Lately I've been working with a local cbcc (community based child care) and trying to fund small things from them whenever I can. Peace corps gives us 1000mk a month for things like this (roughly 4 dollars) so I try to buy a book or flash cards here and there. This cbcc has 4 volunteer teachers and about 50 children under four years old that meet every morning in a five foot by five foot room. As you can imagine half the time is spent breaking screaming children apart from one another since they are basically on top of each other at all times. (granted when you think fifty 4 year olds picture about fifty 2 year olds- thats about how big they are). Anyway, the cbcc asked for toys for the children, I asked what kind and they said they didn't care. They currently have two teddy bears - if that's what you would call them, that must have came from the states some time in 1942. I'm setting up a fund to get donations so I can purchase more toys and books for the children. The children play with plastic bags that they make into soccer balls and cars they make out of scrap wires- but I've never actually seen a toy in my village. The toys will be kept at the school, to insure they are safe and also to encourage other children to attend- not that there is room.. But on brighter news we are working together to build them a new classroom!! I know the holidays are quickly approaching and will soon be over but in the spirit of giving consider a five dollar donation it will probably buy two used toys for a child who has never had a toy in his life. (I will post the link to the donation page ASAP- probably after Christmas! Don't worry the children will be ecstatic anytime the toys come!- they actually don't even know they are coming!)
Now lets journey onto A totally different side of my job-- Anamed!!! Action for natural medicine!! Recently I went to a training in Zomba (the most beautiful place ever; see below) and learned all about natural medicines in Africa. Most of the plants we learned about were used here in malawi to treat medical issues years and years ago but since the encouragement of western medicine most of these local remedies have been lost! We are working to bring back simple, sustainable medicines that this country can rely on. Foreign aid helps this country in so many ways including providing drugs to local hospitals. This comes with a lot of downfalls including dependence on foreign aid and lack of resources. The aid isn't ALWAYS available so the clinics run out of drugs frequently. Anamed hopes to change that by growing the medicines, especially the plants that are used in malaria cases. I'm excited to do this training and my plants are growing so big! My counterpart and I are going to train five local HIV support groups how to grow these plants in January. Some of the plants also have immune boosting properties so they are good for people living with HIV.
Pad project is going great!! I recently just helped a friend implement pad project in her community and it as extremely successful. She runs a girls group and they were all super interested and excited to learn about solutions to their periods! I love pad project it honestly brings me so much joy!
Camp glow (girls leading our worlds) is sometime around July this year and planning starts in January! I'm excited to get started planning this great camp although it will be hard to beat lasts years- Hillary Clinton went! Speaking of she was just on Barbara Walters most influential people of the year and the video clip they showed of her was from Malawi's camp glow 2012!! I'm looking forward to planning a great camp for local Malawian girls, I clearly am all for women's empowerment :)
It's mango season!! Also hunger season but that's a different story. Mangos are so abundant they literally fall off the trees and the goats eat them. You can buy a pile of mangos in my village for about 20 Kwacha- less than a nickel. And Sunday I am teaching a women's group how to make mango jam! I love jam so I'm sure Sunday I will also be teaching the women how to binge eat jam!
I've been feeling guilty about the amount of time I've been spending on the city- its a two hour bus trip from my house and it's nice to get out of the village life every once in awhile but lately it feels like every weekend and that's a habit i am trying to kick. However for Christmas I am spending 10 days at the lake with some other peace corps friends and that I am excited about! It will be my first Christmas ever away from home so in a little sad, a little worried, but I'm sure with enough wine it will be okay :).
