Water is life.

I’m blessed to come from a country where running water is something we rarely even think about. When we do have to think about it, we get a little yellow card on our front door saying that the water will be out from 12-3 and wa-la, after our 3 hours of struggle and bottled water, the water comes back on, and we go right to forgetting all about it.  We take water for granted. We try to think about how much we consume when we brush our teeth, shutting off the faucet in between spitting, and conserving water here and there, but we don’t realize how much water it takes just to survive. 

 

Water is life, without water there is no life.  Here in Africa, especially in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, drawing and carrying water can consume many hours in a women’s day.   Yes, typically only women and children draw water. These women can carry 20 liter buckets on their heads, something like 40 pounds of water, and sometimes, depending on the availability, these women are walking, with this water, on their heads, for up to 5kms (that’s around 3 miles for us American folk).   Imagine now, pumping water by hand to get it up the pipes, raising 40 pounds above your head, balancing and walking for 3 miles, just for an 8^th of a day’s water consumption.   The average household here is around 6 people, that’s a set of parents and 4 children they’re using something like 8- 20 liter buckets of water just to survive.

 

Do you ever realize how much water we use to wash our bodies, and I’m not talking about even washing hair (that takes even more), then add on, dishes, and laundry and mopping the floors (which is done here often since there is so much dust) we haven’t counted cooking, and washing vegetables, and then we have to drink some water too.  Most of our daily activities involve water in some way.  Now imagine the borehole in your village, that provides water to around 210 households, is broken, and the people in your community can’t afford to fix it.  The average Malawian is making less than 2 dollars a day, and to simply fix this borehole the cost is somewhere around 500 dollars, its not really an easy fix.  Your last resort is then to find another water source. 

 

(Broken pipes)

In Hamba Hamba village (which is a local word for wonderer), the solution to a broken borehole was to fetch water out of a small pond.  The pond water was being used not only for water in people’s houses but also as drinking water for animals nearby, which means that the water is extremely unsafe.  A maize field that was grown using fertilizer and chemicals also surrounded the water source. This drinking water would be “Okay” if the resources were there to clean the water before drinking it, water filtration systems, chlorine to kill the bacteria, but of course, in a land that lacks resources, these aren’t available.  This means that water borne illness increases ten-fold because of a simple problem.  

 

According to World Health Organization water borne illness is the leading cause of death in developing world, yes that’s right, more people die from diarrheal disease (cholera, typhoid fever, hepatitis, parasites) than HIV, than malaria, than TB.   The good news is, that these deaths (3.4 million a year) are 100% preventable, and you can help, WE can help! 

 

I was so incredibly honored and proud that the people from my community back home raised money to help save so many lives.  YOU helped save lives, by golfing, by donating, by raising money, and raising awareness.   These projects would not be possible if people like you, didn’t give up their time, and hard earned money to those in need.  I know some of you (including me at one point or another) question the giving of aid to people, thinking they should work for things themselves.  The harsh reality is that without BASIC needs, no one can survive and provide for him or herself.  Water is a human right, we all deserve and need to have water to survive, and by giving up something so small in America we give so much to those in need abroad.  

 

I cannot express my gratitude for the time and energy spent putting this charity event together, I know it was a lot of work, and I have a lot of people to thank. I am honored that so many people were committed to this project, from planning, to donating, to just golfing and having fun, it means a lot, and it makes more of a difference than you could ever imagine. 

 

Some of the things that were donated to this event as prizes or raffled off:

Tyler Sales:

Bud light rolling cooler

Bud Light Radio cooler

Hats and T-Shirts

 

National Wine and Spirits:

Jack Daniels Bar Stoool

Chivas Liquor Mirror

UV Gaint Fold Chair

Shirts, Towels, bags, phone cases, sunglasses

 

Alliance Beverages:

Red wings Golf Bag

 

Jones Sporting Goods:

2 canvas personal coolers

cozies, pens, golf balls

 

Kenne Lumber:

Callaway Golf Balls

 

Semlow Chiropractic:

1 hour Massage

 

Marathon Gas:

(2) 20$ gift cards

 

Mr. B’s Pancake house: (yum)

(2) 10$ gift cards

E & A Grocery:

(2) 25$ gift cards

 

Jack’s Corner Store:

50$ Gift card

 

Bonickis:

(2) Perch Dinners

 

Grand Haven Golf Club:

(2) 4-person rounds of golf

 

46 Bar:

Bud light mini fridge

Adidas Duffle Bag

Hamer Golf Club

 

Feyen-Zylstra:

Coffee mugs, T-Shirts, coolers, hats, golf balls

 

Al Broton:

Branns Sports Grille 25$ gift card

Olilve Garden 20$ gift card

 

Darwin:

Hand Crafted wood work

 

Other Contributors:  Gary’s auto body, Choice one bank,  Ravenna Creeks Golf club, Scott’s meats

 

 

With donations and money collected from the golf outing, YOU raised over 1,000 dollars.  That’s 2 fresh water borehole projects and thousands of lives saved.  I can’t be more impressed and grateful for this event and all of the people involved.   I want to thank each and every one of you for your commitment and dedication to this charity.  I know there was a lot of behind the scenes work from some great friends and family and 46 bar regulars, and I will never be able to express my gratitude for the work you put in to making this a success.  

 

 

Kristi becomes Santa

So I recently ventured back to the good
old USA and had what could quite possibly be the best vacation of my life. I couldn't have asked for a better trip, with sunshine and perfect weather in gulf shores and a bit of good old Michigan snow on my way back home. I am so blessed to have seen so many friends and family on my short trip home and share my experiences over on this side of the world with them, along with catching up on everyone else's lives. I will never be able to thank my parents enough for sending me home nor will I ever be able to express how truly grateful I feel.

On one of my last afternoon/nights home my mother hosted a great get together for friends and family and asked everyone to bring something small for my babies here in Malawi. I can't believe all of the great things that were gathered and am truly thankful for all of the support everyone has given me. My luggage was about 120 pounds (only about 20 pounds overweight) and eventually all of these wonderful things made it back to my village. Some wonderful things (art supplies, hair accessories, older toys) are staying in the city for my girls camp in July (hosting 60 Malawian high school girls!) I'm sure they will love it all.

Now as thankful as I am, I am starting to feel a bit guilty. I have these two Barbie dolls in my possession and they are great great toys, but thinking back on my childhood having boxes full of barbies I hardly played with compared to the two barbies I have now to entertain an entire village of little girls is sort of depressing. I know I can't change these things, and that this is life here but it just makes you realize how fortunate we are as Americans to have so much of everything we never even truly learn the meaning of sharing. I expected hitting and screaming and hair pulling as you would see with many young girls learning to share but what I saw was the complete opposite. Here in the village what's mine is yours and yours is mine and I've never understood the concept as completely as I do now. I also receive some great handmade dresses from a mother of a family friend- those have quickly flown out of my possession and onto the bodies of cute little village girls here. I love being able to see the smiles on these girls and families faces when they get something new and from america. It's truly an amazing experience.

On another note- I haven't updated my blog since December so a lot has happened:

I've done two borehole projects, both funded by friends and family, (thanks aunt Cheryl and the 46 bar posse) and am looking at another borehole on Friday . Hopefully all goes well and borehole number three will be complete by the end of the month. Fixing these boreholes is an experience I won't ever forget, it's amazing to me how the entire village can come together and work towards a single goal. And water is such a luxury we take for granted, i even still find myself being wasteful every once and awhile. (im still such an American)

Pad project: my favorite project: my project baby... Well guess what!!?? The old project rep just ended her service and I got the most incredible offer to be the new head person/point of contact for this project here in Malawi. I am trilled to be able to call this project my own and am so happy that the responsibility of keeping this project going has been given to me. I get so much joy from this project and watching the women really grow and become empowered by this simple solution to female menstruation.

Youth friendly: youth friendly is a program set up at the health clinic on Wednesdays after school to specialize in youth health. We have extra staff on board to assist the youth with any questions/ concerns they have and to provide health services that they sometimes struggle getting based on age (mainly sexual and reproductive health issues). It's also a great time for the youth to relax, listen to music, sing songs, do dramas/skits and mostly just to PLAY and be kids! I brought back a variety of sporting equipment (thanks to everyone who supplied those) and we start youth friendly again next Wednesday. Btw the turn out was suppose to be around 20-70 kids and has been around 200-250 a week. It's amazing how many kids keep showing up and hopefully they continue to find this service helpful.

These are the big things that are happening in my life right now.. Of course millions of other things are happening- like having no electricity all day and severely missing America and constants :)

Hopefully this post finds you all well. I'll try to remember to update this more than once every five months :).

2013:Christmas. NYE. And the little village of Kasinje.

So first I want to say I'm so incredibly blessed and feel unworthy of all the love I've been shown this holiday season. I've just received a package with more cards than I ever expected from some great family and friends from home. It felt really special to get so much love and good wishes.

I spent my first christmas ever away from home at the most beautiful lake in the world. (lake Michigan will always have my heart) however lake Malawi is so crystal clear and breathtaking its hard to describe. Being at the lake not only reminded me of home but also gave me an excuse to forget it was Christmas and spend the day playing (driving a boat, snorkeling, and maybe a few beers) . I spent Christmas with a great group of fellow volunteers and we even celebrated by having two fresh chickens. (no I didn't kill them, but a fellow volunteer did).

New years was also fantastic, celebrating at a party on the lake, it didn't feel any different than being at home. It felt nice to be in a part of the country that reminded me so much of home, I really had the best time and am so happy.

Returning back to Kasinje was a reality check after almost two weeks at the lake because 1) i spent all my money so if I wasn't poor before I am now 2) it flooded because it rained for 6 dash in a row- all day- while I was away 3) the place looks like a whole new village with maize and beans and grass sprouting everywhere. It's amazing how it can go from one extreme to another, a month ago the wells were all drying up and people were worried there wasn't going to be enough water- and now water is everywhere! I filled up a 40 liter bucket of water from the rain in less than an hour! People are busy farming and working hard in their fields when it's not downpouring and hiding in their houses when it is- which makes working rather hard. However two women's groups want to do pad project again and I'm starting youth friendly health services at my hospital! A Place where the youth can come and get information about health and access to health care and also a place to play soccer and volleyball with the azungu (white girl). Yeah my job is pretty awesome. Well, until next time.

Toys for tots, Anamed, and everything in between

This is my long over due mentally scattered blog post:

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 :).

Peace. Love. Pads.

12 hours later and I'm still riding a high. I've been struggling lately to find a purpose here and really feel like I'm making an impact and yesterday was the turning point for me.

I've been meeting with women's groups throughout my community and showing them this design for reusable sanitary pads. From the words of my friend Jimmy "gross but necessary". I know this concept seems so foreign to people living in the first world, we've gotten to a point where we don't even think about menstruation, but here in the village it's really a big deal. Pads can be bought at the local market for mk30 for one about one American penny. But when a young girl needs 4-5 a day, and mk30 can buy you a bunch of tomatoes or vegetables for lunch, what do you think they are choosing?

So the local "solution" is to tie a string around one's waist and tuck a chitenge (2meters of fabric) from the front to the back (through the legs). Now girls, ladies, women (boys I'm sure you can use your imagination) imagine walking around, going to class, to work, doing any daily activity on your period with a strip of cloth as your safety net so-to-speak. This "solution" isn't a solution, it's a pathway to disaster. Now add on the fact that you're 14, your culture doesn't talk about periods- not even your mothers, you're in middle school, no self confidence, and you have a period- why would you go to school? To feel ridiculed? Embarrassed? Ashamed? That's what these girls are dealing with EVERY month. Girls aren't empowered, they have no self worth, this is a problem and this is where I hope to find a solution.

So a few days ago I get contacted by a mothers group- their aim is to keep girls in school and they are interested in the pad project!! So yesterday I got to meet with 10 women who's aim is already to empower girls and teach them this simple design. We meet around two and start discussing problems and solutions and eventually we stop chatting and start sewing. The goal of this initial meeting was to show them how simple it is, let them try out the pads and brainstorm ideas of how to get these pads to the school girls. The women are super excited and want to meet again next month to start a Business plan, we are either going to sell them to raise money to make pads for the girls or write a grant to get supplies to make them for the girls at the school. This is the first step, introducing simple ideas and starting conversations. I'm obviously excited.

If you want to contribute to the pad project feel free to send: needles, string, old buttons, fabric scraps greater than or equal to one foot by one foot to:
Kristi Mathis, PCV
C/O Brooke Mancuso
P.O. Box 3
Bwanje health center
Bwanje, Ntcheu, Malawi
Africa

Never spent a better seven months

Seven months. Doesn't even seem possible. I can still remember crying at the airport and the anxiety I had on the plane wondering if this was the right choice. All though Malawi has brought many ups and many downs (sometimes all in the same day) I can honestly say that I'm happy I'm here.

Last night I got home from a two week training in Dedza and I came home to the best welcome. My neighbors had known I was coming and drew me water and as soon as I opened the door swept all the dust that had accumulated in two weeks from out of my house. They told me all about what I has missed in Kasinje, which didn't turn out to be too much and they were so excited. I really realized how blessed I am to have such a good support system here in my village, throughout Malawi with all the other pcvs and overseas with the best friends and family a girl could ask for

The last two weeks I learned a lot about technical skills and had the opportunity to bring along my Malawian counterpart. Also if you follow me on Facebook you probably noticed I had a good time with my American friends. We learned how to make jams, peanut butter, and healthy foods to implement good nutrition in our villages. We learned how to deal with borehole water spills, by adding community gardens where the water leaks out. We learned how to write grants, how to run businesses and my favorite we learned about pads. Yes pads. Most villagers in Malawi during their periods use a chitenge (a long price of fabric) and tie it around their waist like a giant diaper. This system as you can imagine has room for a lot of error. The chitenge can move or fall, causing leakage, messes and a wide array of smells.Not only does this discourage the girls from going to school while they are on their periods, they also are the sole responsibility of keeping the house running so periods cause great chaos throughout the village. These pads are made from old chitenges and only require a few simple stitches. I'm really excited to teach Malawian women about this simple trick and empower them to be confident while on their periods.

Other great women's empowerment news: I'm now the camper coordinator for camp GLOW (girls leading our world) I will be in charge of choosing the campers, helping run and plan the week and also counseling the girls throughout the week. I'm super excited to be part of this camp and work to make it the best camp ever. Last year Hillary Clinton came so there's big shoes to fill but I have faith in the team that was chosen to run camp glow this year!

This weekend I'm going to Lilondwe national park to count the animals. Yes mom I will finally see an elephant- it's about time. Haha. Until then, hope 'merica is awesome, miss and love you goons who follow me on here.

Hillary schmillary

I feel like this weekend is one worth writing about. But first a quick update:

July felt like a big scissor kick right in the face. I did nothing productive, in fact the month almost seemed counterproductive. I'm told this is just how peace corps is... Some months you're so busy you can breathe and some months you read a 153 thousand books. (or so it seems). Well guess what August- I'm bored and I'm trying to work here so get ready for persistence.

The problem is meetings get canceled everyday for the most random reasons, it's pay day, the chiefs brother died, a five foot snake is on the loose, the borehole was too busy, a dog ate my homework, you know the usual things... Anyway there is an upside to it all...

July has been filled with awesome adventures, not work related. I visited Lake Malawi, found out that a town 60km from my house makes cheese, my garden is starting to thrive and I met Hillary Clinton.

"Madam secretary Hillary Clinton" visited Malawi on her Africa tour sunday. She was the first secretary of state to ever visit Malawi and the people here were and still are super excited. The newspaper I bought Monday was filled (95% of the Articles) with Hillary. The united states government is giving Malawi 46 million dollars for the feed the future program and people here can't be happier.

Peace corps volunteers were invited to a function at the United States Ambassador's house, where Hillary eventually visited. She was only in Malawi for about 4 hours and had many things to do, she met with the Malawian president, my Joyce Banda, the ambassador, talked with feed the future and usaid and went to camp glow (girls leading our world) a program ran by peace corps! Hillary gave a short speech and shook hands with all the guest, including me, and then made her way to the next event. I feel blessed that during her 11 country visit, she chose Malawi, and made time to see and thank the people that are working here!

I guess that's all I have to say about that... Heres some pictures: