Follow my adventure in Malawi as a community health advisor from Feb 2011-April 2013

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air" Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sunday, February 13, 2011

you never, never know until you get yourself to go!

Because I need to have structure and am now longer now employed (here in this life in the States anyway!) and my only pursuit is playing with the jigsaw puzzle of my luggage, I post the plan for the next little while. People ask when I leave and what, exactly I am to be doing with my time in Africa... this is as far into the future as I can imagine..
Feb 24th-26th Hit up Philly to be briefed on safety, culture and basic operations for our arrival in Malawi, meet everyone in the group, in addition to being vaccinated against things my imagination makes into yaws, scurvy and chilblains (my infections disease professors would be horrified that illnesses not mentioned since Dickens are part of this)
Feb 26th 2am bus ride to JKF with health and agriculture volunteers to our nonstop flight to J-burg, South Africa then on to Lilongwe, Malawi's capitol
Pinch myself that I am in the warm heart of Africa
Feb-mid April two months of language and technical training. I will be a Peace Corps trainee at this time, living with a host family in Dedza and trying to navigate cultural, linguistic and gastronomic differences. adventure!
April 2011-April 2013 LONG period of time. living and working in Malawi at my to be determined site. I will most likely be the only volunteer in my community, with other volunteers being a neighboring sites kms away and will have a Malawian counterpart with whom I will work closely to identify needs and potential projects. Cultural immersion is a huge part of the Peace Corps grand plan, in order to create a community partnership. My primary efforts will center on working with my community, the Ministry of Health and other NGOs in the region towards a partnership that will hopefully produce sustainable development efforts and improvement of health and wellbeing. Huge focus on HIV/AIDS (prevalence = 11% urban pop). I've heard there will opportunities to develop women's and youth empowerment programs as well, which would be amazing to get involved in! So much to learn, adapt to and take in.

Exactly what I think two years well spent in a life looks like:) for me, anyway.

So I'm sure I will arrive and all of these plans will be completely different while I'm actually living it. My trainee address in on the blog to the right, if you want to send a flat rate envelope of love I hear they are about 13 bucks:) I don't need anything, but any little bits of your world would make me so happy! We have little to no communication with home for the first to months during training, so even though I will be with other lovely PC folks, I know myself and I will be missing friends, family, DC and everything in between!

Had wonderful goodbyes and not enough Indian food:) I guess that's how you begin a journey, or at least that is how I am going to begin this one.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

T minus four weeks...

So thanks to my Google toolbar I'm made aware of JFK's inaugural speech and legacy of "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". Thanks Google. And JFK for creating this amazing organization that is going to propel me into Africa in a month in a flying canoe (that's what I dreamt last night, a dream NOT on antimalarials..oh man it's going to be vivid)!!

I'm reading the parts of my invitation kit that were thrown to the side as I was distracted by the typeface that read "Malawi" and "community health and HIV". I am actually happy that these pamphlets of information had been pushed to the back. Things like power of attorney, personal article insurance and something called student loan deferment are all little uglies that I had been trying to avoid.
Now the calendar is moving at the speed of facebook and it's all becoming very real! I'm living in between homes, gave notice to work and am figuring out how to use a pressure cooker. Forget the pressure cooker. I was advised it cooks beans in no time but I have tremors each and every time the little release safety valve rattles that I will singe my eyebrows and be steamed to leatherface. I don't think my host family will be thrilled to have leatherface come and share their table.

Not sure how all of the items I'm trying to collect will in fact fit in two bags weighing 80 lbs total. Somehow, I need to be prepared to lug all of this across the world and live in harmony with it for two years. Doesn't sound possible. Sun shower, solar charger, headlamp. I'm so thankful to be in touch with folks who are living and working in Malawi through the magic of the Internet. All of their advice I want to follow in order not to 'miss out' on something that will make the transition a little less crazy. But I have to be honest, many of the things I have NEVER laid my hands on before. I've been around with hiking and traveling but of course not to this extent. Suddenly I'm practicing with my pressure cooker and on a quest for the most durable undergarments! This all from the girl who brings a school backpack for week long trips in varying climates and to weddings in which I may or may not have been part of the bridal party (what's wrong with that?!).

My amazing friends came from up and down the east coast (and Key West) to surprise goodbye me this weekend! I wasn't expecting any kind of party, large scale goodbye or fanfare. I was picturing quiet, one on one chats via phone or in person, accompanied by a reluctant "see you later" and then me being awkward. Instead, the most amazing, lovely people all came together and had a DC style celebration of friendship and Booeymongers. I couldn't ask for more:) Please come visit! Capetown New Years 2013?! I'm sure we can create an amazing 80s dance party there as well ladies...

Will I really still be there in 2013? I've always wanted to live and work in a developing country, and now that the opportunity is right here, one month away, I can't get past the pressure cooker. I think I'm coping with it by being shortsighted for once, and not really planning for the future outside of getting on the plane and being adventurous and open to learning in Malawi. Before it was always school, work, a trip or some other consuming activity...so  now it's just Malawi looming ahead and a great adventure somewhere beyond that. So much to think about and it's almost time to hold my breath (and maybe plug my ears), jump in and let it all just happen...with or without the pressure release valve...