Camp 5 - Last One!!!

Day 1
For my final week of camp, I am working with Leigh (volunteer) and Chris, the craziest and loudest field staff World Camp has. So from the beginning, I figured it would be a pretty fun week. This camp is the closest of all the camps – it only takes 45 minutes to get there. It also seems to be the calmest, because pulling up on the first day we had the smallest number all session of children rushing the bus and chanting azungu (white people). Because there are people leaving on Friday and they need a day to pack, we made this camp a three day camp, so the schedule was a little altered. Morning songs was the smallest circle we have ever had, so this school is definitely small. My class ended up with 18 kids, though, and we are the dancing hares. The kids in my class are so smart. They already knew most of what we were teaching them about HIV/AIDS, which is encouraging! For instance, one of our lessons is about how you can’t tell if someone has HIV just by looking at them, and pretty much every class of students thinks that you can by certain physical characteristics so it turns into a ten or fifteen minute lesson. But our students immediately responded with the correct answer, that you can only tell if someone has HIV by a blood test, the first time we asked if our imaginary character had HIV. They also already knew the difference between HIV and AIDS, which honestly I didn’t even understand completely before working for World Camp. So I was very happy with my students! We also did condom demonstration today, and it was by far the best one I have done. Chris was hilarious, and kind of obscene, but it was so much fun. I’m kind of sad I won’t ever be doing it again! After lunch consisted just of environment lessons, and I think the kids got a little bored and were being super shy. They weren’t answering questions and it was sort of sad. But we got through it all by the end of the day. I ended the day in really high spirits, and hoped that tomorrow the kids would be a little less shy and have more fun. [Additional side note: The kids in our class all make name tags so that we know their names and can keep up with who has eaten lunch. Today I look up and sitting front and center of my class are two kids. Their names? Happy and Lonely. Sitting side by side. I had to hide my face behind my journal to laugh. Which sounds bad, but honestly it was just hilariously ironic. And apparently Lonely doesn’t actually mean lonely – parents just name their kids words that they hear sometimes…so I don’t feel as bad that I got the giggles.]

Day 2
We were down two volunteers from sickness this day. In fact, at least half of all the volunteers were sick either with stomach issues or sinus, so we had a little trouble getting excited. Luckily, Ian (coordinator) was there to lead morning songs, and he was by far the craziest and most enthusiastic and most hilarious song leader of all the session. So he got us all laughing and pumped for the day. We did Boom-Chika-Boom mummy style, which was quite interesting – not sure the kids really got it. Human knot was just as complicated as ever, but I had a lot of fun getting to participate in the partner trust stand up with the kids. We ran a little behind all day today, but I don’t think it really mattered in the end. During HIV/AIDS review the kids got all of the answers right, so they were obviously more on top of their game than I was since I accidentally asked them if they could get mosquito bites from kissing – hahaha. This was another school where when we started talking about caring for someone with HIV, they told me that no one in their community really helps people with HIV. Which is hard and disheartening, but at least we can educate the kids about how they can reach out to someone with HIV, and maybe they will be willing to do so after going through the camp. After lunch, I tried to make a better connection with the kids, and I think it was successful. During morning songs I always tend to lead or at least be involved with Pasi, which is kind of like the Chichewa version of head, shoulders, knees, and toes. So for some reason the past couple of camps I have been known as Chiuno girl (which is the word for hips in Chichewa). So the kids of my class started singing that to me – which was probably just their way of making fun of me – but I went with it anyway and did the song, after which they started teaching me all the other parts of the body in Chichewa. This tends to be the only way I end up bonding with students, but hey that’s okay. Sing, dance, and teach each other parts of the body in a different language – who knew that would be the recipe for success? After lunch we had empowerment sessions, and this was actually the most talkative group of girls I have had all summer. We didn’t even have to do anonymous questions because they were asking questions out loud on their own. They had a lot of questions about pregnancy, but not too many about other things, especially since only 4 of them admitted to liking boys. Although it was cute because we went around the circle to say what we liked about boys (when we were introducing ourselves), and those girls said that they liked when a boy helped them with their studies. There were some questions about transactional sex, rape, and a consensus that sex is the boy’s decision, but these were all things we worked through and discussed, so I hope the girls really feel better about making decisions that are right for them, regardless of what others think. So yeah, the day went pretty good.

*Cook Group Night* The power hadn’t been going out for a couple weeks, but last night our power went out while people were cooking, and tonight it went out again while my cook group was cooking. The power was out for almost two hours, and just when we resorted to taking all of our food outside to the gas stoves to start cooking, the power came back on. Even though our cooking was delayed, it was pretty bomb-tastic: sweet potato fries, eggs, green peppers, onions, cheese, and toast, and no bake cookies for dessert. Definite success.

Day 3
Last day of camp – soooo crazy. I was determined to have an awesome day. It was definitely the most excited I have been for morning songs. It was my last time to do pasi so I was pretty pumped for it and had a lot of fun – I mean it is my favorite after all (why? BECAUSE IT’S IN CHICHEEEEWAAAAA!!!!) Games consisted of ultimate Frisbee. The kids absolutely love it. I hate it. Mainly because I’m way too competitive so even though they are just kids and have never played before, I get really upset when everyone on the field is cheating and it is just mass chaos. And I got a nail ripped off. So although I tried to play I ended up just watching from the sidelines for the last couple minutes which was fine by me. We had a little free time at the beginning of class as we were waiting for some people to grab things, so we let the kids ask us questions. They asked where we were from and then if we had boyfriends. When we said no, they asked us what we did when we wanted to have sex – yeeeeeeaaaahhhh that created awesome awkward conversations. Later when we did anonymous questions we got some pretty great ones. There were the usual tame ones, like are there black people in America, why don’t you speak Chichewa, and other common sex questions. But we got some pretty hilarious ones, too. For instance, why do you white girls sometimes sit with your legs wide open? Oopsie! Had to apologize and explain to them that we don’t usually wear skirts (which also came up in another question – why don’t you respect your bodies with the way you dress in America?). Also got asked if we planned on getting married since we didn’t have boyfriends. I said I would love to have a boyfriend and get married, I just hadn’t found the right guy yet. To this, they asked me if I would accept a proposal from a black man. When I said yes, four boys raised their hands, one even got to his feet, offering themselves to me. I am one lucky girl. If only I were staying in Malawi – I’d have a great crowd of fifteen year olds to choose from. We had some other questions that were pretty funny, but maybe a little too intense to put on the blog, so again feel free to just ask. [Funny question from another class: If I come to America will I get eaten?] After questions we planted our tree, took pictures, and gave our class their AIDS ribbons which is always kind of a special thing. After lunch we had presentations, and my group’s was probably my favorite of all my classes this summer. One of the boys, Milan, was dressed up as a witch doctor and he looked so cute! Although they kind of improved and the presentation was a bit lengthy, they got across their message about the three ways HIV can be transmitted quite well. I was proud! I ended up having a blast with my class this last day – they really came out of their shells and were a hoot to be around and talk to and hear from. It made me wish that the camp had been four days because I would have loved more time with them. I’m going to miss them, and although I think I still liked my camp 3 class the best, this was definitely a very close second. It was hard to leave at the end of the camp because I knew that it was my last time to be with kids in Malawi. :( Hopefully I’ll be able to visit Crisis Nursery before going home at least.

After camp today we had a field staff appreciation party. We made all of them cards the previous night and had signed all of them. I made Chikabachi’s and it was probably the craftiest thing I have ever done so I was quite proud. We just hung out with all of them on the front porch, drank Fantas, and ate no bake cookies (we were supposed to have cake but the power was out ALL day – it seriously just came back on at 5:00 – darn you deforestation). Good to see all of them one last time I suppose. Kind of sad though!

There are lots of things that I could probably say right now reflection wise, but I don’t really feel like typing it out. So since I am going to have a lot of time over the next couple of days before I leave Sunday, I’ll just put it off til later. So if you were looking for something deep and spiritual from me today, sorry! Give me a bit more time. :)

Much love to you people back home!

Refugee Camp and Lake Malawi

So I would say that our last day of camp 4 without a hitch, but when we loaded the bus to go Thursday morning, we had to wait for a new tire because one of ours was flat. Seemed like someone didn’t want us to get to this school! But we ended up only being about an hour late. We already were cramming two days into one from where we missed Wednesday, but the day actually went fairly smoothly anyway considering. The kids weren’t really much more talkative than they had been the previous days, but the last day was still fun and felt good. I am hoping the kids have a little bit better understanding of HIV/AIDS now and how it is transmitted and can be prevented. We planted a tree together, too, and one of our kids broke the hoe, but oh well it happens. Our presentation was over misconceptions about HIV, and we told our kids to come up with an original song. After they had practiced it we were in the middle of the next lesson when I hear the exact same song coming from another classroom. So we made them switch it, but I think the final product was a success. Daniel was TL for this camp, which made him MC for presentations. He tried to make jokes, like for the team called Big Mountains, he said “Mount Nikhoma (which was in the background) ain’t got nothing on you.” Or for the Burning Flames, “That performance was on fire!” There were a couple others about singing goats and potential for the future being brighter than the pinwheels, which made no sense to me. I don’t think jokes really translate, though, because no one laughed. Which actually made it quite funny for us. That was Y2Y’s last camp, so they celebrated when they got back as we prepared for the weekend.

Dzaleka Refugee Camp
Friday we got up and headed to Malawi’s refugee camp for an outreach project. There used to be two camps in Malawi, but they were combined, so that now this camp has around 10,000 people. Malawi provides the land for the camp while the United Nations provides food and some shelter. Ten different nations are represented at the camp, and there is one primary school with 4,000 students and a secondary school that has 350. Our intentions for outreach was to review HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention, do the condom demonstration, and discuss misconceptions/stigmas with them, so that they could educate others (we were working with adults). When we got there I could just look out and see an endless number of shack houses all very close together. We got off the bus and went into a very very small church. We sat outside in the back, and they welcomed us and some of them put on a skit about HIV/AIDS and stigma. It was funny and really great, so that was pretty cool. Afterwards we split into our groups. It ended up being quite a struggle and a bit frustrating, because we didn’t use our usual field staff/translators because the people at the refugee camp don’t speak Chichewa (since they aren’t from Malawi), but rather French and Swahili. So we had to use their translators, and they weren’t familiar with many of the words found in our curriculum, so it made talking really difficult because when they didn’t understand it was hard to think of different words and phrases. Eventually the translating got a little better. When we did the condom demonstration, one of the women had to run off and throw up because she had never seen a condom before. This was a grown woman, and to be in a place where HIV/AIDS is such an issue and yet to have never seen a condom was just unreal and sad to me. The group got to asking questions which was good, because we were able to clear up some misconceptions about condoms and some ways that HIV is spread. It also helped because the last hour of teaching our Y2Y program joined us, and one of the girls Patricia speaks French (and is from Canada) and was able to translate for us. Since she knows our curriculum things went a lot smoother for that last bit. It was encouraging to hear them talk about wanting to know how they can improve their skit for educational purposes and asking about how to teach certain things. There were people in the group who really wanted to make a difference. The last five minutes were the absolute hardest, though. We were asked a bit about taking care of someone with HIV, and it was mentioned how nutrition is important for someone with HIV. Then they were asking why we couldn’t bring stuff to them to help them and wanting to know how we could help. They just kept saying that the medicines they needed (ARVs) weren’t available to them and they didn’t have good food to eat so what should they do. The silence that had to follow was miserable. We tried saying to eat the food that was available and do their best, but they responded with that it wasn’t good food and the translator said if you looked at it you would never want to eat it and that it had little or no nutritional value to it. “So what can you do for us? What should we do?” We didn’t have an answer and just looked at each other. That was such a heartbreaking moment. They have no control over what food they eat, Malawi is hosting them but it isn’t their home, and they also can’t get jobs in Malawi because they are refugees. It isn’t fair, and nothing I could have said in that moment would have made anything better.

During lunch break, I went outside the church and found a couple of little kids sitting in the dirt. At first when I went and tried to sit down beside one of them, he got up and walked away. Haha. But five minutes later I tried again with the same kid but his sister was with him then, too, and they let me sit. Next thing I knew, I was surrounded by ten kids, just sitting in the dirt with me. Two girls in particular were really friendly with me and were particularly fascinated with my hair. They would hold my hand and rub my hair, and we were kind of talking to each other although neither one of us really knew what the other was saying. One of the girls was so gorgeous, but both of them were afraid of cameras so I didn’t get a picture. It was fun to just sit there surrounded by the kids, with one in my lap, and just smile with them and play in the dirt. I was sad when they told us it was time to go back in.

After lunch the coordinators had arranged for us to be able to listen to some of the stories of how people had come to be at the refugee camp. They had asked before we came for us to be able to ask questions to people who were comfortable talking about their stories. Apparently there had been some miscommunication, though, because when we all crammed into this little dark room, they first just thanked us, and then asked if anyone had any questions. People asked a bit about numbers and such for the camp, but when one of our volunteers asked about stories, they weren’t willing to talk about it, which I completely understand. His response was kind of haunting to me: “To you it is a story, but to me it is reality.” These people witnessed many horrific things that we would never want to even imagine and could never comprehend or understand. He talked about how painful it was to even think about his past and that they were his ghosts and wanted to leave them behind. I have a hard enough time watching violence in movies; I can’t imagine how tormenting it would be to see such things in real life. Before we left the main guy asked us if we were all Christians, and when the response was no, he asked if we knew Jesus, because He was coming back soon. We got a group picture and loaded back onto the bus.

Driving away I think everything hit me pretty hard. The scene set before my eyes looked like straight out of District 9 (the movie with the aliens that live in slums – random comparison but pretty much just that it was poor and not great living conditions). My heart was unbelievably heavy as I kept replaying in my mind them asking what they should do when they don’t have the food they need to eat or medicines to take and him saying that his past was not a story but his reality and just how much pain was obviously there and these kids growing up in a place like that. I mean everyone we have worked with so far has been poor (in a material way), but at least the other kids we work with are at home and in a strong community. These kids, and people really, are misplaced and have pain in their past and scars on their hearts and no real source of income and little shelter. Life was really hard to accept and understand in that moment. I kind of broke down and let myself cry because I didn’t really know what else to do. I’ve seen things like that in movies but it has never been real. It is just so hard to think of the differences between my life and theirs. And to think of them and the people like them in this world living like that every day. I just can’t really understand. The light to it all is that many of them at least had faith in God, and with that something to hope for.

Lake Malawi
After the refugee camp we headed straight to the lake. It was pretty windy and cold when we got there, but nice to relax. We stayed at a place called “Cool Runnings,” and it definitely had smiley faces and Jamaican colors everywhere. We set up our tents, which immediately had ants all in them which was unfortunate, had dinner, and then I went to bed to get up early the next day. The next day consisted of just reading in a lounge chair all morning (it was still pretty cold and windy), but after lunch it warmed up a bit and some of us decided to rent a boat out to “Lizard Island.” From there we jumped off of rocks into the lake. It was decently high up so it was pretty scary for me because I had never done anything like it. Although the scariest part was just being in the water with the waves and trying to climb back up to the rock. Luckily everyone survived it and we had a really fun time. Consequences? Well we all might have a parasite now, but I will worry about that when I get back to the Unites States. We had been told that the parasite didn’t live in that part of the lake because it was too wavy, but I’m sure I’ll just take the medicine anyway. After that we went into the village for a bit and watched part of a local soccer game. For dinner we had some fish from the lake. On the way home on Sunday we went by the craft market, which was not at all in my comfort zone. Everyone wanted you to come in their shack and by their stuff and would hassle you, and it just made me anxious. But besides that, the weekend was fun and relaxing. And there was a lot of time for thinking, which was good and needed after the week.

Crazy to think that I only have a week left. This morning starts our last camp. I’m sure this week is going to be pretty bittersweet…

I Am Because We Are

This post isn’t going to make much sense chronologically, but I decided to post it by order of importance. Because I know I can get a little long winded sometimes, and if anyone is reading this blog, I feel like it is better for them to hear what I have to say about my thoughts tonight as opposed to how the beginning of my week went. So here goes. And on a side note, I don’t expect everyone who reads this to agree with me or understand where I’m coming from, and I’m certainly not claiming my way of thinking to be the best or even remotely right. I’m just human like all of you, and I certainly don’t have the right answers or thoughts. But I think there is something important in putting your thoughts out there anyway, to be contemplated by yourself and others, whether right or wrong. Better to have ideas that maybe aren’t perfect than to sit and not think about the important issues that really matter. Anyway…

So once a week we have a night where we do reflection. Tonight for reflection we watched “I Am Because We Are,” a documentary on Malawi done by Madonna a couple of years ago. First of all, I would recommend anyone to watch it, so if any of you have an hour and a half to stop, slow down, and learn about something way bigger than yourself, check it out (I think it can maybe be found on her website, iambecauseweare.com, but also on youtube). The documentary was pretty powerful. It tells the stories of people from Malawi who have HIV/AIDS or have been affected by it. Many of these stories are of children, orphaned by AIDS and just trying to get by themselves. It is easy to spout off statistics, like that Malawi at the time of this documentary (2008?) was the second poorest nation in the world, has over one million children orphaned by AIDS, and over 60% of the population lives on less than one dollar a day. This alone should affect us, disturb us, cause us to do something. But the sad thing is that statistics tend to take away the humanity behind the issue, and so we end up just looking them over and not taking them on. But the fact is that these statistics all have specific people and faces that they can be attributed to. So to watch this documentary and see faces and people and stories put to the statistics really affected me. I’ve never had so many chills running through my body in such a short amount of time. Madonna talks about how unfair it is that there are 9 year olds who are the heads of families because AIDS has killed or disabled their parents, how so many people are dying because they don’t have the access to healthcare and medicines, and just how unfair all of it is. No kid should have to grow up without parents, or even worse grow up without hope for a future. It just sucks, and that is a huge understatement.

And I watch this documentary and see the stories and it clicks with what I’ve been teaching the past couple of weeks. The material I am covering with these kids serves multiple purposes. First, it is helping them take care of people with HIV/AIDS in their lives. These children have to deal with so many challenges and difficulties, and aside from school, food, work, they often have to take care of their family members that are sick and suffering. So to give them that information so that maybe their loved ones can live a little loner is important. Secondly, to remove the stigma from HIV/AIDS by setting straight the misconceptions is also important, so that those with HIV/AIDS in the community are not ostracized. They already have to face so much and have so much heartbreak, and when the people around them aren’t educated about the virus, they may push them away because they fear the virus themselves. But what I feel like the biggest thing we are giving these kids is the power to change their futures and to provide hope. The tag line for World Camp is “Educate. Inspire. Change.” And it really is true. In order to stop the pain and death that come with HIV/AIDS, these kids have to know how to make the right choices, how to protect themselves, and what exactly HIV is in the first place. And if we don’t tell them about it and teach them, then who will? The adults in the communities often have just as many misconceptions as the kids do. Things aren’t going to change if the ideas and lack of education remains. But World Camp is doing something, and so are various other organizations are as well. So there is hope and excitement in that. It has definitely made me much more excited for camp tomorrow and next week.

But honestly, watching the video was hard. Because like many of the documentaries of its kind, there were a lot of really tough images of people suffering like we have never imagined. The pictures and videos of people who are literally just bones covered in skin, the images of a mother screaming out in pain after burying her child, living conditions covered in trash and human waste. It’s enough to upset anyone and make you question a lot. And I think sometimes people are quick to turn to God and say, “How could you let this happen?” How could God let his people suffer like this, how could he allow it? How quick we are to put the blame on God. I can only imagine that God is asking the same things of us. How could we let this happen? God granted us on this Earth all that we need to get by and survive in joy and happiness: food, resources, compassion, and love. And yet we can stand by and let our fellow human beings suffer like this without doing anything about it? How can we be so cold toward people who are just like us? How that must hurt God, cause Him pain and anger, to look down and see us being so ambivalent about it all. What the heck are we doing?

These are the thoughts in my head. But I’m not trying to call out anyone at all. Well that’s a lie. I am calling someone out. Everyone out. Including myself. Because the truth of the matter is that I came here this summer for very selfish reasons, something I shared with some people before I ever left the US. Of course I wanted to be helping people that needed help, but I also took this trip to get away for a little while, reflect on my own life, experience a new culture, and travel. And even the reasoning behind helping others was because helping others is like a natural high for me, which isn’t a bad thing I don’t think but still feels awfully self-serving. And it is great to have these revelations like I am now, but is that really going to change the way I live? Because I am pretty sure that when I get back to the US I am going to go back to living just the way I had been. I hope that isn’t the case, or at least that I am a bit more conscious of people around the world that could use my help (and other people’s help). But will I really be giving enough of myself once I get back? Will I really be doing all I could do and should be doing? Are you? I know the answer for myself, and it kind of makes me sick.

I don’t know the answers. But I do know that I am completely rejuvenated for the rest of my time here, and am excited to get to school tomorrow (which if you read the rest of this entry you will understand why that is a big deal). I’m not going to start living my life perfectly, because I can’t. I’m human. And as embarrassing as it is to admit it, I’m not going to live the life I should and I’m not going to be dramatically different after this trip. I still have a lot to think about as far as what my role is and should be in all of this. Because I certainly don’t think it is helpful for all of us to just uproot and move ourselves to Africa and start educating people. We all have a separate calling and role and if that is to make money in the US and send some of it over or to minister to the people around you back home or to just live your life in a loving way right where you are, I think that is completely fine and acceptable (as is moving to Africa, though…I’m definitely not bashing that). All I’m saying is that I think we need to think more of our global community, the state it is in, and what we want to do about it. I can’t do everything, but that does not mean that I shouldn’t do something. So I’m happy to have taken these six weeks to at least do something. And I know there is more that I will be doing in the future.

Whew. I could probably talk for hours about these issues, and I’d probably talk in circles about it, too, as far as what we should be doing and could be doing and why I personally am not doing enough. But we have to get up early tomorrow so I should really be getting to bed. Thus, there is a short overview of how the week has gone since Monday…

So Monday we started camp 4 at a new school. We got lost getting there and thus started a little late. It is right by the mountain we hiked up that first weekend, so that is kind of cool. I am teaching with Dominic this week, and we have a standard 6 class. They have really been struggling with the information we’ve been teaching. They keep thinking there are only 3 bodily fluids that carry HIV and can never name the 3 ways of HIV transmission (they instead give specific examples) and they keep calling “breastfeeding” a fluid. Close, but no. They are also painfully shy and thus hardly talk at all during class. They aren’t engaged and I have been missing my class from last week. I tried to get them to dance after lunch on the first day, and they just looked at me. I also sat down next to some of the girls and tried to talk and they just blocked me out. Very frustrating. Empowerment group at least was pretty talkative and fun. The girls on the first day were already asking questions out loud about sex, which hasn’t happened at any of the other schools I’ve been at so far. The girls are typically to shy to talk. Funny story. We had to come up with a group name for them, and I asked what they wanted to be. A girl said the lions. So I said okay what kind of lions (because generally we get the groups to come up with some kind of adjective before the animal, like hungry lions or strong elephants). She responded “like the animal.” I couldn’t even correct her so I just said touché and moved on. I also met a boy named Owen, who isn’t in any of my classes but came up and introduced himself the very first morning. He speaks a little English, and he bangs on my window of the bus every day before we leave to say goodbye. I think he is my Joseph of this school. AKA he is my camp 4 boyfriend. Hahaha.

The second day of class the kids were just as not engaged as the day before. I tried to be excited and make faces at them and they just weren’t really responding. And when we reviewed they were still getting things wrong. It is so frustrating! And I know they have personality because after lunch I finally got them dancing, and some of them were hamming it up in the middle of the circle. But once we started back into lessons they all just sat there like they were asleep. Horrible. And so last night I dreamed that Dennis (our bus driver) couldn’t make it and we had to skip the first half of camp and only go in the afternoon. So when I woke I was jealous of my dream world. I just felt very burnt out and I felt so guilty about it, but didn’t know how to fix it. I talked to a couple other volunteers about it and a lot of other people were feeling the same. So we loaded the bus and I was trying to spend some prayer time to fix my mood, when we were told to get off the bus because there was no key. They had lost it, and had called the bus company so that they could come and bring us a spare. Well Malawian bus companies aren’t quite as organized as what you might find in the US, so they brought over just a box full of keys that we had to go through to try each and every one. And what did we find? None of them worked. So we had no way of getting to the school and thus had to cancel for the day. I was not so secretly relieved, and I think everyone pretty much felt the same. So instead some of us went and played soccer and ultimate Frisbee, came back to the house and relaxed, read, went and ate, and just hung out. It really was a much needed day off to get over the whole burnt out feeling I think. So it was really nice. That being said, after watching the documentary tonight, I feel even more guilty about how happy I was to have a day off today. What I am doing here is so much bigger than myself or my mood or whether I feel like dealing with a class that isn’t engaged. And I had already realized that at least a little, because Tuesday I was telling Alicia that I just had to keep reminding myself that as great as it is to have a fun class that you connect with, my purpose in being here isn’t first and foremost to make friends, but to give these kids the information they need to possibly change their lives for the better. Of course I hope tomorrow goes better and I can get them talking a little more. But even if it doesn’t, I will spend the day with joy in my heart because it is an honor to be hear in Malawi educating the young people about HIV/AIDS. Again, I am so lucky, and I am so happy to be here and be learning so much from them. The people of Malawi, with their strength, perseverance, and joy, are so incredibly inspiring.

Okay, I need to go to bed. I’m sure there is a lot more I had in my mind to say that, when I started typing, just kind of slipped by. I don’t proofread these posts, so who knows what I left out or what I put in that maybe I should take out. But hey, it is real and it is raw and it is me. So if you choose to read it, take that and do with it what you will. For now, all I can say is that I hope all of you are choosing to live your lives in love. Because in the words of my great friends Blessed Union of Souls, I believe that love is the answer.

Outreach and Church

So each week we do an Outreach project aside from our regular camp, and these are aimed at adults. This Saturday we left bright and early at 7am to return to a community World Camp had visited in the beginning of the summer. It is a little less than two hours away from our house, and they rarely get visitors. We were coming back to do a workshop on HIV/AIDS transmission, prevention, and care for the elders of their community as well as about twenty chiefs. It was quite a bumpy and dust-filled ride out there, but the kids that met us off the bus were quite cute. We had to wait a bit to get started for more adults to show up, so we sang songs with the rugrats and they even formed their own little circle and did some dances. Adorable.

The actually workshop went well. There were four groups that just rotated around to different sessions. Daniel, Dom, and I were in charge of the transmission session. So pretty much we just went over the three ways of transmitting HIV, the four bodily fluids that carry HIV, and then went over a game that we use with the kids to demonstrate how quickly HIV can spread in a community when people are having unprotected sex. The purpose of the workshop was kind of to show them how we teach this information, so that they can then go and teach it to other community members. But we found that a lot of them weren’t confident in the material/information themselves and they had some questions, too. So it was half teaching the information and half just demonstrating how to teach it. Overall I think that it went really well, and the chief seemed very appreciative of our willingness to drive so far out to them. They definitely seem to be a community that is committed to stopping the spread of HIV through education, which is really encouraging.

Everyone was pretty tired when we got back, but eight of us went to eat at an Italian restaurant called Mamma Mias. It was actually really nice to eat at a table and talk over our food (typical dinners at the house are sitting around on couches). Jaren was the coordinator that went with us, and he told us a bit about the different areas World Camp is looking into, which was really interesting. First, World Camp is already kind of partnered with Madonna’s organization for Malawi, which is pretty cool. That is how World Camp acquires quite a few of its volunteers is through her documentary. Also, there are various other NGOs that World Camp has been meeting with to possibly set up some more partnerships and such. Exciting stuff! Afterwards we got ice cream, and went back to the house. From there we went to Diplomats to celebrate Brittanny’s birthday (another volunteer). Pretty good evening. And oh yeah, it was mom’s birthday so happy birthday mom!

This morning some of us got up early to go with Chikabachi (field staff) to his church. He was dressed up so nice in a black suit and tie! When we got to church, Chikabachi had his Sunday School kids all line up and had them sing for us. One of the kids even conducted the rest of the group! He was so cute, especially since he was wearing a bow-tie. They’re little voices were just so sweet. I have a video that I’m sure will make it on here at some point. The translated the service into English for us, which was nice because they did it especially because we were there. The sermon was about staying alive in our faith by spending and giving of our time, and by realizing that we might not always understand why we must go through tough things but that God has a reason and can use us and our situations. He also talked about spiritual nutrition and weighing out our earthly goods versus spiritual goods. After the service they made us stand up front and Chikabachi introduced each of us. I felt like he was a mother hen and we were his little chicks. Chikabachi is such a sweet and awesome guy.

So that is what the weekend has held for me. Today I actually rained a bit, which is strange for the dry season. And it is chilly and gloomy, so I am going to take a nap. Nothing to particularly exciting about this post, but I’m sure I’ll have more excitement later in the week. Dom and I will be teaching partners. He and I also had cook group tonight, and I was literally in the kitchen from 3 until 8 without leaving. We made fried rice with carrots, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, eggs, and garlic with chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Turned out being a huge success and was surprisingly fun to cook. So now I’m stuffed.

It is crazy to think that two weeks from today I will be headed home. I have a feeling these last fourteen days are going to fly by. :(

End of Camp 3 and Homestay

What an amazing past two days I have had! If you couldn’t tell from my last post, I have really been loving this school and my class. So the last two days of camp I just kept getting closer to the kids and having more fun, and on top of that we also had homestay this week on the third night of camp. A lot of people were a smidge apprehensive but I had been looking forward to it since the beginning of the week so I was just plain excited to stay with a family in the village. Such an awesome experience! So read on for summary and thoughts of my past two days!

Camp 3 Day 3:
The third day started with more energy than the first two days, which I didn’t know would be possible. But the kids were so excited and I was ridiculously hyper from feeding off of their energy. We danced and chanted to our groups, to our class, and once we got inside the classroom. The day consisted of a true/false game about the misconceptions concerning HIV/AIDS, learning how to take care of someone with HIV, and alternative energy source lessons where we built windmills. For the most part the kids knew whether the misconceptions were true or false, but there were some mix-ups in translation that got a little frustrating at times because the kids had the right answers but were on the wrong side of the room for true/false. I just had to remind myself that as long as they were getting the information and were having fun, I shouldn’t get too worked up. And they of course loved making their own windmills and running around with them outside. During lunch they were excited I remembered so much of the Chichewa that they had taught me the days before. Kutu (ear), tsi tsi (hair), pakamwa (lip), puno (nose), diso (eye), mano (teeth), tima (heart). Unfortunately knowing facial features isn’t really conducive to creating much conversation. But it didn’t seem to matter; they love teaching me words. After lunch we took another fifteen minutes to dance and chant in a circle again. Too much fun. These kids make me smile so big. Today during empowerment I actually left my group of girls (they had two other World Camp girls teaching them, too) to go and join Daniel’s male empowerment group and answer questions. This way, the guys could ask a girl about girl type things or hear a girl’s opinion and views on things like sex, gender, and bodies. Daniel had warned me that they would not be shy, and boy was he ever right. In order to keep this blog as PG13 as possible, I will just leave it at that. However, please do ask me sometime what kinds of questions they asked if you are curious and don’t blush easily, because it is pretty great/hilarious. So that was a fabulous way to end the third day.

Homestay:
After camp we stayed around at the school, and after eating a quick dinner, it was off to home stay! I am sure we were a sight to see as we marched down the dirt road, all twenty-two of us with kids pulling each of us along. We got to the first house and Molly, Barbara and I were quick to claim it as our own. So after a quick introduction, everyone else from our group kept walking and left us behind. The first thirty minutes were kind of painfully awkward. Our Chichewa is pretty much non-existent, and our family didn’t really speak English at first. So we just kind of smiled and looked at each other and Barbara and I resorted to singing/dancing all of our morning camp songs. They seemed to think it was amusing, or they may have thought we were crazy, but soon Linda started talking more and things got better. Linda was one of the daughters at our home stay who was our age (22) and actually spoke a decent amount of English which was so helpful. We were asking if they were going to teach us to cook nsima, when all of a sudden we saw a woman carrying a bucket of water on her head, Molly started taking a pic, and seeing our interest Linda asked me if I wanted to carry a bucket on my head. I of course said yes and got excited, and the three of us once again had kids grabbing our hands and pulling us along. But apparently there was a misunderstanding because we walked right past the boar hole (where you get water from) and kept heading toward a small mountain. Two kids from my class, Jafari and Rahim, were among the swarm of kids leading us along, and thankfully they speak enough English to help me know what was going on. Turns out we were heading to climb the mountain. Oh goodness. We pit stopped on the way there and they got excited and pulled us into the tiniest of a building to offer us some beer they had brewed, but it looked quite like sludge and of course we turned it down. I was a bit apprehensive about climbing a mountain in a skirt down to my ankles, but I figured why not have a little extra adventure in my day. The kids were scrambling up it and the three of us girls kind of struggled to keep up, but once we got up high enough it was so beautiful. Another one of those moments on this trip that was just surreal. I was sitting on a rock face on a small mountain, looking out over their village and the school and some villages and environment in the distance, surrounded by sweet kids who were so excited to be showing me this. The sun was getting lower in the sky, my heart was warm, and life felt perfect. And the kids were still trying to teach me more Chichewa (hahaha). We headed back to the house after that, and in the last bit of the daylight we danced a bit more, played some soccer with rolled up plastic bags, and I got to hold some sweet little girls. We also got to help them cook some nsima, basically by stirring it. But it was surprisingly hard because the fire it was being cooked on was in a small little room so there was a ton of smoke and it was hard to breathe. I stirred for about a minute and had to run out. They laughed. I also had one of the women tie one of the babies to my back (this is how many of the women carry their children here in Malawi), but that didn’t last long because he threw a fit, which made me sad but I couldn’t blame him for being scared of me because at that point I was looking pretty rough! Our family showed us their pigs (kumba in Chichewa), and man were they huge. They had some goats and two ox as well. The chief of the village also paid us a visit to make sure we knew where everything was and to assure us that they had maximized security for us, which was very sweet of him. I never felt in danger or anything though so I wasn’t really worried. Once it was dark our family invited us in to their home, and we sat by candlelight (and occasionally used a flashlight with Obama on it) and talked with Linda. Quickly it turned into her just teaching us different words in Chichewa, though. Rahim, my student who is also Linda’s little brother, just sat in the dark and didn’t make a peep, although he had been quite talkative earlier. Pretty soon more of the family had come in so that there were like eight people in there just looking at us. And what do they do next? Ask us to sing our national anthem. Not a single one of us three could sing, but we went for it anyway. I resorted to “playing the symbols” while Barbara was shooting rockets and I am fairly positive they now think Americans are crazy. We laughed most of the way through it, and afterwards they sang the Malawi national anthem to us, once in English and once in Chichewa, and it was so beautiful. I can’t even begin to tell you how hilarious the contrast between the two performances was. We also sang “This Land is My Land” to them. I kid you not, hilarious. We couldn’t stop yawning, so we finally went to bed (at 8:30pm mind you). We slept in a side room not attached to their house that was just big enough for the three of us to lay down. We slept on a straw mat and had our sleeping bags with us, too. It was pretty close and cozy, and despite being a tid bit chilly, I slept decently. We woke to a rooster right outside our door cock-a-doodling a little before 6. We got up and got ready for camp, and no sooner had we brushed our teeth than Karen (a coordinator) and Chikabachi (my favorite field staff) came around the corner to pick us up. Before we left, our family gave us each a bag of ground nuts as a present (we had given them a bag of sugar, a bag of salt, a box of tea, bars of soap, and a bag as gifts). We took a picture with them, thanked them profusely, and asked them to come to the presentation later that day at camp. As we left they were hooking the ox up to the oxcart, so we got lucky enough to catch a ride in the oxcart back to school!

So as for thoughts on homestay…It was so very humbling to stay with these people and see how they lived. It was also pretty cool to see how strong the sense of community was. We had tons of kids around us the whole time, and none but two were from our home stay family, but they community honestly just acts like one big family that takes care of each other. It is pretty cool to see a group of people act that way and actually love one another. Also, to have them be so welcoming to us was unreal. They did not treat us like strangers, but made us feel at home, special, cared for, and were clearly happy to have us. It was so much fun and a great experience. The way of life is so incredibly different from what we are used to. I mean, no electricity, no running water, no clocks really, nothing big and fancy. Really it is about appreciating the time you have in the present moment and being a part of a community of people – this is what is most important to the village that we were staying in. I admire that so much.

Last Day of Camp:
I had been worried that I would struggle today at camp because I thought I’d be tired from homestay and because we were starting so early. I was wrong. At 7:30 we played a game of soccer, World Camp vs. the kids at the school. Playing in a long skirt is quite difficult, so I’m going to blame my lack of skill on that. The game ended in a tie 2-2, but everyone had a lot of fun and it got the kids all worked up and excited. After songs we played ultimate Frisbee, with classes playing against each other. Really this just amounts to mass chaos because no one is actually playing the way it is meant to be played, but hey they had a blast so that is all that matters. During class we did anonymous questions, and we had possibly the “best” question of all the camps thus far. Unfortunately, it is a bit X-Rated and isn’t blog appropriate, so again, ask me later. They also seemed to be extremely interested in my love life, first telling me I was lying about not having a boyfriend and then quizzing me over why I didn’t. Then they asked if there were other girls in the United States who couldn’t get a boyfriend. Hahahahaha. Oh kids. Too funny. We planted our Charlie Brown of a tree (seriously, puniest tree I have ever seen), tested out our solar oven, and headed to presentations. Our class presented over how you can’t tell if someone has HIV just by looking at them. Presentations were good; a lot of people sang songs and I was in awe of how angelic these kids voices sound. After, the chief of the village had written out a letter in English that he read to us. It was obvious that he didn’t know English that well, so it meant a lot that he was making the effort. The best parts? “We are thankful that nothing bad happened to you last night.” “Thank you Obama.” “You are all children of America.” Aside from those funny parts (which weren’t actually meant to be funny), it was really sweet and you could tell that the community really enjoyed us being there and were happy to have us. At the end, they had a special presentation. I can’t really say enough to do it justice because I’m still not exactly sure what it was, but in their culture, they have these dancers. Usually they scare the kids, but since it was at the school I think they made their costumes less scary and weren’t acting as intense so that the kids could stay around. There were two dancers, and they kind of looked like scarecrows and there faces were covered with sack-like things. They were carrying sticks and danced around and the chief gave them money. Later I was told that these dancers usually are much scarier, and will hit people with the sticks unless you pay them. That is how they make their living. Our field staff had never even seen them before, so it was a big deal that they were there. It was really cool, and honestly a bit creepy. But I enjoyed it. Leaving camp that day was hard because I had become quite fond of some of the kids. At first there were just a lot of handshakes, and then Boston, the smartest kid in my class, gave me a hug and the hugs just started flowing from all over the place after that. I snapped a few more pictures and then had to get on the bus so that we could head back.

I really loved this school. I loved their excitement and energy and happiness. Regardless of how tired I may have been on the bus rides there, the minute I stepped off the bus I was smiling and I smiled the whole day. I just couldn’t stop smiling around these kids. They were all so beautiful in their simplicity. I had so much fun and am so blessed to have been there with them, teaching them and learning from them. Life is so good.

Random last Thoughts:
*The people here really love Obama. Like…a lot.
*Best question another class has asked: “Is the carbonation in Fanta from white people’s farts?”
*I think I am kind of blind to the poverty that is here in Malawi. And I can’t figure out what that means, if it is a good thing or a bad thing. I try to make myself aware and to think about it. For instance I realized in my empowerment group this session that 8 out of the 18 girls did not have shoes. But when I’m in the classroom with the kids teaching them, when I’m riding down the dirt roads, when I’m sitting in my host family’s room, I just don’t think about the differences between what I’m used to and how things are here. I think I just see them as people. People like me and like my friends and my family. What does it matter what kind of possessions one has, because really none of that is going to stick with us in the end, you know? I’ve never been one who pays much attention to detail, and I am satisfied to look past those details when I am with the kids. I want to live in the moment and just appreciate them for who they are as people, not what they have or what conditions they live in. But I also think those things are important to think about once I’m sitting back here at the World Camp house. These people are rich in spirit and have rich souls, so we should all be envious of them. But at the same time, do they not deserve better education, better living conditions, better nutrition and food and water and hygiene? It is getting really late and we have outreach in the morning, so I’m going to leave it at that…but I guess that’s just the kinds of things my mind is chewing on right now. I don’t have an answer. And I doubt I ever will. All I know is that the most important thing is that all of us love each other as we want to be loved. And I am so lucky to be able to do that with the people, and specifically the kids, of Malawi right now.

Ridiculously Long Update :)

So due to an unfortunate misunderstanding involving a faulty outlet and my failing computer battery, I haven’t blogged in like two weeks because I assumed my computer was no longer in working order. The good news is I discovered yesterday that when plugged into an outlet that actually works (genius), I can successfully use my computer. Bad news is I now am seriously lacking in letting you all know how everything is going! So this entry is going to be a skim of my past two weeks. Feel free to jump to whatever you are interested in, because anyone who knows me well knows that I can’t tell a short story very well, so this blog could end up being ridiculously long. I will try my best to make it reasonable, though, so here goes… [I just finished writing this blog and it is ridiculously long (fail) - so seriously I only expect my mom to read all of this - all the rest of you, enjoy skimming or skip to reading Mount Nkhoma, camp 3, and Zambia - sorry!]

End of Camp 1:
The first camp ended really well. The last two days the teachers really warmed up to us. Although during anonymous questions Alicia and I got asked some awkward things, and we pretty much had to throw our curriculum out the window for the day (Thursday) because they just wanted to ask us questions the ENTIRE day. I think it ended up being really educational for them and us as well. We discussed the differences culturally in relationships, engagements, weddings, sex, and some other gender type issues. On the final day we put on a big presentation, in which all of the classes do a skit or song to teach everyone else about an HIV/AIDS or environmental topic. The teachers did their own skit about how HIV destroys T-cells and causes a once healthy person to have a hard time fighting off sickness. I got lucky enough to be in it and played the role of a T-Cell. Lots of fun, and the kids LOVED having their teachers doing a skit. We presented the teachers with certificates at the very end (endorsed by the ministry of education) and they all shook our hands. Alfred gave me a hug in front of everyone and the kids went wild. I’m not sure if that is something I should feel awkward about or not since they typically don’t hug in their culture, but hey, I felt the love and the kids found it quite amusing, so I went with it. I do love to hug, so I don’t hate spreading it to the Malawian culture. A lot of the teachers gave Alicia and I their e-mails, and Chimbalanga wrote us each a letter. Quote from mine: “Thank you for choosing to come to the warm heart of Africa (Malawi) especially Mitundu. I have personally enjoyed your company. It really has made a difference in my life.” Big smile on my face right now. Definitely feels great to know that you really are doing something that is important and needed and appreciated.

Weekend Break 1:
Saturday morning some of us ventured out to a field to play soccer with some of the field staff (hired by World Camp to translate and help with teaching/leading during the camps – they are all from Malawi and around the same age as us volunteers). My team, the Plump Heffers, were defeated 9-1. But we all had a lot of fun and there was a lot of laughter, so it was a great morning. That afternoon we had a guest speaker at the house. He was a Malawi native who taught in the US for many years, but has since returned to Malawi and is working on writing children’s books about HIV. It was really interesting to hear him compare and contrast the school systems in Malawi and the US. According to him, kids are always going to be kids no matter where you are in the world. However, Malawi schools definitely have less resources, worse attendance (due to kids having to miss to take care of family members who are sick or help with chores), and no program for special education, among many other things. Just another reminder of how blessed US students are and how much many people take their education for granted. That night we cooked out at Cluny lodge, which is where Y2Y (the high school World Camp program) stays. As corny as it sounds, laying back in the grass and looking at the stars, it was the first time I think it really hit me that I was all the way across the ocean and in Africa. I’m so lucky. After that we watched the World Cup consolation game at Diplomats, a local bar. We made some local friends and danced a bit – great fun.

Mount Nkhoma:
So technically this could still be classified under “Weekend Break 1,” but I felt like this needed its own classification. On Sunday we woke up early and rode a little over an hour to Mount Nkhoma to hike. I thought it was going to be a nice little excursion, which it was, but I don’t think I realized that we were legitimately climbing a mountain. There was a lot of climbing up rocks, going through brush, and at times a bit steep. I had to take some breaks and was pretty sweaty but getting to the top made it definitely worth it. We were very high up and it was pretty much just rock face. We had some lunch and took pics and I climbed over to a rock by myself to have some personal life reflection time while looking out over Malawi. All I can say is wow/awesome. Here is an excerpt of my personal journal I wrote later that same day:

“Immediately I found myself drowning in the presence of my God, a most beautiful feeling. To see in front of me the tiniest bit of the vastness of the Earth, and realize how insignificant I am, but yet that God loves me, knows me, and is JEALOUS FOR ME?! with all that He has, is just unreal. It’s impossible to really understand. And to think of the beauty of the Earth and how might and powerful the Earth claims God to be and how blessed I am to have the opportunities to see these sights, do these things, have these moments. I was breathing God in and it was more than a beautiful moment. How vast this Earth, how great His love. I prayed for God to use me, to open my eyes, heart, ears, and thanked Him for bringing me here to Malawi.”

Camp 2: GoGo (name of the school, kid you not)
So this was my first week with an actual class to teach. Paige was my teaching partner and Cyrus was our field staff translator. We had a class of 39, and they decided to name themselves the hares. They came up with a catchy little chant, but on the third day of camp when I asked Cyrus what it meant, it apparently was about a sweet potato in a garden, which has nothing to do with hares, but oh well. That’s what I get for not knowing Chichewa. This school was really quiet compared to the first school. It was hard to get the kids to talk in class. Half of my kids didn’t have shoes, which made me sad. And the first day like ten of them didn’t bring plates/cups because they didn’t actually think that we were going to be feeding them. Teaching was fun and went well, but it was hard feeling like I was pulling teeth to get the kids to respond/interact with me. A couple things were pretty funny, though, like when the kids had to come up with names for imaginary villages, and they decided to name them “Upside Down” Village and “It Has Happened” Village. They also spoke pretty much no English at all, so lunch consisted of us just kind of looking at each other and them laughing at me if I tried to say things to them. Although we did have some fun drawing on the board and doing some dancing. I also got to use my first latrine for the trip. Pretty smelly experience. My class’s presentation at the end of the week was about how HIV can not be transmitted (like through sharing clothes or food or coughing on someone). It kind of flopped whenever they got up there to do it because no one could hear what they were saying, but of course I was proud regardless. We had some interesting questions during anonymous questions, the craziest one being that a lot of the kids kept asking whether or not we were human. The teachers told some of the volunteers that some of the kids thought we were angels because they weren’t using to seeing people with lighter skin and hair. A lot of sexual and body questions were asked, both in empowerment and in our regular class. It is crazy the misconceptions that these kids have and the lack of education about something so important and essential as our bodies and how they function. I hope that they are able to remember the things that we taught them, and use the information to keep themselves healthy and make the best decisions for each of them personally. I’m sure there was a lot more to this camp that I could share, but as it is it was half a week ago and my memory is that of a goldfish. So that’s all I have for the four days we spent there.

Mid-Session Break to Zambia:
So halfway through our stay in Africa, we get to travel eight hours to Mfuwe, Zambia to go on Safari. The bus ride was not so fun, but totally worth it once we got there. We stayed at a camp ground called “Croc Valley.” We camped out looking down on a river that never failed to have hippos right in sight. Supposably they often come onto the campsite at night, but I never saw them. I did however hear them 24/7 because they are quite loud. There were also crocodiles in the river that would lay out on the bank. The guy also told us that the camp ground had resident elephants, lions, a leopard, and a variety of other animals. I thought he was lying until I woke up the first morning to a family of wild elephants right outside my tent (a baby, a younger one, and three big ones). I kid you not, they were sniffing my tent. I can’t tell you how cool it was to look out my tent to elephants silhouetted against the sunrise. That same morning we went on a morning safari drive. We saw impala and kudu (kind of like deer), zebras, warthogs, giraffes, hippos, monkeys, and coolest of all a young male lion that had been left behind by the rest of his pack. We followed him for like twenty minutes and were pretty close. That afternoon back at camp I learned to no longer like monkeys (we have a lot at our camp ground). We had just been talking about how they looked like they were planning an attack when out of no where one ran up and snatched my apple off the table. Then as I sat down my sandwich so that I could pack up everyone’s food into a bin to keep more stuff from being taken, another monkey ran up and stole my sandwich! Sneaky little things – I was not happy. Monkeys ate my lunch. That night we went on our evening drive, which turned out to be the most exciting part of the trip. We got to see an African sunset over a river full of hippos, and then drove around the park with a spotlight looking for nocturnal animals. The first one we found was a leopard lurking in the grass near some impala. We watched him hunt for like twenty minutes, and although we didn’t see an actual kill, it was unreal to sit and watch him plan out his moves and sneak closer and closer. At one point we actually drove between him and his prey just as he was making a move so he ran right at our truck! It was nuts. I felt kind of bad from messing up his game, though. After we found two lions just chilling, and we were only feet away whenever a third joined and they all started wrestling and playing with each other. Animals and nature are so cool (simple, but true). And the strength and quickness of these animals is pretty amazing, too. We also saw a hyena and some smaller animals in the mongoose family. Pretty much our driver Fred knew what he was doing and showed us awesome things. The rest of the time in Zambia was spent relaxing in hammocks and by the hippo-friendly pool (the camp has had both hippos and elephants find their way to the pool). While there some elephants caused some ruckus when they broke into some food bins and then moved a tent. And our last night two of them woke me up at 3:45 am munching on some “elephant biscuits” right outside my tent. They consistently came back every thirty minutes so I didn’t get much sleep, but sitting in a tent and watching elephants which were at times less than two feet away from me was well worth the lack of sleep. So safari in Zambia was ridiculously cool, though slightly exhausting.

Camp 3: Mkanda
I started this camp in such a positive and uplifted mood, which fit right in because this school is awesome! The kids were so excited about us being there and are much more willing to talk than the last school. My class is 24 strong and named themselves Spain, even though usually they choose animal names. I let them stick with it because who doesn’t want to be the world cup champions? They are a pretty rambunctious group, and speak a bit more English than the last school. At lunch the first day a kid named Jafari kept hastling me trying to get me to give him my nsima and beans. When he realized I wasn’t going to budge, him and the rest of the boys in the class decided to just start teaching me words in Chichewa. They taught me all the words for facial features, which they quizzed me on today. I did pretty well, but couldn’t remember any of the animals they had taught me the other day. Chichewa isn’t too easy to learn overnight. After lunch we got in a circle and danced for a bit, which they of course loved and got all squeal-ly when I would go to the middle and try to imitate their moves. Today Jafari and I had a dance off, and then Joseph (another student) and I had some kind of strange karate face-off which ended with all the kids laughing hysterically, I think at me. They are just so much fun and being around them I can’t do anything but smile. I got in trouble a couple times today because I was making them giggle when my teaching partner was up teaching a lesson. Oopsie, I just can’t contain myself. These kids have so much joy, even though to our America-trained eye it looks as though they have so little. They might not have shoes, and they may wear the same outfit every day, but honestly they make many of the kids I know back home look poor, at least in spirit. These kids smile and dance and are fun and kind and don’t complain about anything (except Jafari trying to hassle me for more nsima). They are full of life and joy and I am envious of them for that. I am having SO much fun teaching them about HIV/AIDS and the environment, and I think they are having fun learning it. Condom demonstration was today and I got to lead it again, and I think some of the boys in our class got a little too excited, which was pretty funny. We had some extra time before empowerment groups (when the girls and boys split up and we talked about gender issues and bodies and more intimately about sex issues), and so the class started asking Brittanny (teaching partner this week) and I questions through Cyrus (field staff for the week). The best one? When they learned we were from the United States, they asked if we were from the same state of Sylvester Stalone. I kid you not. How random and hilarious is that? They also asked if we were married, if we had a boyfriend, and if we would date a black man. Needless to say, I think that Joseph became exponentially more excited to see me/talk to me after that question session, and is probably determined to be my next boyfriend. Oh sweet kids, haha. I’ll let you all know how that turns out…

So I told you it was impossible for me to keep it short. If you are still reading at this point, I’m impressed. And also wondering why you didn’t have something better to do with your time. Hopefully I’ll be updating more frequently so the rest of my posts won’t be so lengthy. Until then, I will leave you with some random thoughts, because this post wasn’t long enough…

*Malawi has a ridiculous amount of goats. And they just roam around everywhere. Goats may be taking over.
*I am learning to love nsima, even though camp 2 class asked why white people don’t eat nsima. I may miss it once I’m back in the US.
*I have seen at least ten kids wearing Obama shirts here.
*The kids are really good at mimicking what you do or say, and so people have had a lot of fun getting them to chant things like “Sarah Palin” (we have some Alaskans on this trip).
*Everyone here with World Camp is awesome. Fun people who just want to help others by educating them about issues that are important to their lives and crucial to keeping themselves and their environments healthy. Look up World Camp. I’m really falling in love with it. Educate. Inspire. Change.

**All my love from Malawi, Africa to my friends and family back home**

Camp Number One!!

Hey everyone! So I originally thought this blog would be an every day thing, but that’s probably not going to happen. We stay pretty busy and we have to pay for internet. So that being said, don’t get worried (mom) if I don’t post for a couple of days!

Friday through Sunday were orientation/training days for us. We went through schedules, teaching roles, and curriculum. Friday night we got to go out to eat so that John (our cook) could take a break. Saturday morning we went to YOSSA, an after school program for orphans, so that we could observe our program coordinators teaching parts of the curriculum to students. The little kids who are too young for our program (lovingly referred to from here on out as “rugrats”) were adorable, but a little shy while we were waiting around. We ended up watching Rachel and Jaren lead an HIV transmission game and participating in our first condom demonstration. Awkward? Slightly. But something I’m going to have to get used to!

Throughout training our group of 13 really bonded. We’ve done a lot of laughing and encouraging, especially when we each had to get up and teach part of the curriculum to the group. We are also working with Y2Y, which is World Camp for high schoolers. They teach a modified curriculum to younger children which includes Malaria education. There are six of them and they join us for meals and camps. Sunday night I was pretty nervous because the next day would be our first camp…

Camp 1. Day 1. EEK! We drove a little over an hour, half of which was dirt roads, and ended at a school. Immediately the rugrats (little kids) swarmed our bus. We all got off and as we moved into the open field, they followed us in swarms. We were legitimately surrounded by hundreds of rugrats, a sea of kids looking up at us. They loved giving us first bumps and fives, but sadly we had to chase them away to make room for the older kids. Most impossible thing to do ever. There were SO many rugrats it was just impossible to control them, and classes were having difficulty getting started and playing their games. Alicia (who is from TN) and I were assigned to be Teacher Facilitators for the first camp, which means that we lead the teachers at the school in discussion about the World Camp curriculum, their community, and answer questions they may have about HIV/AIDS and the environment. We kind of felt awkward and intimidated, but our translator Chikabachi was so helpful and encouraging. He gave us a pep talk and told us to be confident, and the day ended up going okay. We had a lot of discussion with the teachers, and I was surprised how many questions they had about HIV and even some misconceptions. Oh, and every time I told them I had no plan once I got back to the US, they kept asking if I wanted to come teach in Malawi. The hardest part of the day was lunch. I helped serve, and not only did we end up running out of nsima and beans (traditional Malawian meal) so one class didn’t get any, but there were also rugrats hanging in the window begging for us to give them some beans. Hard to ignore. So the rugrats made it all chaotic, but as I put on facebook, in two words the first day was: happy chaos.

Tuesday was Malawian Independence Day! So we didn’t have camp and instead wrapped up training. I had to lead the planting a tree lesson, and so our group planted a tree at our house which will always be there, which is kind of cool. Thus the day would have been very chill, but it was my cook group’s turn to cook. Catastrophe, that’s all I can say. We finished the evening with “creative presentations” about what we had learned. My group did a fabulous remake of “I’ll Make Love to You” by Boyz II Men. The lyrics may be a little to explicit for this blog, but I will say that not only did we win (it was a competition), but the program coordinators said it was the best presentation/song they had ever seen/heard.

Today was the second day of camp. The rugrats were supposed to be sent home before we got there, but we arrived early and so there were again hundreds of them. So during songs and games, I felt like I was crowd control/security. Not the easiest job with excited little ones. But we did our best in hopes that they older kids would get the most out of their games and beginning of lessons. The rest of the day went great though. Conversation continued to go well with the teachers and we are learning a lot from each other. I led my first condom demonstration with them, which I think lightened the mood as there was a lot of laughing. Haha.

They keep asking me how I like Malawi. And I tell them I like it and the people are friendly. And they are. It is such a different world in front of my eyes though. I wish all of you could see it. So many needs…

Keep these people in your prayers. Little do we realize how blessed we truly are, even in our hardest times.