Ï'm Spoiling You

I know what you're thinking...Phil posted twice in one month! I'll bet he keeps it up...but no promises. But I had the opportunity so I thought I better try to get some more stuff on here. After returning from the Fourth of July, I have just been settling back into village life and continuing to look for potential projects that will be helpful/doable. I have been chatting with the local health worker for the village, and we have discussed some of the possible ways I may be able to make an impact on the "health center" for Chisasu. Right now, it is just a mud brick building with no doors/windows where people come to get any medical attention they may need but only if the health rep is capable. If he is not, the health worker will call an ambulance to come get the sick person, but because of the distance/conditions of the roads/availability of vehicles, the person might be waiting anywhere from 3 hours to 2 days to get picked up and taken to the nearest hospital. The only other option is to physically carry the sick person 2 hours down the mountain to the main road and try to find transportation on their own. As you can see, this causes many problems. The health worker and I discussed the possibility of renovating the current health center, as well as building housing for a nurse to live in while she works to assist the current health worker. I don't know if this will happen for sure, but currently it is something that I believe would help the community out a lot. I will be looking at this possibility in more depth and discussing its feasability with the Peace Corps administration in Malawi over the next couple months until I return to Dedza for more training at the end of September.
Other small news...the local elementary school kids came by my house last week to help me build a privacy fence around my house (they were actually forced by the school teachers, but they still had fun) so I am very happy to not feel like the newest attraction at the local zoo anymore.
I have been receiving all your letters and packages, even though it takes some time, but just wanted to let everyone know that the mail system IS WORKING so feel free to send stuff, or a letter explaining why you did not want to send said stuff...
Stuff you might want to send:
-candy (chocolate/starbursts/hard candy)
-seasoning packets
-beef jerky
-magazines (guitar or music magazines/reader's digest/Time or Newsweek/anything you have laying around is fine) I like the colors/pictures/pretty ladies!
-guitar tabs (if you know what I'm talking about send if not, no worries!)
-pictures (of you doing something stereotypically American) if not, any pictures will work.
-As always, don't let yourself be constrained by my meaningless guidelines...anything you want to send will be greatly appreciated, and I will definitely find a use for it. As a matter of fact, let's start a competition to see who can send me the MOST USELESS item while in Malawi. Please label the item as, "Useless Item" and I will take pictures of the most ridiculous ones and put them on here. The winner, in return, will be sent a useless item from Malawi. The deadline will be Christmas. And points will be awarded for creativity, not the blatantly obvious. And if it is embarrassing in any way, YOU MUST PURCHASE IT YOURSELF.

Thanks for all the love and support. I feel it and its working.
Peace,
Phil

P.S. I took a bath in a waterfall the other day. It was liberating...cold, but liberating.

Fourth of July

Hey! So I realize that every entry should begin with an apology for not updating this thing regularly, but I think I'll just do it this time, then stop apologizing. Sorry...
Anyway, things are going well. I'm getting settled in just fine at my site, and travelled down to Lilongwe for a Fourth of July celebration at the U.S. Ambassador's house! Had a lot of fun hangin' with other PC volunteers and eating a lot of good food. I'm also planning to visit the sites of a couple volunteers on the way back to Chitipa, so I think it should be fun to see someone else's site and what they are up to.
I've been riding my bike quite a bit lately, as well as the normal walking/hiking, so I'm in pretty good shape now. I weighed myself at the PC office while in Lilongwe, and I'm sittin at a trim 170lbs., or as my buddy Justin put it..."back to fightin' weight". I'm going to talk with my boss here to discuss some potential project ideas, and should hopefully get some stuff going in the next few months. We'll see. Alot of volunteers are telling me about all the stuff they are trying to do already, but I'm just taking the slow and steady approach, and trying to find things that are helpful, but also doable. We have another training session coming up at the end of Sept. where we will learn how to deal with/write grant proposals, so that should really help get things going as well. I have posted some pictures on Facebook because they seem to upload faster there, so feel free to take a look. That's it for now, thanks to everyone who has called, or tried to call, and thanks for all the letters and packages. It takes some time, but I am definitely getting them, so feel free to send anything. I definitely appreciate it. Take care.
Peace,
Phil