November 28, 2000

Dear Grandma and Grandpa

I got your letter in record time - only 11 days. Thanks for the update on many of my relatives. Did you find Dedza on your map? I found out my site for the next two years: a small town named Ulongwe in Machinga District. It's due south of lake Malawi, north of Zomba, and west of Liwonde National Park. President Bakili Muluzi is from Machinga District, from the town of Ntaja, but interestingly, there is no record of his having completed or even attended secondary school there or anywhere else.

My site will be frustrating in that to my knowledge there has never been an American or a volunteer from anywhere living there. They do not understand my need for privacy, my general attitude of do what I want when I want and no one else matters. I think my habit of viewing males and superiors as equals will probably get me into trouble too. And of course I'm a feminist.

But they are very friendly and welcoming and they realize there is a lot about Malawi that I do not understand…like the Peace Corps taught me Chichewa, then sent me to a region where they speak Chiyawo. My house has electricity, but no running water, and I am an easy walk from the bore hole. Then I need to boil all my water before I can use it. I also have a fence around my yard and my own latrine and bathing area. But, as I am the only azungu around, everyone, it seems, is watching me all the time, which is annoying. I will be able to use my computer, but do not have a printer or e-mail access.

My school has about 300 students in Form 1-4 (Grade 9-12) and is building four new classrooms in addition to the five it has now. It has wiring and pipes, but no electricity or running water. Only a few of the classrooms have desks and some are so dark it is very hard to see the board. There is lab equipment crammed into the deputy headmaster's office in no particular order. I spent two days straight in there finding out what they have, which must have frustrated the deputy head, a male, because a male and female should never be in a room alone together and I was being completely culturally unsensitive by not caring. But no one protested to me. That's another Malawian trait. They tend to be very subtle and beat around the bush constantly, but I think bluntly and understand bluntly, so I frequently fail to understand their subtle hints, then they get upset with me for not correcting my behavior when they never told me what I had done wrong in the first place. I am sure more misunderstandings will arise as time goes on.

The other volunteers are nice for the most part. Everyone in my group is here for education and we are all bored after seven long weeks of mostly sitting in disorganized sessions where we learn almost nothing. Still three more weeks before we are officially sworn in as volunteers.

I have been sick once. Sheila, the Peace Corps head nurse, thinks it was food poisoning. She kept me in Lilongwe for several days to make sure I was okay. We thought at first it was malaria, because I had just returned from my site, where anopheles mosquitoes run rampant all the time and the risk of malaria is very high. My first night, there was no room at the Peace Corps transit house, so Kit (a fellow trainee who was also running a high fever) and I stayed overnight at the clinic, in the male ward. We were excited to have access to a television, but it didn't work anyway, then the power went out for a few hours (a common occurrence throughout Malawi and the generator chose that night to go on strike. I happened to have my torch with me, so we ate dinner by torch light. It was a memorable experience.

Sessions today have been boring so far. The highlight of the day was learning how to inflict pain on ourselves to take malaria slides and how to put condoms on bananas. Because HIV is such a huge problem and African leaders are finally starting to admit this, everyone is really trying to push condoms, family planning, and altered attitudes toward sex. Easier said than done. But, since I will be teaching general science and biology, I need to try to educate my students about it.

Last, if you want to send me something besides a letter for Christmas, I would love the book "Einstein's Dreams". I don't remember the author, but it plays with theories of time and relativity.

If there's anything specific you want to know, please ask. And pass this on to my parents. I will send them a letter when I am done writing it.

Love, Abby

P.S. I will try to write to your pastor friend in Tanzania. I am very slowly (everything in Africa is done very slowly) planning a trip to Tanzania and Kenya.