Malawi Jake

Some of you might be a bit surprised to see the greeting from Jersey rather than Malawi. Just don’t start calling me Jersey Jake. In case you didn’t know, my three years working as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi came to an end in mid-June. Shortly after, I arrived back in the states and have since been spending time with my family and trying to catch up on the three years I was missed or was missing. Without getting into too much detail I’ll just say readjusting back into this world after what seems like decades won’t be the easiest thing I’ve done in my life, especially when compared to the world I’m coming from, but I’ll manage. With that said, I’ve got some photos to share with all of you so you can finally see what you helped make possible.

Khutamaji Junior Primary School is finished! Or at least as finished as it could get while I was there. There were a few odds and ends I would have liked to complete before I departed but the school is standing. In fact its functioning along with one teacher’s house. As I was leaving, Grade 1 students were busy in the school learning and the grade 2’s were planning to get started. In some of the photographs you will see some of the students as well as their teacher, Mr. Chavula. You’ll also see photos of his house, kitchen and bath, which he has already moved into. The last day I was at the school my friends were busy installing the windows in the house which you will also see in the photographs. The other photos included are the soccer and netball goal posts as they were being painted and installed which were gifts from members of St. John Nuemann’s Catholic Parish. I have to admit that this small project required more time, money and effort than I had anticipated and I was busy painting up to the very last day I was in the village. Nonetheless, the fields are fitted with new equipment and the people are proud and happy, as they should be.

While the goal post project offered its challenges it certainly couldn’t compare with the complexity, scope and intensity of our school building project. Again, it’s hard to anticipate some of the difficulties one encounters when taking on a project of this nature. At times it seemed that everyone and everything was against me; the chiefs, workers, roads, even the weather. But when all said and done, the project continued as trouble-free as one could expect taking into account the conditions we were working in. To give you one example, the building site was 65 kilometers (approx. 35 miles) from the town where I was purchasing the building materials, even the stone for the foundation and footings. So if you could imagine, with such distances, dirt roads and unpredictable weather to deal with it took us close to a month just to get the stone to the site. And that was after three trips per day rotating three drivers. If it rained we didn’t go anywhere, sometimes even for a few days, as the roads were impassable even with our Toyota 4×4! At one point in January there was so much mud on the 3 km road between my house and the school that I didn’t get to the site for three days! But while it may have been difficult for us on the ground, the same difficulties we were dealing with are the very same reason we decided to build a school where we did, so that the youngest children wouldn’t have to walk through floods to get an education. I had to keep reminding myself of that. And I did and eventually the project got finished. Of course there were other setbacks and unwelcome situations but that isn’t why I’m writing to all of you.

I’m simply writing to you to share these photos and to express my gratitude to all of you who, through support, understanding, trust and generosity, enabled the project to come to its fruition. Our goal has been realized, the Grades 1 and 2 students of Khutamaji have a building to learn in, furnished with 30 desks and 4 blackboards. Furthermore, the community itself has a community center for other activities i.e. church services, committee meetings, dances, etc. They have something to be proud of, thus so should you. Without your commitment none of this would have been achieved and I do hope you realize this. From a personal standpoint, you made my life easier and more interesting. I can assure you that all of the experience that I have taken from this specific project will certainly be used by me in future projects of this sort and scale. So once again, as the voice of the children and community of Khutmaji and from the voice in my heart, thank you kindly. Tawonga Chomene! (That’s Chitumbuka for ‘We are very Grateful’)

Malawi Jake

Ps while I can still be recognized as Malawi Jake, sometime in the near future the website will be changing in order to coincide with the changes in my own life. I’ll be sure to update you.

Here are all the new photos