Hey everyone! I’m back at Tech! I’m going to use the amazing high speed internet here to share more photos and videos that I couldn’t post while I was in Malawi. Enjoy!
Half of Project Peanut Butter spent Wednesday night at Namandaje village, north of Blantyre.We go their once a fortnight (yes, people say fortnight in Malawi) as a home away from home when we go to very distant villages. It allows us to treat three health centers in two days that are much too far from Blantyre to otherwise serve. We stay with a Catholic priest who has done amazing work in his village! I was so impressed by the medical and educational facilities he was able to support and expand on. Here is Ben (pictured right), a Peace Corp volunteer posted in Namandaje, explaining the latrine project he worked on to me and Ricky (pictured left), a medical student working for Project Peanut Butter.
I spent my weekend in the staggeringly beautiful Mulanje District of Malawi. The district saddles up right next to Mozambique, grows oodles of tea, and generally busies itself being gorgeous. The area is famous for its mountains and tea. I went there to spend time with Bri, a Peace Corps volunteer, and new friend. She lives about a 10 minute walk from one of the Chiponde Clinic sites, Muloza. Her house is in the traditional village style, being made of brick, with a cement floor and tin roof. It has three small rooms that serve as kitchen, bedroom, and storage. There is also an outhouse, a hut, and a room for bathing. After the grand tour of the premises, she has a beautiful garden, and chatting with the friendly neighbors that came to investigate about a person driving a car all the way to Bri’s house we were off to hike on Mt. Mulanje. Bri, Amy -Bri’s good friend and fellow volunteer- and I hiked to this waterfall:
This week in Malawi the health centers are overflowing with children getting their measles vaccine. The Malawian government is trying to get every child without a vaccine to get one by tomorrow! Here is a quote from a Google News article: “Measles has claimed 195 lives since January [2010] in the impoverished southern African country, prompting authorities to launch a USD 4.2 million (Euro 3.3 million) campaign to vaccinate 6 million children. Kabuluzi said Malawi is facing “the worst outbreak in a decade”, with nearly 77 000 measles cases reported, mainly in cities and towns.” I’ve definitely seen children at Chiponde Clinic with measles. One of the problems with the measles vaccine is that children in Malawi are supposed to get their vaccine at 9 months and a booster at 4 years, but few seem to get the vaccines at the correct ages, leaving the children susceptible. Here are some photos from the measles campaign at Makwira Health Center:
A chitenje is the multipurpose, can’t-do-without, colorful piece of cloth every Malawian woman has got! It’s a rectangular piece of fabric used as a wrap over a skirt, to carry children, as a shawl in the cold or rain, and as a head wrapping. All the village women wear them, they are far less common in the city as professional women wear uniforms or current western fashions.
Welcome to my new travel blog! After a day of snafus at the airport, it seems like I’m on track to leave the US for Malawi in just a few hours! I am bouncing-off-the-walls excited for my journey to Blantyre, Malawi.