The 2008 holidays are slowly coming to a close, but for once the holidays were a nice change a pace on this side of the world. Although, I did miss chezy Christmas songs, Santa hats and the smell of gingerbread houses this year, I did very much enjoy my time sharing Christmas culture in the village. Christmas here in my small village of Chigumukiri is not celebrated, at least not in the western style that we all enjoy year after year. Christianity is a popular practice along the lake shore villages where I am living and so the tradition of Christmas day mass and church community is celebrated much the same as every Sunday. Unfortunately, Christmas day becomes an excuse for many villagers to beg a little more and drink a little harder than they might have normally. None the less, it became a great opportunity for me to share a few bits from American culture. I thought at first that it might be a good idea for me to buy a whole pig and have “Kirk’s Christmas Extravaganza!,” but after consulting the advice of other volunteers, we decided that it might not be the best idea. I ended up buying three kgs of goat and making a stew. I used a combination of veggies that Malawians are not used to cooking with, so it was a great way to teach about eating a variety of foods, the health benefits of veggies like garlic and why not to use too much salt. Kitchen duties are very gender segregated, but for Christmas I tried to explain that Christmas in America means all the family gets together and enjoys each others company. In the end I ate with the men in the house while the women ate on the dirt floor outside in the smoky kitchen. Christmas was mellow but I’m glad I was able to share this time with some of the good friends that have been helping me with my new house and everyone was much honored to share a meal with their new "white celebrity" living in their community.
I’ve moved! Well…sort of….
I’m couch surfing right now on other volunteers’ floors. I bike everyday to my village. I’m working to integrate into the community and also working hard to organize the renovations of my house. This new community is great and although there have been a few speed bumps with finding & fixing a house; I am positive that future projects will move forward smooth. I have already planted a demonstration garden and will be working with agriculture extension agents, agroforesty and conservation agriculture practices are first on the education agenda. Plans for fruit tree nurseries, mushroom clubs and a business entrepreneurial clubs are all progress ideas already expressed by community members and I am excited to help facilitate such motivated people. I am still on a fast and steep learning curve of development in Malawi, but I have learned from my mistakes and hopefully I can help these people get their ideas off the ground.
Thanks everyone for the continued support and everyday I look forward to reading an email or receiving a phone call, I couldn’t do it with out all the amazing support from home. Happy Holidays and Have a GREAT New Years!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, September 1, 2008
Kuti Game Ranch Salima - Malawi
Takulandirani
KUTI COMMUNITY WILDLIFE PARK
Welcome to Kuti Game Ranch! Our diverse woodland savanna, open grassy plains and wetland environments offer the perfect location to spend the day viewing wildlife. Our 3000ha. protected area offers facilities for the outdoor camper or the indoor relaxer. Take advantage of a scenic walk through the native landscapes of the Salima district in central Malawi enjoying the diverse bird populations and the beautiful sunsets of the Kuti wetlands along the way. Support the local community and take advantage of a scenic game drive with one of our skilled local guides. Enjoy a week or spend the day, Kuti graciously welcomes your visit and will work hard to ensure your stay will never be forgotten.
Our Strong Community Conservation spirit…
Kuti is a Community Conservation Area (CCA), co-managed between boarder communities and private membership based organizations. The Kuti project is an effort to instill ownership, while managing income generation from the available natural resources. The Wildlife Producers and Hunters of Malawi (WPHM) and Wildlife Environment Society of Malawi (WESM) have been assisting with co-management since 1999 when the land use was converted from a government cattle ranch. The goals of our project diverts from traditional government preservation to the conservation and management of available lands. In practice, Kuti management allows local communities ownership and empowerment of their own natural resources. 50% of your contributions to Kuti find there way back into the community, through extension awareness and infrastructure maintenances in the villages bordering the park.
RULES OF THE PARK
1. The speed limit throughout the park is 40km/h
2. Animals always have right of way
3. Strictly no Guns, catapults or other weapons are permitted within the southern unit of the park
4. Although there are no large predators in Kuti, remember that the animals are wild so please keep your distance to avoid upsetting them.
5. Please leave your pets at home and out of the park
6. All flora and fauna within Kuti is protected. Please do not remove plant life.
7. For safety reasons, no fires will be permitted outside the designated areas of Sanga camp
8. Respect other visitors stay by keeping loud noises to a minimum. Please do not honk car horns
9. Please do not feed any of the animals.
Zikomo Kwambiri
ENJOY YOUR VISIT!
GAME VIEWING : Visitors are welcome to drive or walk along the designated roads within park but knowledgeable guides are also available. Ask for assistance at Sanga Camp.
CAMPING : Sanga camp offers toilet facilities, hot showers, braase, firewood and cold drinks. Ask for assistance at Sanga Camp.
ACOMMODATION : A-frame chalets are available with 5 single beds in each. Please make reservations in advance.
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTRE:
Facilities to host workshops and education program are available
Questions, Comments, Concerns?
Diverson 265 8 780 274
Our Strong Community Conservation spirit…
Kuti is a Community Conservation Area (CCA), co-managed between boarder communities and private membership based organizations. The Kuti project is an effort to instill ownership, while managing income generation from the available natural resources. The Wildlife Producers and Hunters of Malawi (WPHM) and Wildlife Environment Society of Malawi (WESM) have been assisting with co-management since 1999 when the land use was converted from a government cattle ranch. The goals of our project diverts from traditional government preservation to the conservation and management of available lands. In practice, Kuti management allows local communities ownership and empowerment of their own natural resources. 50% of your contributions to Kuti find there way back into the community, through extension awareness and infrastructure maintenances in the villages bordering the park.
RULES OF THE PARK
1. The speed limit throughout the park is 40km/h
2. Animals always have right of way
3. Strictly no Guns, catapults or other weapons are permitted within the southern unit of the park
4. Although there are no large predators in Kuti, remember that the animals are wild so please keep your distance to avoid upsetting them.
5. Please leave your pets at home and out of the park
6. All flora and fauna within Kuti is protected. Please do not remove plant life.
7. For safety reasons, no fires will be permitted outside the designated areas of Sanga camp
8. Respect other visitors stay by keeping loud noises to a minimum. Please do not honk car horns
9. Please do not feed any of the animals.
Zikomo Kwambiri
ENJOY YOUR VISIT!
GAME VIEWING : Visitors are welcome to drive or walk along the designated roads within park but knowledgeable guides are also available. Ask for assistance at Sanga Camp.
CAMPING : Sanga camp offers toilet facilities, hot showers, braase, firewood and cold drinks. Ask for assistance at Sanga Camp.
ACOMMODATION : A-frame chalets are available with 5 single beds in each. Please make reservations in advance.
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTRE:
Facilities to host workshops and education program are available
Questions, Comments, Concerns?
Diverson 265 8 780 274
For further information about this project or other protected area management projects visit: http://www.wildlifeactiongroup.org/Kutienglish.htm
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Protected Area Management through Community Conservation
Many people have been asking how to assist me with development projects that I am working on in my village. I can not begin to tell you how greatful I am for any assistance that people can help with. Even if you can not help financially, a letter in the mail goes a long way! The first three months at my site have been spent trying to understand the needs of the community. Therefore, no real projects have materialized to date. groups have expressed needs and concerns for a more diversified selection of fruits and vegetables, which I am extremely excited. Mainly in my own backyard, I personally am supporting food security through income generation. In addition to income generation in my village, I am collaborating with the Danish Hunters Association & WildLife Environment Society of Malawi in an effort to support community conservation of customary lands. I am working to support Community trainings, along with the development of such CCA (Community Conservation Areas.)
Community conservation is an effort to empower the public to play an active role in the sustainable management of resident natural resources. In addition to protected area management, the roles of the organized Community Based Organization and others land stewards should be to integrate community involvement. Community training is an opportunity to expand community involvement in conservation, while assisting with the lacking civic education efforts. As role of facilitator, my hope is to organize community trainings for villages near Kuti Community Wild Park and the purposed Mpatsanjoka CCA. The trainings will be held haft day at the NRC educational center in Kuti Community Wildlife Park. Class topic will range from income generation to environmental education, but the focus will be to assist the needs and dificulties that the communities are currently expressing. The purposed training should run bi-monthly and should be an expense sustained by the CCA (community conservation area) in an effort to promote more community involvement.
The topics to be discussed will be those pertaining to the current problems addressed by the community. Currently in Malawi much of the environmental pressure on protected areas is due to financial concerns felt in the villages. In addition to financial anxiety, local community members feel a lack of ownership in a “restricted area.” Topics discussed should address these issues.
Example Topics:
Food-Security – Crop diversification
Sustainable/Conservation agriculture
Irrigation schemes
Soap Making
Jam Making
Charcoal Making (from Corn Husks)
Environmental Education: Wildlife protection, community conservation
The overlying goal of this project is sustainability. With sustainability in mind, it is my hope to train motivated patrons from the communities to deliver topics. This not only provides jobs to the community, but will assist in community members having ownership in the conservation project.
Initial assistance that friends and family back home can assist with would be educational resources to be presented during seminars. The additional financial logistics are still being discussed (paying the trainers and feeding people who attend). Thank you all for your help and please do not hesitate to write if you need any additional information or have questions on current or future projects.
CHEKOKI (my Yao name is evolving)
Kirk Longstein, Peace Corps
Box 284
Salima
Malawi
WORK HURTS!
You have good days and you have bad days as a Volunteer that is just the reality of the work. I have been in my village for three months now and the good and the bad go hand in hand. I have been trying to write more.
I wrote this after walking home frustrated. I waited all day for my group to show up to a meeting I had scheduled, but no one showed. Walking home I met with a few of the women in the group. They were the ones who were frustrated, that I didn’t provide enough money for our jam making project.
***No call, no show! It’s so hard to find good workers. If you want to find a job and keep your job, half the responsibility is showing up. I find myself scratching my head over this same phenomenon here in a rural village. Is it culture or an individual’s drive to accomplish that task which cannot be achieved without sweat? Work hurts! It challenges the mind and it hurts the back. I feel overwhelmed with a sense of pride, that I was raised not to fear work. The pride that I take in my work allows me to achieve the unattainable. In addition to empowering men and women in my village, I hope to leave this place a spirit of self directed work. Empowerment by no means will make people rich, but it could very well improve their daily subsistence, which proves to be a day to day struggle to survive. Are people lazy, uneducated, or educated into habitual laziness? I constantly debate this idea.
“Here in Malawi, we are poor, that’s our problem”
- A continued response when surveying village problems.
A lazy man observes the problem, and the successful man solves the problem. This is true in the states and even here in Malawi. Americans seem to be successful at the development of conveniences, but in times of economic or social hardship the ones who thrive are those who show up to work on time with the solutions to the problem. Poverty in developing nations might be political but the problem is not cultural. To help alleviate the pressures of poverty, the efforts should be redirected to the successful empowerment of the entrepreneurial work ethic within each individual.
I wrote this after walking home frustrated. I waited all day for my group to show up to a meeting I had scheduled, but no one showed. Walking home I met with a few of the women in the group. They were the ones who were frustrated, that I didn’t provide enough money for our jam making project.
***No call, no show! It’s so hard to find good workers. If you want to find a job and keep your job, half the responsibility is showing up. I find myself scratching my head over this same phenomenon here in a rural village. Is it culture or an individual’s drive to accomplish that task which cannot be achieved without sweat? Work hurts! It challenges the mind and it hurts the back. I feel overwhelmed with a sense of pride, that I was raised not to fear work. The pride that I take in my work allows me to achieve the unattainable. In addition to empowering men and women in my village, I hope to leave this place a spirit of self directed work. Empowerment by no means will make people rich, but it could very well improve their daily subsistence, which proves to be a day to day struggle to survive. Are people lazy, uneducated, or educated into habitual laziness? I constantly debate this idea.
“Here in Malawi, we are poor, that’s our problem”
- A continued response when surveying village problems.
A lazy man observes the problem, and the successful man solves the problem. This is true in the states and even here in Malawi. Americans seem to be successful at the development of conveniences, but in times of economic or social hardship the ones who thrive are those who show up to work on time with the solutions to the problem. Poverty in developing nations might be political but the problem is not cultural. To help alleviate the pressures of poverty, the efforts should be redirected to the successful empowerment of the entrepreneurial work ethic within each individual.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Traditional Dances
Traditional dances of Malawi are my favorite part of Malawian culture. Within the Chichewa culture there are traditional dances known as the Gule Wamkulu, shown here in my pictures. An amazing display of complete raw emotion and passions of the dancers.Learn more about Chewa http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/hosted/chewa/index.jspPeople living in my village and many villages near my house are never short on reasons for dancing. Living along the south Lake shore and more specific with in the Salima district, the culture is predominately Muslim. Many Malawians living in my village belong to the Yao tribe. Malawian culture is amazing and diverse experience. With many frustrations and su
ccess, I am learning more and more everyday. When I finally get a Camera I hope to share more of my experiences and pictures living with Yao culture.
ccess, I am learning more and more everyday. When I finally get a Camera I hope to share more of my experiences and pictures living with Yao culture.Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Hello all….sorry it’s been along time since I’ve had a chance to update this blog business but bloging from Malawi is proving to be more of a hassle then anything. Things couldn’t be better! Malawian culture is so welcoming; it’s hard not to have a 2 hour conversation with someone off the street about the house and the family. Chichewa is proving a little difficult but I am able to communicate either enough to help or just enough to get me in trouble. All and all Malawi has a number of surprising conveniences that is making life easy. The two things that I am lacking that would be nice to have and make work easier would be a car and a computer. I’ve adjusted nicely to “Malawian Time,” which is a complex formula of adding 1-2 hours onto whatever time someone tell you to meet and then adding about another 1-2 hours once you’ve arrived at the meeting location. A one hour meeting takes up the entire day. “Malawian Time” nice and slow, it’s a nice change from “The City,” but is proving frustrating with getting things done.
The Village
My village could not be more excited to have me living with them. I’m living next to the chief (Group Village Headman) and in the middle of my village. I am constantly having community members visit me, which at first was frustrating due to the constant inundation of individuals who not only speak fast in Chichewa, let alone ChiYaio. At the present it has proved to be an asset living in the middle of the village because everyone is so excited and motivated to work with me. Some projects that I am working on at the present are teaching income generating activities with groups of women. Some of the project groups that I have organized at the present are; beekeepers, selling honey, Soap makers, and women selling different vegetables that I’m trying to introduce. I also have dug a community garden at the school with vegetables for the children who attend school.
Crop diversification & Food security are the problems that people have identified in their village at the present, so I hope to encourage more vegetable farming. Also food preservation through solar drying and selling added value products from the crops that are already present.
The possibilities are endless in my village because all the needs that the community is expressing. Im staying busy and time is flying by hopefully that keeps up! Love you all
Give me a call or drop me an email…I should be here about once a month. Keeps the packages coming…I just opened a package with all products from WholeFoods…a great surprise!! Hint Hint
Love you folks
Kirk
The Village
My village could not be more excited to have me living with them. I’m living next to the chief (Group Village Headman) and in the middle of my village. I am constantly having community members visit me, which at first was frustrating due to the constant inundation of individuals who not only speak fast in Chichewa, let alone ChiYaio. At the present it has proved to be an asset living in the middle of the village because everyone is so excited and motivated to work with me. Some projects that I am working on at the present are teaching income generating activities with groups of women. Some of the project groups that I have organized at the present are; beekeepers, selling honey, Soap makers, and women selling different vegetables that I’m trying to introduce. I also have dug a community garden at the school with vegetables for the children who attend school.
Crop diversification & Food security are the problems that people have identified in their village at the present, so I hope to encourage more vegetable farming. Also food preservation through solar drying and selling added value products from the crops that are already present.
The possibilities are endless in my village because all the needs that the community is expressing. Im staying busy and time is flying by hopefully that keeps up! Love you all
Give me a call or drop me an email…I should be here about once a month. Keeps the packages coming…I just opened a package with all products from WholeFoods…a great surprise!! Hint Hint
Love you folks
Kirk
Sunday, April 6, 2008
FROM THE WARM HEART OF AFRICA!!!
WOW words can not describe this place…beautiful scenes and beautiful people! Our group arrived in Lilongwe Feb. 25, after the second longest flight that any person can take in the world ( 17 hours to south Africa, 1 day lay over in Jo’Burg and a 3 hour flight to Lilongwe, Malawi!) Our group of Trainees headed off straight to our training site, Dedza! Our Peace Corp Training is awesome and has exceeded every expectation that I had. For the past 4 weeks each trainee has stayed with a host family in the village. Learning culture, LANGUAGE (Chichewa), and environmental technical skills, each of the trainees have been exposed to some of the expectations for the next two years but we are learning everyday.
Sorry I haven’t written…No technology what so ever! ITS BEEN GREAT! What little technology I did bring from the states has failed me…my watch, my camera and my Ipod…THIS IS WHY I CANN’T HAVE NICE THINGS We get bits and pieces of news from across the world on short wave radio but its nice to be fully immersed in this new culture. Internet is available here but slow and expensive so I don’t know how much blogging I will be able to do.
I do have a cell phone…AWESOME…let me tell you how weird it sounds talking to someone in the states, at night in the village! But never the less its always nice to receive free incoming calls on my phone. I will be leaving my phone on all day Sundays for those of you who want to drop me a line (Skype $0.8/min) give me a call. Sorry if I keep it short but electricity is hard to find some times.
So I receive my site placement and I am extremely excited to pass the news that my house is a 30 min WALK TO THE BEACH! I will be assisting a variety of projects outside Kuti Game Ranch. Protected area management of the surrounding wetlands, ecto-tourism potential, crop diversification, just to name a few. I’m the first Peace Corps volunteer to my village so the potential is endless!! Its hot as hell but come on it’s the beach…I’m going to get myself a wooden canoe, paddle out and spend my free time doing a lot of FISHIN!
Hope all is well back home…I miss the states…but…. I still cann’t believe I live by the lake! I bet everyone is going to come visit now!
LOVE TO ALL
Kirk
Phone: 265 09 120 889
Sorry I haven’t written…No technology what so ever! ITS BEEN GREAT! What little technology I did bring from the states has failed me…my watch, my camera and my Ipod…THIS IS WHY I CANN’T HAVE NICE THINGS We get bits and pieces of news from across the world on short wave radio but its nice to be fully immersed in this new culture. Internet is available here but slow and expensive so I don’t know how much blogging I will be able to do.
I do have a cell phone…AWESOME…let me tell you how weird it sounds talking to someone in the states, at night in the village! But never the less its always nice to receive free incoming calls on my phone. I will be leaving my phone on all day Sundays for those of you who want to drop me a line (Skype $0.8/min) give me a call. Sorry if I keep it short but electricity is hard to find some times.
So I receive my site placement and I am extremely excited to pass the news that my house is a 30 min WALK TO THE BEACH! I will be assisting a variety of projects outside Kuti Game Ranch. Protected area management of the surrounding wetlands, ecto-tourism potential, crop diversification, just to name a few. I’m the first Peace Corps volunteer to my village so the potential is endless!! Its hot as hell but come on it’s the beach…I’m going to get myself a wooden canoe, paddle out and spend my free time doing a lot of FISHIN!
Hope all is well back home…I miss the states…but…. I still cann’t believe I live by the lake! I bet everyone is going to come visit now!
LOVE TO ALL
Kirk
Phone: 265 09 120 889
Sunday, February 17, 2008
! SEND MAIL !
It’s finally coming down the wire!! I leave in 4 DAYS…but who’s counting! I highly encourage sending me mail! A few people have been asking me about sending toys and candies to people in the villages and I think there will be an appropriate time for that in the near future but at this time I want to focus on learning everything I can about the new environment that I am immersing myself in. My communications might be limited to the states while I am in training, so I am sure that I would be overly ecstatic to receive mail from all of you. Mail usually takes 2-3 weeks to get to Malawi, so if you send me anything, don’t expect a hasty return letter. Packages take 2-3 months and sometimes longer. If you do send anything in a package, make sure that it’s not expensive and the more padding, the better. Send pictures, games and anything that you think will put a smile on my face!!
This address will be a great way to stay in touch with me for the first three months of training:
Kirk Longstein, PCV
PEACE CORPS/MALAWI
BOX 208
LILONGWE
MALAWI
This address will work well if sending packages via DHL and need an expedited delivery:
Kirk Longstein, PCV
C/O U.S. PEACE CORPS MALAWI
AREA 4 PLOT 70
ACROSS FROM OILCOM DEPOT
LILONGWE
MALAWI
You’ll also need to include the Peace Corps/Malawi phone number: 256-1-757-157।
Thanks folks, for all your love and support...hopefully I got a chance to say goodbye to everybody but if not do hesitate to drop me a line!
This address will be a great way to stay in touch with me for the first three months of training:
Kirk Longstein, PCV
PEACE CORPS/MALAWI
BOX 208
LILONGWE
MALAWI
This address will work well if sending packages via DHL and need an expedited delivery:
Kirk Longstein, PCV
C/O U.S. PEACE CORPS MALAWI
AREA 4 PLOT 70
ACROSS FROM OILCOM DEPOT
LILONGWE
MALAWI
You’ll also need to include the Peace Corps/Malawi phone number: 256-1-757-157।
Thanks folks, for all your love and support...hopefully I got a chance to say goodbye to everybody but if not do hesitate to drop me a line!
Friday, February 15, 2008
Pre Departure
Hey Everyone!
Counting down the days to my departure! I leave Chicago, off to my staging event Feb. 21 in Washington DC. I feel like I have been waiting forever but it's all comming together quite nicely here at the home strech. It seems like you get rushed with all this information and a to do list a mile long at the last minute..but I guess that's just the nature of the business! The one quote that I have heard from every Peace Corps staff member throughout this journey has been, "practice patience and stay flexable." which seems simple but if you are thinking about Peace Corps or are in the application process, this is one elemnet about Peace Corps that you can count on not changing.
Bank records, Tax statements, health bills...BILLS...Bills, Im in a paperwork Hell right now...I need an Intern!
This last week I received my Wilderness First Responder Certification in Boulder, Wy, from the Wilderness Medicine Institute...maybe thats why Im so behind in my Peace Corps to do list, I LOVE TO PLAY! The Wind River Mountains are amazing but cold! the first day I pulled into the ranch the temperature read -20! in addition to 3' of snow the course was a little challenging! The NOLS staff and all the other stuents were GREAT! the time flew by and now I am a certified Wilderness CPR & First Reponder, skills that I hope I never have to use but are great to have!
Well folks stay tuned for pictures and the next time I write hopefully I'll have some nice picture form Malawi! don't forget to drop me a line at my training address ( I will have another address after 3 months) and for all of you that wish to visit Malawi, drop me an email and we'll set something up!
Ti-ti Nah-nah
Counting down the days to my departure! I leave Chicago, off to my staging event Feb. 21 in Washington DC. I feel like I have been waiting forever but it's all comming together quite nicely here at the home strech. It seems like you get rushed with all this information and a to do list a mile long at the last minute..but I guess that's just the nature of the business! The one quote that I have heard from every Peace Corps staff member throughout this journey has been, "practice patience and stay flexable." which seems simple but if you are thinking about Peace Corps or are in the application process, this is one elemnet about Peace Corps that you can count on not changing.
Bank records, Tax statements, health bills...BILLS...Bills, Im in a paperwork Hell right now...I need an Intern!
This last week I received my Wilderness First Responder Certification in Boulder, Wy, from the Wilderness Medicine Institute...maybe thats why Im so behind in my Peace Corps to do list, I LOVE TO PLAY! The Wind River Mountains are amazing but cold! the first day I pulled into the ranch the temperature read -20! in addition to 3' of snow the course was a little challenging! The NOLS staff and all the other stuents were GREAT! the time flew by and now I am a certified Wilderness CPR & First Reponder, skills that I hope I never have to use but are great to have!
Well folks stay tuned for pictures and the next time I write hopefully I'll have some nice picture form Malawi! don't forget to drop me a line at my training address ( I will have another address after 3 months) and for all of you that wish to visit Malawi, drop me an email and we'll set something up!
Ti-ti Nah-nah
Friday, January 18, 2008
Introduction
Hey everyone! I started this blog with the assistance of my fellow volunteer colleges. I feel like this will be the best way to share my experiences from my amazing adventures.
Stay tuned and I'll try my hardest to keep everyone up to date with my Peace Corps experiences.
Stay tuned and I'll try my hardest to keep everyone up to date with my Peace Corps experiences.
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