CLICK HERE FOR BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND MYSPACE LAYOUTS »

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Progress on the resource center


Earlier I had photos of cutting poles in the forest. Here we are using them to make trusses.


The tools are simple.



One more finished.


Then up on the walls.


and into place.


Send up some wire.


And there they are. Next step is to place long poles horizontal across the trusses and then the iron sheets. By the time I return to the village the building should be covered.


If you want to contribute to this project select this button. It is safe and secure through PayPal and the money comes right to me:





Making a Khasu or hand hoe


Since people don't have much money they depend on the forest for many things. If you need a new hoe handle the first step is to find the right sapling.


Clear away the dirt.


And chop off the roots. Takes a lot of work.


Then peel off the bark. This species is also good for "ludzi" which is a kind of rope made from the inner bark.


Then comes the hard part - shaping the trunk.


Starting to look like a handle.


To attach the blade it is put into a fire and heated up. . .


. . . and burned into the handle. Other tools like axes and adzes are also made this way.

Miscellaneous


One day these kids came by and I invited them into the yard to do their thing. They had drums and dancers. No special occasion - just kids having fun.


Like everywhere kids like to play in the dirt. In Malawi most of the dirt is very sandy - like beach sand.



They have created their own little village.


Notice the small pile of branches in the lower left.


Here are Ishmael and Hagera, the son and daughter of Calvin Mukhuna, my counterpart. They are Muslims because they come from another area of Malawi which is primarily Muslim.


A village grocery. These stores have a very limited selection like soap, crackers, small packets of cooking oil, pain killer, occasionally eggs, tomatoes or soda.


This is my outdoor shower - time for weeding!


The corn is getting big. All work is done with only a hoe. The earth is mounded to cover the weeds.


An African vista.


Passing a trading center on market day on my way to Lilongwe.

Kapezi School


This is the school yard at Kapezi village. Behind me there are 2 houses for teachers. Past this beautiful tree is the school.


Many schools are made of bricks with tin roofs but this one is built like many houses of dirt, poles and grass.



The inside is very simple. Mud floor, no windows, a couple of free-standing chalk boards.


Here is the outside view. It is divided into 2 classrooms.


I found this lesson on a blackboard. "Masamu" means math, literally "my sums.


View from the other end.

Mango Jam


My counterpart Calvin Mukhuna and I showed the women in our tree planting group how to make Mango jam recently.


First you boil the Mangoes until they are soft then peel them and scrape out the insides.



Add a cup of sugar for every cup of Mango puree and some lemon juice if you have it and boil until it jells - about an hour.


Calvin and some of the ladies.


20 Mangoes - 20 jars of jam and 20 people. Everyone was happy!


Afterwards the ladies sang a song thanking us. The jam was very good.

Disclaimer

Even though it is just little bits of electricity flying through the ether the contents of this blog are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the US government or the Peace Corps.