"The Village"

Sometimes when you live for so long and so far from those you love, you forget that your everyday life happenings, doings and activities are not always known. And while you think you might have adequately explained, there are still many questions. Maybe I haven’t done well explaining. Maybe I don’t know where to start sometimes so I end up not sharing- hence the lag in the blog update. But this is an attempt.

First- “the village.” What does it mean when I talk about that? Well, a few things, but to me, “the village” with no qualifier always means I’m in the place where I spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). This is a place located in the Southern Region of Malawi in a district known as Balaka divided further into Traditional Authorities (TAs) and then into small, scattered little villages which range in size. The health centre I worked at, Nandumbo Health Centre, is a part of Nandumbo village and my house which was less than 1km from the health centre was in Tambala village. It is not where my husband is from and neither where his family lives. BUT it is where we first met. He was working in the health clinic placed there randomly by the Ministry of Health. So, for that reason, it feels like our first home- where we first cultivated our relationship. It’s also the first place my husband and I went this year upon returning to Malawi after our holiday. It is our heart. 

[Photo: My former house in Balaka- the village]

[Photo: Mphatso at Nandumbo Health Centre in his scrubs]

Secondly, there’s my husband’s family who are spread out across the Southern Region of Malawi. The grandparents ("Agogo" in Chichewa) all live in villages in the district of Mulanje surrounding the gorgeous Mulanje mountain which is surrounded by tea estates. This district is even farther south than Balaka where I was living as a PCV. This is where my husband is from and where he was born. This is the place where we held our traditional engagement ceremony (chinkhoswe) last year. My husband’s parents no longer stay there though. By nature of my father in law’s job as a head teacher of secondary schools, he rotates and moves almost once a year to different districts and different schools and is sometimes placed in a more urban location but mostly rural. They are always in an ever-changing location since I’ve met them. My husband also has relatives in the neighboring district to Mulanje called Thyolo- also covered with tea estates. This is also where my husband has lived the past 4 years attending the Malamulo College of Health Sciences earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health. I would many times visit here and we would stay with his aunt who lives on a tea estate there. 

[Photo: Mulanje Mountain]

 

[Photo: In Mulanje with Agogo]

[Photo: Thyolo tea fields]

Lastly, just to note, when Peace Corps Volunteers first arrive in Malawi, they are placed for about 2 months with a family in a rural village in the district of Kasungu (Central Region). In that village, volunteers undergo training and integration together and prepare for the next 2 years in their own sites spread out across the country. 

[Photo: Kasungu- PCV training village]

[Photo: Map of Malawi- with highlighted locations]

So that’s a brief run-down of a few of the different very important villages to me here in Malawi. To me, a village is someplace rural (although in Malawi you don’t have to go very far at all to reach that definition). A rural village would be a place located several kilometers from any paved road, normally without electricity or running water. But this is not always the case as many villages run up against the main paved highway, have electricity and some have tap water. But the villages I know and frequent are mostly rural. A village is an officially recognized structure and is under the authority of a chief who is under the authority of a Traditional Authority (TA) who oversees multiple villages. There are also city counselors, mayors and members of parliament (MPs) who make up the larger governance structure. Mayors many time oversee cities such as the one I am living in now- Lilongwe- located in the Central Region of Malawi and happens to also be the capital. 

So to wrap up:

·       From March 2013 to April 2013 I lived in a village in the district of Kasungu training to be a PCV.

·       From May 2013 to April 2015 I lived in Tambala village and worked at Nandumbo Health Centre in the district of Balaka as a Peace Corps Volunteer. This is where I met my husband.

·       I frequently travel around the Southern Region of Malawi visiting my husband’s family in Mulanje, Thyolo and Chiradzulu districts. 

·       From April 2015 to April 2016 I extended my 2-year Peace Corps service and became a Peace Corps Response Volunteer where I moved to the district of Lilongwe staying in the capital city of Lilongwe. Here, I worked with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) in their main office while also traveling around the country.

·       In April 2016 I officially completed my Peace Corps service. Starting in late April 2016 up until present I started working for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) which is under the U.S. Embassy here in Malawi as part of the HIV team. I continue to live in Lilongwe only I changed houses to the one I’ve been in now for 1.5 years. 

[Photo: My former EGPAF Office]

[Photo: Lilongwe- EGPAF office (brick building behind the trees) and USAID office to left in the distance (behind the pole a bit whitewashed out)]

[Photo: View from the rooftop of USAID/CDC/PEPFAR offices]

[Photo: My current house in Lilongwe inside a compound of 3 houses]