Lilongwe Hotel

I have a major confession: I spent the last week in a nice hotel with a hot shower, television, and an unbelievable breakfast buffet.

What happened is this: the National AIDS Commission conference. Most of the people who have been working on the research project here have submitted papers to this conference at one point or another, and it just so happened that one woman had submitted but could not be present to present ( :) ) so I stood in. I stood in for her presentation, her hotel bed, her shower, her free meals, and her wireless internet.

This afternoon, though, I must head away and get back to real life. How spoiled I have been.

Pictures will come. And they will blow you away.

Well I've been absent for a bit. I've been on a tiny little island called Likoma for the past week--you can find it on a map in the middle of Lake Malawi. There really isn't internet on this island. I don't think anywhere. But it IS absolutely, stunningly beautiful. so, refer to headline--pictures are coming.
two and a half weeks left, and the whole "point" of this summer is starting to come into focus. I didn't follow the schedule I had planned initially, and I certainly did not have the structure of research work I had anticipated. Far from it. But I've really had a rich slice of Malawian culture, and so many ideas now are floating around in my brain for future research and writing. I'm kind of broke too, which I didnt anticipate. But I also am starting to think about what it means to be "broke" in an entirely different way. Like, these researchers who were supposed to pay my way and didnt or did only partially are the ones who really provide for me. My life is a strong, purposefully-guided and richly-supplied stream that flows apart from any temporary employment, funding, or lack of income. I believe it sometimes. Just wish I could BE-LIIEEEEEVE it.
I was like a parched and starving pilgrim today when I checked my email inbox. I miss the people at home so much. Everyone of you--it almost hurts, how disconnected I've been from even the people closest to me. Communication is there, true, but complicated and expensive. Soooo.... I am holding out for a few more weeks.
And if you've contacted me and I havent responded, know that I wish I could. Know that I really, really wish I could. Know that I will have plenty to share when I finally do.

The Modern Age has reached Malawi

I am sitting here, in Mchinji district, a VERY rural area near the border between Malawi and Zambia, on the district hospital, picking up wireless internet. If you could just see my surroundings, how rustic, how traditional, how rural, you would understand how wierd that is. One thing that continually suprises me here is just how connected to the world of communications technology even the most remote areas are here in africa. A LOT of people have cell phones (but only very few have televisions). Even people without running water have cell phones. And people out here do have a sense of the global culture, of the West and East and everything in between, that continually takes me off guard. Globalization is for real.
Unfortunately, though, the connection still isn't quite fast enough to post photos, which I had so much wanted to do. So those will have to wait.
Work is starting to pick up here, which is good, and I am more busy than I have been the past two weeks. I am here in Mchinji, at a beautiful and peaceful inn, working on a project where we interview locals who work as HIV testing counselors, asking them about their experiences and attitudes toward testing. In two weeks, I go to Likoma Island, where we are doing actual testing and network mapping on the island. I have heard that Likoma, especially is beautiful; but I have to say, this country has everything when it comes to landscape. Rolling, flourescent green tea plantations; mountains towering into the clouds; wide, grassy spaces dotted with sculptural trees; hardwood forests of towering trees with ivory-colored bark; and lush vegetation in all colors everywhere. And I still haven't been to the lake, the crowning jewel of this small country.

Now, don't you wish I could've posted some pictures??