5 more AWESOME days!

Awesome Day #15

A brief trip to Nkhata Bay for a re-stock, project shopping, ample time on free internet and of course some tasty cuisine left me feeling happy and full.  I spent the morning at Nkhata Bay Honey Producers packing honey with Christian, George and Lesnsen at the honey co-op.  At 8 am, the little room was already boiling since we had to keep the doors and windows closed to keep bees from smelling the sweet treat and crawling into our jars.  We made an assembly line:  George tested and cleaned the honey (that had already been boiled the day before), Lensen bottled the honey by pouring large buckets into a bucket with a spout, I helped with sealing jars, Christian fixed the jars that I was sealing and then I moved on to labeling with stickers (way more fun).  It was really cool to see the whole process from start to finish and after an hour I realized we had a lot further to go to be ready for the next honey sales trip to Lilongwe.  We bid adieu to the hard-working co-op (as others arrived and we had business to take care of) and headed into town.  We met up with Ian for lunch at our favorite restaurant followed by some cold beer at Aqua Africa, a diving joint on the water with a gorgeous view and free wi-fi!  I took advantage of the free internet getting as much work done as possible (success – I may have everything lined up for Operation Smile – more information coming soon!) and then we headed to a place called Kaya Papaya, where Bloody Marys and Mojitos are just 500k on Fridays.  Conversation was lively with the boys and I was feeling so great about getting my work done!  We moved on to Mayoka, a lovely lodge where the owners Katherine and Gary welcome us like family.  We met up with Stacey, Rob, Mike, Ryan, Adam and Nelson for braai dinner – all you can eat bbq with tasty salads made from their vegetables from their garden – such a treat!  I talked with Nelson, who runs the Natural Medicine trainings.  He is such an amazing soul – we talked about artemesia and how he is looking for some people to continue his work in the North.  I can only hope – it’s really incredible.  My favorite part of the night was when Christian and I sat with Katherine and Luani, her recently adopted son.  He is adorable and really adjusting well to his new life – looking healthy and happy.  Katherine radiates joy and it’s so great to talk with her.  Good friends and good food!  I was stuffed and pleased and as were we getting ready to go, Gary said he wanted to pay for our tab.  Christian and I argued that we couldn’t accept that, but he insisted and wouldn’t let us leave if we did pay.  Grateful, as always, Katherine and Gary are too good to us, we promised we’d be back soon.  Of course we would – Friday Braai day is my favorite!  A wonderful day had by all.  I love successful work/play days!

Day 16 of Awesome

A day of taking it easy – Christian came back to my house so he could travel to Blantyre the next day.  We lounged at my house, eating junk food (which I bought in town – my favorite treat to myself) and watching funny movies.  It was a nothing day, but a lovely day nevertheless.  I like just sitting with my best friend and vegging out.  I feel like we don’t do this often enough!

Awesome Day #17

I never quite know what to do with my Girls Club.  I usually wing it that day.  As 2:00 was approaching, I decided to make some play-dough: 3 cups flour, 2 cups water, 1 cup salt and a few drops of food coloring (I had pink and blue).  Now how do I make this educational?  By talking about vaginas, of course!  I outlined a quick lesson on women’s health – I pulled out my drawings of a vulva and uterus that I had been diligently working on for days.  When the girls came, I gave them a thorough lesson on women’s health, including menstruation (as we will be making reusable menstrual pads next week) and then we finished the lesson by molding vulvas and vaginas out of play-dough.  Do you know how fun this is?!  One girl giggled for 5 minutes saying she was so happy and I asked why and she said “I am making a vageena!”  They were able to label and explain the parts after they finished sculpting and took time to draw the diagrams in their notebooks that we created last week.  They were so proud of their body parts (as they should be!) and I emphasized that this is their property.  No one can try to abuse their property.  Sex should wait and you should never feel pressured.  We practiced saying no to unwanted sex and then it was time to go.  A classically awesome Girls Club winging, if I do say so myself.

Day 18 of Awesome

I met with Machilika Nursery School to check on their progress.  A few days earlier I dropped off sheet plastic that would be used in creating a waterproof roof.  We tried to get metal sheets for the school building, but it looked like the building would need to be re-built in many ways to hold the sheets so a temporary fix will be the plastic sheeting.  It turns out, they have made little progress, as fertilizer was distributed in my community and many people went right to farming (completely viable excuse and I do not hold it against anyone) so the roofing has been suspended.  It was no problem for me.  An excuse to play with the kids?!  I taught them “head, shoulders, knees and toes” the last week and they remembered it and sang it to me.  They taught me some games in Tonga, mostly shaking your booty and singing and clapping.  They also like “duck, duck, goose” which was a huge hit.  They like playing games in English – they’re so eager to learn!  In just one term, they are incredibly fast learners.  This has been my favorite project so far.

Awesome Day #19

Ama Chipalasa asked me to come over to show her how to cook something that she received that had directions written in English.  When I got there, I was surprised to see an MRE from the Malawi government (given to police during trainings – Ada Chipalasa’s cousin is a police officer who passed it off to him).  Oh wow, this is going to blow your mind.  I explained to her that not all American food is like this (even though a stamp with the American flag and “made in USA” was written all over the package) and we do cook in real-life.  I followed the directions – open package, add water to water-activated heat source, insert food package, wait for 10 minutes.  Ama Chipalasa giggled.  Ada Chipalasa was skeptical.  Ten minutes later, I pulled a steaming plate of food from a plastic bag.  They clapped and e tasted our beef and rice dish.  "So delicious, so delicious" – they couldn’t stop swooning over it.  Fula, their child, came running back and forth from playing with her friends to grab more bites.  She sang “Chop my Money” and danced around with meat sauce all over her face.

The best part?  The conversation!  Great news – most people do not transfer during rainy reason because they do not want all their furniture getting wet.  So if they do not get a truck to Dwambazi from Lilongwe in the next few weeks, there won’t be a transfer!  That means, Ama Chimbutu, Ama Chipalasa and Mrs. Nkhosi will be staying here with me until the end of rainy season, which is roughly when I will be heading back to America anyway.  Call me selfish, but I want this!  However, with the rains comes disappointment – I need that roof on the nursery school and I need to build 60 pit latrines pronto.  This rainy season is a double edge sword!