Thursday, July 16, 2009

AIDS training and Child at Rita's school; click on boxes for pics




Easier and Harder

As we are here longer, things are becoming both easier and harder.  One of the things that are easier is that people no longer treat us as such oddities and we actually know a lot of names and faces at the secondary school, the nursery, Palm Beach, Rita’s school and even the vegetable market in town.  (There’s the guy I buy the beans and peanuts from, the gal that sells me potatoes, the tangerine guy, and the guy who sells eggs and salt.  Yesterday, I bought tomatoes and cabbage from the same guy.  He then started selling me carrots from the lady next to him.  “What else do you need”, he asks.  I needed green beans.  He heads down the row of stalls until he finds good green beans and then shows me where I can find them.  They were beautiful, too.) 

 

But, getting to know people here also starts making things a lot harder because everybody (except the rich)  NEEDS something.  A girl needs shoes, one of the teachers at school needs a certain kind of radiological contrast material so that his wife can have a diagnostic procedure.  (The hospital doesn’t have the contrast and told the couple to find it themselves.)  Another guy needs 5000 kwacha to put up a quick roof for a school that has been meeting under a tree.  Another guy tells us that if he had just $200 dollars he could have the operation on his eye that would allow him to place an artificial eye in his socket and relieve his daily pain.  The church choir would like “choir uniforms” for the young people’s choir.  (The uniforms are blue shirts.)  People need rides, babies need medicines, lots of people want us to mail letters once we get out of Malawi because the postal service is so unreliable.  The outreach worker at MCV hasn’t been out to the farther villages for 6 months because there is no petrol for the truck.  You can see that it just goes on and on and on.  And we have it within our power to help almost all of these people.  But what do we do? 

 

There are lots of ways to look at giving, but two ways that I have been thinking of lately is that you can give to an organization because that way more people can be helped, hopefully.  Or you give to an individual, believing that what you are doing for them might be enough to change something.  The trouble with organizations, as we all know, is that there is waste and differences in priorities.  Our money may not go where we would like it to go.  I would like to think that my money would be directly transformed into full tummies for orphans, a non-leaky roof, or an education for bright and committed students.  But, there are administrators and accountants and cleaning people and groundskeepers and security guards and cooks etc. etc. to be paid.  (Of course, every time you employ somebody here, you improve something drastically. 

 

And then sometimes we find individuals who seem to have a special spark or some extra glimmer of promise and we would desperately like to see them succeed.  Does it make the most sense to help those who have the best chance of making it?  Or will they make it anyway, without our help? 

 

Before we came, Ruth and Tom told us to tell everyone that asked for money that all of our money went to MCV and it is certainly a worthy project and organization.  But who is dropping between the cracks?  Who might be also help?  However, if we say yes to one, the news spreads like wild fire and  then we are beset with request after request.  Kids are constantly asking us for a pen or for a biscuit (cookie) and I would desperately like to just give it to them.  I would like to make them a little bit happier, but if I do, literally 100 kids would be down here in our yard clamoring for a biscuit or a pencil.  It is a very difficult position to be in, the constant struggle between wanting to help and not knowing the best way to do that. 

 

Which brings me to the question that Mark and I are constantly asking for both ourselves and for us as a family.  What exactly are we doing here?  When I ask Tim he says that we are here having a part time vacation-mission-teaching English-getting to know people-and whatever.  But, I guess that when I ask that question, what I am really asking is, “Are we making a difference?”  My spirituality tells me that we are definitely making a difference because any time we offer respect, kindness or interest in another we are making a difference.  We make a difference for the other, for ourselves and for the entire world.  Some may make it strange, but I truly believe that every choice to bring positive energy into the world in the form of a smile, a welcome, a blessing or a small kindness shifts the world just a little bit toward the positive side.  I have made the world a better place.  But when faced with the great need here, I feel desperate to do more, to save a life, to be that moment in someone’s life that sets them on a new path that leads to life instead of death, abundance rather than poverty, hope instead of despair.  And every day I wonder if any of the things that we are doing are causing that to happen.  And we must continue to wonder and to ask the questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What We've Been Doing

We’ve been here for 2 ½ weeks now and I haven’t posted in nearly a week. Mark went in to Lilongwe last Friday to pick up Bob and Sandra at the airport. We are so happy to have them here with us. They have been to Africa several times before (Uganda, Ghana and Kenya, I think, never been to Malawi) and came to present an AIDS educational program to the village outreach volunteers for MCV. They are presenting daily all this week. It has been great to be able to introduce them to the friends that we have made here and the places in which we live and work. The weather has turned warm and beautiful since they got here.

Mark took the car that we are borrowing from Tom and Ruth into Lilongwe. The car overheated on the way end and guzzled a tons of oil. It then started putt-putting along. The good news is that he had hired the local mechanic to ride with him and guide him around Lilongwe which was extremely helpful on all fronts. They all made it back safe and sound without mishap. It is a very beautiful drive between here and there and I look forward to seeing it when we drive that way for our safari. They got to stop in Dedza which has a large and beautiful pottery works. It’s a good thing that I wasn’t along. I wouldn’t have been able to resist buying a teapot which I probably wouldn’t be able to get home safely. We did get mugs though.

On Saturday, we just hung around the house and the beach, taking it easy and letting Bob and Sandra catch up on jet lag. Earlier in the week Mark had met the acting Chief Health Officer for the Mangochi district who OK’d him to operate in Malawi. Her name is Julie, she seems quite young and is originally from the Congo. She now works for the U.N. but is considered a volunteer and receives a stipend. She had worked for several years in Zimbabwe and has been here for just about a year. She is the only M.D. at the Mangochi hospital. The other MD is off in China learning acupuncture. Just before she arrived our friend, Frank, stopped by to see if we would be coming to church the next day. We invited him to stay for dinner as well and it that enabled us to have special insight as we all discussed politics, history and issues that are troubling Africa.

On Sunday we started out the day with our friend Nettie and her famous Dutch pancakes. Wow! Similar to crepes but a little thicker. I think that I should make them this Saturday. Then we borrowed Rita and Danny’s Venture (has a bit of clearance) for a trip to Cape Maclear. We had to use the Venture because the road in (18 km for the highway) is really, really bad. Washboards so bad that if you try to accelerate at all on them you slide sideways and then off the road. Mark is a really, really good driver though. People go to Cape Maclear because it has great snorkeling and kayaking and a nice little tourist area has built up there. Rita directed us to find the Eagle’s nest which is down at the end of the beach by itself and get a ride out on the catamaran for $20 each. It was a beautiful little resort. The ride out was great and then we anchored to do some snorkeling. It is pretty warm here, but it wasn’t really hot that day and I am not a good swimmer so I didn’t get in. Tim jumped right in and was diving down after the fish. They were very abundant but not particularly varied. Bright, bright blue is a common color for them. When we got back to the resort we were surprised to find Barack Obama on the satellite television station talking about being in Africa. We were on the same continent with our President! Then we had great food there. Here’s something interesting, nice vegetables come with your order of French fries here. There were green beans, carrots, green onions and tomatoes as a side dish. Takes away the guilt of eating “chips”!

The rest of the week has been dedicated to assisting Bob and Sandra with their program. Mark got them set up with all of their contacts on Monday and the program has come off with very few glitches. (There was some intense concern when the carver who had been commissioned to carve 6 wooden penises didn’t show up with those items until minutes before Mark was supposed to demonstrate proper use of a condom.) There are 74 outreach volunteers between 37 villages and 70 of the volunteers are participating. There’s no way we could get that kind of turn out in the U.S. Bob and Sandra are providing them with a small per diem ($2 each per day) as well as refreshments at break time. That all adds up quickly.

It is very, very informative to set in on this program, to help teach and to try to identify the obstacles to condom use and safe sex practices. Yesterday, when asked why AIDS was such a huge problem in Malawi, one of the participants said that it was because of the poverty. Sandra was hoping that they would clearly see that even poor people can make decisions to keep themselves from getting the illness and that poverty isn’t the cause of the illness. Yet, there is no doubt that poverty is the issue that is swirling around, in and through all of the other issues that are faced in a country like this. So, definitely, AIDS is not caused by poverty. However, it is much more difficult to combat in the face of great poverty like we see here. Supposedly, condoms are completely free to anyone here, but you have to get them from (a) hospital, (b) clinic, (c) pharmacy. Well, you can probably guess that there are no pharmacies, hospitals or clinics in our little village here. You would have to be very pro-active and forward thinking to obtain condoms and doubtless, there are people who do. Also, people don’t live beyond the money that they have in their hands today because so very, very few of them are able to save any money at all. They are always just surviving. So, there is not a lot of planning for the future if you are an uneducated villager. Death is a constant specter here, not just from AIDS, but from the simplest infections, accidents and, of course, the ubiquitous malaria. So, if faced with the possibility of a little excitement and fun from a night of unprotected sex, it might seem like the best choice. There is always a chance that they are not going to catch the virus.

It is very, very surprising to me that sleeping with multiple partners, both premarital and extramarital, is very common here. It surprises me because it is a very religious country, mostly Christian but with a good proportion of Muslims, both of which teach faithfulness and abstinence. Most people here attend a church of some kind.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

What We Eat in Malawi

What we eat in Malawi is much more limited than what we eat at home but we are eating very, very well thanks to Michael Patrick.  He cooks our evening meal and we take care of the other two, but there are usually things left over from dinner that we reheat. 

 

There is a very limited amount of processed and pre-packaged foods here, but we take advantage of some of them.  Spaghetti is readily available and they have a wonderful coconut cookie that you find every where for about 50 cents a box.  Mark has picked up some ramen type noodle packages a couple of times.  They cost more than at home. 

 

The things that we eat a ton of is white bread (it is baked in Mangochi and only lasts a few days in terms of freshness) which comes sliced just like at home, peanut butter (a little different, but still smashed peanuts) and jam (which comes in a can instead of a jar).  A loaf of bread costs around 70 cents.  The peanut butter and jam is similar to home.  Butter is very expensive, over a thousand kwacha a pound.  (7 dollars?)  We go through a lot of that as well because of Patrick’s cakes and cookies. 

 

All dairy is pretty expensive. Boxed, unrefrigerated milk is available off and on or you can buy fresh milk (when they have it) at the Metro for 50 cents per pint.  (It comes in a bag instead of a box which makes a lot of sense.)  We can also buy milk right out of the cow at MCV if we take our own container.  I wasn’t thrilled with it the first time that we got it.  They freeze it as soon as they get it and we had to thaw it out.  It’s not pasteurized.  There is one place to buy soft serve ice cream in Mangochi and it was pretty much just like home.  Three or 4 ounces of cheese is $5. 

 

Meat is expensive compared to everything else here, but not bad compared to home prices.  Chicken and sausages are usually available in Mangochi and then there is this section that just says “meat”.  We are not brave enough to try it.  I’m sure that , goat is very good, but my life may be just as happy without ever trying it.  There is a goat “butcher shop” out on the highway that we drive by on our way to Mangochi.  There is also this stuff they call French Paloney.  Baloney?  And it tastes like a hot dog.  It makes good sandwiches if we have it and we are tired of peanut butter.  The only place to get hamburger and beef is in the big cities. 

 

Sugar is cheap here because they grow sugar cane and Annie likes to have honey for her peanut butter sandwiches.  It’s easy to get cake flour, but we’ve had a hard time finding bread flour except in bulk at the metro. 

 

They grow both coffee (the good brand is Mzuzu) and tea here.  We hope to visit the tea growing area down by Blantyre on our way home.  Both the tea and coffee are very good. 

 

We also buy rice and oil at the store.  Everything else we get at the market.  Eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes (ubiquitous), dried beans of many different kinds (I like the deep red ones the best), green beans, peas (very good, bigger than ours and more carby, less sweet), green peppers, onions, sometimes garlic, lots of greens, cucumbers, huge sweet carrots, cabbages (one can make salad for the four of us for 4-5 meals), bananas, tangerines (green here, eventually turn orange at home), lemons are also green and extremely bumpy as though they have a skin disease.(gross!, Annie says)  Papayas are also in season (I’m not a fan) and there are occasionally pineapples.  There also raw peanuts which Patrick roasts to perfection.  That is our main snack. 

 

Then there are drinks.  Coke comes in the glass bottle and the bottle deposit costs almost as much as the drink. (You have to buy the crate too but get the money back when you turn it back in.) Without the deposit, it is about 20 cents per bottle and it is made with real sugar, not high fructose corn syrup.  The kids are totally hooked.  To get the best deal you go to the “bottle store”.   Where you trade in your old ones and get your new ones.  You also buy Carlsberg beer at the bottle store.  I lose track over how much it costs.  I think around 50 cents a bottle.  You can get wine from South Africa which is pretty expensive (relative to other drinks) and the Malawian alcohol like gin and vodka runs $4 a bottle. 

 

Our water is pumped up from the lake.  It has to be boiled before drinking and we have a very nice water filter system that it run it through for drinking and ice.  It tastes as good as home. 

 

Here are the things that Patrick makes:  Chicken curry, fish curry, rice and beans,  fish and chips, spaghetti with tomato sauce, eggplant stewed with tomatoes, cabbage salad, a dutch dish called Hutspot (sp?) which is big time comfort food with mashed potatoes, carrots and sausage.  (When Patrick made this we invited Nettie over who is Dutch.  She has stayed here with Patrick before and will move in after we leave.  She was in raptures about how perfectly he had prepared it.)  I hear that he also makes great mashed potatoes which we will have next week.  The kids have been very happy with the food here.  Oh yeah, there is also this great Malawian hot sauce called Nali, it comes in various flavors and we put it on everything.  Patrick doesn’t like it. 

 

 




Pictures

We have tried repeatedly, but it seems that our internet connection is just too slow and our resolution to high to get our pictures to post to the website the way we would like them to.  I just waited 15 minutes for a picture to upload and it never happened.  On some of the posts there are very small squares on the page.  If you click on these, you should be able to open pictures.  These are sent in lower resolution.  Please know that we will post LOTS of pictures when we get home!  

A Visit with the MCV Village Outreach Coordinator

Florence, she has a last name too, but I can’t remember it, agreed to take us into the village to check up on some of the AIDS orphans.  I had a bit of an idea what to expect, after all, we drive or walk through the village here every day, but we have never been really up close and personal with the people that are really needy.  And, when you see people or children away from their homes, it is easy to imagine that that have “enough” because they have clothes, sometimes shoes, and appear to be well fed.  (“Appear” is the operative word here.  Many of the people here subsist on nsima (which is a maize flour porridge) alone, especially during the dry season when they are unable to grow things in their own garden.  So they getting almost no protein in their diet.  The kids may be round, but there are subtle signs that they are malnourished. )  But, walking into the villages of some of the other MCV orphans feels much different. 

 

First, we picked up the village volunteer.  There are 2 trained volunteers in the village.  They act as liaison between MCV and the village orphans.  They are supposed to let MCV know of any special needs and try to make sure that the kids are going to school.  This volunteer’s name was Lovelace, a fairly common name here.   Any time you go into the village you get the entourage.  Mostly that just means children, but sometimes adults tag along as well.  At our first stop, we met a granny who is fostering 3 orphans.  (I couldn’t quite understand if any of them are related to her or not.)  MCV built here a nice brick and cement house.  Unfortunately, the roof leaks and there is no money to replace the thatch. All the kids (20-25?) come and stand around us and quietly listen and stare.  I am very sure that they all show up when it is just Florence as well.  There is rarely something new and different in the village.  We were invited in to see the house.  It is very dark inside, the only opening was the door, no windows.  There were two wooden beds with some sort of woven material to sleep on in the first room and a bigger bed in the other room.  There was a small pile of clothing on the floor and a few cooking utensils.  That was all.  But, the granny’s eyes were bright and she joked easily.  She teased Mark about needing a young man to come marry her and help her take care of all these kids.  (Florence translated this for her.)  Life is very hard, but this family is doing well, even though there are no sons or daughters to help the Granny. 

 

At the next village, we met Mercy, the village volunteer.  What a beautiful young woman with a bright and easy smile.  She cheerfully insisted that we make our introductions to her in Chechawa which we all stumbled through.  They are happy to help.  It goes like this:  Moni!  (Hello)  Muli bwanji?  (How are you?)  Ndili bwino.  (I am fine.)  Kaya-iwe?  (And you?)  Ndili bwino.  There was quite a bustle in that village.  Two boys ran out with their amazing homemade push toys, one young man was building his first house, another man was putting his roof up.  Florence warned us that we were visiting a very needy family. 

We located the home of the woman we were visiting and all of the neighbors and children lined up outside the house.  The woman looked old, although she told Florence that the children were her biological children.  She met us at the door with a clean mat that we could sit down on in the dust.  We were all greeted with a handshake with the left hand underneath the right arm which is a sign of respect here.  Mark asked Florence, “Where does this woman live.”  Florence replied, “This is her house.”  We were sitting outside a circular structure 6 or 7 feet in diameter and walls five feet high or so.  The woman and three children were living there.  They were all very dirty and wore torn clothes.  Florence spent most of our time there trying to convince the woman of the importance of making sure that the kids go to school (which they weren’t).  It didn’t seem as though much had been accomplished at that stop. 

 

On the walk to the next hut (which was across the highway) Florence turns around suddenly and says loudly in English to all of the boys behind us, “You boys go to school!  You must learn English so that you can talk to your friends and have opportunities!”  They all looked at there as though they understood. 

 

Our next visit was with a woman who has AIDS.  She is a young woman, she looks like a child herself.  (Just an aside, the Malawian people tend to look much younger than they are.  Patrick, the cook, looks like a kid and his father, Patrick, who is the night guard looks just like him.  It helps that they both have just wonderful smiles.)  Anyway, it was clear that this woman has advanced AIDS.  She has recently been put on medication (anti-retrovirals) and is doing better, gaining weight.  Still, she looked gaunt and her breathing was labored.  Still, her eyes were shining and according to Florence, she was telling her how grateful she was to have the medicine.  Unfortunately, she was almost out of pills and needed to get into Mangochi to get them refilled but didn’t have transportation and certainly wasn’t capable of walking that far.  She laughed and chattered on and on to Florence.  Afterwards, Florence told us that she feels that this woman is being affected by AIDS dementia, she is acting and talking differently than she did before.  She is “too happy”.   I sure thought that she was too happy given her situation.  I am very sure that she is not going to live long. 

 

Death is very, very common here.  I can’t tell you the number of people that we have spoken to who were on the way to a funeral.  Almost all of the people have lost a child to illness (usually malaria) and of course all of the orphans have lost one or both parents.  In the face of this, the people are very stoic.  You rarely here a child cryng.  But the people also laugh, dance and sing readily and easily.  We will often here song drifting across the field next to our house from the path that leads to the Plake.  Oftentimes it is children. 

 

By the end of the day yesterday, I felt completely overwhelmed by the extent of the need here and thought and prayed about all our roles in relieving suffering in the world.  I have no answers.  Without a doubt, in Malawi, the most pressing issues are healthcare and education.  There is NO chance for advancement without education here.  Even with a decent education, a good job may be being a housekeeper at Palm Beach or working as a houseboy, like Michael Patrick.  He is very smart and everything he does is professional.  In healthcare there is the usual issues of malaria which can take up to 20% of the children less than 5 years old, AIDS, and then accidents and infection. 

 

There is so much beauty here and so much difficulty and suffering.  Once again, it may seem like weakness, but I am grateful to retreat to Palm Beach and regroup at the end of the day.  

Itching all of the Time

The mosquitoes are bad here this year.  This is the dry season, but as I have mentioned, it has been much cooler than usual and it was a particularly wet year so the water around the house has not dried up.  I don’t know if I am a particular target or if I am reacting differently to the bites, but I am covered in itchy bites that just don’t seem to get better.  Also, I have a very bad itchy rash along the inside of my right arm which has been there for 5 or 6 days and is not getting any better.  We are trying a couple of different creams that we brought and one of the guys at the resort has some tea tree oil which I am slathering on.  I don’t think that it’s hurting me, but nothing seems to be helping. 

 

The good news is that all of us have been very healthy.  We are cautious with what we eat.  All of it has been well cooked or from the resort where we know that they take good precautions and the kitchen is very clean.  We also had ice cream (real soft serve!) in Mangochi once.  In talking to people who have been here many times, it is unusual to get tummy bugs.  Nettie bought strawberries at the market the other day.  They looked gorgeous and they were a great price but I was afraid of them.  I asked her how she was going to clean them.  She said, “Oh, I guess that I don’t worry about that.”  She has been here 7 or 8 years in a row.  Jess and Jesse don’t peel their tomatoes and eat spinach from the farm up the road.  So, really, I think that it is pretty safe to eat here.  I always feel some tummy something in Mexico and have felt great here.  

A spider in the bed, a bat in the house and a frog in the toilet

So, the other night, Annie was very tired as she has generally been here in Africa.  She is usually ready for bed by 8 pm.  So she headed back to her room to get under her net.  As she climbed into bed she saw a spider on the wall beside her bed.  This occurrence makes the bed unsleepable for the duration of our trip here.  So, she moved herself into Mark and my bed.  Isn’t it strange how the parents bed has some magical power to hold all noxious and supernatural creatures at bay, even when they are not in it. 

 

An hour or so later it was time for the rest of us to get beneath the nets and so we turned out the lights and headed for the bedrooms which are at the back of the house down a longish hallway.  It was then that I realized that none of us had taken our malaria prophylaxis at dinner time.  So I went and got them all and water and we washed them down.  Except for Annie.  She has big issues with taking pills and she remembers every possible side effect and instruction that goes with the medication.  She refused to take the pill without food which it says to do on the label.  The rest of us were ready for bed so we said if you want some bread or something, you’re going to have to go get it yourself.  “But I can’t go to the kitchen!  It’s dark down there.”  “So, turn on some lights.”  Annie turned on the hall light but the light to the kitchen is at the front door, all the way at the other end of the house. 

 

So Annie stood in the doorway of the back bedroom and peered down the dark hallway struggling with herself.  She didn’t want to go down the hall, but she had to take her Malarone or she might get malaria, but if she took the malarone without food on her stomach she might get really nauseated.  It went around and around, and then she said, “There’s something flopping out there in the living room.”  “Annie, there’s nothing flopping out there.”  “Yes, there is.  There’s something flopping out there.  I can’t go down there!”  FINALLY, Dad got out from under the net to go get Annie the piece of bread.  As he started down the hall (the rest of us weren’t looking) there was a big HAAAAAAAAA!!  Mark  came running back into the room with the lid to the big woven laundry basket over his head like a shield.  “There’s something flapping out there!  It’s a bat!”  Now he’s standing at the door peering down the hall protecting himself with the laundry basket lid convinced that the bat was going to bite him.  He ventured out hesitantly a couple of times,  but he eventually made it down to the kitchen where he unlocked and opened the kitchen door.  Now all of the Thorndike’s are standing at the door peering down the hall at the bat.  They are very fast and sort of swoop all over the place and in the dark you can’t quite see where they went.  After not seeing any movement for a minute or so I made it out to the living room to flip on the lights.  I went to the side door and the night guard, Patrick, was out there looking confused.  He is always very, very sweet, but he must think that we are a crazy bunch of Azungus.  The bat was swooping around the light outside the door.  We have no idea how or when it had gotten in in the first place.  We spent 10 minutes or so laughing at ourselves. 

 

So, now we had to go and re-inspect Annie’s bed for any spiders.  I had been laying in the bed for a while and so could vouch for the fact that there were none beneath the covers.  Annie got in and I tucked in the net all around so that no spiders could gain admittance through the night.  Tim was tucked into his net and I shut out the light and went to my room to get ready for bed. 

 

I went into the bathroom, came back out and announced, “There is a frog in the toilet!”  This sent the whole family into a whole other round of laughter and everyone had to run in and examine the frog in the toilet.  They are small, white frogs with small protruding black eyes.  Very cute, actually, but I am not interested in sitting down on the toilet with one.  He peered up at us from under the toilet rim.  I left him to his business and used the other bathroom.  (The next morning he was gone and then that evening he was in the other toilet!  Mark caught him this time and took him outside.)

Tuesday, July 7, 2009




July 6, 2009

 

Today was a completely free day since it was a national holiday and so there was no where we needed to be as far as volunteer work.  Also, it was one of the first really sunny days that we have had.  We were sitting around outside enjoying the sunshine when we noticed some village boys hanging out on the other side of the fence.  We blew up one of our beach balls and invited them over to play.  A group of four boys soon grew into 8 and then 12 and then….you get the idea.  So they were all playing in our yard which has a nice grassy area (unheard of anywhere in the village) and nice plantings of flowers and things around the trees.  They soon asked if we had a real ball, meaning a soccer ball, which we did have.  So we got that out and it soon became apparent that they were going to trample down all of the flowers if I didn’t change their venue darn quick.  So, we found a nice open area in the road across from our house where they happily got a real game of soccer going. 

 

During this time another contingent of boys shows up here asking for a ball.  I told them that I had given the ball to the other group of boys and they needed to go play with them.  Don’t forget that they are speaking Chechewa with a  little bit of English thrown in and the Chechewa word for ball is bole (not sure how it is spelled but it sounds almost like ours).  They then start saying in a scolding manor, “No, no.  No baby, no.”  Meaning that the older boys (these guys were probably 6 or 7) had told them that they couldn’t play because they were too little.  It was so cute and I felt sad for them.  We’ve all been there, right?  So I got them out another beach ball.  But then they just thought that they should play in the yard again.  It’s very hard to get it all sorted out.  One of the little guys is named Noel.  He is the cutest and sharpest little guy around.  His English is really good for his age.  He was patting his chest, “Rita’s school.  Rita’s school.”  This is the primary school (only one class of first graders right now) which  we are volunteering with so I had already met him at the school but didn’t know his name yet.  If I was Madonna, this is the kid that I would be taking home with me. 

 

Also, somewhere during the morning a bunch of girls showed up wanting their fingernails painted.  Annie had painted a few shy girls earlier in the day.  I wish that I had pictures of myself surrounded by about 20 kids, all of them with their hands stuck out, girls AND boys, waiting for their nails to be painted.  I said, “No boys!” and all of the girls shouted “No boys.  No boys.” 

 

You don’t see the little girls playing sports or even with the hoops or tires that they are chasing down the roads.  In general, the girls are much quieter than the boys.  The boys are like little clowns, doing flips and cartwheels and standing on their heads trying to get people’s attention.  But, there’s almost always one outgoing, bossy girl that keeps all of the other girls in line. 

 

Later in the morning, here come all of the boys to report something to me.  There is obviously some issue and I cannot figure out at all what it might me.  Luckily, a young man was going by on his bicycle.  His English was very, very good.  He had obviously been through secondary school.  He interpreted to me that someone from the resort had come by and told them that they couldn’t play there.  The resort area is sort of like a neighborhood with houses and cabanas spread around and then the bar and restaurant down by the beach.  I didn’t realize that it is all supposed to be private property.  There is all kinds of open field or pasture land.   I later asked the people down at the resort and they said that yes, they don’t want the villagers over here.  They do have a point as there are just SO MANY kids around here.  Rita, the owner or Palm Beach says that there may be up to 3000 kids in the village.  When you drive down the road to the highway, you easily see 5 kids for every adult. 

 

But anyway, I now became aware that I was living in an exclusive community where everyone on this side of the fence was either white or was working for the white people.  The rich people were on this side, the poor people with the little rugrats are on that side.  (They really are little rugrats and I say that with all affection for them.)  And I didn’t come to Africa to be with the white people.  As Mark and I talked about it he said, “So, do you want to go live in the village?”  And I had to say, “No, I really don’t.”  It would be too hard over there. For a trip like this, it is important that we can live in both worlds.  We can interact with another culture in another language and a whole other worldview and then retreat into a world where people speak our language and share our experiences to one degree or another. 

 

I am really, really loving getting to know the Malawian people that we are coming into contact with.  All of the children in Rita’s school, the many, many students at MCV,  the babies and caregivers in the nursery, the different boys who come every day and play with our balls, Michael Patrick who is our house helper, the people at St. Michael’s church, Dixon who is the “make it happen” guy in the neighborhood, if you want something he can get it for you.  And I am also loving the help of the other Azungu, many of them who have spent extended time here in Malawi and can really make things easier with their advice and instruction.  Each day I am more and more grateful for the amazing opportunity to be here, the beauty of Malawi (even in the dry winter season) and especially the beauty of her people. 

 

Attending Church in Malawi

July 6, 2009

 On the first Monday that we were here a man came to the porch.  (People don’t knock here.  They just hang out on the porch until you notice them.  If it is dark you might here a very soft “excuse me” outside the window.  The four of us sit and look around and say, “who said that?”  and “where did that come from?”  Now we know.)  Actually, in Chechewa they say “odi!” which means “is anyone home” and we would respond “lowani” which is “welcome”.  Anyway, there was this man on the porch so I said to Michael Patrick, “There is someone here.”  He went out to speak with him.  After a few minutes he came in and says, “He wants to speak with you.”  Oh no, I thought.  Here we go.  People are going to be knocking on our door all the time asking for money or trying to sell us something.”  I went out and met Frank.  He has a last name and I have it written down somewhere but can’t find it.  Frank is one of the gentlest and soft spoken men I have ever met.  It turns out that Frank had come by to visit Michael Patrick who had told him that we were from Alaska.  He had no idea that we were here.  He is friends with Tom and Ruth and also corresponds with someone at St. Mary’s Episcopal church back in Anchorage and wanted me to take a letter to that person.  Over tea and toast we also learned that he is a teacher at the private catholic school down the road (don’t try to equate it to a private catholic school back home) and that he is a deacon of the Anglican church in his village, St. Michael’s and All Angels Church.  He invited us to attend church the next Sunday, but we needed to come by sometime so he could show us how to find it.  We told him that we would stop by his school on the way to MCV the next day.  (The school is probably about 2 ½ miles from our house.)  The school is good sized and we had no idea how to find him, but as soon as we pulled up he walked out of the classroom.  He had been waiting on us.  First, he wanted us to meet his class.  (By this time we were used to standing in front of a large group of Malawians and shouted out a loud greeting followed by giggles and laughter which is what happened there again.)  He teaches a 4th grade class speaking both English and Chechawa.  (Frank’s English is very, very good plus he speaks so slowly that we understand everything he says.)  He then left his class to take us to the church.  He just LEFT his 4th grade class sitting there and told them to sit there until he came back.  And they did! 

 

He gave us a quick tour of the church and we promised that we would see him on Sunday.  (In the meantime, I met the orphan that lives with him, Charity, at MCV in one of Jess’s classes and his wife, Kate, works at the nursery at Open Arms.)  It often feels like a village around here. 

 

We arrived at the church promptly at 9:00 when services begin.  Of course, the service starts on African time so we were some of the first to arrive.  The church is one room, a long rectangle, with wooden pews along the side but with a much wider central aisle than we tend to have.  We sat down on the wrong bench.  Some of the benches were solid and some were slatted.  We got a slatted one which means that skinny Azungu butts go right through and they are quite uncomfortable.  Annie and I also sat down on the wrong bench because there is a women’s side and a men’s side.  Oh well, we share out traditions.  We all needed to share the book in which the liturgy was written in both Chechewa and English.  The church is decorated with African paintings of Christ in front and the stations of the cross along the side walls. 

 

Gradually more and more people filtered in until 15 or 20 minutes into the service, it was absolutely full.  It was amazing to me to see that all of the children sit together and that all of them are well behaved, down to the age of 2 or so.  Children of 5 or 6 carried siblings of 2 who weight wise, really aren’t that much smaller than them. 

 

The service was filled with lots and lots of music.  There was hymn singing but also four different choirs, each of which sang multiple different songs.  There were two women’s choirs, one that appeared to be young people and then teenagers down to children.  The last two choirs were particularly amazing and both of them included drums and other percussion.  The harmony was so beautiful and I never thought that the acoustics would be see wonderful in a building with a tin roof.  I am hoping that I might be able to record some of their singing onto Garageband if we find a time to go back.

 

The service lasted three hours!  I was never bored and my children never complained once.  Most of the service was singing and the liturgy for the Eucharist.  The deacon who gave the service translated into English the gist of the sermon.  Here’s something really funny.  At one point in the service we were asked if we had any remarks and Mark stood up and gave a very heartfelt little speech and then at another part of the service which involved the married women dancing up at the front of the church, I joined in.  This made everyone very happy.  I was happy , too.  It will definitely be one of the most memorable services of my life and we hope to visit again before we leave.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

One week


 

July 5, 2009

 

We have already been living here in Malawi for 1 week.  The first few days were so full and we had so many new experiences in each day that it seemed like we had been here for a very long time.  Now, after a week, we feel like we are settling in and things are getting easier.  We know how to get food by navigating the grocery stores, the vegetable market in Mangochi and the metro.  We have even been to the “convenience store” at the end of our road here (about a mile from our house) to get eggs.  (While there entailed collecting an entourage of about 30 or 40 children.)  We couldn’t believe it, but they walked all the way down there and all the way back, dropping off at their homes.  They didn’t seem to be the least bit bored by us. 

 

Mark knows how to take care of the car which means putting in nearly as much oil as petrol (and oil is very expensive here) and he does a great job of driving on the left side of the road.  I can’t remember the last time he used the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal.  We know the names of all the azungu (white people) around us and are starting to sort of the Malawian’s names.  One reason it is so hard at the school is that the kids wear uniforms, so they are all dressed alike and they all have the same hairstyle, both boys and girls.  So until you get to know their smiles and their mannerisms, it is hard to tell everyone apart. 

 

We have learned how to get hot water out of the shower.  This is a huge breakthrough as it has been cool here.  The people here consider it COLD, especially the azungu, but it is not much different than an Alaskan summer.  It is supposed to be the dry season, but it has been cloudy and windy most days since we arrived.  We’re hoping that it warms up soon.  We would like to have some summer before we have to come back to Alaska. 

 

We have tried nsima which is a semi-solid cornmeal concoction, the main staple of the Malawi culture.  By itself, it is kind of like the homemade playdough that Annie made just before we left home except it is more bland.  But they serve it with beans and mustard greens at the school and it is really good when you eat it that way, similar to eating corn tortillas, but softer and there’s a lot more of it.  We paid 80 kwacha each for a plate FULL of food.  That’s 50 cents. 

 

There is always the assumption that things are cheaper in third world countries, and some things are VERY cheap like tomatoes (they’re everywhere), tangerines (they are green instead of orange), cabbage (70 cents for a 5 pound head and we eat it every day), Coke (30 cents a bottle) and beer (70 cents a bottle and it’s pretty good).  Things that are more expensive that at home are butter, the oil for the car, cheese is shockingly expensive, fish is harder to come by out of the lake and we paid over $10 for 6 smallish fish.  Eggs are about $2.50 a dozen. 

 

We celebrated Independence Day with fellow Americans yesterday.  Jess and Jesse came over with their small grill.  We made hamburgers and Jesse made homemade buns.  After dark, we went over to the resort where they had Malawian dancers.  They were dressed in very strange costumes and masks so you couldn’t see their movements or their bodies clearly.  It was just OK.  It didn’t even compare to the wonderful experience of music and dancing that we had at church today.  I’ll write more about that tomorrow.  For now, it’s time for tea, book reading and bedtime. 

 

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Slow, slow, slow connections

Malawi Sunset, view from our house

We want to send lots of pictures and maybe we will have better connection speeds, but right now it is taking 5 minutes or more to upload a single picture.  We hope that things get better!  


Our First Four (!?) Days

June 27, 2009

 

So many things that I want to say.  So many sights, sounds and experiences in the past 24 hours.  So many thoughts and prayers.  But tonight I am just too tired.  After a year of thinking, hoping and planning, 6 days of travel, 7 airports,  27 hours in the air, and a seriously, seriously harrowing 3 hour car ride, we have arrived in our home for the next month.  I have already saved Tim from a giant spider (by Alaska standards) in the bathroom and saw my first lizard in the house.  I have crawled into my bed with my mosquito net tucked in around me and am ready to lay my head down for a great night’s sleep as I listen to the palm trees swaying in the breeze.  We are profoundly grateful for safety and great attitudes all around on this trip so far.  The kids have been amazing troopers and I am deeply proud of them.  (Tim is grateful for his mosquito net.  He is safe in there from giant spiders.)  Love to all and thanks for the thoughts and prayers. 

 

June 29, 2009

 

It’s hard to even begin to talk about all that we have experienced in the past 2 days.  We have seen many, many things but what is so exciting and heartwarming is the number of hellos, warm handshakes and big smiles we have received.  We have met SO MANY people and cannot begin to keep them straight.  It is probable that in the past 2 days we have met literally hundreds of Malawians, but also Americans, Germans, Canadians, Brits, Irish and South Africans, all doing similar things to what we are doing here. 

 

We were picked up at the airport in Blantyre on Saturday by Danny who owns and runs the Palm Beach resort.  He was so good to take us to the big grocery store in Blantyre where we quickly figured out that the ATM machine wasn’t going to take our card.  We had plenty of dollars but no kwacha, the Malawian currency.  No one takes credit cards here and we had rushed out of the airport without changing money there.  Danny tracked down a shop owner that he knew who changed money for us (we found out afterward that means that we had done it on the “black market”) so we could heave a sigh of relief.  The grocery store is similar to what we have back in the U.S.  I would guess that most of the same things that we have at home are available at the Shoprite here.  (Except chocolate!  There was a little bit, but very expensive.  Note to self:  Next time, pack the giant bag of M&M’s from Costco.)   The  prices are very similar to home, meaning Alaska prices.  After buying the basics (Ruth Nighswander had given me an excellent list of what to buy including the ingredients for Michael Patrick’s fabulous pound cake, more about that later) we were able to begin the 3 hour drive to Palm Beach. 

 

Remember when I said a few days ago that while we were in New York we went to Coney Island?  Well, we rode the world famous Cyclone while we were there which is a very old wooden roller coaster.  It was definitely exhilarating, but I have been on much faster and higher roller coasters.  Still, I was terrified on this one.  Mostly because I just kept envisioning a nail or a bolt popping out of the wood and the car shooting off the edge into the Atlantic ocean.  I say all of this to say this:  The drive from Blantyre to Palm Beach was like three hours of being on the Cyclone.  The van was very rattly and noisy, it is pretty common to drive pretty fast, at least it seems fast, and there are people EVERYWHERE along the road.  People lining both sides, bicycles, kids, goats, chickens.  And every time we passed I was holding my breath certain that one of them was going to fall over into the path of our hurtling vehicle.  Malawi is almost completely rural, but Mark pointed out that in our whole trip there was never a time when he couldn’t see someone walking along the road. 

 

About an hour out of Blantyre, Danny pulls over to announce that we had a flat.  Not too big of a deal, he and Mark changed it very quickly (and it was big entertainment for the families living along the side of the road there) but the tire that he put on was the baldest that I have ever seen.  It seemed like after that the car was swerving all over the road and that we were going to roll over, take out about 20 pedestrians, and all of the Thorndike’s die in the process as well.  (Did I mention that there weren’t any seat belts?)  The upside is that the kids and I were in the very back, all of the luggage was in the middle seat but poor Mark had the birds-eye view in the passenger seat.  You know those prayers that you say that go, “God, if you just get me out of this….?”, well, we said them.  For three hours.  Funny thing is, the kids didn’t notice a thing.  They thought it was totally fun and Annie fell asleep.  Tim kept talking about how much easier it is to drive in Malawi because there isn’t a lot of traffic!  When we arrived in Palm Beach I felt like getting down and kissing the ground, just like in the movies.  (Some other Americans arrived just after us, we had met them on the plane, and had been driven down by a Malawian friend.  They had the same terrified look on their faces when they got out of the car, so it’s all just part of the experience.)

 

The electricity was out when we pulled into Palm Beach (very common for that time of the evening all though we have had electricity without interruption for the past two nights) but Danny and Rita’s resort has a generator who we were escorted to the bar for nice cold drinks, much appreciated after our long, long trip.  That was followed by a huge meal of homemade bread, roast meat, potatoes, three vegetables, soup, and fruit salad.  The electricity came on during dinner so we could make our way to Ruth and Tom’s house which will be our home for the month. 

 

The house is so wonderful!   It is very large, surrounded by palm trees and tropical plants.  It was spotlessly clean and there were fresh flower arrangements in three of the rooms, this all thanks to our house helper Michael Patrick.  He is here 5 days a week from 7:00-5:00pm.  Around 5:30 pm Patrick (Michael Patrick’s father) comes.   He is our house guard and patrols the grounds until 6 or so in the morning.  We are extremely well looked after. 

 

Our biggest help so far has come from Jess and Jesse.  They are recent college grads who are spending a year teaching in the secondary school at MCV.  They both teach science and math and have been here 6 or 7 months now.  We met them at MCV on Sunday morning. 

 

(Let me orient you as far as town names.  Mangochi is the closest big sized town.  About 8 km past that is the little village of Palm Beach which also includes the resort and our house.  The resort is just 100 yards or so from our house so we can pop over there to have a drink, sit around the fire, play pool or even watch television(!) in the evening.  Another 8 km or so beyond that is the MCV campus which includes the secondary school, the administrative offices, a free medical clinic, the offices of the village outreach service, vocational schools, and the Open Arms nursery. )

 

So, Jess and Jesse (Jess is short for Jessica so she is the girl) showed us all around the campus which was closed because it was a Sunday and did their very best to orient us to MCV and to Malawi.  We had endless questions which they answered tirelessly.  They then rode into Mangochi with us to show us where the stores are including Metro, which is the Mangochi version of Costco (you have to buy everything in twos) and you can buy a cell phone for ten bucks (they were out) and sim cards for internet or phone access for about $1 per hour of connect time.  Coke in a glass bottle is only 40 cents.  (No diet, Malawians aren’t big on fake sugar, they need all the calories they can get.)  We went to the vegetable market which is awesome.  The kids really loved it.  Jesse is a great bargainer, but we will never attain his level of firmness and expertise.  He and Jesse are living at near Malawian salaries so every kwacha counts.  A very big cabbage is about 75 cents, beautiful asian eggplants were about 20 cents each.  There are many different types of dried beans.  We found fresh garlic (luckily, it’s sometimes hard to find) and tiny, tiny bright orange peppers.  I am fearful that they are VERY hot.  Tomatoes are generally 15-20 kwacha which would be 10 or 15 cents.  And, oh yeah, a meter long stick of sugar cane is 20 kwacha.  You said kids and young people chewing it every where. 

 

We then came back to Palm Beach where we spent an hour or two out on the beach of the lake.  The sand is beautiful and the water is very clear.  It is cool here by their standards and the water is quite chilly so not many people were swimming.  We met more people.  Nettie is here.  She is from Washington DC and has been running the sewing vocational training program at MCV since 2002.  It’s so exciting to hear the things that she is doing and she is a delight to be around, but the work of getting contracts for the sewing school is very difficult.  After dinner that night we went back to the beach, sat around the bonfire and talked with lots of other folks who are doing work in Malawi.  It feels like a really great place to be.

 

Monday:  We were up bright and early (6 AM, painful) to get ready to be at the Gracious Secondary School (MCV’s school) by 7:30 for the opening assembly.  We arrived on time, but there was some sort of glitch and the person who has the keys wasn’t there so school didn’t start on time.  It was a lot like (but probably worse) than being the new kid in school.  Most of the kids just stared at us, but some of the brave and outgoing ones started a conversation with Mark.  They then had us all come sit up front with all of the teachers for the assembly.  In other words, we were on the stage.  Mark and I expected this and Tim said he was OK with it, but none of the Thorndike’s enjoy the spotlight.  The assembly began with the Malawi national song which was just beautiful.  No surprise that the Malawi kids have beautiful voices and sing out.  Then two of the kids who are really good singers came forward to do a song for everyone.  Apparently, they had gotten together over the weekend and written a song as a memorial to Michael Jackson.  It was awesome!  There was harmonizing and then rapping in the middle (no instrument accompaniment) and one of the kids held an air microphone in his hand the whole time.  The kids loved it. 

When they introduced us a cheer went up from the crowd after each introduction.  And when they introduced Annie one of the girls in front shouted, “She is beautiful!”  We felt very welcome.  We shook hands with all of the teachers and have already forgotten everybody’s name.  It is so hard!

 

We went around and introduced ourselves to all of the people that we knew we would be working with.  Mr. Sibale, the executive director, is out of town right now at a funeral in the northern part of the state.  We met his wife, Faith, who is a nurse and runs a free clinic at the campus.  Florence runs the village outreach program.  They are both very smart and beautiful women.  Also, I didn’t mention that the principal of the school is also a woman, Loni, very professional.  Felix is the assistant director and we spent time with him and Florence arranging for an AIDS education training program that Sandra and Bob (Mark’s parents) will be doing while they are here. 

 

Many of you know that one of the things that I have looking forward to doing while we are here is working in the nursery with the babies and toddlers.  The nursery burned to the ground about a year ago and this facility is brand new and recently taken over by the organization Open Arms which is based in the UK and strongly supported by Johnson and Johnson.  A British volunteer, Antony, was on the MCV campus and heard us planning to go over to the nursery so he showed us around, introduced us to the manager and the head matron.  They are very excited to have medical people here who can do routine exams on the kids.  When we walked in all about half of the babies were out in a patio area playing.  They were unbelievably CUTE!  I was told that I was welcome to play with them and as soon as I walked over one of them toddled over with arms extended.  What a sweetie.  I sat down on the floor to play with him and immediately had 4 other round bottoms in my lap.  Tim said, “Uh, Mom.”  I looked up and Tim was just standing there stiff as a board with a little toddlers arms wrapped tightly around his legs.  He had no idea what to do.  I don’t know any of their stories, but you would have to see them to believe them.  They don’t act like my kids did when they were toddlers!  I will write more as we are in the nursery more.  It will definitely be a favorite place for me and they are doing great work.  Mark already did an exam on one of the babies who needs a surgical work up but probably won’t get it. 

 

July 1, 2009

 

There has been so little time for me to get to the blog that I have lost track of many  little things that I wanted to write about.  I never realized that helping out at the school was going to mean that I am studying every night!  AND I didn’t think that I would be so tired.  I am sure that there are two sources for this and one of them isn’t that I am not sleeping well.  I am sleeping VERY well.  One reason is that we are still catching up from the travel and the second is just the energy that it takes to navigate a very different culture where almost everything is new.  It is very rewarding and hasn’t been physically demanding thus far, but emotionally draining.  The kids and I especially feel it. 

 

So, back to what we are doing here.

 

In the afternoon we help out in the classroom.  The end of term exams are coming up and so there is time set aside every afternoon for “prep”.  I am writing this after experiencing a few days of this.  It has taken me a while to figure things out.  I figured out that prep time means that they are in the classroom, sometimes with a teacher, most times on their own, with the notes that they have taken in class or written down from the board.  The kids would come to me with their notes asking questions about what was written there.  I would look at what they had and trying to figure out an answer I would ask to see their book.  They stared at me, not understanding.  “This is my book”, they would say.  Jesse had given me some books so that I would know what they were studying.  Turns out that I was the only one that had a book.  They can only study from their notes.  The books are small paperbacks, only 120 pages long or so, but the school can’t afford to provide a book for each child.  I don’t know how I could have prepared for a term long exam without a reference!  Apparently they don’t do very well with the exams which isn’t surprising.  So now, I review a 30 page section of the book so that I have something specific to go over with them during the prep time.  I am working with Form 1 which would be freshman age.  They love to be quizzed. 

 

Another thing that no one mentions that they study here is the Bible.  The first day some of the kids started asking Mark a bunch of questions about the Bible, which is not his area of expertise.  He immediately told Tim, “Go get your Mom.”   One kid asked me, “We need you to tell us how to write an essay of the Bible.”  Whoa, could you narrow it down a little bit?  The boy offered to go home that evening, write an essay and have me mark it the next day.  He showed up with the essay as he said he would and had done a great job. We have found out that all kids in Malawi are required to take Bible as part of their schooling.  MCV isn’t a religious school at all.  It must be frustrating to them.  They don’t teach concepts from the Bible, rather it is facts and details that probably won’t serve them overly well in their futures. 

 

Mark has been in a lot of classrooms.  Jesse uses him most days in his math class to go over problems with the kids and a couple of the other math teachers have asked him to come and help as well.  He was with the Form Four kids today.  He says that he ended up giving an impromptu lecture on the endocrine system.  He’s not of much use in math at that level. 

 

Tim and Annie hang out with me during the prep time.  Annie sets in on the review sessions and then answers the questions right along with the students.  Tim is actually able to help with some of the math and science but he also spends a lot of time answering questions about soccer and rap music.  (Neither of which he knows anything about.) 

 

We got to do examinations on the babies at Open Arms today.  You can see why Madonna wants to take these kids home!  They are all gorgeous little creatures and I have found that “baby head smell” is the same any where you go.  The babies are well cared for and as clean as they possibly could be given the fact that the nursery workers do ALL of the laundry by hand (they have a really nice, brand new washer but they don’t have enough electricity to run it yet).  Diapers may be a thickish muslin cloth or something that looks like a worn out dish towel.  Most of them are quite round and are very well fed.  The older kids (around 2 years old) are very quiet, sit down themselves when it is time to eat and wait patiently for their food and milk to come. 

 

Exams:  They all have an official medical booklet (everybody in the country is supposed to have one) which contains a growth chart and information about medical problems or hospital visits.  Most of them have growth chart info but nothing else as they are all pretty young, most had been at the nursery a few weeks.  We were examining the youngest ones today.  They also have one sheet of information that the nursery keeps on them which includes their name, date of birth, day they came to the nursery, religion, information on the mother (which sadly, means what she died of or what she is dying of), what the baby’s appearance and health status was when she came in, maybe a little social history, and whether or not the family will be responsible for the body if the baby dies there. 

 

These very young babies were shockingly calm and compliant while Mark pokes and prodded.  Almost all of them were perfectly healthy as far as we could tell, but many have mothers who had AIDS and in Malawi the baby has a 1 in 5 chance of contracting the disease as well.  Many times the nursery has no idea whether or not the babies are at risk of being HIV positive because the mother who has passed away may not have told any of her relatives that she had the disease.  The babies are not tested automatically as the test is too expensive.  If they get a child who has been ill a few times with fevers or possible signs of HIV, then they will get the test.  There are some babies at the nursery who are on medication for AIDS but they cannot get it until their CD4 counts indicate that they are severely immunocompromised.  We deeply fear that one of the babies that we saw today will not live and there is nothing that we can do about it.  The nurses try to take her to the hospital but they will not spend limited resources on a tiny, unhealthy baby who might have AIDS.  I so admire the work that the women are doing with the babies every day and how hard it must be to watch babies die and be able to do so little.