Skip to main content

Home Sweet Home

There's nothing like being gone from my site for a week (and being in the capital city) to make me love and appreciate my village even more! 

The woman selling me produce in the boma automatically gave me a Malawian price instead of trying to up charge me. I was given the front seat in the mini bus because I had 3 bags. A form 2 boy carried one of my backpacks up the mountain as we chatted about malaria and he asked me questions and encouraged me to come to his school to help teach about malaria and HIV. My neighbor kids FREAKED OUT with excitement when they saw me walking up. My amayi friends had me come up to sit and catch up with them while they talked about how much they missed me and gifted me sweet potatoes before I left. A two yr old curled up in my arms. The gates to my fence were fixed. And most importantly--MY HEALTH CENTER NOW HAS ELECTRICITY!!!! 


Aka a few houses also have electricity! This means I can hopefully charge my phone and laptop at the health center now rather than having to go all the way down to the boma. (Especially wonderful considering I just received a whole bunch of electronic resources on malaria interventions!) And, I might potentially be able to get electricity wired to my house. Who knows what will happen, but I am just so happy to be back in my village. Every time I return to site after being gone for a few days, I appreciate it's beauty and the wonderful people even more. ✌️

Popular posts from this blog

Moving to the Big City

April is coming to a close, and I need to do another update on my life. A whooooole lot changed this month, but the biggest changes were my location, my job, and my health. Last month in March, a bunch of emotional things happened. Two of my closest friends left Liberia, dry season heat was at its peak and making me miserable, and the lack of work at my site was reaching a tipping point. I thought long and hard about my options. My favorite little 9 month old is almost walking I felt torn. I didn’t really want to leave Liberia, but I also wasn’t sure how much more of my situation I could emotionally handle. I felt like I’d lost control over every aspect of my life; my well-being, privacy, daily routine, and happiness all felt dependent on my environment and the people around me. I tried not to stress about this realization, but I also felt like I’d reached an inescapable and unhealthy place. Thankfully, things sort of fell into place all at once. As I was...
Read more

Where the hell am I?

Reverse culture shock. You don’t think it will actually happen. But then it creeps up on you. Going from Malawi, even the capital in Malawi, to Cape Town, South Africa has been like going from zero to 10,000. There are so many choices at the grocery store, so many expensive cars and pothole-less roads, so many smartphones, and so many women wearing trousers and leggings all around. The skyscrapers are enormously tall and construction of new ones is happening with massive mechanical machines. People rush around with headphones in, completely tuned out of the world and their surroundings. Shops are chock-full of material goods, all set up enticingly, and restaurants have so many food options. People are a beautiful blend of mixed races and cultures. There are wide sidewalks, pedestrian crosswalks, and stoplights. The produce and meats at the grocery store are all wrapped up in plastic. I feel so lost and over stimulated. What happened to my simple, village life? ...
Read more

Windhoek

Well, I’ve switched countries again! Now I’m in Namibia, which lies on the Southwestern coast of Africa surrounded by South Africa, Botswana, and Angola. I’ve had exceptional luck in my post-PC travels so far. On the first day at Afrikaburn I met a very friendly guy from Namibia who gave me a ride up to Windhoek, the capital city. When we arrived, he offered to let me couchsurf at his apartment, so that’s what I’ve been doing along with exploring the city by foot and trying to take some time to relax from all the recent traveling and excitement. The drive up here took about 16 hours, and there were three of us in the truck. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I couldn’t help with driving since it was a manual transmission, so my contribution to the drive was conversation and keeping the drivers awake. I actually learned about Namibia’s history, environment, and economy during these conversations, so I really enjoyed them. When we started out, the landscape was full of fr...
Read more