The Return

As most of you already know, Elene and I are heading back to Canada in August after a few weeks of traveling a bit in Southern Africa (We're actually in Mozambique right now - the seafood is amazing!!!). We can't wait to see you all!!!! (We'll be in Toronto on the 1st, Vancouver on the 4th and then Ottawa around the 1st of September.)

However, I realize that most of my blogs have been about travel, so I thought I would add a couple of pictures from work for my final blog - yes, I did actually work. This is a quick one though as Elene and I are just about to head off to pick up our rental to then drive to Swaziland and then Kruger park in South Africa.










These pictures were taken from a presentation I made at the Tobacco Association of Malawi's (TAMA) AGM. I don't know if I've already talked about tobacco, but tobacco is the most important crop, by far, in Malawi - it is by far the most important crop for earning foreign currency. I was working for the Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) throughout my time in Malawi, but TAMA is a member of FUM, so I was, sort of, on loan for a month.

Yes, I worked for about a month for the main Tobacco Association in Malawi. As most of you are aware of how much I can't stand tobacco related products, this part of my work was a difficult one (at my first meeting with the E.D. there were a couple of packs of cigarettes laying on the table!), but also ended up being the most rewarding experience.

I conducted an evaluation for TAMA on their cooperative development program - for the last 5 years, TAMA has been organizing some of its members into cooperatives, and they wanted someone to take a look at the program to see how its going and to make suggestions on how it could be improved. So, I went around the country for a few weeks interviewing cooperative members and the TAMA staff responsible for the program.

It was the first time I really got to travel into rural Malawi and chat with farmers, so it was quite a different experience to everything else I had done to date. And, I was happy to see that the coops were doing fairly well and that the farmers really appreciated working in this manner. The work went really well and my presentation was well received. Overall, other than the fact I was supporting the cigarette industry, I enjoyed this project the most out of my work in Malawi.


As, this is my last blog, I thought I'd also include a few more pictures from our last adventure. Elene's family visited us - we travelled to Zambia and all around Malawi for about 3 weeks.

This is Mumbo Island that we kayaked to.



We were so spoiled - had our own chef - we purchased some fish and he cooked it up!





Little kids seemed to grab us from everywhere and not want to let go...mostly trying to get something from the Mzungu (the Malawian term for white person).



This is actually a random shot from the bridge that goes to the main market in Lilongwe.




And finally, a few pictures from our safari in Zambia. A few elephants charged our car and freaked the crap out of us - I have a great picture of Elene hiding under the seat of our safari truck!







We are really excited to see you all soon!!!!

Chickens - check one off the list of life goals!

We're still searching for the right names for these chickens, so if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

I'll let my birds speak for themsleves!













Nalie, get away from my chickens!

Bunda Mountain (March 28, 2009)

Another mountain that we hiked fairly recently.











This little guy was our body guard on the way up the mountain. Looks pretty serious doesn't he!



This is his brother. They were actually our "guides" up the mountain. At one point the older brother started singing, (he was singing for the entire trip) "I'm really thirsty, I'd really like some water, it'd be great if I had some water." After cluing in I offered him some water and he drank about a litre!












Malawians also like to climb these mountains as well, but for very different reasons. You can see the two unbrellas that are shading someone from the heat.




Malawians climb the mountains (shouldn't say all Malawians, but most) to be closer to god and to pray. There were about 30 people at the top of this mountain singing gospel and having a great time. They are really amazing singers - I guess they get a lot of practice!

Nkoma Mountain

Nkoma Mountain is about 45 minutes outside of Lilongwe. Nkoma is actually a small town. It is a really beautiful area and the town has one of the larger mission hospitals. Actually, Nkoma, amazingly, has the only optomologist in Central and Northern Malawi (yes including the capital-Lilongwe). Elene had problems with one of her eyes and she had to come here. The doctor was great - we think South African, but maybe English - and of all things, he found a piece of organic matter, most likely maize related (typical), in her eye. After using a needle to get it out she was fine!



We hiked with a couple of friends of ours. Carrie (right) is a pediatrician working for a company called Bailer - they have clinics set up across Africa. She and her fiance have been in Malawi for about a year. Brandon (her fiance) works on a male circumscision project. Circumscision has been proven to help prevent HIV/AIDS transmission. Jess (left)is a PHD student also from the U.S. She conducts research projects in Malawi on savings and credit. Right now she is setting up and studying the impacts of a project that gives incentives for people to save some of their income.




Maize is everywhere!







We thought this was an amazing view, but wait until you see the top.



Don't I look so confident, but you should have heard all the complaints about the stinging nettles - I was the only one "brave" enough to wear shorts.



Here are the views from the top.

Our House

This is our house looking from the back. The people who lived in the house before us put a lot of work into the yard. They essentially did everything - planting, landscaping, etc. Well, them and our amazing gardener - Harrison who also worked for them before us. Right now we have two mango trees, an orange tree, an avocado tree, two passion fruit vines, and a garden that includes maize (of course), sweet potato, carrots, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, cucumber, hot peppers, different types of herbs and tomatoes. You gotta love a year round growing season! Look at that sweet RAV4!



This is a view looking from the side of the house to the back yard.



This is our staff quarters. Often staff will live in staff quarters like this with their families. We use ours for storage and for our staff to cook (we provide them with maize and tea) and put their things.



We had to give a try at growing some maize. Don't tell, but we're actually not too fond of Nsima (the main maize dish). You pretty much need to use fertilizer to grow maize in Malawi, which causes a lot of problems to the soil and it is very expensive (most can't afford it, so the government subsidizes).



This is a view of our front yard.



Lots of nice flowers.



This is our living room. A very minimilist strategy seeing as though the costs of things our here!



View to our front porch.



Our Kitchen, which houses most of our insect populations. We had at one point big ants, medium ants and cockroaches. We then sprayed to try to get rid of them. It worked! However like the drug trade, you get rid of one infestation and another takes its place - we now have little ants that have taken over as our kitchen mafia. Oh, and there are still many cockroaches.



Our roomate Heather and Vii - both also work for WUSC.



View from our kitchen door to the outside.



Our favorite place to sit and drink Malawi gin and tonics, to have Braiis, or to practice up on our Scrabble skills.