, but hadn’t touched the giant, open bag of puff snacks (think Cheetos with cheese, similar to packing peanuts).  The worst part was the discovery of rat poop in our beds, poop that was not there when we had gone to bed the previous night.  With the addition of a towel under the door and securing of all food, they only came in for a quick inspection the next night and no visits after that (largely due to our improved door sealing skills).

Other than that, my time in Blantyre was just a lot of chilling.  Overall, I don’t like the south better than the north, but it is pretty awesome.  Blantyre is much larger than Mzuzu, and much nicer than Lilongwe.  It was just nice to get to see some place new.  Now, onto Training of Trainers then welcoming our new Peace Corps Trainees.

What has Nick been doing?

I feel bad that I've left everyone in the dark lately, so I just wanted to recap my last month and tell you what I'm going to be so busy with the next couple of months. 

May went by quite quickly. It seems that in my life, I'm most comfortable being busy and under some stress, so somehow I have managed to replicate those condition on the other side of the world. I have found myself in a mix of projects, and for the first time since I've been here, I truly and fully believe in them all. So what am I doing, you ask? Let me tell you. 

First, and of course, I've been teaching. Still teaching physical science and biology to form 3 (11th grade) which is 9 periods, so 6 hours a day in the classroom.

My other primary project is as a teacher development facilitator (TDF), which I've been doing more this term. My 'cluster,' or group of nearby schools, has 9 secondary schools spread over about 60km of road. I've now visited all but two of them (putting a lot if miles on my bike), both of which I plan to visit soon. The reason I've been visiting them is so that I can introduce myself, let them know what I do, and exchange contact information. In the future I want to go to every school at least once a term (3 terms per year) to do classroom observations, where I watch a lesson and provide the teacher with feedback on his/her lesson structure, teaching style, delivery, creation of a student friendly classroom, and technical material of the lesson (if its a subject I know). The teachers love this non-threatening feedback that isn't coming from their boss or the Ministry of Education. 

The other major aspect of being a TDF is workshops. These workshops combine education on the topic itself with good, student-based ways to teach it. I have done three workshop for primary school teachers (circulatory system, respiratory system, and reproduction) and I have my first one with the secondary school teachers (genetics) at the end if July. 

So what secondary projects have I done? Great question!

I have now held two separate 4-hour extra classes for form 4 (12th grade) students in my cluster that are preparing for their MSCE (Malawi School Certificate Exam) focusing on graphing, and I have another this next weekend in Chinteche. The MSCE is the sole determinant of if a student graduates or not, and the scores are used as a transcript would be in the states when it comes to finding a job. Since graphs and tables are commonly on the exams and Malawian students don't tend to learn them very well, I thought this was a good thing to review a few weeks before the exam. 

I have been very busy with my Anamed (Action for Natural Medicine) garden, in preparation of putting one in our school. Anamed recommends always having one demonstration garden where community members can see the plants and even harvest some medicine, while maintaining a secret garden that only a few people know about and can act as a nursery. My house's back yard is that secret garden.

I will be starting back up doing Peace Corps Skillz, part of Grass Roots Soccer. It's a great program, and while most of my work isn't normally with kids, this is one project I'm willing to work with them on.

The exciting new project I'm embarking on is getting the community to build a library for our school. While I'll probably have to help them out with the grant process, but any grant requires at least half the costs be covered by the school. 

Outside if secondary projects, I have a few fun things with Peace Corps coming up. First, I was selected to be one of eight Resource Volunteers for the new training group, meaning I will be a trainer for two weeks of their Pre-Service training. I have the Training of Trainers next week. The other project I might be involved in is Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World), but I still haven't heard from them. 

On a fun, personal note, I will be attending the Malawi vs Namibia World Cup Qualifying match in Blantyre this Wednesday, so expect a post from that. I'm really excited!

So, that's what I'm up to and why I haven't been posting much. Hope to post something fun from my visit to Blantyre and my first trip to the southern region, soon.