Friday, August 22, 2008

Stepping Backward

An old favorite of mine by Adrienne Rich; something I've been thinking about lately:
"Good-by to you whom I shall see tomorrow,
Next year and when I'm fifty; still good-by.
This is the leave we never really take.
If you were dead or gone to live in China
The event might draw your stature in my mind.
I should be forced to look upon you whole
The way we look upon the things we lose.
We see each other daily and in segments;
Parting might make us meet anew, entire.

You asked me once, and I could give no answer,
How far dare we throw off the daily ruse,
Official treacheries of face and name,
Have out our true identity? I could hazard
An answer now, if you are asking still.
We are a small and lonely human race
Showing no sign of mastering solitude
Out on this stony planet that we farm.
The most that we can do for one another
Is let our blunders and our blind mischances
Argue a certain brusque abrupt compassion.
We might as well be truthful. I should say
They're luckiest who know they're not unique;
But only art or common interchange
Can teach that kindest truth. And even art
Can only hint at what disturbed a Melville
Or calmed a Mahler's frenzy; you and I
Still look from separate windows every morning
Upon the same white daylight in the square.

And when we come into each other's rooms
Once in awhile, encumbered and self-conscious,
We hover awkwardly about the threshold
And usually regret the visit later.
Perhaps the harshest fact is, only lovers--
And once in a while two with the grace of lovers--
Unlearn that clumsiness of rare intrusion
And let each other freely come and go.
Most of us shut too quickly into cupboards
The margin-scribbled books, the dried geranium,
The penny horoscope, letters never mailed.
The door may open, but the room is altered;
Not the same room we look from night and day.

It takes a late and slowly blooming wisdom
To learn that those we marked infallible
Are tragi-comic stumblers like ourselves.
The knowledge breeds reserve. We walk on tiptoe,
Demanding more than we know how to render.
Two-edged discovery hunts us finally down;
The human act will make us real again,
And then perhaps we come to know each other.

Let us return to imperfection's school.
No longer wandering after Plato's ghost,
Seeking the garden where all fruit is flawless,
We must at last renounce that ultimate blue
And take a walk in other kinds of weather.
The sourest apple makes its wry announcement
That imperfection has a certain tang.
Maybe we shouldn't turn our pockets out
To the last crumb or lingering bit of fluff,
But all we can confess of what we are
Has in it the defeat of isolation--
If not our own, then someone's, anyway.

"So I come back to saying this good-by,
A sort of ceremony of my own,
This stepping backward for another glance.
Perhaps you'll say we need no ceremony,
Because we know each other, crack and flaw,
Like two irregular stones that fit together.
Yet still good-by, because we live by inches
And only sometimes see the full dimension.
Your stature's one I want to memorize--
Your whole level of being, to impose
On any other comers, man or woman.
I'd ask them that they carry what they are
With your particular bearing, as you wear
The flaws that make you both yourself and human."
--Adrienne Rich, "Stepping Backward"

As some of you know, this Adrienne Rich poem is one of my favorites for saying goodbye. While it may seem a bit early to some of you for me to start saying my goodbyes, I said goodbye to my good friend Sue at the end of her visit this weekend, knowing I would not see her for over two years. Although I have at times over this past year lived an ocean away from Sue, it is a daunting prospect to think of so much time outside of easy communication with this person who was, for a couple of years, a daily part of my existence. I don't worry about our friendship, as the two of us will certainly figure out the system, even if that means learning morse code in order to get in touch. But this goodbye has me thinking about goodbyes in general--what they mean, how we say them. For Sue and me, goodbye was a night filled with giggling and reminiscing. Fortunately for the two of us, we've shared a lot of unforgettable experiences together--memories which I will hold close to me until I see her again and spend yet another night laughing until dawn.


On the way to the Franklin Farmers' Market.  We look about 12 here.


Soap for the discerning nose.


The band.



Everyone loves a dancer.



The local honey people.



I believe the dark clover was our taste-test winner.



Sue at Merridee's in Franklin.



Mom and dad at lunch; dad looks very suspicious.



Beautiful girl walking, Main Street, Franklin, TN.



Bridge on the a nature path, Percy Warner Park, TN.


"One could do worse than be a swinger of birches."--Robert Frost



The girls surrounded by books. Oh so appropriate.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

A Note from the Peace Corps for my Family and Friends

So the Peace Corps sent me some great information this week, and I'd like to pass some of it along. Attached to the e-mail from the Malawi country desk were two letters from a collection of current volunteers (actual people who will be in country when I arrive--very exciting, indeed) detailing what they feel is most important as far as packing, etc., a link to language practice (yes, yes, Chichewa this, Chichewa that--I'm working on it), and a letter for my family and friends explaining some basics of communication and such. I thought you guys might like to see that last bit of information, so I'm just going to post the letter outright. Please keep in mind that, as is mentioned in the letter, while you will always be able to send mail through the country office near where I'll train, I'll also have my own individual address at my site starting in December. It will likely be much faster and easier for me to get mail at my site address at that point, as I may be located quite a distance away from the country office.

Just wanted to keep you guys posted, as I'm ambitiously hoping for many letters while I'm in Malawi. I'll let you know any other details as they roll in. Tiwonana!

P.S. One thing to keep in mind, also, is that the part about PCVs liking to tell their "war" stories in their letters is probably pretty accurate as far as I'm concerned. I am a writer, after all; a story about a run-in with a poisonous snake in my bed or a leopard outside my door is much more compelling material than the fact that I've dropped my 20-liter jug of water off my head...again. As they mention below, these things will come and go during my two years of service, and while I'll enjoy telling the stories, remember that they're just that: stories. By the time we write or talk again, I'll likely react exactly as they predict in the attached letter: "What snake/leopard/spider was I talking about?" I'll try to buffer some of the more intense moments, but it wouldn't be any fun if I moved to Africa and didn't tell you any harrowing stories, now would it?

Dear Malawi Trainee: Please give this letter to your family and ask them to hold on to it for as long as you are in Malawi.


Dear Families,

Greetings from the Malawi Desk in Washington, D.C. It is with great pleasure that we welcome your family member to the Peace Corps/Malawi training program. During the past year we have received many questions from Volunteers and family members regarding communication, mail, and travel plans. As we are unable to involve ourselves in the personal arrangements of Volunteers, we would like to offer you advice and assistance in advance by providing specific examples of situations and how we suggest you handle them. Peace Corps service certainly impacts more than just the trainee and we hope that this information will help ease some of the uncertainty which affects the families of Volunteers.

The Peace Corps experience can be an exciting, intimidating, and amazing experience for both the Volunteer and family. The Volunteers will learn a lot about Malawi during their preparation for service and throughout their service of two years. This is also a great time for you to learn more about Malawi, which may alleviate some of your concerns.

Below are a few links to get you started in your discovery:

The World Factbook – Malawi: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/mi.html

The Lonely Planet: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/africa/malawi/

The Malawi Nation newspaper: http://www.nationmalawi.com/

Friends of Malawi: www.friendsofmalawi.org

1. Irregular Communication. (Please see #3 for the mailing address to Peace Corps' office in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi) The mail service in Malawi is not as efficient as the U.S. Postal Service; thus, it is important to be patient and understanding. It can take three to four weeks for mail coming from Lilongwe to arrive in the United States via the Malawi postal system. From a Volunteer's site, mail might take 1-2 months to reach the United States. Sometimes mail is hand carried to the United States by a traveler and mailed through the U.S. postal system (Volunteers should bring some US stamps). This leg of the trip can take another several weeks as it is also dependent on the frequency of travelers to the U.S. There is a truism that you may wish to embrace as uncomfortable as it is, “No news, is good news!”

On average, it takes approximately four weeks for letters mailed from the United States to reach Lilongwe, and may take an additional six weeks to reach the Volunteer’s site. We suggest that in your first letters, you ask your Volunteer family member to give an estimate of how long it takes to receive your letters and then try to establish a predictable pattern of how often you will write to each other. Also, try numbering your letters so that the Volunteer knows if they have missed one. Postcards should be sent in envelopes – otherwise they may be found on the wall of the local post office! By the end of the Volunteer’s Pre-Service Training they will be able to send you their specific site address.

For the first 8 weeks in country, your family member will be living in a village near the training site (about one hour drive south of Lilongwe) and participating in an intensive, immersion style training program where they will begin to learn language, cultural and technical skills necessary to be a safe and productive Peace Corps Volunteer. During this time, they will NOT have access to email/Internet but can certainly receive and send letters. Receiving mail during this intense period is most welcome and appreciated. Once they are sworn-in as Volunteers, they will have access to the Peace Corps computers in the office and can reestablish email communication. However, you must remember that NO Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi has daily or even weekly access to email so you should have limited expectations as to immediate replies to any emails you will be sending.

Volunteers often enjoy telling their “war” stories when they write home. Letters might describe recent illnesses, lack of good food, isolation, etc. While the subject matter is good reading material, it is often misinterpreted on the home front. Further, given the lag time in communication by the time you receive certain news, weeks if not months have passed and the Volunteer has moved past a particularly sad moment when they miss you, or that specific illness, and don’t understand why it is that you are so concerned anymore! There are two extremely competent Peace Corps medical doctors at the Peace Corps office in Lilongwe. In the event of a serious illness, the Volunteer is sent to Lilongwe and cared for by our medical staff. If the Volunteer requires medical care that is not available in Malawi s/he will be medically evacuated to Pretoria, South Africa or the United States. Fortunately, these are rare circumstances.

If for some reason your normal communication pattern is broken and you do not hear from your family member for an abnormal amount of time, you may want to contact the Office of Special Services (OSS) at Peace Corps Washington at 1-800-424-8580. The Office of Special Services will then contact the Peace Corps Director in Lilongwe and ask him to check up on the Volunteer. Also, in the case of an emergency at home (death in the family, critical illness, etc.), please do not hesitate to call OSS immediately, so that we can inform the Volunteer. Tell the operator your name, telephone number, and the nature of the emergency, and the Duty Officer will call you back.

2. Telephone Calls. The telephone system in Malawi is relatively good and service in and out of Lilongwe to the United States is fairly reliable. In the interior of the country, where most of the Volunteers are located, there are fewer phones and service is more sporadic. Your Volunteer family member, however, will undoubtedly buy or bring a GSM cell phone for use while they are here in Malawi. Cell service is quite good, reliable, and available in most parts of the country. Some Volunteers may have to climb a small hill or walk a distance from their home, but it is a far cry from having to travel several hours or days to get to a working phone as it once did. Volunteers will mostly use text messaging in country, and you may be able to send and receive messages with them.

Please be aware that the Peace Corps staff in Lilongwe and Washington are not able to assist in arranging calls. Your family member will be able to inform you of the actual telephone numbers once they arrive in-country and to their site. The Malawi Desk is in regular communication with the Peace Corps office in Lilongwe. However, this communication is reserved for business only and we cannot relay personal messages. All communication between family members and the Volunteer should be done via international mail, e-mail, or phone calls.

3. Sending packages. Family members and Volunteers like to send and receive care packages through the mail. Please be advised that packages can often take 1-2 months, but sometimes as long as 4-6 months. Unfortunately, sending packages can be a frustrating experience for all involved due to the high incidence of theft and heavy customs taxes. You may want to try sending inexpensive items through the mail, though there is no guarantee that these items will arrive. We do not recommend sending costly items through the mail. It is recommended that packages be sent in padded envelopes if possible, as boxes tend to be taxed more heavily. Even though many Volunteers choose to get local post office boxes, you may always use the following address to send letters and/or packages to your family member:

John Doe”, PCV

PEACE CORPS/MALAWI

BOX 208

LILONGWE

MALAWI

For lightweight, but important or time sensitive items (e.g. airline tickets), we would recommend using an express mail service. DHL is one possibility and other courier services may operate in Lilongwe. For more information about DHL, please call their toll free number, 1-800-CALL-DHL, or visit their web site at www.dhl.com. We advise you to shop around to find the best prices and service options.

If you choose to send items through DHL, you must address the package to:

"JOHN DOE", PCV

c/o U.S. Peace Corps Malawi

AREA 4 PLOT 70

ACROSS FROM OILCOM DEPOT

LILONGWE

MALAWI

(You’ll also need to include the Peace Corps/Malawi phone number: 265-1-757-157).

Trying to send cash or checks is very risky and is discouraged. If your Volunteer family member requests money from you, it is his/her responsibility to arrange receipt of it.

We hope this information is helpful to you during the time your family member is serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi. We understand how frustrating it can be to communicate with your family member overseas and we appreciate your using this information as a guideline. Please feel free to contact us at the Malawi Desk in Washington, D.C. if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Julie Appelhagen, Country Desk Officer and Seana Lammers, Country Desk Assistant

Peace Corps

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Home, and the People We Bring with Us Along the Way

When I first started writing memoir in my junior year at Midd, I remember once in a story describing my childhood home simply as "typically suburban." My professor, always looking to pick apart an adjective (much less an adverb), asked me to better describe the place. I remember wondering, at the time, what more specific explanation was possible. "Suburban", a word which, admittedly, even now, rolls off my tongue with no small amount of disdain, seemed to me a very accurate description of a specific societal phenomenon. It wasn't until later that year when my then-boyfriend began to talk about his life in the suburbs of Boston that I began to realize that, though he was discussing a suburban life, it was a very different life than the one I so very determinedly believed embodied the term "suburbia." And so, when my friend Sue and I began discussing the places where we'd grown up, and she mentioned her home in the suburbs outside Detroit, I wondered: was our definition of "suburban" purely personal, as well?

Sue is coming to visit this weekend, a trip which I have, in some ways, been looking forward to for a year now. She will be the first of my friends from my life in the northeast ever to see me in the suburban southern habitat in which I grew up. The trip will likely be less eye-opening for Sue than it would be for other of my friends, as Sue is the one friend of mine from Vermont who's already tasted my grandmomma's biscuit recipe and heard the occasional country song escape my lips. She's heard me talk about the requisite acre lots on which the houses in my city sit and, yes, she's even caught the infrequent but oh-so-unforgettable slip of country twang in my accent. Still, though, there is a deepening of understanding of a person that comes with seeing the place in which that person was raised. I very much look forward to showing Sue where I come from, what "suburbia" has meant in my life.

Of course, I'll only be showing her the best parts of suburban southern culture--farmer's markets, hiking, dancing, evenings grilling out on the deck. None of the traditional suburban mainstays for these two girls. Starbucks and shopping malls, while they are certainly hallmarks of my city, don't even figure into my "suburbia". Ok, so Sue's visit to the south won't likely remind her or me of nights making the rounds at the bar circuit in Rutland or evenings under the stars near Lake Dunmore in Salisbury, or even weekends walking through the Middlebury town and campus, past the colorful houses and the gushing waters of Otter Creek. But I look forward to showing her a new side of myself, a place which has become home to me in a way it never was when I was a child. I look forward to showing off the place I come from, to remembering the place that became my home when I left here, and to talking about the place which will become my new home for the next two years. Sure, it will be hard to say goodbye to her when the weekend ends and it is time for her to return to the place where I often wish I, myself, were ready to make a home, but for now, I am just looking forward to one more great weekend with my good friend Sue.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Defining (and Redefining and Redefining) Success

As our first act as PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees), we are asked to write an aspiration statement detailing what we want to accomplish during our service and how we intend to adapt to our new surroundings. I think this is an excellent exercise, as it forces each of us to examine our reasons for accepting the all-hallowed invite and it gives us a chance to consider what our parameters for success actually are. Along with a revised resume, this is the only information our country staff receives about us prior to meeting us in-country. I sent mine this afternoon.

Aspiration Statement

Jennifer Christian

Malawi

September 26, 2008

A. In college, most of my friends were international students, the majority of whom had attended United World Colleges (www.uwc.org) prior to arriving at Middlebury. UWC selects top students from all over the world, regardless of their background, religion, politics, and/or ability to pay. These students then attend one of UWC’s twelve schools, where they study an IB curriculum alongside courses which emphasize environmental responsibility, international understanding, community service, peace studies, arts, and cultural pride. The Davis United World College Scholars I met and studied with at Middlebury were some of the most committed, hardworking, and socially-conscious students on campus. After graduation, they almost exclusively either returned home to use their education to improve the lives of their communities or took jobs in international organizations aimed at social improvement. The UWC program is my model for a successful educational aid organization.

I attended several different colleges throughout my university education and noticed that, unsurprisingly, not all international students had received the same level of education as those who had been chosen by UWC. In addition to the better funding found in UWC schools, which inevitably allows their students more opportunities, several specific educational components seemed to have helped prepare UWC students better than their non-UWC counterparts. Specifically, I found that correct language pronunciation greatly affected the way in which students were perceived, international awareness prepared students well both to study internationally and to make international connections inside and outside the classroom, and a strong sense of cultural pride made students passionately adamant about bettering the lives of those in their communities, as well as of those living in situations similar to those found in their home communities.

As a Secondary Education Volunteer, I would hope to focus on these types of issues in addition to general English education. I would hope to incorporate as many life skills issues (HIV/AIDS education, environmental education, female empowerment, etc.) as possible in my classes, as I believe that teaching English within a socially-conscious context highlights the usefulness of the language for the students, enhances students’ use of the language outside of class, and shows students ways in which they might use their language learning to better themselves and their community. As an English teacher, I feel that it is vitally important that my students understand that learning English is neither a replacement for their native language nor an endorsement of the cultural superiority of the English language, but rather it’s a tool to aid the survival of their culture and help their country become a part of the international community. In my opinion, then, teaching social responsibility goes hand in hand with teaching English, and I would hope that my work in Malawi would reflect that connection. My Cambridge certificate in teaching English as a Second Language has prepared me well for the English-teaching portion of my Volunteer service, and supplemented with the experience and training I’ll receive once I reach Malawi, I am confident that, even with fifty to one hundred students in my class, I will be able to help my students develop a skill which will allow them to contribute to the people around them.

B. On my first day of training as a YMCA camp counselor, a job I had never anticipated myself taking, I was asked to describe to a group of fellow trainees how, as a counselor, I would teach morals to my campers. I said the first thing that came to my mind: “I don’t believe in teaching morals.” The answer incited immediate and, on my part, unexpected, shock from the group. I continued. “I do, however, believe in fostering an environment in which children can create their own set of morals.” This includes, I believe, building self-confidence so that kids don’t feel the need to tear down others in order to improve their own status. Even more importantly, however, it means giving kids both time and opportunities to get to know one another personally. It’s easy, I think, to dismiss and / or accept stereotypical judgments of someone you don’t know; it’s much harder to ignore the opinions and contributions of a friend. It’s much harder to stereotype someone to whom you know the stereotypes don’t apply. Anything real I know about any culture other than my own has inevitably come from my understanding and appreciation of someone from that culture.

As is perhaps not uncommon, the advice I would give my campers is advice from which I, myself, could also benefit. I believe that my effectiveness in working with partners in Malawi will be directly related to my ability to form personal connections with them. They have to see me not as a white American girl here to help them, but rather as just another person, hoping to teach them what I know and learn from what they have to teach me. I don’t know to what extent I will be able to achieve this goal, but I’m pretty sure that my success in this arena will all but determine my success in all other arenas.

C. I am but a collection of all my former selves. I try not to hold too tightly to any beliefs or constants because it is only through the shucking of former absolutes that I have been able to discover new and important personal truths. Certainly one key to self-awareness is flexibility. It is my supposition that any absolute worth its salt will subsequently return no matter how many times you strip yourself of it. These persistent truths can become foundational pieces of the self; they make themselves indispensable, and as such, invaluable. Unlike their more fleeting counterparts, these attributes do not announce themselves with the loud volume and in-your-face presentation of fads or cultural norms to which we sometimes too desperately cling. Instead, they sit humbly, in silence, ingrained in memory and woven into the fiber of one’s being

“The more genuine part of my life is unrecognizable, extremely intimate, and impossible to define,” writes Clarice Lispector in The Hour of the Star. While my experiences in Malawi will inevitably change me, the ‘genuine part of my life’ is steadfast enough to allow me to revel in these changes while still remaining unalterably myself. I look forward to sharing myself with my village while at the same time discovering whatever new truths my life there has to offer.

If there is one truth that has prevailed throughout the more strenuous situations I’ve encountered it is that people are more easily, readily, and naturally adaptable than even they, themselves, might at first suspect. Malawi will be a tough adjustment, but not one I haven’t considered. Cultural adjustment, while certain to be a challenge, is the very reason I decided to become a volunteer for the Peace Corps. My hypothesis is that neither American culture nor Malawian culture is without fault; my presumption is that either culture can be bettered by learning from the strengths of the other. My hope is that I can teach the best parts of American culture and bring home aspects of Malawian culture which might improve the lives of people in my own American community.

D. Without a doubt, the most valuable skill the Peace Corps can give me in training is the ability to communicate with my Malawian community. I’m a firm believer that nonverbal communication can take a person a good distance, but being able to talk to the people around me will be the key to me integrating into my community. I have faith that the Peace Corps will prepare me well to do my job as a Secondary Educator in difficult conditions, to maintain my own health and safety in a new environment, and to know the cultural practices which will help me find a place in my village. My hope for Peace Corps training is that these things will become, as much as is possible in a short period of time, second nature, allowing me to focus not only on myself, but rather on what I have to offer those around me.

E. My future is the present, insomuch as the present determines my future. Lispector begins The Hour of the Star saying, “So long as I have questions to which there are no answers, I shall go on writing.” Perhaps this is the only certainty with which I, too, can align the life ahead of me. In my life as a top student at a top school, I had nothing but clear direction, an unwavering path. In my life as a writer after graduation, I had an open map full of possibilities and no better navigation than my own undeveloped intuition. I spent the first six months much the same way as I had spent the four years leading up to graduation—rushing from one place to the next, desperately seeking a success for which I knew I was destined. It took another six months for me to realize that this was only one way of living—a life, not the life.

I no longer chase the future. It will arrive, as it always has, on its own schedule. For now I put one foot in front of the other, immerse myself in the people and places around me, and listen to what each experience has to tell me about where to head next. As I was on a train to London on my way out of Britain at the end of last year, I wrote, “Find some words string them together, this was the only way forward.” As far as I can tell, it still is.

The Peace Corps Invitation Has Arrived!

Hey guys,
I wanted to share the exciting (terrifying, overwhelming, absolutely insane, completely brilliant) news with everyone. I received my invite in the mail yesterday, and I've been invited to Malawi on September 26, with my two-year term beginning December 10th. (I'll be in training in or around the capital city of Lilongwe in the interim.) Malawi is in the southeast quadrant of the continent. Mozambique runs down the southeast coast, and Malawi is a tiny country that lies along the inside border of Mozambique. It's about the size of Indiana, with a population of approximately 11-13.5 million people. It's one of the most densely populated countries in the world, as well as one of the five poorest countries. Between Malawi and Mozambique sits Lake Malawi, an enormous fresh-water lake larger than New Hampshire, home to more than 85% of the world's freshwater fish species. Hippos and crocodiles (yikes!) are two of the most prominent animals found in the area, but there is, of course, a wide variety of wildlife to be seen.
Known as the "warm heart of Africa", Malawi is known for its kind people and love of singing and dancing (perfect, right?). Unfortunately, it is also known for its exceedingly high HIV/AIDS rates; I have been warned to prepare myself ahead of time for the likelihood that people around me will die while I'm in country. Other health hazards include rabies, malaria, and waterborne parasites, so I have plenty of vaccinations to look forward to, and I think the Peace Corps is even going to show me how to test myself for malaria. Ok, so it's not all glamorous, but that's no surprise.
It's most likely that I will live in a rural village and that I'll live on school grounds. I'll be learning an indigenous language (probably Chichewa, I would think, but I'm not sure yet). I probably won't have electricity, running water, or cell service, but I think I heard somewhere that the lost art of letter writing is making a come-back, right? The most common staple food is nsmima, which is a corn porridge-type substance. Starches make up a large part of the diet, especially corn, sweet potato, potatoes, and rice. Fish is also important, with the proximity to such a large body of water, as are beans and seasonal vegetables. Imported foods are expensive. Fortunately, groundnuts are plentiful, so my love of peanut butter will help me through. I will admit that I have seen both a picture of ceremonial grilled rats on a stick, as well as a recipe for dried caterpillar skins, and I'm scared. Very scared.
Malawi is famous for being the country from which Madonna adopted (and from which she was infamously accused of having stolen) her African orphan. In spite of Madonna's visit, Malawi is a very religious country, mostly Christian but with a significant Islamic population, as well. All of the religions in the area, of course, have been influenced by traditional belief systems, as well. It's a very conservative country, and although women have recently been granted the right to wear pants in public, I'm restricted to skirts and dresses. This happens to work uniquely in my favor, though, as I love skirts and dresses anyway. As for carrying 20 liters of water on my head in a skirt, though? Well, we'll see. I did see someone with a rigged-up bike handlebar used to carry water, and I'm looking into to crafting my own such contraption.
I am likely to have between 50 and 100 students in my classes and no desks, chairs, or books. I'm told, though, that this is normal and that I will find creative solutions to work around these obstacles. Temperatures range from about 35 F on top of Mt Mulanje in the cold season to around 95 F in the grasslands during the warm months. I won't be assigned a site until I'm a good bit of the way through training, so I have to prepare for anything. I think it's probably one of the safest Peace Corps countries, as all of Malawi's boder countries (Zambia, Mozambique, and Tanzania) are peace countries also served by the Peace Corps, a seemingly rare event. the only wild card is that Malawi has some pretty strong economic ties (which is not saying much, necessarily, considering the state of the country's economy) with Zimbabwe, a country which has become a world-news mainstay in recent months for its significant politcal unrest.
I haven't officially accepted my invitation yet, as I received it on a Saturday, but I intend to do so tomorrow. I had to sit in silence for a few hours yesterday to really let the idea completely soak in, but I'm getting used to the butterflies-in-my-stomach feeling which I can only presume will grow over the next two months. Now, if only I can figure out how, exactly, to fit the next two years into my strictly-enforced 80-pound luggage limit. The camera or the skillet, extra hiking boots or extra books? I'm already in contact with one girl from my training group who, oddly enough, graduated from Vanderbilt in '07 and still lives in Nashville. There's also a guy from Middle Tennessee State class of '05 in the group. Very strange, indeed.
I've seen blogs from current PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers), and they all have a wish list for care packages. The list usually includes boxed mac and cheese (probably not so good without butter or milk, but it's gotta beat an hour of grinding corn after work), seeds (I'm currently looking into buying up as many as possible to start a much-needed garden), drink mixes like crystal lite and gatorade (treated water isn't so tasty, I suppose), etc. I'm not sure what my can't-live-without-it American item is yet, but I figure about one month in, I'll have no trouble identifying it. I will send all address info. later. Letters take around a month to arrive; boxes take more like six months and only maybe arrive. All letters should be numbered in case one gets lost, and they'll be more appreciated than you can imagine. Anything else: if you can squish it in an envelope, there's more chance it will be treated as a letter and arrive in "timely" fashion. Also, if asked to declare a value on the shipment, always write $0, or it for sure won't make it to my little corrugated tin roofed hut.
More importantly, I'm looking into hooking up with some local charitable organizations here to help fund projects while I'm in Malawi. One idea is organizing a book collection to start (or continue to support, depending on the site I receive) a library in my village. A woman contacted me this morning about a similar project her brother has started in a village in northern Malawi, and her website (http://www.pulverpages.com/CalebLibraryPages/CalebPagesMainPage.htm) details a cheap book-shipping method. We'll see how it goes; I'll let you know how things progress on this front. I'm just in the brainstorming process now, but it seems that having connections to potential fundraisers here in the states really helps PCVs implement their projects.
I'm sure that's plenty of information for now; I know that it's far more than I can process at the moment. I look forward to talking to each and every one of you before I leave, as well as to keeping in touch with you while I'm abroad. I appreciate more than I can express the encouragement everyone has given me throughout this long and uncertain application process, and I hope that I can send back pictures and stories that will enourage all of you as much as you've encouraged me. I want to send out an extra 'thank you' to those who sent glowing recommendations for me--Peggy, Claudia, Erika: I absolutely couldn't have gotten here without your kind words. Also, a special 'thank you' to Sue, who has agreed to have her 7th/8th grade class in Brandon, VT, correspond with me through the Paul D. Coverdell World Wise Schools Program, which is an effort by the Peace Corps to work towards its third goal of bringing PCVs' newfound cultural knowledge back to the U.S. If anyone else is interested, I'd be happy to sign up with another class, as well.
I'll probably have a blog that I will update when I make trips into the city, but I haven't established that yet. Again, 'thank you' to all of you who have joined me thus far on the journey; now the interesting part really begins.
Love,
Jenn
P.S. I love visitors. (Hint, hint) If you want to make the trip, I'm sure it will be worth it. Every one of you has accommodation of some sort in Malawi for at least the next 27 months. If you've got the resources, please come see what southern Africa has to offer. I'll even cook for you (no rats, I promise).
A couple of the beautiful things I hope to see (in case you think I've lost my mind): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDRoHoQldqc (AIDS orphans make music using found objects.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzOZiA2OXsA (trailer for what seems to be a beautiful documentary highlighting the work of a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi and the different obstacles the Malawian people face)
Those of you who know me well know that I am not particularly religious, especially not openly so, that I tend toward the cynical, and that, although I'd rarely admit it, I'm a sucker for a sweet story. Part academic, part bleeding heart, I find myself now walking the line between caring too much (gushing) and not caring enough (the stoic stance). I read recently, I think in Anderson Cooper's biography, about an aid doctor who said to his new nurses something along the lines of "You do not cry in front of the patients. They have not come for your pity; they've come for your skills. If you have to cry, fine, go somewhere alone and cry. But don't let the patients see you. It will only scare them, and that is not your right." It seems harsh, but he was one of the best, most effective doctors in his field. And not just efficient and sterile, either. By not pitying his patients, he was able to stay clear-headed about his purpose and not get too hardened or depressed to continue. He was able to help. I don't know yet exactly how to walk that line, but I think that's the goal. I'm working on it.