Failed Projects

Of course I shared with you my successes, because who wants to read the misadventures of a bitter Betty?  However, I will share with you the real side of Peace Corps – with triumph, there has always been a few failures.  Some successes were not the home runs I was looking for, but I threw up my arms and said “good enough” because there is only so much I can beat myself up for.  Peace Corps and Malawi are challenging in many ways and it is good to note these challenges and to learn from them.  So here is a list of projects that I started, tried to start, or never got off the ground.

Girls’ Empowerment Camp on the Lakeshore

I talked with a girls’ private secondary school in the hopes of starting up a mini-Camp GLOW for girls on the lakeshore.  The facility was perfect – classrooms for sessions, dining hall for meals and dorms for our campers.  Rob and I wrote a proposal and submitted it to the school committee but they shot it down on account of being “too busy this semester and also next year,” so we took a hint and scrapped that idea.

Tin Roof at Machilika Village Nursery School

I worked pretty closely with starting up the nursery school at Machilika Village, mostly with improvements to the building.  The roof was in disarray and we wanted to put up something sturdy and long-lasting, like tin.  However, after a further assessment, we realized we would have to build an entirely new building.  The columns were not built to sustain tin, so we decided to go with a temporary, but working solution: plastic and new thatch. 

Vegetable Garden

I started a vegetable garden in my own yard in hopes of inspiring others to grow a variety of vegetables through demonstrations.  Really, this was a selfish idea in the first place.  I was sick of eating only tomatoes, onions and mustard greens every day.  After hoeing and sowing, my plants started growing!  I fell in love with my garden – it was so stress-relieving to dig in the dirt and I felt motherly toward my seedlings.  And then, one afternoon in the course of a few hours, chickens scratched up my entire yard and I had nothing.  This year, I planted exactly that: nothing.

Tortilla Chip Business

This idea came about during avocado season.  Why not make tortilla chips and guacamole!?  Talk about cross-cultural exchange!  I taught my women’s group to make tortilla chips and they enjoyed the fun, but the chips never caught on and, in my opinion, the guac was rendered useless.

Peer Education Group

This was only an idea.  I wanted it to stem from my Girls’ Club, but it never got to the point where we could start it.  I envisioned a group of secondary school girls using the skills and lessons we learned in Girls’ Club (women’s health, public speaking skills, self-awareness, etc.) to teach girls in primary school.  The idea was to inspire these girls to be role models to younger girls and to instill a sense of female camaraderie.  Anyway, we never got to that level and if I had more time, I would push for it to happen.

Dried Fruit Business

This was only an idea, too.  I read about the successes of a Peace Corps Volunteer using a fruit drying rack to make sun-dried bananas, tomatoes, and mangoes and selling them to lodges and people in the village.  It sounded like a cool idea, but it never caught on.  I have the supplies, I just need the interest.

Paper Charcoal

Similar to Dried Fruit Business – never caught on, even though I pushed for it.  Paper is too valuable to soak in water and roll into balls. 

English Club

I wanted to start this club at the secondary school, but it seemed as though students were really more interested in going home than staying after for an academic club.  I wanted to do dramas and write poetry and play Balderdash, but it never picked up momentum.  Having school from 7am until 2pm is a long time to go without food and offering more academics is hardly incentive to stay after class.