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Tuesday, July 8, 2008

7 July 2008, first day in Malawi

FULL OF NSIMA
Muli Bwangi

Hello and greetings from the great city of Lilongwe in Malawi. We made it here safely last night. After 8 billion miles of travel, we were ready to crash at the Cluny House. It is awesome. Each room has 3 beds and there is a cool common area complete with an outdoor fire pit. For dinner the first night, we had our first traditional Malawian meal - Nsima. It is pretty much a big patty of corn meal. The college group made some delicious beans and green colored relish. It didn't look like much but it definitely filled us up...it may never leave our stomachs. After dinner, Katie and Rob, our team leaders, gathered us together and discussed group goals, and begin our orientation. Some of our group goals are to communicate, to learn Chichewa, and to get corn rows....

So today we woke up early and met the college students. We all piled into a land rover and drove about an hour to our first village. It was orientation time. It was the college kids 2nd camp and we were split into groups of 2 to observe the curriculum. The camp started with an enormous community circle. We sang four group songs. We actually did Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes-Chichewa version. After morning songs, we played some group games and played with parachutes. Then we split up and started the curriculum. HIV/AIDS was the first topic. The teachers taught while the native translators translated into Chichewa for the kids. At lunch time the coordinators served out portions of nsima to the kids from 2 enormous coolers. The kids then got a serving of beans. We had just enough. The rest of the day was focused on deforestation and then we ended the day with some Frisbee games.

We love and miss you all.
World Campers :

11 July 2008

Hello Folks. I just wanted to touch base and let you know that everyone is doing well. The students are on home stay tonight and will return to Lilongwe tomorrow afternoon. Below is the post from yesterday. I will have them do another with pictures tomorrow. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
baker@worldcampforkids.org

Today was the group’s first actual day of teaching. Our ragtag bunch was split between two schools, one smaller and one larger. Soleil, Katherine, Basia and Claire were dropped off at the smaller school and Isaac, Jake, Mindy, Gretchen, Brenna, and Caroline headed the second larger school. After an excited session of morning songs and games (“The Banana Song” led fearlessly by Claire and Basia; “Boom Chika Boom” led confusingly by Jake and Isaac), we headed into the classroom where our teaching skills were put to the test. Compared to schools we previously observed, we considered the classrooms of Phereni and Kapumphe to be nice as they had finished ceilings. While WC volunteer instructors from Session Two worked with students from standards 6, 7, and 8, our team split up to work with the students from standard 5. The class day began with lessons and activities about HIV/AIDS; the kids loved the T-Cell game, where we pretended to be a disease and then proceeded to “attack” them. Claire was malaria, Basia was Cholera, and Brenna was TB! Following was an entirely new malaria curriculum. Both subjects went incredibly well! After a delicious lunch of … surprise surprise…nsima and beans!, we moved back into the classroom to lead a discussion with our groups about deforestation. Our afternoon games went very well as our initial teaching jitters disappeared. We were all relieved and excited to be nearly finished with our first day of hard, yet rewarding, work. After our journey home, cook group 1 (Claire, Gretchen, Isaac, and Caroline) made some wonderfully delicious pasta and salad, which we enjoyed by candlelight (our power went out for the second night in a row). After supper, we held a brief assessment of our first teaching day and were prepped for the home-stay. The rest of our night was spent unwinding with some s’mores and music while preparing for our next two days of camp. With just one day of teaching under our belts, all of us are looking forward to the rest of our stay here in Malawi and the rest of our days in the classroom.
We love and miss you all.
–The World Campers

13 July 2008

WE HIKED A MOUNTAIN TODAY! It was so incredible. We didn't expect such a
steep climb, but when we made it to the top as a group…all our sweat and energy was made worth it. We got a ton of pictures, and we can't wait to show you.

So we finished our first camp yesterday. It was a huge success. We had our first home-stay as well. Wow – what an experience. We were assigned home-stay families in pairs. We were greeted with traditional Malawian songs and dances. The villagers were so excited to have us in their homes, and spent hours introducing us to EVERYONE they knew. We learned how to cook Nsima, and failed miserably when it came time for us to help pump and carry water. As we headed back to school in the morning some of the families gave us family photographs to remember them by.

Overall, our first camp was great and so was our home-stay. We are excited to head to a new school in the morning.

17 July 2008

Mwadsuka bwanji!
Well, we just successfully finished our second camp yesterday! It was one of the biggest camps World Camp has seen thus far. Upon our arrival each day, we were greeted by a mob of children shouting our names and running after our land rovers. We have never felt like such celebrities.
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There were over 400 students, 170 of which were in Standard 5. Each high school teaching pair had about 30 kids. We start each day at camp with morning songs and games. With one camp under our belt, the high school group got to lead one of the morning songs. Claire, Mindy, and Basia led the Banana Song, a classic and a favorite of the students. After morning songs we proceed to morning games. We do everything from team building games, to parachute, to ultimate Frisbee (which is always interesting, considering most African children have never seen a Frisbee). After games we head to our classrooms where we hand out journals, pencils, and nametags and have a quick meet and greet. Then we begin the curriculum for the day. Some of the our lessons include: HIV Happens on the Inside, You Can’t Tell a Person Has HIV by Looking at Them, the three R’s to prevent deforestation (Reduce, Replace, Replant), and Malaria Prevention, Transmission, Symptoms, and Treatment. It’s a loaded curriculum but we keep the kids entertained with the T-Cell Game, the Malaria Transmission game, the Jungle Walk, and a lot of loud and goofy impersonations.
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Our favorite part of camp is the anonymous questions. On the second day, we give each kid a piece of paper and encourage them to ask us any and all questions they may have about HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Deforestation, or anything else they may want to know about. We are often amazed by the questions they ask us. To name a few: Are there black people in America?, Do white people bathe?, How many children do you have and what standard are they in?, Are you married?, Why do people in America wait to get married?, Is your hair real?, Do you learn Chichewa in America?, Is America beautiful?, and the hardest one to answer - Will you take us to America?
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On day three each class is assigned a topic. The class is responsible for creating a presentation in the form of a song, a dance, a drama, or a combination of the three. The kids love this. The students are great at improvisations and we are often surprised by their final product, as it is often very different from what they rehearsed.
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The hardest part of each camp is leaving on the third day. We, as teachers, are often bombarded by the children for addresses, phone numbers, pictures, and hugs. We ended this particular camp with a game of “football” against the teachers at the school. Gretchen, Isaac, Caroline, and Jake were left in the dust when playing against the more experienced, and barefoot, African children. Mindy, Catherine, Soleil and Brenna brought out their supply of bubbles to show the kids, which provided some off-field entertainment. Claire and Basia entertained the kids with their cameras and their renditions of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” Our second camp was a huge success, and we celebrated by visiting our favorite local hot spot, Ali Baba’s, for French fries (chips) and Fanta. It felt so good to be able to relax after a hectic, yet rewarding, three days.
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After much needed showers, we headed back to the college World Camp house for some delicious curry made by our favorite Malawian, John, and a guest speaker, Helen. Helen is living with HIV. She found out she was HIV positive when she was six months pregnant with her baby, and she now works with an organization that helps to end stigma and discrimination against AIDS. She came to share her story and then opened the floor to question and answers. It was extremely interesting. We went back to the house and finally went to bed.
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Today, we went to an orphanage 20 minutes outside of Lilongwe where we planted trees and hung out with the orphans there. We planted over 200 trees and fed over 170 children. Our lack of agriculture skills provided much entertainment for the workers and children at the orphanage. We are going back on Saturday to plant some more trees, and tomorrow we are off to a shelter to do some team building activities with Malawian teenagers living on the streets. We are having a great time and are looking forward to our dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup!
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We love and miss you all.
Tsalani bwino!

20 July 2008

Our group has been enjoying the small break since we finished our second camp on Wednesday (July16). Everyone has been spending some much needed time unwinding. Since the college group is on safari this week, we have been relaxing at the World Camp house in our off time, checking e-mail, watching movies, reading books, playing music, and often venturing into town.

Seeing as how eight of the ten that make up our group are female, most everyone was excited to visit the fabric market downtown. In addition, we have been exploring other parts of Lilongwe, notably the craft market where local merchants line up to sell their goods. These goods range from handmade jewelry to decorative wooden figures to authentic-looking African masks. “Looking costs nothing” all the merchants assure us, but they’re all just looking to hook customers and reel them in. In all honesty, it’s an intense experience when you enter the realm of the craft market. Instantly, you’re swarmed by merchants in Rasta caps, pulling you in all different directions to look at his stand. When you actually take an interest in a particular item, a whole new battle begins. Haggling for a decent price takes time and considerable effort. Most of the time, you and the merchant you’re buying from end up at a stand-off regarding the price you want to buy for and the price they want you to pay. These stand-offs could last for several minutes, just you and the merchant shaking your head at each other until one of you gives in and agrees to the other’s proposition.

The actual work we’ve been doing the last few days has been less structured and comparatively easier than doing a camp, well, in some regards. We spent Thursday and Saturday planting trees and playing games with the kids at a feeding center where children come to hang out and be fed. Planting the trees turned out to be backbreaking work. There were over two hundred trees to plant, and it was obvious to the locals that we didn’t exactly have the most farming experience in the world. However, despite some achy shoulders and busted blisters, the visits were quite enjoyable. Everyone played some football, served some nsima, and made some friends. We even had the opportunity to introduce a kite to the kids. They really seemed to enjoy watching the kite soar until it became apparent that they were more interested in chucking sticks and stones at it to bring it down.

On Friday, (July 18), in between visits to the feeding center, we spent a few hours at the Chisomo orphanage downtown getting to know some of the kids that live on the streets of Lilongwe. After an intensely competitive game of football between the volunteers and the orphans (they were victorious 1-0), everyone participated in some spirited relay races (the three-legged and dizzy bat race were favorites). We attempted a game of ultimate Frisbee that eventually divulged into scattered shadowboxing and arm-wrestling matches, it was clear these kids were a little rougher around the edges than other children we’ve encountered.

Sunday, (July 20), has consisted of relaxation time and preparation for the two upcoming camps in the week ahead. The college group arrives back at the house today since we have camp starting tomorrow. Our short break is coming to a close, and everyone is now getting excited to start our next rural adventure.

The World Campers

27 July 2008

As of two days ago, we have officially finished our last camp. It was hard for all of us to leave, but at the same time I think we’re all satisfied with the work we did. We all feel like we really got through to these kids, and we all hope that we’ve made a real difference in their lives. After camp on the second day we had a soccer game, teachers vs. students. The translators went home so we didn’t have them to help us, but with a little help from the med students we won. It was the first soccer game we’ve actually won since we got here! A few of us left with bumps and bruises but all around people had a great time. Those who didn’t play were cheering and leading songs on the sidelines, or just talking with some of the students. We had a really good time.

On the second night of camp we stayed at different houses in the village. There were a lot of families that spoke English and a lot of very welcoming mothers and fathers. Many people said their families had large parties at their house, and continually shouted things like, “The white people are here!” in Chichewa. Everyone had a great experience, some people even ate nsima that they made with their host families. Claire and Basia were even spotted carrying extra-large buckets of water on their heads through the village. They looked thrilled to be doing it, if a little sore from the strain.

On the last day of camp the headmaster and other teachers, as well as one of the village chiefs, gave speeches thanking World Camp for our work and inviting us back again. Presentations were beautiful, they were mostly songs and they were very well done. It made us all proud to see our students do their best for our last presentation. At one camp the students performed a traditional dance for everyone. The girls got up in a circle and did a dance while two boys in the middle drummed. A few World Camp girls jumped up and joined in, which all the students and parents watching thought was very funny. Even some of the translators danced along. It was all great fun, and it was difficult to drive away.

While we’re all sad that camps are over, we’re all very excited for safari! The college group said they had a great time and have shown us some amazing pictures, so we’ve all agreed on what we’re doing. Currently we plan to go on an afternoon boat ride Monday, and a morning game drive on Tuesday. We leave Wednesday morning for the Zemba Plateau, which should be very beautiful. The campgrounds sound great and everyone in the college group saw plenty of animals, so we expect to have a great time. Everyone’s really pumped for safari, and we’ll make sure to take lots of pictures!

The World Campers

31 July 2008

Safari was great! We arrived at the Mvuu Lodge Monday afternoon. It was beautiful. After we set up camp, we loaded a boat and took our first ever safari. We saw crocodiles, warthogs, impalas, and lots of hippos. The greatest sight we saw, however, was the sunset - WOW. We spent the remainder of our night grilling "hobos," which are marinated vegetables, on an open fire and sat together as a group star gazing. We got to spend our second day on safari relaxing by the pool, reading by the river, and playing spades against the med students. We also got to eat lunch at the Lodge. We enjoyed a delicious meal of vegetable lasagna, homemade bread and butter, and peach cobbler for dessert. The next morning we woke up nice and early for our 5:30 safari drive through the rhino sanctuary. We saw tons of animals - zebras, elephants, impalas, and bushpigs.

We left that morning for the Zomba plateau where we spent the night camping. We are back at the college house now, about to eat dinner. Tomorrow we are doing our final project at the Chisomo street shelter and then we are packing our hostel in preparation for our departure. We love and miss you all and cannot wait to see you soon!

The World Campers

shapu

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

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