First Week

It has been a busy exciting week. On Tuesday May 9th I took my first steps in Africa. One week later I have a family in rural central Malawi, and a job with a local development organization. I am just starting to develop a daily routine. I get up between 5:30am and 6:30am, go for a run, bath, eat breakfast, and walk to work for 7:30am. I walk home for lunch, and finish work at 4pm. The sun goes down at about 5:30am. After which it is very dark, as there is not much electricity in the area. I go to bed between 8:30pm and 9:30pm.

There are 8 people in the household including myself. There is my host mother who is a retired teacher and my host father who is a retired police officer. I have 4 brothers and 1 sister, as well as a nice from Lilongwe.

The household is quite self-sufficient. Almost all the food we eat is grown on their land. They growth millet, maize, bananas, pumpkins, green peppers, tomatoes, rape, turnip, papaya, limes, and mangos. They also raise chickens, goats, and cattle.

I am feed very well. My host family says they want to send me home fat. For breakfast I have eggs with a green pepper and tomato, fried potatoes, bread, fruit, and fresh milk with Milo. For lunch and dinner you have a starch, which is either nsima, fried potatoes, or rice, a meat (chicken, eggs, fish, or beef), and vegetables (cabbage, rape, carrots, tomatoes, green pepper). To drink, there is water, tea, pop, or milk.