Under the Milky Way

I remember when I was a kid and I used to read this book called Thunder Cake. It was one of my favorite books about a young girl and her grandma watching a storm come in on a farm. The grandma would count the number of seconds between the lightning and thunder as she ran around putting animals in their pens, preparing for the rain, and gathering materials to bake a "thunder cake." Maybe it was this book that made me obsessed with sitting outside and anticipating a big rain. Since it's officially rainy season here, a big rain comes every few days, usually in the afternoon. And to me, there is absolutely nothing better than sitting, watching, listening, and waiting for those storms to roll in over the hills that surround our village.  The day usually begins with an unbearable, humid heat that makes you sweat uncontrollably and feel absolutely miserable. Then, just when it reaches a point when you don't think you can take it anymore and you resort to just s...

Y'all. I can't even begin to explain the high I'm on right now, but I'll try.  For the past 5-6 weeks,  our SOLID team and I have been preparing for a community-wide HIV testing and awareness event for World AIDS Day. This is a surprisingly large undertaking, and I'd be lying if I pretended that there were not some points in the past few weeks when I'd regretted having decided to try to put on this event. We called on and met with various groups around our health center's catchment area including HIV support groups, drama groups, students at the secondary school, and community based organizations to prepare the program. My primary counterpart and I may have been the head coordinators, but it was our dedicated SOLID team that really pulled through with the action side of things.  We had our final confirmatory meeting with all the groups on Sunday where we made sure that everyone knew what to expect. I used the money from my INCREDIBLE support system (...

Holiday time.  It can be a difficult time of the year for Peace Corps volunteers who don't go home to spend it with their families. Another thanksgiving away from home and away from my family. Of course I miss the traditions and being together with my fantastic family (especially considering there are new children whom I still have yet to meet). But, on the other hand, spending holidays away from home is a whole different experience and can be pretty interesting too. I enjoy having a completely clean slate-with no traditions to build off of. So we took advantage of this freedom. For a few days this week, I've had some other PCVs visiting my village. It's always nice to have visitors, especially when they're good friends. Yesterday, we were coming from town. When we arrived at the bus stage, we put our bulky backpacks on bicycle taxis to carry up to my house. Then we stopped by the local tea room and had a fabulous breakfast of Mozambican breads, papaya, ...

Orange spots of sunlight gleam between the bluegum trees as I watch the world disappear behind us in the fingerprint-speckled rearview mirror on the mini bus. To our left, Mulanje mountain glows purple as it always does at this time in the evening when the sun sinks below the earth, putting an end to the hot day. A faint, yet almost full moon floats above the mountain, almost in the center of the elongated rock structure.   Along my way from the capital city, I'd seen so many depressing as well as incredible sights that, despite having been here for over 20 months, still touch my heart. Child labor at its finest as kids dig up dry fields to cultivate and struggle to carry buckets of water on their heads. Diminishing forests next to piles and piles of charcoal. Then there are the pristinely wild looking mountains and hillsides and cute lines of chicks waddling along the sides of the roads. I think about how new and shocking this all was when I arrived here; debating whether it...

"I just paid the money," she told me as she twisted her hands and stared down at them. I was immediately flabbergasted and almost shaking with anger, frustration, and sadness.  One of my wonderfully dedicated but extremely timid SOLID members who I began working with last year had been facing trouble at home. Following our graduation from the program in May, she'd been attending meetings less and less. I assumed it was because she lives 2.5 miles away from our meeting place, and that she was probably busy at home. Then one day I ran into her at the health center. She had a large cut on her forehead and was filling a police report. I refrained from snooping in her business.  Then, about 2 weeks ago, she showed up to our weekly training. After we finished, she approached me and apologized for being absent so much. She explained that her husband had been abusive (the gash on her face had been from him) and that she had applied for a separation from him. She didn't ask me...

In light of the fact that we're over one week into October and the temperatures are practically breaking the thermometer, I thought I'd share my best tips for how to survive hot season in Malawi.  1. Take 3 bucket baths a day Seriously, a cold bucket bath can cool you down for a whole 15 minutes. The only bad part is the initial pour of the cold water onto your head that takes your breath away for a second. And also, having to get all that water from the borehole and carry it back to your house.. 2. Walk around half naked Obviously you can only do this INSIDE your house as the whole village would be up in arms freaking out if they saw bare skin anywhere above your knees. However, the less clothes on your body the better. Plus, less laundry to wash! Also make sure to close your curtains if your neighbors live close by. Hint: Remember to keep a chitenje close by so that if you have unexpected visitors, you can quickly wrap yourself up to be presentable. 3. Lay on the floor Heat r...

In an effort to share the stories of the wonderful people I work with as well to showcase the great work being done voluntarily by my counterparts here in Bondo Village, each week (or every 2 weeks maybe) I am going to feature someone here on my blog. I hope you enjoy getting to learn a little more about my friends and community! Meet My Village #1: Amayi Damson When I first met Ms. Damson at our SOLID training “She can read the bible now,” the doctor told me in the crowded room as I quizzed my counterpart on how her new reading glasses were working. She smiled at me and nodded. He handed her a box to put her new glasses in, and I handed him 6,000 kwacha. This may not have been a sustainable transaction, but seeing Ms. Damson smile made it all worth it. But let me rewind here…. One of the first people I began to work with in my village is this one, super sweet, super hardworking lady. She lives right next to my primary counterpart and also right next ...

It's become a fad these days with social media to make your life seem picture-perfect and to only share the advancements of your career, the news of your engagement to the "love of your life," the house you just bought, or the gorgeous selfie that you just took. People have called me cynical, but I like to think of myself as a realist. I try to share the good  and  the bad. No life is perfect nor should it be! If your life is always wonderful, you'll get so used to it that you won't appreciate that greatness anymore. We all need some low times in order to really ride out the highs.  This post is my effort to un-glorify (that's not a word, but let's pretend it is) my life here and also to inform people that volunteering abroad comes with its own set of work challenges (like you didn't already know that). What I'd like to share here is the ugly side of my job. The frustrating, infuriating, and hair-splitting obnoxiousness that comes from working in a...