8.23.2008

Iron Chef and ZAIN

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who helped with the kitchen project. Lunch starts Monday and, one of the first times in my ten months, I really know that I have made a tangible difference at my school. Even before lunch started this week, attendance has increased. Everyone in Dzoole is talking about it.

In town, the Gender and Development club (GAD) just had its iron chef competition. It is a fundraiser where people pay to eat the food from three teams. The teams are given 6,000 Kwatcha ($40) to cook for 80 people! We were given a secret ingredient to incorporate into a started, main, and dessert. There were two this year, yogurt and chocolate (two of the most expensive foods you can buy in Malawi). To top it off, one partner is an amazing helper (peel garlic and chop onions) but doesn't know how to cook. The other, Corri, is an amazing chef, but sadly, a raging alcoholic. We were given the secret ingredient at 7:30 am, then had till 10:30 to menu plan shop in the market for ingredients. We were then driven to the country director's house where all three teams shared a kitchen, grill, camp fire, and mbaola (a small charcoal stove. Corri was passed out till helf ten, only just making the bus to the cooking, so we were down a hand shopping. We cooked bruschetta with yogurt roasted garlic tomatoes and cocoa-papper mayonnaise. The main was bbq sausage with chocolate orange bbq sauce served with curry-yogurt roasted cauliflower served with caramelized onions and glazed carrots. Dessert was burnt sugar banana crepes with chite, dark, and strawberry yogurt sauces. I cooked strait from 11 am till 6:20... even eating the pb sandwich and french fries I brought standing up as I prep worked. The three judges liked the food though and we won! No prize, just the glory and the satisfaction that I won and don't need to compete next year, because that was terrible :)!

Celtel, the leading African phone network, was bought out and is now called Zain. They are creating an international network with the middle east (useless for me) and now network is not only non exist ant in Dzoole, but not working in the city. One out of 20 calls I make actually goes through. It was frustrating to say the least. But because of a grant I am writing, I need to be in town next Saturday and the next one too, so hopefully things will be in better order by then.


At school, the kitchen is finished and school lunch is starting Monday. Late yes, but one week late is nothing for Malawi. It is really exciting and despite a million glitches, it is going worse than planned but way better than expected. Also, some of my favorite form one students had started coming to my house and reading the Chichewa-English dictionary and listen to English radio. It is really fun. Also, my garden is looking fantastic! I have lettuce, mustard greens, tomatoes, carrots, and beets :) It has greatly improved the quality of my life.

On a fun note, next weekend I am the co-MC of a dancehall and hip hop concert in Lilongwe. It is a producer who puts out unknown acts that have positive messages, from anti-HIV to education, as well as just some fun, really cool fusion with traditional music. It should be a real experience! Maybe this is my big break :) I could be the next Ryan Seacrest of Malawi!

I hope you are all well. I really love and miss you all.
KB

8.08.2008

Dust

My time in the city is usually what keeps me sane here... Yogurt, hot showers, dancing, cold beer, and a nice conversation with my city friends. After two and a half weeks in the city though, I am more than full of these things (except the dancing). During break I ended up in Blantyre Adventist hospital with a lung infection. I was in hospital for 2 days on an antibiotic IV and then put on house arrest in Blantyre, which really stinks because there is no Internet near the house there and it's really hard to get anything done. I am now in Lilongwe staying with a friend in a nice clean house (with a bath tub!). I have been relxing and listening to lots of music and reading. It's great. I really am loving African especially Zambian and Malawian music, but miss music from home too (hint hint, blank cd).

It made me realize (or rather remember) how much I love Dzoole though. I went back just for the day yesterday with my friend Brian, who along with a bath tub has a car! Dzoole won finals (as you remember it's been rescheduled many times) 5-0 and it was fantastic! They played so well, dominating the game. As Brian said, it was the best village soccer he's seen, very different from the usually high ball volleying. I have never seen them so happy or excited. They were hugging and jumping up and down like little kids. Plus one of my students was MVP. He is shy and often overshadowed my his best friend, Thomas. Both Mayamiko and Thomas had made the Malawi school district team and were selected to the National school tournament. I'm really proud of them.

Back in Dzoole, the kitchen is being built. It is fantastic and very exciting. I'll know in just one week how the school lunch is going, although I've been impressed with how they are preparing everything, from calling a PTA meeting to getting cooks and firewood and all that.

In town, I am working on grants for girls boarding facilities. It's nice to be doing work after a week of bed rest. Last year, only 10 of 65 girls past their JCE (Junior exams that allow them to go from Form 2 to 3 (between sophomore and junior year). Only 2 girls pasted their MSCE (senior graduation exam). So many girls end up pregnant and tons have sugar daddies, older men who give them school fees or food in return for sex. I would say 90 percent of students board in small rooms in the village (because maybe their family lives 10-20 Km from the secondary school. They are tiny, dirt-floored rooms with 10-15 kids sleeping on top of each other. No blankets, no nothing. They cook for themselves (over fire outside), cut their own wood, draw water and washing, all without the help of their parents. They are completely on their own, impressive for boys, but scary for girls. And the results of these freedoms as well as lack of good support, had particularly obvious repercussions for the ladies.

Although I am still a bit weak, I find time for dancing (I haven't been drinking, but if I am in town, I need to be dancing :) I am anxious to get back, but there is a lot, from more exam making to scheming lessons for next term, that I am not looking as forward too. On the bright side, staying busy makes time FLY.