Hello friends and family!
I am getting ready to ship out in a few days for my service in the Peace Corps in Malawi and I am so excited and nervous! I just wanted to take this time, if I haven't said it yet, to say thank you to everyone for your support and love. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you guys.
A little more about my service with the Peace Corps, I will be heading to Malawi with a group of 16 people in the environmental sector. We have 3 months of cultural and language training in the center of the country in the Capitol, Lilongwe. I will be living with a host family and begin training with total immersion into the culture. After I am sworn in, I head out to my post which I am guessing will be in northern Malawi since it is more rural. There are a total of 120 volunteers in Malawi, and most of them are in the health and education sector. I'm not sure what my project will be yet but some environmental issues in Malawi are overpopulation, air quality, water quality, deforestation, and soil erosion (sound familiar?). We will be trying to promote ideas of sustainable land management, land protections, and small buisness ideas to help boost village income alongside our projects. Our work as environmental volunteers is to assess what our community needs, address that problem as a community, and try to solve it.
I feel privelaged to have this opportunity to travel and am thankful for this chance to grow and learn. Communication will be spotty, but just know I will be all right because you have all taught me so well.
Zikomo!
