Malawian of the Moment – Rhabson Mhone

 So on the day I went to visit Prince in his munda, I ran into the old man of the Mhone village while he was working his plot of land.

Rhabson Mhone

As I was walking down the back side of the mountain I live under, I came upon him sitting under a simple thatch roof that he takes shelter at during days he works the fields.



Taking care of his paprika.

 

I kid you not, he was rubbing two sticks together to make a fire. This guy.

Almost there.

 

 

Success!

 

You wanna know why he was starting a fire? To smoke a cigarette. Not just any cigarette, but one made from locally grown tobacco and hand rolled in a cornhusk. Naturally.

Hand Rolling a Cigarette

 

He calmly looks at me and says “I don’t buy matches”.

Enjoying the fruit of his labors.

 

I sat down to talk with Sekulu, and to watch. (Sekulu is the Chitombuka word for grandfather, and the way you greet any elderly man in order to show respect)

We ended up talking in ‘tombuka for over an hour. He talks so fast and so eagerly that I typically understand only about 10% of the conversation, but he never bats an eye. No matter how many times I sheepishly laugh and tell him “Nindapulikiska” (I didn’t understand) he just keeps rolling, saying whatever happens to be on his mind.

One of the things I love about him is that he is always laughing, always happy, always talking away.

While we chat he shows me what wood he uses to start a fire, and what dried leaves make the best kindling for the first embers.

The tools.

 

Prep work

 

 

Ready to get started.

 

I give it a shot and with considerably more effort succeed in making smoke but am promptly rewarded with two sizeable blisters. He did it without batting an eye.

What a bad ass.

I later find out that none of his sons or grandchildren have learned this skill from him – undoubtedly one skill of many that will fall by the wayside in coming years as old cultural traditions and knowhow fail to be passed to the next generation.

 

I enjoyed our time so much that I came back the next day to take photos, I was rewarded with an interview when one of his sons that speaks a little bit of English came by and joined us.

The answers are not verbatim, but based an aggregate of responses as a result of the tedious translation process.

- How old are you?

He thinks for a moment and then responds “I was born in 1939.” This is pretty common in Malawi, as there is little value placed on a person’s actual age and most people only keep track of the year they were born. I quickly do the math – He will turn 76 this year, and is easily one of the oldest members of the community.

Unprompted, he then follows up with comments about how few people lived here then, how ‘clothes’ weren’t around - the adults all were hunters and wore animal skins. The children too, if they wore anything at all.

He talks about training to throw a spear at game, and about how the road was already built but was much smaller then and how so rare it was to have visitors. He remembers walking to the nearest trading center 3 days away in Livingstonia.

- How different is the park now?

First he talks about how much game there was. “There used to be lions and more leopards and hyena. There used to be cheetahs, more elephants. So many zebra”.

Rhinos have been gone for so long that I need do draw a picture of one in order to get an answer. “Oh yes! They were here too, but many more in vwaza, they have been gone for a long time. Some people from Zambia were coming to hunt them with guns”

“The Eland herds were so big then. Sometimes three or four hundred at a time” (it is now exceptionally rare to see more than 5-10 at once, even though a group of over 100 was recently spotted on the high plateau.)

He mentions being kicked out of the park when the country established it and removed all of its inhabitants. He chuckles when I ask if people were angry about this.

“Of course they were angry, but it was with President Kamuzu Banda. We couldn’t say or do anything against the government then – it was a one party system you know.”

He talks about how the crop system was different then (few people grew maize and now few people grow anything else).

He talks about his family and marriages, and then he buttons up a bit. I can tell it is time for the questions to end.

He rolls another cigarette while we finish our conversation more casually - After an hour or so the English skills of our translator have been exhausted and we decide we will continue the chats another time.

 

I leave him and his son to get back to weeding his paprika crop. The more time I spend with this man, the more I like him.

Malawian of the Moment - What is it?

So for those of you following along at home, you may remember that I am working on a photo project of portraits of interesting people I meet in Malawi. The first photo that inspired this whole idea is this guy here.

I dig it.

It is my first time doing something like this, but having a whole year left in my service and an abundance of time at site, I thought it would be a great opportunity to take on something a little bit artistic and interesting to me.

All of the portraits are going to be in black and white, because I think that when you see a picture of someone’s face without color, you really focus on the content of the image and come up with your own idea of who the person is. I think that a lot of people tend to gloss over this in a color image.

With black and white your brain has to do extra work filling in the missing information, and maybe it adds some along the way. At least that is how it works for me - I feel more pulled in.

So while I am working on this, I thought I would tie it to interviews of some of the most significant of those humans I meet along the way. The questions from person to person will differ, and it doesn’t have to only be Malawian citizens – just people that are contributing to the social landscape of the country, Peace Corps volunteers and Expats included.

So let’s get started, shall we?

Line Dancing

As in it seems like I take 2 steps forward, and then one step back (or 2 or 3 Arrrgh…..)

At least that is how work feels for me at the moment. (pic not mine)

After GTOT in Lilongwe to prep for the new trainees arrival, I had a scant 11 days back at site before having to turn back around and head all the way back south. I am now in the office ready to greet them as they come off of the plan tomorrow. I’m only just a little bit excited.

 

Uh…….. more like….

I CAN’T FLIPPING WAIT!!

In the mean time I have been dealing with a variety of issues at site. Right now, things are ‘Just OK’ 

:/

Malawians use the phrase 'just ok' to reflect being very good or very happy, and it has become a running joke amongst volunteers as we use the phrase very differently stateside.

Before I left for GTOT my Village Headman told me he was going to get the village together to work on the contour ridges and tree planting for a new woodlot I had just finished training him on how to build.

I was OVERJOYED when I returned to find out that they had in fact gotten together and done the work of digging ridges, planting with vetiver grass to control erosion, and planting seedlings.

AWESOME!

Ok, so that is about the greatest thing ever to happen in a Peace Corps service right? (slight exaggeration here, but bear with me – It is the little things that get you excited) I was blown away that the work happened and was self-directed. I heard about it before I saw it, and overall they did a great job. There is a little bit of work left to round the woodlot out, but damn, good job team Thazima.

Unfortunately everyone I normally work with is pretty busy working the fields right now, especially the tobacco growers as now is the time they start pulling leaves for drying.

I was feeling prrrretty bored and had not checked out the tree nursery in well over a month – the last time I was there was when they were supposed to finish sharing out the last of the seedlings for the season.

I show up and find the fence collapsed, weeds overgrown, and about 100 seedlings that have rooted into the ground, never being shared out.

CMON GUYS! FFFFFFFffffffffffffffffffffuck…… sigh. okay.

 

This image pretty much sums up the two immediate emotions I may have experienced. (images borrowed from teh interwebz)

I wanted to scream and cuss out loud, but didn’t. Instead I sulked back to my house, had a few glasses of homemade bucket wine and proceeded to head up to the top of Thazima Mountain to sit on my favorite rock and think.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find that having a mild buzz can help me mull things over a bit better, and I wanted some time to myself.

I had not seen my main counterparts in almost a month (mostly my fault traveling so much and all) and both of them were pretty involved with the tree nursery. This may seem like a small thing to get bummed over, but when you spend so much time working towards something AND it is so central to all of the other work you want to do in the community, it is pretty easy to get frazzled when things aren’t going quite right.

It honestly feels like no one seems interested in working with me right now!

This is where I ended up:

This is the vista I seek out when I want some time to myself.

I had a lot running through my mind- personal stuff, work with the park and community, bigger work at the national level in the coming year (Camp TIECH, connecting the bee group with OVOP), and lastly the fact that I would be leaving site soon soon for yet another 3 weeks first as part of PST and then later as part of spending time with my parents. (Can't Wait!)

I came down the mountain a few hours later feeling better.

I made a point over the next week to talk with two of my counterparts about the next 14 months of my service: what they wanted to do in the community, what role I would be playing, and how they would be stepping up to take the lead in all of the activities.

Emmon (my neighbor and a local Health Services Assistant) and I sat in my house after dinner one night and talked for the better part of an hour.

It was a great conversation. We covered all the bases and he had a really great perspective on what was to come, including the immediate work needed on the tree nursery.

I even cried a little bit at one point as we talked about what my service was beginning to mean to me in this second home of mine.

I really am starting to truly and deeply love this community.

The next day after lunch I went looking for Prince in his tobacco fields so that we could have the same talk.

On my way there I ran into Sekulu Mhone. His real name is Rhabson, but Sekulu is the term for grandfather in Chitombuka, and at 76 he truly is that. That experience was unique in and of itself, so much so that I am doing a separate blog post on him and our talks.

You can find it HERE as he is the first person I will explore in my Malawian of the Moment

After conversing with Sekulu, I found Prince and family in his tobacco shed tying leaves for hanging. His 2 year old daughter calls me by name with a huge smile when she sees me.

Over the next few hours I sat with him and helped with the work while we chatted. A huge thunderstorm rolled in on top of us, and we spent the time huddled next to a small fire, shaking with each monstrous thunderclap. We had  much the same conversation as I did with Emmon.

As the rains dwindled and dusk set in, we walked back together. I felt at home walking up the muddy slopes with my friend and his family; I was emboldened by both of my friend’s words and my anxiety about work for the next year diminished with the fading sunlight.

Looking Forward

So, 2 weeks of preparation for the new volunteers is through. We had a blast working together to get ready for their arrival. I am blown away that I have been here almost a year, and I am so excited to greet them as they come off of the plane. I look forward to seeing the excitement and apprehension on their faces as they soak up all the newness.

I remember arriving and thinking about how little I understood about life abroad and the Peace Corps, and I also remember thinking how interesting it would be to sit on the resource volunteer side of things watching all of it unfold as new volunteers get a grasp on their new life.

I love it here in Malawi. I love the work I am doing, and I love the potential it has to impact even just a few people’s lives, no matter how hard it seems we have to fight for it at times. I really, really hope that some of that rubs off on the new group of trainees. They are a diverse and talented group, and I already want to be friends with ALL OF THEM!! (We resource vols have had the chance to read up on them a bit – new trainees, if you are reading this, we promise we aren’t creeps!... uh, at least not much :p )

          All of the Resource vol's hard at work prepping for the new trainees arrival in March

All said, it has also been a tricky time as I look forward to the next step of my life. This last year will move every bit as fast as the one I just left. Already there are friends from the group before us that I am getting sad to see go – they are readying for COS in april. (COS = Close Of Service). I really don’t know what I will do after Peace Corps, and it is not for lack of interest or options. I literally want to do ALL OF THE THINGS.

Every possible life path and career path that I have been interested in seems open to me. It is just too hard to decide on or plan for at this midpoint.

As a result, when people have been asking me what I want to do after Peace Corps, I have narrowed down to only 3 things that I can realistically think about for the time being.

1. Spend some time catching up with the people I love. I eagerly look forward to seeing my parents, sister, and brothers – I am sure it will be a tear fest of happiness. I also plan on couch surfing for a few weeks or month to visit my MANY good friends around the country.

2. Mountain Biking - duh, I love this shit. I plan on spending more time trail riding with my good friends – I also plan on putting more effort into racing.

3. Rock Climbing - As much as I love mountain biking, I have come to realize that this is the personal passion I want to chase the most. Short term goals after getting back are Redpoint 5.12 outside, and onsite/flash  5.11b and V6 outside. I also want to work on traveling to competitions more. Long term goals are to redpoint 5.13 outside and to travel for climbing as much as possible. I also want to do my part developing in the crags that are near my hometown.

That’s it. That is as far as I have thought. And I am ok with it (for now). Kind of single minded, but these are all ‘gimmes’ given my passions. I have a lot to look forward in the next year of my Peace Corps service, and I am excited to see where the projects in my village go and what new ones develop.

I want to open up to those of you reading this. Have any specific questions about my service? The work I am doing? What it is like to live in a tiny brick hut in the mountains without power or water? What my favorite color is? ASK AWAY! I will do my best to share questions on here and answer them as openly as possible.

What to look for in the coming months

- My parents experience here (They are visiting Malawi for 6 weeks, 2 of which are going to be traveling and visiting with me)

- Pictures of travel down south to meet them

- Climbing in Malawi!

- Featured villager of the month, this will be tied with sneak peaks of my portrait of Malawi photo project

- More pictures!

Mphalata

22 Jan 2015.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching my very good friend Prince build a trap for Mphalata (Large edible termites). I watched with a smile as he dug on top of a large termite mound, the result was a slanting pit leading down to half of a plastic jug that had been buried in the clay. The whole pit was probably 2 m long and 1 m wide and about a foot deep. Long arching branches spanned the top of the pit, these are then covered with banana leaves and piles of leafy branches cut from nearby trees. The purpose of this is to darken the inside of the pit to encourage the termites to come out and eventually fall into the jug.

I am not sure why the termites act this way, but Prince was excited at the possibility of catching them – the resulting sale of the termites would bring a much needed boost to his income at a difficult time of year. One tin of termites (~20L) brings between 6,000 and 15,000 Malawi Kwacha (about 12 to 30 USD). Considering that the average household in Malawi currently earns around 80k to 150k kwacha a year, this is a noticeable chunk of potential money. (as of this writing the MWK to USD conversion was around 500 to 1)

I had come to find Prince so that we could plant some Moringa trees at his house – we were planning ahead for some live fence posts to use for a shed he was hoping to make next year. I left him to put the finishing touches on the termite trap while I went to retrieve the last of the Moringa seeds from the treasurer of the community tree nursery. When I returned I found him smiling ear to ear with a toothy grin as he dug a hole under one side of the termite mound.

“Have you ever tasted the honey of this animal?” he coyly asks.

Confused, I ask a few questions and watch as he eventually unearths the beginnings of a small hive of a tiny species of stingless, communal bees. The hive was buried deep in the bowels of the termite chambers. All of the digging has unearthed loads of guard termites – 1cm long insects with huge heads and pincers that can easily break skin. Comically the body seems like an afterthought as the sole purpose of these blind termite warriors is to attack anything that threatens the termite nest and to block tunnels from further enemy entry by stopping them up with their chunky noggins. Apparently the teeny bees are always found in termite mounds, they must take some advantage of the protection offered by the guards.

I laughed aloud many times as I watched Prince gingerly try to pick his way around the termites in his attempts to reach the cache of honey. He poked & prodded and unsuccessfully flicked the offending insects away from the slowly pooling prize. I watched as they aimlessly wandered blindly in circles, vainly trying to find the offending predator that has opened up their home.

 I winced sympathetically as he finally took my advice.

“I think you are just going to have to suck it up and shove your hand in there.”

Into the fray his hand went. He got the worst of it in the first wave, and after pulling many tightly clamped pincers from his skin, he was able to scoop the rest of the honey out of the ground and into a small plastic container. During the process I yelped as a few stray warriors latched onto my bare toes and fingers.

It was clearly worth the effort, Prince licked his honey soaked fingers and palms clean. We laughed and smiled together as he started to take bites of the humorously small honey comb. With eat bite he ingested honey, wax, bee bread (stored pollen), larvae and bees alike. You bet I tried it as well. The honey was delicious, though still no match for the best honey taken from proper hives up on the Nyika plateau. The comb with the pollen was, however, unworldly. An exceptional variety of rich, flowery flavors swirled my tongue. The sweet taste was so intense that only the smallest bit was needed.

Shortly after this the sky darkened and light rains started in around us. Because of the weather we were unable to capture the mphalata, but it was still easily one of my favorite moments with my friend Prince to happen so far. I do look forward to eating termites with him, as those little critters are surprisingly tasty once salted and fried up.

The Rains

It is wet, very wet.

Jan 21, 2015

Dry season has been fully over here in Thazima for a month now, we received rains weeks before the rest of most of the country. Showers take place daily, often replaced with heavy rains at night and in the early morning. The temperature has started to drop again and I am reminded by the regular chill that I live in the mountains.

(*note, this was originally written prior to the devastating floods that have taken place in other parts of the country.)

So it has been a few months, sorry friends! Zimachitika (It Happens)!

November and December saw the end of the dry season. Uh… well sort of but not really. While hot season temperatures soared elsewhere in Malawi, the avg. daily temperature remained fairly mild here in Thazima – one of the benefits of living in the mountains. That isn’t to say that it wasn’t sunny and parched enough to make my early start on a permaculture garden difficult at best. My daily routine involved at least one ~3k round trip to the borehole to carry 20L on my head - the water I used for cooking, cleaning, bathing, and watering the few seedlings that clung to life. My water routine was frugal, to say the least, and every extra drop went to the few plants I was able to establish.



Slow Start in the dry season

 

                                     Dry season at the lake - During Lake of Stars Music Fest

                                    Dry Season on the Nyika Plateau - During Camp TIECH

Malawi has been burdened by a month long delay in the start of the rainy season - a problem that will affect food security in many parts of the country. It is estimated that at least 650,000 people will need food aid. Fortunately several governments and NGO's have pledged support in advance.

Thazima (and the Nyika Plateau in general) is unique in that annual rainfall levels are consistently high and even in the dry season, there are once monthly light showers. Local farmers have still had cause to stress about the very noticeable delay in rains. Locally the rainy season typically starts in late November -This year we saw 3 days of showers, and then weeks of patchy and insufficient rains until the very end of December. Finally the skies opened up and light but consistent rains allowed farmers to begin planting their maize and tobacco just before Christmas.



When it rains...



It pours.



On the plus side - Things are finally growing in my pathetic soil

It has been wonderful watching the colors shift over the last few months. The first notable move away from dry season came the week I was at camp TIECH in mid-October. 2 unusual days of solid rains sparked the first changes. At this point you could taste the dry season in the air - a layer of dusty and windblown brown and red dirt seemed to coat everything, this was along with the constant ash; dry season is a time of burning in Malawi. Brushfires and crop residues are set alight in very misguided attempts to ward off snakes and prepare fields for the next season, the ashes find their way into your homes and sometimes food. This worst case farming practice is deep rooted in the culture, based on old and terribly outdated slash and burn shifting agriculture techniques. It is probably the most harmful and yet hardest practice to change here.

Anyways, the rains in Oct. allowed the deep rooted trees to tap into that groundwater and come alive much earlier than any of the shrubs and grasses. It was as if they had been given permission to get a head start on the growing season, eeking out inches of growth between Oct. and Dec., the verdant woodlands of Nyika showed a vastly different world than that of the rest of Malawi - One full of life as verdant trees set flower in order to develop seeds in time for the real rains.

                                                 Thazima after the rains had started

During this time I set to work on my small plot of land next to the house. I was given approximately 1/8^th? Of an acre of low fertility soil by Mzikilla, my village headman (almost as if a challenge – “see what you can do with THAT azungu…”). No longer suitable for maize, the staple crop of Malawi, it had been relegated to cassava. The cassava plants leaving large amounts of exposed soil that only worsened the erosion with dry season wind and the first rains.

                                                                      Storms A Brewin'

I set about the task of improving the soil over the next growing season, starting with the sweaty and backbreaking work of creating contour ridges – A permanent feature intended to control erosion and hold more water in the soil. Next over many, many, trips I hauled stacks of old roofing grass I was allowed to take from a nearby house to use as a mulch layer. Over the last year I have allowed natural trees to start regenerating, pruning them along the way for vertical growth, instead of cutting them down or burning them out as is the local practice. With the first rains I planted vetiver grass, papaya, and pineapple suckers along the contour ridges. Pineapple and papaya have been shown in other developing nations to be successful cash crops to supplement erosion control measures when planted in this way.

UH! Dig those contour ridges!

Finally, with the onset of the very regular and constant rains of the wet season I have planted beans for a food crop and Tephrosia vogeli as the primary soil improving plant. Tephrosia is widely used in the tropics and is a locally available small tree that is known for its fast growth, even in poor soils. More importantly, is its ability to improve those soils via nitrogen fixing nodes on roots that grow deep, allowing water to penetrate the soil.

At this point the intent is to improve the soil in the field enough for next season when I hope to plant local maze intercropped with beans and Tephrosia without purchasing fertilizer.

I have also been teaching my neighbor about the benifits of making a compost pile, and the resulting rich soil has been helping us when planting the tree seedlings we have been putting in. He still doesn't quite get the importance of maintaining one, but the concept is slowly sinking in.

It has been quite a learning process. Upon arriving in country I dove into and devoured any literature I could get my hands on with regards to permaculture and improved agriculture techniques – especially ones that have already been shown to work in this country. As my garden grows I have begun to figure out what works in my area and at what time of the year. The next task is convincing people that the changes they can make are worth their time. I need to tailor my efforts in a way that makes teaching and learning the techniques easiest and most likely to be adopted. Hopefully this demonstration plot goes a long way in supplementing those efforts. I am already enjoying the changes the rainy season is bringing – I can’t wait to see what I can do a year from now.

 Thanks for reading my boring agriculture post!

P.S. You may have been following the international news following the heavy rains that have set in and caused extensive damage around the country. Malawi has been called a disaster area by the president and is receiving extensive aid following heavy flooding in Karonga in the north and deadly floods much further south in the country. (later the flooding impacted districts was extended to include almost half of the countries 28 districts) As of the writing of this, the floods have been subsiding and all PCV’s have remained safe. The next year will be tough for the country as efforts take place to recover from the damages, loss of life, and loss of important crops.

                               It feels good to be green again! (my daily walk to the park office)
 

Camp TIECH and the end of Oct

Camp TIECH in Chelinda was fantastic! I spent 3 nights in Rumphi town with fellow volunteer Christy who was one of the coordinators. We went to Rumphi ahead of time to collect supplies, arrange transport to Chelinda, and generally prepare for the students arrival in Rumphi. Christy headed up to Chelinda a day early while I waited for the students to roll in. They arrived Sunday morning, and through a whirlwind of activity we managed to get the matola loaded with all of our supplies and food, and also get 30 students fed. (matola is the word for a big flatbed truck – the one that would carry us up the plateau) Nothing ever goes perfectly here and of course we had a hiccup with the driver and his funds not being released by the owner of the truck.

            Finally on our way, and only running a half hour late we hit the road. Mind you, we had packed everyone gear and all of the food quite well, to prevent anything being crushed – apparently they had issues last year. One hour into the drive it starts to rain heavily on us (unusual this time of year!) and we have to scramble to cover everything with a large tarp. Later we would find that much of the fruit had been crushed in the process!

            The ride from Rumphi to Chelinda took us about 4.5 hours with a stop in Thazima to check out the information room. We were accompanied by Harry Kapira, an education and extension officer from the Karonga district side of the park who had worked in Chelinda for several years prior. He went through the info room with the students and would prove to be a fantastic resource throughout the week.

            We did have another unplanned stop inside the park when the semi became stuck in the mud and all of us had to pull it out! We saw one elephant off in the distance and many antelope as we drove the remainder of the way. All of us were very excited, but quite exhausted arriving in the dark. Thankfully Kay and Christy had arranged for dinner to be ready when we got there, and after a meal and short meeting we headed to bed for a very cold night of sleep.

            The students would be in class from 8 am to 5 pm each day of camp. We took all meals with them and spent the week teaching about a variety of health and environment topics. Some of these included: HIV/Aids and Malaria education, healthy sexual choices, composting, agroforestry, diet diversification and nutrition, etc.

            On average, counselors started the day around 5 am and ended around 9pm. It was a great time for all of us to bond with each other and build on existing or create new friendships. Luckily we all also had plenty of time to appreciate our surroundings. Nyika is full of breathtaking views and interesting animals (as you may remember from my earlier posts). Bushbuck antelope are ever-present around Chelinda and we also got to see our share of reedbuck, roan and eland. I also got to see zebra, duiker, klipspringers, toucans, turacos, one jackal, and countless other plants and small animals.

            Two animal encounters in particular stand out to me. One night while walking from the guest house where the counselors stayed to the youth hostel where the students sleep and have classes Kay and I spotted a leopard! I had my headlamp on, and about 20 meters ahead of us I spotted large, wide set, brilliant green eyes flash back at me and suddenly crouch down. After a moment the leopard decided we were neither a meal nor a threat and stood up and turned to our right, slipping behind a small hill. I caught its full silhouette before it disappeared. Damn. Those things get big! We kept watching and would catch a glimpse of its eyes as it looked back at us between tree stumps as it wandered away.

The second was at the end of the week as we left the park. We were riding in the back of the matola and as we rounded a corner we came upon the same elephant we spotted at a distance coming into the park. Apparently he is a large bull that roams around on his own. We must have startled it because he came charging at the open truck bed, ears flapping and truck held high in threat display. Luckily he didn’t come to close – Either the driver spotted this, or simply never noticed the animal, we didn’t even slow down to watch it as we usually did when spotting an animal.

That day the camp ended, we took the students from Chelinda all the way to Mzuzu so that they could visit the university and see the SMART Centre for water and sanitation. They received a tour and demonstrations on several appropriate technologies for Malawi, including water catchment/ pump systems and composting toilets. We had dinner and breakfast with them before finally sending them home the next morning. The hope is that students will begin to initiate activities they learned over the course of the week at their home villages.

I stayed in Mzuzu for the counselor dinner that Sunday night and then returned to site in Thazima briefly before returning to Rumphi town to attend 2 days of the Nyika/Vwaza Trans Frontier Conservation Area conference for Zambia and Malawi with my supervisor. The conference tried to fit far far too much into too small of a period and was even called short – the Zambian officers had to leave early due to the unexpected death of the countries president. In spite of all of this I still gained quite a bit from the event. It gave me a far more complete picture of the issues facing the Malawi and Zambian parks and the communities surrounding them. I also got a better idea of the efforts already in place to help reduce poaching and human – animal conflicts. Overall the event really reinforced for me my role in my community. It also provided possible opportunities to work more closely with the park system.

 Later that weekend I went to Kande Beach for Halloween celebrations and to visit Ripple Africa, and NGO that operates in the area. Halloween was fun, though I was a party pooper and slept early both nights, as I had exhausted my energies in the sun during the day. At one point we paddled out to a small nearby island where I got to see a fish eagle up close and a water monitor in the wild! Better still, I got to put to use some climbing shoes I had lucked into finding at the market in Rumphi. That’s right, I got to check deep water free solo climbing off of my life list! It was a huge rush and a ton of fun, I look forward to doing it again soon.

Though I really enjoyed seeing my friends and a very busy 2 weeks, I was also very happy to finally get back to site and start working towards the coming planting season. I will be working with a few very interested farmers to teach about contour ridging and I am also building a demonstration plot at my house for conservation agriculture and reclaiming/rebuilding soils using agroforestry species. Somewhere in there Prince and I hope to do some more cookstove work. It is so dry right now, it is hard to imagine that the rains are just a month away!