Malomo It was a strange moment when I realized that with 99.9% confidence, I am living in by far the worst living conditions of anyone American I know; and I’ve made a few auzungu friends in Malawi… For the final push of the project I’m working on, we have moved out to a small trading center named Malomo, whose only significance is that it lies about half way between two serious trading centers - including Nkhotakota, see earlier blog post. Describing Malomo is tough, since first of all, there isn’t a large choice of things to describe, but second of [View Full Entry]

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Mulanje Massif I want to first apologize for taking a couple weeks between blog posts - I’ve been rather busy with work and have failed to get around to writing this post. However, I promise that it is worth the wait. A couple of weeks ago I visited a mountain in Malawi named Mulanje Massif, which rests in the Shire Valley in the southern region of the country. Anyone who has seen/read the Lord of the Rings should recognize the word ‘Shire’ (pronounced Sheer-ah here), and rightly so - Mulanje is where an author named J.R.R. Tolkein became inspired to write [View Full Entry]

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Nkhotakota & Lake Malawi I've just got back from seeing Lake Malawi for the first time at the coastal trading center of Nkhotakota - and two things struck me instantly upon arriving. One - Lake Malawi is big. Two - Nkhotakota is truly a hidden gem. Sani Beach Resort A friend/co-worker and I last week decided that we were going to get out of Ntchisi and see some of the rest of the country - so the obvious first choice was to see the lake. If anyone looks at a map right now, the lake I'm referring to is the big [View Full Entry]

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Gule Wamkulu One - Happy Birthday Mom. Two - I've posted some new photos from a Gule Wamkulu dance that we were able to see yesterday. Gule Wamkulu is a secret society/cult in Malawi that shows how traditional life used to be, and is very entertaining to watch. (If you remember, a young child previously confused me for one of these dancers - you'll understand how fantastic that is by clicking the link below.) Instead of going on and on with words about the experience I think I'll let the photos give you a straight idea, and then maybe augment the [View Full Entry]

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Note: It has been brought to my attention that the phone number I provided earlier is incorrect, if anyone wants to reach me, call 011 265 99 3213078 (Thanks Mom) Moving on to Stage 2 of the summer So I realized that I haven't written on this thing in a while, so I figured that I'd go ahead and write a little update on everything that's been happening. First of all, we have finished the initial phase of our research here and are moving into direct preparations for the survey itself, which should begin in a few weeks. Since this was [View Full Entry]

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What I'm Doing Here So I've realized that in my carelessness I've completely forgotten to explain in detail what I'm doing in Malawi this summer! I am extremely fortunate to kind of stumble into a great opportunity, paid by U of M research grants, to work on a field pilot survey of isolation and transportation effects of economic development. The study is put on by Michigan professors with help from some other international development organizations, which I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say so I'll leave it out. Basically what we're trying to do is measure the impact of providi [View Full Entry]

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NOTE: My internet connection is too slow to upload photos, but I'll make sure to upload a handful when I get to a faster connection. Ntchisi This is my first post in a week because I've been getting myself acclimated to my new home - Ntchisi, Malawi. According to the Malawi guide book I bought, "One Malawian described Ntchisi to me as the most remote town in the country … There are a few resthouses, and even a rather well-stocked PTC-supermarket (think more in the size of a gas station food market) and… well, that’s Ntchisi." The travel writer for this [View Full Entry]

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Chez Ntimbe and Lilongwe Night Life Last night, I had what will become one of the more memorable nights of my life. After a long, busy week of “work†– traveling around town in these little public transportation buses and asking questions to locals – L_ and I decided to go out in Lilongwe and enjoy ourselves. Two days ago we road a minbus with a guy from Pittsburgh named S_ who works for MSF, and decided to meet up with him at a bar in Old Town and hang out for a bit. We started off at a local hang [View Full Entry]

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NOTE: The previous number I gave was actually incorrect (thanks to Mom for pointing that out) - my real cell number in the country is +265 993 321 3078. Sorry to everyone who is getting currently spammed by my multiple entries in two days, but it’s kind of a busy time for me since I just arrived in the country, so in the future expect closer to once a week or something along that rate. Lilongwe Muli bwanji? It’s my second night in Lilongwe, and I already wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. Life in the capital is surprisingly easy, although it [View Full Entry]

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Arrival in Lilongwe I've arrived in Lilongwe this afternoon. I'll write a longer post later since my battery is dying, but I wanted to make sure everyone saw this. My phone number for the summer is +265 99 321 3084 - I get free incoming calls, so feel free to call whenever. ~ Jon [View Full Entry]

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