Mammal Count, it was hot

Once a year in Liwonde National Park they hold a large mammal count, and Peace Corps gets to help. The count was supposed to happen back in October but due to funding it was pushed back to this past weekend. Transport was really bad getting to Liwonde boma, I was the last person to get there, but luckily there were still people around so we got a truck to drive us out to the camp. 

There are two camps, the South camp and the North camp.  The North camp is for people who did the count the previous year, it's nicer, they have a pool.  So we were in the South camp, but we still had flushing toilets and showers so whatever, it's still a step up from my house.  One of the other things our camp had was monkeys, Vervets and Baboons.  If a monkey sees you put something down, they will pick it up, even if they don't see you put it down, they came in the buildings.  They would steal food off the fire, countertops, out of the kitchen and from the dorms we were staying in.  Case in point, I lost a pair of pants.  That's right, monkeys took my pants.

Monkeys aside, the animals were really neat.  At the game count you do two things, sit and count whatever happens to walk by and walk a transect line and count what you happen to stumble across.  The first day I did a hide count.  We saw a lot of Impala, Kudu, Bushbuck, Warthhog, Buffalo, Elephants and Hippos. There were Elephants, a mother, a baby who looked to be about 3 years old and a much younger baby, maybe only a few months.  They got really close, maybe within 50 yards and then walked across the Shire River, the baby swam. 

That night some very nice PCV donated 16 chickens, 8 to each camp.  We had 8 chickens to kill, I took one, and I am proud of how the girls stepped up to take them on, only one person got blood splattered on them. One of the chickens tried to buy her freedom by laying an egg at the last minuet but the blood lust (or protein defficency) of the PCVs would not be quelled. So yeah, we ate a lot of chicken, it was really really good.

Also, in Liwonde, it was hot. Really hot. And I think it was worse at night, you are in a little room with at least 4 other people, all hot, and no air is moving.  A night time conversation with myself went a little something like this:
*ugh, it's hot, i wonder if anyone else is this hot. of course they are, how could anyone not be this hot, it's hot. tomorrow i have to go do a transect walk, i bet that is hot. they said they ran out of water, i'm glad i bought an extra bottle, i'll probaly need it. stupid monkey, i can't find those pants anywhere. why am i still wet, i took that shower hours ago.....oh.....the water has been replaced with sweat, maybe i could sleep outside. the mosquitos aren't too bad, no i can't sleep outside, stupid monkeys. maybe i can flip the pillow over, that usually helps, where is the cold spot?....okay, new mission, where is a spot not soaked in sweat. ew. i hate being hot*

And that would continue for a while until one of us gave up on the conversation and went to sleep. The next day I went and did a transect walk. For that one, you have a GPS and walk in a line marking points where you see animals.  We saw about 19 Elephants, Impala, Sable antelope, Roan antelope, bushbuck, Hartebeest, Kudu, Buffalo and lion footprints. Whenever you come up on Buffalo you backtrack at least 50 yard and circle way around before you keep going.  Just ask Andrew and Kate, they got chased and had to climb trees.  Rhino are the same way and we had people get chased by them too.

After retrieving a few people who got lost in the bush, we got back to camp, packed up and headed out.  I got a mini bus going to Lilongwe but I was kinda late so I stopped off at Cassie's house for the night.  Tomorrow I should be home once more. 

And that's the latest from Malawi.  Just remember, watch out for wild animals, know how to use a GPS, don't use a flash around Elephants, and if someone finds a portable air conditioner let me know.  I'll see you all in a month for Christmas!!!  

The Weather and Everybody's Health

I have heard it said that if you have nothing to talk about, then you are to stick to two subjects, the weather, and everybody’s health.  (Extra points to those of you playing along at home who can guess that musical).

So we’ll start with the weather.  When I came to Malawi everyone said October was hot hot hot hot.  I’m not so sure that is true.  So far, October is a lot like June, it has been cloudy, windy, cool, and everywhere but Nkhotakota it has been raining.  A lot.  So some crazy weather front is pushing all rain out of the teeny tiny 16 km radius of my house. Why!! I don’t want to water the garden anymore! However, unseasonal rain causes problems.  Some people think the rains are coming early this year and that can mean big trouble.  For starters no one has planted corn yet, they normally don’t do that until November. 

Planting early won’t always mean a harvest, if the rain stays until normal (Dec-Jan) the corn will be ripe but it won’t dry.  Rains this time of year can also mess up volunteer projects.  Construction, tree planting, bore hole digging, etc, all have to happen in the dry season.  So, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, hopefully  the hot season kicks in and the rain holds off until the proper time.

On to health, it’s much better thank you.  My throat no longer hurts and I have been off antibiotics for a while now.  The puppy (Dora) however has been a little off.  I have been wanting to feed her dewormer for a while now but I have been waiting until I felt she could handle it. She has had a huge belly but you could still see her ribs and hips and she would eat anything, pretty good signs of worms.  So at the end of last week I started feeding her the diotamicious earth that Megan sent.  Nothing was changing until about two days ago.  Basically over night I guess she passed all her worms, her belly is gone.  Obviously this take quite a toll on a tiny system like hers so she has been taking it easy the past few days and finally ate some scrambled egg for me this morning.  Pang’ono Pang’ono.

The other volunteers also seem to be quite healthy.  Some of us, Twila, Shawn, Erin, Annette and myself all got together at Nkhotakota Pottery to meet the new US Ambassador to Malawi.  She and her husband are both very nice.  They bought us all lunch.  Ohmygosh, that was the first steak I have seen in ages and the most fat and protein I have consumed in a single sitting since Feburary 27^th I think.  My body may go into shock. 

Next week on Thursday I will be in Lilongwe, I have a report to file. I would be doing it from Nkhotakota but because I am the biggest idiot I know, I broke my computer and can’t do it from here…yay.  On the Brightside though I get to have free internet access and get some work done.  So until next time, tiwonana!

Why I DON'T Need a Dog

1) I am only here 18 more months

2) Harder to get away for a few days

3) Feeding them (I barely feed myself)

4) Flea and tick meds, long way to get them and $$

5) Housebreaking is never fun no matter what hemisphere you are in

6) Less time for you

7) I already have a cat (Squiggles and she is really really cute!!!)

And on….

And on……..

And on…………....

I have list at home that is a lot longer, I just didn’t bring it to the boma today.  And I stand by it.  Dogs are nice in the States.  I know breeds, I know what to expect of these breeds.  The village dogs are pretty feral and can be unpredictable. I know volunteers who, for the first time in their lives got a dog, I do not recommend that! You start out with a shelter dog or something that is already trained, preferably a Labrador.  Something easy, you don’t walk into the math department and say, “I want to take advanced differential calculus because I saw someone else do it and it looked like fun!”  (If you are doing that may I seriously suggest you have your head examined.)

But they did it anyway and I have become the Dog Whisperer via text messaging.  It’s fun though, you get to hear about what is going on, how the dogs are, you get a feel for what works and what doesn’t.  I will say this, the dogs here are highly food motivated.  People keep asking me why I don’t get a dog if I love them so much and I give them the list.  Sometimes though, despite our best efforts things slip though the cracks.

So I would like to introduce you all to my puppy.  She doesn’t have a name yet.  Benson (my neighbor) has a dog, Tiger and back in early August she had a litter of 5 puppies.  Everything was going really well, 2 boys are on hold for Erin, until they hit about 6 weeks old.  This little girl suddenly got sick, really sick.  At first I thought she was blind, she would stumble around, walk into things, walk off of things (like a porch), wasn’t eating well, was extremely dehydrated, the whole smash.  So I started giving her milk in a syringe, oral rehydration solution, antibiotics, and she did get a little better.  Then I went off to IST, got back and found her a mess.  Apparently she fell down a chim (pit toilet) for two days, eeeewwwwwww. So she got a bath, more fluids and more antibiotics.  She still walks funny but not as bad as before.  She holds her neck out straight, still wobbles and occasionally runs into things.  I think she had a bacterial infection that went to her brain or inner ears. 

And here is the kicker, she stopped growing.  At 9-10 weeks she is the same size she was at 7-6, her brothers are huge, maybe a foot at the shoulder and she is still a tiny 9”.  Maybe the infection took out her pituitary gland and she stopped growing? I don’t know, I’m out of guesses for this dog.  

So long term diagnosis; who knows. I now have a kitten who barely leaves the house and a puppy who can hardly sit straight with little bladder control (name to consider; Puddles).

Mary’s Home for Wayward Animals: Africa is now open, our newest branch office is located just outside Nkhotakota in rural Malawi, please no Mambas. 

IST and IV

Well IST (Inter Service Training) is done with.  We arrived on Sunday, two weeks ago and went to visit the Nordins at Never Ending Food, they are really nice people and have an amazing set up with perma culture gardening everywhere.  It was really nice to see.  Then for the next few days it was a lot of evaluations about previous trainings, things we would like to see improved for future groups, etc.

Counterparts arrived on Wednesday.  I brought Ponsiano from the Parks and Wildlife office in Nkhotakota.  He is an extension worker so since he is in multiple villages it seemed like a way to have the training benefit a lot of people beyond my reach. 

On Sunday the Health volunteers arrived.  IST is a total of 3 weeks long with the middle week being a combined training for both our sectors and the outlier weeks being individual sectors training.  I think it worked well, the combined training week had a lot to do with administrative stuff so this way they don't have to repeat themselves. 

While all this was going on people were dropping like flies.  I don't know what happened but some horrible bug was going around.  That first week, I ran out of stomach meds so many people were sick.  There are two kinds of people, those who came prepared and those who know someone else came prepared and thus didn't even bring pain killers.  So thats how I ran out of meds. 

I took my turn with the bug for almost the entire second week.  I was feeling pretty good by Wednesday morning when the medical office came out to do our final vaccinations, go figure.  Thursday I was off, I went back to bed at about 11am and some nice volunteers brought me lunch.  Friday I didn't even bother, it wasn't worth it to get up.  I talked to the medical office and they were going to send Amoxicillin the next day.  I kept feeling worse. 

Later that day we actually looked in my throat...eeeeewwwwww, tonsils covered in pus, for those of you eating, I'm sorry, but you shouldn't have food at a computer anyway, so it serves you right. After that I was on transport for Lilongwe so fast, I think it actually did make my head spin.  But considering how miserable I was, it is pretty amazing my head was still attached.

In Lilongewe I streched out on a table for a solid hour or so, and Dr. Max hooked me up to an IV drip;
Dr. Max- Pepani (sorry) Mary, this is gonna hurt
Me- uuuhhhhhh
Dr. Max- your gonna feel a pinch
Me- uuuhhhhhh
Long story short, I didn't feel much of that, thank goodness, I have a bad track record with needles.

So after that, Dr. Max drove me to Korea Garden Lodge where I have been staying.  This morning he came over to do more IV antibiotics.  I couldn't help but think about how it looked.  I mean think about it, in a devloping country, IV bag hanging from a coat rack, little vials spread out on the bed, usually these stories end with someone waking up in a bathtub of ice with a note saying "Call a Doctor".  But seriously, Dr. Max is awesome and is coming to check on me again tomorrow.   

Malawi is funny, I have been sick more here in the past 6 months than I have in the last year living in the States and I've been on 2 IV drips in as many days, I don't think I have ever been on one.  Africa is rough on you if you don't know what to expect. 

(BTW- Mom the IV ABX is Ceftriaxone and they gave me 2 g yesterday and today)

Bikes, enough leg power and they'll do anything!

I know, I know, it's been a while....again. I am not made for blogging. Well, mostly this country is not made for blogging. No electricity at my house and frequent power outtages mean that even if you do get to the boma to post an update there is always the chance you won't be able to do it anyway. But I digress, todays topic is; Bicycles a.k.a.- Jenga (in Chichewa)
When we get to site, Peace Corps gives us a bike on which to get around. For many volunteers it is the only method of getting to your nearest trading center, boma, or other volunteer. I am lucky, I have a short ride down a dirt path and then it is a quick, albeit hilly, 16 km to NKK boma on a paved road, the M 18. Some people are 16 km from the nearest paved road, I'm not complaining.
The bike provedes a means of transport not only for you but your kathundu (baggage), any mail you may have, groceries, fellow PCV's, and let me tell you, if I had a nickle for every time I saw a goat or pig or chicken lashed to the back of a bike, well I don't how many nickles it would exactly be but my guess is somewhere around $2.50. It is actually really funny to see and you would think the animals would put up a bigger fuss about it, but no. They seem quite resigned to their fate if for no other reason than, "Well as long as I'm on the bike, the kids don't throw rocks at me, humm, not bad."
I was biking to the boma one day and passed a man and a goat. The goat was tied insuch a fashion as to look like it was sitting side-saddle on the frame, with it's front legs tied and resting on the handle bars, a very dainty looking goat. Actually I thought it was dead, then as soon as I passed it the goat looked at me and went,
"MMMAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
I think this loosely translates to,
"Look! They can't hit me with rocks! The kids don't know how to lead a target!" but I think it loses a little something in the translation, goat to Chichewa to English, you know, hard to keep up with it.
Actually, if someone would tell the livestock that if they would flop around a bit more they could very easily upset the bikes it may be a different story. And that is the amazing part, I bet getting them up is quite interesting (especially the pigs) but they just sit there! Weird. All my experience with American livestock suggests they would be adverse to such treatment. Humm, I think there is a selective breeding program for bike friendly animals, it's in the genes.

Every crazed, homeless, beggar has his day in court, when is mine?

A select few of you already know this, for those of you who don't, this will help you through today's blog post. So here is the short version;

I was grabbed in my boma, twice.

There is a crazy homeless guy who hangs out and harasses people, locals, tourists, kids, anyone. Last Wednesday he was following me around the boma ranting and raving and ended up grabbing my ass.  I got freaked out and left for Lilongwe for a few days, and he was arressted for a night.  A week later, (Wednesday) I get back to Nkhotakota I get grabbed again, the police had given him a haircut and shaved his beard, I practically walked right into him! This time my site mate is with me and she gets grabbed as well.

One of the interesting things about Malawian culture is the apathy.  Here are two people clearly in distress being harassed and visably grabbed and what do the tons of people around us do? Laugh. Because he is crazy it is funny. 

Anyway, we pick up bricks to throw at him and walked to the police station, file a report, and are told to come back to be in court on Friday.  So we get all the way here and are told that nothing is happening untill Tuesday, and even then it is just his day in court to state 'Guilty' or 'Innocent'.  They will call when we are needed. 

So what did we learn today? Walk around with bricks and the kids finally don't talk to you, and dealing with legal systems sucks globally. Wooh.

Weddings in Malawi

So, sorry I haven't been posting lately.  Every now and then blogging goes to the bottom of the To-Do list and doesn't resurface for a while. 

Anyway, currently I am at Kamuzu Academey in Kasungu district.  It is really quiet here, on account of the fact that school is out. Nice and quiet, and the internet isn't all bogged down so things are moving pretty quickly. 

I have been staying with a volunteer who lives nearby, Alysia, and yesterday we went into Kasungu to go see a wedding.  The man getting married lives in Alysia's village and she was invited to go.  From what I can gather, if you are invited, you invite other people too, so I went along. 

We were dropped off in the wrong spot to we wandered around for a while before we gave up and just went to Kasungu to get to the bank.  At 1pm we headed to the community center for the reception. 

The program said that it started off with "soft" music.  Let me tell you something, Malawians have amazing hearing but they can not play their music loud enough.  They love to have it at ear drum piercing levels, don't know why.  After the music the wedding party danced in followed by the bride and groom.  Any of you remember seeing that viral video taken of a wedding in America where everyone danced down the isle? It was kinds like that, but African.

Then we had about a million "pelekani pelekani".  A pelekani pelekani is basically where everyone gets up, dances around, and throws a ton of money in these buckets for the bride and groom.  In America you get a toaster and 5 crock pots, in Malawi you get buckets of money, literally, buckets.  But these families were a bit more bwana than most people here.  I suspect that a village wedding would not result in so much cash, but the effect is the same, loads of money being thrown at you.  

Alysia and I got up and participated,  I don't know how much kwacha I threw in but each time you get up you walk back to your seat about 20-50 kwacha lighter.

After a little bit you look at the piles of money being counted and a thought crossed my mind, "Is it bad that I want to walk over there and make change?"  Seriously though, we get paid with 500 kwacha bills and those are impossible to use in the village.  Part of me wanted to go over and offer to condense it down for them a bit, that way they have fewer buckets of money to put on their truck, thus lightening the load and saving fuel.  I was being economical.

Speaking of fuel, I know some of you (*cough cough* mom*cough cough*) have been reading about the riots that occured here a week or so ago.  Let me tell you how it played out in Nkhotakota boma.  They closed the People's grocery store.

No, that's all, just closed one store.  Jesi and I ran into the manager at a lodge while we were having a cheeseburger, he had a coke. 

When you hear that something is happening "nation wide" people usually envision mass panic, something absolutely every person is participating in.  When they say "nation wide" in Malawi, they mean it was happening in the three biggest cities, Blayntre, Lilongwe, and Mzuzu, which happen to be located in the South, central, and North parts of the country, and thus it is nation wide. 

So no worries.  There are more demonstrations planned for the 17-18th of August but probably more of the same. 

So to wrap up; weddings=lots of money, and things can get blown out of proportion here too.  I love you all and hope to talk to you soon!