Rubber, Meet Road!

On Tuesday, I sat through a rigorous orientation, in the harshest of conditions! 

I took a tour of the village I would be working in and I participated in my first “library” time. This is a time after school that students come to the school library and the volunteers do an activity, play a sport and have a read aloud.

On Tuesday, the kids drew self-portraits, played “futbol” and had a chapter book read aloud. I observed the children draw the self-portraits and I played futbol with the kids. They are very tough and fast! They all play barefoot, and they are running over rocks and bricks, not brick floors, actual piles of bricks. You find piles of bricks almost everywhere you go. I am still trying to fully understand why. Most of their structures are built with bricks or mud. (Was that a rabbit trail?) (Since typing this, I have found out that they actually produce bricks to sell and that is why there are piles of them everywhere.)

After a kid scored a goal with his head during futbol, I told him that he was mighty and he said “My name is Mada!” I greeted him. He said “What is your name?” I said “Oh, its easy: Wayne!” He says “Ohhh…easy Wayne!” Then another boy said “Easy Wayne?” I said “No, Wayne.” The second boy says “Ween?” It took several minutes, but I finally got them to understand that my name was Wayne. (Though, Mada still thinks it’s hilarious to call me “Ween”!) Later on in the same game I used my head to hit the ball and he pointed at his head and yelled “MIGHTY!” Needless to say, I already love Mada!

On Wednesday, I met the students that I will be teaching. I observed the classroom for the morning. The children that I will be teaching are “standard 6”, which is the equivalent of 6^th grade, I think… Children do not move on to the next standard until they pass the assessment for that standard. There is a 23 year old in my class. Standard 6 is the first year that the students are taught in English. They understand little to no English.

There are 3 teachers that share the load for each classroom, but only two taught on this particular day. Class size has a whole new meaning here. There are approx. 90 students in my particular class. This is actually one of the smaller classes. The average class size is over 100. The children sit on the floor. There is nothing in the room except for a blackboard.

Before going to class, the students met in the church for “assembly” time. The students sing together and then a person speaks for about 15 minutes. I am assuming it was some sort of Christian message, though I am not positive. My evidence is that he would yell “hallelujah?” and everyone would reply “Amen!”

After the assembly, the students go to their classes. My class sat down at around 8:00 am. We stayed in class until 10:30. The children sat the entire time, on a cement floor. Since there are 90 kids in such a small room, it is very jam-packed.

The teacher started class of by talking about a special guest. He said “He will talk very fast! So, you MUST pay close attention!” I had no idea that he was talking about me. I also had no idea that I would be talking on this particular day. My translator told me that I was to go in front of the class and introduce myself…

For those of you that know me, I’m not really a spur of the moment kind of guy. I stood up and walked to the chalkboard and said “My name is Wayne.” And I wrote it on the board. I then said, “I am a teacher in the United States of America! I teach 6 year olds!” I then wrote “6 year olds” on the board. Everyone began to laugh hysterically. This is not what you want to happen during your first time talking to a class…

I stood there confused for a moment. The teacher said something to the class in Chichiwa and they all responded “Ohhhh!” Then they proceeded to clap. I was very confused. The translator explained that the class had thought that I was telling them that I was 6 years old and that the teacher had explained that I TAUGHT 6 year olds. I laughed and wrote “39” on the board and pointed to myself. They all laughed and gave me thumbs up. I have a feeling that this will not be the only time that happens.

At 10:30 the students go out for a nsima break. This is a porridge made from crushed maze. It has very little flavor, but has a lot of protein. The students show up to school with a spoon and a fork, just for the nsima break!

I headed back to the volunteer house to read some of the curriculum books for the subjects I will be teaching. I’ll get into that later. Then we have a two-hour lunch. Meals so far have been pretty good, but they have mostly been vegetarian meals. Four of the eight volunteers are Vegetarians, so I guess that means we all areJ The energy bars that I brought with me have been very useful.

After lunch we went back to the school for another day of “library”. I taught the students how to make paper airplanes. There were probably 30 students. Everyone was pretty impressed that I was able to get almost all of them to create a properly functioning airplane. The ensuing craziness outside was hilarious! The children LOVED it! I believe that people attending the PTA meeting next door did not appreciate it as much as I did!

I asked the kids which person thought that theirs would go the furthest. Only one kid raised his hand…So the whole time he just kept yelling “NUMBER 1!” as he threw his plane.

Kids are kids, no matter where you go! They get excited about the same things! They act crazy. They karate chop and kick each other constantly. But, when it is time to learn they are very well trained to stop and pay attention.

*I have videos, but they won't load right now:( I will continue trying to post the videos.

Day 1 On Day 3

The last post seemed to focus on the negative. Today there is nothing negative to dwell on, only the beauty of Malawi and its people. Malawi is called the “Warm heart of Africa”. I have a taste of what that means with only 24 hours of experience.

After riding the bus from the plane to the main terminal, going through customs, gathering my luggage and exchanging my money, I was greeted my Meg. She is British. We waited for Maria, who was on the same flight as me. She is also British. She is 20 years old and she just got out of Army reserve training, but you would never know it to speak with her. She is very sweet and her accent is adorableJ

After taking care of some other business, we headed to the market to pick up Sam, the coordinator of the program. He is Malawian. I don’t know that I’ve met a nicer person. He is very quiet, but he has a gentleness and selflessness that draws you in. We purchased some house supplies and snacks for our 3 hour trip to Nkope, which I thought we were heading to immediately. Little did I know that nothing happens quickly around here.

We drove to pick up a “car part” from Sam’s mom’s house. The people of Malawi are always outside. The streets are filled with people constantly. This is not hyperbole, they are always out and about. The cars and people move together on the streets. It is the scariest thing ever. The driver’s just drive and the people have to weave in and out. I spent half the time with my eyes closed. I knew we were going to kill someone. Sam assured me that we were more likely to hit an animal, which somehow didn’t calm my nerves!

As we drove I saw huge amounts of people bartering for shoes and clothes and fruit and vegetables. Every vehicle was filled with people. Bikes loaded with bamboo rolled by. It was amazing how busy the streets were.

We pulled into Sam’s mother’s house. Sam got out and started unloading all of the luggage and groceries from our bus so that we could load the “car part”. I started helping and the next thing I knew there were 15-20 people unloading the bus. A bag of potatoes and beans had spilled in the back of the truck and a group of teenagers and kids were scurrying inside the bus to pick up every bean and potato. It was the most inspiring site. No one stood around watching. Every person chipped in. Finally it was time to load the mysterious car part that we had to unload the entire bus for. I followed Sam to his backyard where the replacement car axle was. Six of us picked the piece up and headed to the front yard.

After loading the part, everyone pitched in to stack the luggage and food back into the bus, except for the bag of potatoes and beans that Sam handed to his mother, along with a little bit of money. As we were loading up to leave, a young man brought two “tires” to the bus that were wrapped in paper. I use the quotes because, as Ralphy says, “My old man's spare tires were actually only tires in the academic sense. They were round, they had once been made of rubber.” We loaded up the bus and drove away. A few blocks up we drove into a dirt lot and stopped. Some men were sitting on the ground surrounded by wheel rims and tires. They jumped up and ran over. They did, what I have only seen the guys do at Les Schwab, only with a rock (to “jack” the car up) and baking oil and a tire iron (to put the new tires on the wheels.) Sam explained that we would probably get stopped at one of the police check points for having a low tire if we didn’t get them replaced. I wont give all of the details of the tire change, but I have never seen someone blow up a tire with a bike pump!

Instead of a jack, they drive the car up on a rock.

As we were standing and waiting for the work to be finished, people kept coming up and asking me to take a picture with them, or they were whistling from across the street, just to say hi! Almost every person I encountered greeted me in this fashion.

Sam informed me that tires last for about four months, on average. I would realize why on the drive home. Every road is dirt and has huge potholes in it.

Sam paid the men something equivalent to $5.00 and we bid them farewell. I shook hands with the man that had been blowing the tire up.

We then drove the 3.5 hours home. I do not remember most of the trip, due to the fact that I was in and out of consciousness the whole time, but I do remember stopping to use the restroom at a gas station...

Malawi is one of the most beautiful places, despite the above picture! It is beautiful, both in aesthetics and in the people that inhabit it's space. I have not met one cruel or selfish person since I arrived. Everyone is friendly, and I have never been greeted so much in my life. I will learn Chichiwa extremely fast at this rate!

Day Infinity

Every journey begins with a step, and then you take a million more before you get to change your socks. Makes sense, right?

The first leg of my journey started with Jenna wishing me farewell. That was not easy! I flew to New York with great easeish. I was tired by 10:45 (Just over an hour into my first plane ride.) I didn’t want to sleep until I took off from the JFK airport. Long story short, I made it to New York, but it is not easy when they shut all the lights off on the plane and play soft music. The young Russian girl sitting next to me kept mistakenly thinking that my arm was her armrest. She was wearing an eye mask, so who could blame her. I finally just gave in and let her treat my arm like a scratching post, until she realized what she was doing, then it got awkward. That actually provided me with some humor that I would need to carry me through.

I got to New York at 5:00 AM. My flight didn’t leave JFK until 11:00. No food places were open and I was sleepy, so I did what anyone would do. I rode the Airtrain between the terminals and explored. I finally found a dunken doughnuts and forced that subparness down.

One thing about me is that I am an introvert when I am trying to recharge. Not one time on this trip could I find a place to have quiet. There was noise and chaos at every step, which is only agitated by tiredness…I am glad that I did not travel with anyone. That relationship would probably be over! I was really cranky!

I was in a trance getting on the flight to Johannesburg. I thought “I’m just going to go to sleep for 4-5 hours.” Having an aisle seat is both a blessing and a curse. I could get up whenever I needed, but I also got to get up when EVERYONE else needed to. I’ll save you the blow by blow, and tell you that I got an hour of solid sleep time in 16 hours in the air. The lost 16 hours of my life. Between snorers, chewers and the TV with the GPS of our flights path on it, I thought it would never end.

I did make it though! Johannesburg was like coming out of a haze. “I’m in Africa!” I got chills just thinking about it. The people were so friendly and helpful. I was able to move through security and get to my next flight just in time. After my previous flights, this was going to be a piece of cake. I had an entire row to myself. The plane was delayed because the meal truck broke down. Did I care? No! I layed across that row of seats and slept like my life depended on it (or someone else’s did.) When the flight finally took off, I felt quite rested!

I landed in Lilongwe with ease. Going through customs was long, but no big deal. I grabbed my luggage and exchanged my US dollars for the Malawi currency (Kwacha). Then I found my ride almost immediately. It probably helped I was an hour late due to the delay with the lunch truck. Side note, the wait was totally worth it. Lunch was delicious. That may be because it was the first real meal I had eaten in two days.

I will talk about my first day in Malawi in a different post, but this evening we finally got to the volunteer house at 9 PM. After some shenanigans I was able to step into my new bedroom, for the next 29 days at least, and take off my Saturday socks on Monday.  Let that sink in!

Slow and Steady

$80.00 for a rushed birth certificate, a passport, a $2000.00 plane ticket, $1600.00 to Impact Africa, the organization that I will be teaching for (I know it is counter intuitive), a Go Fund Me fundraiser, a trip to the doctor for 4 shots and some malaria pills, collecting donated teaching supplies and now...

A trip to REI for much needed survival supplies. Things to think about before going to Africa:

Clean water
Mosquitoes (malaria)
Over UV exposure (could lead to cataracts and skin cancer)
Dehydration
Medical care
Unpredictable and non-compatible electricity
Dangerous animals

Supplies purchased to battle said obstacles:

Power transformer
Universal Plug Adapters
Headlamp
Jungle Juice 100 Insect Repellent
Kelty Ruck Sack
Camel Bak water bladder
Camel Bak filtering water bottle
PackTowl bathing towel and face towel
Gerber Pocket Knife
Dry Doc water proof bag
3-Way Camp Mirror
Medical Kit
Wilderness Wash (All purpose soap for clothing and personal hygiene)

Supplies still to be purchased:

Mosquito net
Sleeping Bag
Boots
Sun Glasses
Sun Cream (High Factor)
Sewing kit
Wet Wipes
Lip Balm
Climate appropriate clothing (Natural/light fibers/durable/long sleeves)

I can easily say that this has been a lot of prep that I did not anticipate. But I am bound and determined to be prepared for whatever the African wilderness throws at me. I told my sister that I do not want a new law or rule created because of me or something that happens to me! I know that once I leave there is nothing I can do about it, so now is the time to plan!

I look forward to whatever God has in store for me and the people that I will meet in Malawi!