Bryan is doing alright

Bryan’s surgery went well, he is now recovering. He will be in South Africa through November 7 which is his last visit with the surgeon. Most likely they will send him back to Malawi the following day. He and I both are ready for him to be back. I feel like I am not upholding to my marriage vow… you know the part where you say “through sickness and in health” but I guess when saying the vow one does not say the fine print, “If the government separates you while in sickness it is ok to be apart” especially because we really want to be together in our village but it is sort of impossible to have knee surgery in the village… not to mention unsafe and far from sanitary. With Bryan in South Africa he can recover in a nice hotel room with good food (that I don’t have to cook) and in a non demanding atmosphere unlike our village.

It is very strange for me to be alone in Malawi. Most don’t think about this, especially other volunteer here because most volunteers come by themselves and live and work by themselves. Bryan and I however are not the same, we at one time in our lives wanted to join Peace Corps on our own but when we got hitched we did not even mention our desires to join until a year later when we found we both had the same desire. But it had changed from “I” want to join Peace Corps to “We” want to join Peace Corps. So we applied, joined, left the U.S., arrived in Malawi, went through training, and even got placed in a village… all together. Because of this and other reasons it is very hard for me to go back to our village without Bryan.

Lucky for me the office here needs my help. Our receptionist who previously did the newsletter has taken another job and so the newsletter has fallen to those who have never done one before so I have offered to help and they are glad so at least I have work to do here. Keeping busy is how I best handle being here by myself.

I have some cool pictures of random Lilongwe, Malawi. Hopefully I will be able to post some of those pictures soon. I think you will enjoy them.

Our new Gal

Here is our new girl Mwamboli (Mwam-bow-ly). She is such a sweet heart. You can see when we first got her how skinny she was. You could see her ribs even through all her fur. She is 9 – 11 months old and weighs 30 pounds. We do not have any papers on her or anything so when we visited the vet she just got updated on all her shots.



Now she is much happier and in only one week we have noticed a difference in her weight. We took here back to the village with us when we went back for Bryan to pack and I was surprised how the children loved her. Normally larger dogs scare Malawians, it was good to see they get along well.



Bryan is headed for South Africa for Medical purposes… He is having his knee checked out further with possible operation or something. Sorry I do not have a large medical vocabulary. Please keep him and myself (as I stay here) in your prayers.

Greatest Day Ever!

My birthday was better than could have ever been imagined! We met a fellow volunteer in Salima (Tim) and we hung out awhile then went to one of his favorite shops where he knows the owner and he gets him special request products like olives… When he found out it was my birthday he suggested we go to the lake, Sanga Bay. Before we could argue he said he knew a guy who manages a lodge on the lake and he had the phone in hand calling him. So it happened that this guy was on his way to Salima! So he took us back with him and we ate the amazing food at the restraint and then they surprised me with a cake his wife made! And if all that’s not enough they gave me a puppy! That was the best day ever!

So here are some pictures of the puppy and our cat. They are about the same age and get along great! The dogs name is Mphatso (M-pot-so) meaning in Chichewa Gift. Her father looked like Benji and her mother was what I would call the most adorable village dog in the world but Bryan says she is some sort of English Breed, so who knows.

Sharpvale has become very very hot… Of 100 F during the days and not much lower at night. We had to swich bedrooms because the sun set on the side of the house we where sleeping on. We work early mornings 5 to 11 then rest read or hang out in the shade until 3 to 5 when we can work again. Our mango trees are getting riper… still not ready to be eaten but we are daily given one from other trees in our area.

Our gardens are mostly complete as far as the double digging and we even planted out our strawberries in a round raised garden. Our neighbors gardens are doing great! Better than ours even, he has squash, yard long bean, pumpkin, mustard, spinage, cabbage and more!

Bryan and Mr. Liwonde invented a new addition or remodeling to our chim. We no longer have to squat over a hole, now we can sit… I did not take a picture of the finished project but here is what it sort of looks like.
Also as promised here is a picture of our three sheep and our chickens… only now we only have one remaining… we will try again this November.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! I think they came true...

Keah's Big Day!

Well, It’s Monday, October 01, 2007! Keah’s ¼ of a century old today! We’re in Salima to do a little re-supply and hope to get on a bus back today, but if we miss a bus we’ll stay here and go back tomorrow... which is what I’d like to do anyway... it’s nice to be back at site, but it’s been hard to do anything special for Keah at site... We didn’t do anything special for our 2 year anniversary and then we didn’t have anything planned for her birthday...

I hope to take her to Liwonde National Park soon to visit another PCV and also to kinda do a little celebration for the two we’ve missed... Liwonde is supposed to be on par with any of the really amazing game reserves in other countries but just not very well known... on an international scale at least... that seems to be how it is here... This place is like a lost paradise that no one seems to know about and I think that’s part of the beauty of Malawi... It’s not overrun by tourists... Well, maybe at the Lake but that’s it.

This place has amazing climbing all over the whole country and it’s very unknown... I’m riding down the road going through Dedza district and my mouth is watering seeing all the granite rock... my mouth is watering and me with no ropes! It is a very, very sad situation, let me tell you! I’d love to put together some climbing trips throughout Malawi! Another amazing situation is the face of Malawi’s largest mountain is the largest rock face in all of Africa!

Check out Mount Mulanje! It is an amazing place! As soon as my knee gets worked out I hope Keah and I will go do a little hiking there! They have Cabins at hikeable intervals all the way up the mountain and around the top of the mountain. Some PCVs go up the mountain for a week or two and hike the whole time...