12 Samosas, 4 Minibuses, 3 Jackfruit, 2 Airplanes and a couple of pirated DVDs

6:38 pm Malawi time/12:38pm EST, Tuesday 24^th June 2008

I burnt my rice. Turned down the wrong eye of the stove. Boo. Luckily for me, tonight has become at spontaneous baking party at the house and the rest of dinner will consist of chocolate-snickers-banana-peanut butter cake, banana loaf, “biscuits” w/ crushed MnMs on top, and lemon cupcakes. And powdered milk. Yummy.

Two weeks ago today Allison, Sarah, Sarah and Lucy (two med. students from Univ. of Newcastle) and I celebrated the last meal Allison, Sarah and I would all be together for with steak and rice and salad and carrots and peas. It was a feast of a feast. The next morning I was picked up by Aunt Jodi at the Nursing school and drove down to Lilongwe in between John and Joseph’s car seats. We sang lots of the same songs as on the way up with the new addition of Old MacDonald (he had a farm, for those of you whose childhood is too far behind you). It was my first times to Lilongwe in two years, one month, seventeen days, and 7 hours…give or take a bit. Not much had changed and that was comforting. The McGills dropped me off at Shoprite and I met up with Ministry of Hope people. Justin and Joni Manon (the volunteer coordinators) were driving the minivan full of white people when I hopped in. Sydney and Rachel are long-term volunteers, and then nine others called the “New Wilmington” group. We drove from Shoprite to Bisnowaty to pick up Paul (who was there because he had lost his passport and had to sit at immigration for a while) then went to their house in area 44—way out next to the President’s Statehouse. I was completely surrounded by Americans for the first time since I’d arrived in Malawi and it was strange. I missed the constant intake of tea and good food and accents. I shared a few blankets and a sleeping bag with Sydney in her and Rachel’s room. Paul came and hung out with us while the group had their devos. (Paul and Sydney go to Davidson with me and are awesome) (Rachel doesn’t go to Davidson, but is awesome nonetheless). The next morning we all went over to the Ministry of Hope office and I was reunited with our gardener/driver of 8 years, Dada Nyirenda, one of our dog’s puppies, George, and several people who knew me because of my last name, but who I didn’t remember. I convinced Paul to walk around Lilongwe with me instead of going into the village with the others. We went first to the Crisis Nursery; saw Mama Jere and Amai Nyoni and Lundu. It was fun to play with the babies and be there again (those of you who don’t know the significance of the Ministry of Hope Crisis Nursery should ask me about it sometime). From there we walked to Crossroads and Café Delight for lunch. On the way I introduced Paul to sugar cane. He didn’t like it. I was ok with that cause it meant more for me.

--We now interrupt this transmission to go sing karaoke, peace--

4 hours later…all the 80s songs have been sung, two hilarious episodes of The Mighty Boosh watched, and I just remembered that I have to be at work early tomorrow morning so I’m off to bed…hopefully the internet in the office will work tomorrow (it didn’t today).

2:41pm Malawi time/ 8:41 am EST, Wednesday, 25^th June, 2008

I was soooo happy when I got on the internet this morning and had 12 real emails and only 17 junk/facebook ones. Much of my time has been passed reading them and replying to people. I was given one assignment at work today: call a member of the HTC (HIV testing and counseling) team and tell them to set up a meeting in Luwerezi next week. I was excited about being assigned something to do, but before I got a chance to call, someone else went and did it. I guess that gives me more time to tell you about the last two weeks though so it’s not all bad.

Thursday night I went to the Capital hotel to eat pizza with the MoH volunteers and a group from Arizona that was staying there. We got to see what one of the rooms looked like (these are $150ish a night and VERY posh) and what a bit of the Euro cup match that was on at the time. The next morning I was on the same flight as the AZ group to Nairobi. They had a nine hour layover so I showed them where the lounge and Java House were then headed into town. Because I arrived in Nairobi around 4:30 traffic was terrible and it took us an hour and a half to get to the de la Torres’ house. I spent the night there and arranged for Francis to take me out to Rift Valley Academy (my high school) early the next morning. It was all I could do to not go to bed at 7. I managed to stay awake until 10 watching MTV music videos…Francis picked me up at 7:30 Saturday morning and we drove out to RVA. It’s about an hour north of the city so we got there in plenty of time for me to wake Katie up and surprise her. The entire purpose of my random, frequent-flyer ticket to Kenya for the weekend was to surprise her and hang out with her. (Fun Fact about Jesse #5: She loves surprises. Allsorts. Giving and getting them). It was a volleyball tournament and Jr. Store that day so after a bit we went and got in line. I had a cheeseburger and three stoneys :) They stopped making Chicken tikka and teriyaki which was VERY upsetting news, but since the Manns were junior class sponsors I didn’t complain. (Those of you who are confused by this point should ask me sometime to explain the various aspects of RVA culture that you don’t understand). (Don’t ask me at the same time as you ask me about the crisis nursery though unless you have a couple of hours to spare). I saw Malderink (my better half), Josiah and Elise and all the other Riches, Megan McHaney, the Nanningas , Mushroom Man, Studmuffin, and many others that I hadn’t seen since I graduated two years ago. It was really strange being there and all the little kiddies being grown up. I didn’t actually feel any older at all. Just much more confident and mature (whether or not that’s true that’s how I felt). Mama Chikus food for Sunday lunch was definitely the highlight of the weekend and Francis came to pick me up on Monday afternoon before I felt any time had passed at all. Monday night I ate with the de la Torres and some guests and discussed politics and missions and development and fell asleep at 9. The taxi to the airport emptied my wallet so when I arrived back in Lilongwe at lunchtime I was determined not to spend 4,500 Kwacha on a taxi into town. I recognized one of the cars in the airport parking lot and ended up bumming a ride from Dada Kamanga in the CCAP van with 15 Australians who arrived on my flight and were coming to work in Blantyre for two weeks. They dropped me in area 47 and I walked to the Ministry of Hope office and waited for everyone else to arrive from the village. That night and Wednesday I spent in the office and around Lilongwe with Sydney, Paul and Rachel. We planned to go to the Lake on Thursday and maybe spend the night camping on the beach and come back Friday. The New Wilmington group was planning to go for the day on Thursday and give us a ride out there, but that fell through.

Instead, we made our own adventure (Mom, don’t worry, I’m alive to tell this tale so everything went fine). We drove to Area 2 at 7:30 Thursday morning and catching an AXA bus to Salima (it only cost MK290 each, but there were people in every seat and standing in the aisle the whole way…Rachel graciously gave her seat to a woman with a baby on her back so they could sit down). From Salima we started walking to Senga Bay in hopes of catching a minibus or hitching a ride. We ended up in the back of a pickup truck with 10 other people. Five minutes out of town it ran out of fuel and parked on the side of the road. We waited for the next empty truck to come by, piled in and continued on our way. By the time we reached Senga Bay 25 other people had joined us in the back of the truck. From Senga Bay we walked the last 8 kilometres to the campsite, stopping at the Red Zebra Café for lunch. It was 2:30 before we started climbing the rocks to jump into the water. (Sorry, no pics for now…maybe later when I get them on my computer). It wasn’t as cold as it looked and the jump was a huge adrenalin rush. I was glad that Paul and Sydney and Rachel got a chance to do it. Rachel had to be at a meeting Friday morning so she drove back to town with the New Wilmington group (they picked her up and dropped off our tent). Sydney, Paul and I set up the tent, showered, ate our peanut butter and banana sandwiches for dinner, arranged a very shady looking “taxi” to take us to Salima the next morning, then headed over to the bar (at the five star lodge next to the campsite) where the Euro Cup was on TV. We met a cool Australian couple who were running a bush camp in South Luwangwa National Park, Zambia for the summer and taking some time off to travel Malawi. They were camping on the beach next to us. Sleep was good…the sand was soft and I didn’t have to fight too hard to keep my half of the blankets. It was cloudy so no stars, but the moon shining through was really pretty on the water. Paul thought that the Mozambican mountains on the other side of the lake were on fire when the bright orange moon started rising. Early the next morning we got up and broke down the tent. Paul made the mistake of feeding the baboons a banana and they bothered us for the rest of the morning. Eventually getting bold enough to steal my sugar cane. It only cost MK10, but I was still annoyed with them. (Fun Fact about Jesse #6: She hates Baboons. They are the only animal that truly scares her). Our “taxi” to Salima was an old blue dihatsu (sp?) pickup truck that is about the size of my VW Bug. We fit about 30 people in the back (mostly schoolchildren) very uncomfortably but made it to the bus stop only 8 minutes later than we wanted to. The AXA bus was not there and apparently had no intention of being there so we took a minibus (that cost twice as much) back to LLW. It smelled very strongly of fish and soaked into our clothes and bags so that for the rest of the day MoH people were commenting on our fishy smell. I slept the whole way back and hung around the Ministry of Hope office waiting for my turn on the internet until it was time to go pick my brother up at the airport. He flew in from Lesotho just after lunch and had already arranged for someone else to pick him up so I gave him a hug and arranged to see him later and went back to the office to play on the internet some more. That night he had borrowed a car from the friends he was staying with so he picked up the four of us from the office and took us out to Blue Ginger, a new Indian restaurant in Lilongwe, for dinner because it was Sydney’s last day in town. The food was delicious and afterwards we went back to the house and watched Braveheart. I was so tired that I fell asleep before the first big battle scene and was really disappointed that I didn’t get to watch it all when I woke up at 7:30 the next morning.

Think this post is long enough yet? I’ve only got a few more days so bear with me or take a break and come back or just quit now and never know or do whatever you want cause it’s your life.

Saturday morning we took Sydney out the airport and sorted out her tickets etc. for her Ethiopian airways flight (she’s a brave one). That afternoon we drove out to Matapila for “social Saturday”. Basically the wazungus (foreigners) and Ministry of Hope staff played against the kids from the feeding centers in the area. I was clueless as to how to play netball, but we won that anyway…and volleyball, and football. Once the games were over we handed out soft drinks and scones and had a short devos with the kids before Justin and Joannie dropped us off at the McAuley’s house for the night. Sunday morning we went to CCBC (the church we went to in Lilongwe for 8+ years) and saw lots of familiar faces. Pastor Henry Joseph was in the middle of a sermon series on Marriage so that was interesting…he made the women sit on one side of the church and the men on the other. That afternoon we were dropped off at the Crisis nursery once again, to wait for our ride North. Aunt Martha (another “missionary aunt” of no real relation) picked us up along with two med. students from Liverpool and my Dad’s boss and we drove to Embangweni (get out your map of Malawi again :P) for the night. The next day I rode from there to Mzuzu in the back of an ambulance and tried to help the McGills out because they were packing to leave Mzuzu the next day. I ended up having a sleepover at their house with the kids and saying goodbye at 6:30 the next morning when I got a ride out to Ekwendeni.

So I am finally back in Ekwendeni. Nathan is here too. I may leave tomorrow…may not. I’m not sure yet. Regardless, I probably won’t have internet much in the next week. Then (this is funny) my blog is blocked on my high school’s highly filtered internet so I won’t be able to update this at all between July 3^rd and 18^th. But don’t worry. I’ll keep a detailed log of all my adventures on my computer so that I can just update it when I find wireless somewhere. Hope your lives are happy. Until next time, peace and love.

--pictures to come...sometime--

TV OD

9:35 am Malawi time/3:35 am EST, Monday, 9^th June 2008

House season 1 (all of it), Die harder, Die hard with a vengeance, Live free or Die hard, Pride and Prejudice…I can’t even remember all the stuff I watched this past weekend. I was sick of it about 3 movies and the entire season of House in, but had to keep going because I was taking my dreads out and it was the only form of entertainment that allowed me to use both my hands for that. Yes. I took my dreads out. I decided I’d rather look like a crazy cavewoman/lion cross than blend it with the ‘great unwashed’ on the overland trucks safari-ing across the continent. It took two whole days, more sodas than I care to admit, but only 2 ibuprofen. Really dark and fuzzy before and a-little-bit-better after pictures below.

Before:

After:

Friday afternoon was LISAP director and Church of Scotland missionary Andy Gaston’s farewell party. Sarah was an add-on. We met in the brand new dining hall, had a director of ceremonies, started an hour and a half late, had 5 speeches limited to 10 minutes each, gave presents, danced, clapped, cut cake, ate cake, drank cocopina (it’s in my top five sodas along with Stoney, Dr. Pepper, Cherry plum, and fanta passion), and took pictures. We finished a half hour before I predicted. We were in the newspaper. It was great.

My creative juices have been numbed by too many hours of staring at a computer screen and my eyes hurt so forgive me. This is a short post. And I can't figure out why it wants to be different from all the others. Boo.

A Day in the Life...

2:26 pm Malawi time/ 8:26amEST, Tuesday, 3rd June 2008

Two posts in one day! It's unprecedented, I know, but my boss still isn't back from town and I realized that I've mentioned barely anything about my work. So I figured now is the perfect time to tell you.

Work starts at 7:30am. This generally means struggling to get out of bed around 7 and being at least 10 minutes late. I'm working on being on time though, and slowly improving everyday. Lunch is from 12-1:30 and we finish at 5. From there Sarah and I head home and make dinner...usually entertaining ourselves with conversation, books, or tv shows until around 10--then it's bed time. I never do the same thing days in a row (unless it's sit around and play on the internet because I have nothing to do). Not having a job description has been tough, but I'm slowly getting things to do.
Last Wednesday I went out with the hospital's palliative care team. We visited two bedridden, chronically ill patients. The first was a man with cancer in his legs that was slowly spreading to his lungs. All they can do is give him morphine for the pain and show his guardians (in this case, his mother) how to treat the wounds. Our second visit was to a 42 year old woman with 7 kids who was paralyzed from the waist down after a stroke last month. She has been on a mat on the floor of their house ever since, being shifted every two hours to prevent pressure sores. Her mother-in-law's sister has given up her life to come and take care of her. I was struck by the loyalty and sacrifice of the guardians and the patient, quiet suffering of the patients. Malawians are by far the strongest people I have ever met.
On Thursday Sarah and I were sent to represent LISAP at a meeting in Mzuzu Central Hospital (Our mode of transportation is pictured below). The District Health Office was updating everyone involved on the new protocal for HIV testing and counseling. The country is switching from a parallel system (where clients are given two tests at the same time, and a third if the results are discordant) to a serial system, where they are tested once, then a second and maybe third time depending on the results. This system will mean less tests are wasted and more will actually be available at various testing centers. After the meeting was over Sarah and I walked into town and bought lunch (samosas and guava juice=delicious) at Tutlas, the local grocery store. From there we were picked up by the other LISAP staff who'd gone to hand out certificates at the lake to a group of students completing a month long training in bicycle repair (this training is part of the behavioral change initiative--giving young people a future/keeping them busy etc). We were joined in the back of the truck by some very green plantains, approx. 20 stacks of firewood and three catfish, on of which was still breathing. It was an adventure.
Otherwise, I've mostly been entering data about microfinance groups into an excel spreadsheet. Now that's over I'll probably be working on the handbook my boss (Amy Segula) is trying to finish. She's back from town now so I should probably offer my services.

Score: Mosquitoes 150, Jesse 2 (but one of those kills was 1-handed so I think it should count as 10)

Fun Fact about Jesse #4: Mosquitoes love to suck her blood. She must be sweet.

9:45am Malawi time/ 3:45am EST, Tuesday, 3^rd June 2008.

On Thursday I bought a TV episode on iTunes. It is 459.8 MB. As of today 182.4 MB have downloaded. I’m so excited! At this rate I might get to watch it this weekend. Sarah’s downloading a full-length movie. She might have it before she flies back to Northern Ireland on July 13^th. We’re having a race to see whose computer is downloading faster. She’s winning.

2 hours later…I left the office to go meet a third year nursing student from Minnesota (or maybe it was Montana). Now my TV show is at 193.2 MB. My boss went into Mzuzu this morning without giving me an assignment. I know I’m supposed to be helping her write a handbook for peer counselors about HIV/AIDS symptoms, but I don’t know how or where or what. For now, I sit and watch the MB download. I’m already tired of stalking people on facebook, so I will talk to you. I’m very good at these one-sided conversations, p.s.

Last night I had a mosquito inside my mosquito net. I’d be worried about having Malaria two weeks from now (that’s how long it takes between a bite and showing symptoms), but since I could hear the mozzie buzzing around I’m not worried. There are two types of mosquitoes—the ones that make noise don’t carry the malaria parasite. It’s kind of unfortunate that the deadly ones are silent killers.

I went to the CCAP church in Ekwendeni on Sunday. It was in the mission station church, which is more than 100 years old. The English service started at 8 o’ clock. The building is magnificent. Once I find my camera battery charger I’ll take some pics. The entire thing is made of red brick that matches the color of the dirt. The floor is a mosaic of diamonds and octagons; there are two rows of diamond-shaped brick columns going down the sides of the church. They are connected by brick arches and stained-glass windows. The pews reminded me of the AIC church we went to once a month when I was at RVA—rough wood, so close together that your knees touch the one in front of you and if you stay in the same position for too long all the circulation to your feet is cut off. I LOVED the hymns—we sang some of my favorites like There’s Pow’r in the Blood. Malawians have beautiful voices and the atmosphere amplified the sound perfectly. The sermon was difficult to follow so after a while I just started reading from my Bible. Lamentations is generally a depressing book, but I found this encouraging:

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail...For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love.

Afterwards Sarah, Allison, and I caught a matola into Mzuzu to do some shopping. I bought some absolutely beautiful fabric which I plan to (get a tailor to) turn into bags, skirts and a dress. It is now lunch time, so I will leave this to you. p.s. I'm now at 199.7 MB...

Oh, and I almost forgot. If you find yourself getting bored with my posts, you should read my brother’s blog (it also has cute pics and video of my little sibs). http://dimswogblog.blogspot.com/

L’amour et Paix.

10:21pm Malawi time/4:21pm EST, Saturday, 31^st May 2008.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLL!!!!

Malawi 8 – 1 Djibouti.

We annihilated them. I really wanted to go to the World Cup Qualifying match in Blantyre this afternoon, but that was impossible. Instead I listened to it on the radio in a packed matola (minibus) between Rumphi and Ekwendeni and blaring in the Ekwendeni market and local bars as I walked from the bus station to the house. I love how football (soccer) is a universal sport. Regardless of whether you speak the same language, it’s possible to enjoy a game together and share an understanding of what is happening.

Laura, Lauren and her three friends left yesterday for two weeks in TZ (Zanzibar—I’ m so jealous). Sarah, Allison (a nursing student from Edinburgh who’s here for 6 weeks), and I decided to go up to Matunkha Safari Lodge in Rumphi. Matunkha is a community project including a primary school, orphan program, water program, donkey breeding program, “model village” etc. that gets some of its income from tourism (lodging, walks, game drives to the Lake and Nyika National Park).It’s run by my best friend’s family (the Nanningas). I’ve been going up there for weeks at a time since they started it ten years ago. Even though Jojo wasn’t there (she’s still in uni in the NL) this time, I thought it’d be fun to surprise her parents. Only her dad was there, but we shared a cup of tea and caught up on our families and the past two years experiences. The project’s really grown a lot and they’re hoping to be able to support 50% of their projects with money from the safari lodge. Their latest project is an outpatient clinic being built in the shape of the AIDS ribbon. I’m eager to google earth it once they’ve thatched the roof. After dropping our stuff in our room we explored, finding all the animals (some cows, 4 horses, goats, and a bajillion donkeys). I enjoyed my first Kuche Kuche at the restaurant with supper (“The Pride of Malawi” and local beer). It was 50 cents for 500ml! The power was out so our food took a while to prepare, but it was good once we finally got it. I had nsima for the first time since I left Malawi two years ago. Its consistency is a cross between mashed potatoes and porridge (that’s Sarah’s definition) and it’s made out of maize meal and it’s my favoritest. After dessert I realized that I had managed to lose the room key over the course of the evening so we spent the next hour retracing our steps in the dark. It gave us an excuse to go lie on the water tank behind the Nanningas’ house and stargaze. The stars were the most incredible I’ve ever seen. Ever. At all. In my entire life. (the second most incredible was in the same place two years and one month ago with Jojo, Elise, and Juls). All my favourite constellations were there—Southern Cross, Scorpio, Orion, the Seven Sisters, caseopea (sp?), the Big and Little Dippers. We could see not only the bands of the Milky Way, but the dark spots in them. We saw 3 shooting stars and a satellite in five minutes. I felt very small. I was also struck by how big God is. And creative. I wish I could have enjoyed the stars more and not been worrying about finding the keys. (btw, keys are the bane of my existence. Last semester I lost three sets of car keys and my room key and my post office key). We found the key in the leaves by the monkey cage (the Nanningas have three grey vervets: Koko, Tommy, and Bummer—they all have something against me and I have scars from all but Bummer). I was so relieved! Our room was right across the hall from Mr. J.B, a board member from Karonga in town for a meeting. He’s lovely and used to be one of Kamuzu Banda’s advisors (Banda was dictator of Malawi for thirty years after independence) and always had good stories to tell at dinner when Jojo and I were little. Unfortunately he’s also a very heavy snorer. He + frogs + donkeys = a hard time falling asleep. Today we slept in, had a late breakfast (@ 9), went for a hike, and eventually made our way back to Ekwendeni, listening to the football match on the radio.

Tonight is “girls night in” (the night life is pretty rockin’ in Ekwendeni…not). We’ve made popcorn with smarties melted on top (smarties are the Cadbury’s version of MnMs), Malawi Gin and Tonics, and we’re watching Casino Royale. By candlelight. It’s pretty perfect.

The Rumphi River (as see from Bunda Hill)