Waging War

Now I am a big believer in the old saying, "don't let the truth get in the way of a good story", but folks, I ain't lying here. I went to buy my friend a birthday card, an/;d for every birthday card, there were 100 "with deepest sympathies". Now as I have said before, I am a self-proclaimed birthday grinch, but I just did not feel the "with deepest sympathies" was totally appropriate, even though that is exactly how I feel with each uptick of that damn number.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much time Malawians spend going to funerals, visiting someone in the hospital or visiting someone suffering from malaria. It is pretty shocking. I have not gone through one week without hearing about a funeral or someone I know down with malaria.

I spend at least one day a week taking one of our kids to the clinic to get tested for malaria (we are at 100% at this point) or visiting someone suffering from malaria. I have been here long enough to see some kids on their second bout of it since I arrived. I mistaking started to think of it as if it were something like the flu as everyone I know has had it since I have been here. I had a huge reality check when we visited one of our boys in the thick of it. It was awful! I was convinced he was dying and of course mike was saying he's "just ok". I was wondering if we were looking at the same thing. He could barely breath or recognize who I was. To add to the disturbing scene, there was no adult there to take care of him in this small, dark and dusty room without any ventilation. I left very concerned, disturbed and more religious about taking my malaria prophylaxsis. I am now deathly scared of malaria, and I would say rightfully so. You should see how neurotic I have gotten when I see a mosquito. All I see is death flying around and I cannot relax until I get him first.

Pictured is how you need to sleep if you want to stay alive. If only I had video of me waking up at 3am with one in my net. It gets crazy. I would definitely again, be an Americans Funniest Videos winner no doubt.

A Shout Out!!

I just wanted to take this chance to thank everyone who has sent me a message on my blog or personally sent me an email about my blog. Your words have meant more to me than you could ever know. Thanks for all the love, support, and kind words. I am trying to pay it forward.

My new project

Currently I am working on a proposal to start a HIV+ Teen Group. Meeting with the kids, writing the proposal, researching how to run an effective and productive teen group for positive kids. This has been a very eye-opening and emotionally draining experience to be honest with you. I sat down with 5 kids last week to talk to them about who they are, their lives, when they found out they were positive and what their dreams and aspirations are. One of the kids is a lot tinier than he should be. He is about the size of my 5 year old nephew but twice his age. As he sat in the oversized chair, swinging his legs around as they were not even close to touching the ground, smiling like he just won an award, I found it so hard to ask any question related to him being HIV positive. As I would ask, I would stop myself, look at the translator and say "wait…you are sure he knows he is positive"? I found it very hard to even mention the word HIV. I stumbled around these questions, thinking how "unfair" this all is, wondering how he could even understand what he is up against. One thing I do know is that none of these kids knew anyone else who was positive. That was a killer too. How are these kids going through this without having someone else to relate to or understand what they are going through?

As we were driving home, all I could think of was "there is no way I can leave here anytime soon". How could I leave here after meeting these kids, who now have names and the cutest faces, and realizing how much they need a group like this and how much I would like to be a part of starting it for them.

A Day of Christine

I had a day of Christine the other day. A day of relaxing, a massage, pizza, getting my hair done and an afternoon glass of wine. Oh how I love these days and have not had one in over 3 months. It was great, until I started thinking about the economics of it all.

A massage is shockingly cheap here, whereas books are extremely expensive. For one massage here, I could buy two books. Whereas in NYC, one massage could buy me twelve books. A massage in Manhattan can put ten kids in school for a year. Sometimes I can get so wrapped around these numbers I just want another glass of wine. "Waiter!…"

…..there goes another year of school fees for this kid.

So this is how things work here. Mike translates everything for me. I find it interesting that for every 100 words they say in Chichewa, I hear 25 in English. After a listening to Chichewa for 5 minutes, Mike will look at me and say "they are saying that they are happy you are here". hmmm.....i am pretty sure something else was said there, but oh well. The second picture is probably me doubting he is telling me everything.

Today is Not Common

I am currently reading a book by Jeffery Sachs titled "The End of Poverty". He talks about the need for developed countries to help those countries suffering from extreme poverty. He talks about economic development being a ladder in which these countries suffering from extreme poverty need help getting their foot on the first rung of the ladder, and that the only way they can do this is with the help of developed countries. They cannot do this on their own. The way I envision this is thinking about when I was a kid. When one of my friends wanted to climb a tree, we would give them "ten-fingers" to assist them in their first step to get into the tree. This is the same principle needed by these countries and it is needed at the ground level in these rural villages where the tree is out of reach. The thought is that if we can give them "ten-fingers", they can climb the tree themselves.

I feel so lucky and fortunate to have been able to witness and be a part of this process this week. Pendulum Project and Face to Face AIDS Project just gave a grant to a rural village, Chadika, to start a food security program for 40 people either impacted by HIV/AIDS in some capacity, or families taking care of orphans. They participated in a two day training on what it means to own a successful business. They have each been given a plot of land to grow maize for food as well as to sell some for a profit. I was so proud to witness this. How cool to be part of something that could potentially change the quality of these peoples lives who would otherwise not be able to do this?

As I was leaving, they were singing a song to me. Mike asked if I knew what they were saying. I think he sometimes grossley overestimates my understanding of Chichewa. They were singing that " Today is a special day, Today is a happy day, Today is not common". I could not have said it better myself. I felt the same way.

I have gotten a lot of questions about how long I am going to stay in Malawi. My original plan was to come here for two months, then travel through SE Asia. I have been here three and cannot think about leaving yet. How do you walk away from something where everyday is not common, everyday is a special day and everyday is a happy day?

Here is a picture of the training where they are learning about what a business is.

My new game

Just me playing more of my new game "repeat after me". I do not really see this one getting old, especially when I can get them to say "Christina you are great" over and over again.