January Update

January has been a very sad month for me. It started off with saying bye to Jason. Malawi just doesn’t seem to be the same without him. Before, Malawi had no traces of Jason… but now, everything is stamped with memories of him. I was so happy when he was here and got a taste of what it would have been like if we (were married and) volunteered together. Now I am left feeling really empty and not looking forward to my birthday. I guess if you feel shitty, shitty things will come your way. Then a series of unhappy things keeps happening. I can’t wait till this month is over.

So January started out with taking Jason to the airport. After Jason left, I did not go back to my site until the 7th only to leave again on the 9th to Blantyre. I refused to spend my birthday in the village despite many people offering to cook for my birthday. I spent that night at Mrs. Su’s house (though she and Mr. Su are in Taiwan for 1 month). I hung out with Hector, Shayla and Lu that night.

My dad was the first to call on my birthday, at 5:45am (which was only 7:45pm on the 9th). I went to the PC house and went to use the internet with Becky and Elaine. Then we went to the used bookstore called DAPP (development assistance from people to people, something like that, too many acronyms to remember). I bought Leo Tolstoy’s Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Short Stories. We had lunch at the Food Court. Then Becky and I went to the brand new (and only) movie theater in Malawi which just opened the week before and watched Batman: The Dark Knight. It was expensive but totally worth it. It made me feel (almost) like being at a movie theater back at home, popcorn and all. Even though I got to do that, I was still bummed that Jason was gone and I didn’t get to spend it with my friends back at home. I was also sad because Kristen couldn’t come.

I went back to site on Sunday, the 11th. I was also determined to stay at site for the next 3-4 weeks without leaving. I felt bad being away for so long and all the traveling was getting to me. I was exhausted and tired of living out of my backpack. Plus January was the month I needed to buckle down and get my project rolling.

2 days later, on Tuesday, I got a text message and a phone call from Moni. She decided to be medically separated and was going back to the states on Saturday or Sunday. Moni had a tough fight. Here’s a brief background about Moni: She was a labor and delivery nurse in America for over 20 years. She requested to go to Eastern Europe and asked NOT to be sent to Africa since she can’t handle the heat. She is one of our “mature” volunteers. PC Washington told her they needed her experience in Africa. Okay. She came to Malawi, only to find that without Midwifery (without the M after her RN) she could not teach at the nursing college and was BANNED from the maternity wing. Just so you know, I have NO experience in the health field, let alone labor and delivery, have seen about 20 babies being born and could have if I wanted to. The hospital attendant at my health center (who has no formal education, hired to clean and mop) delivers babies. So she was denied of her sole purpose to coming to Malawi. She also met someone, Allan (which is how I know him). Then PC decides to take her from all of us in the south and put her in Dedza in the middle of nowhere with no running water or electricity. The people at her health center do not live there so Moni ends up running the whole health center and is on call 24 hours a day. She ends up delivering all the babies and not getting any sleep. The area where is she is just as hot as where I am except she’s not Southeast Asian like me and is NOT made for the heat. She gets sick from heat and exhaustion and was taken to Lilongwe (which is why Jason and I saw her on New Year’s). So she finally decides to leave and go home. I threw my plan of staying at site away and called Kristen. Told her what happened and said we needed to go to Lilongwe to see Moni off. The next day she got a ride from her house all the way to Blantyre so they picked me up along the way. Thursday we headed to Lilongwe. Got a ride to Balaka and when they dropped us off, they asked for 500 kwacha each. Kristen was passed out and I told them we didn’t have any money and that I didn’t realize that we had to pay since we didn’t discuss this beforehand. They let us go for free. Then we were picked up by a very nice guy named Vincent. He was going to Salima first then Lilongwe and we decided that that was fine since we could see Ken while we were in Salima. I kept Vincent company since Kristen was passed out in the backseat. We got to Salima and he bought us lunch. After lunch we went to Ken’s office while Vincent had to work. We hung out with Ken for about half an hour and Vincent picked us up again. He dropped us off at the door to the PC transit house. We spent that night with Moni and also inherited a lot of stuff that she was leaving behind.

We spent Friday with Moni and she treated me, Kristen, and Cathy to a nice dinner. Allan drove up Saturday and they spent the day together. That night me, Kristen, and Cathy went out with Salima, Ken, John, and Stevie for Salima’s birthday dinner. I didn’t want to but if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have anyone to eat dinner with. The restaurant was really nice but also really far away and expensive. I spent 1000 kwacha just on the taxi ride to and from the restaurant. Then the dinner cost me almost 2000 kwacha. Yea I know I complain about the kwacha a lot, but if you were only paid about 300 kwacha a day, you would too, especially if it only costs that much per week in food in the village.

Allan drove Moni, me, Kristen, and Cathy to the airport. We helped her check in and had to say bye. It was really sad to see her go. She was like a mom to me in Malawi. Then Allan drove us back to the house and pick up the (almost) pure bred German Sheppard that he was buying from another volunteer. What a sweet doggy she was!!! Kristen left Monday. I spent Monday and Tuesday getting quotations for the materials required to build the guardian shelter. I stayed at Mrs. Su’s house to hang out with Hector, Shayla, and Lu and also because I wanted to watch the Obama’s Inauguration on Tuesday. I found out that Hector was going back to the UK and then back to Taiwan. I watched the Inauguration from 4pm until 8pm then went to sleep. Wednesday I said bye (forever) to Hector and went back to site.

Feeling especially bummed, I spent about 4 days in my house. My house is a mess and my fence is still on top of the garden and I just don’t feel like doing anything. The first night at home, the electricity died. This is a normal thing. It dies for a few hours and then comes back. Not this time, it was out for almost 2 days and all my food and vegetables went bad in the fridge. On top of that, because there was no electricity, we also didn’t have any water. Good thing I had some drinking water stored in the fridge. The electricity has been sporadic since and every time it goes out, I’m afraid it won’t come back for days. It is impossible to sleep without a fan. I spent that night fanning myself with less than 2 hours sleep.

Sunday the 25th came, and I decided to go to the market with Hilda (my neighbor). As we were walking to the market, I tripped on a tree root and fell hard on both my knees and both my elbows. We (non-Malawians) call those things “Azungu traps” (azungu=foreigners, anyone not Malawian). Those random things sticking out of the ground or random holes in the middle of a sidewalk that only “azungu” fall in or trip on. What a sight it must have been for the villagers! I’m usually really good about watching the ground because I don’t want to step in animal poop. Well, the split second that I did not pay attention, I ate it real good. At the market, I bought a few vegetables and fruits. Then Hilda and I decided that it was safer to take a bike taxi home. As we began to go with me in the bike in front, I heard a loud scream and turned around. Apparently Hilda’s bike taxi hit a little girl about 7 years old. All I saw was the bike stopped and a little kid under the front tire. I guess when he rang the bell, the girl got confused and didn’t know where to go, staggered and the bike taxi guessed wrong. That was a first. Kids are usually really good about scattering when they see a moving vehicle.

Well, to top off this bad luck month, I got a text message from my friend Dan, who works for World Vision at the district, telling me that my friend (and also his) Ulemu (her name means “respect” in Chichewa) was in an accident and died. I couldn’t believe it. He’s kidding right? Then he called to confirm. I still couldn’t believe it. I always make it a point to see her when I go to the boma. She was a good friend to me. She worked for CAVWOC (Center for Alternatives for Victimized Women and Children), an NGO in boma. I was going to see her on Friday and to return a Tupperware she put mandasi (similar to donut holes) she made for me. I’ve kept that container for about 3 months now and it was time to return it. She told me she was going to Lilongwe though so I figured I’d give it back next week. He told me that she was on an AXA bus from Lilongwe back to Blantyre. It was raining and the bus was going really fast; it flipped and rolled. A lot of people were injured but she was the only one to die and on the spot. Everyone else is at Kamuzu Hospital in Lilongwe with injuries. I am still in total shock. She was my age, so young, with so much ahead of her. I am really going to miss her. RIP Ulemu

So to wrap up this month: it has been shitty. They tell us we will go through cycles of emotion throughout our service here, kind of like the economic cycle with peaks and valleys. Well, I am in the total pits right now. I know that this is just a phase and that it will pass. I really miss home and my family and friends. The 26th is the Lunar calendar New Year. Hopefully everything will pick up from here. Happy New Year everybody.