Upon leaving, I gave Charles instructions on how to proceed when I left. Things like checking to make sure all of the questions had been answered on every questionnaire, making sure someone witnessed the informed consent if the interviewee could not write, and mailing me the questionnaires.
The goodbyes were sad. The whole research team, plus Mary (an ECD coordinator for KASO) and Filipina (KASO’s secretary), escorted me to the airport. They all wore their Obama shirts and pins. Maria made me a huge bag of popcorn. I brought half of it out for us all to share while we sat in the waiting area after I checked my bags. The rest of it I stuffed into my carry-on and ate when I got home (yes, somehow I managed to get it through customs). While we waited for me to be able to board, I showed them all pictures from the whole project, including some videos of the community meetings, ECD and children’s corner. They loved it. Charles, Jonathan and Maria had a beer as they prepared to make me a “surprise.” They took my video camera and made a movie of some kind downstairs. They said I couldn’t watch it until I was back in the US. Maria gave me letters, one each for me, Tiane, Kim and Matt.
When I boarded the plane it was open seating, so I chose a window seat on the left side so I could see the people on the viewing deck. I couldn’t believe they were all still there, 7 people with big Obama faces on the shirts seeing me off. Having seen them wave excitedly at the plane that took off before I boarded, I knew they were waving goodbye as we took off and praying for my safe arrival.

I did not call anyone on the research team for a few days after I got back. However, I received several SMS messages from Maria letting me know that they missed me but that everything was going well. One day she said she had been scared because they ran into some Gule Wamkulu on a bridge at Kudoku village. I have talked with Charles several times now and the research is complete. They were supposed to be sending me the rest of the documents today and they should arrive in three days. The team was just finishing up a few things, particularly going to each village and thanking the communities for their participation.

Maria has interviewed for a position in a health survey. I was pretty excited to hear that her experience volunteering in the study may help her to get a job.

I'll post again with some preliminary results of the study!

The last day we split into two teams, I went with Charles and Jonathan to Mwachipa and Alton and Maria went to Fumbe. Although it was the most urban village we visited, the volunteers who escorted us to the participants’ homes at Mwachipa did not know any English. I used the little Chichewa I had acquired by then (mostly to amuse them) and they told me what I needed to know by pointing and pantomiming. We encountered one of the saddest situations in Mwachipa. We interviewed the grandmother of a two year old girl whose caretaker, her aunt, had passed away just a few days earlier. The girl’s mother died (of an eye infection) soon after she was born. So, this little girl had already been orphaned twice. The family never knew who the father was and the grandfather was away working in South Africa. I knew they were being cared for, though, because as we did the interview, a neighbor was laying new bricks around window.

I bought some popcorn from a lady in the village who was bagging it to take a street market. Village popcorn really is the best. A radio was playing somewhere and some kids came up to me while I was sitting outside waiting for Charles. They danced and danced and danced :).

kids kids kids

Deafening ear infections, disfiguring eye infections, mumps, hookworms, unspecified diarrhea, ringworm, colds that turn to pneumonia. Malaria. Things that could be prevented with a few simple enough if we cared enough interventions...soap, shoes, clean water, vaccines, antibiotics, a net and insect repellent. If I had been born here, I would have died 30 + times throughout my childhood. I would not have lived to see age 2. It's one thing to read statistics. It's something entirely different walking door to door seeing sick child after sick child after sick child and knowing that the nearest clinic is at least two hours away...

I'm still learning a lot every day. I changed my plane ticket again yesterday, so I am leaving on Tuesday instead of Friday. The team is sad about it, but I know they can do the interviews now just as well without me. They'll send me the data. I was hoping to stay until I got approval, but my meeting with the chairman was a waste of time. I'll refrain from posting about it on the internet, but if you'd like to hear me get on a soapbox please inquire within....

Research

The data collection is going very well. Unfortunately, the study still has not been approved. I got a letter today stating that I was “still missing” three things. I showed the person at the office that these three things were not missing and he gave me the phone number of someone else to call. We have a meeting on Thursday. The good news is that KASO is free to conduct the interviews using my questionnaire whether or not the committee has given us the official approval.

So far, KASO has measured more than 80 kids in over 50 households. Among the families asked to participate, we have had 100% participation. The families that are not included in the sample are all asking the volunteers why they have not been included.

We’ve been interviewing families from Kudoku center for the past several days. Kudoku serves 13 villages and I’ve been to seven of them. The villages are all very small, probably an average of 20-30 households each. We are only sampling the households, so a lot of households are not included. All of the households are eager to participate. The ones that we are not including are asking for us to include them because they appreciate KASO’s assistance with the ECD program so much that they want to help out. I am getting the impression that they also like having visitors.

Yesterday I severely interrupted a church service in KASO’s Kudoku building when about 20 teenage girls insisted on having a photo shoot with me right outside. Everyone in the villages wants their picture taken. And they looooove seeing the pictures afterward. If I take a picture of a group of kids and then show it to them, the erupt into enormous yells and laughter. Everyone also laughs when I take pictures of their animals. Yesterday there were chicks, ducklings and piglets galore. It was pretty hilarious when about 20 kids tried to catch a piglet for me J.
Today I have been entering data….The data collection is going very well. Unfortunately, the study still has not been approved. I got a letter today stating that I was “still missing” three things. I showed the person at the office that these three things were not missing and he gave me the phone number of someone else to call. We have a meeting on Thursday. The good news is that KASO is free to conduct the interviews using my questionnaire whether or not the committee has given us the official approval.

So far, KASO has measured more than 80 kids in over 50 households. Among the families asked to participate, we have had 100% participation. The families that are not included in the sample are all asking the volunteers why they have not been included.

We’ve been interviewing families from Kudoku center for the past several days. Kudoku serves 13 villages and I’ve been to seven of them. The villages are all very small, probably an average of 20-30 households each. We are only sampling the households, so a lot of households are not included. All of the households are eager to participate. The ones that we are not including are asking for us to include them because they appreciate KASO’s assistance with the ECD program so much that they want to help out. I am getting the impression that they also like having visitors.

Yesterday I severely interrupted a church service in KASO’s Kudoku building when about 20 teenage girls insisted on having a photo shoot with me right outside. Everyone in the villages wants their picture taken. And they looooove seeing the pictures afterward. If I take a picture of a group of kids and then show it to them, the erupt into enormous yells and laughter. Everyone also laughs when I take pictures of their animals. Yesterday there were chicks, ducklings and piglets galore. It was pretty hilarious when about 20 kids tried to catch a piglet for me J.
Today I have been entering data….

lake picnic and swimming

More on the lake

The project has begun! KASO started collecting data Wednesday, the day after we went to Senga Bay.



I'll start with the trip to the lake, though. I took the team + Richard (KASO's director) and two of KASO's nearly full-time volunteers as a thank you for all of their hard work on my project and to celebrate Labor Day (a few days early). It was incredible. I'd already been a couple of times on this trip (it's only an hour and a half away), but it was Mary (one of the permanent KASO volunteers) and Jona's first time seeing the lake. They are 44 and 37 years old and had never seen a large body of water. The expressions on their faces were priceless when they saw the lake. Even better was the sight of the whole group swimming. Everyone splashing around having fun, genuinely without a care in the world at that moment.

I didn't realize that there are no public beaches along Senga Bay. So...we were denied picnic access by three hotel/ restaurants (all owned by white people). Finally got to one owned by Malawians who let us use their patio for eating (including 2 tables and lots of chairs), their yard for cooking, their grill and their toilet facilities all day for about $15.00 total.

Both cars were stuck in the sand when we tried to leave, so there was a lot of pushing and digging when it came time to go.

I facilitated the death of two chickens that day. My unvegetarian selfish side was glad that they were freshly killed b/c I thought it significantly reduced the chance of my side of the road cabbage salad getting contaminated with salamanila as a result of knife sharing. We also got to eat rice instead of nsima, a very welcome treat! I'm getting used to the nsima, and actually look forward to it after a long hard day of biking (I'm usually starving), but I love rice much more.

I also aided in the destruction of Malawian forests by buying side of the road charcoal. I couldn't convince my friends that my four kilo bag from shoprite was enough for one meal, so we bought a basket of it as tall as me.

We all wore Obama t-shirts to the lake. I felt extremely silly walking through town that morning with the shirt on AND carrying a big bag of charcoal.

Research team at the lake!

Lunch

I'm really bored, so I'll just also mention that I had fun shopping in a local market today for fresh veggies. Got an eggplant, green onions, a red onion, a tomato, a carrot (sweetest one i've ever had), two green peppers and a little orange spicy pepper for less like 70 cents. Yum! Don't worry, I will wash and cooked everything thoroughly :).

Malawian lady near Nkhoma mountain

i'm the hyena

Much awaited pictures

Today was short, just went to Mwachipa to visit the ECD program. Played games like the goat and hyena with the kids, showed off my traditional dancing skills and learned to count to five in English :). Then the team dispersed to get ready for our trip to the lake tomorrow. We are bringing 2 live chickens to slaughter when we get there ... I will be eating beans.

Reveren

Dropped Matt off at the airport yesterday. Very sad to have him go and also to have my plane leave without me. In many ways it feels like I should be going home, especially since my classes technically start tomorrow. Also I really miss tofu and frapaccinos. Due to this never ending IRB process, I've extended my stay until September 18th.

Before heading to the airport, we spent a couple of hours at children's corner. I was happy to have a break from teaching activities. This time I just took pictures and videos :).

Today I went to church with Alton. It was wonderful, very small and simple - just brick walls, a dirt floor and a thatched roof. The choir of 5 sounded more like 100. Went to his home for nsima, eggs and greens. His wife was really happy to meet me and was very sweet, about half my size!

Hoping to have good news tomorrow.....internet cafe is closing now.