A Day in the Life...

in case you are wondering what it's like....

6am. Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girl” is my 5 minute warning to get out of bed. I grab my Bible and journal and start the day off feeding my spiritual self. Breakfast consists of a banana with oatmeal or toast and peanut butter, but always a banana because Malawian bananas are wonderful (:

7:27am. Greet the day guard with “Mwadzuka bwanji” and begin my uphill commute to the office.

7:30am. Arrive at the office. From here my day takes 1 of 2 paths:

Office Day

Field Day

Start up the computer and create a quick to-do list for the day. I open Notepad and exercise my brain by hard coding web pages. I’m a code monkey. I wrestle with style sheets until I either get too frustrated - with things like why my in-line lists don’t appear to be in-line – or the code works. 9am. Out of frustration with broken code or pure joy with working style sheets, I make myself a half coffee/half chocolate before going back at it (: 10am. I’m freezing cold so I pay a visit to different program offices and set dates to do field visits. 12pm. Lunch time (: I ask the day guard how his family is. He tells me stories of his hardships and I smile politely. 1pm. I prepare tea and toast for the guard and we agree on a way that I can help. The office is empty, so I catch up on emails before working on something more creative: print or news articles for the site. 4pm. I message Kathleen to tell her how wonderful Rhoda’s cooking smells up here. We discuss food and potential dinner concoctions.

I wrap my chitenge 2x around my waist while waiting for the vehicle to be prepared. We drive to Miloso and pick up field staff and continue an hour to our destined village. 830am. We’re well on the village roads and hear countless children jumping, waving and shouting “Azungu azungu!” before running after the truck. 9am. We arrive at a village to a group of women welcoming us in song. The team gets to work – doing demonstrations, workshops, or well rehabilitations – and I watch, and try to snap photos that capture the true essence of the project. I snap a few pictures of the children, and join in their laughter as I show them their pictures. 1130am. The team finishes their work we take time to take what the village women have prepared – a drink or meal – before continuing to the next villages. 230pm. My stomach is starting to grumble as we wrap up at the last village and set off for Zomba. 4pm. Back to the mountains. I upload my photos and select the best ones for the website.

5pm. Pack up – I must get home before it gets too dark and I can’t see the path I’m walking.

545pm. After discussing our days, Kathleen, Kirsten and I think of something creative to make for dinner.

603pm. “OH MAN…” we say simultaneously as the power goes off right when we’ve started cooking. We stumble around for matches and candles, and continue to cook on our single gas burner.

730pm. Dinner is served (always with NALI - Malawian Hot Sauce) and dessert is one piece of chocolate (must ration the chocolate!), and a banana with peanut butter. Yum =)

815pm. Dishes are done and the ironing party starts. There is someone ironing every day.

10pm. My roommates have gone to bed already and I’m still working on something. I make a hot cup of tea and toast for the night guard and ask how his family is. He tells me they’re doing well and asks me for a Bible. English, Chichewa, “Anything will do because I have no resources”, he says. I nod my head and say that I will try to get him something.

11pm. I reflect on the day and read. I pull out my daily letter from my church that always puts a smile on my face. I thank God for the day and pray for strength and wisdom, then fall asleep with more questions in my mind than I had when the day started.