Moni onse!
I don't really feel like typing up a whole long update, but here are some interesting, funny, or random things that have happened recently....
My lovely mulanje buddy, Adia, left to go home to America at the beginning of July. I was and still am very sad to see her go, but I know she's doing what's best for her. We had many hilarious memories together, as she was also my neighbor during PST, and bonding times. She was there for me through all of my struggles since arriving in Kasungu, and I'm so thankful for the time I had with her. It will definitely be different without being able to meet her in the boma to catch up and for lunch, but thank god for whatsapp! And all of the other wonderful volunteers who live in Mulanje!
This past weekend (July 12), I ran the Mount Mulanje Porters Race. I almost backed out of running it, but the guys I did the trial run with held me to it...and I'm so glad they did! We had a decent sized group of PCVs running, about 9, so it was a fun event! We woke up around 5:30 AM in the 14-person dorm room we'd reserved nearby, got psyched up, and headed own to registration where we received red bibs to wear. It was a chilly, overcast day, so perfect for running a 15 mile race! It had rained almost the whole week before the event and I was a little nervous I'd slide off the mountain, but thankfully that did not happen! Since I knew the trail from before, it felt much easier. In the beginning, I ran past a British guy who joked that I was showing off. My response was, "nope, I ran this last week. Run while you still can!!" Which was exactly my mantra the hole race. The 3,000 ft elevation change in the first 2.5 miles was still tough, but at least I had people around me to keep my competitive juices flowing! The race officials had paint at 3 different points along the way to prevent people from cheating. They also had water and sobo stations...aka plastic buckets with a plastic cup in each from which every person drank (hygiene, anyone?!). At the highest points on the mountain, it was really foggy and at one part I thought I might've been lost, but thankfully I was not. The way down hurt, lots of rocks and slippery paths, but I made much better time than my previous run. We had a big cheering squad hanging out near the very end, and my body flooded with andrenaline when I heard their yells and saw them all! I slipped crossing the Likhubula pools and fell in a little, but at that point I didn't even care! When I finished, they told me that I was the first azungu (foreigner) female! I got a red t-shirt that said NBS bank --the race sponsor--but didn't say anything about the race! Boo. They also gave me a ticket for nsima....haha! Only in Malawi! So I gulped down a cold passion flavored fanta and inhaled my two nsima patties, cabbage, and fried chicken. People stared at me all the while. I ended up winning a bucket and a big bag of tea for my finish which was nice considering I was just happy that I'd shaved a whole hour and 20 min off my time! I was definitely exhausted and spent the remainder of the afternoon in bed before we all went out for dinner and celebrated.
^^the top three out of our volunteer group
I've still been doing community assessments (community mapping and pairwise ranking) in the villages in my catchment area, but I've had to work on my patience. Last week, due to the rain, all but one of our meetings were cancelled. The one that we did attend was chaotic. The kids were wild and loud, as were the adults actually. Because of the rain, we were stuck in a church. People here don't learn to take turns talking or to respect each other's opinions, so a lot of times one person's suggestion turns into a loud yelling mess. Being in an enclosed space doesn't help. At one point, I had to shoo all the kids outside and lean with my back against the door to keep them out because they were so loud. Needless to say, I was very happy when we finished and headed back down to my village. Although I did fall once on the way back down and tripped and almost fell two more times after that (rain and dirt roads=MUD)! It was so cold and wet those few days, and I was stuck inside a lot that week. Thankfully, I had another vol visiting so we watched a lot of movies, drank my bucket wine, and I dyed my hair purple and pink (as per usual, y'all!).
Monday of this week, my counterpart and I went to my sitemate's village to do a community assessment. Before we began, the HSAs from my health center did a community led sanitation and hygiene program which went really well! They asked the community about who had pit latrines and talked to them about the importance of using them. Then they asked where those who don't have latrines go to the bathroom and had them show them where. They collected actual feces from this spot and brought it back to the meeting place. Then they talked to the crowd about how open defication can contaminate ground water and how flies can transfer bacteria and diseases from this feces to their food! 
^^everyone running away when they brought the feces over on a khasu
My part of the program was far less fun but two significant events occurred.
First, a drunk lady came around yelling and disturbing the meeting. After a minute or two of her disruptions, a man grabbed her by her shoulders and began running, dragging her along. I watched in horror as she began moving too fast for her legs and he threw her on the ground. I can't describe how horrible the sound of her thudding against the ground was, but I was thoroughly shocked at his actions. No one thought it crazy, they just watched and when it was done, turned their attention back to me.
The other significant occurance was when we were asking the village if HIV is a problem there. They agreed that it was, but couldn't identify the source. When we asked about condom usage and availability, there were a lot of opinions. My personal favorite was when a man stood up and compared sex to a candy. "A masweetie isn't sweet with the wrapper on..." Another man (whom Lucas identified as the village drunk) asked if he should wear condoms in his own household or just with women outside of it...lots of work is needed here on HIV prevention education!
The rest of this week has been pretty chill. I had my site visit from our health program director yesterday, and that was wonderful because he brought me better locks for my doors and a new bike (because mine has been broken since may). Then they drove me down to the market to get paint for my house and screens for my windows. Thank goodness because that wouldn't have been a fun thing to carry 5 kilometers up from the road!
This weekend I am headed up to Lilongwe for a malaria boot-camp training that will take place next week. I am so excited to have meals prepared for me and to hopefully have electricity and running water (maybe even HOT water!?)...it's been a minute since I've had a hot shower. So if anyone wants to talk or catch up mon-thurs of next week, I'll probably have great service and maybe even wifi!
That's it for now y'all! Thanks for reading.
Xo
Ps--I'm thankful for FaceTime. I get to see my nephew growing up. He's now over 6 weeks old!