Everything is going well for me here. Please keep checking my
blog because it means a lot
& is a great way to keep up with me.
Malawi is absolutely beautiful! Palm trees line the sides
of the road, women carry baskets of fresh fruit around on top of their heads,
and we get lots of sunshine and blue skies (even during rainy season, as it
typically only rains in the evenings). Roadside stands sell roasted corn
on-the-cob, mangos, avocados, apples, and bananas. It feels a lot like
California. Malawi may not touch a coastline, but Lake Malawi is huge and
there are lots of beaches (which I plan to visit in the near future). I haven't
done any hiking because Malawi is pretty flat, but I go on jogs and ride our
organization's bicycle (called a "Kabaza" in Chichewa,
the language here). Riding the kabaza is really fun, but the breaks don't work
very well so I have to be careful. Since there aren't really any hills in
Lilongwe, it hasn't been too much of a problem.
Malawi is very charming and warm, but it is by far the
most rural capital city I have ever experienced (Lilongwe, Malawi). The
capital only has one movie theater in the entire city and there are
cornfields right next to downtown! Isn't that strange?! On the other hand, the
US dollar goes so far here! The unemployment rate here is quite high (so
sad), but the silver lining is when we decided to hire more Malawians we had
many highly qualified (and currently unemployed) candidates to select
from.
The rate of sexual assaults is high in this country
because there are less resources for women (no shelters for battered women) and
girls are taught from a very young age to be very polite to adults and they are
not supposed to look boys in the eyes. It is heartbreaking to meet so many 9
year old girls who have been raped, but I am glad we are doing something to
help girls to know what to do in uncomfortable situations and know how best to
defend themselves.
The organization I work for here goes by 2 names: "No
Means No Malawi" (a branch of No Means No Worldwide), and/or "Ujamaa
Pamodzi Africa" [Ujamaa means "togetherness" in Swahili
(from Kenya) and "Pamodzi" means "togetherness" in Chichewa
(from Malawi)]. It is a rape-prevention after-school program for girls that
teaches a curriculum called "IMpower Defense" to empower and help
protect them from any kind of assaults they may face.
Much of what we teach is verbal skills, as 85% of
different assaults can be resolved by use of voice (negotiating, lying,
yelling "no", naming the behavior, making a scene, threatening to
report them, acting crazy, etc.) All the same, we also teach some physical
skills (not to be confused with martial arts, as our IMpower Defense skills can
be learned by anyone in a short amount of time) so that the girls we train know
how to break free of different holds and disable their attacker
so that they can get away.
Pretty neat, huh?! I certainly think so. (But admittedly, I am
biased). I think I have found my niche. This organization is a much
better fit for me. I spend some of my time teaching in schools and I
also get to contribute on reports, management committee meetings, and
conducting research on our intervention.
I escaped relatively unscathed (but soaking wet), as they mostly used tap water on me and it happened to be a particularly warm sunny day.
We had birthday cake in the evening (I paid one of my friends who has a small personal bakery business to make it) and I was given a few presents that all 16 of my housemates chipped in to get for me. All in all, it was nice. I didn't start missing family until everyone went out dancing that evening (I had convinced them to go and bailed at the last moment due to the sad news), and I had time alone. I don't regret my decision to stay in that night. I needed some time to myself (which isn't easy to come by when you share a bedroom with 5 other girls).
I’m happy and healthy. Thanks for reading, I’ll post more soon!
~Stacy
