letters: HELP malawi

muli bwanji!? (how are you!?)

recently, i had a day that threw me off- a classic maryland autumn day. it was cloudy, sprinkled off and on, the air had a chill to it, and the leaves were crunching on the ground. if it wasn't for the continued odd sounds right outside of my tent (hippo, impala, or the rhino on the lose?), i would have sworn i was back for a late october day. it was a nice to have a reminder of home, but when today's day started with the bright african sun, killing the cold instantly, i was smiling ear to ear. 

whew- today was a busy morning! yesterday i was over at the school across the river working with some grade 8 students to write their stories for my video for HELP malawi. it is to be a video about the non profit, but written by the kids themselves!! with a little crafting, weaving, and ironing, their initial ideas and stories were made into shooting plans and the kids were very excited 'to be famous!' (completely my joking way to excite them all). unable to sleep any more before six am, i jumped up, did some exercises to warm up in my tent, and then at seven headed to the lodge for quick breakfast. caught a boat across the river and at the school! i was so nervous that i would forget to shoot something and make editing impossible, that the kids would lose interest after a while of shooting, that one of the stories that we didn't quite get the last kinks out of would collapse, or that it would just take all day and the hungry students would slowly start to hate me and this whole thing. but none of that (hopefully) happened. 

we rolled through story after story, working quickly to get each shot from about 9am to exactly noon. i am glad that one of the girl's stories was the last one (and most of it i just needed her to act, not the group) because she was the best acting one of the group, and was still really engaged in the project. i then had the students write their stories out on paper, and read them into a microphone to have a narration to each story. i was so glad that these stories were from their words, not mine. i narrowed the story topics and then the breath (daniel, i can't film you becoming a rich bank manager) of the stories, but other than that- it was all them. i think HELP Malawi will like the videos and i am excited to start editing them tomorrow.

after i got back here and had lunch, i collapsed in a stress-releasing four hour nap. ugh. amazing day. just watched the sunset over the river, cup of dark (but weak) malawian coffee in hand, and sounds of birds and hippos filling the air. 

i finally had heard enough of this oil spill to finally google (image) search it for the first time. i just thought it was another tanker spill, but oh my god- what a mess. i can't believe it all! i feel so out of touch out here, but at the same time, when being out of touch of the world brings days filled with rural, 14-16 yr old determined malawian children, i am not complaining. only a couple more days here, then im up to monkey bay to give over all the gear i won't be carrying on my adventure to rr&co. then on the illala and up to brad! 

wish me luck on editing the mountain on materials i have been collecting while here, and i miss and love you all dearly!

ti wana ('til we meet again)

kukona (love)

tbk

june 2, liwonde national park, malawi