Under the Milky Way

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...