Homestay: Life in M'Palale

On Sunday, October 5th our training class was divided into three groups, loosely based on our language classes and teaching subject areas. We were then sent to three different villages in which we would stay for the next six weeks. I along with six others was sent to the lovely village of M’Palale. The closest of the three villages, actually within a twenty minute walk of the college. Looking back, I really enjoyed my time in M’Palale, the other people in my group, my teaching practice, and my host family. I’ve written in my journal and sent a few letters, but I haven’t had a chance to really write a good general account of my experience until now. With that said, I think the easiest way to keep you all informed is to divide the past six weeks of my life in Malawi into a few different categories. Hopefully this along with the pictures I’ve posted will provide a decent amount of insight on my homestay experience.

My Host Family

I’ll never be able to say enough about my host family! They were always accommodating and patient with me from the first day I entered their home. Though they were unable to speak English, we got a long just fine, especially as my Chichewa skills progressed. Relatively speaking, my family lives a very comfortable life in a very comfortable home. Most of the homes I have encountered thus far in villages are made of mud with a straw roof, my family’s home however was composed of brick with a good tin roof on top. Like most village homes my family had an outdoor shower/bathroom as well as an outdoor kitchen area. Attached to the kitchen area was a spare room, which was given to me for the duration of my stay. I’m not sure what its normal use is, perhaps for storage of beans, corn, potatoes, and other crops from the fields. They also had kept a small amount of livestock including pigs and chickens. Throughout the village, there were always many farm animals wandering including goats, dogs, pigs, chickens, and cows.

My host mother, like all Malawian village women, works extremely hard each and every day. Her daily activities include gathering water from the borehole five or so times per day, cooking, cleaning, farming, hand washing the laundry, and taking care of her children. I’m grateful to her for taking the time to teach me all of these things and being patient with me as she did so. I can thank my host mother for teaching me how to sweep a mud floor, cook Malawian foods, pump water (and carry it on my head, sort of), hand wash my laundry, and start fires. I really do owe her a lot and am so glad for her generosity and hospitality. Oh and I have yet to mention the most astonishing part, she’s only 22! The same age as me, though she’s been married for 8 years and has two children. (I cannot even imagine!)

My host father is a bit older at age 27. He was extremely friendly and eager to practice language with me and the other trainees in my village. He’s actually from northern Malawi and thus spoke both Chichewa and Chitumbuka. The first Friday morning of my stay, I discovered my father’s primary occupation as I was awoken to the sound of a pig being slaughtered. I quickly enquired (to say the lest) and learned that my father was the town butcher and as such every market day was responsible for selling and slaughtering village animals. I won’t say much more on this and instead will leave it to your imaginations.

Joji, my little brother, is quite possibly one of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen. His four year old antics and personality were always a welcome enjoyment throughout my day. He’s goofy and loves to play, which became especially evident when I received a soccer ball in the mail from my cousin Jennifer.

Now let me tell you a little bit about my best friend at site; the final member of my happy homestay family, my little sister Ivileni. She is a powerhouse of a six year old. She’s smart and loved to spend her time playing with me, practicing her schoolwork, and teaching me Chichewa. She just finished standard two and tested as one of the highest in her class. She was always eager to walk me around the village, to the grocery, to church, to fetch water, to the market, everywhere and anywhere. I was glad to have toys and pens and paper to share with her. I hope I meet several Ivilenis at my future site.

As far as our extended family goes, I’m still unable to list everyone’s name and place. Most of the homes surrounding mine were occupied by my host mother’s sisters and their respective families. Terrance, one of the PCTs in my group from Pennsylvania, actually lived with my mother’s parents in the house next-door to ours. That makes him my host uncle and a regular at any family activity or function. I’m really glad that he was so nearby so there were two of us to play with the kids, dance, and chat with our families.

Daily Activities

Throughout homestay, I usually woke up at about 4:45 am every morning to meet Alyssa, a PCT from Michigan, for our morning walk. I’m really glad that we started doing this. It gave us time to chat (in English!) and explore our village and surroundings. We spent many mornings discovering things we wouldn’t have otherwise including a maize mill, roads, a day care center, a small stream, a cemetery, farms, and much more. Our favorite path took us through what we deemed “Banana Village” a small group of tiny homes surrounded by huge banana trees. Morning walks are definitely something I will continue at my future site.

I’d return from my walk no later than 6:15 to find my morning bath water warm and waiting for me each morning. Clearly, we were all a bit spoiled by our host mothers which just shows how welcoming and generous Malawians are to their guests. I then had a little time to read, write, or perhaps prepare my things for language class or teaching practice. Breakfast was typically at 7am and consisted of bread and eggs or rice porridge, sometime potatoes. Unfortunately my family didn’t drink coffee, but much to my delight they did drink a really dark tea every morning.

Around 7:30ish, I’d meet up with Terrance and we would walk to school. Announcements and assembly began and were followed by the start of classes at 8am. I taught four periods per week of biology to Form 3 students, which I’ll talk more about when I discuss teaching practice. Though we were each only responsible for one class per day, we had to stay at the school until noon giving us much down time to play cards, read, chat, etc.

We then returned home for lunch. All of my lunch and dinner meals consisted of some combination of the following: rice, nsima, chicken, goat, beans, potatoes, mustard greens, pumpkin leaves, eggs, and various fruits. I was definitely well fed, but as far as variety goes… well, I guess I really need to get used to village food. After we’d finish eating, Ivileni and I would usually make a trip to the borehole to fill a bucket of water each. Depending on the day I’d then take a nap, read, play with the kids, or study until language class at 2:00pm.

My language class continues to consist of Courtney from Chicago, Bryan from Minnesota, and myself. (the Midwestern group, so it seems) Language class is exactly as you’d imagine it to be, a few hours of new vocabulary and a lot of speaking practice. Our trainer, a Malawian named Mathews, is really laid back, making class everyday pretty tolerable. After class, we’d usually head over to the other language group to hang out for an hour or so before returning to our respective families.

Dinner was usually at 7:00pm, prior to that I would read, play cards, play soccer, help my host mother cook, etc. Most often, I ate dinner with my host mother and father, while the kids ate in the outdoor kitchen with our sixteen year old cousin Lucas. During meals we normally listened to Malawian radio, sometimes this consisted of Malawian music and others American. I was usually back in my own room for the night around 8pm and depending upon what I wanted to do that evening as far as studying, preparing for class, reading, writing, etc. was asleep well before 9:00pm.

Overall, my days were very scheduled during homestay. A routine was quickly established and followed throughout. The weekends were a bit more relaxed as far as the schedule went. Sometimes we had group activities away from our village, other times we left our families for a cold drink at Ed’s Bar near the college. I also went to church with my family every Sunday and used the rest of my time to read, write letters or just relax in general.

Also, I forgot to mention that on Thursdays we all left our villages for a day of classes and training at the college. I definitely looked forward to Thursdays and being able to spend time with the rest of my training group.

Teaching Practice

Upon coming to Malawi, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as far as technical training and teaching practice was concerned. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that we would first participate in some general teaching sessions followed by a few weeks of teaching practice in our own classrooms.

Four times per week, I taught biology to Form 3 students (equivalent to juniors in high school in the US). I’ll be frank, at first I was intimidated by the thought of just being thrown into the classroom, especially as I haven’t had any real experience in teaching. In the end however I am really glad to have been given the chance to practice so early on in my time here. Each day I had somewhere between 36 and 43 students, which is actually relatively small for a Malawian classroom. In my future village, I may find myself as some current volunteers do, in front of hundreds of students in every class. I’m not quite sure what teaching strategies will be most effective for Malawi, but I guess I’ll figure it out in time.

Though I’ve been teaching in English, I have to be sure to speak very slowly and carefully in order for my students to understand me. At M’Palale, the levels at which they were able to communicate in English varied amongst students; so I believe it will be challenging to figure out how to best teach my entire class. At times I found myself moving too slowly for some students, yet at the same time much too fast for others. Like I said, I’ll figure it out in time.

Village Farewell Ceremony

We moved out of our villages on Friday November 15th, but gathered with our host parents as a group the following day to make more formal goodbyes. At this Village Farewell Ceremony, we met and conversed with each others families as well as with many Peace Corps staff members including our APCD for Education, the PC Malawi Country Director, and the US Ambassador to Malawi. There were several speeches made by those mentioned above as well as one of my fellow trainees and one of the village host mothers.

Our families were then individually presented with certificates by the Country Director and Ambassador to express everyone’s gratitude for their help to us in training. Each village then performed a skit or song to say thank you and goodbye. My group sang our own version of Leaving on a Jet Plane, more accurately Leaving M’Palale. Afterward, the host mothers from each village performed their own songs and dances for us as well. This was followed by a performance by the Gule Wamkulu, traditional Malawian dancers which I'll have to tell you more about later. All in all it was a pleasant time and a nice end to our homestay experience.