Blogs from Lilongwe, Central, Malawi, Africa - page 14

The week we returned from Kande Beach, we all went out to get Ethiopian food to celebrate (or mourn) Mike and Lesley’s departure from Malawi—the first in a series of abandonments by my best friends here (alas, thus is expat life). The restaurant is basically run in the home of an Ethiopian family; the mom is the chef, and her kids moonlight as servers when they have customers. It's a very cozy place and despite the difficulty of obtaining the real ingredients to make injera—the delicious, sour Ethiopian sponge bread that is the basis of every meal—her food tastes totally authentic. She also makes her own tej, delicious traditional honey wine, and typical music plays in the background. We reminisced about all our good times over the last few months, and laughed about all the absurd ... read more

Hi! We have added pictures from London and Zanzibar to our blog. Click on the blog that says Greetings from Zanzibar to see all of them. Love, L&T... read more

Hey! Picture time! We arrived in Lilongwe this morning, but 22 people trying to cram onto 5 computers...well chaos. I have not seen any crocs yet! Lilongwe is not quite what I expected... I have been without Starbucks/Coffee that is not instant since..? I miss cheese and chocolate. :) Okay, other than that I am staying in a village not far from Dedza, in a village without electricty and running water, but I AM HAVING AN AWSOME TIME. And I am learning A LOT. Alright, now for pictures... Write ME! I only have like 4 addresses. The rest I left at home by accident...... read more

Hello All! I'm writing now from Lilongwe, Malawi and I have been traveling for just about 2.5 weeks. To same time and money, I wrote out my post on paper and photographed it, I just tried to write clearly and photograph equally so. Enjoy, more to come! (maybe later today or tomorrow actually) Mark... read more

During the weeks of June 9-20 I had my first round of real interviews, in which I was conducting refugee status determination with refugees on my own. It was a really difficult period, partially because the interviews are depressing and partially because it’s just very exhausting work. We leave for the camp around 8, arrive sometime after 9, and then sit in a room with all the members of a family of applicants and take verbatim notes on everything they say. We usually interview only those members of the family who are old enough to recall events, but sometimes there can be five or six people old enough to be interviewed in one family. After one interview, which usually lasts somewhere between 1-2 hours for a family of 2 or 3 individuals, my wrist is killing ... read more