First words from Malawi

Hello everyone,

First of all I want to apologize for the late first reaction from me. This had to do with the limited time I had when first ariving to Muzuzu. Since the nearest internet is in Muzuzu, which is a one and a half to 2 hour drive, and the car is only going every wednesday, I will probably try to update my blog once per 2 weeks on a wednesday.... Just so you know :)

Well, my adress was in the welcome section, but I'll just write it again:
Eva Demaya Centre
t.a.v. Nienke Verhoeks
P. O. Box 790
Muzuzu
Malawi

Letters are very welcome and all your letters are hanging on the walls of my room! They light up my day!

So, since you all mist my experiences in Kenya I'll just quickly update you with the last 2 weeks in a Q and A session.

Q: The difference between Kenya and Malawi?
A: Well first of all Nairobi is way bigger then any city in Malawi, so thats a difference to start with. Further, everyone in Malawi has an acre of land next to their 'normal' profession (or it is their only profession) and uses that for extra income or food supply. This is not the case in Kenya.
Then the people in Kenya are opener then the people of Malawi. People here are humble and shy, but they will always help you with a big smile on their face.

Q: language
A: They speak Toemboeka in Malawi and a little bit of English. For most people English is difficult, because they only finished primary school

Q: weather
A: June and July are the coldest months in Malawi. Right now it means: 20 Celcius and a nice breeze, but people here are cold. Then nights are cold though and I use 2 blankets!

Q: what are you doing?
A: For the comming 2 weeks I'm seeing every part of the Eva Demaya Centre: nursery, job training (tinsmit, wood carving, sowing), micro credit, homeopathic centre, health centre, HIV support groups and education, microcredit programme, and the youth & orphan support programme.
I would like to work with the last. For now I have 2 things in mind which I would like to do.
1) There is a poster here, which says: I listened. I abstained from sex. I reached my goal. But if I asked children here what their goal is, they don't have it... so I would like to work on that.
2) There is a poster which says a lot about how to fight the HIV/AIDS programme from different perspectives, accept the perspective of the infected people. I want to try to set up a motivational speaker system as I've seen in Kenya. This because I can tell people you can get old with HIV and how it works etc. But if they here it from their own people, it will have a better impact! Plus, I hope this will help combate the stigma and give the infected people a higher self asteem.

Q: surrounding
A: I'm in a small rural area called Luviri and most people here are farmers. Primary school is obliged, but the schools are not always of good standards. You can see how 'rich' people are by looking weather they have shoes on and a bike. A combination of the two makes someone 'rich'. Now the amounts of bikes have increased due to the Eva Demaya Centre, which is a good sign!
The surrounding is beautiful! I've already had the opportunity to go to several outreach villages, which means going over very bumpy roads (I call them paths) with grass higher then the truck and more stones then road :p It is a beautiful country!!! And the sunsets have all colours of the rainbow (not easy to catch on a picture!)..... rewatch the lion king and imagine houses everywhere!

Q: basic supplies
A: Well we have a great coock, and lunch always exists of Nsima (I'll try to put some pictures of it on) and vegitables. Meat is scarce. Breakfast is mostly fruit, bread with peanut butter or poridge. Dinner varies and is good!
The toilet is a hole in the ground where you sit above and outside of our rooms there is no electricity so the nights are very dark! The shower is cold and Vincent (our caretaker and coock) boils watter if we want a hot shower :)

Well I think that is it for now.... I can tell you so much more, but I'll spread it out in the weeks to come!

love Nienke