Thyolo District Hospital

My meeting with the District Nursing Officer went really well. :) She asked me what my experience and qualifications were and then asked what kind of work I would like to do. How amazing that I can shape my job into what I really want to do. So I told her that I wanted to combine nutrition with HIV/AIDS work in some way. So there's a nutrition ward where they work with kids who are undernourished to do nutritional rehabilitation and also People Living with HIV (PLHIV). They also go to different towns and villages in the district to do cooking demontrations. I haven't started anything yet but it sounds fantastic. I go back tomorrow to solidify exactly what my position might be within the hospital.

After my meeting I went back to the District Assembly to speak with the Director of Planning and Development (DPD) since he was the one who set up the appointment for me. I told him how it went and he was happy that I found a place to work. My boss from the Peace Corps office will be coming for a site visit sometime this week so we'll see what he thinks about working with the hospital instead of with the District AIDS Commissioner (who is technically supposed to be my work counterpart).

Misc.

I have my last and final address change:

Rachel Kranch
C/O Thyolo District Assembly
Private Bag 5
Thyolo, Malawi

I attended a college graduation on Wednesday in Blantyre. It was for the College of Malawi and the President of Malawi, Dr. Bingu attended and delivered the commencement speech. I dressed up in a white shirt and a chitenje (cloth) with Dr. Bingu's messages on it - which is the uniform of the female civil servents. By working at the District Assembly, I am a civil servent.

We waited at the entrance to the college to greet the President and Vice President by dancing for them (well, I attempted to dance). Then we moved down to the soccer field where the graduation took place. The speeches were long, but interesting. The president and vice president of the college praised the Dr. Bingu for supported education but bemoaned the fact that once graduated, there was no work for their students. So they asked for his assistance. Dr. Bingu didn't really respond except to agree that it was a problem.

It was more of a spectacle than college graduations in the U.S. There were cirus tents and a red carpet for the President and all of the graduates. It was a great experience. I do have pictures and I will try to post them soon.

I have yet to officially start working. I do have a meeting with the District Nursing Officer this afternoon to discuss how I can combine my experience with nutrition, maternal and child health and HIV prevention with her office and the District Hospital. She seemed excited to have me come so hopefully I will have more news on that later.

My new home

I moved into my new house in Thyolo on Friday. It's fantastic: a small guest house/cottage in the same compound as the District Commissioner who is like a mayor or a city manager (I can't remember which). It has a common room, a room with a toilet and a room with a bathtub and a sink. I even have a porch with flower boxes. I have electricity and running water at least once a day. Thyolo is in the tea estates area so I can see them from my house. In the mornings I can't see anything outside of my yard though due to all the fog.
I started my job yesterday but there wasn't much to do. The District doesn't have any money right now so there really aren't any activities going on. So I sat in the office chatting with a university student who is doing an internship with the District AIDS office. The District AIDS Commissioner is in today so I can find out what the volunteer I replaced did and what work I can do. I will post pictures when I have more time and figure out how to do it.

Volunteers at Last : )

We swore-in as volunteers today at the U.S. Embassy in front of the Ambassador. High class. There were napkins embossed with the seal of the U.S. and there was a sign on the toilet lid that said that the toilet was not a place for storing important documents. Tomorrow we leave for our sites so I might not write on the blog for a while.

Phone Number

I have a cell phone now, so here's the number in case you want to call: 011 265 999 599 723. I'm here in Lilongwe through Thursday, possibly longer. There's good reception here, but I don't know about in Thyolo. I know that some phone companies allow for international texts, so try if you want. : )

Updated address

The address that I first posted is just used with DHL and FedEx; I guess we were given it in case we got lost and needed to find the office since that is the physical address. Anyway, my address for the time being is:

Rachel Kranch
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 208
Lilongwe, Malawi

I might get another P.O. Box number once I move to Thyolo and I'll be sure to post it.

We're still in training learning about the health care system in Malawi and the government's response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and focusing on our role in that response.

Lost Luggage

My luggage finally arrived! It's in the airport locked in a room but it is here in Malawi. I went last night with my program supervisor to pick it up but the people with the keys to the locked room had gone home. We'll go back again today to pick it up. I think that I'll wear all of my clothes at once since I've been wearing the same 2 shirts for the past week. : ) I did borrow a shirt and some pants from another volunteer and felt so stylish because it was something different.

We're still doing training (it's only 2 1/2 weeks for the Peace Corps Response Volunteers instead of 2 1/2 months) in the capital Lilongwe. We learned about the health care system in Malawi yesterday. Not in good condition and many people don't have access to care, but at least anyone (even non-Malawians) receive free health care.

Thyolo

We just spent a few days in Dedza doing some language and cultural training. It was really interesting. It's so nice to be able to speak to people in English and to read the signs and know what they mean. The language training was Chichewa, which is spoken in the southern part of the country where we will be posted. The name of my town is Thyolo and it's where the tea plantations are and lots of fruit is grown. : ) So I'll be eating a lot of mangoes and papayas. Still no luggage.

Lilongwe

I'm in Malawi after a couple of delayed flights. Still no word on the luggage. Hopefully it will come soon.

Johannesburg Airport

Made it to South Africa. Almost missed my connecter flight to Johannesburg because the flight out of Tucson was delayed. They held the plane in Atlanta for this other flight so I was able to make it. I lost my laptop, it was probably stolen because I checked it. My other checked bags aren't here but hopefully they'll show up in Malawi. Other then the luggage issues, it's nice to be here. It's cold and Peace Corps put us up in a swanky hotel. Well that's all for now.