I wake up at 5:30 (granted, I have slept the whole night with no teething baby waking me ). First I go turn on the hot water heater for the shower. I could leave it on all night but I don’t want to waste the electricity since I pay for it myself. Then I go fill the kettle with water. I get my lunch ready. Lunch is usually something cold but thankfully not yet a sandwich. After a while I go to the shower. It’s usually just lukewarm. I then prepare breakfast which is usually cream of wheat or oatmeal. Sometimes it’s just bread with peanut butter and honey. Peanut butter and honey are staples for me. I then do the dishes and head out for school. I’m lucky enough to be driven to school. I don’t know why that is but I’m not complaining.

I arrive at school anywhere between 7:10 and 7:30 and some of the children are already running around in the room. School officially begins at 7:30. By that time all of the children have arrived.

I leave school around 2:00 pm each day sometimes after having checked my email using the not-so-high speed access. Checking email usually takes at least an hour. I often save emails to read later at home and reply from home in Office then paste it into an email later.

Most days I go into town to buy food. Carrying food is not simple as the mini buss is often packed full of people, chickens, bails of maize flour and who knows what else. Getting in and out if a gymnastic workout so I try to keep my bags to two. This means several trips a week to town. I usually go to the two main grocery stores. One feels like a warehouse with dark aisles and lots of dust. The other is much like a western grocery store with the addition of alcohol, school supplies, small appliances and some clothing. I also go to the open market where the prices for produce are much more reasonable.

Upon my arrival home I pour the water I boiled in the morning which has now cooled, into a bottle for drinking water. I then boil another kettle to use for washing the vegetables. I begin to prepare my dinner which may be a stir-fry, grilled cheese or some sort of avocado with rice concoction.

I eat early because my “lunch” break at school is at 9:30. By the time I reach home I’m very hungry. I usually eat while watching some TV show from my laptop. As of yet I don’t have a TV and my radio caught on fire.

I clean up from dinner, sweep the house, do some cleaning and organizing and put my mosquito net down for the night. After that I either watch more downloaded stuff or play a game on my iPod. I’m usually exhausted so I often go to bed before 9:00.

I always wear flip flops in the house because I often find dead cockroaches. I usually find them by stepping on them.

Life here is not easy for me. It is boring, lonely and frustrating. My friends here rarely call me and almost never come to see me. Anyway, that’s an observation for another post.

Thanks for reading.

Tags: itatu, itatu orphan care, jennifer douma, malawi

On Saturday morning I left my house at 7:30 and boarded a coach at 8:00 to go to the day care. The plan was to be there at lunch to see the children. When I got on the bus it was half full. By 9:45 it was full with only a few people standing and it left the depot. By the time it left I was uncomfortable and tired of sitting.

The ride to Ntcheu was 2 ½ hours. I got to the day care at about 12:45.

The children are doing fine. The younger ones have grown quite a bit since they first started to come. Maggie no longer looks like a little girl but now looks like a young lady. She has put on weight and her face has filled out. Her health is now fine.

Henry is now the only boy. Johnny no longer attends because he is in secondary school and the hours of school are not conducive to him coming for meals. Johnny has been replaced by Rita, a 10 year old girl who is in grade 3. Her English, like that of all of them, is not great so I only got to ask her if she likes school and is she good while she’s there. She said that she is good and she does like school.

For now Annie is still attending even though the day care rules clearly stated that the children must attend school in order to attend. Annie’s situation is unique and we will have to give it some consideration. Her father is alive and lives not far from her. This came as a surprise to both myself and Azikiwe who believed that she had lost both of her parents. In a sense she has lost them both since her father does not support her in any way. She went to him to ask him for school fees for grade 9 and he refused. The school fees for the Community Day Secondary where she could attend are approximately $20 per term. This is a small amount but at this time I can not offer to pay for her. If I do that I am setting a precedent which I can not yet afford. I feel bad for her because I know she’d like to go to school. That is why she is still being allowed to come for meals.

The children do not have mosquito nets. I think I need to find a way to buy one for each of them. The cost would be about $8 each. This is malaria season and it’s not good to be sleeping without protection. I sleep with a net in a house that is reasonably secure and I have been covered by mosquito bites.

Azikiwe and I discussed taking the kids to the lake at one point. I’m sure they’ve never been and would be amazed to see it. It’s not far from their home but it’s not something they would have experienced.

All in all it was a good visit. They are healthy and happy. Maggie told me she wants a small bicycle. I told her I’d like one too but that we can’t buy one for her. She’s bold. I like her.

I’m hoping that when the website is updated there will be a link on there where I can post the monthly spending reports so those people who have expressed concern about where their donations are being spent can see the cost of things. We are being very careful to use the money wisely and to ensure the kids have a healthy, balanced diet. Mabvuto stole most of the maize that was planted last year so we have not planted this year but it is something we are considering for the future.

Thanks for reading.

Tags: itatu, itatu orphan care, jennifer douma, malawi, orphan care

Today some of the children brought coloured pencils and crayons. It made life a lot easier. One boy, Ernest, went to a shop and bought a Mickey Mouse art kit. It has crayons, paints, pastels scissors and a ruler. This is a boy who goes all out. This same boy told me that there is a public swimming pool. I need to go find it. I’d love to swim a few times a week.

The kids went for gym this morning. When they came back, one boy, Madalitso, gave me a hug. You know I love the spontaneous hugs. After his hug I got two or three others. That made the day better.

Yesterday morning I woke up to find the biggest cockroach I’ve ever seen lounging in my kitchen sink.

Almakio came and killed it only to tell me that it wasn’t that big and there are others in our house. This thing was the size of my thumb. I thought that was bad so I went to town to buy some powder for killing them. Unfortunately I was unable to find the “Blue Death” I was looking for. I bought some insecticide that plugs into the outlets. Unfortunately the plug is not the same as the outlet. Why would they sell a product that does not work in this country? I have to go back to town to buy an extension cord with an adapter for that kind of plug.

Last night I was sitting enjoying a piece of bread with peanut butter and honey when something suddenly appeared in my shirt. I screamed and whipped off my shirt (luckily I was wearing 2). It was a cockroach. IN MY SHIRT. No this is not good.

That is the news from Malawi this week. I am in better spirits now having had a productive weekend and having seen my friend Denis. It was nice.

Tags: jennifer douma, malawi

Jennifer,

I would like to let you know that the money you wired whilst in Canada is in the Itatu account now.Thank you very much for all your efforts, we can discuss more when you come. The name of the new girl who replaced John is Rita Zingwa. Everything is going on well so far and i am sure the children will be happy to chat with you on Friday. Will this be alright with you? Please let me know.

I will call at least.

yebo
azikiwe

Tags: itatu, itatu orphan care, jennifer douma, malawi

It has come to my attention that some of you are disappointed in the use of the Itatu website for updates about my work here in Malawi. I have been told that some of you thought the posts were inteneded only for news of the orphans. I assumed that many of you would enjoy learning of what life is like for a “mzungu” here in Malawi. I assumed that would give you a better picture of where your donations have gone.

I have been asked if I have planted crops and built a building. For those who’ve been following my journey since the beginning you will recall that my previous manager was a thief and the day care was close to closing. As a result, I hired a new team to manage things. They are working hard to set things right. The previous manager left me with no option but to buy maize and beans for the year as planting is expensive. I have not planted crops, bought livestock or built any structures as of yet. I am being cautious about what I do with the money you have so generously donated.

I have been in Malawi for only two weeks. The day care is about a two hour drive from this city. As of yet I’ve not seen the children but I’ve spoken frequently to Azikiwe and I am confident that all is well.

Selfishly, I’ve spent these last two weeks trying to learn a new city, a new language, a new curriculum and a new way of life. I’ve been adjusting slowly and I apologize to those who feel I have not been forth coming with information about the orphans.

Thank you for reading,
Jennifer