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?"
Friday, January 11, 2008
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Immunizations, Weather and Other Fun Facts
Do you remember when you were little and you had to go to the doctor to get shots? You remember the anxiety and the fear of having to go and wait, all the while knowing that soon it would be your turn to get stuck with the needle?
Well, we experienced that with some of the children yesterday morning. We went with about 18 little ones who needed follow-up shots or had no record of previous immunizations to the health clinic in town to get immunized. You can't help but feel a little sorry for them, knowing how unpleasant it is, but it's certainly necessary.
In Mzuzu the health clinic does not at all resemble the health clinics I've seen in the U.S. The basic structure was kind of like an open area enclosed behind a brick wall with a structure that kind of resembles one of those picnic shelters in the county park at one end--a big open area under a roof with brick supports and a cement floor. Lots of women were lined up around and sitting on benches under the shelter area holding their babies, waiting to get them immunized. The general progress of things seemed to involve a nurse going down the rows of benches with needles, unceremoniously injecting each child and filling in the immunization card before moving on to the next one. It was so different from the way I remember getting shots as a child, but it is a very efficient system, which I think is probably very valuable here with all the children who need immunizations.
Our children were older than the others there, for the most part, so most of them were more aware of what was going on. As they watched their friends get immunized, the anxiety built up, and not even stickers and candy could completely ease them. But soon it was over and they mostly forgot about it pretty quickly. Some of them, however, were very brave, especially the ones who had already had shots before, and we were very impressed.
This week, we have also started preparing the medications for the medical clinic at the end of the month. Dr. Tan expects to have an incredible amount of people show up for the free medical clinic, to be seen by a doctor and receive medication. In this country, even pain medicines like Tylenol and Advil are very expensive for the average worker, so one thing that the clinic will do is dispense medication. To make it all run more smoothly, we are pre-packaging individual bags of pills for people, like vitamins, Tylenol and antibiotics, so when the doctors prescribe things, they are already put together and ready to be distributed. Hopefully it will make the whole system run more quickly.
As a side note, the rainy season in Malawi has not really been what I expected it to be. I kind of expected it to pour down rain every day, or at predictable intervals, but that's not really the case. It rains pretty frequently, a couple times a week or so, it seems, and often it rains at night, but there is a pretty fair amount of dry weather as well, and clear skies. When it is raining, the wind also tends to pick up, making it a little chilly even though it's summer here now, and most days are very warm.
Tonight the skies are very clear and there are more stars than we've ever seen before. Some of them are familiar constellations--Orion is overhead--but there are tons of stars and constellations we have no way of recognizing or naming. A virtue of this country's usage or access to electricity is that, unlike at home, there is very little light at night, making the stars brighter and easier to see. There are millions of them visible tonight, although we can't find the moon.
Well, we experienced that with some of the children yesterday morning. We went with about 18 little ones who needed follow-up shots or had no record of previous immunizations to the health clinic in town to get immunized. You can't help but feel a little sorry for them, knowing how unpleasant it is, but it's certainly necessary.
In Mzuzu the health clinic does not at all resemble the health clinics I've seen in the U.S. The basic structure was kind of like an open area enclosed behind a brick wall with a structure that kind of resembles one of those picnic shelters in the county park at one end--a big open area under a roof with brick supports and a cement floor. Lots of women were lined up around and sitting on benches under the shelter area holding their babies, waiting to get them immunized. The general progress of things seemed to involve a nurse going down the rows of benches with needles, unceremoniously injecting each child and filling in the immunization card before moving on to the next one. It was so different from the way I remember getting shots as a child, but it is a very efficient system, which I think is probably very valuable here with all the children who need immunizations.
Our children were older than the others there, for the most part, so most of them were more aware of what was going on. As they watched their friends get immunized, the anxiety built up, and not even stickers and candy could completely ease them. But soon it was over and they mostly forgot about it pretty quickly. Some of them, however, were very brave, especially the ones who had already had shots before, and we were very impressed.
This week, we have also started preparing the medications for the medical clinic at the end of the month. Dr. Tan expects to have an incredible amount of people show up for the free medical clinic, to be seen by a doctor and receive medication. In this country, even pain medicines like Tylenol and Advil are very expensive for the average worker, so one thing that the clinic will do is dispense medication. To make it all run more smoothly, we are pre-packaging individual bags of pills for people, like vitamins, Tylenol and antibiotics, so when the doctors prescribe things, they are already put together and ready to be distributed. Hopefully it will make the whole system run more quickly.
As a side note, the rainy season in Malawi has not really been what I expected it to be. I kind of expected it to pour down rain every day, or at predictable intervals, but that's not really the case. It rains pretty frequently, a couple times a week or so, it seems, and often it rains at night, but there is a pretty fair amount of dry weather as well, and clear skies. When it is raining, the wind also tends to pick up, making it a little chilly even though it's summer here now, and most days are very warm.
Tonight the skies are very clear and there are more stars than we've ever seen before. Some of them are familiar constellations--Orion is overhead--but there are tons of stars and constellations we have no way of recognizing or naming. A virtue of this country's usage or access to electricity is that, unlike at home, there is very little light at night, making the stars brighter and easier to see. There are millions of them visible tonight, although we can't find the moon.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Being a Mzungu in an African Presbyterian church...
Church today was very interesting; a service is considered short if it lasts 2 hours or less. We got out after about 2 hours, communion and all. It makes American church seem like ‘drive-thru’ service. But, the singing was cool because they have a guy who leads the congregation (a cappella mainly) and he starts each line, the congregation joins him and finishes it. We sang a few popular favorites: Amazing Grace, Rock of Ages, Nearer my God to Thee, etc. In traditional Anglicanism the guy who leads would be called the Cantor, but this was similar although not entirely the same concept. The hymnals are not provided, so if you have your own, you must bring it yourself. The books have no music notes, as most people have no reason to know how to read music, but instead you follow the lead of the guy up front and read the verses out of the book.
We went to Presbyterian church, so there was ritual similar to what I am used to at home, especially during communion liturgy. You drop your offering in a bowl on the way in, and if you are not in good standing with God or the church, you must go out after the sermon and are not allowed to take communion. We sat near the front, but I think a good number of people left from our wing. There were three wings to this church: the couples' wing, youth and singles/widows with children. We sat with the Rafiki mamas, so we were in the singles/widows with children wing. It is also customary to have first time visitors introduce themselves, so we got up in front of the 200+ people and explained that we were from America and were living at Rafiki for a few weeks. We went to the English service, and the Tumbuka service followed immediately. The children go to Sunday School pretty much immediately after the start of the service and are allowed to play outside after they are finished. It is very interesting.
All in all, it was a great experience and very helpful in understanding their culture; in Malawi, church is very important. We have the option of going back to the same church or trying out a different one next week, so who knows!
Pictures From Our First Week!
Here are some pictures we'd like to share from our first week in Malawi. Some of them are at the Rafiki Village, others are from the surrounding areas.
This is the view from the back porch of the guest house at Rafiki, where we're staying. You can see a little bit of the sunset in the background (the sunsets we've seen in Malawi are all beautiful)
This picture was taken on the way to the woodcarvers market on Saturday. These buildings constitute most of a small village along the main road. The white one with the roof is most likely a store of some sort and it isn't unusual to see independent vendors selling things in the area in front of these buildings. Some people selling mangoes, bananas or fish will stand next to the road and flag down drivers as they pass.
Twins, Josephine (L) and Justina (R) sit in the medical clinic waiting for their turn to see Doctor. Danielle is reading them a story in hopes of keeping them occupied. Justina will make funny faces at Emily if their eyes meet at a distance; the is a great copy-cat, too! Both of the twins are very lively and have quite different personalities. Before coming to Rafiki, they lived with their grandfather nearby.
Albert (L) and Thomas (R) attempt to be subdued enough to paint without covering themselves and the room. Thomas is one member of the afore mentioned 'fearsome five' as he has 4 brothers in his cottage close to his age. Albert is pretty shy, but he has a mischievous side when he is with his friends. All in all, they are typical 6 year old boys!
This is the view from the back porch of the guest house at Rafiki, where we're staying. You can see a little bit of the sunset in the background (the sunsets we've seen in Malawi are all beautiful)
This picture was taken on the way to the woodcarvers market on Saturday. These buildings constitute most of a small village along the main road. The white one with the roof is most likely a store of some sort and it isn't unusual to see independent vendors selling things in the area in front of these buildings. Some people selling mangoes, bananas or fish will stand next to the road and flag down drivers as they pass.
Twins, Josephine (L) and Justina (R) sit in the medical clinic waiting for their turn to see Doctor. Danielle is reading them a story in hopes of keeping them occupied. Justina will make funny faces at Emily if their eyes meet at a distance; the is a great copy-cat, too! Both of the twins are very lively and have quite different personalities. Before coming to Rafiki, they lived with their grandfather nearby.
Albert (L) and Thomas (R) attempt to be subdued enough to paint without covering themselves and the room. Thomas is one member of the afore mentioned 'fearsome five' as he has 4 brothers in his cottage close to his age. Albert is pretty shy, but he has a mischievous side when he is with his friends. All in all, they are typical 6 year old boys!
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Tile ma...what? Woodcarvers, and Friendly People
Greetings from Malawi!
In the few days since our last post, it seems like a lot has happened. We have now been here officially one week, which seems like forever. However, at the same time, we know that the rest of the month is going to fly by just as fast as this week has, which is a little scary and sad to me. I don't know if we've talked about how beautiful this country is or how kind the people are, because we're so surrounded by it. The people are amazingly hospitable, and seem very willing to share their culture with us.
Where we are located right now, in the North of Malawi, it is very mountainous and green, especially right now in the rainy season, but one of the night guards was telling me this morning that it's green like this even in the winter dry season. The hills are covered with little plots of vegetables, mostly maize, which is a staple food (primarily in the form of nsima).
Today Dr. Tan drove us to Lake Malawi, which allowed us to see a lot more of the countryside. We stopped along the way at a stretch of road where lots of woodcarvers had set up stands with their work for sale. Malawi is well known for its beautiful woodcarving, which we saw firsthand today in the form of tables and bowls and all kinds of items, all of which are handcarved and unique. The woodcarvers know Dr. Tan and the other Rafiki Overseas Staff, and they were very friendly, asking about other staff people here and telling us that they would give us better prices because we're with Rafiki. Between the three of us, we bought quite a bit, but we tried to spread out our business among all of the carvers, especially since this is a slow season for tourists and people to buy their things.
As we were leaving, we had to pass through a police gate, which is always interesting; I think the police are there to make sure your insurance and all your paperwork is up to date, but whenever they stop us, they have a conversation with us about where we're from and where we're going, and often they acknowledge everyone in the car, not just the driver. I noticed today that people outside the village often refer to Emily and myself as "sister" and Dr. Tan as "mama". For example, one of the policemen who stopped us looked at Emily and me and said, "How are you, sister?" which seems to me a little like a very friendly familiarity.
At the Rafiki Village on Thursday and Friday, we finished helping Dr. Tan do physicals on the rest of the children here, all of whom have grown tremendously in the past year--one boy has grown 22 cm in a year. A lot of our job at the clinic has been keeping the kids entertained and under control while they wait their turn. On Thursday, we had a group of five older boys to contend with (around 5 or 6 years old). They almost ran us ragged, trying to keep them out of places they shouldn't be and off of things they shouldn't climb on. (Later, we were informed that we had experienced the "fearsome five." Often, their mama will send them out of the cottage to pull weeds or sweep the porch, to keep them from bringing the house down) And yesterday, we had a group that was mainly girls, who, after getting sufficiently bored, decided they wanted to "fix our hair." This was fine because it kept them entertained, but slightly painful to us. All the kids seem to be really thriving in the village, with the attention, nutrition and education they are receiving. School starts for them on the 14 of January, and they are excited.
Tonight, we welcomed one new member to the Americans staying in the Rafiki Village: Susan arrived today in Lilongwe, and one of the couples here went down to pick her up and bring her. We had a big staff welcome dinner of tacos, and had a lot of fun tonight.
The children as well as the national staff have begun helping us learn Tumbuka. So far, we have gotten as far as "Muli Uli?" (How are you?) and "Tile makola kwa limwe" (I'm fine, how are you?), much to the entertainment of all the Tumbuka-speakers around us. It reminds me a bit of the episode of Friends where Joey learns to speak french. Example: small girl, slowly, with me repeating each syllable "Ti...le...ma...ko...la......kwa...lim...we" and then I say "Tile mahola kahime?" after which, the girl laughs and corrects me.
That's all for now, we'll be blogging again soon!
In the few days since our last post, it seems like a lot has happened. We have now been here officially one week, which seems like forever. However, at the same time, we know that the rest of the month is going to fly by just as fast as this week has, which is a little scary and sad to me. I don't know if we've talked about how beautiful this country is or how kind the people are, because we're so surrounded by it. The people are amazingly hospitable, and seem very willing to share their culture with us.
Where we are located right now, in the North of Malawi, it is very mountainous and green, especially right now in the rainy season, but one of the night guards was telling me this morning that it's green like this even in the winter dry season. The hills are covered with little plots of vegetables, mostly maize, which is a staple food (primarily in the form of nsima).
Today Dr. Tan drove us to Lake Malawi, which allowed us to see a lot more of the countryside. We stopped along the way at a stretch of road where lots of woodcarvers had set up stands with their work for sale. Malawi is well known for its beautiful woodcarving, which we saw firsthand today in the form of tables and bowls and all kinds of items, all of which are handcarved and unique. The woodcarvers know Dr. Tan and the other Rafiki Overseas Staff, and they were very friendly, asking about other staff people here and telling us that they would give us better prices because we're with Rafiki. Between the three of us, we bought quite a bit, but we tried to spread out our business among all of the carvers, especially since this is a slow season for tourists and people to buy their things.
As we were leaving, we had to pass through a police gate, which is always interesting; I think the police are there to make sure your insurance and all your paperwork is up to date, but whenever they stop us, they have a conversation with us about where we're from and where we're going, and often they acknowledge everyone in the car, not just the driver. I noticed today that people outside the village often refer to Emily and myself as "sister" and Dr. Tan as "mama". For example, one of the policemen who stopped us looked at Emily and me and said, "How are you, sister?" which seems to me a little like a very friendly familiarity.
At the Rafiki Village on Thursday and Friday, we finished helping Dr. Tan do physicals on the rest of the children here, all of whom have grown tremendously in the past year--one boy has grown 22 cm in a year. A lot of our job at the clinic has been keeping the kids entertained and under control while they wait their turn. On Thursday, we had a group of five older boys to contend with (around 5 or 6 years old). They almost ran us ragged, trying to keep them out of places they shouldn't be and off of things they shouldn't climb on. (Later, we were informed that we had experienced the "fearsome five." Often, their mama will send them out of the cottage to pull weeds or sweep the porch, to keep them from bringing the house down) And yesterday, we had a group that was mainly girls, who, after getting sufficiently bored, decided they wanted to "fix our hair." This was fine because it kept them entertained, but slightly painful to us. All the kids seem to be really thriving in the village, with the attention, nutrition and education they are receiving. School starts for them on the 14 of January, and they are excited.
Tonight, we welcomed one new member to the Americans staying in the Rafiki Village: Susan arrived today in Lilongwe, and one of the couples here went down to pick her up and bring her. We had a big staff welcome dinner of tacos, and had a lot of fun tonight.
The children as well as the national staff have begun helping us learn Tumbuka. So far, we have gotten as far as "Muli Uli?" (How are you?) and "Tile makola kwa limwe" (I'm fine, how are you?), much to the entertainment of all the Tumbuka-speakers around us. It reminds me a bit of the episode of Friends where Joey learns to speak french. Example: small girl, slowly, with me repeating each syllable "Ti...le...ma...ko...la......kwa...lim...we" and then I say "Tile mahola kahime?" after which, the girl laughs and corrects me.
That's all for now, we'll be blogging again soon!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Don't bounce your dinner (and other new adventures)
So it's my turn to post, and I get to talk about everything that happened today, which was really a pretty eventful day.
This morning while helping with activities for the kids, I realized that there is a pretty significant language barrier with the younger children--those who have not been in the village very long. The most commonly spoken language in this area of Malawi is Tumbuka, so that's the first language everybody learns in the home. As they get older, most of the children begin speaking English as well, but the really small kids haven't gotten that far yet, and Emily and I don't know any Tumbuka. Thankfully, the teachers speak it, so everybody pretty much knew what to do. Some of the mamas offered to teach us some Tumbuka, which is really exciting! I'll be glad to be able to communicate a little more directly with the kids.
In the afternoon, working in the clinic we helped Dr. Tan with another group of children.
The last group of three children in the clinic were older, about 6 years old, and they read a story to me, which was really impressive, especially since English isn't their first language! They read as well as most American kids their age, and probably better than some.
We also went into town today for the first time. Dr. Tan wanted to show us the town of Mzuzu- the largest town north of Lilongwe. For some perspective on that, we drove 4 hours north of Lilongwe to get to Mzuzu, and it's about another 4 hours' drive to the border. Also, I think Mzuzu is only about 4 or 5 city blocks long. The town itself is very different from my conception of a town, but I'm not really sure how to explain the differences. Next time, we'll take pictures, which will probably explain better. In our encounters with Malawian people, both inside Rafiki and in town, the people have been very friendly for the most part.
For dinner, we ate a common traditional Malawian food called Nsima, which reminds me most of grits cooked within an inch of their lives. It tastes almost exactly like regular grits at home and pretty good, too, but we're pretty sure if you dropped it, it would bounce, so a curious kind of texture.
We're learning a ton just from listening to everyone on the staff. The national mamas love to share about Malawian culture with us, and the Overseas staff continue to educate us about this country.
We promise to put pictures up soon!
This morning while helping with activities for the kids, I realized that there is a pretty significant language barrier with the younger children--those who have not been in the village very long. The most commonly spoken language in this area of Malawi is Tumbuka, so that's the first language everybody learns in the home. As they get older, most of the children begin speaking English as well, but the really small kids haven't gotten that far yet, and Emily and I don't know any Tumbuka. Thankfully, the teachers speak it, so everybody pretty much knew what to do. Some of the mamas offered to teach us some Tumbuka, which is really exciting! I'll be glad to be able to communicate a little more directly with the kids.
In the afternoon, working in the clinic we helped Dr. Tan with another group of children.
The last group of three children in the clinic were older, about 6 years old, and they read a story to me, which was really impressive, especially since English isn't their first language! They read as well as most American kids their age, and probably better than some.
We also went into town today for the first time. Dr. Tan wanted to show us the town of Mzuzu- the largest town north of Lilongwe. For some perspective on that, we drove 4 hours north of Lilongwe to get to Mzuzu, and it's about another 4 hours' drive to the border. Also, I think Mzuzu is only about 4 or 5 city blocks long. The town itself is very different from my conception of a town, but I'm not really sure how to explain the differences. Next time, we'll take pictures, which will probably explain better. In our encounters with Malawian people, both inside Rafiki and in town, the people have been very friendly for the most part.
For dinner, we ate a common traditional Malawian food called Nsima, which reminds me most of grits cooked within an inch of their lives. It tastes almost exactly like regular grits at home and pretty good, too, but we're pretty sure if you dropped it, it would bounce, so a curious kind of texture.
We're learning a ton just from listening to everyone on the staff. The national mamas love to share about Malawian culture with us, and the Overseas staff continue to educate us about this country.
We promise to put pictures up soon!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
"I think I found my bicuspid!"- Danielle...
Yesterday, Jan. 1, Danielle and I had the opportunity to help out in the medical clinic for the first time as Dr. Tan gave Mama Jane's 10 children physicals. It was very encouraging to look at these children's charts and watch their height and weight climb from nearly starving and way below average to within the normal range in a matter of a few months. Most of them have experienced 'catch up growth' since they have had access to proper nutrition and have shot up in the height category. We stocked the pharmacy with all of the medicines we brought over from America, so it seems that they will be supplied for the clinic at the end of the month. There's enough aspirin to keep the average American out of headaches for 2 years, easily. Danielle and I had a good time playing with the stethoscope, too. Of course, there are no easy answers to medical problems here, and painkillers are no exception. They just relieve symptoms of much larger problems which are often untreatable.
We were able to play on the playground with the children in the afternoon and had about 60 kids screaming, "Auntie Danielle, Auntie Emily, look what I can do!!" Its pretty tough to remember these children's names, for the most part, too. Its easier to learn several within a meal setting where you're only with 6-1o children at a time. But, then when they're all together, and running around, it gets confusing all over again.
We also had the opportunity to sit down with the adult staff people after lunch, which was educational in all sorts of areas. It will be good to learn from them while we're here. I'm starting my day by eating dinner's leftovers for breakfast; we are helping the children with art today, which will be quite interesting, I'm sure. :)
We were able to play on the playground with the children in the afternoon and had about 60 kids screaming, "Auntie Danielle, Auntie Emily, look what I can do!!" Its pretty tough to remember these children's names, for the most part, too. Its easier to learn several within a meal setting where you're only with 6-1o children at a time. But, then when they're all together, and running around, it gets confusing all over again.
We also had the opportunity to sit down with the adult staff people after lunch, which was educational in all sorts of areas. It will be good to learn from them while we're here. I'm starting my day by eating dinner's leftovers for breakfast; we are helping the children with art today, which will be quite interesting, I'm sure. :)
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