Rosie, Malawi Style

This is the shirt design for the new GAD fundraiser. Like?

Ferris, stuff

Hey all,

So I'm officially on term break! I turned in all of my grades yesterday, and literally said 'see ya later suckers!' to the other teachers in the staff room. Before I left, I had a great conversation with another teacher about Lady Gaga and Beyonce, he agrees that they are crazy.

Holiday feels great, sometimes you just need a break

Love, love,

beeb

One more day until term break!!

Hello everyone!

I am getting excited for Piotr to arrive next week, he is going to be here for a while, so it will be like having a roommate! I have even cleared out a room in my house for him to use while he is here, I figured I would put up my tent in there so he could be protected from mosquitoes and Hector, though Hector has stopped peeing on everything and wrecking everything. Still, it will disguise the fact that I don’t have a bed for him. I ordered a futon from my local carpenter, and he told me it would be done weeks ago, so I’ve all but given up on that. I couldn’t find a plan to give him, but we drew plenty of pictures, and he assured me he knew what to do, so I don’t know what the deal is with that.

I found out where Hector has been going to get food- my neighbors the Chonombos and Benulas have been giving her food while I’m at school. I asked if they minded, and they say of course not, so I guess it isn’t a problem. The children from those families have started to come over to my house to play with some of the toys people sent, so I suppose it is a fair trade- free babysitting for a ball of Nsima, not that people here ever really worry about their kids getting watched after they turn four- the bigger kids keep the little ones out of trouble. Anyway, having those little girls over has helped me practice my Chitonga, because even though they all speak English, it helps that they won’t laugh if I try to talk to them in their language. They like to spell words with the bananagrams my mom sent, and can read all of the flash cards Zach’s mom sent- dominoes are a bit trickier, so they use them to build houses. It is cute when they visit, but Hector still scares them- they push her away, which just makes her try to play with them more- it is strange to see little kids not know how to play with a puppy, I tell them to pet her when she jumps, to calm her down, but without my coaching them, they just run, which makes her chase them, and they cry… oh well. She doesn’t mean them any harm but they are terrified.

Last weekend I went to Mzuzu for a meeting with other volunteers about our Gender and Development group, or GAD- the GAD group is getting along well, and we are all very excited for Carrie’s design to go on the shirts we are going to order. We have also thought about having people sell the Peace Corps Malawi cook book for us back home- like maybe a brilliant and caring mom could print the PDF at kinkos and sell it at church or any other group… I thought you lovelies might be interested, because everyone seems so supportive. The cook book is quite funny, and the recipes are interesting, it would give you a feel for how we live here. Buying one book for about ten dollars would be enough to send a girl or boy to camp. We are also thinking of a way to set up an online account for people to donate straight to our fund. I’ll let you know more when I have more to say.

The GAD project is separate from my women’s group, which is also going well. We talked about creating a logo on a rubber stamp so that we could label our stuff, which is a little touch that could make a big difference if we try to sell things to tourists. It occurs to me that I can take orders from people now and the ladies can start making custom things for me to bring home at Christmas- clothes would be difficult to get completely right, unless you like really baggy shirts, so I was thinking maybe bags or baby clothes, which the women are used to making as most are mothers and grandmothers themselves. The baby clothes I see in the market are made of these awesome prints and are super cute, plus, they would be small, so I could bring a lot with me. I thought maybe I could also take some orders on quilts too, though really, they would be more like duvets, since the would make it them hard to bring on the plane- the fabric here is amazing, so a handmade quilt could be really special, and the women could get more practice on the machines before moving on to uniforms. I don’t know how much to sell them for though, maybe I’ll choose a number, and leave it open for donations

Women's Group & GAD

Hey guys!

So, I don't have a lot of time, but we had a Gender and Development meeting tonight, and were wondering if anyone wanted to maybe print off some cook books and sell them for us in the US so we could raise money for a gender equality camp we're holding. Mom, I'm looking at you on this one.

About the T-Shirts with the Malawian Rosie- The idea for those shirts were for the gender and development group, not my women's group, so the group asks that if anyone wants to sell those shirts in the US, that we split the funds between the groups. Honestly, the women's group is going pretty strong, and the girls camp needs more help at this time, so I think the money would be best used in that group anyway.

The women's group is ROCKING! This month, they started sewing school uniforms from the fabric that we bought in the capital, and they look great! We decided to sell the uniforms for about 400 Kwacha, which is maybe three bucks, and is cheaper than it would cost to even buy the fabric in the village, so I think that they'll do really well- taking things like the cost of the fabric and the labor into account, the ladies stand to make a huge profit on it, so I'm pretty proud of them. We'll see how it goes, but I think that when Piotr visits, we might be in a position to buy even more fabric and expand the operation.

The group and I talked about ways we could reach out to some of our friends in the US, like the Savories. We decided that we would try to start sewing bags or something that I can bring to the US to sell when I go home at Christmas, so that we could have a way to feel more connected or something. We also thought about sewing quilts, so if anyone is interesting on ordering a quilt to be bought when I go home, that can be arranged. The fabrics here are amazing, and it could be a really cool thing to have. I'll look into how much we'd be interested in selling it for.

Otherwise, things here are great- call me, I'd love to talk business.

Love love,

Beeb

SUP?

Hey guys!

So, basically, I won the Peace Corps lottery. I spent this past weekend at the lake, and I STILL get a ton of work done. Yup. Useful and suntanned. It's good to be me.

I am getting ready for another break, and the long awaited visit of Piotr, who will be here for almost 6 weeks. I have some ideas for what we can do while he is here, and am planning a computer camp thing with my site mate for our teachers. Hopefully Pi will want to help.

Otherwise, all is well, I'm having a good time, keep the phone calls and packages coming- I love them.

Peace out!

GRRRGH!

Lesson Learned: Always listen to your dog.

Let me back up. Last night we had a huge rainstorm, wind, rain, the works. I have a tin roof, and a tree that likes to scratch my windows, so it is always a pretty loud deal whenever it rains. I had trouble sleeping last night, and had a ton of strange dreams:

Dream #1- I attempted to talk to someone in French, but it kept coming out Chitonga- so I had to actually think and translate each phrase from Chitonga into French. Very frustrating, though possibly encouraging, since hey, at least I wasn't speaking English

Dream #2- I was at my Family Reunion, picking out a room to stay in with my cousin Emily. I turn to Emily, and ask her why she is there, because isn't she taking summer classes, and can't make it? She asks me why I'm not in Malawi. Touche Emily.

Dream #3- The door to my courtyard keeps opening, someone is stealing my buckets.

Dream #3 turned out to not be a dream. Hector did her job and barked but Hector is always barking at crazy shit, so I didn't listen. Damn dog once attacked my mosquito net while we were both under it. Now I am missing about 5,000 kwacha worth of random stuff that was in my shower and courtyard area. It isn't a ton of money but, see, I don't have it, and so it becomes a lot more.

So lesson learned, listen to Hector.

Internet Drought, Ended

hey guys. So I wrote a really long post, and then promptly forgot my flash drive somewhere- grr.

Things are going well. After Easter break, I took some friends to my site. We went to a lodge down the street from my house, and Vanessa told me it was very stupid that I didn't go there more often, so I have started taking her advice, and last Sunday, I visited the beach. I read a book and knit a sweater while I relaxed on the sand. The beach here is a lot like at Lake Michigan, only the water is warm, and you can see Mozambique on the other side.

Thanks for all of the support, I really love it, I hope everyone got their easter cards or letters!

Love from Malawi

Beeb