I just realized this evening how many skills we've acquired since we've been here; we have done everything from childcare to secretarial work, and it seems like everything in between. If anything, we've learned the skill of adapting to whatever situation or job needs doing.
Yesterday we were substitute teachers for first grade (here it's called Standard 1), which was partly a success and partly mass chaos. We almost gave a time-out to Mwiza; we told Bonnie, who is the regular teacher, today that he earned about 3 time-outs, and she laughed. He's a smart student, but listening isn't his strong point. They were pretty fun, though. They are good kids, and we had a good time practicing pronouns and doing art projects and other stuff. Pretty much we did the basic substitute teacher busy-work kind of stuff, but it was pretty hard, and we were definitely tired after we dismissed them.
My favorite part was probably P.E., when we actually got to teach them something new. We taught them the game where you have a partner and you have to toss a bean bag back and forth and step back each time, and if you drop it, you are out. This was something relatively new to them, and it looked like they had fun. It was hilarious, though: boys are boys everywhere. We paired them off randomly, and some of the partners were a boy and a girl, and those boys refused to get close enough to start the game until we threatened to not let them play at all. Stanley was the most vocal about this, but when I told him he could sit out and I would be Laurine's partner, he managed to move to the starting position. Because they listened and got the game, I think they really had a lot of fun with it, and I had fun with them.
On Thursday in the clinic, we saw 6 more babies from the crisis nursery, many of whom were tiny, so small that their heads were about the size as my hand. I made friends with a little one named Tsala, who was afraid of me at first (Mzungu?), but after a while, she started smiling and laughing. She and the others were so cute! The people who work at the crisis nursery seem wonderful, and really seem to love these babies, but I feel like the babies could really use some one-on-one love and attention, and it was wonderful to be able to love them and hold them. With three or four extra pairs of hands, each baby can get a lot more attention, which is probably greatly needed, since they have no mothers to hold them.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience to be around these babies and the people who are so dedicated to caring for them when they need so much. The caretakers who came with the babies showed such a genuine affection for them, calling them all by their names, playing with them, and being interested in their health. They thanked us a lot as we loaded them up to leave, and Dr. Tan was very impressed with how well they had been keeping records on each baby.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Exploring different career options, the Malawian way...
This week has brought exceptional opportunity for career options here in Malawi!!
Monday, we were eye 'doctors' as we checked the K5 and 1st graders' eyes to make sure they didn't have major vision problems. Remarkably, none of them had any real issues, and the overwhelming majority had 20/20 vision in both eyes. The hardest part was helping them convey to us the fact that they could see the letters or which way the E was tumbling. The littler ones don't know their letters very well, but the tumbling E chart was pretty much impossible, even with a Tumbuka-speaking Auntie around to explain to all of them. It was very interesting, to say the least.
Tuesday, we became preschool teachers because the K3 class' teacher needed to go into town to the doctor. She is 7 months pregnant (about) and hadn't gone in to see the prenatal medical officer because she works on Tuesdays. The staff people got wind of that and gave her the day off to get that taken care of, so she left very detailed lesson plans for us that were amazingly easy to follow. Auntie Lakoni was there with us, so we close to outnumbered the 8 children in the class. They're learning how to speak English and say their colors, shapes, hold books properly and to generally have a little bit of structure. I actually enjoyed it, but am not considering changing my major to Early Childhood Education or anything like that.
Today, a crisis nursery in town brought 10 of their babies and toddlers in to our clinic so we could run HIV tests on them and give them physicals. All were HIV negative, which is amazing since most come from families where the mother is dead, cannot care for them or are abandoned by one or both parents. This place, in theory, will send them to live with extended family or have them adopted once they begin to eat solid food and aren't considered 'babies' anymore. That is remarkably hard to do, though, because the families make themselves scarce, especially if they know they will not be able to feed the child. Some of these children are candidates for Rafiki, which would be great. Twins, Adam and Eve are possibly the brightest ones-Dr. Tan has her eye on them in a big way. They are not too far behind on growth and are close to 'normal' on height/weight charts. With proper nutrition and all, they could catch up pretty quickly. We had our first experience with dirty cloth diapers that soak through and Danielle got spit up on. Otherwise, it was fun, although slightly overwhelming. At one point, I was holding Hilda, the littlest baby and a toddler at the same time.
Tomorrow we get the last 6 or so babies from this nursery, so having only 6 will seem like a breeze!!
Friday we will have the opportunity to become first grade teachers as Madam Bonnie and Uncle Ralph need to go to Lilongwe to pick up new mini-missionaries and get more pages for Ralph's passport. Right now he is here without one and that is a problem. So, Bonnie has prepared lesson plans for us and gone over them, so we will take on 18 of the brightest kids around and try to teach them something. They will get to go home early and have lots of free play time outside that day. These children speak great English, though, and are so very smart, that they will give us no problem, I don't think. Discipline is a non-issue here; children just behave and get punished justly if they don't-quite different from a lot of American 5 year olds!!
Monday, we were eye 'doctors' as we checked the K5 and 1st graders' eyes to make sure they didn't have major vision problems. Remarkably, none of them had any real issues, and the overwhelming majority had 20/20 vision in both eyes. The hardest part was helping them convey to us the fact that they could see the letters or which way the E was tumbling. The littler ones don't know their letters very well, but the tumbling E chart was pretty much impossible, even with a Tumbuka-speaking Auntie around to explain to all of them. It was very interesting, to say the least.
Tuesday, we became preschool teachers because the K3 class' teacher needed to go into town to the doctor. She is 7 months pregnant (about) and hadn't gone in to see the prenatal medical officer because she works on Tuesdays. The staff people got wind of that and gave her the day off to get that taken care of, so she left very detailed lesson plans for us that were amazingly easy to follow. Auntie Lakoni was there with us, so we close to outnumbered the 8 children in the class. They're learning how to speak English and say their colors, shapes, hold books properly and to generally have a little bit of structure. I actually enjoyed it, but am not considering changing my major to Early Childhood Education or anything like that.
Today, a crisis nursery in town brought 10 of their babies and toddlers in to our clinic so we could run HIV tests on them and give them physicals. All were HIV negative, which is amazing since most come from families where the mother is dead, cannot care for them or are abandoned by one or both parents. This place, in theory, will send them to live with extended family or have them adopted once they begin to eat solid food and aren't considered 'babies' anymore. That is remarkably hard to do, though, because the families make themselves scarce, especially if they know they will not be able to feed the child. Some of these children are candidates for Rafiki, which would be great. Twins, Adam and Eve are possibly the brightest ones-Dr. Tan has her eye on them in a big way. They are not too far behind on growth and are close to 'normal' on height/weight charts. With proper nutrition and all, they could catch up pretty quickly. We had our first experience with dirty cloth diapers that soak through and Danielle got spit up on. Otherwise, it was fun, although slightly overwhelming. At one point, I was holding Hilda, the littlest baby and a toddler at the same time.
Tomorrow we get the last 6 or so babies from this nursery, so having only 6 will seem like a breeze!!
Friday we will have the opportunity to become first grade teachers as Madam Bonnie and Uncle Ralph need to go to Lilongwe to pick up new mini-missionaries and get more pages for Ralph's passport. Right now he is here without one and that is a problem. So, Bonnie has prepared lesson plans for us and gone over them, so we will take on 18 of the brightest kids around and try to teach them something. They will get to go home early and have lots of free play time outside that day. These children speak great English, though, and are so very smart, that they will give us no problem, I don't think. Discipline is a non-issue here; children just behave and get punished justly if they don't-quite different from a lot of American 5 year olds!!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
"Yes, you are from Rafiki. That is why I give you fair price; Mzuzu price.
Today we had the opportunity to visit the woodcarvers market again and have lunch at one of the lake resorts as well. It has been rainy off and on this week, but the weather was beautiful today which allowed us to have a leisurely lunch at Makuzi, which is a small getaway tucked back into the bush owned by a South African family. The two of us joined with Laura and Anna, the two other missionaries here that are under 25 years old. Anna is a nurse and is here to do triage for the community clinic in a couple of weeks and Laura is on a two year time commitment here which will be up in March. The beach at Makuzi is quiet and isolated with plenty of rocks to climb on and look out onto the lake and an area where guests can swim. It is postcard type beautiful.
The prices had seemingly gone up at the wood carver's today-when we would ask how much they wanted for things, the prices tended to be pretty high. We started at the top of the hill today, which is the opposite of what we did last time and found that the prices were pretty consistent, but the top was definitely not cheaper the way it was before. I got a salad bowl and spoons, a picture frame, a few handmade greeting cards and a couple of paintings (oil on canvas) and the two of us got a present for the ever-amazing Dr. Wilson who graciously agreed to take the blame for whatever we were going to get ourselves into over here. Danielle also got a salad bowl with spoons, two picture frames and obtained a hippo figurine and greeting card as substitute for getting change from other purchases. All in all, it was a good trip. Us being with Rafiki helps, because we get 'the Mzuzu price,' the prices locals would get, not tourists, although they still try to rip us off because we're Americans. A lot of them are very nice and some remembered our names from last time. One guy thought I lived here because I spoke to another man in Tumbuka; I had to tell him that 'how are you?' and 'I am fine; how are you' were the extent of my Tumbuka vocabulary. After that, I pretty much became one of the crowd, as much as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl fits in in Malawi...
The prices had seemingly gone up at the wood carver's today-when we would ask how much they wanted for things, the prices tended to be pretty high. We started at the top of the hill today, which is the opposite of what we did last time and found that the prices were pretty consistent, but the top was definitely not cheaper the way it was before. I got a salad bowl and spoons, a picture frame, a few handmade greeting cards and a couple of paintings (oil on canvas) and the two of us got a present for the ever-amazing Dr. Wilson who graciously agreed to take the blame for whatever we were going to get ourselves into over here. Danielle also got a salad bowl with spoons, two picture frames and obtained a hippo figurine and greeting card as substitute for getting change from other purchases. All in all, it was a good trip. Us being with Rafiki helps, because we get 'the Mzuzu price,' the prices locals would get, not tourists, although they still try to rip us off because we're Americans. A lot of them are very nice and some remembered our names from last time. One guy thought I lived here because I spoke to another man in Tumbuka; I had to tell him that 'how are you?' and 'I am fine; how are you' were the extent of my Tumbuka vocabulary. After that, I pretty much became one of the crowd, as much as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl fits in in Malawi...
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Birthday Celebrations and more!
It has occurred to me that we have been talking about "mzungu's" without actually explaining what a mzungu is. In Malawi, any white person is called a "mzungu." In the context of the children who live in the Rafiki Village, the usage of the word is pretty funny. These kids are very used to seeing white people- the Overseas Staff, and mini-missionaries like Emily and myself, and to them, we're just other aunties and uncles, similar to the rest of the staff, but a little different, of course. However, when they pass a strange white person on the street (on the way to church, or wherever they may need to go) it is a big deal to them. The kids are all pointing and shouting, "look, a mzungu!" despite the fact that there are three "mzungu's" in the car with them. In our case, the label is there, but it's not definitive, which is a little funny, and perhaps an interesting commentary on labels.
Today the village celebrated all of the January birthdays at snack time today- probably 7 or 8 birthday kids. The celebration is very cute. After the kids all eat their snacks, the "birthday boy or girl" in each family stands on a chair at one end of the Dining Hall and their mama reads a special note for them, often saying how thankful they are for this particular son or daughter, and ending with a Bible verse for the child. Then everyone in the Dining Hall sings happy birthday and another song of one of the mama's choosing. It is particularly special to listen to the mamas refer to these children as their sons and daughters, because they really do think of them in that way. They are hired to care for the children, but it's more than that- they love them as their own, caring for their welfare, and being proud of their achievements. I am beginning to have a huge amount of respect for these mamas and how much they care for their children.
And now a couple pictures:
Valiness today at the birthday celebration. This month, she turned five, and in her present from Rafiki, she received the Dora toy she is playing with here. She felt pretty special.
The goofball on the left is Maggie who puts the spitfire in Mama Jane's cottage by her inability to sit still for very long without getting into some form of mischief. This is Brenda whom she is with in this picture, but they were on the playground having fun with the camera. This picture really captures them both being very much themselves.
This is a typical scene from the market. The walkways are narrow and generally crowded with people selling all kinds of good things. I think it would be pretty easy to get lost in there, because the walkways keep going and going in some cases, but the place is subdivided by type of merchandise being sold, so that helps.
Today the village celebrated all of the January birthdays at snack time today- probably 7 or 8 birthday kids. The celebration is very cute. After the kids all eat their snacks, the "birthday boy or girl" in each family stands on a chair at one end of the Dining Hall and their mama reads a special note for them, often saying how thankful they are for this particular son or daughter, and ending with a Bible verse for the child. Then everyone in the Dining Hall sings happy birthday and another song of one of the mama's choosing. It is particularly special to listen to the mamas refer to these children as their sons and daughters, because they really do think of them in that way. They are hired to care for the children, but it's more than that- they love them as their own, caring for their welfare, and being proud of their achievements. I am beginning to have a huge amount of respect for these mamas and how much they care for their children.
And now a couple pictures:
Valiness today at the birthday celebration. This month, she turned five, and in her present from Rafiki, she received the Dora toy she is playing with here. She felt pretty special.
The goofball on the left is Maggie who puts the spitfire in Mama Jane's cottage by her inability to sit still for very long without getting into some form of mischief. This is Brenda whom she is with in this picture, but they were on the playground having fun with the camera. This picture really captures them both being very much themselves.
This is a typical scene from the market. The walkways are narrow and generally crowded with people selling all kinds of good things. I think it would be pretty easy to get lost in there, because the walkways keep going and going in some cases, but the place is subdivided by type of merchandise being sold, so that helps.
Monday, January 14, 2008
"You are a girl or you are a boy?"
The title of this post is an actual question I received today after introducing myself to one of the men working on the village today. Often people are confused about my name, "Danielle," because to them it sounds like I'm saying "Daniel," which is clearly a boy's name. So basically everyone at the village think I have a boys name (some of the children think "Auntie Danielle" is a little funny), and it has be the source of some name confusion with the grownups.
But today we were walking back from the Rafiki Junior Secondary school, where we were covering books, and we passed a group of men. We greeted them, and they were friendly. But then one of them came up to ask us our names. Emily introduced herself, "Emiry," he repeated. And then it was my turn. I told him my name and he did a double-take. (I was wearing a skirt and a pink t-shirt) and then he asked me, "You are a boy or a girl?" Which launched us into the common explanation of the difference in the U.S. between the names "Daniel" and "Danielle". He wasn't at all being rude, just confused; it's pretty funny, and remarkably common.
In other news, the Rafiki Village, Malawi received another mini-missionary today, who arrived from Lilongwe (4 hours south) understandably jet-lagged. We look forward to getting to know her and working with her as she begins to get acclimated.
And, we were without power for most of today, as well as yesterday. Yesterday was a scheduled outage. Just about every other Sunday, they turn off the electricity coming into Mzuzu around 7 am and it stays off for about 12 hours. (there are a couple of generators in the village, so there's not too much to worry about, especially with the scheduled outages). However, today the power went out unexpectedly around 4 in the morning. I think they ran the generators for a little while so the kitchen could prepare lunch, and I'm not sure when the power came back on. However, today it did cause a bit of a problem, since the water tank fed by the well pump did not get to fill up all the way last night, and with the usage of the village, we ran out completely about mid-afternoon--a bit of an inconvenience, but an aspect of life here that requires a little flexibility. It will be replenished again completely by tomorrow, and then we'll be fine.
We are still attempting to learn Tumbuka from the kids. Today, Grace laughed hilariously with the rest of her table at dinner as she tried to teach me the Tumbuka equivalent to, "Be quiet" or "No more noise": "ku mpanga fuwawa yaye" (approximate phonetic spelling). At one point, I had about 8 of the ten kids repeating the phrase to me over and over and laughing as I failed. about 78 repetitions later, we had an approximately correct pronunciation.
Tonight we went to Mama Jane's cottage for evening devotions, which is always fun. The children are almost ready for be by then, and they all sit in the floor, and their mama or an auntie reads a story to them from the Bible. By this point, they are all pretty tired and quiet; not their usual busy selves, so it's a completely different atmosphere.
But today we were walking back from the Rafiki Junior Secondary school, where we were covering books, and we passed a group of men. We greeted them, and they were friendly. But then one of them came up to ask us our names. Emily introduced herself, "Emiry," he repeated. And then it was my turn. I told him my name and he did a double-take. (I was wearing a skirt and a pink t-shirt) and then he asked me, "You are a boy or a girl?" Which launched us into the common explanation of the difference in the U.S. between the names "Daniel" and "Danielle". He wasn't at all being rude, just confused; it's pretty funny, and remarkably common.
In other news, the Rafiki Village, Malawi received another mini-missionary today, who arrived from Lilongwe (4 hours south) understandably jet-lagged. We look forward to getting to know her and working with her as she begins to get acclimated.
And, we were without power for most of today, as well as yesterday. Yesterday was a scheduled outage. Just about every other Sunday, they turn off the electricity coming into Mzuzu around 7 am and it stays off for about 12 hours. (there are a couple of generators in the village, so there's not too much to worry about, especially with the scheduled outages). However, today the power went out unexpectedly around 4 in the morning. I think they ran the generators for a little while so the kitchen could prepare lunch, and I'm not sure when the power came back on. However, today it did cause a bit of a problem, since the water tank fed by the well pump did not get to fill up all the way last night, and with the usage of the village, we ran out completely about mid-afternoon--a bit of an inconvenience, but an aspect of life here that requires a little flexibility. It will be replenished again completely by tomorrow, and then we'll be fine.
We are still attempting to learn Tumbuka from the kids. Today, Grace laughed hilariously with the rest of her table at dinner as she tried to teach me the Tumbuka equivalent to, "Be quiet" or "No more noise": "ku mpanga fuwawa yaye" (approximate phonetic spelling). At one point, I had about 8 of the ten kids repeating the phrase to me over and over and laughing as I failed. about 78 repetitions later, we had an approximately correct pronunciation.
Tonight we went to Mama Jane's cottage for evening devotions, which is always fun. The children are almost ready for be by then, and they all sit in the floor, and their mama or an auntie reads a story to them from the Bible. By this point, they are all pretty tired and quiet; not their usual busy selves, so it's a completely different atmosphere.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
I like my blue eyes, but I might be better off here if they were brown...
We got to experience a third-world market this morning, complete with dried fish, people who stare and water running through the pathways. It was hard at first to look around and soak in everything that was going on because if you weren't careful, you might step into one of the drainage 'ditches' where water was running freely through the middle of market. They sell everything from cell phone accessories, mops, dried fish, beans, shoes and bed sheets.
There are different sections of market for things like clothes, food, housewares, etc. but all of it mainly consists of rows and rows of little wooden huts full of supplies and a person either inside or outside in the walkway screaming at you to come buy from them. Its all very confusing sometimes.
A small little girl, who couldn't have been older than 3 saw Danielle, Madam Darlene and I and promptly started crying for surprise and fear of three 'muzungus.' We gathered this fact from the adults around us who thought it was hilarious that she was so scared of us, enough to cover her face and hide. They, of course, were talking about us in Tumbuka, but hearing the word 'muzungu' several times clued us in.
One young lady, who appeared in her early or mid 20's spoke to me as I walked by her, but it took me a second to figure out whether she was speaking English or Tumbuka and to be sure that she was talking to me. I was able to respond to her greeting in Tumbuka and I think she like that, and was slightly amused. She threw her head back and smiled while sort of laughing, then stuck her hand out to shake mine. Danielle turned around when she heard all the laughing only to find that I was yards behind talking to this girl.
The young national men seem to get some entertainment out of making eyes at us and asking us how we are doing. They also seem to appreciate getting paid for every picture we take of Malawi; they usually don't end up with any change burning in their pockets. But, when we walk by and one of them says hello to us and starts talking about the 'muzungu' in Tumbuka, we usually get skittish and move on. I wouldn't know how to respond in America, let alone here!! They really want to con us into buying something from their spot in the market, but chances are, we don't need leather belts or socks. It also helps that we are never far behind a Rafiki staff person, all of which except one are easily old enough to be our parents, and in some cases, our grandparents. Danielle would easily remind my parents that she's on this trip with few purposes, the main one of which is to keep me out of trouble...
We went into a couple of grocery stores; you master the art of figuring out which store will have certain items on your list so as to get all the things you need before running out of stores to go to. Mzuzu is the largest town anywhere in the North of Malawi-the border is about 2o0 miles north and Lilongwe is 250 miles south of here; this is your best chance of being able to buy things like milk, eggs, Nutella, Kellog's cereal, soft serve ice cream, etc. The soft serve is actually pretty good, too. But, ice cream here is quite expensive, which should come at no surprise.
We also went to a dairy for fresh milk and yogurt, but didn't actually see a cow. The people who own this dairy helped Rafiki get started here in Malawi, so it is nice to support them whenever possible. Milk comes in sealed plastic bags that you cut across the corner to open; they spoil remarkably fast as they have absolutely no preservatives in them and are lucky to have been pasteurized.
The last exciting thing from our Saturday so far (besides packing lots of antibiotics into baggies) was that lunch was barbecue chicken sandwiches with chips (French fries). The barbecue here is sweet, so the children tend to like it a lot, and you cut your sandwich up into pieces and eat it with your fork; I got teased by Grace for picking it up with my hands. They enjoyed the fact that, "yes, we eat a meal like this where we live."
There are different sections of market for things like clothes, food, housewares, etc. but all of it mainly consists of rows and rows of little wooden huts full of supplies and a person either inside or outside in the walkway screaming at you to come buy from them. Its all very confusing sometimes.
A small little girl, who couldn't have been older than 3 saw Danielle, Madam Darlene and I and promptly started crying for surprise and fear of three 'muzungus.' We gathered this fact from the adults around us who thought it was hilarious that she was so scared of us, enough to cover her face and hide. They, of course, were talking about us in Tumbuka, but hearing the word 'muzungu' several times clued us in.
One young lady, who appeared in her early or mid 20's spoke to me as I walked by her, but it took me a second to figure out whether she was speaking English or Tumbuka and to be sure that she was talking to me. I was able to respond to her greeting in Tumbuka and I think she like that, and was slightly amused. She threw her head back and smiled while sort of laughing, then stuck her hand out to shake mine. Danielle turned around when she heard all the laughing only to find that I was yards behind talking to this girl.
The young national men seem to get some entertainment out of making eyes at us and asking us how we are doing. They also seem to appreciate getting paid for every picture we take of Malawi; they usually don't end up with any change burning in their pockets. But, when we walk by and one of them says hello to us and starts talking about the 'muzungu' in Tumbuka, we usually get skittish and move on. I wouldn't know how to respond in America, let alone here!! They really want to con us into buying something from their spot in the market, but chances are, we don't need leather belts or socks. It also helps that we are never far behind a Rafiki staff person, all of which except one are easily old enough to be our parents, and in some cases, our grandparents. Danielle would easily remind my parents that she's on this trip with few purposes, the main one of which is to keep me out of trouble...
We went into a couple of grocery stores; you master the art of figuring out which store will have certain items on your list so as to get all the things you need before running out of stores to go to. Mzuzu is the largest town anywhere in the North of Malawi-the border is about 2o0 miles north and Lilongwe is 250 miles south of here; this is your best chance of being able to buy things like milk, eggs, Nutella, Kellog's cereal, soft serve ice cream, etc. The soft serve is actually pretty good, too. But, ice cream here is quite expensive, which should come at no surprise.
We also went to a dairy for fresh milk and yogurt, but didn't actually see a cow. The people who own this dairy helped Rafiki get started here in Malawi, so it is nice to support them whenever possible. Milk comes in sealed plastic bags that you cut across the corner to open; they spoil remarkably fast as they have absolutely no preservatives in them and are lucky to have been pasteurized.
The last exciting thing from our Saturday so far (besides packing lots of antibiotics into baggies) was that lunch was barbecue chicken sandwiches with chips (French fries). The barbecue here is sweet, so the children tend to like it a lot, and you cut your sandwich up into pieces and eat it with your fork; I got teased by Grace for picking it up with my hands. They enjoyed the fact that, "yes, we eat a meal like this where we live."
Friday, January 11, 2008
We like bugs, and Adventures in Mzuzu
Greetings, from the end of a very exciting week!
This week, we saw the central hospital, inventoried the clinic's pharmacy in preparation for the community-wide clinic, fitted all the standard 1 and kindergarten children with new school sweaters, and ate Indian food in Mzuzu. Also, today one of the Overseas Staff took me with her to see a local secondary school. So we've had a pretty adventurous week.
Wednesday night, we had a sort of "Girl's night out," and six of us went into town to a new Indian restaurant that had been recommended to the ROS by previous mini-missionaries and other ROS. It was really neat, and amazing food. We were basically the only people inside, so we had the full attention of the waiter, the owner, and his family. The owner kept recommending things to us to try, so in the end, we had 3 different types of flat bread, about 4 varieties of naan, chicken tikka, and "pea potato bobs" in addition to our actual meals. "Pea potato bobs" are some kind of green kebab something involved green peas, potatoes, spinach, and some other vegetables made into patties and fried. It was so spicy, though! We downed tons of water and rice, so we could continue tasting the things we had ordered.
Dr. Tan took us into Mzuzu to run errands earlier this week, in preparation for the community clinic coming up soon, so we got to see quite a bit more of the town. We visited a veterinarian's office (which shares a building with a dentist- one side the the vet, the other is the dentist- I think they're married), and got tours of Central Hospital and a more extensive tour of the health clinic. Dr. Tan says that the hospital, which was built by a combination of Taiwanese and Malawian funds, is very good, compared to most hospitals in the developing world. It is a one-story collection of smaller buildings, each housing a ward or a specific office (ie. Ob, radiology, physiotherapy, or the Pediatric ward, etc.) connected by a series of covered sidewalks. We went into the pediatric ward, which was not crowded at the moment, but was certainly very full of beds to keep children, each with it's own mosquito net. There is not a whole lot of technology available, for example, no CT scan or radiation treatment, but Dr. Tan says they take sanitation very seriously and provide pretty good patient-care, comparatively.
The children start school next week, and they are getting pretty excited. The oldest group will very willingly tell you that they are going into Standard 1 this term (basically first grade), and they were so excited to receive their special school sweaters! Emily and I went to the cottages one by one, fitting the Standard 1's and Kindergartener's in navy blue sweaters, which we had approximately separated by "size"- quite a feat as they were all basically the same size, with slight variations in the lengths of the sleeves and the widths of the body. But everybody who needed one got a sweater, and it was a little sad, because the three and four year olds crowded around the bin, waiting for theirs, and then we had to explain that next year, or in two years, then they would get sweaters, too. That couldn't dampen the shining faces of the older kids, though, looking so neat and ready for school in theirs.
You can't help but love these kids. Each of them is very different- there are trouble makers, like the "fearsome five", and some so shy they'll hardly look you in the face, like little Wanangwa, who is three years old and a very new addition to Rafiki (he's been here a month), although when you can get a smile out of him, it's adorable. They still love showing us things that they can do, having us praise their drawings, or running towards us to show us the new bug they just caught (most often these are grasshoppers, but today Stanley (member of Mama Ronsi's fearsome five) brought us this funny, stick-looking bug with long brown legs). Our usual response to the bugs is, "Wow, that's really neat! (backing away slightly) Why don't you put it back in the grass so it can hop away now?"
This week, we saw the central hospital, inventoried the clinic's pharmacy in preparation for the community-wide clinic, fitted all the standard 1 and kindergarten children with new school sweaters, and ate Indian food in Mzuzu. Also, today one of the Overseas Staff took me with her to see a local secondary school. So we've had a pretty adventurous week.
Wednesday night, we had a sort of "Girl's night out," and six of us went into town to a new Indian restaurant that had been recommended to the ROS by previous mini-missionaries and other ROS. It was really neat, and amazing food. We were basically the only people inside, so we had the full attention of the waiter, the owner, and his family. The owner kept recommending things to us to try, so in the end, we had 3 different types of flat bread, about 4 varieties of naan, chicken tikka, and "pea potato bobs" in addition to our actual meals. "Pea potato bobs" are some kind of green kebab something involved green peas, potatoes, spinach, and some other vegetables made into patties and fried. It was so spicy, though! We downed tons of water and rice, so we could continue tasting the things we had ordered.
Dr. Tan took us into Mzuzu to run errands earlier this week, in preparation for the community clinic coming up soon, so we got to see quite a bit more of the town. We visited a veterinarian's office (which shares a building with a dentist- one side the the vet, the other is the dentist- I think they're married), and got tours of Central Hospital and a more extensive tour of the health clinic. Dr. Tan says that the hospital, which was built by a combination of Taiwanese and Malawian funds, is very good, compared to most hospitals in the developing world. It is a one-story collection of smaller buildings, each housing a ward or a specific office (ie. Ob, radiology, physiotherapy, or the Pediatric ward, etc.) connected by a series of covered sidewalks. We went into the pediatric ward, which was not crowded at the moment, but was certainly very full of beds to keep children, each with it's own mosquito net. There is not a whole lot of technology available, for example, no CT scan or radiation treatment, but Dr. Tan says they take sanitation very seriously and provide pretty good patient-care, comparatively.
The children start school next week, and they are getting pretty excited. The oldest group will very willingly tell you that they are going into Standard 1 this term (basically first grade), and they were so excited to receive their special school sweaters! Emily and I went to the cottages one by one, fitting the Standard 1's and Kindergartener's in navy blue sweaters, which we had approximately separated by "size"- quite a feat as they were all basically the same size, with slight variations in the lengths of the sleeves and the widths of the body. But everybody who needed one got a sweater, and it was a little sad, because the three and four year olds crowded around the bin, waiting for theirs, and then we had to explain that next year, or in two years, then they would get sweaters, too. That couldn't dampen the shining faces of the older kids, though, looking so neat and ready for school in theirs.
You can't help but love these kids. Each of them is very different- there are trouble makers, like the "fearsome five", and some so shy they'll hardly look you in the face, like little Wanangwa, who is three years old and a very new addition to Rafiki (he's been here a month), although when you can get a smile out of him, it's adorable. They still love showing us things that they can do, having us praise their drawings, or running towards us to show us the new bug they just caught (most often these are grasshoppers, but today Stanley (member of Mama Ronsi's fearsome five) brought us this funny, stick-looking bug with long brown legs). Our usual response to the bugs is, "Wow, that's really neat! (backing away slightly) Why don't you put it back in the grass so it can hop away now?"
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