Beginning of our last week :(

Monday July 4:

            Today was a pretty low-key day, seeing as that the students exams have been over for a week so only half of our class was there today.  Katie and I decided to teach animals today, and our lesson was pretty scattered because we seriously have nothing left to teach them.  Sophia let us borrow her animals poster that had descriptions of 5 different types of animals; fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.  We went over the poster with them, and then held up different drawings of animals and asked them which type of animal they were (ex. A picture of a lion, and the answer was mammal).  Half of the students weren’t paying attention, while the other half kept running outside, but we were warned that this week would be a joke.  Katie also made crossword puzzles, for example: 1 down: an animal that lives in water and breaths through gills, and the answer would be fish.  They really didn’t understand the concept of a crossword puzzle, let alone even understand the 5 different categories of animals, so after 30 minutes our lesson was officially over.  Katie and I spent the remaining hour and a half just playing with them, which was completely fine with me.  If we weren’t here this week, since their exams are already over, nobody would be at school anyways.  At about 11 am, we all headed over to the standard 1 classroom to paint desks.  Last summer, a group donated tables and benches to every standard 1 class.  Dr. Kelly had the idea to paint every 3 desks a different color; we had blue, green, yellow and red.  This way, they can always refer to the groups as “group yellow” or “group red”.  Also, it brought so much more personality to the dull, empty classrooms.  I kept thinking if only all of the classrooms had tables how much of a difference that would make.  If Katie and I’s 100 students had benches to sit on, lessons and projects would be so much easier and more productive.  Just something else I can pray for, I guess.

            We all walked over to the Demonstration school at about 2 to be picked up, and while we waited for Willie to come, Katie, Allison and I saw Gerald and some of his friends.  There was a huge fire and Gerald showed us how they make their soccer balls; how damn creative these kids are, I swear.  They take recycled plastic bags and roll them into balls, one bag inside of another.  They then burn the edges so that the plastic bag melts and secures the  “circle” shape.  It was really neat to watch, and they were cracking us up as they were trying to bribe us to sell them our iPods for the football. Haha!  When Willie picked us up, we went into town and Katie, Allison, Bebe and I went to Tasty Bites for an early dinner.  It’s crazy how hungry we all are all the time! We had lunch at noon, and by 3 pm we were all starving.  I’m not a fan of Tasty Bites, but I thought I’d give it another try and it still didn’t change my views.  However, we all got a slice of the cake, which was so on point, so it made the rest of the meal worthwhile.  Now we are back at Annie’s, and the Internet is out again.  Typical.  I guess it’s a good thing because I’d get really sad looking on Facebook and seeing everyone’s 4^th of July plans.  I know none of their plans even compare to this experience, but I definitely have the biggest case of FOMO: Fear of Missing Out.  Haha!  Anyways, tomorrow Katie and I have decided to bring in our laptops and let the kids watch a movie.  They are going to completely freak-out and I’m so excited to see their reactions!  We’re probably going to break the classroom into 2 groups, and 1 will watch “It Takes Two” on my computer, and the others will watch “Toy Story” on Katie’s computer.  If we have any time left, we’re going to play our music and let them dance to it.  I don’t know if any of these kids have even seen computers before, let alone watch a movie from it.  It’ll definitely a fun day and I’ll be sure to get more good pictures.  Touch base later; I cannot believe I only have a week left. I don’t think I’m ready to leave these children. Peace, love, Malawi. 

Saturday, July 2

Saturday, July 2:

            Well, yesterday was an extremely emotionally draining day.  We woke up at about 9 am, had breakfast, and then some of us headed into town to get last minute items for the orphanage.  Katie and I purchased 100 blankets, which cost about 400 American dollars.  The blankets were huge and really soft, so it was an amazing purchase.  We then came back to Annie’s and waited for Peter, and then headed to the orphanage at about noon.  The ride was only about 40 minutes, which was a great change of pace from our normal drives.

            As we pulled up, there were about 400 children and 20 guardians that were singing and dancing.  As we got off the bus, they are greeted us and kept thanking us.  The village then put on about a 2-hour long show for us that consisted of village dancing and drumming, skits, and then a presentation of gifts to Dr. Kelly, Dr. Liz and Dr. Talbot.  A few of the guardians lined up with the presents and one by one they called up the professors.  The professors would stand across from them, and the guardians would dance over to them and then place the present at their feet.  It was very special and the professors were all beaming.   Throughout the show, a few of us students had little kids come up to us and sit on our laps.  This was, by far, the best part of the village.  I had a gorgeous little girl, probably about 2 or 3, who sat on my lap for the whole 2 hours.  It was so special, as when she first came to me she barely smiled and was very uptight.  Throughout the show, she started hugging and cuddling up to me with the biggest smile on her face.  It was amazing.  I then handed her a beanie baby dog and she cherished that thing like it was the best gift she had ever received.  She kept kissing it and putting it on my chest.  With her on my lap, I barely paid attention to the performances, but she was the focus of my attention.

            After the performances were all over, things took a turn for the worse.  It was our time to hand out all of our gifts and donations, and riots literally broke out.  The orphans all about 3 years and younger went into a room and we handed them their beanie babies and toys (I donated all my bubbles to them), and then the rest of us were outside handing out the underwear and toys we had purchased.  The process was extremely unorganized, as we were handing things out trying to make sure every child got one thing.  Katie and I were handing out the blankets with Willie and two of the workers, who had a list of 100 individuals who didn’t receive blankets last summer when we visited.  Only about 3 people out of all 100 said thank you to Katie and I, which was really frustrating and overwhelming.  Katie and I were both flooded with emotion, as people were grabbing and pushing and screaming.  I finally had to leave and go back to the bus, because I couldn’t handle it anymore.  I then saw my little girl crying, as someone had taken her beanie baby and we had none left.  I had so many emotions, anger, sadness, anxiety, and overwhelming confusion.  As I was sitting on the bus, one by one people started loading on, all of them crying more than the one before.  Moments later, Katie came running onto the bus sobbing.  While trying to hand out the clothes we had all brought to donate to the girls, a riot broke out and Katie was right in the middle of it.  She said the teenage girls were hitting and slapping eachother, and pulling eachothers hair.  Katie almost got trampled and said the girls had ripped the clothes from fighting for them and it was the most terrifying thing she had ever experienced.  She was really shaken up and just completely stunned by their behavior.

            On the bus road home, all was silent as we were all sitting with our emotions and thoughts.  While I was initially just so angry and stunned by their behavior, I began putting myself in their shoes.  If I was an orphan, and never got stylish clothes or cool toys, and a group came to visit me to donate things, I would probably act the same way out of fear that I wouldn’t get anything or they wouldn’t have enough things for everyone.  I think that, just like them, my manners would go out the window and my fear of being skipped would override my ability to stay sane.  Unfortunately, as these children grow up, they learn to fight for what they want; literally.  They know that opportunities are limited, so they want to take control.  It’s like they need to be taught how to receive things and be patient and trustworthy that sometimes there is actually enough for everyone.  The entire trip today was nothing as to what we were all expecting with the chaos and un-organization, but as completely heart-breaking that it was, it was nonetheless a good experience.  I will never forget that little girl on my lap, and her innocence and beauty.  I wished that I could take her home with me and give her a bright, happy and healthy future, but for now my prayers and thoughts will always be with her. Peace, love, Malawi.

            Last night as I mentioned before was the party that Peter threw for us at the Black Diamond.  After the orphanage, none of us even wanted to go out and celebrate, but we all took naps and shared our thoughts with eachother and vented.  We then all started getting ready, and Katie, Allison Bebe and I all pregamed in our room together.  Let’s just say that one thing turned into another, and before we knew it we were on the bus heading to Black Diamond, Allison and I leading a sing-a-long in the front of the bus.  We pulled up to Black Diamond about 20 minutes later, and most of us should have called it a night at that point haha.  The famous Lucius Banda performed Bob Marley for us, and we danced the night away.  We got home at about 1:30 am, in which Simeon had to carry a few of us girls to our beds.  To say it was a successful night would be an understatement, and the stories and pictures this morning were absolutely hysterical.  I absolutely love these girls here, and I can’t believe we’re going into the last week. Craziness.  That’s all for today, peace, love, Malawi. 

A low-key Friday :)

Friday, July 1:

            Today was a pretty uneventful day, seeing as it was Friday so only half of our students were at school and all of us teachers were still exhausted from the “go-go-go” mentality we’ve been experiencing.  Katie and I took the students pictures on disposopal cameras last week (nearly impossible since the second you pull out a camera they all jump in the picture).  We had two students in each picture, holding up a piece of paper with their name on it, and after we got the pictures developed we cut them in half, and glued each students picture on their own piece of construction paper.  We tried “cropping” the pictures while cutting so that they were the focus of the picture, but some of the students were literally surrounded by others. Oh well.  We wrote their names at the top, and called them out one of by one this mronign to hand them their paper.  They were so excited, for it was probably the first time they’ve owned a picture of themselves!  Then we handed out string, markers, and crayons and they each had to put their full name, their birthday, their village, and how many brothers and sisters they had underneath their picture.  On the back of their papers they had to draw a picture of their family (again, amazed at their artistic ability), and when they were done they put the string through holes at the top and had their own sort of “dog-tag” that they could hang on doorknobs, exc., at their houses.  This took a lot longer than expected because they were in admiration of the pictures for the first part of the class. 

            After about an hour of us being at the school, us teachers were all called into a room were we were measured.  Apparently, on the last day of school, the teachers all make us traditional African dresses and we wear them around that day (they’re interesting, for lack of better words!).   I am really excited though because it’ll be a great keepsake and I know the teachers are all so grateful for us and will be so excited to give us these outfits.

            Katie and I went back in our classroom while the students finished up their “dog-tags” and we taught them the Malawi song that our drum teacher, Innocent, made up for us on Tuesday.  The song is in Chichewa, and I think our students thought we made it up on our own, so they all cheered and clapped after we taught it to them.  They then sang it with us, and then volunteers came up to sing it by themselves to the class.  It was a hit!  We ended the day singing, “Peel the Banana”, “Baby Shark” and “Down by the Banks” before we parted for the weekend.  I cannot believe next week is our last week, but Katie and I will probably just do fun activities every day.  The children’s attention span is quickly dwindling every day, because usually during these two weeks after their exams are over they don’t learn lessons in school, they just play.  School kind of turns into a daycare center during those two weeks, so Katie and I aren’t going to try to keep teaching them.  We both agreed we just want them to have fun, feel loved and remembered when we leave on Friday.  I really can’t think about it though, because I’m already starting to get so upset.  Anyways, we are all just chilling tonight before a long and eventful day tomorrow, as we are going to the Orphanage with Peter.  Cross your fingers that I don’t fall completely inlove with some orphan and sign adoption paperwork.  Kidding, but not really!  That’s all for today, peace, love, Malawi. 

Safari Day 2

Thursday, June 30:

            Today was another amazing day at Camp Mvuu, although I don’t think anything could compare to our arrival and stay yesterday.  We woke up this morning at 5:15 am, which would have been hard even if I had gotten more than 5 hours of actual sleep!  As we headed to our  morning safari walk, we were stunned at the amount of, and proximity to our hut, elephant and hippo poop.  There was literally pounds of it right outside of our front door! We all wished we had been awake to see them, although I probably would have freaked out that if they saw me they would charge our chalet!  It was actually kind of humorous because one of the workers jobs is to go around in the morning and scoop up all of the dung droppings from the night before. Craziness.

            As all of us tired, groggy, freezing teenagers headed towards the entrance, we couldn’t help but smile at the gorgeous sunrise. The only sunset I have ever been up to experience was at beach week 4 years ago, and God knows an African sunrise blows a North Carolina sunrise out of the water.  Our group met with our guide and headed into the bush for our nature walk.  We saw lots of warthogs, baboons (my favorite!) and impalas (typical), but the beauty of the sahara in itself made waking up at 5:15 am completely worthwhile.  We got the history of all the trees, and I actually learned a lot about birds (who would have thought that they’re actually smart animals?).   One of my favorite things that we saw was the “Butterfly Tree”.  It’s leaves all looked exactly like butterflies, so we all picked our favorite one to take home.  It’s bark is also the strongest bark of any tree in Africa, but it was such a petite tree that I was definitely surprised to hear that.  At 7:30 am we finally headed back to Mvuu for breakfast, which obviously we had all been counting down for.  I got a bowl of Rice Krispie’s with goat milk (I think?) which was perfect because I’ve been craving cereal.  I also got a bowl of fruit and the most delicious banana raisin muffin I have ever had (not exaggerating).  After stuffing our faces, we realized that that was just the appetizer breakfast and that they were going to take our order for the real breakfast.  I don’t know how we did it, but we were all so excited for a real breakfast that we ignored the fact we weren’t even hungry.  I got a great ham, cheese and tomato omelet with REAL ketchup!, and a piece of toast with their home-made apricot jelly. Talk about a feast, but I am definitely not complaining.  After being pleasantly full (it was the first time we have actually felt full while being here), we headed towards the water at about 8:30 am for our morning water safari.  I know, I know, you didn’t think these days could get any better did you?

            Our standard group of 8 plus Dr. Kelly all loaded onto the boat and headed down the Shire River.  We saw literally hundreds of hippos, who are rather ugly, but they’re cute when they’re in the water because you can only see their faces and they all sleep with their heads piled on eachother.  We also saw a ton of monkeys and birds, and were so fortunate to see an elephant while we were on the boat. The elephant literally came right to our boat in the water as he was eating and drinking.  It was awesome!  We then headed up the stream after staying by the elephant for about 20 minutes, and we saw dozens of crocodiles.  As we were approaching two of them sun-bathing, our safari driver kept driving- a little too close for comfort!- until we were literally a few feet away from them.  They looked like they were dead so we thought it would be a great idea to poke them with a stick.  They literally jumped towards us and kept swimming. It was great footage though even though I’m terrified of crocodiles!  And, of course, right after we pissed them off, our safari driver told us that if a human was to fall in the Shire River, they would be dead in less than 3 minutes because of the amount of crocodiles.  Comforting.

            After another amazing hour and a half safari, we headed back to Mvuu and packed our bags.  I seriously thought a few of us were going to cry, we wished we could have stayed there even just one extra night!  It was such an amazing 24 hours and to anyone visiting Malawi, I recommend 100% staying at Camp Mvuu.

            On the drive home, we stopped at the markets in Liwonde that Dr. Kelly has been telling us about the entire trip.  I bought 3 presents for my parents and one for my grandpa that I think are all perfect!  Everything I’ve bought has been for my parents but I’ve only bought 5 things here (typical, Kelsey being stingy even in Africa!).  We arrived back at Annie’s at about 5:30 pm and everyone was completely exhausted.  Katie and I had planned our project on Tuesday night before we left, so we just gathered all the art supplies, ate a quick dinner, and were asleep by 9:30 pm.  What an amazing adventure. Peace, love, Malawi.

Safari Day 1

Wednesday, June 29:

            Well yesterday was by far the highlight of my trip (non-children related) and was probably one of the coolest 24-hours I have ever experienced.  We arrived at Mt. Mvuu at about 11 am, where we checked in, got a tour of the facility and were escorted to our amazing chalet.  I don’t think words can describe how beautiful this place was, and our rooms were beyond my expectations.  The chalets were all little house-like tents with two queen beds inside the door when you walked in, then an amazing stone bathroom, and then another room in the back with two more queen beds.  Everything was covered in mosquito nets and our chalet was right on the water where we could see hippos from our front porch. After we all had a little freak-out and recorded the tour of our room, we all headed to lunch, which might have been my favorite activity of the entire trip.  Just kidding, but seriously it was definitely the most amazing meal we have had the entire time.  The lunch was set up buffet style, around beautiful tables that overlooked the river and all the baobab trees.  They had the freshest pieces of bread with butter, rice with a warm vegetable mix, and a cold bean mix that tasted awesome on top of the bread.  As if we weren’t all in enough heaven, they then brought out the “dessert” which was a fresh bowl of fruit (which we haven’t been able to eat the entire time here!) with a light, warm whipped cream on top.  We all left that meal thinking this was definitely the best.day.ever.

            Straight after lunch, we broke into groups of 10 and got assigned our jeeps and our tour guides for the safari!  Our usual group stuck together (Me, Katie, Anna, Kaitlin, Allison, Bebe, Lindsay and Ashley) plus Dr. Kelly and Dr. Sharon.  We headed out into the gated Sahara at about 3 pm and were all on the edge of our seats out of excitement.  The first animals we saw were impalas and waterbucks, which both basically looked like deer.  However, we all freaked out when we saw them because they were the first animals we saw on our safari!  Our guides were amazing and would spot animals from hundreds of feet away, which I could barely notice even once they were pointed out.  We also kept seeing warthogs, which we all got a kick out of because they are absolutely heinous.  Everything about the safari reminded me of the Lion King and we kept referring to the warthogs as “Pumba” haha.  They look like pigs, aged 20 years, with long hair and horns.  Cute huh?  Halfway through, we finally saw about three zebras!  They aren’t very outgoing though, so we didn’t get very close to them but with the zoom features on our cameras, we got pretty awesome pictures of them!  Still on the lookout for elephants, our jeep ended up popping a tire in the middle of the safari; not many people can say they experienced that! Casually, there were just 11 white girls standing in the middle of the Sahara, praying we wouldn’t get eaten alive (just adding some drama in here, we were completely safe).  The guides literally fixed the popped tire in less than 5 minutes, and we were back en route.  Within 5 minutes of being back in the jeep, we all heard rumbling in the trees right next to us and stopped the car.  Before our eyes, an elephant was eating leaves and waving his trunk.  We all tried to contain our excitement so we wouldn’t scare it, while also trying to take in the moment without the shock of the situation voiding us of reality.  As we were adjusting to the fact that there was a hundred-ton elephant about 20 feet infront of us, we heard rumbling again to the left of us.  Low and beyond, an even bigger elephant comes out from the trees!  The pictures I got were absolutely amazing; this elephant was huge!  After oohing and awing for a good half hour, we finally continued on with our tour, with complete contentment of our experience thus far. 

After roaming around for a little bit longer, we headed back to the grounds for our “sunset safari”.  On the way there to meet the Radford and A&T groups, we ran into a baby elephant and her mom.  We stopped to take a few pictures, but kept heading forward to make it in time for the sunset.  We met the other groups at about 4:40, when our guides then pulled out big coolers of wine and we all toasted to eachother while watching the sun go down.  It was one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen, as the mountains were in the distance and all these wild, awesome animals surrounded us.  Our group of 8 took really cute pictures with arms around eachother, backs facing the camera, as the sun is going down on us.  The sun was bright orange and the sky was bright pink and yellow.  I kept thinking of my mom because now Fager’s doesn’t even stand in comparison!  At about 5:30 pm, after the sun was completely gone, we loaded back into our jeeps and headed into the bush for our night safari.  Besides the fact that it was absolutely freezing (yes, we were warned) it was such a cool experience (I’m running out of adjectives to use to describe everything!).  We didn’t see many animals because it was night-time, but we did see a  ton of hippo’s and mongooses, a porcupine and more impala’s.  The most amazing part of the night safari though was the sky.  It was, without a doubt, one of the coolest and most breath-taking things I’ve ever seen.  We saw the Milky Way (which, apparently, is nearly impossible to see now in the United States because of all the light) and there wasn’t a square inch in the sky that wasn’t covered by stars.  I wish I could have taken pictures of it, because there’s no possible way I could try to paint a picture with my words.  We had our guides stop the jeep for a good 15 minutes and we just watched the sky, pointing out different constellations and feeling like the luckiest girls in the world.

To have a perfect ending to a perfect day, we headed back to Mvuu at 7:30 pm where we were served dinner.  At this point, we had been looking forward to dinner since lunch time because the food had been so great.  They started by bringing us out more delicious bread and butter, and then brought out minestrone soup which absolutely hit the spot.  After the “appetizer” they brought out the main course that was thinly sliced pork with gravy, jacket potatoes and pumpkin (wasn’t a fan, but I tried it).  Following dinner, I was obviously anticipating the dessert which satisfied my huge sweet-tooth for sure.  I don’t know what it was exactly, but it had the consistency of pound cake, and it was heated with a butterscotch like sauce drizzled all ontop. Delicious.  Finally, it was about time to head to our rooms, and the 8 of us girls meet in Katie, Anna, Kaitlin and I’s room.  While we were hanging out and drinking wine, we started to hear the hippo’s and elephants literally right outside our door.  The girls figured they should head back to their rooms before the animals really started to come out.  Going to sleep definitely wasn’t a great time since the hut we were staying in didn’t exactly have walls: I was absolutely freezing! I could barely sleep all night because I was so cold and the sheets were so light, and the loud elephant and hippo noises outside our door weren’t so comforting either.  The day had been so absolutely perfect though that I couldn’t even complain, I just kept thinking I wish the day had never ended.

Week 2 of teaching: An amazing start

Monday, June 27:

            Today was an average day that turned pretty spectacular in a matter of minutes.  I had another great breakfast consisting of an omelet and then toast with their delicious jelly.  We loaded on the bus and headed to the schools, and when we pulled up to the Government School, the children were all singing the “banana” song that we taught them last week.  It was hysterical! Katie and I headed straight to the classroom, and it took a while to settle everyone down and get them back in the swing of things after their weekend.  We decided to start off the lecture with a review of the human body from last week, and we did another body tracing since we knew that would be a fun way to get into the lesson again.  They remembered most of the body parts, still getting eyes and ears confused, and still completely butchering the spelling of “elbow”, “knees” and “head”.  Oh well, they had fun and they definitely are making so much progress!  After that quick review, we went straight into todays lecture of geography.  We brought in a map of the continents, and explained to them what oceans and continents were.  We had them each write down the definitions and then wrote down the 7 continents and showed them where they were on the map.  After going over that for a good period of time, we asked for volunteers to come up to the map and show us where certain places were.  They seemed to remember and understand it, but knowing them they probably just memorized where we pointed to things.  If they took one thing out of the lecture, I think they definitely retained that Katie and I are from North America- where the United States are- and they are from Africa- where Malawi is.  After about an hour of trying to explain geography, they were starting to get antsy so we decided to do a free-write lesson.  The question was: If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live and why?  Most of them didn’t understand, so Odina had to translate some things for us.  After a few minutes, the children brought up their notebooks and their answers were adorable.  I even took pictures of a few of their responses haha!  Almost all of them put that they would want to go to North America because Katie and I are “beautiful” and “their friends”.  One kid also put “America= anything”.  When I asked him what he meant, he said that you can get anything you need in America.  The responses definitely made me chock up a little, but they were all so happy (as usual) that I couldn’t even be sad.

            After our morning at the school, we all ate our lunches at the college and discussed “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”.  We also spent the 2 hours asking Dr. Kelly a ton of questions about Malawi and its history and government system.  I swear, it amazes me how much she knows about the country, but I have already learned so much in these past 2 weeks.  Afterwards, we all headed to the Demonstration School where we got to meet our 24 scholarship students! This is where the beauty of the day heightened, as Katie and I got to meet the children that we are sponsoring to attend high school, thanks to the donations we raised.

            We arrived at the Demonstration School and went to one of the classrooms where there were about 30 chairs facing outwards, and the rest of the chairs facing towards them.  Shortly after, all the Scholarship students came walking in in their nicest attire, and most accompanied by a family member.  Dr. Kelly gave an overview about the Chimbali Scholarship Fund, which was a good review for all of us.  All of the Scholarship students are students that meet two criteria.  1, the students have to pass a certain standardized test, but secondly, they have to be individuals that would be unable to attend school would it not be for the scholarship funds.  The Virginia Tech students got to meet the one boy that we are sponsoring for the next 3 years to be able to finish high school (which is a huge deal), as did the Radford and North Carolina A&T students.  Afterwards, Doctor Kelly called Katie up to acknowledge her and introduce her to her “students” whom she will be paying for to attend high school for their Sophomore and Junior year.  Lastly, Doctor Kelly called me up where I got to meet 7 beautiful individuals whom I will be paying for to go into their senior year.  Without this Scholarship fund, these students would have had to drop out of high school because their families could not afford it.  I got to take individual pictures with each of my 7 students and their family member, although 2 of them came by themselves, which means that they are probably orphans.  They were so grateful and I was holding back tears the entire time as they were clapping, and giving me hugs.  As if that wasn’t enough gratitude in itself, Dr. Kelly had them each write a paragraph to me about who they are and what they want to do after high school.  As I read these on the bus home, I started crying and so many thoughts were going through my head about everything I want to do for these children.  Dr. Kelly said that I will be able to get the schools email address so that over the next year I can check up on my 7 students and see how they are doing and if they are planning on going to college. How amazing is that? All of the other Tech girls were so jealous they couldn’t sponsor some of the children, so I am definitely going to talk to the Tech students going next year and tell them to raise money.  I am so glad I had that idea, because now I get to help even more people while I am here, and actually get to meet the people that I am directly affecting.  Well, peace, EXTRA love, Malawi.  Now, I will leave you with the notes I got from my 7 students.  Try to hold back your tears. But seriously!

1)   “My name is Steven Mandoto aged 17.  I’m boy and I learning at Domasi Demonstraton Secondary School.  When I finish school I want to be soldier and I am going to thank you for your help and I thanks again for assisting my parents for paying school fees.  I’m going to ask God to bless you in everything and to give you long life in order to assist other people.”

2)   “I am aboy aged 16 namely Christy Gomani.  I was born on 22, 05, 1995 at Bottom Hospital in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi.  I am in form 3 where I was selected from Domasi Demonstration Primary.  I always give to myself a few seconds per day to thank God for you for sponsering me in my school matters.  This opportunity gives to think that I will make my dreams of being a soldier of a journalist become true.”

3)   “My name is Isabel Lajah and I have 16 years.  I was learning at Demonstration Primary School and now I am learning at Demonstration Secondary School.  I am in form 3.  In future I want to become a radio announcer in other ways I can say a journalist.  I would like to thank you for all things you have done to me.  You have help my parents paying school fees starting from form 1.  May God Almighty be with you all and continue help other people.  Thank you.”

4)   “My name is Zainabu Yosini.  I am 16 years old.  Since I learn at Domasi Demonstration Secondary School.  I’m in form 3.  When I finish my school I want to be a doctor.  Thank you very much to response for my school fees, I can say thanks a lot.  Don’t stop to do this thing of payment the school fees. So I encourage you to continue of that.  Thank you.  May God bless all of you.”

5)   “I am Patrick Mtundunwatha.  I live at Kapich Village.  Am a boy aged 18 years old. So I learn at Domasi Demonstration Secondary School am in form 3.  I would like to tell you that I would like to be a doctor if God can allow me end up my education.  So for that I also ask you to continue, help me for my education so God can be with you all the best.  I wish you God bless you.  My message is please can you continue to help.”

6)   “My name is Majorson Macheso.  I am in form 3 at Domasi Demonstration Secondary School.  I am a boy aged 15.  I come from Domasi Zomba, my biological home is Balaua-Malawi.  I came here to live with my uncle who adopted me from my mother.  My ambition is to become a medical doctor.  The final thing is to thank you for the best care I mean for assisting us from form 1.  This is so great, keep on helping others.  May Almighty God be wih you all the time.  Thank you.”

7)   “My name is Fexton Kuloweka.  I am 17 year old boy in form 3 from Domasi Demonstration Secondary School.  I would like to thank the Chibale Project for helping us.  May God bless you and give you health lives so that you should keep on helping the Malawians.  I want to become a doctor because I would like to assist sick people and with your help I will achieve my goal and I am promising that I will work hard at school.  Thank you very much.”

My 2 Year Anniversary in Africa :)

Sunday, June 26:

            Well, today is my 2-year recovery and I almost forgot until I saw the date on my computer this morning.  It kind of stinks because nobody knows that I am in recovery except for Anna, and I haven’t told her that today is my 2-years.  That’s okay though, because my recovery is about me, and the fact that I am in Africa making a huge difference in people’s lives is a true showing of all the progress I have made.  2 years ago, I couldn’t even take care of and make myself happy, let alone other people.  I am very proud of myself, but I have also learned a lot about myself while being in Africa and have realized that there is a lot more progress for me to make. I am still extremely critical of myself and compare myself to everyone around me.  And by comparing myself, I am referring to comparing my body.  Africa has been an extra challenge for me since I haven’t been tanning and am officially paler than I am in the winter at home. True statement.  Also, having to wear clothes that I would not wear at home and also not being able to workout here, even though I know I am being active everyday while with the kids and walking to the bus, exc.  This whole trip has been challenging with ED, and while the days here have gotten easier, they also get harder.  The only time I feel that I am truly distracted from ED and my appearance is when I’m at school with the children, or when I get to come home after school and change into my typical yoga pants and tee-shirts.  I have also realized while being here that I rarely live in the moment.  I am always thinking of the future, and while being ambitious is a great thing, it’s not great when it holds me back from truly engaging in present situations and letting myself take in every moment.  I have really been focusing on trying to do that here, but I am always thinking about what am I going to teach the children tomorrow?, or what can I do today to make me feel better about my appearance tomorrow?, or constantly wondering about the safari and the orphanage.  I really need to make myself stay focused on the present, on this day. Carpe diem.  I want to leave Africa having no regrets, feeling that I gave my all to these children and really engulfed myself in every activity and event that took place.  I know that most of the reasons I am not able to “seize the day” is because I am still so self-conscious about many parts of myself that the thoughts tend to consume me.  Although I don’t act on those thoughts and take it out on my eating, or myself which is huge progress in 2 years! I still need to work on not letting the thoughts consume me.  Hopefully sometime very soon, the thoughts won’t exist at all and I’ll finally be able to think and act completely 100% normally about body image.

            Anyways, today has been a complete lazy day, which I definitely needed! We all woke up at 9 am (got to sleep in, woohoo!) and got breakfast and sandwiches to make for lunch later.  Katie and I came back to our rooms and read (I’ve been reading so much on this trip and Katie’s given me some great books!), and then went back to sleep.  Now it is 2 pm, and I am about to get ready for the dinner Annie is throwing for us tonight at her house. She is cooking us all dinner and there is a cash bar, but other than that I don’t really know the plan for tonight.  I will post again when I get back tonight, probably around 7 is my guess. Katie and I have no idea what we will be teaching this week, but thankfully in that regard there’s only 3 days of us teaching.  Well, touch base later! Peace, love, Malawi.

Tonight was the most perfect recovery celebration I could have imagined thanks to Annie and all the amazing people on this trip with me.  We arrived to Annie’s house at about 4 pm and from the moment we got there we were all absolutely shocked.  We pulled up and were welcomed by a Church choir as well as a tribal dance ceremony.   Her house was, without a doubt, the most beautiful house we have seen in Malawi and Dr. Kelly said that in accordance with American standards, Annie would probably be a millionaire. How crazy is that? (Yes, I do realize how often I am using this expression, but things are continuing to surprise me each and every day.)  We all socialized, drank and danced for about an hour before our amazing dinner was served. It was, by far, the best meal I have had on this trip, and the fact that it was free made it that much better. (Not like the 3-dollar meals here are costing me much money, anyways.) 

The dinner setup was so beautiful.  There were long red tablecloths on 3 long tables, with the exact number of chairs for all of us.  The dinner was buffet style, and I had some rice and beans, a vegetable mix, and a little bit of spaghetti bolognaise.  Of course we all spotted the 2 chocolate cakes from the moment we arrived, so I was saving up room for the dessert when everyone was going up for seconds of dinner.  Finally we had the dessert, and although I probably wouldn’t have liked it in America, it definitely hit the spot and we were all so excited to finally have a sweet.  Of course I indulged in 2 pieces, as most of us did, since we’ve all been craving sweets for the past 2 weeks.  After dinner, it started getting dark and we tribal danced for about an hour and then had another showing from the choir who had the most beautiful voices.  To wrap up the night, we danced in the “Discoteca”, where Annie had huge speakers set up on a stage outside and blasted fun dancing music.  We all got to meet Willie and Annie’s family, which was so nice, and the evening was just perfect.

On the way back to the Lodge at about 8:30, I realized how truly proud of how far I have come.  Even though I have progress to make, who doesn’t have progress to make in their lives?  I’m just fortunate enough to know where progress is needed, and what I need to do to get there.  While I might not be able to eat what I want while I am here, or be able to workout, I am living exactly like 20 other teenagers my age are living and that is a huge accomplishment in itself.  Well, that wraps up another great week. Talk tomorrow. Peace, love, Malawi.