My friends and family in the Northeast region of the United States will find this incomprehensible, but it is too hot to think straight in the mid-afternoon sun that streams through the window of our (very) well-lit new office. For a girl who spent 28 of the previous 29 holiday seasons in wintry Massachusetts, this is no ordinary January day.
Five and a half months into the fellowship—into Malawi, into CHAI, into truly a new life—I find I have a mixed bag response to the question, “how do you like it?” A hard-to-pin down “good” accompanied by a slow head nod, eyes narrowed, is certainly ambiguous. If I had to give a number rating to My Time In Malawi So Far, it might be 100: an average between 50 and 150. Like any average (e.g. the answer “good”) describing a data set (my experiences) with a high standard deviation (lots of ups and downs)… it doesn’t tell you much.
A blog post has its limits too, but I’ll do my best to give a snapshot of the highs, lows, work and personal happenings.
Highs. Beautiful place. New culture. Sticking around long enough to get more than drive-by photos. There are LOTS of wonderful moments in Malawi! One of the best had to be Thanksgiving in Zomba, which turned into the most diverse, exciting, unexpected and fun party I have attended, period. Hosted by our Zomba-based cofellows, we ate turkey and other delicious food with Malawians and non-American expats alike and then danced our socks off to music at club-worthy volumes for hours! What a contrast to the before-dinner road race or pickup football (or Frisbee) game in some families’ traditions that attempts to balance the day’s indulgences!
Lows. One challenge for me has been keeping track of myself and my belongings in a way that doesn’t attract unwanted attention. To “be careful:” what does that mean, exactly? It seems that there is a difference between Lilongwe and my last location when it comes to being Sufficiently Careful. I am confident, however—as I race up this steeper-than-expected learning curve—that experiences of petty crime will leave me with a solid strategy and an overall faster adjustment.
Work life. One of those, male circumcision, has the potential to avert thousands of HIV infections as a method of prevention when brought to national scale. The program is exciting due to its stage (early) and it’s potential impact (big). It’s also been great to actually get to know key personnel from the government and other agencies who are heavily invested in and committed to this. A great moment, for me, was accompanying the Malawi national VMMC coordinator to Lusaka for a meeting. Sharing taxis back and forth from the conference center, we spent time talking about work and about Malawi, and we even ventured into the market for Zambian souvenirs. It’s wonderful to build a relationship around a project that you’ll be with for a while.
Personal life. A personal highlight for me as been having this time to get to know my CHAI colleagues, in particular my counterpart on an HIV testing & treatment project, Yuwen. Yuwen is a resource on a wide range of topics: traditional authority structures from villages to districts, the fine details of budgeting for transportation from Zomba to Lilongwe, and the legitimacy of requesting employer loans in the lean months between Christmas and the harvest! Learning about Malawi this way has been incredibly valuable these last few months.
Three cheers to more character-building experiences in Part II of the fellowship!