March 21, 2001: Headlines: COS - Malawi: US Trek: Over the course of the next two years, Christine Shirley would teach English to an eager group of 150 schoolgirls. She would hold workshops on self-esteem, hygiene and AIDS awareness, and show 20 young Malawi women how to build a house out of mud bricks
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Malawi:
Peace Corps Malawi :
The Peace Corps in Malawi:
March 21, 2001: Headlines: COS - Malawi: US Trek: Over the course of the next two years, Christine Shirley would teach English to an eager group of 150 schoolgirls. She would hold workshops on self-esteem, hygiene and AIDS awareness, and show 20 young Malawi women how to build a house out of mud bricks
Over the course of the next two years, Christine Shirley would teach English to an eager group of 150 schoolgirls. She would hold workshops on self-esteem, hygiene and AIDS awareness, and show 20 young Malawi women how to build a house out of mud bricks
Over the course of the next two years, Christine Shirley would teach English to an eager group of 150 schoolgirls. She would hold workshops on self-esteem, hygiene and AIDS awareness, and show 20 young Malawi women how to build a house out of mud bricks
The Toughest Job They Ever Loved
spacer
Peace Corps: The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love
For the briefest of moments, Christine Shirley wondered what she had gotten herself into. Just a week before, she was running through the streets of Paris, soaking in the sites and sipping café au lait. A few days before that, she was hanging out with friends and family back in her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Now, she was huddled in a tiny mud hut with only a mat, gourd and suitcase for company. Her kitchen consisted of a box of matches and some sticks and her bathroom was a hole in the ground. Enormous spiders crawled overhead, and she heard rats scuffling behind the walls. Her host mother and 12-year-old sister spoke no English, and Christine knew only a few words of their language, Chichewa.
Doubt overwhelmed Christine. What was she doing here? She'd just graduated from college -- how could she possibly make a difference in this strange, foreign land? Just one year ago, she couldn't have even pointed out Malawi on a map!
And the thunder rolls… As Nick and I tore across the U.S.
Over the course of the next two years, Christine would teach English to an eager group of 150 schoolgirls. She would hold workshops on self-esteem, hygiene and AIDS awareness, and show 20 young Malawi women how to build a house out of mud bricks. In return, they would teach Christine an extraordinary amount: How to carry water on her head. How to pound maize into corn flour. How to make a fire out of rocks and twigs.
Perhaps more than anything, she would learn about a rich culture outside her own and realize that things like laughter and friendship are universal. In other words, Christine had a successful Peace Corps tour. Since 1961, there have been 162,000 just like her in 134 developing nations across the globe.
"In Malawi, there is such a mysticism about the West, especially America," said Christine. "And so for them to see me speaking their language, carrying water on my head and wearing their traditional clothing was to realize that we are all the same, we are all just people. We go to their funerals, their weddings, and their births. We become part of the group."
For the longest time, Christine thought the father of her host family was dead. He was never around, and the mother and daughter lived very meagerly. One day he appeared out of the blue, wearing nice clothes and riding a bicycle - two sure signs of wealth in Malawi. When she asked where he'd been all that time, she was informed that he'd gone to visit his other wife in a nearby village. "I was making a meal over the fire when I met him, and I felt like I was perpetuating the stereotype that women belong in the kitchen. It just infuriated me. When all of the village children came in to keep me company, I started yelling in English: 'In America, this is what we call a 'dead-beat dad.' They didn't understand a word I said, but it sure felt good to vent!"
Cultural differences aren't the only challenges PCVs face during their two-year tours. The volunteers often live and work in very basic conditions. One of Christine's friends, for instance, had to teach English without a classroom. So she held her classes beneath a shade tree, stopping on occasion to reassemble the chalkboard that collapsed with every gust of wind and chase away the goats who wandered in, but, like other PCVs, she wouldn't have had it any other way.
When this story was posted in December 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| Our debt to Bill Moyers Former Peace Corps Deputy Director Bill Moyers leaves PBS next week to begin writing his memoir of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Read what Moyers says about journalism under fire, the value of a free press, and the yearning for democracy. "We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country," he warns, "or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia." |
| Is Gaddi Leaving? Rumors are swirling that Peace Corps Director Vasquez may be leaving the administration. We think Director Vasquez has been doing a good job and if he decides to stay to the end of the administration, he could possibly have the same sort of impact as a Loret Ruppe Miller. If Vasquez has decided to leave, then Bob Taft, Peter McPherson, Chris Shays, or Jody Olsen would be good candidates to run the agency. Latest: For the record, Peace Corps has no comment on the rumors. |
| The Birth of the Peace Corps UMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn. |
| Charges possible in 1976 PCV slaying Congressman Norm Dicks has asked the U.S. attorney in Seattle to consider pursuing charges against Dennis Priven, the man accused of killing Peace Corps Volunteer Deborah Gardner on the South Pacific island of Tonga 28 years ago. Background on this story here and here. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: US Trek
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Malawi
PCOL15573
89
.