:)

just found a new email from May 25!

things are good for me.... i was sick for the past 5 days! I thought i had malaria... but thankfully that day has not come yet! i went to the hospital yesterday which was an experience in itself! so today I am feeling better.... I am leaving muzuzu today to go back to where I live which is dwangwa. I had to come here to go to the bank. so the trip took roughly 5 hrs. And 4 of those hrs were spent in the back of a pick up truck. ppl just stand on the road... and these truck or mini buses will pick you up. so it was quite fun & lots of cultural discovery!!! hahaha!!! by the time we were getting to muzuzu there was 2 100kg bags of maize (the staple food of malawi), 2 50kg bags of maize, 2 50kg bags of charcoal and about 15 of us in the truck! so i was sitting on the side on the truck and sometimes I thought I was going to die... but it definatly added to the overall fun of it!!!! :)
Next week i will get more into my work... I think I will be focusing on ecological sanitation latrines. which are pretty much latrines where there are two holes... you use one and then fill it. when it is filled you cover it and use the second.... by the time the 2nd one is full the first one should be composted and you are harest it and use it as fertilizer. and then re-use the 1st hole while the second one composted. So quickly that is what that is. its good because it reduses people usuing the washroom in the open. its more sanitary. It saves the trees because you dont need to build a new latrine after it is full... you can re-use. The slap to cover the hole is made from cement not trees. And it helps farmers get more income by not having to buy fertilizer... and supplying fertilizer to those who couldnt afforded it the first place anyways! So thats an over view of what im hoping to focus on!
i plan to develop a monitoring and evaluation system for the project so we can determine how well it is actually work. If the goal is to have latrines so ppl can be healthier... my question is are ppl actually healthier. and how is this project playing a part is people being healthier. If there are water points being installed.. and the water is clean are people taking the appropriate steps to ensure the water stays clean between the time they draw the water and the time they use it.
But malawi is beautilful. there is a beautiful lake! beautiful mountains. beautiful people. The people never stop amazing me!!! they are so creative and innovative. They have mastered the art of making something from what we would consider 'nothing'. I took some videos that are very neat! for example i met this boy to made this car out of simply wire, two little tires and a sugar cane stick. and the boy could simply stand and push it and control which direction it went. I cant explain it and do it justice. But people here are amazing! and so loving and hard working!
(fun side note - i saw my first crocodile yesterday... it was in the river where i live. but it was only a baby. so i was kind of dissapointed it was only a baby. but as I was driving the muzuzu the truck had to slow down because there was a crocodile crosing the road. This one was bigger, so i was more excited... When i get excited, I get very excited and the locals who are around laugh at me. in fact they are always laughing at me. but i am always happy that they are laughing!)muzungu is my name here too! it means white person. So if I am driving on a bike taxi or walking I always have people screaming this at me.It hasent come to irritating me yet!!! :p we'll see what happens!
hope all is well! :)