Hair Update

Magic Man

About a week and a half ago, I went to Mzuzu to meet up with the two new Health volunteers that will be coming to Chitipa. After meeting Kara and Briana, we travelled north together so I could show them the villages where they will be living. After that, they were scheduled to do a week of language intensive in Chitipa boma, so myself and Colleen got to hang around town and help out with the training as much as we could. It was alot of fun to get to know the two newest members of our extreme northern family, and I'm looking forward to getting to know them both. One of the cultural activities that PC had planned for them this last week was to visit a Traditional Healer in the village. In Malawi, it is still quite common for people with ailments/problems to seek the help of these healers who use a variety of secret herbal recipies and magic to help those in need. It was very interesting to talk with him and hear about the most common things people come to him for help for, such as joint pain, malaria, fevers, and also getting his help to reveal who has stolen something from them. Many people in Malawi find this practice to be quite silly, when you ask them about it, but there are obviously plenty of people still seeking help from these healers and convinced that what they do works. I found it absolutely fascinating, and I was kinda wishing something was wrong with me (physically, not mentally. we all know I'm not all there in the head) so I could get his help and see how well it worked. However, being that he caught me in between my usual cycle of sicknesses, the only thing I could think of asking his help with was my guitar playing. I finally convinced our interpreter to ask the Magic Man if he knew of something that would help me to become a better guitar player. (and yes...I too had a fleeting thought of the story of selling your soul to the devil at some deserted, dusty crossroads to become the best, then quickly tried to forget that image) So after the interpreter asks him, the Healer ponders for a moment, looks me in the eyes, and says, "Practice". I laughed so hard because I came all the way here to be told what my Mom has been telling me since I was 6. This place is awesome!

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

Pictures??

ok, so I think I posted pictures of: me in my house, some kids from homestay, and some of the other volunteers? by the time they finally uploaded, I forgot...sorry. hope it works this time.

Pictures

So I'll try this again. I'm only going to put two up for now (and they will be small) to see if I can get this to work. This is my house, and another of me inside.

First Real Update and Phone number

Ok! so, I have a lot of catching up to do, so I'll make it short and sweet. I made it to Malawi on Feb 28th. Training went well...the staff and language trainers here are amazing and I stayed with a nice family during "homestay". my amayi's (mother's) name was Love, so I had that going for me...which was nice. I started learning the language of Northern Malawi (Chitumbuka) and did fairly well on my final exam by scoring Advanced Mid level...only to find out during a quick visit to my actual site that they speak a different language, Chisukwa. So that was kinda discouraging, but not much I can do to change it, so I'll just start over and keep going panandi panandi (little by little). Our swearing in was held at the U.S. Ambassador's house in Lilongwe, which was lovely, except that I had been pretty sick the days leading up to the ceremony and actually had an interesting little accident in my pants the day before swearing in. But, I guess that's the type of thing that makes you remember stuff... Now, I am in a small village in the very far North of Malawi called Chisansu. It is in the Chitipa district and kinda sandwiched inbetween Tanzania and Zambia (I am pretty close to both borders). For those of you who try to find it on Google Earth, find Kapoka on the road that goes towards Chitipa from Karonga in Malawi, and then look 2-3 miles North of Kapoka up in the mountains. I will try to stand outside with my shirt off as I am sure you will be able to see my pasty white body all the way from space!! I really like the area I am in, and the people are very and friendy and hardworking as well as progressive (in terms of willingness to try new things), but it is very mountainous and my legs are sore. I will be in superb shape in no time as long as I don't die :-)... I am going to try to upload some pictures of my house and maybe a couple others, but we'll see if it works. Thank you all for the letters that I have gotten, and all the birthday wishes too. It means alot. Feel free to call me if you can, because I don't have anyone's number and it is super expensive for me here. (I recommend buying a phone card or using Skype). To call me, dial: 00265991950398
I am 9 hrs ahead of MTN time. I hope you all are well, and I'm looking forward to talking to you soon.