Malawi Jake

Conversations with Jake

Talked to Jake today.

A few things come to mind to share which I will in a moment...But I wanted to tell you that we talked extensively about the website. He was very excited that so many people were getting these posts and getting to hear about his experiences in Africa. I think it made him feel close to everyone while he is so far away. I also read him all of the comments that those of you have written and he was really touched by them. So keep the comments coming, Jake will get to hear them! Thank you.

Field Trip...
This weekend, he heads to southern Malawi for a 'field trip' with the other volunteers. Field trip? More like safari! It is expected that they will see elephants and rhinos while there. As you can imagine, he is really looking forward to it.

Language...He says he is doing well learning the language. There are only 4 out of 16 volunteers learning the dialect that he is learning and it isn't spoken in Dedza where he is currently residing. He can't practice with his host family. This makes practicing difficult, in general...But, he told me he studies for about an hour in the evening when he gets home and isn't concerned come May when he moves to his village where he'll be speaking it full time. I've heard that he's pretty good at learning languages ;)

Harmonica...As our sister Jessica wrote in a previous entry, he plays the harmonica to the kids in the village...apparently, they love it. Jake told me one night, they were knocking at his door to play. He started singing some lyrics...he thinks it was "I want you to stay!" Well, the kids started singing it that evening and he still hears it being sung by the little ones in the village. I enjoyed hearing that.

Whacked out dreams...He's been taking medicine to prevent malaria and it causes vivid, whacky dreams...He has to stay on the medicine for the entire 2 years if he wants to prevent milaria, but hopefully the dreams and the "weird" feeling from the medicine that he and the other volunteers have described will soon subside.

Health Volunteer close-by...
When he moves to his final destination, there is a health voluteer who will be about 20 minutes from Jake. Good news, yes...Bad news, she has some kind of strange, bumpy bacerial stuff on her face right now...Grrrrrrrrreat! Lucky Jake.

I asked him "what is the worst thing so far jake?" He said, "The poverty, particulary the poverty I've witnessed in my host family. The first few nights that I sat down to have dinner with them was especially difficult. There is such sadness in my host father's eyes. He can't provide much for his family. His children's clothes are torn, they don't have much food. He is tired. His wife is tired."
I asked him 'what is the best thing so far jake?" He said, "The smiles...particularly the smile from my host father. Though I've done nothing yet, he thanks me for being here. He thanks me for being his friend."

Jake said truthfully he isn't sure how much he has to offer them, enviornmentally speaking, education wise... but he looks at himself as a "messenger of hope"... He wants to work side by side with them, learning together and bringing them hope and awareness at the same time. If anyone can do it, he can.

Peace and love-Sarah