I'm heading back to site after traveling around a bit. Ended up hiking mulanje mountain and then travelling a ridiculously long distance into Mozambique.....got to dive at Manta Reef seeing Manta rays, dolphins, 100's of fishes, and snorkeling with whale sharks.
Fun stuff now back to work.........
Well after so many months of hibernation and silence I'm typing up another entry. Sorry it took so long but I guess there isn't that much to share but also the fact that I have to travel a good 5 hours just to get anywhere near a computer with internet. Let alone one that hasn't been ravaged by the likes of so many viruses.
So....whats been going on you may ask?
Just doing my thing in the village still teaching math, english, and physical science to my now Form 2 and 4 students. (That would be what we call 10 and 12th grade for those of you that don't speak british) This is the forms where they will be taking the exam after pretty much this upcoming term. Being a second year volunteer you kind of get into the groove of things. Finding food, cooking, teaching, getting water, using the pit latrine, hitchhiking, fightin off scorpions/snake/bats/crazy ants, etc. become a normal part of life. There aren't too many more novel things in this experience. The way the culture works, hows to live and work with the people around you, become a natural part of how you go about your life. I would say just in my perceptions the experience can be quite different from doing this for one year or two years. When I hit my one year point last october I was definitely going through an extremely negative period where it was simply intolerable for my to work with many Malawians. Apparently most people who have to work and live in another culture/country find the same type of experiences after that amount of time. For me it was simply reaching a point where the little things that used to amuse me no longer did but became a hinderance to simply getting whatever I was working on done. Part of you shuts down to simply reflect back and think can these differences be brought together and overcome. Some people can and some can't just depends on if the individual feels they have to compromise who they are as a person to simply meet a goal. Part of being a second year is that many days it simply feels like your just watching time go by also. I suppose thats how I would express my "feelings".
It makes you wonder how much of the way you think and believe about how the world works change being in a situation like this. You asks questions like: what does it mean to be human? why are there disparities? huh? where did the money go? am i making a difference (and if so is it positive)? who's the real cause of the problem? eggs or soya pieces? why doesn't anyone check what NGO's and organizations are ACTUALLY doing?
The library project I was trying to help my community and school work on has been approved and the community is gung ho about finishing soon. For my sake I hope they do so.......but we didn't get approved for furniture but my fiances parent said they wanted to donate for that so awesome blessing in that.
Was trying to work with an AIDS orphan support group but can't seem to figure out when and where they have meetings....can be quite frustrating. Mainly its because they don't come or change at the last minute...oh well
They grow lots of rice in my area because of two irrigation schemes (hara and wovwe). It's amazing how much rice comes out of these areas. Every day I'll see an overloaded lorry full of rice (currently a variety called Title 10, kinda tastes crappy). Other varieties you can find here are pusa, fire, and kilombero (super fire....emmm emmm good) Watching the guys lift the bags onto the lorries is amazing because these bags weigh over 200 kilos and they throw it up there with their shoulders. This country doesn't exactly have fork lifts.
Ummmmmm anything else to say...
Oh yeah, i'm about to climb mount mulanje and dive in Mozambique...I hope I don't die
