Jo's Post

So, I was sitting next to one of my favorite individuals(Jo) over here, and was telling her how much I enjoyed reading her blog... I told her I have a hard time updating my blog, but wished I could be as diligent as she with her updates. So, I did the next best thing to updating this thing,...I had Jo write my blog entry. I didn't read it before posting this, but I'm sure we're in for a treat. Enjoy!!


In Lilongwe there is a lodge which on the outside is somewhat reminiscent of a 1970’s office complex. One of the corners of the cement wrap-around porch is the bar of the lodge. If walking in the street below you can often see many a Peace Corps volunteer’s feet sticking off the edge. Beers in hand, the porch juts out crowded and packed with a collection of dirty volunteers tired from packed buses, failed hitch hikes and all sporting attractive back sweat compliments of their hiking bags. Far away from village life that often centers on early nights, lots of books, shadow dances, and way too much thinking time, volunteers find themselves realizing their general list of things they can tolerate has expanded quite extensively. They are spurred to think on how more tolerant they are when watching a music video of Will Smith’s daughter whip paint out of her hair, realizing that they are finding it entirely enjoyable. Those who back in America preferred to trek into cities for underground indie concerts, end up finding that watching MTV in a tiny African bar is incredibly entertaining. Those who found micro-breweries as having truly delicious beer become quite entranced with any beer that is ice cold. Transport that breaks down, falls apart, and consistently puts you in close quarters with sweaty, smelly, bodies are appreciated as long as they actually get you where you are going. Girls, who would in other circumstances think about freaking out, find themselves calmly sitting on buses while watching ants fall out of her hair extensions, deducting that in fact “yes there were ants briefly living in my fake hair.” Dance moves normally saved for confined spaces of cars, come out in full force and are greeted with smiles and more beers. Hair and beards usually kept in careful check seem to match more with the new dance moves as opposed to the word “careful.” And maybe someone might make a comment on people being more tolerant of each other as we are often, as volunteers in Malawi, “all we got.” But I think most of us would end up saying “all we got is actually a lot.” And it’s not about tolerating. It’s more about being lucky to have friends. Friends who like yourself, lack budgeting skills and will after spending money at the bar to fuel crazy dances and rationalize out-of-control-hair, will then head off to expensive Chinese restaurants. Not because it’s a good budgeting decision or because there is a lack of cheap eating options, but because its worth knowing a large part of why you trek around with sweaty back packs from village to bus to city, is because you have friends who will go with you to Chinese restaurants and back to village, onto bus, and into bars and who will validate your craziness with theirs. And that’s definitely beyond tolerance.

This picture was taken at a friends house. So, since I last updated this thing, a lot has happened. At the end of September, my group went back to Dedza for our IST reconnect and training. The event lasted two weeks with the first week being just for us volunteers, and the second week, Peace Corps brought in all of our counterparts (people we are assigned to be working with in our villages) to be involved in the trainings. We covered IGA (income generating activities) such as soap making and jam making as well as some training on beekeeping and fruit tree budding and grafting and HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention activities. The Peace Corps even hired a new chef to feed us while we were there, and the food was outstanding. We even got ice cream 4 or 5 times while we were there. Funny story with that, my friend Colleen’s counterpart was very excited to be there and was really happy about all the different foods they were giving us, but didn’t know exactly what all the different kinds of food were, so the first day for breakfast he just mixed EVERYTHING together. It ended up being a big pile of potatos, onions, ketchup, sausage, peanut butter, jelly, hot sauce, etc… Then for dinner, they gave us ice cream as a dessert, but he had never had it so, he put it on his rice until Colleen told him that might not be the best idea. I had to laugh when he finally tried the ice cream, loved it, then ate it so fast he got his first “brain freeze” (insert Encino Man parody here). All in all, it was a pretty good time and was great to reconnect with everyone again. It was nice to be “pampered” by the Peace Corps again for a while, but after being on our own at site for 5 months, I was happy to be done with the training and get back to being on my own again. Since then, I’ve been working on a couple small projects involving water and HIV/AIDS prevention as well as continuing on with the Health Post renovation in my village (panandi panandi. “little by little”). As of right now, the 4 other volunteers in my district and I are planning on hosting a big Peace Corps gathering for Halloween involving a pig roast, volleyball match, and costume contest. We are pretty excited about our costume ideas (we are collectively going to be the Planeteers while our other Malawian friend who’s house we will use will complete the team as Captain Planet). It’s going to be great! After that, I will be continuing on those projects and possibly attend an Environment Camp in November, then Thanksgiving at the country director’s house in Lilongwe. And finally, the second annual Malawi Music Project at the beginning of December!! I’m really excited about this project. It’s basically a small weeklong camp for about 20 Malawian youths where we get them together to teach them about music and creativity. Some other volunteers came up with the idea last year and it turned out to be a big hit here, so I’m really looking forward to being involved. There are a pretty good handful of talented musicians among the PC volunteers, and we have all been working on different songs/activities for the event. After that, Christmas somewhere on the lake I think. My friend Justin and I are hoping to plan some sort of little mini-vacation for the holidays and trying to go out to the islands in the lake for some R&R if possible. That’s about it for now. I’m still doing well and enjoying the experience and seem to find more than enough time for playing the guitar and have begun writing some of my own songs too.
Before I forget I just wanted to let some people know I have received their packages, and the “worthless item” competition is getting pretty good so far. MATT-got your package with the “Chuck Norris quotes” and the “How to survive a Zombie attack” book . NEAL-got yours as well with the Nashville newspaper. DAVE AND DEBBIE-got yours too with the “Debbie Approved” magazines. All of these were great and had a lot of wonderful treats and things, so thank you VERY MUCH. But, I have to say, I think my Mom is winning the competition as of now with the wonderful, wooden napkin holders I just received! Thanks Ma!! Hope everyone is doing well back there, and can’t wait for some of you to visit. Just wanted to give a belated congrats to Dave and Debbie on their marriage, and a future congrats to the biggest Jonas Brothers fan in all of Tennessee, my boy Neal on his upcoming wedding as well. Love you guys and wish you the best.
Peace

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.